Mr. Monomoy has Cox looking forward to the Risen Star
The broodmare Drumette has produced four foals to race who have won a combined six of 51 starts with earnings of about $290,000. Her other foal to race, however, is called Monomoy Girl, and she won five Grade 1 races, including the Kentucky Oaks and the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, during an epic 2018 campaign that made her champion 3-year-old filly.
So, when the connections of the colt foaled in 2017 by Drumette chose a name, they picked one with a burden, calling this son of Palace Malice Mr. Monomoy.
It was something like a one in a million chance Mr. Monomoy would come anywhere near the level of his similarly named sister, and so far he hasn’t, but Brad Cox, who has Monomoy Girl back in his Fair Grounds shed row along with her 3-year-old brother, isn’t giving up on the idea that Mr. Monomoy could become a serious horse.
“I’m letting myself dream a little about the Risen Star,” Cox said Tuesday morning at Fair Grounds.
Mr. Monomoy is one of 11 horses entered in the first division of the Grade 2, $400,000 Risen Star, a race that was split in two after attracting 23 entrants when it was drawn Feb. 8. Both races are worth $400,000 and offer 85 Kentucky Derby qualifying points divided 50-20-10-5 among the top four finishers.
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Mr. Monomoy looks little like his famous sister, though she is far from a horse with appearance to match her talent. Mr. Monomoy doesn’t stand over a lot of ground, takes strides of moderate span, and has a relatively diminutive head and neck. One would probably say he looks more like a miler than a true route horse, and that is something Cox has wondered about since Mr. Monomoy got his career started at Keeneland with a troubled, fast-closing fourth-place finish in a six-furlong sprint.
Mr. Monomoy graduated second out, going a one-turn mile at Churchill last fall. At Fair Grounds, he was second by a head to Lynn’s Map in a one mile 70-yard allowance race in December, then third, beaten 1 1/2 lengths by Enforceable and a neck by Silver State, in the 1 1/16-mile Lecomte last month.
“If you look at it, he was the only one on the pace who stuck around at all in the end,” Cox said.
It’s true. Any other horse close to a strong pace backed up to the rear half of a large field in the Lecomte, and while Mr. Monomoy’s pace rivals lacked his ability, he also finished more than five lengths clear of fourth-place Finnick the Fierce.
“I expect Florent [Geroux] will have him up there again. I really like speed at a mile and an eighth, and I feel like he can get a good trip,” said Cox.
Enforceable is part of Mr. Monomoy’s division and figures to be favored over Lecomte runner-up Silver State. The second division, the last of 13 races here Saturday, includes the highest-rated 3-year-old on the card Anneau d’Or, who will be favored over Florida shipper Liam’s Lucky Charm.
Deep Saturday allowance
Not only are there nearly two-dozen 3-year-olds entered in the Risen Star, but eight more could start Saturday in race 5, a first-level dirt allowance race carded at 1 1/8 miles.
This group includes the $2 million auction buy Chestertown, a New York-bred who took undue betting attention before finishing a well-beaten third behind Risen Star-bound Blackberry Wine and Digital here Jan. 18. Also entered is Shakesomeaction, who looked good winning a nine-furlong turf maiden race here Jan. 18 for trainer Brad Cox and will run Saturday at Fair Grounds rather than Friday night at Turfway after being entered in two spots.
Sharecropper was entered in a Dec. 21 allowance race before he got sick, and only now returns to action for trainer Al Stall. Sharecropper was a second-start maiden winner last fall at Churchill, his margin of victory truncated because he waited on rivals after making the lead.
◗ Blended Citizen will be scratched from Saturday’s Mineshaft Stakes in favor of a start next month at Turfway Park. Wound Tight, who would’ve been a pace factor, will be scratched from the Fair Grounds Stakes.
