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Lopez Wins With Amatteroftime, Alta Velocita On New Jersey Thoroughbred Festival Day

It only seemed fitting that a day celebrating New Jersey-bred horses belonged to jockey Paco Lopez, trainer Kelly Breen, and breeder-owner John Bowers.

Lopez, who tied his own Monmouth Park record by riding seven winners on Saturday, captured two of the three stakes races during Sunday's New Jersey Thoroughbred Festival at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J., while Breen won the $100,000 New Jersey Breeders' Handicap with Pickin' Time, last year's champion New Jersey-bred 2-year-old.

Pickin' Time, who held off Golden Brown to win by 1¾ lengths in the six-furlong New Jersey Breeders' Handicap for 3-year-olds and up, is owned and was bred by John Bowers.

Bowers was honored during the day as the 2020 New Jersey Breeder of the Year.

“It's great that Pickin' Time and Mr. (John) Bowers would win this race on Jersey-bred day,” said Breen. “He's a top breeder. It's difficult when you have a top 2-year-old and you have to transition to 3. Then at 3, having to run against older horses in a race like this like Golden Brown, who is a top older horse, one of the best Jersey-breds ever.

“We knew we had our work cut out for us. Our horse was training well and doing well. I'm just glad he showed up. We talked a lot about the cut back (to six furlongs from a mile and an eighth in the TVG.com Haskell Invitational in his last start). We sharpened him up with the breezes. We did all I thought we needed him to do to get him ready for a top effort off the shelf. He showed up. They went fast. But he's a fast horse too.”

Ridden by Nik Juarez, Pickin' Time looped three-wide coming out of the final turn while Golden Brown, ridden by Lopez, shot the rail.

“It was for the best that I had to go wide coming out of the final turn,” said Juarez. “The favorite (Golden Brown) was down on the rail so I wanted to get the jump before he got through and make sure I was clear and kick some dirt. We were able to get the jump on him and that made a difference.”

Pickin' Time, making his first start since being elevated to fourth in the Grade 1 Haskell, returned $8.60 to win.

The winning time for the son of Stay Thirsty was 1:09.58, with Dr. Doyle getting third.

The other two stakes races on the 12-race card for state-breds belonged to Lopez.

The track's leading rider guided Amatteroftime to a 4¾-length victory over Prendimi in the $125,000 Charles Hesse III Handicap at a mile and a sixteenth and also captured the $100,000 Eleven North Handicap, doing so with a rousing stretch run that saw Alta Velocita get up to win by a nose over Jersey Jewel.

Amatteroftime, trained by Silvino Ramirez, earned his first stakes win since capturing the 2018 New Jersey Breeders' Handicap. The 6-year-old gelding is now 5-for-13 at Monmouth Park during his career.

Amatteroftime paid $5.40 to win, covering the mile and a sixteenth in 1:44.49. Optic Way finished third, another two lengths back.

Lopez's victory in the six-furlong Eleven North aboard Alta Velocita wasn't nearly as easy, with the filly rallying from eighth, seven lengths back, at the quarter pole, finally catching Jersey Jewel on the wire. The winning time was 1:10.45.

Though Alta Velocita has won four of her last five starts, the Eleven North marked the first stakes victory in her 15-race career.

“At the top of the stretch, I was hoping we'd get fourth because of how far back she was. Maybe fifth and then a long drive home,” said winning trainer Andrew Simoff. “As it got closer my hopes picked up. I still didn't she was going to get there inside the sixteenth pole. She had that late surge and switched to that right lead and took off and that was it.”

Alta Velocita returned $6.20 in the field of 11 fillies and mares, three and up.

“At the five-eighths and then the half-mile pole I was thinking `she is dead last,' ” said Lopez, who is virtually assured of his eighth Monmouth Park riding title. “I let her go very wide and let her do her thing. She was flying. I think she made up 10 lengths in the stretch.”

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Share The Ride Takes Inside Route To Victory In General George

Silvino Ramirez's Share the Ride soared through an opening along the rail entering the stretch and pulled away to earn his second career graded-stakes victory and give journeyman rider Victor Carrasco his first in Saturday's $250,000 General George (G3) at Laurel Park.

The 45th running of the General George for 4-year-olds and up and the 69th edition of the $250,000 Runhappy Barbara Fritchie (G3) for fillies and mares 4 and older, both sprinting seven furlongs, co-headlined a Winter Sprintfest program of six stakes worth $900,000 in purses.

Originally scheduled for Feb. 13, Winter Sprintfest was pushed back a week after winter storms passed through the Mid-Atlantic region. Parx-based Share the Ride ($10.80) hit the wire in 1:22.85 over a fast main track.

Winner of the 2013 Eclipse Award as North America's champion apprentice, the 28-year-old Carrasco has battled through assorted injuries over his career, picking up his 1,000^th lifetime winner last January at Laurel.

“First of all I want to say thanks to the trainer and the owner. I can't even explain,” Carrasco said. “I've been through so much in my career [that] when I passed the wire, I could not believe it. But thank God we're here and thanks to Share the Ride, we got it done.”

Share the Ride, a gelded son of Candy Ride, won the six-furlong Fall Highweight (G3) Nov. 29 at Aqueduct to cap his 2020 campaign. He made his 6-year-old debut Jan. 16 at Laurel, leading into deep stretch before being caught at the wire and finishing second by a neck behind Wendell Fong.

Last time out, Share the Ride chased the pace on the outside and settled four third, beaten 3 ¼ lengths as the favorite, in the seven-furlong Toboggan (G3) Jan. 30 at Aqueduct.

“Everything came out like the plan we made. We're really happy,” Ramirez said. “He's a fast horse. He likes to run in front. He was a little behind last time. He didn't like it so much, so this time we were in front. That's the way he likes it.”

Arthur's Hope and jockey Alcibiades Cortez were eager for the lead and held it through a brisk pace of 23.20 seconds for a quarter-mile and 46.13 for the half, with Share the Ride in close pursuit. Arthur's Hope drifted out as the field approached the stretch and Share the Ride had plenty of room to roll once straightened for home.

Tattooed, upset winner of the one-mile Jennings Jan. 16 at Laurel in his previous start, split horses in mid-stretch to get up for second, two lengths ahead of 2020 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash (G3) winner Laki. It was another half-length back to multiple stakes winner Lebda in fourth.

Arthur's Hope, Informative, Chilly in Charge, Grade 3 winner Majestic Dunhill and 2-1 favorite Funny Guy completed the order of finish. Fortunate Friends was scratched.

“The instructions were to not go to the lead, to make sure that I sit second or third, and I tried my best to do that. When I saw Cortez on my outside, I just sat patient and waited and when we got near to the quarter pole and said, 'Go,' he responded well and we got the 'W,'” Carrasco said.

“To be honest I felt like he was never slowing down,” he added. “I was a little concerned by the sixteenth pole because I've been in that position before where you feel like to you them and then you get nailed at the wire. But I felt like I had enough from the sixteenth pole to the wire.”

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Peterson Notches First Stakes Win Aboard Share The Ride In Mr. Prospector

When trainer Antonio Arriaga convinced Silvino Ramirez to claim Share the Ride for $16,000 on July 5 it was with the belief that the 5-year-old gelding had the ability to be a stakes winner.

It took four starts – two on the turf, which the horse had never tried before – but Arriaga's faith was rewarded when Share the Ride dominated the field in a gate-to-wire victory to capture Saturday's $100,000 Mr. Prospector Stakes at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J., by 3 3/4 lengths, giving jockey Ferrin Peterson the first stakes win of her career.

Ridden aggressively from the outset, Share the Ride broke sharply from the outside in the six-horse field, which included multiple Grade 1 winner Mind Control, and cruised through fractions of :22.45 to the opening quarter and :44.94 to the half.

He was never seriously threatened, with even-money favorite Awesome Anywhere chasing to get second, 1 1/4 lengths ahead of 6-5 shot Mind Control.

The winning time for the six furlongs was 1:09.18, with Share the Ride paying $19.40 to win in notching the first stakes victory of his 16-race career.

“Part of it was being aggressive on my part,” said Peterson, riding the horse for the first time. “He had just run long on the turf and now he was back going short on the dirt, which (agent) Julie Krone has told me it can make them sharp when they do that. (Arriaga) told me I needed to be aggressive leaving the gate because he tends to follow.

“So I gave him a really big warmup, got away from the pony, and he was really sharp. Honestly, though, the trainer and I were both surprised he broke on the lead. But then I was able to get him to relax and he had that the big kick when I asked for it. He was strong today.”

In his first start for Arriaga on Aug. 9 going six furlongs on the dirt in an optional $50,000 claimer, Share the Ride came off the pace to finish second, a length behind Awesome Anywhere. He was then off the board in the first two turf tries of his career, the most recent being a fifth-place finish in the Grade 3 Red Bank Stakes one week ago.

“We didn't expect him to go wire to wire like this,” said Arriaga. “I think he needed his last race going longer to open up his lungs. Then we cut him back from a mile to six furlongs for this race. I think that made a difference. He was very sharp today.

“We put him back on the dirt because I think he is better there. But I still believe he can be good on the turf. He's been eating well and he didn't back up on anything and he has been acting good. He was nominated to this race all along, so that's why we decided to bring him back in a week.”

A Kentucky-bred son of Candy Ride, Share the Ride notched his sixth career victory. It was the third stakes win of Arriaga's 421-race career, though he said “this is the biggest one so far.”

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