Royal Urn packs more weight in bid for Reilly Handicap repeat

Royal Urn won the 2020 John J. Reilly Handicap carrying 120 pounds and on Sunday at Monmouth Park he’ll try to win it again under 125.

The Reilly, carded at six furlongs on dirt, is for older New Jersey-breds and drew a solid field of nine entrants. It’s the featured 10th of 12 races (post time 4:33 p.m. Eastern for the Reilly, with first post set for 12:15) on a program that might or might not have turf racing. A wet week in New Jersey was forecast to continue through Saturday evening, and grass racing all weekend at Monmouth probably is in jeopardy.

There’s a slight chance of storms Sunday, but the Reilly more likely will be run on a fast track. That would be welcome news for the connections of Royal Urn, a four-time winner on fast dirt with one victory on grass, compared to a sparse 6-0-0-1 record on wet tracks. Trained by Kelly Breen for the Roseland Farm Stable, Royal Urn fired fresh in the 2020 Reilly, his first race following a layoff of more than five months, and Royal Urn, handling routes and sprints, held his form through the end of the Monmouth season, posting three wins in New Jersey-bred competition.

This year, Breen brought him back from a three-month break in the Mr. Prospector Stakes on May 29, a tough open race contested over a sloppy Monmouth surface. Royal Urn finished fourth, beaten nine lengths, but shook off rust and ought to be able to handle being the co-highweight in Sunday’s contest.

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The other entrant weighted 125 is the estimable Golden Brown, who finished second, about three lengths better than Royal Urn, in the Mr. Prospector. Golden Brown had been off since November, and before the comeback start trainer Partrick McBurney said he hoped his charge, mainly a route horse, would finish decently and kick start his 2021 campaign. Instead, Golden Brown’s sprint comeback run far exceeded his second-out route performance June 14 in a Delaware Park allowance race, and now Golden Brown is back sprinting. He was third in the 2020 Reilly and needs the pace to come back if he has any chance at notching a win at a distance this short.

Prendimi, weighted at 122, looks like the other logical player. Second in the 2020 Reilly, finishing more than two lengths in front of Golden Brown, he sees action for the first time since April 7 at Tampa, when he finished a decent second in a solid second-level sprint allowance race. Trainer Luis Carvajal has a knack for getting his stock to fire fresh, and if Prendimi can avoid the sort of compromising pace duel that undid him in last year’s Reilly, he’ll have a chance to take down likely favorite Royal Urn.