Search Results seeks Molly Pitcher repeat; Proxy looks to rebound
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Trainer Chad Brown hopes that history repeats itself at Monmouth Park on Saturday when Search Results starts as the likely favorite in the Grade 3, $500,000 Molly Pitcher Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles.
Last year, Search Results entered the Molly Pitcher after an excellent third-place finish behind Clairiere and Malathaat in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps at Belmont Park. The class relief helped, and she coasted home a three-length Molly Pitcher winner at odds-on.
Search Results ran very well last month in the 2023 Ogden Phipps, placing a close second to Clairiere after taking a stretch lead.
“She’s doing super,” Brown said. “She ran a great race last time. Just got run down by a really good horse. She had success in this race last year, so we felt like it made sense” to come back.
Brown also entered Distinctlypossible, a Curlin filly seeking her third straight victory after capturing Monmouth’s Serena’s Song by 1 1/4 lengths on May 14.
“We’ve always thought a lot of her,” Brown said. “She put herself in the race last time and showed a lot of heart in that stretch duel to prevail, so we gave her a little bit of extra time to recover from that.”
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Search Results doesn’t bring the best last Beyer Speed Figure to the Molly Pitcher, however. That honor goes to Le Da Vida, who bested three next-out winners when taking Thistledown’s Lady Jacqueline Stakes on June 24 with a Beyer of 101.
Trained by Ignacio Correas IV, Le Da Vida likes to rally from off the pace and sometimes has issues changing leads in the stretch.
Loved has won her three starts this year by a combined 28 lengths and hikes into the stakes ranks for the first time for trainer Brendan Walsh. A half-sister to Grade 1 winner Maxfield, Loved prefers to race close to the lead.
“Thankfully, we’ve been able to bring her along step by step,” Walsh said. “Saturday will be a very good test for her. We’ll see how good she is.”
First to Act returns from a 260-day layoff for trainer Shug McGaughey. Twice graded-placed in 2023, First to Act hasn’t finished off the board in seven lifetime starts.
“She’s been training awfully good,” McGaughey said. “I thought it was a good place to get her started. I’ve pointed to it for quite a while. There was a two-other-than allowance race [at Saratoga], but it was going 1 1/8 miles, and that’s kind of a grueling race over that racetrack going that far off a layoff.”
Shotgun Hottie looms a potential upset candidate for trainer Cherie Devaux. The Gun Runner filly dusted five others in Monmouth’s Lady’s Secret on June 10 and received a career-best 94 Beyer.
Multiple stakes winner Falconet and stakes-placed Misty Veil complete the quality field.
Monmouth Cup
Proxy finished last of nine three weeks ago in the Grade 1 Stephen Foster at Ellis Park, but the Grade 1-winning millionaire attempts to revert to top form in the Grade 3, $400,000 Monmouth Cup for 3-year-olds and up at 1 1/8 miles.
“We knew going into [the Foster] that we were going to be up against it,” trainer Michael Stidham said. “It was a very speed-favoring track since the meet started there, and Proxy’s style is to sit back and make that late run. When he got pinched on the first turn, it took him even further out of position, so at that point the race was over for us.”
Stidham has tinkered with Proxy’s equipment, adding cheek pieces to the repertoire two starts back, a winning effort in the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap.
“We experimented with blinkers as a 3-year-old, but didn’t really think it made a difference,” Stidham said. “We didn’t want to close him up as much as blinkers, so the cheek pieces were a way to keep him focused forward without closing him up with blinker cups.”
Trainer Jamie Ness recently celebrated his 4,000th career victory, and he’ll saddle Calibrate in the Monmouth Cup. The Distorted Humor gelding ran second in his first start for Ness, the Grade 2 Brooklyn at 1 1/2 miles on June 10.
“He’s been training great,” Ness said. “We kind of did a last-minute audible with the Monmouth Cup. We were planning on going to Saratoga and run in the Birdstone next week at 1 3/4 miles, but [the racing office] called me and said the race was coming up kind of short.”
Forewarned wheels back in two weeks for trainer Uriah St. Lewis after finishing second in Delaware Park’s Battery Park. Purchased as a yearling in 2018, Forewarned has earned more than $1 million.
“Best $40,000 I ever spent,” St. Lewis said with a smile after the Battery Park.
Whelen Springs and Higher Quality might provide the pace. Antigravity and Fowler Blue also are entered.
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