Brandy's Girl defends home turf in Miss Woodford

The $75,000 Miss Woodford Stakes at Monmouth Park on Sunday isn’t quite a two-horse race, but most of the wagering in the six-furlong sprint for 3-year-old fillies is likely to center around the locally based Brandy’s Girl and the Belmont Park shipper Appealing Maggie.

Brandy’s Girl, trained by Edwin Broome, comes in off a pair of turf wins but earlier in her career won back-to-back races on dirt. In all, she is 4 for 7, which is not bad considering that she clipped heels and fell three starts back in her grass debut.

In her last start, Brandy’s Girl rallied from just off the pace to win the $60,000 Crank It Up Stakes at 5 1/2 furlongs on turf at Monmouth. Leading rider Paco Lopez keeps the mount.

Appealing Maggie will be trainer Mike Hushion’s first Monmouth starter since August 2014. Appealing Maggie scored front-running maiden and allowance wins over the inner track at Aqueduct, then returned from a three-month freshening June 10 to finish second in the Jersey Girl, a six-furlong stakes at Belmont. The Jersey Girl was won by Kareena, who has scored two blowout victories since finishing second in her debut to the talented Lightstream.

Other contenders in the seven-horse Miss Woodford are Bodacious Babe, Quick Release, and Street Cruizer, all of whom have early speed.

Bodacious Babe has won consecutive maiden and optional-claiming races for trainer Jane Cibelli and jockey Lopez. Nik Juarez picks up the mount.

Quick Release, trained by Mike Dini, chased Appealing Maggie in the Jersey Girl before weakening to fifth. Prior to that, she was third in the Miss Preakness.

Street Cruizer enters off a first-level optional-claiming win at Pimlico for trainer Lawrence Murray.

Brody’s Cause joins Haskell

With two weeks to go before the Grade 1 Haskell, the field is beginning to take shape.

Trainer Steve Asmussen has pointed Gun Runner to the $1 million Haskell since soon after he finished third in the Kentucky Derby. Doug O’Neill on Monday confirmed that Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist will start in the Haskell, and on Thursday, trainer Dale Romans notified Monmouth officials that he would be sending Blue Grass Stakes winner Brody’s Cause to the 1 1/8-mile race.

Since winning the Blue Grass by 1 3/4 lengths, Brody’s Cause has finished seventh of 19 in the Derby and sixth of 13 in the Belmont Stakes.

“He’s been doing good since the Belmont,” Romans said. “He will ship up from Churchill a few days before the race.”