Sharp Azteca experiments at two turns in Monmouth Cup

OCEANPORT, N.J. – Sharp Azteca has made his last two starts in the $1.2 million Metropolitan Handicap and the $1 million Godolphin Mile. On Sunday, he will be a short price in the Grade 3, $100,000 Monmouth Cup, one of five stakes on the Haskell Invitational undercard.

Sharp Azteca has five wins, all at a mile or seven furlongs and around one turn. Trainer Jorge Navarro would like to point Sharp Azteca to the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Del Mar on Nov. 3 and is using the 1 1/16-mile Monmouth Cup to see how he handles two turns.

“This race is not about the purse money, it’s to school him at a two-turn mile,” Navarro said. “We hope this will give him a little bit of confidence, and the race is at home and right in his backyard.”

Sharp Azteca is coming off two excellent efforts. He was second to Mor Spirit in the Grade 1 Met Mile after setting the pace and finished third, beaten one length, in the Godophin Mile after making a premature move to the lead.

Sharp Azteca has tried two turns only once, finishing second, beaten a half-length, in the Prelude Stakes at Louisiana Downs last August. He set slow fractions that day and was outfinished by his closest pursuer, Texas Chrome, who went on to the win the Super Derby and Oklahoma Derby in his next two races.

“In the Prelude, he went 25 [seconds] and 48 and 4,” Navarro said. “He’s a different horse than that now.”

If Sharp Azteca is successful Sunday, Navarro said he might use the Sept. 23 Kelso Handicap at Belmont Park as a bridge to the Breeders’ Cup. The Grade 2, $300,000 Kelso is a one-turn mile.

Paco Lopez, a five-time leading rider at Monmouth, has the mount.

Navarro set a Monmouth Park training record last Sunday by winning five races on a card. He had 39 wins at the meet as of Friday morning, 23 more than his nearest rival, and is shooting for a record-tying fifth Monmouth training title.

Classy Class should offer Sharp Azteca his strongest challenge. Trained by Kiaran McLaughlin, Classy Class won the Grade 3 Salvator Mile at Monmouth in June. He has won two of his last three starts.

The race also has attracted Just Call Kenny and Donegal Moon, the second- and fourth-place finishers in the Salvator.

Just Call Kenny, 6, is trained by Patrick McBurney, who was 14 for 56 at the Monmouth meet as of Friday morning.

Donegal Moon races for Todd Pletcher. He won the Grade 3 Pegasus at Monmouth as a 3-year-old in 2016.

Because the Monmouth Cup has a five-horse field, it has been carded as race 3 and has a post time of 12:54 p.m. Eastern.

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Molly Pitcher: Carrumba is due

It’s been a long time between victories for Carrumba, but she is clearly the horse to beat in the Grade 3, $100,000 Molly Pitcher, a 1 1/16-mile race for fillies and mares.

Carrumba, a 5-year-old daughter of Bernardini who was bred by and races for the Phipps family and is trained by Shug McGaughey, has not won in seven races dating to April 2016. She has been keeping tough company, however, and a repeat of her recent efforts would make her tough to beat here.

Carrumba finished third to Forever Unbridled and Apologynotaccepted in the Grade 2 Fleur de Lis at Churchill Downs in her most recent start, and before that, she was second to runaway winner Terra Promessa in the Grade 3 duPont Distaff at Pimlico. Terra Promessa and Apologynotaccepted make up two-thirds of the field for the Grade 3 Shuvee at Saratoga on Sunday.

Nik Juarez, the leading rider at the Monmouth meet, will be aboard Carrumba in the Molly Pitcher.

The field also includes Money’soncharlotte, Pleasant Mine, and Eskenformoney, the first three finishers from the July 2 Lady’s Secret Stakes at Monmouth, and Mo’ Green, the winner of the Grade 3 Top Flight Invitational at Aqueduct in April.

Trainer Todd Pletcher will add blinkers to the equipment of Eskenformoney for the first time since the fall of 2014.

John J. Reilly: Anyone’s race

The $60,000 John J. Reilly Handicap for New Jersey-breds at six furlongs has drawn a competitive field of seven.

The race includes a Jorge Navarro-trained entry of Chublicious and Visionary Ruler; Fast Friar, coming off a six-length win in a statebred allowance; and Saucy Don, who ran well in his comeback race following a seven-month layoff and has every right to improve off that race.

Chublicious won the Reilly in 2016 but is coming off a flat effort in May against allowance company. He has been in steady training since that race and can repeat in the Reilly with one of his better efforts. Chublicious is the 126-pound highweight and will concede three to nine pounds to the opposition.

The low weight in the field is the filly Irish Defence, a 4-year-old half-sister to leading Haskell contender Irish War Cry. Like her younger brother, Irish Defence was bred and is owned by Isabelle de Tomaso and is trained by Graham Motion.