Brown holds strong hand in Monmouth Stakes
Chad Brown has four potential starters in the Grade 1 Manhattan Stakes on Saturday in New York, but that doesn’t mean he can’t field a serious squad for the Grade 3, $150,000 Monmouth Stakes on Saturday in New Jersey.
Brown entered three in the 1 1/8-mile Monmouth, and while Tribhuvan is likely to be scratched in favor of the Manhattan, Brown said Thursday, Devamani and Serve the King give him a solid one-two punch.
Pixelate, another one of the dozen entered in the Monmouth, will be scratched to race at Pimlico in the Prince Georges County next Sunday, trainer Mike Stidham said. That would allow also-eligible Andrez Conquist to get into the field, but he’d be a 60-1 shot if he runs. Trainer Kelly Breen entered West Will Power for the main track only, and the horse would be very tough if the Monmouth were shifted to dirt. Rain is forecast to end Friday evening, with good drying conditions Saturday.
Devamani easily is the more accomplished of Brown’s two firm entrants, but Serve the King could be live. He hasn’t raced since finishing second to the Brown-trained Almanaar in the 2020 renewal of the Monmouth Stakes, run last October, but was improving at the end of last year’s campaign and, with just six starts, is a 5-year-old with upside. Brown did Serve the King’s early prep work at Payson Park in Florida and shipped him to Monmouth for three more breezes.
“He had some issues at the end of last year, and we had to rest him,” Brown said. “He’s a quirky guy to train – can lose his focus pretty easily – and one of the reasons I picked this race was not only that he ran so good in it last year, but for whatever reason the horse really likes to train at Monmouth.”
Seven-year-old Devamani, a gelding with 26 starts, only came to Brown’s barn for his 2020 campaign, which he ended with a bang, running a career-best 100 Beyer Speed Figure winning the Knickerbocker over nine furlongs in October at Belmont. Back in action May 1, he finished a one-paced fourth, beaten more than four lengths, in the nine-furlong Fort Marcy.
“He did get really good last year. We’ll see. Maybe he just had a little window there, but maybe he’ll continue on. He’s certainly training good,” Brown said.
Tribhuvan would be favored and a major front-end threat should he wind up racing at Monmouth rather than Belmont.
Also shipping from Belmont is Winters Back and Corelli. Winters Back is a progressive Todd Pletcher-trained 4-year-old who, in Tribhuvan’s absence, figures to be on the lead in his first start beyond 1 1/16 miles. Winters Back finished a close fourth Feb. 27 in the Canadian Turf, his lone stakes start.
The Jonathan Thomas-trained Corelli went winless in four 2020 starts, his first season racing in America, but won the Henry Clarke at Pimlico over 1 1/16 miles in his 2021 debut.
“We think we figured him out,” Thomas said. “We probably were running him too long last year.”
The Monmouth is the last of 12 races, first post 12:15 p.m. Eastern. Jockey Paco Lopez, named on Winters Back for Pletcher, rides his first Monmouth card of the season.