Opening-day Long Branch pits Dean's List against Dash Attack
RACE REPLAY IS NOT AVAILABLE
Approximately 75 minutes before Todd Pletcher and Ken McPeek saddle horses in Saturday's Kentucky Derby, they'll run 3-year-old colts in Monmouth Park's $100,000 Long Branch Stakes at a mile and 70 yards.
Saturday is opening day of Monmouth's 77th season with the Long Branch a potential early prep for the track's signature race, the Grade 1, $1 million Haskell Stakes on July 23. The 62-day meet concludes Sept. 18. As of Thursday afternoon, there is a 95 percent chance of rain in the forecast.
Dean's List, the 2-1 morning line favorite trained by Pletcher, breaks from the rail under Paco Lopez. A winner of his first two starts sprinting at Gulfstream Park, Dean's List finished second to highly regarded Morello in Aqueduct's Grade 3 Gotham on March 5 before finishing fourth to stablemate Wit in the Grade 3 Bay Shore on April 9.
In the Bay Shore, speedy Dean’s List was taken out of his element when pinched at the start. The Long Branch will be his first race around two turns and he should show early speed.
McPeek's Dash Attack captured the Smarty Jones at Oaklawn Park on New Year's Day over Kentucky Derby entrant Barber Road. Off the board in three subsequent Derby qualifying races, Dash Attack receives class relief as well as Lasix for the first time. Both of Dash Attack’s lifetime victories have come over wet tracks.
According to DRF Formulator, McPeek has a $2.83 ROI over the past five years with dirt routers adding Lasix. Venezuelan rider Samuel Marin makes his North American debut aboard Dash Attack.
A chance encounter at Tampa Bay Downs led trainer Jesse Cruz to Benevengo.
“I gallop a few of my horses and I had a filly that’s a little goofy in the gate,” Cruz said. “I was waiting to school her, and I saw this big bay horse. He caught my eye and worked very impressively. Eight days later, he was in for $25,000.”
Benevengo won that maiden claimer going 6 ½ furlongs at Tampa Bay Downs on Feb. 16 by 9 ½ lengths and was claimed by Cruz on behalf of Wasabi Ventures Stables.
The Gormley colt paid immediate dividends by winning a $25,000 starter allowance with a $25,000 claiming option at Tampa Bay on March 26 at six furlongs.
Cruz believes Benevengo will appreciate added distance. “I didn’t want to run him back going three-quarters when I did, but it was the only race we had at Tampa for him,” Cruz added. “He’s a very big horse, a little immature at times. I’ve always wanted to stretch him out and we’ve been pointing to the Long Branch.”
Fluid Situation made one start at 2, a sixth-place finish in a maiden special weight at Saratoga on July 24 before going to the sidelines for the remainder of 2021.
“We’ve liked him all along. He had some baby stuff,” said trainer John Terranova. “He needed time to develop as a big, rangy colt.”
Fluid Situation was scheduled to ship with most of Terranova’s string to Tampa over the winter, but “he got sick in November, and we got a race into him in New York [seasonal debut on Feb. 26].”
Fluid Situation eventually made it down to Florida and he earned the Long Branch’s best Beyer Speed Figure, a 95, when graduating in a seven-furlong maiden special weight on March 27, Terranova said.
A full brother to multiple Grade 3-winning router Axelrod, Fluid Situation is bred to appreciate the extra distance.
Buff Hello defeated four next-out winners when riding an inside, speed-favoring track in the six-furlong Maryland Million Nursery at Laurel Park on Oct. 23. He also receives Lasix for the first time as he stretches back out to route racing for his seasonal debut.
Stakes winner Twisted Ride, multiple stakes-placed Smarten Up, and maiden winner Glider complete the field.