Pair of quick shippers come in for Tyro
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A couple of fast 2-year-old turf sprinters converge at Monmouth Park on Saturday for the $100,000 Tyro Stakes.
Monster ships from Florida for trainer Jose D’Angelo after blitzing a five-furlong grass-sprint maiden May 23 at Gulfstream by nine lengths, and Hey Nay Nay travels from Southern California after posting a turf-sprint debut win June 1 at Santa Anita for trainer John Sadler.
While D’Angelo has raced with some regularity at Monmouth since 2021 (though he has but one starter this meet), Sadler has started three horses at Monmouth during a training career that began in 1978, all those at the Breeders’ Cup meeting of 2007.
Sadler and co-owners Hronis Racing and Iapetus Racing have Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint aspirations for Hey Nay Nay, a son of No Nay Never who fetched $300,000 at a yearling auction. Why not stay at home? Because there’s nothing for the colt in the 2-year-old turf sprint division until the Speakeasy on Oct. 4 at Santa Anita.
Sadler described Hey Nay Nay to Monmouth publicity as looking more like a 3-year-old than a 2-year-old. That’s no exaggeration. A robust powerhouse, Hey Nay Nay broke sharply and led all the way in his lone outing, turning back a midstretch challenge and appearing to race well within himself. He has worked six times since his race, attracted the services of leading rider Paco Lopez, drew outside Monster, and looked in his lone start like a horse capable of taking a little hold off a speed rival.
Monster, who fired out of the gate so fast in his turf maiden win that he put several lengths on the field before a half-furlong had been run. Monster trained like a good early-season 2-year-old and earned a trip to Keeneland for an April debut, but he ran poorly there and little better in a second dirt race, the Kentucky Juvenile on May 1 at Churchill. D’Angelo gave Monster a look on grass in a May 16 Palm Meadows breeze, and it’s fair to say the colt took to the surface, his three furlongs that morning clocked in an insanely fast 33 seconds.
Turf improvement comes as no surprise. Monster’s sire, Leinster, was a 13-race maiden before a switch to turf sprints turned him into a division leader during 2019 and 2020. Monster, though, beat softer competition than Hey Nay Nay and lacks that rival’s physical maturity, a somewhat slight colt who travels with his head held higher than ideal.
First-time starter Schwarzenegger merits plenty of attention if he starts, but trainer Wesley Ward, who has lauded this colt’s talent for several weeks, said Schwarzenegger will start Friday at Saratoga in a turf-sprint maiden provided that race remains on grass.
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