Pickin' Time the one to beat in John J. Reilly Handicap

Golden Brown won the John J. Reilly Handicap last summer at Monmouth Park, Royal Urn the 2020 edition of this dirt sprint for 3-year-old and up New Jersey-breds. Both horses are back for Sunday’s renewal of the $85,000 Reilly, but they’ll have to deal with Pickin’ Time.

Pickin’ Time, Paco Lopez riding for trainer Kelly Breen, looks like the favorite in the six-furlong Reilly, which drew 10 entrants and is carded as race 8, with post time of 3:32 p.m. Eastern.

Four-year-old Pickin’ Time has faced open competition in all but one of his starts, the New Jersey Breeders’ Handicap last summer at Monmouth, where he ran down Golden Brown to post a 1 3/4-length win. Pickin’ Time did get a major weight break that day, carrying 117 pounds to Golden Brown’s 125. Sunday, Golden Brown is the 124-pound highweight, while Pickin’ Time carries 122 pounds, same as long-layoff comebacker No Cents.

Pickin’ Time, by Stay Thirsty, ran in six races at one mile or longer late in his 2-year-old season and early last year, but he appears to be a better sprinter and prospered after Breen cut him back in distance. After he beat Golden Brown at Monmouth, Pickin’ Time went on to finish a distant second behind champion sprinter Jackie’s Warrior in the Gallant Bob at Parx Racing and, following a fifth-place finish in the Perryville at Keeneland, he closed out his campaign with a decisive win in the $100,000 City of Laurel on Nov. 27.

“We’re hoping he is ready now,” Breen said. “With the competition he might have come back against somewhere else, he might have needed a race. This might be a class relief to run against Jersey-bred stakes horses as opposed to open stakes horses.”

Seven-year-old Golden Brown hasn’t started since September, and while he’s turned in solid showings coming back from previous winter breaks, the gelding typically has improved with racing. Golden Brown also is drawn on the rail. With trainer Patrick McBurney serving a medication suspension, Golden Brown, a 10-time winner, starts Sunday for Robert McGregor.

No Cents’s glittering 5-4-1-0 record is more than offset by the fact he hasn’t raced since December 2020. Drawn in post 2, No Cents should pull a stalking trip while Speaking and Pnutbutterspecial set off for the lead. Speaking carries 117 pounds, not much of a break for a 3-year-old facing older rivals for the first time. Speaking easily won his career debut last summer facing New Jersey-breds and went on to capture an open sprint stakes, the $119,000 Smoke Glacken, going six furlongs at Monmouth.

Royal Urn, Pickin’ Time’s 6-year-old half-brother, beat Golden Brown in the 2020 Reilly but hasn’t been out since July, when he was fifth in last year’s Reilly.