Monmouth features pick five guarantee for Saturday

Monmouth Park will have the first of its five bundled stakes days Saturday. The three-day holiday weekend will also host the popular food truck festival.

The four Saturday stakes will be part of a 50-cent pick five that will offer a unique guarantee: If there is a single winning ticket, that person is guaranteed to receive $150,000 regardless of pool size. The guarantee will also be in place on the other big days of the meet: Father’s Day, June 17; June 30; Haskell Day, July 29; and Sept. 1.

The four Saturday stakes are the Grade 2, $200,000 Monmouth Stakes; the Grade 3, $100,000 Salvator Mile; the $75,000 Boiling Springs; and the $60,000 John J. Reilly.

Pimlico’s loss on Saturday has turned into Monmouth’s gain, as Divisidero and Frostmourne, both of whom were scratched out of the Grade 2 Dixie after it was moved to the main track, are expected for the Monmouth Stakes, a 1 1/8-mile turf race.

Money Multiplier, who won the Monmouth Stakes a year ago for trainer Chad Brown, also is probable for the race. Money Multiplier will be making his first start since finishing third in the Group 1, $1 million H.H. Emir’s Trophy at Al Rayyan Racecourse in Qatar on Feb 24.

In the Emir’s Trophy, Money Multiplier raced for owner Khalifa Al Kuwari and was trained by Jassim Mohammed Ghazali Jahromi. He is now back in Brown’s stable.

The Salvator Mile, a main-track race, could attract Sunny Ridge, Page McKenney, Great Stuff, and Shaft of Light.