Albano much the best in Pegasus
OCEANPORT, N.J. - Albano waltzed to a 6 1/2-length victory in the Grade 3, $148,500 Pegasus Stakes for 3-year-olds before a record Father’s Day crowd of 29,262 at Monmouth Park.
It was the first graded victory for Albano, trained by Larry Jones. Albano wintered at Fair Grounds, finishing second in the Lecomte and the Risen Star stakes. His prior outing was the Louisiana Derby, where he finished fifth in a bumpy trip, and was elevated to fourth on a disqualification.
“He had a horrible trip in the Louisiana Derby. He got banged around a lot,” said Kerwin Clark, who has been aboard for the last six starts. “Larry had him ready for this race. We were pointing for this spot.”
The Pegasus lost a major player with the scratch of Uncle Sigh.
Trainer Gary Contessa said on Twitter that Uncle Sigh rolled over and got cast in his stall on Friday morning.
“He is now perfect but was banged up a little and will miss the Pegasus,” Contessa said. “Luckily it happened when we were all in the barn. Today he looks great.”
The Pegasus would have been Uncle Sigh’s first race since setting the early pace in the Kentucky Derby before finishing 14th.
Allstar was also an early scratch.
That reduced the Pegasus field to five.
Encryption broke sharply and was immediately joined by a head-strong Ring Weekend, very keen in his first outing since finishing fifth in the Preakness. They dueled around the first turn until Ring Weekend pulled clear down the backstretch and opened a sizable lead.
Albano, meanwhile, was a very comfortable third.
Both Encryption and Albano advanced on Ring Weekend on final turn.
Albano easily looped those two rivals, and hit the top of the stretch with a four-length lead.
The Pegasus is the first important Monmouth prep for the meet’s top attraction, the Grade 1, $1 million Haskell Invitational on July 27.
That date is now clearly circled on Jones’s calendar.
“The Haskell is our game plan but we’ll see how it goes,” Jones said. “This horse races pretty good fresh, so if we come to the Haskell, this was his prep.
“We’ve had quite a bit of success at Monmouth, so that’s certainly the race we’re looking at.”
Albano paid $4.60 to win. A homebred for Brereton C. Jones, Albano improved to 3 for 7. The time was 1:44.17 for 1 1/16 miles on the fast track.
Encryption, making only his third start and stakes debut, held second.
Lynx was third, followed by Wildcatpleasures.
Ring Weekend was pulled up in the lane and walked off the track.
Silent Appeal scores in Dan Horn
Silent Appeal was the front running winner of the $63,600 Dan Horn Handicap for New Jersey-breds on turf.
Eddie Castro was aboard for trainer Claudio Gonzalez as Silent Appeal ($10.60), beat Jax Maxx by three lengths. The time was 1:35.48 for a mile on the firm turf course.