Mohs goes deep on either surface

Turf or dirt, Mohs should be competitive in the featured eighth race on the final Friday of racing this season at Monmouth Park.

Mohs is one of 11 entrants in the second-level allowance carded for 1 1/8 miles on turf and also open to $30,000 claimers. If the local forecast holds, the Friday feature (post time 3:45 p.m. Eastern) likely will be run on the main track; heavy rain is expected Thursday night giving way to a showery Friday.

Mohs, a 3-year-old facing mainly older rivals, has turned in solid performances on grass and dirt this summer, though his connections believe he’s a turf horse at heart.

“Paco kind of thought his stride was longer on turf than in the slop race,” said trainer Patrick McBurney, referring to jockey Paco Lopez.

Mohs, by Hard Spun out of Bagh of Jewelz, by A.P. Indy, went wire to wire July 18 at Monmouth capturing an off-turf maiden route by more than nine lengths while racing over a muddy surface. He came back about a month later and overcame trouble to win a first-level turf allowance at Monmouth and raced respectably Sept. 4 at Saratoga, finishing sixth, beaten only about four lengths, in the Grade 3 Saranac, a 1 1/16-mile grass race for 3-year-olds.

“Around the first turn and down the backside, Tyler [Gaffalione] was having to snug him a little bit because they were slowing the pace down,” McBurney said. “It turned into a sprint the last quarter-mile, and he’s a big old long colt who doesn’t have a turn of foot like some of those horses.”

That being the case, Mohs should appreciate his first try Friday at a distance as long as 1 1/8 miles.

Three horses are entered main track only, including Croatian, whose trainer, Wayne Potts, will be leading trainer at Monmouth this meet. Potts was suspended Sept. 1 through Sept. 15 by Monmouth stewards for a medication violation in a June race but appealed the ruling and won’t serve any days until after the Monmouth season. New York stewards also recently handed Potts a 20-day suspension for a claiming infraction at Saratoga. None of that has much bearing on Croatian’s claim to contention Friday, when he drops in class after a decent fifth in the Grade 3 Iselin last month at Monmouth. Croatian won last October at Monmouth under similar conditions but is untested at 1 1/8 miles.

Lopez leads the pack

Jockey Paco Lopez enters closing weekend with 100 Monmouth winners this season, 47 more than Isaac Castillo’s second-highest meet total. Lopez hit 109 winners during the 2019 Monmouth racing season, which included 648 races, roughly 100 more than will be run during the 2021 meet.