Monmouth | Horse Racing Free Tips

‘Glad To Be In It’: Forster Excited For First Breeders’ Cup With Dirt Mile Hopeful Pirate’s Punch

Nestled five miles from Churchill Downs, trainer Grant Forster is eagerly preparing for the biggest race of his career at Trackside Louisville where Gulliver Racing, Craig Drager and Dan Legan's five-time winner Pirate's Punch will tackle a likely full field of competitors in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (Grade I) on Nov. 7 at Keeneland.

“Sort of like every horse trainer, I'm just holding my breath until we get there,” Forster said. “It's been a great ride so far with this horse and the (Dirt Mile) is shaping up to be a really competitive. It'll be a tough field but we're glad to be in it.”

Pirate's Punch had a unique two-race stand over the summer when Forster shipped the Shanghai Bobby gelding to Monmouth Park to compete in the $200,000 Philip Iselin Stakes (GIII) and one month later returned for the $155,000 Salvator Mile (GIII). In the Philip Iselin, the gutsy Pirate's Punch finished a half-length in front of Warrior's Charge but was subsequently disqualified and placed second following a stewards' inquiry and objection lodged by the runner-up finisher's jockey Paco Lopez.

Forster would return to Monmouth for redemption in the Salvator Mile where Pirate's Punch scored a convincing two-length score and sealed his likely starting gate position in the Dirt Mile.

In the Breeders' Cup, East Coast-based jockey Jorge Vargas Jr., who rode Pirate's Punch in each of his two starts at Monmouth, will ship to Kentucky to ride in the Breeders' Cup. The 26-year-old Vargas, whose grandfather and father both trained horses in his native Puerto Rico, is named to ride Shimmering (IRE) for trainer Graham Motion on Wednesday at Churchill Downs.

“He's rode Pirate's Punch perfectly in his last two starts, so why not continue to use him for the Breeders' Cup,” Forster said. “He's coming to Kentucky early and hopes to ride a few at Churchill before the Breeders' Cup.”

Starting on Friday, there will be a special training period from 7:30-7:45 a.m. for Breeders' Cup contenders. The special training session is scheduled to run through Wednesday, Nov. 4.

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‘Everything Has Come Together This Year’ For Jersey-Based Trainer Rory Huston

For a trainer whose stable consists of “about 95 percent” Jersey-breds, Rory Huston could not have hand-picked a better final card for the Meadowlands-at-Monmouth Park meet as he closes out the best year of his career.

Saturday's 11-race program features three stakes races for Jersey-breds: The $75,000 Smart N Classy for fillies and mares 3 and up going a mile; the $75,000 Dan Horn for 3 year olds and up at a mile and a sixteenth on the grass, and the $75,000 Pinot Grigio for fillies and mares 3 and up at 5½ furlongs on the turf.

Huston has entered five horses in the three stakes races.

“I told someone the other day it's like New Jersey Thoroughbred Festival Day all over again,” said Huston.

With six horses entered overall for the final day of the Thoroughbred racing season in New Jersey, Huston has a chance to finish the best season of his 11-year training career with a flourish.

He has already matched a personal best with 14 wins (from 100 starters) this year and his 2020 earnings of $701,125 are a career-best.

“I would say yes, it has been our best year yet,” said Huston, who gears down most of his operation when the New Jersey racing season ends, returning to his role as manager of Overbrook Farm in nearby Colts Neck. “Everything came together well this year. The horses, knock on wood, have been healthy. The track has been good. A lot of the pots we won were for Jersey-breds worth $60,000, so that accounts for the earnings we've had.”

Huston will only start a handful of horses at other tracks after Saturday, with his focus every year on Monmouth Park.

“We'll run a few elsewhere after this, but mostly I will be at the farm,” he said. “We're foaling 15 mares and we have 11 yearlings that we're breaking. I usually stop once the weather starts to go bad. We give the horses a couple of months off and then have them ready to come back when Monmouth Park re-opens.”

Before that happens, Huston has some unfinished business.

He has Groovy Surprise and Dantastic in the Smart N Classy, Wallercito in the Dan Horn and both Joy's Pride and Pretti Tricki in the Pinot Grigio.

Groovy Surprise is coming off a third-place finish in a $16,000 optional claimer while Dantastic is coming off a solid Maiden Special Weight victory.

“I like the way Groovy Surprise is coming into this race,” he said. “I feel good about her. I feel good about Dantastic, too. She has needed to go longer. We've tried to go long all summer with her but every time we entered her the race didn't go.”

Wallercito comes into the Dan Horn off of consecutive runner-up finishes and is trying the turf again after breaking his maiden on the grass last year in his only career try on the surface. In the Pinot Grigio Stakes, Pretti Tricki will race for the final time, with the 5-year-old mare having banked $161,136 during a 21-race career.

“She's going to be a broodmare after this,” said Huston. “Hopefully she will run big and end her career well.”

Joy's Pride comes into the same race with her only career win on the turf, but is trying a grass sprint for the first time.

If just one of Huston's starters manages to find the winner's circle his win total for the year will be a career best.

“If it happens it happens,” he said. “This has been a very good year either way. My crew did a great job, my wife helps gallop and run the shed row, and everything has come together this year, even with the late start due to the virus.

“I have no complaints.”

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Free Equibase PPs Available For Saturday’s Cross Country Pick 5

A packed Cross Country Pick 5 featuring all five races in a 50-minute stretch across four racetracks will highlight Saturday's racing action, with Belmont Park, Keeneland Race Course, Monmouth Park and Woodbine Racetrack all a part of the wager hosted by the New York Racing Association, Inc.

Live coverage will be available with America's Day at the Races on FOX Sports and MSG Networks. Free Equibase past performances for the Cross Country Pick 5 sequence are now available for download at https://www.nyra.com/belmont/racing/cross-country-wagers.

Keeneland will kick off the set with a 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint for 3-year-olds and up in Race 7 at 4:24 p.m. Eastern. The jam-packed hour of racing action will see a full field of 12 compete on the Haggin Course. Phast Pharoah, son of Triple Crown-winner American Pharoah, will compete for trainer Anna Meah, while Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen entered American Mandate.

Just five minutes later, Woodbine will add international flair to the wager with an allowance for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up going 7 1/2 furlongs in Race 7 at 4:29 p.m. Hall of Fame conditioner Mark Casse will send out two of the field's eight contenders, with All Quality and the English-bred Jeanie Beach looking to win their first respective race of 2020.

Belmont will host both the third and fourth legs, offering a pair of stakes during the track's Empire Showcase Day featuring some of the best state-breds in action. A 10-horse field of fillies and mares 3-years-old and up will contest at 6 1/2 furlongs over Big Sandy in the $125,000 Iroquois in Race 9 at 4:31 p.m. The Iroquois has been won by owners Chester and Mary Broman the last two years and will look for a third straight with homebred Spin a Yarn, a five-time winner from six starts for trainer Christopher Progno. Other Iroquois contenders include Newly Minted and Prairie Fire, both trained by Linda Rice, as well as Espresso Shot, Timely Tradition, Fair Regis, Officer Hutchy Collegeville Girl, Bertranda and My Roxy Girl.

The showcase race on the eight-stakes card at Belmont will be the penultimate leg, as multiple stakes winners Mr. Buff, Funny Guy and Sea Foam square off in a loaded renewal of the nine-furlong $175,000 Empire Classic for 3-year-olds and up in Race 10 at 5:05 p.m. Chestertown, a $2 million purchase at the March 2019 OBS 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, matched a career-best 85 Beyer Speed Figure last out in a three-quarter length score in the Albany on September 4 at Saratoga.

Monmouth will close the sequence with the first running of the $75,000 Pinot Grigio Handicap for New Jersey-bred fillies and mares 3-years-old and up going 5 ½ furlongs on the turf in Race 11 at 5:12 p.m. Achieving Glory, a winner against allowance company last out on October 3 at Monmouth, will go for trainer Chuck Spina, while Bramble Bay, winner of the Jersey Girl Handicap on July 19 for conditioner Michael Dini, will look to keep her perfect in-the-money record of 3-2-1 in six starts during her 4-year-old campaign intact.

The minimum bet for the multi-track, multi-race wager is 50 cents. Wagering on the Cross Country Pick 5 is also available on ADW platforms and at simulcast facilities across the country. Every week will feature a mandatory payout of the net pool.

The Cross Country Pick 5 will continue each Saturday throughout the year. For more information, visit NYRABets.com.

Cross Country Pick 5 – Saturday, October 24:
Leg 1 – Keeneland, Race 7: (4:24 p.m.)
Leg 2 – Woodbine Race 7: (4:29 p.m.)
Leg 3 – Belmont, Race 9: Iroquois (4:31 p.m.)
Leg 4 – Belmont, Race 10: Empire Classic (5:05 p.m.)
Leg 5 – Monmouth Park, Race 11: Pinot Grigio (5:12 p.m.)

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‘All I Wanted Was A Chance’: 35-Year-Old Apprentice Taking His Shot At Monmouth

At an age when most of those in his profession are already well established, Victor Flores is just starting. But a dream delayed beats one that is not pursued every time in the view of this 35-year-old apprentice jockey.

Flores, who arrived at Monmouth Park from California in early August, will continue to try to make up for lost time – both in his career and this season – with two scheduled mounts on Wednesday's nine-race card that kicks off the final week of the Thoroughbred racing season in New Jersey.

The Meadowlands-at-Monmouth Park meet's closing-day card will be Saturday, Oct. 24.

Flores, who hails from Hidalgo, Mexico, was able to make some inroads at the Monmouth Park meet despite his late arrival. He had a 5-5-4 line from 48 mounts during the meet and has already won a race at the abbreviated Meadowlands-at-Monmouth Park meet.

“I came to Monmouth Park because I thought I could get more opportunities to ride,” said Flores, who spent the first seven months of the year riding in California. “I heard if you work hard the trainers at Monmouth Park will give you a chance. All I wanted was a chance to show what I can do.

“I'm very happy with what I was able to do and I'm grateful to everyone who helped me and gave me a chance and supported me.”

Flores delayed the start of his riding career at first because of college, attending the Autonomous University of Tamaulipas to study animal husbandry.

“In my mind I thought I was going to be a veterinarian,” he said. “My other option was to study the Arts and become an actor.

“After I finished my studies and internships I worked for five years but the work was not enough.”

He then relocated to the United States and took a job in construction and painting in Hilton Head, S.C. and wound up as part of a crew that was sent to California to do a job. It was there, he said, that he saw Hollywood Park Racetrack for the first time. Immediately after his shift was over that day, and bitten by the racetrack bug again, he went to look for a job on the backstretch.

Eventually, the foreman for Jerry Hollendorfer's barn gave him a job galloping horses, which he did for six years. Flores launched his riding career in 2018, doing so without the help of an agent, a challenging endeavor for any jockey. He is now represented by Rudy Rodriguez, Jr.

“I've always loved horses since I was young,” he said. “Once I started galloping them I knew I wanted to be a rider.”

That Flores is still an apprentice after nearly three years of riding is another part of his improbable story. Four months into his riding career he was involved in a spill and suffered a dislocated shoulder that sidelined him for four months. Less than two months after returning he broke his collarbone when the horse he was on went down during a morning work.

“I was wondering `Why me?' ” he said. “Just before that happened, that weekend, I had so many horses (to ride) and several had a chance to win. The falls totaled nine months of me being out.”

Because of the missed time the California Thoroughbred Racing Commission granted him an extension of 219 days to continue as an apprentice. It's the same number of days he was sidelined for.

His apprenticeship was due to expire July 14, 2020 but was extended through Feb. 18, 2021 – or until he wins 40 races.

He currently has 23 career wins.

“I feel like this year I did get the attention of some trainers at Monmouth, even though I wasn't here very long,” he said. “At first I was only riding a few horses a week. Now it seems like I am getting more chances and I am getting them on live shots. Right now, I just want to ride. The more I ride the better I will get. I hope this is just the start for me.”

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