Monmouth Park: If allowed to start, Orseno filly is ready

OCEANPORT, N.J. – Joe Orseno ran into unanticipated hurdles when he entered P J’s Superego in the $55,000 allowance feature Friday at Monmouth Park.

Assuming the remaining barrier is cleared, P J’s Superego will be a major factor in the second-level optional $16,000 claimer for New Jersey-bred fillies and mares at six furlongs.

P J’s Superego is part of an entry with P J Hooker. Paco Lopez is named to ride both Orseno trainees.

Orseno’s first preference is to have P J’s Superego make her debut for his barn. This would be the first start for the 3-year-old since she was elevated to victory when Kelli Got Frosty was disqualified from a win in a New York Stallion Stakes last November at Aqueduct.

P J’s Superego set the pace in that race and was beaten only a half-length.

P J’s Superego was vanned off after that race and placed on the supervising veterinarian’s restricted list.

P J’s Superego was transferred in May to Orseno for the start of the Monmouth meet, and she has been working steadily ever since.

“She’s fine,” Orseno said. “I don’t know what the situation was in New York. She’s been working here for two months now, and with every work, she gets better and better. She had some sort of abscess in a back foot. Once it popped out, she was fine. She has no physical problems at all.”

The race on Friday looked like an ideal comeback spot, but when Orseno entered her last Sunday he was advised that P J’s Superego was still on the vet’s list.

That created a scramble to make her eligible to race.

The first obstacle was cleared Monday: a supervised workout where P J’s Superego breezed a half-mile in 49 seconds.

The second requirement is a little trickier: a clean blood test. Orseno is hopeful the lab results come back in time to put P J’s Superego in the starting gate.

“She’s more than a New Jersey-bred,” Orseno said. “She’s a good filly.”

P J Hooker gives Orseno a reasonable fallback position. Fourth in a similar spot last month, P J Hooker will start only if P J’s Superego is barred from the race.

Double Desert is in the best current form of anyone in the race and will put a two-race winning streak on the line from the outside post. She scored a rallying first-level statebred allowance victory at 29-1 on Haskell Day, July 28.