A turf stakes in New Jersey? The crown belongs to Brown
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You think of late spring, summer, East Coast turf stakes, and Chad Brown, and you think of New York, right? No doubt, year after year, Brown hits harder than any trainer in such races. But do not forget about New Jersey.
Since 2020, trainers Christophe Clement and Shug McGaughey have won six Monmouth Park turf stakes. Not bad. Kelly Breen has won seven, the second-best total among trainers over that span of time. Brown? He occupies a different universe, with 24 Monmouth turf stakes winners from 68 starters since 2020. And in many of these races, Brown has sent out multiple starters.
He has just one, Belouni, for the first turf-route stakes of the Monmouth meet, the $100,000 Cliff Hanger on Saturday. The Cliff Hanger, carded for older horses at 1 1/16 miles, drew 13 entrants, but four will run only if the race gets moved to the main track, which, if the weather forecast is to be believed, probably isn’t happening.
Belouni began his career in France, which is not unusual for a Brown-trained grass horse. What is unusual for Brown is that 5-year-old Belouni raced for a claiming tag in his most recent outing.
The winner last June of a second-level allowance at Aqueduct, Belouni in July finished unplaced in a third-level allowance, and when he showed up at the races next, on April 19 at Tampa Bay Downs, he was entered under a $100,000 claiming option. Belouni won, beating the Brown-trained, even-money favorite Exact Estimate by a half-length. And now, for the first time since 2023, it’s back to stakes competition for Belouni.
Belouni capitalized on a perfect trip last out, saving ground just behind the pace around the far turn. Then, somehow, when there appeared to be no hole, he knifed between horses after cutting for home. Cliff Hanger rival Signator won at the same class level, though not entered for a tag, on March 2 at Tampa Bay, but did so with a much more demanding trip. The McGaughey trainee closed from last while racing in heavy traffic around the far turn and through the homestretch, getting up in the last strides and galloping out considerably farther in front than that.
The Tampa race marked Signator’s first start since July and his first on turf. Purchased as a 2-year-old for $1.7 million, Signator, a son of Tapit, showed dirt chops at age 2 and 3, hitting a peak with back-to-back allowance wins in fall 2023, then finishing a close fourth as the favorite in the Queens County at Aqueduct. But 2024, all on dirt, yielded meager returns.
McGaughey told Monmouth publicity that Signator breezed encouragingly on turf last summer at Saratoga but never started on the surface due to nagging physical issues. But a turf horse he appears to be. He followed the Tampa score with a half-length victory last month at Laurel Park in the $100,000 Henry Clark Stakes and was more dominant there than the bare margin of victory, appearing to hesitate once making the lead in deep stretch, then galloping out well in front.
Fulmineo, racing for the first time since September, rallied from last to finish third in the Henry Clark, looking at the eighth pole like he might win before Signator asserted his superiority in the final 50 yards. A listed stakes-class 3-year-old last year, Fulmineo does have license to improve in the Cliff Hanger.
Leading New Jersey-breds There Are No Words and He’spuregold make their first starts since last fall, and both have proven capable in open Monmouth turf stakes. He’spuregold won the Red Bank last summer, while There Are No Words was second returning from a winter break in last year’s Cliff Hanger.
They all have Brown to think about – so often the case in New Jersey turf stakes racing.
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