Trainer Schultz scores first graded stakes win with Whelen Springs in Iselin

Six days after sending out Finestdistinction to a 10-1 upset in the Oceanport Stakes at Monmouth Park, trainer Lindsay Schultz saddled Whelen Springs to a 9-1 surprise Saturday in the Grade 3, $245,000 Philip E. Iselin Stakes at Monmouth.

Schultz began training on her own late in 2021 and began training Whelen Springs in late May. The horse came to her in poor form and on a six-race losing streak, but Schultz decided to stretch the Arkansas-bred out from sprints to routes, and Whelen Springs rewarded her Saturday with her first graded stakes win.

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Whelen Springs, by Street Sense out of Holy Nova, by Pure Prize, is a homebred campaigned by John Ed Anthony’s Shortleaf Stable. He showed ample ability early in his 3-year-old season, beating the good sprinter Cogburn in the Bachelor Stakes at Oaklawn, but had struggled over the winter and earlier this spring. For Schultz, Whelen Springs won a third-level allowance race going one mile June 17 and came back with a good second behind Grade 1-winner Proxy July 22 in the Monmouth Stakes. The veteran jockey Jose Ferrer has ridden Whelen Springs in his three Monmouth starts and gave him a good stalking trip in the Iselin, a 1 1/16-mile dirt race.

“Jose has figured out how to ride this horse,” Schultz said.

Schultz figured out that Whelen Springs, a stout-bodied 4-year-old, would prefer routes to sprints. Zozos, the 1-2 favorite, took an early lead in the Iselin and set slow splits of 24.26 and 48.33, but Samy Camacho on Trademark, who was stalking, launched an early attack at the half-mile pole, and Zozos had no answer. Ferrer followed Trademark’s move and Whelen Springs drew alongside the leader before the three-sixteenths pole. Trademark battled hard but Whelen Springs began edging away at the sixteenth pole and pulled clear to win by a half-length. Steal Sunshine surged late to nab second from Zozos by three quarters of a length while 2 1/2 lengths behind Trademark. Weyburn had a good spot and was in the bridle at the half-mile pole but went flat and finished a distant last. Far Mo Power was scratched.

Whelen Springs was timed in 1:44.35 over a fast track and paid $20.80. He was given a 98 Beyer Speed Figure. A move into a hot barn has changed his fortunes.

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