Haskell Contender Mandaloun Penciled In For Saturday Work At Monmouth

Kentucky Derby runner-up Mandaloun will work Saturday at Monmouth Park – weather permitting – according to Blake Cox, the son of trainer Brad Cox, as the 3-year-old son of Into Mischief continues to move forward with his preparations for the $1 million TVG.com Haskell Stakes on July 17.

Mandaloun was part of a contingent of Cox runners that arrived at Monmouth Park on Tuesday, a group that included four horses entered for the four other graded stakes races on the Haskell Day card.

Arklow (Grade 1 United Nations), Juliet Foxtrot (Grade 3 WinStar Matchmaker), Night Ops (Grade 3 Monmouth Cup) and Vault (Grade 3 Molly Pitcher) accompanied Mandaloun on the van from Kentucky.

“Everyone shipped in very well,” said Blake Cox. “All of them galloped Wednesday and today.

“Mandaloun is doing very well. We'll probably point for a work on Saturday, weather dependent. It will be a nice, easy half. He's ready to go.”

Mandaloun already has a race over the track, having won the TVG.com Pegasus Stakes on June 13.

The list of possible starters for the 54th edition of the Grade 1 Haskell Stakes includes Belmont Stakes runner-up Hot Rod Charlie; Preakness Stakes winner Rombauer; Preakness runner-up Midnight Bourbon; Following Sea; Pickin' Time; Basso and Antigravity.

Pickin' Time, trained by Kelly Breen, Basso (trained by Gregg Sacco) and Antigravity (trained by Jerry Hollendorfer) are stabled at Monmouth Park.

Blake Cox said the Grade 1-winning Arklow, coming off a victory in the Grade 3 Louisville Stakes at Churchill Downs on May 15 in his seasonal debut, “might work an easy half” on Sunday in preparation for the mile and three-eighths United Nations on the turf.

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Arklow Surges To Stretch-Running Victory As Hollywood Turf Cup Favorite

The class of the field ran like it Friday at Del Mar as Arklow tracked close to the leaders in the 12-furlong Hollywood Turf Cup, then got the jump on his chief rivals turning for home and went on to an impressive half-length score in the $203,500, Grade 2 headliner at the seaside track north of San Diego, Calif.

The 6-year-old entire horse by Kentucky sire Arch covered the mile and one-half distance on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course in 2:26.31, which established a stakes record and just missed the course record for the distance by 12 hundredths of a second.

Joel Rosario rode the veteran for the first time for trainer Brad Cox and put in a masterful bit of horsemanship on the long-winded bay. Arklow earned a first prize of $120,000 and now sports a sparkling racing record of 31 8-7-2 and $2,666,116 in earnings. The horse races for the partnership of Donegal Racing, Joseph Bulger and the Estate of Peter Coneway. The win was the first in a stakes at Del Mar for Cox.

Finishing second in the seventh local edition of the marathon was Manfred Ostermann's Laccario, who was a half-length ahead of Agave Racing Stable and Sam-Son Farm's Say the Word. Twelve horses ran in the race.

Arklow, who was the 19-10 favorite in the contest, paid $5.80, $3.40 and $2.80 across the board. Laccario, who was the second favorite in the race at 5-2, returned $3.80 and $3.00. Say the Word, the third favorite at just under 7-1, paid $3.80 to show.

“He broke well and we got a good spot,” said Rosario. “I stepped on the brakes a little bit because I was comfortable where we were. I saved ground with him, then moved up a little bit outside. I could tell we were going slow so I felt OK being closer with him. He was running good. When we turned for home, I knew he was a fighter and I knew he's be tough to beat. He finished strong. He's a good horse.”

Acclimate set all the fractions, going :49.64 for the opening half-mile, 1:14.55 for six furlongs, 1:38.78 for the mile and  2:02.62 for 10 furlongs. One of four starters for trainer Phil D'Amato, Acclimate faded to fourth.

It kind of worked out the way we had drawn it up,” said Blake Cox, son and assistant to the trainer. “Joel (Rosario) was able to get a real good stalking position and then finish strong. What's next will be up to Jerry Crawford and Donegal Racing, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Pegasus World Cup Turf is on the radar. ”

Earlier in the afternoon, trainer Richard Baltas rung up three winners to forge to the front in the local trainer's race. He clicked with Yeng Again ($6.00) in Race 1, Gallovie ($7.40) in Race 3 and Lady On Ice ($4.40) in Race 4. He now has 10 winners at the session after 13 days of racing, putting him one up on rival Peter Miller. Baltas was the Bing Crosby Season leading trainer in 2019 with 11 firsts. Miller has won the fall session four different times. There are two days left in the meet.

Racing resumes Saturday at 12:30 p.m. with a nine-race card.

 

 

FRACTIONS:

The time of the race is a stakes record. (Old record 2:27.35.) The course record is 2:26.19, meaning Arklow missed that mark by .12 one-hundredths.


The stakes win was the first of the meet and first in the Hollywood Turf Cup for rider Rosario. He now has 29 stakes wins at Del Mar.

The stakes win was the first at Del Mar for trainer Cox.

The winning owners are Jerry Crawford of Donegal Racing from Des Moines, Iowa, along with Joseph Bulger or the Estate of Peter Coneway.

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Patience Pays Off As Shared Sense Victorious In Oklahoma Derby

Into August, Godolphin's Racing operation and trainer Brad Cox had considered running Shared Sense in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby. When they opted out, the G3 Oklahoma Derby was chosen as the next stop for him and on Sunday, he came through for those connections at Remington Park in Oklahoma City, Okla.

Godolphin's top option for the Kentucky Derby for most of the year was a horse named Maxfield. When he left the Derby trail with an injury, Shared Sense became a possibility for the run for the roses the first Saturday of this month. He was a late bloomer, however, winning his first stakes race on July 8 when he took down the G3, $300,000 Indiana Derby at Indiana Grand. While he earned 20 points to qualify for the Kentucky Derby field, he would have had to be supplemented for $45,000 if they wanted to take on Tiz the Law and Authentic. The connections opted to keep him on a different route and that's when he came to Remington Park.

“We just didn't feel like he had the turn of foot coming out of the gate that you need to be in position to run against horses like those in the Kentucky Derby,” said Blake Cox, who represented his dad, Brad Cox, at Remington Park. “We always thought he was a nice horse, but he still needed to learn some things.”

A perfect example of Shared Sense's lack of a turn of foot came after he won the Indiana Derby and was entered back in the $200,000 Ellis Park Derby on Aug. 9. If a horse doesn't have the temerity to get position out of the gate as Cox mentioned, it can be an even tougher task to beat this class of horse from the outside 12-post position. That's what he drew for the Ellis Park Derby and he left the starting gate dead last. He was behind the field down the backstretch of that race and did close, but could do no better than fifth.

That's when Blake Cox said his father, Brad, talked to Godolphin representatives and they opted out of Kentucky for Oklahoma to give him more experience.

Brad Cox, the second-leading trainer in the country behind Remington Park leading trainer Steve Asmussen, has stable earnings of more than $11 million this year. Cox became the first trainer to win the Oklahoma Derby in back-to-back years, having also scored in the 2019 edition with Owendale.

Shared Sense, a  3-year-old Kentucky-bred colt by Street Sense out of the Bernardini mare Collective, was made the betting favorite at 9-5 odds, and pulled away deep in the stretch for a two-length victory over Mo Mosa (5-1) in second. Lightly raced Liam, making his first start against winners, and first stakes try, ran third at 26-1, another 2 1/2 lengths back.

A pair of horses with plenty of action on the tote board that didn't live up to the backing were Oklahoma-bred Rowdy Yates (5-1) in sixth and Dean Martini (4-1) in seventh. Rowdy Yates was trying to become only the third Oklahoma-bred to win this race but didn't have any rally into the stretch. Dean Martini pressed the pace into the stretch but backed up over the final furlong.

Jockey Richard Eramia took comfortable rein on Shared Sense down the backstretch of the 1 1/8-mile race on the main track, sitting fifth.

“I had a little hold on him and he was relaxed behind horses,” said Eramia. “I knew I had a lot of horse left and the best horse in the race.”

Eramia and Shared Sense put a head in front at the top of the lane before drawing off from their competition.

Shared Sense hit the finish line in 1:49.88 over the fast surface. The final time was well off the stakes and track record, set in 1998 by Classic Cat in 1:48. Shared Sense chased fractions set by Liam of :24.11 for the first quarter-mile, :48.96 for the half-mile, 1:13.75 for three-quarters of mile, and 1:38.14 for the mile.

Shared Sense earned $120,000 for the win, his fourth from 10 starts to go along with two seconds while boosting his overall bankroll to $447,745 lifetime. He was bred in Kentucky by the owner. Shared Sense was not the top money earner in this nine-horse field, going in, but he was coming out, proving he is learning his craft.

The complete order of finish in the Oklahoma Derby was Shared Sense, Mo Mosa, Liam, Avant Garde, Salow, Rowdy Yates, Dean Martini, Code Runner and Creative Plan.

Remington Park racing continues into a new month with a Thursday-Saturday schedule on Oct 1-3. The first race nightly is at 7:07pm-Central.

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