A more settled Air Recruit tries for Oceanport repeat
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About one year ago, Air Recruit got up by a nose over There Are No Words in the Oceanport Stakes at Monmouth Park. They meet again in Saturday’s renewal of the $100,000 Oceanport.
About 15 months ago, Running Bee last raced, finishing a creditable fifth in the Turf Classic on May 3, 2025. Exactly one year later, Running Bee posted a timed workout, his first officially recorded activity since the Grade 1 Turf Classic. Seven-year-old Running Bee gets class relief returning from his long layoff in the Oceanport.
It was only about five weeks ago that Cruise the Nile ran in the Kelso at Saratoga, and one only needs to glance at his past-performance line to see he fell much too far behind a tepid pace. Younger and less exposed than his Saturday foes, 4-year-old Cruise the Nile stands as the most likely winner of the Oceanport, carded at 1 1/16 miles on grass. Nine were entered but Cadet Corps and Sergeant Capps only run if the race is moved to dirt.
New Jersey-bred There Are No Words has finished second in the Oceanport three years in a row, the last two as the speed of the race, and he comes into Saturday’s start third race back from a long layoff, just like last year.
Then, Air Recruit, favored at 1-2, needed every bit of the homestretch to nudge his nose in front of There Are No Words, but Air Recruit stands a much stronger chance of an Oceanport repeat than There Are No Words a breakthrough.
Air Recruit was sent hard from the rail to lead the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, and while he didn’t race again for 20 months, Air Recruit, relatively settled in his first three races at age 2, still seemed charged up by the Breeders’ Cup tactics.
He pulled too hard in his long-layoff comeback last summer, and pulled too hard again winning the Oceanport, then got a bad trip in the $2 million Mint Millions at Kentucky Downs. His aggressiveness cost him last fall in the Knickerbocker, but, finally, Air Recruit settled much better returning from a seven-month layoff July 5 in a Colonial Downs allowance. Focus less on his defeat that day than the fact Air Recruit waited patiently for his jockey’s cues. He’ll be a better horse if he continues to race more professionally.
Who knows what level Running Bee hits Saturday. Trainer Chad Brown got one workout into him at Payson Park in Florida, then sent Running Bee directly into his string at Monmouth, where he’s posted 13 breezes without interruption. Running Bee won the Monmouth Stakes over 1 1/8 miles two summers ago and has a 4-2-0 record in six starts over this 1 1/16-mile distance. He clearly is the class of this field.
Cruise the Nile, though, possesses far more upside, jockey Jorge Ruiz just needs to get tactics right.
New Jersey-bred Cruise the Nile is the only horse this year to defeat Burnham Square, winner of the Arlington Million last weekend, easily besting Burnham Square after racing on the lead in a Gulfstream Park allowance.
Cruise the Nile won the Henry Clark on April 18 at Laurel Park over modest competition but did so from well off the pace, deploying an excellent finishing burst, then failed to stay 1 1/8 miles in the Dinner Party Stakes. His trip there, moving to the lead with a little less than a half-mile remaining, turning the race into a stamina test, hurt the chances of a horse better suited to a slightly shorter trip.
Ruiz rode him cold from the back of a good 10-horse Kelso field, and Cruise the Nile, chasing a tepid tempo, could only finish eighth despite getting his final quarter-mile in a robust 21.73 seconds, faster than anyone save victorious Zulu Kingdom, a Grade 1 winner.
If Cruise the Nile can stalk and pounce, the Oceanport should be his for the taking.
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