Monmouth Park: Form holds true as favorites score in Tyro, Desert Vixen

OCEANPORT, N.J. - She Digs Me won the Tyro and Pinch Pie took the Desert Vixen as racing resumed Sunday at Monmouth Park with a pair of $70,000 stakes.

The track canceled the Friday and Saturday cards because of the intense heat and humidity on the Jersey Shore. The Friday card will be run as originally drawn on Monday, normally a Monmouth dark day.

No announcement has been on a makeup date for Saturday’s program.

The Tyro for 2-year-olds going 5 1/2 furlongs is the stepping-stone to the meet’s top juvenile event: the Grade 3, $150,000 Sapling on Sept. 3.

She Digs Me could headed in that direction following his two-length victory over Gentlemans Code.

She Digs Me, 1-1-0 in 3 starts in Kentucky, recently shipped to Monmouth to join Steve Asmussen’s New Jersey division. Elvis Trujillo was aboard as She Digs Me challenged three-wide turning for home and took the lead a furlong from the finish.

“There was a lot of speed in the race,” Trujillo said. “The top two horses were going out pretty fast, so I just sat off of them. He was strong all the way today.”

The time was 1:03.95 as She Digs Me paid $5.20 to win

In his first start back in the U.S. after running fourth in the Windsor Castle Stakes at Royal Ascot for trainer Wesley Ward, Gentlemans Code set the pace through fractions of 22.44 and 45.73 with Team Six getting third.

In the Desert Vixen for 3-year-old fillies on the turf, Pinch Pie and jockey Jeremy Rose took charge with a move along the fence on the far turn to improve to 3-0-1 in 4 grass races for trainer Tony Dutrow.

She ran the 1 1/16 miles in 1:42.28, paying $5.80 to win.

Oak Marsh was second with Glore Racer third.