Indy Joe made the muddy track look fast at Monmouth Park on Saturday as he powered to a one-length victory in the $70,000 Rumson Stakes for 3-year-olds. Indy Joe, trained by Mark Shuman and ridden by Joe Bravo, stopped the timer in 1:09 2/5 for six furlongs and paid $6.40, $4 and $2.80 across the board as second choice in the field of eight.
Rough Road Ahead had dead aim on the winner through the stretch, but could not go by and settled for the place, four lengths ahead of Go Go Shoot, the favorite. Rough Road Ahead paid $10.80 to place and $4.40 to show to complete the $57.20 exacta. Go Go Shoot returned $2.60 to show.
Indy Joe, a son of IndyKing owned by the partnership of Circle Z., Masone & Shuman, earned a prize of $42,000 for winning his second race of the year in four starts. This was his first career stakes victory.
The winner sat behind fast early fractions of :21 2/5 for the quarter and :44 1/5 for the half before assuming command entering the stretch.Once in front, he repulsed a challenge from Go Go Shoot, and then held Rough Road Ahead safe the final sixteenth.
"He’s bred to run all day long," Shuman said. "But he’s really good sprinting. He ran his eyeballs out last time (4th in the G3 Hirsch Jacobs at Pimlico) and (jockey Garrett) Gomez told us that he had a ton of speed and could be very, very dangerous if we could harness it.
"All the money for 3-year-olds is for going long, so it’s obviously tempting to try to stretch him out. At the same time, what Gomez said really sticks in my mind – his opinion is one I respect. I don’t want to say he won’t stretch out again, but right now the plan is to bring him back to Monmouth for the Jersey Shore (Grade 3 on July 4), and we’ll decide after that," Shuman said.
In the day’s second feature, Saki To Me pulled off a surprise win in the $65,000 Little Silver Stakes, which was moved from the turf course to the main track. In the Little Silver, for 3-year-old fillies at one mile, Saki To Me circled rivals on the far turn and charged into the lead nearing the eighth pole. She opened two lengths, but then was all out to hold off Forest Trail, the 2-1 favorite, in the final yards to score by a half-length.
Trained by Stanley Hough and ridden by Pablo Fragoso, Saki To Me paid $44.80, $14.80 and $8.40 across the board. Forest Trail completed the $170.60 exacta and returned $4 to place and $3.20 to show. Dagger finished third, four lengths farther back, and paid $3.60 to show.
This was the second career stakes win on a wet track for Saki To Me, a daughter of Fusaichi Pegasus who took the Blue Hen Stakes last year at Delaware.
On Sunday, Laurence I. Foggle’s Our Friend Harvey rallied strongest through the stretch and posted a two-length victory in the $60,000 Wolf Hill Stakes to highlight the action.
Trained by Tim Hills, Our Friend Harvey covered the 5 1/2 furlongs over "good" turf in 1:02 flat and returned $15.80, $9.40 and $5.60. John’s Pic completed a $175.20 exacta and paid $14 and $7.40. It was another three-quarters of a length back to Hesa Big Star, who returned $2.60 as the 9-5 choice in the ten-horse field.
"This horse was really awesome," said winning rider Joe Bravo. "He broke sharp and was able to relax off the quick pace that was set up front. I felt great turning for home because I had so much horse underneath me, and when I asked him, he kicked in nicely."
Sunday’s win marked the third in 18 lifetime starts for Our Friend Harvey, a 4- year-old gelding by Put It Back from the Out of Place mare Very Laughable. He has now earned $104,851 for his connections.
Peachtree Stable’s Polo Argentina gained command midway in the stretch and cruised to a nearly four-length victory in Friday’s $40,000 allowance feature on the Monmouth Park grass course.
The winner, trained by Todd Pletcher and ridden by Eddie Castro, stepped the one mile over a firm turf course in 1:35 flat, and paid $6, $3.60 and $3.20 across the board as second choice in the field of eight.
Hit Another Gear closed a lot of ground wide to be second, paying $6.60 to place and $3.80 to show and completing the $43.40 exacta. Addemup, longest price on the board at 129-1, was up in time to take third by a nose, returning $15.20 to show.
Polo Argentina, a 3-year-old son of Giants Causeway, won his second straight race. He broke his maiden on the Gulf streamgrass in February, and had been training with Pletcher’s horses stabled at Saratoga the past month. A $250,000 yearling purchase, Polo Argentina now has a 2-1-0 record in his three starts on turf.
Speed ruled in Thursday’s $40,000 allowance sprint feature, as Repole Stable’s S.S. Belle took the track soon after the break and held sway thereafter en route to a nearly three-length victory.
The 5-year-old mare provided the second winner of the day for leading trainer Bruce Levine as she stepped six furlongs in a lively 1:09 3/5 and paid $6.80, $3.40 and $2.40 across the board as second choice in the field of seven. S.S. Belle, ridden by Herb McCauley, topped a $26.40 exacta.
Eclectic, who chased much of the way, settled for second, returning $6.40 and $2.80. Ambience was third, more than three lengths farther back, paying $2.60 to show. Bold Child, the 9-5 favorite, finished fifth. S.S. Belle, a daughter of Sweetsouthernsaint, scored her first victory of the year in four starts and her sixth in 26 lifetime races.
Levine, who started the day with 10 winners from 21 starters at the Monmouth meet, scored his 11th success in the sixth race when Rumspringa won under jockey Eddie Castro.
Freak accident forces Bold Child into retirement
Zarba Hills Stable’s Bold Child, who started as the favorite in Thursday’s seventh race at Monmouth, suffered severed tendons in her left hind leg and has been retired, trainer Tim Hills said.
The filly is being treated at Dr. Scott Palmer’s clinic in Clarksburg and is expected to recover.
"She’ll never race again," Hills said, "but the good news is that she’ll be a broodmare.
"It was such a freak accident," he said. "It looked like the horse who was trying to bolt [Songandapsalm] hit her back leg when Bold Child went by on the backstretch. She finished the race [fifth], but was vanned off.
"She might have been the best horse in the barn," the trainer said. "We expected her to win that race, and go on from there."
Monmouth starts five-day-a-week schedule this week
Monmouth Park begins racing five days a week this week, and will continue through to the end of the 2008 meeting on Sept. 28.
Live racing will be offered Wednesday through Sunday each week, with first post set at 12:50 p.m. The only exception is Haskell Day, Aug. 3, when first post is noon.