Leader of the Band comes back to Monmouth off lengthy layoff
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Leader of the Band needed four starts to hit a peak during her 2022 campaign. Her trainer, John Servis, doesn’t think it will take as long in 2023.
“She’s ready to rock and roll,” Servis said.
If that assessment holds and Leader of the Band comes back from a 22-week break in rhythm, she’ll win the $100,000 Serena’s Song Stakes on Sunday at Monmouth Park.
Five-year-old Leader of the Band is one of seven entered in the Serena’s Song, carded for older fillies and mares at one mile and 70 yards on dirt. She’s the fastest and most accomplished horse in the field, has a proven record of success over the local surface, attracts perennial leading rider Paco Lopez, and carrying 118 pounds gets four pounds from two rivals and gives weight to no one.
Leader of the Band, a Pennsylvania-bred by Bandbox campaigned by Avalon Racing Stables, ended last year with a thud, finishing a distant fifth in the Lasix-free Falls City Stakes on Nov. 24 at Churchill Downs. Last summer went much better. A modest fourth in the 2022 Serena’s Song, Leader of the Band came back to win the Lady’s Secret at Monmouth before finishing second to Grade 1-class Search Results in the Molly Pitcher. She captured the restricted Summer Colony at Saratoga, and, for further proof supporting her local form, Leader of the Band won the Grade 3 Monmouth Oaks in 2021.
“I’m very optimistic about the year she’s going to have. She’s training great. She’s bigger and stronger and mentally settles better,” Servis said.
Leader of the Band breaks from post 3 and should be prominent from the start in a paceless race.
Radio Days also figures to race forwardly coming out of two sprints to start her season. She ran well at Gulfstream Park, finishing a troubled third in her first race since July, but was flat last month after breaking slowly at Keeneland. The 4-year-old filly is a tough read. While seven of her nine starts have been around one turn, she ran the race of her life a year ago in the 1 1/8-mile Black-Eyed Susan, where Radio Days sizzled her final furlong in 11.88 seconds for a fast-closing third of 13.
“I’m still experimenting,” trainer Shug McGaughey conceded. “I kind of always thought her better races would be going a distance of ground. That’s what we’re going to find out Sunday.”
Radio Days finished a distant second over the Monmouth main track in the Boiling Springs on July 3, while Shotgun Hottie, another plausible winner Sunday, four weeks later shipped to finish second in the Monmouth Oaks. Making her first start for trainer Cherie DeVaux, Shotgun Hottie notched a solid Oaklawn Park allowance win in March. Racing without Lasix for the first time in five outings, she was a fading fifth last month in the Doubledogdare at Keeneland.
“She didn’t bleed, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t affect her,” DeVaux said. “She trains well at Keeneland but might not have loved the track. She didn’t really move forward like we expected.”
On Beyer Speed Figures, Shotgun Hottie has a forward move in her, while the Chad Brown-trained filly Distinctlypossible needs a Beyer boost to contend. She did win well last month at Keeneland but beat just five foes in a modest first-level allowance race.
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