Speed sets up Jay's Suave

OCEANPORT, N.J. - The pace should be brisk in the $38,000 allowance race feature Thursday at Monmouth Park. Slam Bammy, Bound for Victory, Punch the Odds, and Attila's Storm have abundant early speed. Each member of that quartet has shown he needs to control the pace to be most effective.

With a fierce early battle in the offing, Jay's Suave could be sitting pretty in the second-level allowance at six furlongs.

The only closer in the six-horse field, Jay's Suave reunites with Elvis Trujillo, who was aboard two starts back when the 3-year-old colt rallied down the center of the track for a victory.

encountered traffic trouble last time approaching the turn and finished sixth.

"I wouldn't use it as a huge excuse," said trainer Jim Ryerson. "It did hurt him a little bit."

The Ryerson barn is heating up lately after a lull. Ryerson has sent out six starters since Sept. 1 and they have gone 1-2-2.

While Jay's Suave tries to pick up the pieces in the lane, Exploit Lad figures to stalk the pace for trainer Bruce Levine.

raced well in both Monmouth starts this season. He won last time out as the 3-5 favorite and was second in his meet debut.

Among the speedsters in the field, Punch the Odds and Attila's Storm both won last time.

romped to a 7 3/4-length victory against second-level New Jersey-bred allowance horses at 8-1. He earned a career-best 99 Beyer Figure, the top last-race number in the field.

The statebred victory is excluded from the allowance considerations of this race, giving Punch the Odds another crack at the same level against open company.

makes his first start for trainer Richard Schosberg and runs for the first time since gamely holding on for a nose victory at Belmont Park on May 21.

Bound for Victory returns from an even more substantial layoff for trainer John Tammaro III. He last ran in May 2004. The 4-year-old Bound for Victory debuted last year with a pair of commanding wins in Maryland. He raced only once more, finishing up the track in the Hirsch Jacobs Stakes at Pimlico.

Slam Bammy was a game third last time, holding a very narrow lead throughout the race before tiring slightly in the final stages to miss by one length.

Monmouth now runs on a Thursday through Sunday schedule for the balance of the meet, which concludes Sept. 25.