Evenings End surprises in Dowd

OCEANPORT, N.J. - Evenings End pulled off the upset in the for New Jersey-breds at Monmouth Park before a Father's Day crowd of 24,262.

Except for the Haskell Invitational or the Breeders' Cup, it was Monmouth's largest crowd since 2005.

A sprinter for most of his career, Evenings End ($32.20) was stretching out for the one mile and 70 yards in the Dowd. He had run once this season, scoring a pacesetting win at six furlongs against open company in a second-level allowance at Penn National.

Back at his home track, Evenings End stumbled at the break, and Francisco Maysonett eased him off the crisp early pace set by Hermosillo. Maysonett sent his 5-year-old after the pacesetter down the backstretch, and after a brief duel, Evenings End edged clear on the final turn to beat Luna Park by 1 3/4 lengths with Clear Faith third.

"This race was our goal from last year," trainer Tim Kelly said. "Everything worked to absolute perfection, which in this game is very rare. The jock worked him all winter long, which really helped a lot, I think. I'm really proud of this horse."

It was the first stakes win for Maysonett. The time was 1:44.45 on the fast track.

Flamin' Hot wins via disqualification

A bumpy stretch run in for 3-year-old grass sprinters resulted in Escrow Kid being disqualified after finishing first and Flamin' Hot being elevated to the win.

After splitting foes in the lane, Escrow Kid ducked out sharply into the path of Never Content. Both Elvis Trujillo on Never Content and Paco Lopez aboard Bernie the Maestro lodged objections against the winner.

After a lengthy review, the stewards took down Escrow Kid and placed him sixth.

That gave the win to Flamin' Hot, who was gaining with every stride in the stretch. He was a nose behind Escrow Kid at the wire.

Alan Garcia rode for trainer Rick Violette, and Flamin' Hot improved to 4 for 4 in turf sprints.

He paid $4 to win in the 5 1-2 furlong race clocked in 1:02.31.

In the revised order of finish, Cooper Junior got second, and Close to the Edge was third.