Jersey Shore good fit for Full Salute

Monmouth Park offers two very different stakes for 3-year-olds on Saturday. The Grade 3 Jersey Shore is at six furlongs on dirt, and the Lamplighter is a 1 1/16-mile turf race.

Full Salute is a winner on both surfaces, and trainer Eddie Plesa Jr. cross-entered him. After sizing up the competition, he has decided to keep him around one turn in the Jersey Shore.

“If you have an opportunity to look at both races, I think you should,” Plesa said. “Even though we owe it to the horse and to his connections to eventually try him going longer, this is probably not the time to experiment going long on turf.”

Paco Lopez is 2 for 2 on Full Salute at this meet, but he will be at Saratoga on Saturday. Lopez is named on six horses up north, including Monmouth maiden winner Bay Numbers in the Grade 3 Sanford for Plesa and Isabella Sings, a two-time stakes winner this year who is trained by Todd Pletcher. Trevor McCarthy is in from Maryland to ride Full Salute and Brass Compass, who will start for Plesa in the Lamplighter. McCarthy, who was second in the Monmouth standings last year, has seven mounts on the card.

Full Salute not only can handle dirt and turf, he can race on the pace or from off it. A winner of five of 10 starts, he won a third-level optional-claiming sprint after battling for the lead in late May, then rallied from third to win the 5 1/2-furlong Select Stakes in his June turf debut.

Plesa also has entered Yellow Chips in the six-horse Jersey Shore. Yellow Chips has won back-to-back first-level optional claimers at Monmouth. He was in for the $50,000 claiming price in his most recent start.

Front Pocket Money, trained by Steve Asmussen, comes into the Jersey Shore off three good efforts. He won an Oaklawn Park maiden race in April, a first-level turf allowance sprint at Churchill Downs in May, and then was run down from behind to be beaten a neck by eight-time winner Shadow Rock in a second-level optional-claiming turf sprint at Churchill in June.

The second- and fourth-place finishers in Front Pocket Money’s maiden score both came back to win. The runner-up, El Venue, won a Churchill maiden race. War Ride won at Ellis Park.

Similarly, the second- and ninth-place finishers in Front Pocket Money’s allowance victory were return winners. Mr. Business, who was second, won a Churchill allowance. Pow Wow Pal shipped to Indiana Grand, where he won an allowance.

Kentucky-based trainer Buff Bradley has entered Divine Warrior in the Jersey Shore. Bradley has had only one previous starter at Monmouth Park, the $2.1 million earner Brass Hat, who finished third in the 2009 United Nations.

Divine Warrior has won his last two starts, a second-level optional claimer at Ellis Park and a first-level allowance at Churchill.

Lamplighter Stakes

The Lamplighter was originally scheduled for last weekend but failed to fill. Following the scratch of Full Salute, it will have six starters.

The top contenders are Noble Quality, trained by Christophe Clement, and Second Mate, who races for Jane Cibelli.

Since winning a first-level optional-claiming race on turf at Gulfstream Park in April, Noble Quality has finished third in the English Channel at Gulfstream and 10th, beaten four lengths, in the Grade 3 Pennine Ridge at Belmont Park. He is nicely spotted in this $60,000 race.

Second Mate finished second last out in the $50,000 Stanton over turf at Delaware Park. Prior to that, he won a first-level optional claimer at Parx.