Huston loaded for New Jersey-bred showcase card

All 10 races on Sunday at Monmouth Park, including the afternoon’s three stakes, are for New Jersey-breds. Total purses on the day are $460,000.

The stakes are the New Jersey Breeders’ and Eleven North at six furlongs for 3-year-olds and up and for females, respectively, and the Charles Hesse III at 1 1/16 miles. They each have a purse of $60,000 and have been weighted as handicaps.

Three other New Jersey-bred stakes were run earlier in the meet – the John J. Reilly at six furlongs, the Dan Horn at 1 1/16 miles over turf, and the Jersey Girl at a mile on turf. The Reilly was won by Chublicious, who recently had his first workout in five weeks. The Dan Horn went to Irish Strait, and the Jersey Girl to Valedictorian. None of the three will race Sunday.

Other leading J-breds not in action at Sunday’s New Jersey Thoroughbred Festival include Grade 2 winner Irish War Cry, who is back in steady training; graded 3-year-old winner Golden Brown; and 3-year-old Dial Operator, who is 4 for 5 in his career.

Rory Huston leads all trainers Sunday with horses in seven races. In addition to training, Huston manages Overbrook Farm in Colt’s Neck, N.J.

“The last week or two, I’ve cut back on starting horses so I can save them and point to Sunday as much as I can,” Huston said. “This is one of the highlights of the year for us.”

:: Wager on racing at Monmouth Park with DRF Bets

The highest-weighted horses in the stakes are Liz’s Cable Girl, who will carry 126 pounds for trainer Pat McBurney in the Eleven North, and Chunnel, who will tote 125 for Jorge Navarro in the Charles Hesse III.

Liz’s Cable Girl, a 4-year-old daughter of Cable Boy, is 7 for 12 and figures to be difficult to beat in the Eleven North. Since going through her New Jersey-bred conditions, she has won four open allowance or optional-claiming races. She finished third in the open Regret Stakes at Monmouth in June and fourth in the open Dashing Beauty at Delaware Park in July.

Her chief rivals look to be Sensational Toy, coming off an open first-level allowance win at Parx for Juan Serey, and Cee Bee Gee Bee, a three-time allowance winner at the Monmouth meet, all for Jason Servis and owner and breeder Rock Talk Farm.

Love Came to Town, a seven-time winner, all for Kevin Sleeter, won the open Nellie Morse Stakes at Laurel in 2016, but she is now 6 years old and winless in her last 14 starts.

Liz’s Cable Girl will give Sensational Toy five pounds and Cee Bee Gee Bee and Love Came to Town six pounds.

Chunnel has raced for a number of trainers in his career. He won a statebred allowance by 4 3/4 lengths in June and then finished fifth in the Dan Horn. This will be his first start in 10 weeks.

Fuzzy Muzzle, who also was bred and is owned by Rock Talk Farm and trained by Servis, is still competitive at age 9. He will get three pounds from Chunnel in the Charles Hesse III and will be doing his best running late.

The New Jersey Breeders’ is carded as race 4. Saucy Don, 8, will be making his fifth appearance in the race. He finished second last year, third in 2015, fourth in 2014, and third in 2013. In 2015, he won the John J. Reilly at six furlongs on dirt and the Dan Horn at a mile on turf back to back. He became quite ill in 2016 and is winless in his last 15 starts.

Mello Groove, a 6-year-old trained by Huston, is weighted at 119, one pound more than Saucy Don. He has been competitive against open optional-claiming company at the meet.