Donut God's speed huge weapon in Jersey Shore Stakes
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Two horses, Neoequos and Gunmetal, drop in class from Grade 1 competition, but maybe the right horse for the Jersey Shore Stakes on Friday at Monmouth Park is the colt with “1s” all over his past performances.
Donut God has led at every point of call, including the finish, in the two starts he’s made, and returning from a layoff of more than seven months, Donut God stands a decent chance of doing so again in the $100,000 Jersey Shore, a six-furlong dirt race restricted to 3-year-olds.
The Friday feature (race 5, post time 3:51 p.m.) drew six entrants. On established form, Fire Pit and Persisten have no path to victory. Who knows what to expect from Pedro Nunes.
Owned by Amo Racing and now trained by Jorge Delgado, Pedro Nunes makes his first start since being imported from Ireland, where he debuted in April. Pedro Nunes posted two timed workouts at Monmouth in July, and as a son of Nyquist and an Orb mare, Pedro Nunes has a dirt-leaning pedigree. He showed good speed pushing the pace in his debut going a left-handed seven furlongs over the all-weather surface at Dundalk, holding gamely to win, and appeared to struggle from the start on soft turf in his second outing.
Neoequos and Gunmetal finished ninth and 10th, respectively, in the Grade 1 Woody Stephens, contested over a muddy surface June 7 at Saratoga, and both clearly can do better.
Neoequos ran just well enough in Derby preps this winter and spring at Gulfstream Park – a fading third in both the Fountain of Youth and Florida Derby – to make the Kentucky Derby starting gate. Thirteenth in the Derby, Neoquos got a cutback in distance in the Woody Stephens that should have helped him, but, racing wide, he spun his wheels from start to finish.
Despite finishing behind Neoequos in the Stephens, Gunmetal ran the better race. Farther back early than expected after hitting the gate at the start, Gunmetal made a good-looking middle move from the half-mile pole around the turn, briefly looking like he could contend before going flat in upper stretch. His debut win in February at Fair Grounds and a first-level allowance score in April at Keeneland show Gunmetal is capable of winning Friday, but his rail draw could lead to a tricky trip.
Donut God’s trip should be simple: Come out running under Samy Camacho and see where it takes him. Donut God followed a smart November debut win at Churchill Downs with a front-running victory Dec. 7 in the Inaugural at Tampa Bay Downs. Trainer Brian Lynch said bone bruising necessitated Donut God get some time off, but Donut God has put together an uninterrupted seven-workout pattern at Churchill preparing for this comeback.
“He’s ready to run and it looks like a nice spot to start him back,” Lynch said. “He’s done everything we asked of him, and he seems to have grown up now. That little bit of time he got didn’t hurt him at all.”
Dropping in class from a Grade 1 won’t hurt Gunmetal and Neoequos. Donut God still might be the one for the Jersey Shore.
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