Brown trainees prevail in Eatontown, Monmouth Stakes
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Chad Brown came into Saturday with 24 turf stakes wins at Monmouth Park since 2020, 17 more than the next-highest total for a trainer. Brown came out of Saturday with two more turf stakes wins, as odds-on favorite Redistricting dominated the $150,000 Monmouth Stakes and Whiskey Decision upset her favored stablemate Maggie Go in the Grade 3, $150,000 Eatontown.
Redistricting ($2.60) went straight to the front under Flavien Prat in the Monmouth and never had an anxious moment, going win 24.98, 49.14, and 1:13.66 seconds on the way to clocking 1:49.78 for 1 1/8 miles. Brown believes Redistricting prefers a firm course, but so superior was he to five foes that he still won by five lengths over good going.
Redistricting dropped in class to a listed stakes after contesting the Grade 1 Turf Classic last out and would be a natural candidate for the Grade 1 United Nations next month on the Haskell undercard. Five-year-old Redistricting had just two wins from eight starts before the Monmouth, and Brown, who trains Redistricting for Klaravich Stables, was eager to get the horse back in the win column.
Redistricting, bred and bought at auction in England, is by Kingman out of the Montjeu mare Cascata. Otago, while no match for the winner, finished second, two lengths ahead of third-place Atlast. Brooklyn Guy, Master Piece, and Kingmax – the latter Redistricting’s main on-paper rival – were scratched.
In the 1 1/16-mile Eatontown, Maggie Go, an Argentine import making her North American debut while ridden by Prat, went off at odds of 6-5 but proved no match in the final furlong for 4-1 fourth-choice Whiskey Decision, who was making her first start for Brown and first since Nov. 8.
Whiskey Decision and jockey Samy Camacho raced a few lengths off the slow pace set by 29-1 shot Damaso, with Maggie Go pressing from the outside. But when Maggie Go made her move three paths from the rail turning into the homestretch, Camacho found a seam along the fence for Whiskey Decision, who slipped willingly through and then had more punch to the wire than her well-backed stablemate.
Whiskey Decision won by one length, with Maggie Go a half-length better than third-place Ozara, who made a bold, wide bid from the back of a five-horse field that she couldn’t sustain through the homestretch. Second choice Five Towns prove no factor, finishing a well-beaten fourth. Lady Firefoot and Delightful Ava were scratched.
Whiskey Decision, who earned a 93 Beyer Speed Figure, paid $10 and ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:44.41. The 4-year-old is a homebred daughter of Into Mischief and the Distorted Humor mare Funny Song. Her owners, Frederick Hertrich and John Fielding, breed to sell more than to race, and Whiskey Decision was entered in three auctions, twice failing to meet her reserve ($230,000 the first time, $150,000 the second) as a yearling. She was then withdrawn from a 2-year-old in training sale. Now, she’s a graded-stakes winner.
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