Monmouth: Srumdiddlyumptious stays home to take Fort Monmouth

Trainer Kelly Breen could have taken his filly Srumdiddlyumptious to run for a $75,000 purse at Delaware Park, but she would have had to stretch out around two turns instead of sprinting. Breen got to stay at home and run Srumdiddlyumptious on the main track when Friday’s heavy rain caused Monmouth Park to switch Saturday’s $61,200 Fort Monmouth from turf to dirt.

When Breen saw that five of the 10 fillies and mares entered in the Fort Monmouth were scratched, including potential pacesetter Ballistic Sue, he decided the Fort Monmouth was ripe for the taking and instructed jockey Elvis Trujillo to put Srumdiddlyumptious on the lead and dare the others to try and catch her.

“We weren’t planning on running today because of the weather,” Breen said. “If it was on the turf we weren’t going to run, but some of the speed horses were out so we told Elvis to go to the front. That was it.”

The 4-year-old Srumdiddlyumptious ($4.60) cruised to an 8 1/4-length victory, covering 5 1/2 furlongs on a fast track in 1:02.74. Spun Silky finished second at 17-1, with Queen Chatanika nosing out Ima Jersey Girl for third.

It was the third stakes victory for Srumdiddlyumptious, a daughter of Roman Ruler owned by George and Lori Hall. She is now 5 for 11 lifetime.