For the second day in a row a California horse shipped to New Jersey and won a Monmouth Park stakes race, as Subsanador captured the Grade 3, $250,000 Philip Iselin on Saturday. Making a swift, powerful move under Mike Smith after bending into the far turn, Subsanador swamped the dueling leaders, Il Miracolo and Everso Mischievous, blasting to a lead of about three lengths and holding firm to tally by 1 1/2 after Il Miracolo battled back. Subsanador traveled from Del Mar for trainer Richard Mandella, while on Friday, St Anthony won the Oceanport Stakes at Monmouth after shipping from Del Mar for trainer Neil Drysdale. Subsanador, who paid $5 as the favorite, won for the first time in four starts since being exported from Argentina, where he was bred and made his first 12 starts, two Group 1 wins among them. Subsanador made two starts for trainer John Sadler before Mandella began training him this spring. Subsanador finished fourth after contesting the pace in his most recent start, the 1 1/4-mile Gold Cup on May 27 at Santa Anita. “He was ready to run, so we shipped him,” Mandella said. “He has been working very well, so I knew he was ready. I’m liking him better and better. We’re starting to see some of that Argentina form.” :: Get Saratoga Clocker Reports straight from the morning workouts at the track. Available every race day. Il Miracolo, starting for the first time since May 3, showed surprising early speed, hooking up with Everso Mischievous through solid fractions of 23.87 and 47.63. The two battled past the half-mile pole, whereupon Smith, sitting fourth while racing two paths off the fence, asked his mount to go, getting an immediate and decisive response. “He’s had three 1 1/4-mile races, so I know he’s fit,” Smith said. “I was able to be a little brave with him because of that. I might have moved him just a little too soon, but I didn’t want to give [Il Miracolo] a chance to get into the bridle and then have my horse hang.” Subsanador might have hung a bit, but his slingshot move propeled him to a lead too large for Il Miracolo to bridge, though the runner-up did stay on gamely finishing 15 1/4 lengths in front of third-place Antigravity. Winning time for 1 1/16 miles was 1:42.63. Monmouth’s dirt track still was rated fast, but the Iselin was run in the rain. Subsanador campaigns for Wathnan Racing. The 5-year-old is by Fortify out of Save the Date, by Hurricane Cat. Mandella said Subsanador would be considered for the Grade 1, $1 million California Crown on Sept. 28 at Santa Anita. ***Smithwick’s Spice upsets Select Smithwick’s Spice, a 25-1 shot, won the $100,000 Select Stakes by a nose over favored Nothing Better. The New Jersey-bred was making his 46th start and somehow has hit career form this year at age 8 for trainer Douglas Nunn. Smithwick’s Spice never had won an open stakes race until this past February, when he captured the Turf Dash at Tampa Bay, and had been a tame fifth earlier this summer at Monmouth contesting another turf sprint stakes, the Get Serious. “I knew he would have to move up a little to win this, and he did,” Nunn said. “He’s as good as he has ever been right now and that’s saying something for an 8-year-old.” Nunn and jockey Jorge Gonzalez said they expected Smithwick’s Spice to take an early lead, but the gelding sat second behind Xy Speed in the early stages before taking over going into the turn. His clear lead at the eighth pole began dwindling as several horses made runs, including 4-5 favorite Nothing Better, who rallied along the rail and would have gotten up in one more jump. Just a head behind Nothing Better was Senbei, who finished outside Smithwick’s Spice. No fractions were recorded and Smithwick’s Spice was timed in 1:04.18 for 5 1/2 furlongs over a course listed firm but surely softer than that. Rain began falling before Monmouth’s previous race, grass was coming up from the horses’ hooves in the Select, and the time was slow for Monmouth’s course. Nothing Better prefers firm footing and trainer Jorge Duarte, who scratched Groom’s All Bizness from the Select, had been weather-watching throughout the week. Nunn trains Smithwick’s Spice for New Spice Stable, connections that claimed the horse for $15,000 two summers ago at Monmouth. Smithwick’s Spice ($53.60) is by Frost Giant out of Spicy McHaggis, by Good and Tough. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.