Monmouth Park
A few hours after Segesta (Ghostzapper) provided trainer Chad Brown with record ninth victory in the GIII WinStar Matchmaker Stakes, Klaravich Stables' Redistricting (GB) (Kingman {GB}) gave the conditioner a sixth victory in the GII United Nations Stakes at Monmouth Park, allowing him to equal the record held by the legendary MacKenzie Miller. Sent off the 13-10 favorite to build upon a facile five-length success in the Listed Monmouth Stakes over nine furlongs on June 14, the 140,000gns Tattersalls October yearling was beaten for speed in this 11-furlong affair and...
Saturday's card at Monmouth Park features a 14-race card which is highlighted by six stakes--five of them graded--including the Oceanport oval's sophomore showpiece, the GI NYRA Bets Haskell Stakes. This year's renewal of the race has drawn this season's GI Preakness winner Journalism (Curlin), who is campaigned by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Bridlewood Farm and Don Alberto Stable. A mighty good horse before he ever embarked on the Triple Crown, the $825,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling purchase won four of five starts heading to the Run for the Roses, including the GI...
Monmouth Park's $1,000 Haskell Handicapping Challenge returns Saturday July 19. In 2024, the contest awarded 10 seats to the Breeders' Cup Betting Challenge (BCBC), two seats to the National Horseplayers Championship (NHC) and $50,000 cash. The Haskell Challenge can be played online through ADW partners Xpressbet, TVG and 4NJBETS. Players competing through TVG and 4NJBETS must pre-register with tournament director Brian Skirka by 3 p.m. Eastern time on Friday, July 18. Xpressbet players may pre-register with Skirka or sign up directly through Xpressbet up until 12 noon on contest day....
The 4-5 favorite on the morning line Journalism (Curlin) was out on the Monmouth Park racing strip first thing Wednesday morning as the colt makes his final preparations for Saturday's 58th running of the GI NYRA Bets Haskell Stakes, the track said via a Wednesday press release. The Michael McCarthy-trainee arrived on Tuesday evening after an uneventful transcontinental flight from his Southern California base, jogged one mile around the oval under regular exercise rider Marc Witkowski. "I've been galloping horses my whole life. I've been on Grade I winners. He...
The TDN's Christina Bossinakis, senior editor for the Thoroughbred Daily News and a prominent TV racing personality, has been named the winner of the 2025 Bill Handleman Award for outstanding coverage of last year's NYRA Bets Haskell Stakes, Monmouth Park announced Tuesday. First presented in 2012, the Handleman Award honors distinguished media coverage of the GI NYRA Bets Haskell Stakes, Monmouth Park's showcase race. It is presented annually prior to the Haskell. The award honors the late Bill Handleman, one of New Jersey's top sportswriters for nearly three decades for...
In this series, the TDN takes a look at notable successes of European-based sires in North America. This week's column is highlighted by the victory of Sigh No More in the Boiling Springs Stakes at Monmouth. Boiling Springs Stakes To Sigh No More Heider Family Stables' Sigh No More ran out a 1 1/2-length winner of Monmouth Park's Boiling Springs Stakes at the end of last month (video). Conditioned by Brendan Walsh, the daughter of Starspangledbanner was making her second US start. Bred by Barronstown Stud out of the...
Hawkstone (Catalina Cruiser) was entered in Sunday's second race at Monmouth Park, but it seems like he was more interested in doing some sightseeing. As the Cal Lynch trainee was being walked over for the race, he spooked and got loose from his handler. "He was heading over for the races," Lynch said. "Unbelievably, no one had closed the stable gate and he ran right out. He was walking over for the race. He was at the gap by the racetrack and the horses from the previous race were galloping...
SARATOGA SPRINGS--When Neil Poznansky, sitting on the back of GI Kentucky Derby and GI Belmont Stakes champion Sovereignty (Into Mischief), saw jockey Junior Alvarado early Friday morning, he wore a wide smile. "How'd I do?" Poznansky said. Alvarado grinned back. No answer necessary. Sovereignty did what Poznansky, Alvarado and Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott wanted to see as he had his second work since winning the Belmont last month. Working in company with 4-year-old stablemate Jefferson Street (Street Sense), Sovereignty and Poznansky, Mott's assistant, covered four furlongs in :48.99...
With a strong kick down the lane in the Tale of the Cat Stakes at Monmouth Park on Saturday, Tom's Magic (Justify) netted the second black-type win of his career and the Ontario-bred is intended for the August running of the King's Plate at Woodbine, according to his trainer. The chestnut came on the scene last fall and at second asking graduated by 1 3/4 lengths over the grass at Fair Grounds Dec. 22. The son of Justify then won the Black Gold Stakes at course and distance in what...
9th-Monmouth, $51,975, Msw, 6-22, 3yo/up, 6f, 1:10.93, ft, 6 1/2 lengths. DRAGONITE (c, 3, Practical Joke--Snapdragon, by Super Saver), sent off the 7-5 choice for this unveiling, prompted 2-1 second chance Soar Richard (Omaha Beach) through an initial quarter in :22.24. Overtaking that rival approaching the quarter pole, the homebred drew off late to score by 6 1/2 lengths over Ripton's Music (Maclean's Music). Soar Richard was third. Snapdragon, who sold in foal to Oxbow at KEENOV in 2022, produced that colt in 2023 followed by a filly by the...
Without much notice or attention--the way he prefers it--lifelong racetracker John Pimental is easing back into a sense of shedrow normalcy as spring morphs into summer at Monmouth Park. "It feels good to be back to working--making a living again," Pimental told TDN one recent afternoon before feeding time. The 70-year-old trainer has five Thoroughbreds bedded down in the same barn his former outfit of eight occupied on the morning of July 28, 2023, when agents for the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) descended upon the modest racing stable...
Bracket Buster (Vekoma) was all about the slop as he bounded home with ears pricked in the NYRA Bets Pegasus Stakes at Monmouth Park. Kicking off his 2025 season in a big way two back Apr. 12, he was run down late in the lane to claim second in the GIII Lexington Stakes at Keeneland behind the "almost" GI Preakness shocker Gosger (Nyquist), who came a half-length shy of spoiling the fun for MGISW Journalism (Curlin) at Pimlico. He faded to seventh last out May 3 against optional claimers at...