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Cox Hoping To Send Warrior’s Charge From Iselin To Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile

Trainer Brad Cox is doing his best to focus solely on Saturday's $200,000 Grade 3 Philip H. Iselin Stakes at Monmouth Park for Warrior's Charge, but it's not always easy when the ultimate goal – the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile – is this close.

Warrior's Charge, fourth in the Grade 1 Met Mile in his last start and a close-up fourth in the Preakness a year ago, heads a compact field of six for the 85th edition of the Iselin, the feature on a 14-race card.

“Our goal, our dream I guess you could call it, is the Breeders' Cup (Dirt) Mile (Nov. 7 at Keeneland),” said Cox. “I don't know if this would be his last race for that. We probably have some options.

“But I'm a one race at a time guy. I want to get through Saturday before we pick out our next couple of races. The goal is definitely to get this horse to the Breeders' Cup (Dirt) Mile and I feel like Monmouth Park's course, the way it plays, the mile and a sixteenth around two turns, would be something he will like. So we'll see.”

A 4-year-old Florida-bred son of Munnings-Battling Brook by Broken Vow, Warrior's Charge launched his 2020 campaign with a win in the Grade 3 Razorback at Oaklawn on Feb. 17. He followed that by finishing second in the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap before being beaten just two lengths in the Met Mile at Belmont Park on July 4 in his last start.

Warrior's Charge sports a 4-1-3 from 10 career starts with earnings of $715,310.

“I thought he ran huge,” Cox said of the Met Mile. “I thought it was a big effort. He ran against some Grade 1 horses and he showed he can compete. I was very pleased with the effort and he bounced out of it in good shape.

“He has definitely matured. I think he has shown in his races this year that he has stepped up and run big against some of the best horses in the country.”

The speedy Warrior's Charge looks the most likely candidate on paper to control the pace with his front-running style, though the Grant Forster-trained Pirate's Punch is also a speedy type.

“Obviously we have a great jock for Monmouth Park in Paco Lopez,” said Cox. “So I feel comfortable with the set up. If all goes well and he gets a good, clean trip he will definitely be a factor.

“Bal Harbour is obviously a nice horse. Pirate's Punch is a nice horse as well. It's not a big field but it's a very competitive race. It's a group of horses that are very well matched.”

Bal Harbour, who has competed in graded stakes company his last eight starts, is trained by Gregg Sacco, who also supplemented multiple Grade 1 winner Mind Control to the race. Sacco said a decision on whether Mind Control will go in the Iselin Stakes will be made on Friday. The 4-year-old colt has tried two turns just once in his 14-race career, finishing seventh in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile in 2018.

“He's ready if that's the direction the owners want to go,” Sacco said.

Mind Control last raced in the Grade 1 Vanderbilt at six furlongs at Saratoga on July 25, finishing third.

Warrior's Charge, owned by Ten Strike Racing and Madaket Stables, will ship to Monmouth Park from Churchill Downs on Friday morning, Cox said, with the trainer's 21-year-old son Bryson handling the horse when he arrives in New Jersey.

The post Cox Hoping To Send Warrior’s Charge From Iselin To Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Monmouth Park Unveils Ky Derby Day Packages

Monmouth Park will offer special dining packages that include guaranteed entry as part of the GI Kentucky Derby simulcast and live racing program Saturday, Sept. 5. Entry will be limited according to state-approved regulations for attendance capacity restrictions. Derby Day guaranteed entry tickets cost $10, with patrons receiving a $10 food voucher upon admittance. Parking and admission are free. A Derby Day Picnic Party will take place in the trackside picnic area. The package includes all-you-can-eat food and soft drink service from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Advanced reservations will also be available for the Kentucky Derby Clubhouse Dining at Lady’s Secret Cafe. All food and drink is a la carte beginning at 11 a.m. Monmouth will also host a Derby Day Best Dressed Contest, with the winner receiving a $100 Kentucky Derby wager.

For more information on the Kentucky Derby Day dining and events, visit www.monmouthpark.com.

The post Monmouth Park Unveils Ky Derby Day Packages appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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‘This Is What I Love Doing’: Breen Leads Monmouth Trainer’s Standings At Mid-Way Point

In some ways, Kelly Breen is as surprised as anyone that he will reach the midpoint of the Monmouth Park meet atop the trainer standings and as the favorite to win the title.

That's because he originally thought he was too heavy on 2-year-olds, too light on claimers, didn't have the overall numbers and wasn't sure how consistently he would be able to keep adding to his stable as the meet progressed.

“I thought I came in here a little short on the stock that a normal leading trainer would have,” said Breen. “Approximately one-third (19 of 62) of the horses I have here are 2-year-olds. With the pandemic you can't get to the 2-year-olds until later in the season. So they're pushed back. You're training horses more than you are racing horses.

“I knew to offset that we would have to be active in the claim box.”

The adjustment seems to have worked. Breen, who won the training title at Monmouth Park in 2005 and 2006, heads into the 18th racing day of the now 36-day meet on Friday with 12 winners from 45 starters to top the trainer standings.

He is three winners ahead of his closest competitor, Ben Perkins, Jr., but will only have one opportunity to add to his total during the six-race twilight card on Friday that starts at 5 p.m. Breen will send out Life On The Edge, already a winner at the meet, in the sixth race

“I'm still on the fence about my chances (to win the title),” he said. “So many different things go into winning a training title. A lot of variables.”

Breen said he “lost about six horses I liked for Monmouth Park at Gulfstream, and you can't replenish because Florida rules are you can't take them out of state for at least 90 days. I was coming back here before that so it just didn't work out. You come in feeling you're a little short.”

He also knows with the logjam behind him in the standings that a trainer is just one hot streak away from joining or passing him atop the standings. That happened with Perkins, who had four winners on Sunday's card and has won with seven of his last nine starters.

Jose Delgado, Mike Dini and Jerry Hollendorfer, each with eight winners, are in the title chase mix as well.

For the 51-year-old Breen, though, the training title would be especially significant since the New Jersey native has called Monmouth Park home since he started training in 1992.

“When you're this close of course you want to win it. There isn't anybody out there who would say no,” said Breen, who set a personal best with 66 winners overall a year ago. “This is a prestigious racetrack. To put another feather in my cap would be awesome. This is my home track so there are a lot of things going for me here, owners that have been with me a long time.

“I won the title here in 2005 and 2006 and then I was a private trainer and I did that for a while. So you lose contact with some owners and a lot of the big outfits I used to train for aren't racing as much. I'm on the market again and making more phone calls to get horses than I ever have in my life but this is what I love doing. It's just different. So winning the title again, if that happens, would mean a lot.”

The post ‘This Is What I Love Doing’: Breen Leads Monmouth Trainer’s Standings At Mid-Way Point appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Grade 1 Winner Green Gratto Finishes Last In Comeback Race, Will Be Retired

Grade 1-winning millionaire Green Gratto was returning to the races off a 16-month layoff on Sunday at Monmouth Park, but the 10-year-old gelding incurred a superficial wound on his right foreleg at the start and was eased to finish last in the field of seven. Trainer Kathleen O'Connell told the Daily Racing Form that Green Gratto's owners will take him back to their Florida farm for retirement.

“Other than that small mark, he's okay,” O'Connell told drf.com. “He jogs sound, but he is being retired and after resting a few days he is going back to his farm.”

Retired to stud in 2018, Green Gratto was found to be infertile and thus gelded. He had been entered for a comeback last fall at Gulfstream when a social media firestorm forced him to be withdrawn from that race.

Unraced since April of 2018, Green Gratto was under the care of trainer Tamara Levy when his first comeback attempt was spoiled. He returned to owner Norman Wilson's farm, where Wilson said the gelding became listless and unhappy, before he was sent to trainer Kathleen O'Connell in 2020.

Green Gratto recorded three workouts at Monmouth since late June, and shows works at Tampa Bay Downs as early as Feb. 8 of this year. The gelding was listed at 8-1 on the morning line for Sunday's six-furlong contest, which was a $20,000 optional claiming race restricted to New Jersey-breds.

Prior to his unsuccessful stallion career, Green Gratto amassed earnings of $1,149,202 with a record of nine wins, nine seconds, and nine thirds from 65 starts. His graded stakes victories include the G1 Carter in 2017, G3 Toboggan in 2017 and G3 Fall Heighweight in 2015.