Home Brew runs away with Pegasus at Monmouth
Home Brew looked like a serious 3-year-old for the second half of the year on Saturday, winning the $150,000 Pegasus Stakes by 6 1/4 lengths at Monmouth Park.
Granted, Home Brew was beating no stars, and favored Electability, a distant third last out in the Peter Pan Stakes, broke through the gate pre-start, perhaps putting him at a disadvantage. But it was the way that Home Brew won – and the margin of victory – that really caught the eye.
Florent Geroux was named to ride Home Brew for trainer Brad Cox and owners Gary and Mary West, but Geroux didn’t make the trip to Monmouth and Paco Lopez picked up the mount Saturday afternoon.
Cyberviking was hustled to the lead from post 1, Electability coming outside him to take up a pressing position and Lopez settling his mount into the pocket, along the rail and just behind the leader. There he stayed through an opening quarter-mile in 23.70 seconds and a half in 48.40, but as Electability passing the three-furlong pole around the far turn went up to try and wrest the lead from Cyberviking, Lopez spun Home Brew off the fence and outside the two ahead of him – and got an immediate and very positive response.
Home Brew accelerated like a grass horse, blew past the leaders before hitting the top of the homestretch, and despite racing slightly greenly – inclining his head toward the stands and drifting a bit to his right – Home Brew had the Pegasus wrapped up in midstretch. Lopez glanced at the video board, saw the race was over, and eased his mount from the sixteenth pole to the wire.
Home Brew, the second choice, paid $5 to win and clocked a snappy 1:43.20 for 1 1/16 miles on a fast track. The Cox-trained Mandaloun, a leading member of his crop, clocked 1:44.63 winning the 2021 Pegasus. Electability stayed on to finish second, with Cyberviking holding third.
Home Brew, a homebred, is by Street Sense out of Omnitap, by Tapit. He started his career as a 2-year-old winning his debut at Laurel Park for Monmouth-based Kelly Breen before moving into Cox’s shed row. Home Brew won his two-turn debut, a one-mile allowance race at Oaklawn in December, and after a slop flop in the Smarty Jones Stakes was given more than three months between starts, winning the Oaklawn Stakes on April 23 by 1 3/4 lengths.
“We weren’t all that concerned with the layoff. We just didn’t know where to go with him. He was still in a steady work pattern and doing well and we just didn’t have a spot for him, and this race fell into play,” assistant trainer Blake Cox said. ‘He’s not a real big horse and I think we’ve just kind of taken our time with him and let him mature and I think that has helped a lot."
The Cox barn already has a tentative starter for the July 23 Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park. Off this performance, Home Brew will merit consideration for a big race, too.
*** Munnys Gold, a 2-year-old filly making her career debut in the third race June 17 at Monmouth Park, turned in a dazzling performance, bursting to an early lead and running off to a 14 1/2-length victory. Her time for five furlongs on a fast main track was 56.60, which yielded a massive 101 Beyer Speed Figure. That’s easily and obviously the highest 2-year-old Beyer so far in 2022 and only 27 2-year-olds since 2010 have gotten a Beyer of 101 or higher. Munnys Gold is by Munnings out of Haraawa, by Medaglia d’Oro. Purchased at a yearling auction for $300,000, the filly is trained by Todd Pletcher for owners Robert and Lawana Low.