Monmouth | Horse Racing Free Tips

Monmouth’s Online $2,000 Pick Your Prize Handicapping Challenge Returns On Saturday

Monmouth Park Racetrack's $2,000 Pick Your Prize Handicapping Challenge will return for its fifth renewal on Saturday, July 25 and will take place online through TVG and Xpressbet.

The popular handicapping contest – which hosted 222 on-site entries in 2019 – will offer 18 seats to the 2021 National Horseplayers Championship, four seats to the 2020 Breeders' Cup Betting Challenge, and $65,000 in cash based on an estimated 200 entries.

“In a year that has seen a lot of plans change, we're thrilled to be able to offer our $2,000 Pick Your Prize Challenge online this Saturday,” said Brian Skirka, Monmouth Park's marketing manager and tournament director. “We already have players from 18 different states registered and I look forward to a continued rush of sign-ups. I'd like to thank the teams at TVG and Xpressbet, as well as Sportech, Amtote, and the Breeders' Cup, for all of their hard work and support leading up to what I know will be a great contest on Saturday.”

Boasting a unique format, the Pick Your Prize Challenge allows top finishers to select their prize(s) from a prize board. To accommodate this year's online event, a “prize selection conference call” will be set up amongst top finishers.

To register, all players must contact Skirka by Friday, July 24, at noon at bskirka@monmouthpark.com or by calling 732-571-6595. Participants across the country can only play through TVG or Xpressbet, while New Jersey residents are required to participate via 4NJBets – which is operated by TVG.

The Pick Your Prize Handicapping Challenge has a buy-in of $2,000. Players start with a bankroll of $1,000 with wagering on Monmouth Park races only. Players must bet $100 or more on at least 10 races. Only win, place, show and exacta wagers are permitted.

Based on 200 entries, the top four contest finishers will receive two selections from the prize board. Finishers five through 25 will receive one selection. All prizes and selection procedures are based on the final number of entries.

“In 2019, the 27^th-place finisher at Pick Your Prize won an NHC seat,” Skirka said. “To me, that makes this contest a player's best opportunity of the year to qualify for Vegas.”

The post Monmouth’s Online $2,000 Pick Your Prize Handicapping Challenge Returns On Saturday appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Vargas Hoping Haskell Day Success Propels Him To Big Summer At Monmouth Park

It took a little longer than jockey Jorge A. Vargas Jr. wanted it to or hoped it would, but the 25-year-old finally made the impact at Monmouth Park he expected when he moved his tack from the Maryland circuit this summer.

His timing couldn't have been better.

After an 0-for-17 start to the meet Vargas broke through with a victory aboard the Stanley Hough-trained Global Campaign in the Grade 3 Monmouth Cup on TVG.com Haskell Day last Saturday. On the same card he was second with 40-1 Our Super Freak in the Grade 3 Molly Pitcher after just missing the first Grade 1 score of his career when Paret could not hold off the late-running Aquaphobia in the United Nations, finishing second by a length.

“It was a little frustrating for me early in the meet,” said Vargas, who has two mounts on Monmouth Park's six-race twilight card when live racing resumes on Friday at 5 p.m. “When you're not winning the way you think you should you are always asking `what am I doing wrong?' You start to feel pressure because you're riding good horses you think you should win with and you're just short.

“I had a second early in the meet (aboard Gravitas) and the horse that beat me was 73-1. I'm like `I can't catch a break.' Finally, it seems to be turning around.”

Despite being winless early, Vargas kept coming close – adding to the frustration for the native of Caguas, Puerto Rico.

Overall from his 23 mounts at the Monmouth Park meet he has two wins, seven seconds and four thirds.

“Whenever you win it's good. When you get that first one of the meet in a graded stakes it's even better,” he said. “Once you get that monkey off your back you feel free and confident again and you can just be yourself without the pressure.

“I got some good feedback from last Saturday. It gives me confidence. I feel like I'm very close (to a breakout streak).”

Since starting his riding career in 2013 Vargas has found solid success. In 2018 he was Maryland's leading jockey with 110 wins, capturing the Laurel winter-spring riding title that year.

His decision to ride at Monmouth Park full-time this summer was paired with an opportunity that agent Jimmy Riccio set up for him to ride Aqueduct in the winter first.

“COVID-19 kind of messed up those plans,” said Vargas, who attended Puerto Rico's famed Escuela Vocacional Hipica school for jockeys and counts Manny Franco, Victor Carrasco and Jevian Toledo among his classmates. “But I'm happy to be doing the second half of our plan now.

“I just wanted to try something different. I like to challenge myself. A good opportunity came up with Jimmy Riccio and it was time for a change.”

A multiple graded stakes winner, Vargas says he is “still trying to achieve more.”

“I've been pretty successful to this point,” he said. It's pretty amazing when I think about it. But I know I can do even more. Hopefully, I have a little momentum now.”

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Nobody Puts Bode In A Corner: After Late Scratch In Monmouth Cup, Bodexpress Nominated To Whitney

After a late scratch from Saturday's Grade 3 Monmouth Cup, fan-favorite Bodexpress has been nominated to the Grade 1 Whitney Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 1, reports bloodhorse.com.

The 4-year-old son of Bodemeister, best-known for his riderless romp in the 2019 Preakness Stakes, was scratched by the state veterinarian when it was noted that the colt was bleeding near his nostrils. Gustavo Delgado, Jr., the assistant and 31-year-old son of trainer Gustavo Delgado, said the blood was due to a scratch on Bodexpress' nose incurred while he shipped to Monmouth Park.

“This horse is full of stories, but this one is not because of him,” said Delgado Jr. “He behaved well and he was doing everything that he had to do. He came back good, scoped fine, and he's already home and walked this morning.”

Bodexpress jumped onto the racing scene with a second-place finish as a maiden in the 2019 Florida Derby, running just behind Maximum Security. He finished 13th in the Kentucky Derby, and spun back to run in the Preakness Stakes two weeks later. The temperamental colt reared and lost jockey John Velazquez at the start, then ran around the Pimlico oval on his own before he was eventually corralled by an outrider. The antics earned Bodexpress a large fan following on social media.

He returned to the races five months later, breaking his maiden at Gulfstream Park West, and concluded his sophomore season with a third-place finish as the favorite in the G3 Harlan's Holiday at Gulfstream.

In January, Bodexpress ran fifth in the G1 Pegasus World Cup, but finished an uncharacteristic 11th in the Gulfstream Park Mile one month later. He returned in March to be third in the G3 Hal's Hope, again as the post-time favorite.

Overall, Bodexpress' record stands at 2-3-2 from 13 starts for earnings of $359,500.

Authentic Hangs on to Give Baffert Ninth Haskell

Heavily favored Authentic (Into Mischief) got surprisingly loose early and held on narrowly late in Saturday’s GI TVG.com Haskell S., upping trainer Bob Baffert’s record win total in the prestigious event to nine and earning an automatic spot in the starting gate for the GI Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic. Off at 3-5 looking to atone for a second-place finish at 1-2 behind Honor A. P. (Honor Code) in the GI Santa Anita Derby last month, the bay broke on top and received only token pressure from Ny Traffic (Cross Traffic) as he was kept off the rail a bit by Hall of Famer Mike Smith through splits of :23.60 and :47.52. He appeared to be going much better than Ny Traffic through six furlongs in 1:11.50, and put several lengths on his pursuer in upper stretch as hard-ridden second choice Dr Post (Quality Road) tried to mount a rally. The top three seemed locked in their positions at midstretch, but Paco Lopez aboard Ny Traffic wasn’t giving up on the top spot yet, and he kept after his mount to get into a tight photo with Authentic.

“He’s a colt with an abundance of talent. Ability is something he does not lack. He’s got a lot of it,” said winning rider Mike Smith, who was celebrating his third Haskell (Holly Bull, 1994; Coronado’s Quest, 1998). “But what he is lacking right now, he’s learning, He’s growing up. He sees things. Down the backside… there are a lot of shadows back there from the sun at this point. He looked at every single one of them and he wouldn’t let me get him down close to the fence because he was looking at them too much.

“Then he kicked away like I wanted him to heading for home. Once that horse started to come at him I wanted to get into him a little bit just to get him going. If he was going to start playing again I thought `I just better stay riding and hope he could hang on at that point’–which he did. I rode him well past the wire just to show him to keep running. I didn’t want him to think it was over when he hit the wire.”

Saturday, Monmouth Park
TVG.COM HASKELL S.-GI, $1,005,000, Monmouth, 7-18, 3yo,
1 1/8m, 1:50.45, ft.
1–AUTHENTIC, 122, c, 3, by Into Mischief
                1st Dam: Flawless, by Mr. Greeley
                2nd Dam: Oyster Baby, by Wild Again
                3rd Dam: Really Fancy, by In Reality
1ST GRADE I WIN. ($350,000 Ylg ’18 KEESEP). O-Spendthrift
Farm LLC, MyRaceHorse Stable, Madaket Stables LLC &
Starlight Racing; B-Peter E. Blum Thoroughbreds, LLC (KY);
T-Bob Baffert; J-Mike E. Smith. $600,000. Lifetime Record:
5-4-1-0, $1,011,200. Werk Nick Rating: A+++. *Triple Plus*.
   Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Ny Traffic, 122, c, 3, Cross Traffic–Mamie Reilly, by Graeme
Hall. ($27,000 RNA 2yo ’19 EASMAY). O-John Fanelli, Cash is
King LLC, LC Racing & Paul Braverman; B-Brian Culnan (NY);
T-Saffie A. Joseph, Jr.. $200,000.
3–Dr Post, 122, c, 3, Quality Road–Mary Delaney, by Hennessy.
($200,000 Wlg ’17 KEENOV; $400,000 Ylg ’18 KEESEP). O-St.
Elias Stable; B-Cloyce C Clark (KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher.
$100,000.
Margins: NO, 4HF, 3 1/4. Odds: 0.60, 5.70, 1.80.
Also Ran: Jesus’ Team, Fame to Famous, Lebda, Ancient Warrior.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

Authentic was a first-out winner at Del Mar last November, and was shelved after defeating stablemate Azul Coast (Super Saver) by 7 3/4 lengths in the GIII Sham S. at Santa Anita in January. He resurfaced to defeat Honor A. P. handily in the GII San Felipe S. in Arcadia Mar. 7, but still seemed at that point to be third on Baffert’s depth chart behind ‘TDN Rising Stars’ Nadal (Blame) and Charlatan (Speightstown). Those two each crossed the wire first in divisions of the GI Arkansas Derby in May, but the former was subsequently retired and the latter sidelined. Charlatan was disqualified from his win and Baffert suspended 15 days earlier this week for lidocaine positives (click for more). B. Wayne Hughes’s Spendthrift Farm acquired a majority interest in Authentic when buying the equity owned by SF Racing, Fred Hertrich, John Fielding and Golconda Stables days before the June 6 Santa Anita Derby, and micro-share syndicate MyRacehorse.com got in on the colt after his slow start and pace-pressing second in that event.

“I’m just so proud of him, but I was like everybody else telling Mike, ‘You better stay after him. You’d better keep busy,'” said Baffert from California. “[Authentic] looks at everything, as we’ve seen in his past races. I could tell he wasn’t focused going down the stretch but he held on. He saw that horse coming to him and he took off again.

“[Assistant Jimmy Barnes] said he came back not really that tired. We’re learning about the horse. He might need a little blinker, though. He was playing in the stretch. I had told Mike that he had to stay after him and keep him busy. I could tell he wasn’t laying it down. He was just playing out there and that horse came to him and kept him going. But when he got [out on an easy lead] by himself like that I thought for sure he was just going to go on. But he ran a great race.”

Authentic now sits behind only Tiz the Law for GI Kentucky Derby qualifying points with 200. Ny Traffic is fourth with 110.

“I thought he ran good,” said the runner-up’s trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. “Coming into this race he missed a work and I was a little concerned–did we have enough? At the quarter pole you could see Authentic was cruising and my horse was off the bridle. To dig down and dig deep you can’t be more proud of that. I was pretty sure we lost when I first saw it. We were a head in front right after the bob at the wire. I just want to keep going forward. That’s the important thing. Hopefully all goes well to the Kentucky Derby and we’re living the dream.”

Pedigree Notes:

Authentic is the first member of his direct female family to add blacktype in 35 years. His third dam, Arkansas-bred Really Fancy, captured the GIII Anoakia S. in 1985, but the family has been dormant in stakes company ever since. Peter E. Blum acquired second dam Oyster Baby and bred Authentic’s dam Flawless, a $285,000 Keeneland September yearling RNA and two-time winner, out of her. Flawless, by Mr. Greeley whose 76 stakes winners out of his daughters include champion Ria Antonia (Rockport Harbor), produced two winners from two runners before Authentic and had colts in 2018 and 2019 by Bodemeister named Mint and Push Button, respectively. If Authentic’s dam side has been quiet in recent years, his sire line certainly has not as Into Mischief is currently the leading sire in the nation. His 73 career blacktype winners, 30 of which are graded, include 2019 dual champion Covfefe and a remarkable 18 stakes winners of 2020, which is 10 more than his nearest pursuers. His 2-year-old daughters made up the exacta in Thursday’s GIII Schuylerville S. at Saratoga.

The post Authentic Hangs on to Give Baffert Ninth Haskell appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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