Just Call Kenny using Friday feature as possible springboard to Haskell

OCEANPORT, N.J. – Albano put his name on the list of likely Haskell Invitational runners with an impressive victory last weekend in the Grade 3 Pegasus Stakes at Monmouth Park.

Another Haskell contender could emerge Friday in the Monmouth feature, a $44,000 second-level optional $30,000 claiming sprint.

Just Call Kenny launches a comeback in this spot, with the goal of making the Grade 1, $1 million Haskell for 3-year-olds here July 27.
It’s an ambitious plan mapped out by trainer Pat McBurney: the allowance race Friday, the $100,000 Long Branch Stakes on July 5, and then the Haskell.

But then, the colt just might have the talent to pull it off.

The Virginia-bred son of Jump Start is 2 for 3 in his brief career, never venturing beyond six furlongs. His last race was a fast-closing victory in January in Gulfstream Park’s Spectacular Bid Stakes.

After spotting the field eight lengths, Just Call Kenny rallied to win by 2 1/4 lengths, earning a snappy 96 Beyer Speed Figure.

He came out of the race with a slight condylar fracture in the right foreleg that required the surgical insertion of two screws to promote healing. The injury ended any Triple Crown ambitions.

With the second half of the season for 3-year-olds underway, Just Call Kenny will have an opportunity to demonstrate that he belongs at a top level.

“Maybe he’s not going to be quite tight enough,” McBurney said of Friday’s race. “We’re planning this as an extension of his training. He’s feeling fantastic. There looks like there’s enough speed in there to where he could lay off them and come running. This sprint race is designed to start him off to the Haskell.”

Paco Lopez, the meet’s leading rider, will be aboard for the first time.

Hot Heir Skier is the other stakes-winning 3-year-old in the 10-horse field. He captured the $100,000 Jimmy Winkfield Stakes in January at Aqueduct and most recently was fifth in the Fred Capossela Stakes in March. The blinkers, added for the Capossela, come off Friday.

Solemnly Swear, the third 3-year-old in the field, debuts for leading trainer David Jacobson after being claimed from a 17 3/4-length optional-claiming victory.

Street Brawl is the only undefeated contestant at 2 for 2. Those two victories came more than two years ago. Now 5, Street Brawl makes his first start for trainer Chuck Spina.