Diamond Play tries Jersey Girl Handicap a third time

One day after Monmouth Park gets its turn in the national spotlight, statebreds get their turn to be highlighted – and Diamond Play is hoping the third time is her turn to shine.

The $75,000 Jersey Girl Handicap, for New Jersey-bred fillies and mares going a mile on the turf, highlights a 14-race Sunday card. The multiple graded stakes winner Valedictorian was assigned the high weight of 123 pounds for the race, but her name wasn’t dropped in the box when entries were taken, as she opts instead for the Grade 3 Matchmaker Stakes on Saturday. That leaves the 7-year-old Diamond Play in the spotlight as the starting highweight at 122 pounds, giving between three and six pounds to her seven foes.

Diamond Play finished third in the 2018 Jersey Girl behind Valedictorian, and last year was beaten just a neck when second to Heading Home. The mare is looking for her first victory of this season for Carol Luchento and Kyle Wells and trainer Anthony Margotta Jr.

Diamond Play finished ninth in the South Beach Stakes in January at Gulfstream Park. In her return to her home state, she was fifth in Monmouth’s Spruce Fir Handicap sprinting on the dirt on July 4. Nik Juarez, aboard for that race, retains the mount on Sunday.

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The only other stakes-placed runner in the field is Crazy Daisy, who has been third in the last two editions of the Spruce Fir. She was fourth in last year’s Jersey Girl. Dexter Haddock has the call for trainer Miguel Penaloza.

Bramble Bay and Boomerang Miss are the only members of this field with a victory in 2020.

The consistent Bramble Bay, making her stakes debut, finished third in a claiming race at Gulfstream, then won another claiming race going a mile on the turf. She then came to Monmouth to finish second by a neck in an allowance race sprinting on the dirt.

Boomerang Miss won an allowance/optional-claiming race in January at Turf Paradise for her lone win in five starts this year. She was most recently eighth in the Spruce Fir.

The Jersey Girl highlights the accomplishments of the New Jersey-bred filly who won nine of 11 career starts, with seven stakes victories highlighted by the Grade 1 Acorn, Grade 1 Mother Goose, and Grade 1 Test Stakes in 1998. In the Mother Goose, she defeated Kentucky Oaks winner Keeper Hill, as well as Eclipse Award champions Banshee Breeze, Countess Diana, and Soaring Softly.