Upstriker hitting best stride just in time for Jersey Shore Stakes
Whitmore, third last out in the Grade 1 Vanderbilt at Saratoga, still is sprinting strong at age 8 for trainer Ron Moquett. Now, no one is comparing Upstriker to Whitmore, for several years one of the country’s best sprinters, but at age 3, Upstriker is showing positive signs for Moquett and his owners.
Upstriker was a five-length debut winner last summer at Ellis Park before struggling in a couple stakes races to end his season, and after a flat comeback run to launch his 2021 campaign, Upstriker came back with a pair of performances that suggest he can win the $100,000 Jersey Shore, a six-furlong dash for 3-year-olds that’s the featured 10th race Sunday at Monmouth.
The Jersey Shore drew seven entrants and has a scheduled post time of 4:33 Eastern on an 11-race card that begins at 12:15.
Upstriker drew the outside post, a good spot for a clean, stalking trip and a smooth run into what ought to be a quick, contested pace. The horses drawn in posts 1 through 5 all have TimeformUS Early Pace ratings of 111 or higher, a strong indication the Jersey Shore will be run at a rapid clip.
Front-running types Real Talk and Moonlite Strike finished second and third in the $75,000 Carry Back last out at Gulfstream Park. Moonlite Strike has a tough spot drawn on the rail, and his trainer, Saffie Joseph Jr., has been notably cold outside Florida during the last two months.
Real Talk could go favored in the Jersey Shore with leading jockey Paco Lopez named to ride and a smart allowance win bolstering the form he showed in the Carry Back. In the Carry Back, Real Talk had the lead in upper stretch but failed to see out the seven-furlong trip. Cutting back to six furlongs Sunday should help his cause.
Another possibility: Mighty Mischief proves speed of the speed. Mighty Mischief was hooked early and wound up a well-beaten second in his most recent race, the $100,000 Concern on July 5 at Pimlico, a defeat that ended a three-race winning streak capped by a wire-to-wire score in the Grade 3 Chick Lang at Pimlico. Steve Asmussen ships Mighty Mischief in from Saratoga, though Asmussen has had little luck this Monmouth meet, with only four winners from 42 runners entering the Friday card.
Upstriker on May 1 won an Oaklawn Park allowance race by more than six lengths, and the 93 Beyer Speed Figure he earned is the highest in this field. Like Real Talk, he was found slightly wanting trying seven furlongs in his most recent start, and he can get first run on the race’s real closer Indian Lake, who cuts back from a 1 1/2-mile grass race and was effective in June as a one-run dirt sprinter.