The annual summer season at Monmouth Park stumbled out of the gate.
It’s been a tough go so far at New Jersey’s resort track. Fields have been small, and the Memorial Day weekend was rain-soaked, washing the turf races onto the sloppy main track.
It’s been hard to get traction under those conditions.
The upcoming weekend offers a chance to chart a better course. In golfing terms, it’s a Mulligan, a do-over. According to the forecasts, it should be all blue skies and comfortable temperatures.
The revival starts with the Saturday card that features three $100,000 turf stakes: the Jersey Derby, the Miss Liberty, and the Cliff Hanger.
The Jersey Derby is a race with a colorful history, dating back to its days as a major attraction at the now-defunct Garden State Park.
Take a moment to flash back to the uproar in 1985 when Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Spend a Buck skipped the Preakness Stakes (G1) and Belmont Stakes (G1) to chase a huge bonus in the Jersey Derby.
Spend a Buck had won two races at GSP: the Cherry Hill Mile Stakes on April 6 and the Garden State Stakes on April 20. Before the season began, Garden State Park owner Robert Brennan had put up a $2 million bonus to the horse that won the two April preparatory races, the Kentucky Derby, and the May 27 Jersey Derby, Garden State's signature race.
Spend a Buck's owner, Dennis Diaz, traded Spend a Buck's chance to win the Triple Crown for a shot at the bonus. Spend a Buck won the Jersey Derby by a neck over eventual Belmont winner Creme Fraiche, capturing a $2.6-million prize, then the largest single purse in American horse racing history.
The race continues, but in a different venue and with a surface change from the main track to the turf course and a more modest purse.
The latest renewal attracted a field of eight, and it appears that trainers Mark Casse and Miguel Clement will duke it out
Casse sends out Zephyros (6-1) for his first race away from Gulfstream Park. Zephyros posted his maiden win two starts back over the synthetic surface and ran third most recently in a trouble-filled trip in the English Channel Stakes. Casse also sends out Vintur, who is 6-1 despite finishing ninth in his last two starts after breaking his maiden at first asking.
Clement is represented by the Irish-bred King’s Remark (2-1), a rousing winner in his only start at Aqueduct. King’s Remark could prove to be something special, but right now, Zephyros, making his fifth start, has the experience edge.
The Miss Liberty and the Cliff Hanger, both 1 1/16 miles, were on the schedule for last weekend. When the forecast turned ominous, Monmouth wisely opted to postpone them.
In the Miss Liberty for fillies and mares, trainers Mark Casse and Miguel Clement again figure prominently.
Casse saddles two of the six runners in the Miss Liberty: Shotgun Wedding (10-1) and Mo Fox Givin (6-1).
But it is Clement this time who holds the upper hand with Ozara (2-1), making her season debut. She closed out last year facing Grade 1 runners in the First Lady at Keeneland and the Matriarch at Del Mar. She was overmatched in both, but this is definitely more her speed. She did win the Ballston Spa (G2) at Saratoga and was third in Monmouth’s Eatontown Stakes (G3) last summer.
Granted, she hasn’t run since last November. The offset is that grass runners often run big after layoffs, whereas dirt horses often need a start or two to find their best stride.
And then there is Chad Brown, who ships in Brisbane (5-2), coming off an even longer layoff. The France-bred filly hasn’t been to the races since winning an allowance race at Aqueduct in her U.S. debut on Oct. 11, 2024.
Chad Brown has the horse to beat in the Cliff Hanger: Cosmic Year in his U.S. debut. The 4-year-old has a solid foundation built on seven races in Europe, including a second-place finish in the 2025 Irish 2000 Guineas (G1).
Local sentimental favorite is There Are No Words (6-1), a New Jersey-bred making his 24th Monmouth start for trainer Chuck Spina. The hard-knocking 7-year-old is only 4-for-29 lifetime, but he frequently hits the board.
“He’s been a good horse for us. But it’s frustrating,” said Spina. “He hasn’t won in forever (since Oct. 19, 2023), but he keeps getting seconds and thirds.”
Sand Pipes (4-1) is another one familiar with Monmouth’s turf course, with a record of 2-0-1 in five tries.
The writing team at US Racing is comprised of both full-time and part-time contributors with expertise in various aspects of the Sport of Kings.
