Isabella Sings wins Eatontown for second stakes victory of meet

Isabella Sings won her second stakes of the Monmouth Park meet on Saturday, leading her six rivals on a merry chase from beginning to end in the Grade 3 Eatontown.

Isabella Sings had shown a new dimension by winning the May 29 Miss Liberty Stakes from off the pace. But on Saturday, jockey Paco Lopez took the lead in the $103,000 Eatontown, a 1 1/16-mile turf race, and never looked back, winning by three lengths.

Isabella Sings is now 6-for-15 for her owner-breeder, Sienna Farms. She is trained by Todd Pletcher, who is 14-for-37 at the meet and only three wins behind leading trainer Jorge Navarro.

"Todd told me to tell Paco to try and get to the front, unlike last time, and he had the same idea already in mind," said Anthony Sciametta, Pletcher's Monmouth-based assistant.

Lopez, who holds a commanding lead in the Monmouth rider standings, won five races on Saturday.

"There wasn’t a whole lot of speed in the race and she was nice and relaxed in front," Lopez said. "She was just the best horse in the race.”

Isabella Sings paid $2.80 in the seven-horse field, and was timed in 1:40.57, after setting fractions of 23.09, 47.03, 1:10.42, and 1:34.49. A 4-year-old daughter of Eskendereya, she is now 6-for-15 with earnings of $451,950. Three of Isabella Sings's four career stakes wins have come at Monmouth.

Sea Coast, trained by Christophe Clement, ran a strong race to be second. She was forced to stead and await on the far turn and then split horses in the stretch. She finished 1 3/4 lengths ahead of Bureau de Change, trained by Brian Lynch, who lodged a bid four wide on the turn.