Blue Grass at Keeneland could be next for Count Fleet winner Monzon

OZONE PARK, N.Y. -- Monzon, the 3-year-old who won the Count Fleet Stakes at Aqueduct on New Year’s Day, is being pointed to the $750,000 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland on April 16, trainer Ignacio Correas IV said Friday.

After winning the Count Fleet, Monzon ran in the Sam. F. Davis Stakes, in which he finished fifth, beaten 7 3/4 lengths by Brethren. Correas said the horse came out of that race “a little tired.”

“Physically, he’s 100 percent,” Correas said. “Maybe it wasn’t the race, it was the trip.”

Correas said the horse had to ship 16 hours from his farm in Maryland to Florida.

Since the Sam Davis, Monzon has had two easy works at owner Kevin Plank’s Sagamore Farm in Maryland, Correas said. He said he planned to pick up the pace with Monzon on Saturday.

Though the Blue Grass would be Monzon’s first start on a synthetic surface, he trains over one everyday at Sagamore Farm.

“He likes it a lot,” Correas said. “We’re going to try the Blue Grass, and if he gets in the Derby, he gets in. If not, we wait. There are races all the time.”

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