N.J. Breeders' has loaded six-horse field
New Jersey Thoroughbred Festival Day is Sunday at Monmouth Park, with all 11 races on the card restricted to statebreds. A total of 108 horses are entered, and excluding also-eligibles and a main-track-only runner, as many as 100 could start.
The program includes three $60,000 stakes. Race 4 is the New Jersey Breeders’ Handicap, and race 9 is the Eleven North Handicap. Both are at six furlongs. The Eleven North is for fillies and mares. The Charles Hesse III Handicap at 1 1/16 miles is slotted as race 10.
The New Jersey Breeders’ is a six-horse field, but it is loaded and will match the fast New York shipper Green Gratto, trainer Jorge Navarro’s pair of Chublicious and Visionary Ruler, and owner-trainer-breeder Danny Lopez’s Chubble Maker.
Both Chublicious and Chubble Maker are sired by Hey Chub, whom Lopez stands at his Joe-Dan Farm in Medford, N.J. Hey Chub, a 16-year-old son of Carson City, stood for $2,000 this year.
Chubble Maker comes into the Breeders’ off a sharp second-place finish to Easy to Say in an open, second-level optional-claiming sprint. Easy to Say, who was making his 4-year-old debut in that race, has since come back to finish third in the Tale of the Cat Stakes at Saratoga. He appears to be sitting on a nice campaign for trainer Jason Servis and New Farm, his owner and breeder.
Chublicious has won both the statebred John J. Reilly Handicap and the open Mr. Prospector at the meet. Lopez sold Chublicious to owner David Guskos this spring prior to the Monmouth meet.
Visionary Ruler finished behind Chublicious in both the Reilly and the Mr. Prospector but has since won a New Jersey-bred optional-claiming race.
She’s Hot Wired, trained by Mario Serey Jr., is the horse to beat in the Eleven North. She won the statebred Open Mind early in the meet and then closed from well back to win a seven-furlong, no-conditions allowance at Parx Racing after the talented sprinter Stonetastic blazed through unrealistically fast fractions of 21.57 and 43.62 seconds.
In her most recent start, She’s Hot Wired finished fourth, beaten 11 lengths by Stonetastic, in the open Regret Stakes at Monmouth.
The field also includes Bustin Out, trained by Chuck Spina, who ran a sharp race to be second to Stonetastic in the Regret.
In the Hesse Handicap, Love Came to Town, a 4-year-old filly, will take on males.
Trained by Kevin Sleeter, Love Came to Town enters the Hesse off a narrow defeat in a no-conditions allowance race at Parx on July 26. The 86 Beyer Speed Figure she earned in the one-mile race stands out in the 10-horse field.
Love Came to Town’s main challenge may come from the only other filly or mare in the field, Maybe Tonight. Trained by Ben Perkins Jr., she comes into the Hesse off a 6 3/4-length victory in an open-company, second-level optional-claiming race at Monmouth. She earned a 79 Beyer in that race.
We B Jammin, a 4-year-old gelding trained by Greg Sacco, is coming off a statebred, second-level optional-claiming win. Cheddar Chub, whom he defeated by three-quarters of a length, also is in the Hesse.