Goldberg wins wherever his horses run

OCEANPORT, N.J. - From Belmont to Monmouth to Delaware, with a few stops along the way, trainer Alan Goldberg is in the midst of one of his best years.

Goldberg is winning races at a 37 percent clip, already having sent out 19 winners at tracks in five different states along the East Coast. Goldberg, 51, won 23 percent of the time last year, but has been doing better this year because he has more and better horses.

Goldberg trains 50 horses, his largest group ever, for Jayeff B Stables at a Colts Neck, N.J., farm, rather than training them at Monmouth Park. The advantages of training at the farm have contributed to his success in recent years.

"There are no time restraints; we can turn out the horses at any time and train them on the turf when we want," Goldberg said. "The only disadvantage is that we can't school them in the paddock here."

Goldberg has been using the training farm for nearly 15 years, but exclusively since Jayeff B Stables bought the farm five years ago. The owner of Jayeff B Stables is Richard Santulli, who owned the aviation company Executive Jet before selling the company to financier Warren Buffett in 1998.

Goldberg sent out 20 only starters at Monmouth last year, winning two races. But with the increase in purses, Goldberg plans on sending out better and more horses here this summer.

"Last summer, I would send out my third string here, with higher purses in New York and Delaware," said Goldberg. "But with the better purses, I'll be running my first and second strings here, as the purses are even comparable to New York."

Goldberg has one win from four starts at the meet. In Monday's Grade 3 Red Bank Handicap on the turf, his 4-year-old Runspastum, a $500,000 Keeneland yearling sales purchase, finished third despite encountering a world of traffic. Runspastum was blocked in the stretch, and finally made a strong surge and finished third when he was given running room.

"I was happy with his performance, but not crazy about the outcome," said Goldberg. "I think if he got clear at the top of the lane, he would have had a great chance to win."

Goldberg sends out the turf-bred 3-year-old Navesink, a $140,000 Keeneland purchase, in Friday's eighth race, a $39,000 nonwinners-of-two-other-than allowance at 1 1/16 miles on the grass. Navesink is by Irish River out of Sailing Minstrel by The Minstrel. He has won both of his career starts, both on the grass. In his last start, at Belmont on May 9, Navesink popped a 93 Beyer to win at a mile versus 3-year-olds and up. Navesink was scratched from Sunday's Jersey Derby when the race came off the turf.