Pickin' Time tries N.J.-breds for first time

Pickin’ Time will be returning to his roots on Sunday when he makes his first-ever start in a race restricted to New Jersey-bred in the $100,000 New Jersey Breeders Handicap at Monmouth Park.

The race is for 3-year-olds and up at six furlongs and is one of three main-track stakes for statebreds on the card. Purses for the races total $325,000.

Pickin’ Time won last year’s Grade 3 Nashua at Aqueduct and the Smoke Glacken at Monmouth. He comes off a fifth-place finish in the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational.

“We were looking at a couple of different spots to bring him back,” said Kelly Breen, who trains Pickin’ Time for Roseland Farm Stable. “It’s Jersey-bred Day. He was the 2-year-old Jersey-bred champion. This seemed like the perfect spot.”

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Pickin’ Time will be cutting back from 1 1/8 miles. His three career wins have come at one turn.

Breen sharpened the horse’s skills for the turnback with a half-mile gate work in 48 seconds Aug. 12 at Monmouth, and a bullet five-eighths in 1:00 over the same surface Aug. 19.

“He came out of the Haskell in good order,” Breen said. “We gave him plenty of time after the race, breezed him a couple of times, and he seems to be doing well. He looks tremendous.”

Pickin’ Time, who is a son of Stay Thirsty, will break from post 6 under Nik Juarez. The horse won his maiden on the front end going 4 1/2 furlongs, but on the cutback in distance could get a stalking trip behind some of his rivals who have been sprinting.

“I’ll leave some of that up to the jock, and play it by ear,” said Breen.

Golden Brown is the 125-pound highweight in the field of seven. He enters off a win in the John J. Reilly Handicap on July 4 at Monmouth. Golden Brown was always prominent en route to a 2 3/4-length win. The Beyer Speed Figure of 81 he earned is the best last-race number in the New Jersey Breeders Handicap.

Golden Brown, who is a Grade 3 winner, drew post 3. Paco Lopez has the mount for trainer Patrick McBurney.

Irish Meadow and Amatteroftime, who were separated by a nose when finishing one-two in a second-level allowance earlier this month at Monmouth, renew their rivalry in the $125,000 Charles Hesse III Handicap.

Irish Meadow is the 122-pound highweight for the 1 1/16-mile race for 3-year-olds and up, while Amatteroftime is weighted at 120. Irish Meadow and Amatteroftime both earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 84 for their start over a mile, and it’s the best last-race number in the Hesse.

Alta Velocita, a winner of three of four starts this meet at Monmouth, moves into the stakes ranks for the $100,000 Eleven North Handicap. The six-furlong race for fillies and mares and drew a field of 11.