Irish Strait, Golden Brown square off again in Dan Horn Handicap

In the 2018 edition of the Dan Horn Handicap, Irish Strait was cruising on the lead in the stretch of the 1 1/16-mile turf race for New Jersey-breds and seemed home free. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, 16-1 outsider Golden Brown began to rapidly cut into his lead as he shot up the rail. At the wire, 1-2 Irish Strait held on by a half-length.

Golden Brown would go on to win the Grade 3 Kent Stakes at Delaware Park in his next start at 15-1, while Irish Strait finished third in three consecutive graded stakes.

Fast forward a year, and Sunday’s Dan Horn rematch at Monmouth Park is a lot more obvious than a year ago when Irish Strait conceded 11 pounds to Golden Brown. Irish Strait will carry high weight of 125 pounds Sunday, and Golden Brown has been assigned 123. The weight assignments for the other four entrants in the $75,000 Dan Horn range from 116 to 119.

Irish Strait, a 7-year-old English Channel gelding bred and owned by Isabelle de Tomaso and trained by Graham Motion, comes into Sunday’s race off a fifth-place finish, but don’t be fooled, he is still clearly the horse to beat. Irish Strait set the pace in the Grade 2 Monmouth Stakes last time out before weakening in the final furlong to be beaten 5 1/2 lengths.

He obviously is taking a big class drop, and the 1 1/8-mile distance of the Monmouth Stakes is a bit outside of his range at this stage of his career. A sixteenth of a mile may not sound like much, but he is much better suited for Sunday’s distance.

Eight for 29 in his career, Irish Strait has always performed well over the Monmouth grass, where he has a 13-4-2-4 record. He won the Grade 3 Red Bank and finished second in the Monmouth Stakes here in 2017.

Jorge Vargas Jr., who has ridden Irish Strait in five of his last six races, has the mount from post 2.

Golden Brown races for ABL Stable and partners and is trained by Pat McBurney. He went winless in the last five starts of his 3-year-old campaign following the Kent – including three starts against rugged graded stakes company – but won his seasonal debut May 11 at Monmouth.

He rallied from several lengths off the pace at 9-1 to nail even-money favorite Point to Remember by a nose in an open second-level optional claimer going a mile on the main track. He earned a solid 88 Beyer Speed Figure.

Paco Lopez takes over the mount Sunday from post 3.

◗ Race 2 is a first-level optional claimer for 3-year-olds going six furlongs. Shancelot will be a big favorite in the five-horse field for trainer Jorge Navarro.

In his lone outing, Shancelot went wire to wire in a Gulfstream Park maiden race in February, holding off Bodexpress by a neck.

Bodexpress would go on in his next start to be second behind Maximum Security in the Grade 1 Florida Derby. The third- and fourth-place finishers from Shancelot’s maiden score would come back to win their next race.

Shancelot has been in steady training at Gulfstream Park West and Monmouth since his debut and will likely be stakes-bound off a good effort Sunday.