Surface uncertain for Jersey Derby
It’s not just the weather this time playing a key role in a Monmouth Park stakes race.
A round of potential heavy rain was forecast at Monmouth Friday through Saturday, leaving Saturday’s turf racing in a precarious position and making it difficult to know if Sunday’s races, including the featured $100,000 Jersey Derby, will stay on turf.
A further complicating factor: High Front, who’d be among the favorites were he to run, was cross entered in the $100,000 Paradise Creek over seven furlongs on Belmont’s grass course Sunday.
“I have not sat down to properly handicap yet,” said Jonathan Thomas, who trains High Front for George Strawbridge’s Augustin Stables.
High Front in three starts, all encouraging to some degree, only has sprinted. The Jersey Derby is a two-turn mile.
“If he’s going to get a mile, I think that would be the max for him,” Thomas said. “It could be we end up trying to win an N1X going 5 1/2 at Saratoga.”
High Front made the early lead and romped to a Gulfstream Park turf-sprint debut victory, but taking on older rivals, he was bumped at the start and wound up behind horses in his second race. High Front didn’t handle the more complicated trip well from a mental standpoint while also losing considerable ground on the turn, and finished third. Similar circumstances unfolded in his second-place finish May 5 at Belmont.
Thomas said neither High Front nor his second entrant Fuerteventura would start if the Jersey Derby were rained onto dirt.
Todd Pletcher’s entrant Quality G looks like a major player regardless of surface. Quality G races in large-cup blinkers and travels with a somewhat high head carriage, but has gone effectively on three surfaces, finishing second in a productive Tampa Bay Downs dirt-sprint maiden race, winning his maiden over Gulfstream Tapeta, and most recently giving the capable Chad Brown-trained colt Napoleonic War all he wanted in a May 5 Belmont turf allowance. Quality G has rateable speed and Paco Lopez is named to ride.
Third in that May 5 Belmont allowance race was Ohtwoohthreefive, a one-time winner from 10 starts who did improve last out with addition of blinkers and would be first-Lasix Sunday.
“We liked him in the blinkers,” said trainer George Weaver, who won’t run Ohtwoohthreefive on dirt. “He’s always had a tendency to lug in; that helped. He was a little keen early.”
Celestial City, trained by Shug McGaughey, finished fastest when fifth behind Quality G and Ohtwoohthreefive on May 5, but the horse lacks speed and is pace dependent. McGaughey said Celestial City would “probably not” start on dirt.
Brindisi scored a game if not especially fast first-level dirt-route allowance win April 18 at Parx Racing and is a proven horse on dirt. Brindisi ran below form in his lone turf start, but trainer John Servis said he would run on turf Sunday.
New Jersey-bred There Are No Words, the speed of the race, completes the field. The Sunday feature goes as race 5, post time 2:07 p.m. Eastern.