Union Maiden will need her best off the bench
Union Maiden needed three tries to win a maiden race, three tries to clear her first allowance condition. Her two victories came between seven furlongs and one mile, she hasn’t started since Nov. 26, and the strong temptation is to try and beat the filly when she makes her 2021 debut in the featured second race Friday at Monmouth Park.
Union Maiden returns in a second-level allowance also open to $30,000 claimers that’s carded for six furlongs on dirt. Wrong distance, long layoff, no superstar, and the likely heavy favorite since she’s trained by Chad Brown and has superior Beyer Speed Figures.
Strong temptation to bet against, yes, but prudent plan? Maybe not. A look at filtered DRF Formulator trainer stats shows that Brown has started 38 favorites in Monmouth dirt races over the last five years. Eighteen of them have won, which is strong, and a remarkable 35 of those horses finished third or better, so even if the stock isn’t winning, they’re running to expectations in the win pool.
Union Maiden worked once at Fair Hill before joining Brown’s string at Monmouth, where she’s logged seven breezes, no gaps in the work pattern. Paco Lopez rides, and Union Maiden might simply be a better filly than she was at the time of her two starts going less than seven furlongs at the beginning of her career, but it’s also easy to note how much more comfortable the filly, by Union Rags, seemed at longer one-turn trips.
Charge Account cuts back from four route races, but unlike Union Maiden, she does show an encouraging six-furlong performance in her history. Granted, this was a mere $16,000 claimer restricted to 3-year-old fillies run last September at Gulfstream, but Charge Account, now trained by Kelly Breen, aired by seven lengths. The filly did show a subsequent affinity for turf routes but is 2-1-0 from five starts at the distance and could appreciate turning back after a fading sixth-place finish June 21 in a first-level Monmouth allowance in which she battled on a hot pace in a race dominated by closers.
Breen and a partnership claimed Charge Account for $25,000 in February, and she hasn’t seen a claiming tag since, and with a wet track possible Friday, Charge Account’s sloppy-going romp two starts ago at Monmouth holds appeal.
Tutti Benvenuti will be a front-end threat, but her last-start win came in an off-turf contest and in three starts she has failed to run back to a sharp debut win last year in Maryland. Super Tigress, Rithm Box, and D Dawg complete the field, none without a chance in the Friday feature.
First post for the twilight card is 5:00 p.m. Eastern.