Stylish captures Eatontown on soft turf
OCEANPORT, N.J. - The well-traveled Stylish made her visit to Monmouth Park a winning one as she rallied Saturday afternoon to win the Grade 3, $100,000 Eatontown Handicap.
Stylish, high weight in the field at 118 pounds, has run at seven different tracks in her last seven outings. She seems none the worse for the travel, having won the Lady Canterbury Breeders' Cup Stakes and the Eatontown in her last two starts.
Stylish ($6) benefited from a hot pace and a heady ride by Heberto Castillo Jr. to post her seventh win in 22 career starts for trainer Bill Mott and The Thoroughbred Corp.
Win's Fair Lady and La Tizona hooked up in a speed duel through swift fractions on the soft course. They blazed the half-mile in 46.05 seconds.
The Eatontown was the only turf race that remained on the grass after heavy overnight rainstorms.
The wicked pace and softened course took a toll on the pacesetters.
Castillo bided his time, keeping Stylish reserved behind the dueling leaders. He also kept an eye on Joe Bravo aboard Southern Fiction.
"I tried to keep Bravo to my inside," Castillo said. "At the three-eighths pole, I made my move, and it looked like Bravo got in some trouble."
Bravo angled his mare toward the outside only to find Castillo and Stylish blocking his path. Bravo then angled back inside and wound up fifth.
Stylish got up by a neck over Something Ventured, with Sweet Deimos third. Stylish ran the 1 1/16 miles in 1:41.69 and continued Mott's amazing run on the Jersey Shore.
The Hall of Fame trainer has sent out five stakes runners this meet and won four times.
Assistant Tanya Fisher saddled all four winners.
"You just hope that when speed goes out there fast like that, that it comes back," Fisher said. "I told the jockey to get a good stalking position and come with your run. That's what he did."
* Sheryar Special ($9.60) took the $50,000 Bernie Dowd Handicap for New Jersey-breds on the Eatontown undercard. He set the pace and held on by three-quarters of a length over Our Wildcat.