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Mejia Removed From Weekend Mounts

Jockey Tomas Mejia has been removed from his mounts at Monmouth Park this weekend after meeting with the stewards Friday morning and will have a hearing before them Wednesday, according to Monmouth racing secretary and director of racing John Heims. No reason was provided and the New Jersey oval will not issue a statement until after Wednesday's hearing.

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Isaac Castillo Not Content With Breakout Year, Sets Sights On More Stakes Wins

After a year of “firsts,” 23-year-old jockey Isaac Castillo knows exactly what's next to keep his career on the rising arc it's now on.

“I need to win more stakes races. That's the next step for me,” he said.

After the breakout year Castillo has had at Monmouth Park, stakes victories are part of the logical progression that has seen the native of Panama improve his win total for all six years he has been riding.

This year has been particularly noteworthy as Castillo heads into a heavy three-day workload at Monmouth Park this weekend.

He is currently second in the Monmouth Park rider standings with 49 wins, trailing only Paco Lopez, the runaway leader seeking his eighth title. Last year he won 21 races at the meet.

Castillo also has 87 overall wins from 541 mounts after winning 36 races from 284 mounts a year ago.

“I'm very happy with the way everything is going,” he said. “It feels good to have this success. I have worked hard and the trainers have supported me. I would say it's even better than I expected this year.”

Castillo's other “firsts” in 2021 include riding in a Grade 1 race – something he did twice on the same day, with a mount in both the TVG.com Haskell Stakes (Basso) and the United Nations (Oceans Map). Neither longshot showed much but Castillo was grateful for the experience.

“It meant a lot just to ride in a Grade 1 race for the first time, and to do it twice in the same day was special for me,” he said.

Castillo said the momentum for his big year started at Tampa Downs over the winter and carried through to the Monmouth Park meet. His work ethic has taken that to another level this summer.

Though he has won two stakes races at the meet – the Rainbow Heir Stakes with Belgrano and the Regret Stakes aboard Bronx Beauty – he knows they have to come with more frequency at this stage of his career. He is convinced they will.

“I am seeing what happens if you keep working hard,” he said. “I'm out there every morning doing what I can do to get better. I want to be good and I know you have to work hard to get there. Good things happen if you work hard.

“The funny thing is I am not tired at all, not mentally or physically, from how much I have ridden this year. It just makes me hungrier. Hopefully more trainers will see the success I am having and I will continue to get better and better horses to ride.”

And finishing second in this case is actually something to feel good about.

“That would be a big accomplishment. There are a lot of good jockeys here,” he said. “Everyone knows how tough Paco Lopez is here. He's hard for anyone to beat. So being second to him would be a big deal for me.”

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First-Out Winner: Arrogate Colt Affable Monarch Headed To Champagne Stakes

After patiently waiting to get promising 2-year-old Affable Monarch to the races until last Sunday at Monmouth Park, trainer Jorge Duarte doesn't intend to show nearly as much restraint before giving the son of late Arrogate his first significant test.

An impressive 6½-length winner against Maiden Special Weight company, Affable Monarch's next start could be in the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes at Belmont Park on Oct. 2 if the Colts Neck Stables homebred stays on schedule. The Champagne is a “Win and You're In” race for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile.

“I think the way he came out of this race and what he got out of this race, it was a good learning experience. It didn't take anything out of him,” Duarte said. “He cooled out very fast. The way he ran and galloped out I think he wants to go longer for sure.

“The Champagne is a one-turn mile with those sweeping turns. He's a big, big horse who should like that. We'll have a couple of breezes and if he keeps training the way he has been I would take a shot in the Champagne to see what we have.”

Kentucky-bred Affable Monarch became the just the second son of Arrogate to reach the winner's circle, with Adversity beating him there by an hour at Saratoga on Sunday.

Duarte said patience may be the key to any Arrogate offspring.

“I believe the Arrogates are a little late bloomers,” he said. “He just had his first two winners on Sunday. Maybe that is the way they are going to trend. I can just go by what I have. I have a couple of Arrogates and this is the first one I got to the races. I know I have an Arrogate filly that may be a late one.

“But it's also not a bad time of the year to get them started if you think you have a good one.”

Duarte's last try at the Champagne came in 2019, when Big City Bob finished third to Tiz the Law after breaking his maiden at Monmouth Park and winning the Sapling Stakes at the track.

He's also having the type of meet at Monmouth Park that suggests trying the Champagne may not be overly ambitious.

Duarte, Colts Neck Stables' private trainer, is 12-for-27 at Monmouth Park this year, having won with 10 of his past 19 starters. As a result, Colts Neck Stables tops the owner standings with 12 winners, five more than anyone else.

He has the added hope that Affable Monarch – who made his debut without Lasix — will be a good one because of the colt's dam, Social Queen. He's a half-brother to Grade 1 winner Force the Pass (Speightstown-Social Queen), who earned more than $1.3 million for Duarte and Colts Neck Stable.

He's also a half-brother to a Speightstown-Social Queen yearling who goes as Hip 154 in the first book of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale that starts on Sept. 13.

“We raced the mare (Social Queen), too,” said Duarte. “She has been very good to us.”

She may not be done returning dividends if Affable Monarch can live up to expectations.

“He's such a big colt. It just took him a little time to get into a rhythm,” said Duarte. “He was always well-regarded by us. We always thought the way he was training he had a chance to be a good one. We were very excited to bring him to the races because they don't come along all the time, horses like him.”

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Runhappy Filly Runup Upsets Sorority Stakes At Monmouth

Runup, a James McIngvale homebred 2-year-old filly by his heavily promoted stallion Runhappy, posted a front-running $31 upset in Monday's $200,000 Sorority Stakes at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J.

Trained by Laura Wohlers and ridden to victory by Joseph Ramos, Runup outhustled Jumeirah to her immediate outside to grab the early lead, cruised through fractions of :23.73, :47.69 and 1:12.74 en route to an unchallenged three-length victory clocked in 1:39.82 on a fast main track.

Jumeirah held second, with 6-5 favorite Gimmick third and Microbiome fourth, You Look Cold fifth and Kingdom Queen rounding out the field of six juvenile fillies. Maestria was scratched.

Produced from the Street Cry mare Up the Street, Runup was bred in Maryland and began her racing career on turf at Colonial Downs in Virginia, finishing third in a maiden race behind Cavalier Cupid. who came out of that race to win the Keswick Stakes at Colonial.

Runup graduated next out in a $40,000 maiden claiming event at Pimlico on Aug. 13, going wire to wire to win by 6 1/4 lengths. She is from the second crop by sprint champion Runhappy, who stands at Claiborne Farm.

“She ran a big race,” said Wohlers. “She's still a little green and she has a lot of improvement to make but she ran a nice race. I really didn't worry about her trying two turns. She's one of those fillies that, in the morning, in her gallops or at a clip, she's still in the bridle at the end. So I really wasn't worried about the distance. I was more concerned about her stepping up into this company with her still being green. She's a little hard to gallop. She's always on the go, like her dad (Runhappy) was. I think she is going to improve the more she runs. We're really happy today. Of course, we're happy for Runhappy. He's our boy.

“She's very fast,” Wohlers added. “You always wonder if they're going to be able to convert that into a distance and going two turns. With the exception of her dad she probably has more speed than any horse we've had in our barn since then. I think she does want to go long and I think she showed today she can do it.”

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“I rode a filly at Indiana Grand for Laura and she told me she had another filly she liked and asked me if I would go to Monmouth Park to ride her,” said Ramos. “That's how I wound up getting the mount. I came in just for this race. It's my first time at Monmouth Park. There was a lot of speed in this race but my filly also has good speed and they felt she would have no trouble going long. She broke out of there so sharp. I kept her relaxed and started talking to her at the quarter pole and she responded for me. I was thinking then that maybe I had this race because they were not coming at me. She's a nice filly. She loves to run. I was a little worried about the two turns because she had only sprinted in her two races before this one. But she went right to the front and just kept going.”

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