He'spuregold needs to turn it around in Irish War Cry

When He’spuregold won the Irish War Cry Handicap in July 2021, he was coming off an encouraging maiden win. He won it again in July 2022 after capturing a second-level allowance race in his first start of the season.

But if He’spuregold is to three-peat in the Irish War Cry on Sunday at Monmouth Park, he’ll need to run better than he did June 11 when he finished a well-beaten fourth as the odds-on favorite in the Friendly Lover Stakes at Monmouth.

That marked the second straight subpar performance for He’spuregold, beaten about 16 lengths in the Appleton Stakes in April at Gulfstream Park. Perhaps it’s merely coincidence, but those two starts came without Lasix after He’spuregold had raced on the anti-bleeder medication in eight straight races. There’s no Lasix in the $85,000 Irish War Cry, restricted to New Jersey-breds and carded for one mile on grass.

The National Weather Service as of Friday forecast a 60 percent chance of heavy rain Sunday afternoon at Monmouth, so a rain-off onto dirt is in play.

Trained by Kelly Breen for Roseland Farm, He’spuregold, a 5-year-old Vancouver gelding, had won all three of his New Jersey-bred races before the Friendly Lover dud. He’s also been aces on the Monmouth grass course; other than a sound defeat in the Grade 1 United Nations last summer, He’spuregold is 5-4-1-0 over the Monmouth lawn. None of that will matter if he doesn’t have a bounce-back race in him.

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On turf, Smithwick’s Spice is the Irish War Cry’s other key player. A 7-year-old by Frost Giant, Smithwick’s Spice made his first 22 starts on dirt before being tried on grass last August, and the surface switch pushed the gelding to a new level. Smithwick’s Spice has gone 7-5-1-0 on grass, and while he better suits one-turn races, he did win a Tampa turf mile wire to wire in January. Freshened after that for the Monmouth meet, Smithwick’s Spice, in stark contrast to He’spuregold, ran well in his comeback, sharply winning a Delaware Park turf-sprint allowance last month.

Irish Boolum is the horse for dirt, especially if the track is wet. Last October, Irish Boolum romped over a sloppy track at Delaware, clearing his first allowance condition by more than six lengths. He reproduced that form on a fast track at Monmouth in the Friendly Lover, winning by eight lengths, and subsequently worked a fast half-mile at the Fair Hill Training Center.

A 4-year-old Exaggerator gelding trained by Cal Lynch, Irish Boolum was bred and is owned by Isabelle de Tomaso, who campaigned Irish War Cry.

◗ Jockeys Samy Camacho and Jorge Gonzalez each are expected to be out of action four to six weeks with injuries incurred in the same Monmouth race on July 2.

Gonzalez’s mount, Momma’s Kim, clipped heels and fell when the race leader dropped toward the rail without proper clearance. Camacho’s mount, Bingo’s Girl, fell over Momma’s Kim. Both horses walked off the track.

Camacho has been diagnosed with a separated right shoulder and is recuperating at his home in Florida. Gonzalez suffered a stable fracture of his T3 vertabra. Camacho was second-leading rider at Monmouth at the time of his injury.

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