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Lopez Caps Record-Tying Day With Win On Vigilantes Way In Miss Liberty

It may be true that records are made to be broken, but jockey Paco Lopez keeps tying his own one at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J.

Lopez matched the record he set twice in 2014 by winning seven races on Saturday's 14-race card, capping the performance with a half-length victory aboard Vigilantes Way in the $100,000 Miss Liberty Stakes.

Lopez, well on his way to an eighth Monmouth Park riding title, won five consecutive races spanning the fifth through ninth races before matching his track record in the co-featured Miss Liberty Stakes aboard the heavily-favored Vigilantes Way.

Trained by Shug McGaughey, Vigilantes Way rebounded from a loss in the Grade 1 Diana in her last start. Prior to that, she won the Grade 3 Eatontown Stakes at Monmouth Park on June 20.

In the co-featured $100,000 Rainbow Heir Stakes at 5½ furlongs on the turf, Belgrano found an opening along the rail early in the stretch and burst through for a two-length victory. It marked the first time 79-year-old trainer Frank Russo saddled a winner in a six-figure race.

But the day belong to Lopez, the runaway leader in the Monmouth Park jockey standings with 72. Isaac Castillo, who rode Belgrano to victory, is second with 40 winners.

“I think I was very lucky today,” said Lopez, who won the Grade 3 Charles Town Oaks aboard R Adios Jersey on Friday night. “You look at these last couple of horses I won with and they handled the track. It's a little wet both on the dirt and turf. I'm lucky this horse (Vigilantes Way) likes this grass course.

“When I looked at the horses I was riding today I felt good. I felt quite a few had a shot. I am very grateful to do this again. I guess the next thing I have to get to is eight wins here.”

Vigilantes Way covered the mile and a sixteenth over a turf course listed as “good” in 1:43.14, having just enough to hold off the late-running Miss Teheran. It was another 1½ lengths back in third to Counterparty Risk.

The victory was the sixth in 14 career starts for the 4-year-old daughter of Medaglia d'Oro, who was bred and is owned by the Phipps Stable. She is 2-for-2 on the Monmouth turf course.

“I was pleased with the way she ran,” said McGaughey. “It was a little bit different. She was stuck there for a minute but Paco Lopez worked out of it and we beat a nice filly who was second.

“I think she likes the quick turns. She does like Monmouth but the quick turns seem to suit her, because she has run good at Pimlico. She handles about any type of turf course. So when it rained a little, it didn't bother her. I think we'll try her in the Violate Stakes (Sept. 25 at Monmouth Park) next.”

Vigilantes Way returned $3.20 to win in the field of six fillies and mares, three and up.

Belgrano, who won the Virgil “Buddy” Raines Stakes at Monmouth Park a year ago, earned his fourth win in six starts on the track's turf course. The 7-year-old gelding was coming off a six-length win in handicap company at a mile, with the shorter distance proving to be no issue. He finished two lengths ahead of Grateful Bred, who was a neck better than The Connector.

Belgrano returned $8.40 to win in the field of nine 3-year-olds, flashing under the wire in 1:02.52.

“After this race, I think I can say for sure that this is the best horse I have ever had,” said Russo, who has been training since 1976. “I thought it might be tough for him at the end, especially going shorter, but he sort of got his way at the beginning of the stretch when the rail opened. It was a perfect trip.

“It's a great feeling. This is the biggest race (purse-wise) I have ever won. I was worried about the rain. If it was off the turf we were out. So I'm happy it stayed on the grass. I think he is at his best right now. Could not be happier with him than I am right now.”

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Raased Gives Escobar First American Stakes Win In Oceanport Stakes At Monmouth

Trainer Alison Escobar has waited three years for his first stakes win in the United States, but the trainer didn't have to sweat it out when it finally happened.

Raased, the overwhelming favorite in a reduced field when the race was taken off the turf, glided across the slop at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J., on Sunday to capture the $100,000 Oceanport Stakes by 19¼ lengths.

For Escobar, who has won 11 graded stakes races in Puerto Rico, the victory in the 74th edition of the Oceanport Stakes was his first since he started training in the United States in 2019.

“It feels very good,” he said. “I have won many stakes races in Puerto Rico, but to get the first one here feels great.”

Ridden by Heriberto Figueroa, Raased tracked Island Commish through early fractions of :23.56 for the opening quarter and :47.39 to the half. The 5-year-old son of Tapit then took off, leaving his three rivals in the lurch. The winning time for the mile and a sixteenth was 1:44.43.

Raased, who won his only other slop start at Monmouth Park by 10½ lengths against allowance company on May 30, returned $2.40 to win. Crown and Sugar was second, 6¼ lengths in front of Island Commish.

“I had 100 percent confidence in this horse whether it stayed on the turf or was in the slop and off the grass,” said Figueroa. “But when they changed to the dirt and it was sloppy, I knew I had a really big chance, especially in a four-horse field. He loves the slop. So I was happy when they changed it.

“I was just waiting behind Island Commish. (Raased) started running by himself. He just took off. You could tell he loved the slop by the way he was running.”

The victory also marked Figueroa's first stakes win at Monmouth Park since he moved his tack here from California.

Raased, owned by Candido Esquivel, has three wins and a second from his five career starts, with his only off-the-board finish in the Grade 3 Poker Stakes on the turf at Belmont Park in his previous start.

“I felt very excited when the race came off the turf,” said Escobar, who has 760 career victories. “He has won on the turf. He broke his maiden on the turf. But he really likes the slop. He's a good horse. He runs on any surface. He has shown us that. The horse is good quality.”

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Earlier on the card, jockey Isaac Castillo escaped with only a sprained right knee when his mount, Chublicious, broke down during the 10th race, according to Dr. Angelo Chinnici, the track's medical director. Castillo, third in the Monmouth Park jockey standings with 33 wins, was treated and released and said he expects to resume riding this week.

In addition, jockey Gerardo Corrales, injured in Saturday's Tyro Stakes when his horse, Vodka N Water, clipped heels with a rival, is scheduled for a follow-up exam on his sprained right shoulder on Wednesday and said he expects to resume riding sometime next week if he is cleared to do so by doctors.

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‘The Horses Don’t Know Their Odds’: Isaac Castillo Grateful For Longshot Mount In Haskell

Though Basso is listed at 30-1 on the morning line for Saturday's TVG.com Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park, making him the co-longest shot in the seven-horse field, jockey Isaac Castillo feels confident he can defy the odds.

Castillo's mount aboard the Gregg Sacco-trained Basso will wind up being his second in a Grade 1 race in his six-year career – the first coming aboard Oceans Map in the Grade 1 United Nations one race prior on the Haskell Stakes card. Oceans Map is also trained by Sacco.

“I am ecstatic about this opportunity for Isaac,” said Castillo's agent, Dylan Fazio. “It's a big opportunity for him to continue to show himself.”

The Grade 1 riding assignments are added milestones to what has been a breakout year for the 23-year-old Panamanian, who has already set personal bests in 2021 for mounts (369 entering the weekend), victories (57) and earnings (more than $1.2 million).

The past two years Castillo has been working tirelessly to establish himself at Monmouth, finishing eighth in wins during the 2020 meet. With 22 wins this summer he is currently third in the Monmouth Park rider standings behind co-leaders Paco Lopez and Jose Ferrer (28 wins apiece).

That groundwork of the past two years will have its biggest payoff yet on Saturday, with Castillo scheduled to ride in nine of the 14 races on the Haskell Stakes program – and both Grade 1 races.

“I appreciate the opportunities from the trainers. As I start to ride more, more trainers are starting to notice,” said Castillo. “I am starting to do better, and I feel more confident with every ride.”

While the Haskell will mark the biggest race of Castillo's career (after the United Nations, of course), he is more appreciative of the opportunity than he is nervous about it. He fully understands the importance of being in his first $1 million race, especially since it comes on the heels of the $500,000 United Nations.

“It is unexplainable,” said Castillo. “I am very grateful to have a good agent and I am very thankful to have the opportunities given to me from the trainers.”

Castillo has ridden Sacco-trained horses with success in the past, but none have presented the opportunities that Kentucky-bred Basso will in the Haskell Stakes or that Oceans Map, another longshot, will in the United Nations. The Haskell also offers a “Win and You're In Classic Division” berth into the Breeders' Cup Classic to the winner. Castillo said riding in the Haskell, even on a horse who is not given much of a shot, is something he finds himself anticipating even more than the first start of his career.

Though this will start to fulfill one of his dreams of riding in prestigious, big-money races, he said any nervousness will disappear when the field enters the gate for the 54th edition of the Haskell.

Having a mount one race earlier in a Grade 1 will help calm any nerves as well.

“A win (in either race) would be unexplainable,” said Castillo. “It will mean a lot to me and my family back in Panama, and they would be so proud of me, and at the big achievement.”

Basso will be taking on the daunting challenge of facing all three Triple Crown runners-up in Mandaloun, Midnight Bourbon and Hot Rod Charlie, as well as the promising Todd Pletcher-trained Following Sea.

Castillo, meanwhile, will find himself in consecutive races against the likes of some of the sport's top riders, such as Florent Geroux, Flavien Prat and Joel Rosario.

“I am not intimidated by those in the field,” said Castillo, a graduate of the Laffit Pincay Jockey School in his native Panama. “I am happy that I will be able to ride with these jockeys so I can keep improving and learn from some of them.

“The horses don't know their odds and they don't even know about the prize they can win, so I am very excited to get the opportunity to win as a longshot and I will do anything I can to finish first in these races.”

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Bronx Beauty Wins Monmouth’s Regret Off Short Rest

The best year of jockey Isaac Castillo's young career just keeps getting better.

Able to get the jump on 3-5 favorite Royal Charlotte coming out of the final turn, Castillo and Bronx Beauty drew off for a 4 1/4-length victory in Sunday's $75,000 Regret Stakes at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J., giving the 22-year-old Panamanian rider his first stakes win of the meet.

Trained by Anthony Margotta, Jr., Bronx Beauty was racing for the second time in six days. The classy 5-year-old mare was a late-running third in the Teresa Garofolo Memorial Stakes at Parx on Sept. 7 after breaking last in the seven-horse field.

“We typically do not run back this quickly,” said Margotta. “But we will do it if the circumstances surrounding it are good. These happened to be good circumstances. She fit very well against these, she loves Monmouth Park – four out of five now on the racetrack – she's very sound and she's fit right now. Isaac Castillo rides her really well. They get along great. All of those things led to us to coming back quickly in this race. Isaac did an outstanding job.”

Castillo, who began riding full-time in 2017, has already set personal bests this year for victories and earnings in a season.

“It feels great to win my first stakes race of the meet,” Castillo said. “This has been a really good year for me. It shows how hard work every morning can pay off. I'm very happy to win this.”

With Bridlewood Cat, Day by Day and Decoupage all vying for the early lead through fractions of :22.14 to the opening quarter and :45.29 to the half, Castillo had Bronx Beauty just behind that group but ahead of the Chad Brown-trained Royal Charlotte.

Both made their moves on the outside coming out of the final turn but Bronx Beauty and Castillo got there first, passing a tiring Bridlewood Cat at the sixteenth pole and having more than enough to hold off Royal Charlotte, who finished a head in front of Day by Day.

The winning time for the six furlongs was 1:10.45.

“I knew I needed to be aggressive against (Royal Charlotte),” said Castillo. “I had to time my move just before she made hers to get clear. I knew I would have enough left if I was able to get the lead in the stretch because I have ridden this horse many times and I know her.”

Owned by 2W Stables LLC, Bronx Beauty won for the 10^th time in 22 career starts, with the daughter of Liaison boosting her career earnings to $572,270. She paid $9.60 to win.

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