Jersey Shore Stakes wide open, filled with speed

The Jersey Shore Stakes, for 3-year-olds at six furlongs on dirt on Saturday at Monmouth Park, evidently hit a sweet spot in the crowded East Coast stakes schedule, drawing a wildly competitive field of 10 entrants.

The race goes with no more than nine runners, however, with Nakatomi expected to come out of the race. Trainer Wesley Ward said Friday he planned to enter Nakatomi in a Saratoga allowance race and would scratch the colt from the Jersey Shore.

Nakatomi looked like a win contender as a capable stalking type in a race packed with pace. Three Jersey Shore entrants have TimeformUS early pace figures of 115 or higher, and several others are rated 100 or higher.

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In such situations outside drawn horses often outperform inside speed, and among the pace players in the Jersey Shore, Lightening Larry in post 7 and Senbei in 9 have the better draws. Lightening Larry has been working steadily at Monmouth for trainer Jorge Delgado, who has trained the colt for only two starts. The most recent of those, the May 21 Chick Lang Stakes at Pimlico, was a breakout performance for Lightening Larry, who pressed a hot pace and beat the fast colt Cogburn by three-quarters of a length. Jockey Chantal Sutherland, aboard for the first time in Maryland, comes to New Jersey to keep the mount.

New York-bred Senbei has won five of his six starts, his lone defeat a second-place finish going seven furlongs. He might prove to be the speed of the speed and in his most recent start, the $100,000 Gold Fever over six furlongs at Belmont, he bravely turned back favored Provocateur, another Jersey Shore entrant. Provocateur returned from his Gold Fever defeat and was crushed in the Grade 1 Woody Stephens by Jack Christopher. He gets class relief and a cutback from seven furlongs to six, but an inside draw does him no favors.

Of a Revolution, a Saffie Joseph-trained colt, has made all five of his starts at Gulfstream Park, where Lightening Larry beat him on New Year’s Day in the Limehouse Stakes. In theory, he has the right style for Jersey Shore, but horses making sustained runs from off the pace in Monmouth dirt races have been few and far between in recent weeks.