Sy Dog has upside if Presious Passion stays on turf

Closing day, Sunday, of the Monmouth Park season could be a wet one. Thunderstorms were possible Saturday night, showers likely Sunday, and who knows what the $100,000 Presious Passion Stakes will look like come post time.

Eleven are entered in the Presious Passion, carded for 1 1/2 miles on turf, nine in the field’s main body, Affable Monarch and Portos eligible to run only if the race is rained off grass. It’s more complicated than that.

Serifos and Sy Dog, both trained by Graham Motion, are entered in the Colonial Cup on Saturday, and Sy Dog, no worse than second choice here, is an also-eligible in the Kentucky Turf Cup on Saturday. Rockemporer, the likely favorite at Monmouth, is cross-entered in the $125,000 Singspiel on Saturday at Woodbine. Rockemperor is the 2-1 morning-line favorite in the Singspiel, contested at 1 1/4 miles, where Rockemperor is 12-1-2-3. At the Presious Passion’s 1 1/2-mile trip he’s 7-1-0-0, though that one win did come in the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic.

:: Bet with the Best! Get Free DRF PPs and Cashback when you wager. Join DRF Bets.

What’s certain is that Rockemperor at age 7 has lost a step from his peak, and that there are no Presious Passions entered in the race bearing his name. Presious Passion won consecutive renewals of the Grade 1 United Nations at Monmouth in 2008-09 deploying his usual breakneck style. He led the 2009 running by 20 lengths halfway through.

Sunday’s race is likely to unfold at a fraction of that pace. There is little to no speed signed on, and the race could turn into a muddy, muddled affair on a wet, late-season course.

Sy Dog is the horse with the upside. Sy Dog won both his starts as a 2-year-old of 2021 and started his 3-year-old campaign with a victory in the 1 1/16-mile Transylvania at Keeneland. He got out to 1 1/4 miles finishing a close sixth in the Grade 1 Belmont Derby that summer and was a closing fourth in the 1 3/16-mile Saratoga Derby in August 2022 before connections pulled the plug on his 3-year-old campaign.

Sy Dog was late to make his 2023 debut and ran in allowance races at Belmont and Colonial to shake off rust before Motion tried him at 1 5/8 miles in the restricted John’s Call Stakes last month at Saratoga. Tawny Port dominated that race from the front end, Sy Dog finishing second by nearly six lengths over the show horse, and he may only just be developing his long-distance chops. Sy Dog is by Slumber, whose biggest win came in the Grade 1 Manhattan over 1 1/4 miles, and is out of the Scat Daddy mare My Love Venezuela. He’s a full brother to Jimmy P, who finished second Aug. 21 in the Grade 1 Jonathan Sheppard, a 2 3/8-mile jumps race.

The other turf horses are a cut below the top two – but then the top two may not run.

Affable Monarch has better recent form than Portos between the dirt horses, but Portos has better credentials for a dirt marathon.

Thoroughbred racing in New Jersey continues with the turf-only Monmouth at the Meadowlands meet. Racing will be conducted on Fridays and Saturdays from Sept. 15 to Oct. 14.

:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.