More Than a Party seeks repeat in Open Mind Handicap
OCEANPORT, N.J. – The $60,000 Open Mind Handicap at Monmouth Park on Monday once again looks to be a battle of cousins.
Eddie Broome trains 125-pound highweight More Than a Party, who will start from post 2 in the six-furlong sprint for New Jersey-bred fillies and mares. Love Came to Town, who drew the rail in the six-horse field, will carry the second-highest weight of 123 for trainer Kevin Sleeter, whose mother and Broome are first cousins.
More Than a Party won the Open Mind a year ago as the odds-on favorite over Pinkout, who – you guessed it – is trained by Sleeter. Broome figures to be the public choice once again.
More Than a Party raced only once in 2015 following the Open Mind, finishing seventh as the 11-10 favorite in the Red Cross Stakes in June.
“She got dehydrated on me,” Broome said. “Looking back, we should not have run her in the Red Cross. We gave her eight months off after that race.”
More Than a Party, owned and bred by Broome and Richard Malouf, made her comeback in the Miami Shores Stakes at Gulfstream Park in February, finishing seventh to the top sprinter Stonetastic, who most recently was second in the Grade 1 Humana Distaff.
“The allowance races at Gulfstream weren’t filling, so we ran her in the stakes,” Broome said. “We got her into a conditioned race in her next start, and she won.”
More Than a Party scored by seven lengths in that high-level optional race April 14, and Broome said he is pleased with how she is training. She should be a handful in the Open Mind.
Love Came to Town’s last two running lines aren’t pretty, but don’t underestimate her. She had a successful 3-year-old season, winning 4 of 11 starts, and began 2016 with a 5 1/2-length victory in the Nellie Morse Stakes at Laurel Park.
She missed seven weeks of training after that race while a new safety rail was installed at Parx and the main track was renovated. When she returned, Love Came to Town didn’t fire her best shot in the Primonetta Stakes at Laurel, finishing third before being disqualified to fourth. She lost her best chance in the My Juliet at Parx on May 7 when she was squeezed back and steadied at the start.
◗ Entries continue to be light early in the Monmouth meet. There are nine races Monday. Last Memorial Day, there were 11.
Open Mind, Race 8
Key contenders
More Than a Party, by More Than Ready
Last 3 Beyers: 74-55-39
◗ She has worked twice since shipping to Monmouth, including a bullet five furlongs May 20.
Love Came to Town, by Medallist Last 3 Beyers: 72-82-89
◗ Should be ready for a top effort in her third start of the year.
Bustin Out, by Bustin Stones
Last 3 Beyers: 84-75-73
◗ Looks to have the best speed in the field and should make the lead from the outside post for trainer Chuck Spina.