There Are No Words needs firm turf in Irish War Cry

There Are No Words could prove unstoppable in a rescheduled edition of the $75,000 Irish War Cry Handicap on Sunday at Monmouth Park. He remains an overwhelming favorite in what trainer Chuck Spina considers the softest stakes of There Are No Words’s career.

“He’s run against the best turf horses in the Northeast in open company,” Spina said last week. “This is just Jersey-breds, and I think he lays over the field if it’s firm turf.”

The Irish War Cry was supposed to be the feature on Monmouth’s July 4 card last Saturday, but the card was canceled in the midst of a heat wave. There Are No Words, who has run in the Irish War Cry four times without winning it, was expected to be the heavy favorite and has not received any new competition in the redrawn field of nine New Jersey-breds entered for the turf.

There Are No Words has made the most of a career mostly spent in stakes on turf, winning 4 of 30 starts with 10 runner-up finishes. He is winless since October 2023, but he showed plenty of form in five starts last year, finishing in the money four times behind the likes of Air Recruit and next-out graded stakes winner Cugino. His competition will not be nearly as stiff in statebred company at a familiar mile on Sunday.

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Spina’s confidence is so strong that his greatest concern in the Irish War Cry is the surface. The trainer said anything but firm turf would make his front-running gelding “a false favorite.” The course has a chance to be firm with nearly two days to recover from expected rainstorms.

In his return to action at Monmouth in May, the speedy gelding took a 4 1/2-length early lead in the $100,000 Cliff Hanger, bursting ahead in a manner his trainer deemed irresponsible. He faded to fifth behind graded stakes winner Neat.

Spina said he plans to keep Happy Offering, a longshot switching from dirt to turf in the redrawn field. The gelding won a statebred allowance at Monmouth last month but has not run on turf since October, when he was still developing as a 3-year-old maiden.

“On his best day, he’s not going to beat There Are No Words, but he could get a nice piece of it,” Spina said.

Three horses will switch from dirt to turf after running in the $75,000 John J. Reilly Handicap on June 7 at Monmouth, most notably Great Navigator, who finished a distant third in that race. The Eddie Owens trainee has regressed in four straight starts since winning the $100,000 New Jersey Breeders Handicap last August.

Gold Trust will return to statebred company after a pair of dull allowance efforts at Laurel Park and Saratoga to begin his 5-year-old campaign. The gelding won the $85,000 Joey P. Handicap for trainer Mike Dini in September.

Forever Chocolate and Gaelicheartofgold are entered for the main track only.

The original field for the Irish War Cry consisted of 14 New Jersey-breds, but the improving gelding Frankie G did not re-enter, nor did main-track-only runners I Can Explain and Fully Committed.

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