Turf or dirt, Mohs goes in Cliff Hanger
The key variable in the $100,000 Cliff Hanger Stakes on Saturday at Monmouth Park is the weather.
The Cliff Hanger is carded for 1 1/16 miles on turf, but rain easily could move the stakes race for 3-year-olds and up to dirt. The National Weather Service forecast a 70 percent chance of heavy rain in the area Friday night, and thunderstorms are possible Saturday afternoon.
A dozen horses went into the Cliff Hanger, with Kershaw and Caerus entered main-track-only, though neither figures especially competitive if they get a chance to race.
Analyze It is the best known horse in the Cliff Hanger, but as a 7-year-old whose physical problems have limited him to 15 starts, none on dirt, he’s highly unlikely to run if the race is moved to the main track. Analyze It, trained by Chad Brown, did win his only start on a course rated softer than good, but that victory, in the Transylvania Stakes at Keeneland, came more than four years ago. Analyze It won the Red Bank over the Monmouth course in September 2020 but most recently finished 11th in the Fort Lauderdale in December at Gulfstream Park.
Oceans Map ran poorly in his lone start on dirt, as did Yes This Time, and veteran campaigner Hawkish never has raced on dirt. Despite the ominous forecast, trainer Victoria Oliver was shipping Kentucky Ghost from Kentucky to New Jersey on Thursday. Oliver didn’t rule out a dirt start, but has a Belmont Park turf allowance race next week as a backup plan for Kentucky Ghost should he be scratched at Monmouth.
Kentucky Ghost is well qualified to win the Cliff Hanger, and the drubbing he took last out in the Grade 1 Turf Classic at Churchill Downs can be forgiven. “The turf was soft and he got to slipping around on it,” Oliver said. “He’s been fine before on off turf.”
Mohs runs Saturday regardless of whether the Cliff Hanger stays on or comes off, trainer Patrick McBurney said, and Mohs can contend on either surface. A late-blooming 4-year-old son of Hard Spun, Mohs won his maiden going wire to wire in the Monmouth slop last July and just missed in an off-turf second-level allowance race later last meet. Capable on dirt, Mohs is slightly better on turf, and in October he shipped to Chicago and won the $100,000 Hawthorne Derby on grass.
Mid Day Image also starts on turf or dirt, trainer Luis Carvajal said. Facing lesser competition, Mid Day Image has won three of his five Monmouth grass starts. “My horse is doing good, working good, and it looks like he really likes this track,” said Carvajal.
Second with a competitive 88 Beyer Speed Figure in his most recent Monmouth main-track start, Mid Day Image had an excellent winter in Florida before being speed-dueled into submission trying 1 1/2 miles April 2 in the Grade 2 Pan American Stakes, his most recent race.
Yes This Time hasn’t raced since Dec. 26, but has strong wet-turf form, including a win over soft ground in the Grade 3 Kent Stakes at Delaware Park.
The Cliff Hanger goes as race 11 with a post time of 4:55 p.m. Eastern. The 12-race card has a first post of 12:15.