Tag: monmouth park

Vigilantes Way Finds Path To Winner’s Circle In Eatontown At Monmouth Park

Even after 11 career starts, Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey has been saying that the best is yet to come for Vigilantes Way.

Sunday's Grade 3 Eatontown Stakes at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J. may be the start of that for the 4-year-old filly.

Perfectly positioned to chase soft early fractions by jockey Paco Lopez despite leaving from post position 12, Vigilantes Way showed an impressive closing kick to win the $150,000 G3 Eatontown Stakes by 2¼ lengths before a season-high crowd of 12,562 on Father's Day.

It marked the first graded stakes victory for the Phipps Stable homebred, a daughter of Medaglia d'Oro out of Salute by Unbridled.

“I thought Paco rode a good race,” said McGaughey. “He got her away from there from the outside and had her in good position. I knew she would finish. She had trained very well before she went down there. It was just a matter of whether she would take the shipping on a hot day like today. She obviously did. I'm very proud of her.”

Able to break alertly with Vigilantes Way, Lopez sat behind pacesetter Valletta through tepid fractions of :24.54, :48.70, 1:12.12, and 1:35.87 for the opening mile of the mile and a sixteenth race on a turf course that has been playing fast. Lopez asked his filly coming out of the final turn, and she responded in a big way, easily surging past Valletta, who held on for second. Crystal Cliffs and Counterparty Risk finished in a dead heat for third, another half-length back, in the full field of 12 fillies and mares 3 years old and up.

The winning time for the race was 1:41.90.

“Sometimes this horse has speed, sometimes not,” said Lopez. “The post position (12) is something I usually don't like but today it worked to our advantage. I was able to get out there and get in a good position behind (Valletta). It set up nicely for us.

“Shug told me to do whatever I felt I needed to do. She is usually in the top three early and I knew she would finish. She has a strong kick. It looked like there was a lot of speed in the race but they went kind of slow so I was happy with the position I was in throughout the race. I didn't have to make up a lot of ground.”

McGaughey was especially encouraged by Vigilantes Way's prospects for the Eatontown Stakes off her last race, when she closed into slow fractions on the Preakness Day undercard at Pimlico, falling a half-length short to multiple-graded stakes winner Mean Mary.

“I thought her last race in Pimlico was a really good race because she kind of got jumbled up at the start and got out of position,” said McGaughey. “She only got beat a half-length by Mean Mary, a multiple-graded stakes winner. Now maybe we can go on and get her stretched out, maybe to a mile and an eighth. She's handy. She might be able to get it. When that will be, I don't know. But today I am very pleased with the way she ran and very proud of her.

“Getting a graded stakes win is important, especially for a filly with a pedigree like hers. It's as good a pedigree as you are going to find. So now she's a graded stakes winner. Hopefully, it might lead to something even better.”

Vigilantes Way returned $9.20 to win for her fifth lifetime victory in 12 starts. She has failed to hit the board only twice in her career.

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Delgado Has Visions of Breeders’ Cup For The Critical Way

Trainer Jose Delgado was so impressed by what he saw from his speedy grass sprinter The Critical Way on Saturday at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J. that he immediately began plotting out a schedule that would get the 7-year-old gelding to the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint on Nov. 6.

It wasn't just that The Critical Way won the $75,000 Get Serious Stakes with ease, pulling away for a three-length victory. It was how he won the five-furlong grass feature.

Known for his blazing early speed, The Critical Way sat off the flanks of an even speedier French Reef, doing so through an opening quarter in a dazzling :20.11 and through a half in :43.34. Jockey Paco Lopez eased The Critical Way around French Reef entering the final turn and the son of Tizway took off, showing a finishing kick that can sometimes elude him when he is on the front end.

Final time for the five furlongs on a turf that was listed as “firm” was :55.19.

“We always think of this horse as being in front right out of the gate because he has a lot of speed,” said Delgado, who tops the Monmouth Park trainer standings with 11 wins. “But Paco Lopez told me he was very comfortable coming off the pace. That's a new dimension for him. We always think he's one way and it's go, go, go. Now we've seen he can sit behind the speed and make one move and he can win that way. I like that.

“We saw he can sit comfortably. That gives us a lot of options. He is very consistent. He gives you everything he has. We'll look at some serious things for him now. Maybe we'll try something in Saratoga, then one or two races at Parx and then if everything goes right we will try to take him to the Breeders' Cup. That's the plan. That's the hope.”

Lopez said The Critical Way “didn't break like he usually does.”

“Usually he is right out of the gate and on the lead,” said Lopez. “I think he got scared a little bit and jumped behind (French Reef). I know that horse from seeing him in Florida. That's a very fast horse. So I was behind that one but he was very comfortable, which surprised me because it is something new for him.

“I came in thinking I would make the lead but I had to go to Plan B. But the horse made it easy for me with how comfortable he was. He was close. It's not like he was far back. So when I did ask him he just took off.”

After being caught at the wire in his last start in the Turf Sprint Stakes at Pimlico on the Preakness Stakes card, The Critical Way notched his fourth stakes victory and eighth win overall in 25 career starts for Monster Racing Stables. He paid $3.80 to win.

French Reef held second, 1¼ lengths ahead of Francatelli.

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McGaughey Confident About Vigilantes Way In Sunday’s Eatontown Stakes

Even after 11 career starts, six of them wins or runner-up finishes, Shug McGaughey believes the best is yet to come for the 4-year-old filly Vigilantes Way.

Her last race underscored that belief for the Hall of Fame trainer.

The regally-bred Vigilantes Way was able to close into slow early fractions before just missing by a half-length in the Grade 3 Gallorette Stakes at a mile and a sixteenth on the grass on Pimilco's May 15 Preakness card. The horse that held on to beat her? Mean Mary, a five-time graded stakes winner and millionaire who is 7-for-11 lifetime, including a win in the Grade 2 New York Stakes in her next start.

Now Vigilantes Way, a daughter of Medaglia d'Oro – Salute by Unbridled, will look to build off that effort in Sunday's Grade 3 Eatontown Stakes at Monmouth Park. The $150,000 feature, which drew a full field of 12 (plus four alternates), is also scheduled for a mile and a sixteenth on the turf.

“We didn't get the position out of the gate that we wanted to in (her last race),” said McGaughey. “She had a little trouble early and we were further back than we wanted to be. But I was pleased with the way she closed. She got beat a half-length by a very good filly.

“That gives us some more hope that the future is bright for her.”

After a solid 3-year-old campaign in which the Phipps Stable homebred won 4-of-7 starts, Vigilantes Way is 0-for-3 this year. But two of her losses have come in Grade 3 events.

“I think she has come back this year even better than I expected her to,” said McGaughey. “She has been a bit of a surprise. She was small as a yearling and she would not have been one that you picked out in the field for her pedigree. But everything she has done so far has been right.

“I think she still has a pretty good future in front of her.”

McGaughey said that adding a graded stakes win to her credentials would be significant for Vigilantes Way but that it's not something he is obsessed with.

“With her pedigree, it is something we're looking to get,” he said. “Basically, I'm just looking to win a race with her, whether it's graded or not. I thought this race was a good spot on the calendar. It gave her plenty of time from Pimlico to here. We'll see what happens.”

Paco Lopez has the mount.

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NHC Rundown: Past Champions Bavlish, Littlemore Qualify For NHC 2022

Each week, the NTRA will provide a rundown of those who have qualified for the National Horseplayers Championship (NHC) the previous weekend. Twenty- eight NHC Tour members earned 2022 NHC berths last weekend through contests on Horseplayers.com, Horsetourneys.com, and at Monmouth Park.

The NHC is the most important tournament of the year for horseplayers and is the culmination of a year-long series of NTRA-sanctioned local tournaments conducted by racetracks, casino race books, off-track betting facilities and horse racing and handicapping websites, each of which sends its top qualifiers to the national finals. The 2021 NHC is slated take place in the Bally's Events Center from Aug. 27-29 with the 2022 NHC set for Jan. 28-30 at Bally's.

Last weekend's qualifiers, and their respective contest sites, are as follows:

Horseplayers Friday, 6/11/2021
Chris Littlemore of Whitby, ON, was the 2018 NHC Champion, winning $800,000 and honored at the 2019 Eclipse Awards as Horseplayer of the Year. In 2019, he was a Final Table participant.
Shawn Turner of Middletown, MD, has qualified for his seventh NHC.
Horseplayers Saturday, 6/12/21
Sarah Wiener of Las Vegas, NV, has qualified for her eighth NHC. “I love traveling to the horse contests and meeting such great people that I now call friends,” say Wiener.
Michael Goodrich of Hopewell, NJ, has qualified for his fourth NHC.
Horsetourneys.com Sunday, 6/13/21
Bernard Reilly of Fair Haven, NJ, has qualified for his seventh NHC.
Dave Wang of Las Vegas, NV, put himself in a qualifying position when Hey Padre won last Sunday's 10th race at Gulfstream Park, paying $30.40. Wang is related to NHC royalty, as his aunt, Sally Goodall, was recently inducted into the NHC Hall of Fame. Wang has now qualified for his fourth NHC.
Monmouth Park Pick Your Prize Saturday, 6/12/21
Ken Seeman of Wantagh, NJ, has four top 20 finishes in the NHC, finishing 12th, 14th and 11th in three of his first five cracks in the Championship. In 2019, he finished 20th and cashed for $17,250. He has now qualified 14 times for the NHC.
Sean O'Malley of Atresia, CA, has qualified for his fifth NHC.
Anthony Mattera of Estell Manor, NJ, has qualified for his fifth NHC.
Matthew Bickey of Beckley, WV, has qualified for his third NHC.
Ed Deicke of Lido Beach, NY has double qualified for the 2022 NHC. He finished 20th in last year's Championship and cashed for $16,500. Ed volunteers his time to serve as an NHC Tour mentor.
John Kaiser of Krotz Springs, LA, has qualified for his seventh NHC.
Gary Minchiz of Cream Ridge, NJ, has qualified for his eighth NHC.
Thomas O'Connor of Rochester, MI, has qualified for his sixth NHC. He finished 45th in 2017 and cashed for $10,480.
Kevin Engelhard of Franklin Park, NJ, has qualified for his 14th NHC. He first participated in the 2005 Championship.
Sean Nolan of Alexandria, VA, has had an excellent NHC history with a second-place finish in 2001 for $30,000, a 10th-place spot in 2012, 20th in 2016, and 17th in 2020.
Stelios Kandias of Ridge, NY, has qualified for his second NHC.
Terrence Cook of Townson, MD, has qualified for his third NHC. He finished 23rd in 2018 and cashed for $16,800.
Terry Flanagan of South Orange, NJ, qualified for his second NHC.
Patrick Grippo of Poughquaq, NY, has qualified for this fourth NHC.
Rich Nilsen of Tarpon Springs, FL, an NHC Players' Committee member, has qualified for his 18th NHC. Starting back in 2001 with his first NHC, Nilsen had eighth-place finishes in 2002 and in 2011.
Greg Gass of Zionsville, IN, has qualified for his second NHC.
Jeff Bussan of New Canaan, CT, has qualified for his sixth NHC.
Stanley Bavlish of Fredrick, MD, was the 2007 NHC Champion. He is an NHC Hall of Fame Nominee, NHC Mentor, and an NHC Players' Committee member.
Monmouth Park Sunday, 6/13/21
Nick Fazzolari of Colt's Neck, NJ, an NHC Mentor, has qualified for his ninth NHC. He finished 33rd in 2020 and cashed for $13,500.
Greg Knepper of West Lawn, PA, has qualified for his 11th NHC.
Suresh Bommanaboina of East Windsor, NJ, has qualified for his first NHC.
Dave Conover of Manahawkin, NJ, has qualified for his 10th NHC.

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