War Story guts it out in Monmouth Cup

Six weeks after he retreated tamely in the Brooklyn Invitational, War Story was up for a fight Saturday evening in the Monmouth Cup.

Repelling a withering quarter-pole attack from Bal Harbour, War Story used every sling and arrow in his arsenal to gain a head victory.

It was an especially gallant performance from a 7-year-old gelding who, 34 starts into his career, was looking a little over the hill. Since finishing a good, close second in the Greenwood Cup last September, War Story had two mild third-place finishes and a pair of distant losses, including a 50-length pasting in the Brooklyn.

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But whatever drills War Story undertook for trainer Jorge Navarro between that race and Saturday’s, he came into the Grade 3, $200,000 Monmouth Cup ready for battle. Coal Front, the 4-5 favorite, went to the front and laid down solid splits of 23.58 and 47.32, but Coal Front’s best chance of winning at a distance as far as the Monmouth Cup’s 1 1/8 miles was to open distance on slower horses with more stamina, and when he failed to shake the pressers around the far turn, Coal Front was in trouble.

War Story and jockey Luis Saez went after Coal Front past the three-furlong marker and while Coal Front immediately began to struggle, his Todd Pletcher-trained stablemate, Bal Harbour, came to War Story’s outside flank. He got there in a hurry, too, surging to the lead past the quarter-pole and opening close to a half-length on War Story, who was stuck down nearest the rail.

No sooner had Bal Harbour sailed past than War Story brought out the big guns. He surged back onto even terms before the eighth pole, fought tooth and nail for another half-furlong, and finally edged clear for a narrow, exciting win.

The top two were much, much the best, with a weary Coal Front, who didn’t fire his best, checking in third, 12 lengths behind Bal Harbour. Zanotti was pulled up but walked off the course, while Monongahela was scratched.

War Story ran 1 1/8 miles on a fast track in 1:47.65 and paid $16 to win. Trained by Jorge Navarro for Imaginary Stables and Glen Ellis, War Story is by Northern Afleet and out of Belle Watling, by Pulpit.