Air Recruit noses There Are No Words in Oceanport Stakes
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Air Recruit rewarded the bettors who made him an absurdly short 1-2 favorite in the $100,000 Oceanport Stakes on Sunday at Monmouth Park – but only after making them sweat.
There Are No Words seized the early Oceanport lead, Air Recruit tracking him, and proved exceedingly loathe to give it up. Not until the final two strides did Air Recruit and jockey Paco Lopez finally take the measure of There Are No Words, winning this 1 1/16-mile grass race by a nose.
The plucky New Jersey-bred There Are No Words placed in the Oceanport for the second straight year, though he was more soundly defeated last summer. Shrug, at 37-1 easily the longest price in a seven-runner race, came from last to get third, 2 1/2 lengths behind the top two.
Air Recruit went off the far shortest price, and while he figured as favored, odds this low were difficult to foresee. Air Recruit finished seventh in the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf and didn’t start again until July 11, when he won a Colonial Downs second-level allowance race by a half-length. But sometimes bad decisions get rewarded, and those Air Recruit win bettors got back $3 for every $2 wagered. Air Recruit clocked 1:42.02 over a firm course.
Arnaud Delacour trains Air Recruit for Mark Grier. The 4-year-old gelding, a son of Air Force Blue and Werewolf, by Arch, was bred in Kentucky by Springhouse Farm and sold at auction as a summer yearling for $105,000.
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