monmouth park

Street Sense works like a champ
By Mike Welsch
Daily Racing Form
(Archive)
Updated: October 23, 2007, 10:24 PM ET
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OCEANPORT, N.J. -- Is Street Sense the same horse on the road that he is over at his home base at Churchill Downs? Some who may have had their doubts got out of bed a little earlier than normal on Tuesday morning to see exactly how Street Sense would handle the Monmouth Park strip during his all-important final work for Saturday's Breeders' Cup Classic.

Street Sense was one of four Breeders' Cup starters to record official works at Monmouth on Tuesday, a day that also provided the first look at some of the European invaders who will compete this weekend.

All clockings according to Daily Racing Form.

Work of the day
Street Sense (Classic) five furlongs in 1:00.78: A five-furlong work in a minute and change, especially over the very swift Monmouth Park track, wouldn't seem like anything to rave about. But all minute-and-change works are not created equal, and trainer Carl Nafzger and jockey Calvin Borel had every right to rave after this particular work.

Street Sense arrived at the track, as planned, several minutes after the renovation break and gradually backed around to the wire amid cries of "Go Calvin" and "Go Street Sense" from the handful of spectators lining the rail in the grandstand.

Street Sense was well within himself when he finally broke off at the five-furlong pole, covering his opening furlong in 13.15 seconds while giving the appearance of going much slower. Street Sense picked up the pace just a bit once entering the far turn, posting fractions of 25.69 and 37.34 for the quarter and three furlongs. Holding his line perfectly along the rail exiting the turn, Street Sense almost imperceptibly switched into another gear without need of urging from Borel. He covered the final furlong from the eighth pole to the wire in 11.09 while going as effortlessly as he had through that opening eighth in 13 and change.

But it was the way Street Sense galloped out beyond the finish line that made this work so special. With Borel giving just a hint of encouragement approaching the wire, Street Sense powered on into and around the turn. He went the next eighth of a mile to the seven-furlong pole in an eye-catching 11.64 before continuing back around to the five-eighths pole, still glued to the rail, for what amounted to a "triple gallop-out" mile in 1:38.51!

This work was reminiscent of Street Sense's last, sensational work before the Derby, and far superior to his final works at Saratoga prior to his victories in the Jim Dandy and Travers.

Set Play (Juvenile Fillies) four furlongs in 47.18: The first of the four Breeders' Cup workers after the break. She broke off at the three-furlong pole, posting early fractions of 12.18 and 24.62 to the eighth pole. Completed her next eighth to the wire in a sharp 11 seconds but under pressure from exercise rider Fidel Alferez, and was still being encouraged to complete her work to the seven-eighths pole. Galloped out five furlongs around the turn in 1:00.78.

Balance (Distaff) final four furlongs of a five-furlong work in 49.36: This was a visually unimpressive work since the filly was swishing her tail repeatedly into and through early stretch and had to be strongly encouraged just to cover her final furlong in 12.66, after which she pulled up fairly abruptly for exercise rider Martin De Rubin. But trainer David Hofmans said he was pleased and explained the work.

"If she doesn't have a horse in front of her or doesn't have blinkers on, that's how she goes," said Hofmans. "As for the tail swishing, that's just her. When the rider asks her to run she swishes her tail, whether it's in a work or a race. It usually happens at the quarter pole like it did today."

Park Avenue Ball (Dirt Mile) four furlongs in 46.60: He took a pretty good run to the pole and was really rolling down the backstretch and around the turn, covering an opening quarter in 22.85. Drifted a bit wide coming out of the turn, switched leads just a touch late, and appeared to labor a little near the end under light encouragement, although he still galloped out five furlongs in a brisk 59.55. Looks sharp but is in very tough in the Dirt Mile.

Several gallopers who made good impressions were Gottcha Gold (Dirt Mile) and trainer Doug O'Neill's 2-year-olds Overextended (Juvenile) and Grace Anatomy (Juvenile Fillies).

Gottcha Gold was full of run during his gallop, which came shortly before the renovation break, going at well better than a two-minute lick much of the way under stout restraint. He had to be really firmly handled to avoid getting up too much of a head of steam once turning into the stretch, and was clocked a mile from the five-furlong pole back around again in 1:59.

Overextended also moved along at a nice clip while kept well out in the middle of the track. Grace Anatomy is a big, good-looking filly built more like a male, and she, too, put in a very vigorous gallop.

Jeremy, Timarwa, and Annie Skates were the first three Europeans to visit the turf course, cantering once around the seven-furlong oval. Timarwa got a little hot by the time she completed her relatively light morning exercise.
Excellent Art, the favourite for the Breeders' Cup Mile at Monmouth Park, New Jersey on Saturday night, will need to confound the wisdom and evidence of the last 23 years to prevail after he was drawn 13 of the maximum 14-strong field here yesterday. No horse in Breeders' Cup history has won this race from either stall 13 or 14, and Johnny Murtagh will deserve every cent of his riders' percentage if he can steer a path to victory this weekend.

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Even by American standards, the turf track at Monmouth Park is tightly squeezed inside the one mile of dirt, with just seven furlongs of it in all and no room for manoeuvre on the hairpin turns. If Murtagh is caught wide on the run to the first turn, he will surely be doomed, but if he drops in and tries to come through the field on Excellent Art - the tactics which won him the St James's Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot in June - he has barely a furlong of turf to work with on the run to the line.
"It's not a great draw because I'm told the track is tight," Murtagh said at yesterday's post-position ceremony, "but he does come late, so he'll probably have to drop in."

Most British bookmakers pushed out Excellent Art's odds on the basis of yesterday's news, with Coral going 4-1 from 3-1, and Hill's 7-2 from 3-1. The statistics against him are damning, however. Six Perfections, with Jerry Bailey riding for Pascal Bary, was successful for Europe in the 2003 Mile at Santa Anita from the outside stall in a field of 12, but with not a single winner from 13 or 14 in nearly a quarter of a century, Excellent Art's price seems sure to drift further in the coming days, particularly on Betfair, where there will be no shortage of punters willing to take him on.

Jeremy, Sir Michael Stoute's runner in the Mile, fared much better in the lottery, and will start from stall five with Frankie Dettori in the saddle. Hill's cut him to 8-1 from 14-1, making him fifth-choice in the market. Other European runners this weekend include Henry Cecil's Passage Of Time,who drew a good stall in four for the Filly & Mare Turf, in which the field will hit the first bend almost as soon as they have left the stalls.

If Murtagh is superstitious, though, he may be in the market for a new lucky charm, as Jeremy Noseda's Simply Perfect, a Group One winner at the July meeting and his mount in the same race, is drawn 11 in a field of 12. Murtagh will have high hopes of victory in the Breeders' Cup Turf, however, in which Dylan Thomas, the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner, will face seven rivals including Brian Meehan's Red Rocks, who won the race last year.

Dylan Thomas was due to arrive at Monmouth Park late yesterday afternoon, along with Excellent Art and Aidan O'Brien's three other runners at the meeting. These include Achill Island, who contests the new Juvenile Turf on Friday, and George Washington, who will be the sole European representative in the $5m Classic, which most American form students are billing as the best race on dirt for at least a decade.

George Washington, who travelled well in the Classic last year before taking a bump at the top of the stretch and fading into a creditable sixth place, will start from stall five in a field of nine. Those arrayed against him include the three-year-olds Street Sense, the Kentucky Derby winner, and Curlin, who finished third in the same race, and Lawyer Ron, the best older dirt horse in the country.

Street Sense worked at the track yesterday and moved like a machine around the inside rail, much as he did when he enjoyed a charmed run around the home turn to win at Churchill Downs in May. He has not raced at Monmouth Park before, and had his prep-race for Saturday's Classic on an artificial surface at Turfway Park, but he could not have looked more at home on the New Jersey dirt yesterday.

The Classic field is "deep", as the Americans put it, and according to Greg Avioli, the Breeders' Cup's chief executive, "possibly the deepest field that we have ever had for the race." The confidence that surrounds Street Sense, though, is infectious, with both Calvin Borel, his big-race jockey, and Carl Nafzger, his trainer, finding it difficult to countenance defeat.

"They way he pulled [in his work] it was unbelievable," Borel said. "In the past I've ridden here and I've really and truly thought that Street Sensewould like it. He's a horse that digs hard, and he gets a lot of it."The way he accelerates around the bend, he can make a half-mile run around this turn because you really don't have a stretch here, it's less than a quarter of a mile, but for him it will be no problem."

Nafzger too looked thoroughly satisfied. "He worked great and was right on schedule," Nafzger said. "He relaxed real good and then kicked and finished off strong. For me this is the greatest race there's ever been for the Breeders' Cup Classic, and we're going to win it."

Both the dirt and the turf tracks were riding fast yesterday, but rain was forecast overnight and work schedules for both the American and European horses over the next two days may well be affected by the condition of the track. Elsewhere in the fields on Friday and Saturday, Discreet Cat will attempt to give Godolphin a valuable big-race victory on dirt in the Dirt Mile on Friday, while in the Filly & Mare Sprint the same day, there is an obvious bet for coincidence backers after yesterday's draw. The field includes a filly called Baroness Thatcher - and she is in number 10.
Monmouth Park Racetrack
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Horse Race Track
Monmouth Park Racetrack

Location Oceanport, New Jersey
United States
Owned by NJSEA
Year opened 1870
Race type Thoroughbred - Flat racing
Website Monmouth Park Racetrack
Principal Races � Monmouth Park
Haskell Invitational Handicap (G1)
United Nations Handicap (G1)
Molly Pitcher Breeders' Cup Handicap (G2)
Monmouth Park Racetrack is an American race track for thoroughbred horse racing in Oceanport, New Jersey.

Contents
1 History
2 Physical Attributes
3 Transportation
4 Racing
5 References
6 External links



[edit] History
The original track opened July 30, 1870 on what is now the site of the Fort Monmouth parade ground, but was closed from 1873 to 1881 due to financial difficulties. It was bought by David Durham Withers, George L. Lorillard, James Gordon Bennett, Jr., and George P. Wetmore after which Withers ran the facility for more than a decade during which time he helped found racings Board of Control, a predecessor to The Jockey Club. From 1882 to 1890, the track increased in popularity, but legislation proposed in 1891 and enacted in 1894 barred parimutuel betting in New Jersey, and the track closed its doors.

In 1946, the state legislature passed a bill providing for state regulation of horse racing. Spurred on by Amory L. Haskell, who led the legislative charge to once again permit wagering on horse racing in New Jersey and Philip H. Iselin, a New York City textile magnate, the new Monmouth Park (organized as the Monmouth Park Jockey Club) reopened on June 19, 1946 after a 53-year hiatus with 18,724 in attendance.[1]

The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority purchased Monmouth Park from its previous owners, the Monmouth Park Jockey Club, in 1985, in a deal valued at $45 million.[2] The NJSEA still retains the corporate name "Monmouth Park Jockey Club".

Monmouth Park's marquee event is the Haskell Invitational Handicap, named after Amory L. Haskell. The Haskell was first run in 1968 as a handicap, but was made into an Invitational Handicap in 1981. It is now a 1 1/8-mile test for three-year-olds run in early August. Monmouth Park also now showcases the Jersey Derby originally run at Garden State Park until its closure in 2001.

In October 2007, Monmouth Park will host the Breeders' Cup for the first time in its history.[3]


[edit] Physical Attributes
The main track is a one mile dirt oval with chutes for 6 furlong and 1 1/4 mile races.

The turf course is seven furlongs in circumference, with a diagonal chute for races between 1 mile and 1 1/8 miles. A re-design of the grass course for the 2006 season brought with it a new, second chute to accommodate 5 1/2 furlong sprint races. Turf races can be run along the hedge, or with the portable rail out 12 feet (dubbed the "Haskell Course"), 24 feet ("Monmouth Course") or 36 feet ("Lennox Course").

The Stable Area, located directly to the north of the back stretch of the main track, contains a total of thirty six barns and stables, eight north of the New Jersey Transit's North Jersey Coast Line (connected by its own service and access road) and twenty eight on the main complex.

The Wolf Hill Farm, which served Monmouth Park as a private stable and practice facility, is located adjacent to and immediately west of the main complex. Wolf Hill, owned and operated by the Valentino Family from the nearby City of Long Branch, New Jersey featured barns, stables and a practice track featuring a dirt oval and turf course identical to that at Monmouth Park's main facility only built to 50% scale. The Valentino Family sold Wolf Hill Farm to the Monmouth Park Jockey Club in 1963 which then became part of the greater Monmouth Park Complex. It was transferred to state ownership in the 1986 takeover by the NJSEA and was eventually sold to the Monmouth County Park Syatem in 1998 which now operates the site as a passive recreation park. While Wolf Hill ceased operating as a farm following the 1963 sale, owners and trainers continued to use Wolf Hill's practice track well into the 1990s. Remnants of the practice track are still clearly visible on the site.


[edit] Transportation
The Park is served by New Jersey Transit's North Jersey Coast Line during the racing season.

A special train called the "Pony Express" was discontinued after the 2005 racing season. This train operated between Hoboken Terminal and the racetrack, terminating on a rail siding near the grandstand entrance. It was often scouted out by railfans due to the variety of equipment that were used on the train in recent years, ranging from the 1971 vintage Comet I cars to Metro-North Comet Vs.