Monmouth Park: Yummy With Butter tries for second graded turf win in Cliff Hanger

OCEANPORT, N.J. – Yummy With Butter bids for a second straight Grade 3 victory at Monmouth Park when he faces seven rivals Sunday in the $100,000 Cliff Hanger Stakes on the turf.

A 7-year-old gelding, Yummy With Butter pulled off a 9-1 upset in the Oceanport Stakes on the Haskell Day undercard. The victory capped a pattern of steadily improving efforts for Yummy With Butter, who joined Yvon Belsoeur’s barn at Tampa Bay Downs over the winter.

The Oceanport was the fourth straight race in which Yummy With Butter posted a Beyer Speed Figure in the 90s. Yummy With Butter sat second behind the pacesetting Sayif, wearing down that rival for a 1 1/4-length victory.

“The horse was peaking,” Belsoeur said. “He was in the right form at the right time.”

The Oceanport was the first win in six starts this season for Yummy With Butter. Paco Lopez will again be aboard.

As usual, Sayif will be the horse to catch. The front-running winner of the Battlefield Stakes deployed those same tactics in the Oceanport, holding off all rivals except Yummy With Butter.

The Cliff Hanger is one mile, a sixteenth of a mile shorter than the Oceanport. Patrick Biancone, Sayif’s trainer, sees the distance reduction as an advantage for the 5-year-old.

“The last two races were very good,” said Biancone. “The mile is better for him. It’s many of the same horses. At least, there is no luck needed for the trip. We know where he’s going.”

Get Serious is a veteran of the New Jersey grass stakes, having captured three graded events at Monmouth last summer.

A 7-year-old gelding who prefers a firm course, Get Serious has not caught his ideal footing this season. Winless in three races this year, Get Serious will try to rebound from a sixth-place finish in the Battlefield contested over a course rated good.

“Running in that race was a big error in judgement,” said trainer John Forbes. “Around the turn, water was splashing. He just doesn’t like it soft.”

There are several interesting new faces in the field, led by Right One, winner of the Grade 3 Jaipur at seven furlongs at Belmont Park for trainer Christophe Clement. Right One has won three of four starts since transferring to the Clement barn after starting his career in France.

Cherokee Lord and Mata Keranjang both step up following second-level allowance wins.