Haskell Invitational

Ben Perkins, Sr., a fixture as a trainer on the New Jersey Thoroughbred racing circuit since 1958 whose 854 career winners included 1981 Haskell Invitational winner Five Star Flight, has passed away at the age of 89. Funeral services are pending. Perkins, Sr. took out his trainer's license in 1958, the same year he recorded his first career victory at Monmouth Park. He also trained at Garden State Park, Atlantic City Race Course and the Meadowlands before his retirement in 1999. Following his retirement from training, he set up and...

My first race was two years ago. The 2021 Haskell Invitational S., the summer before my senior year of college. It was the post parade that hooked me. When "Born to Run" sounded through the grandstand as Mandaloun, Hot Rod Charlie and Midnight Bourbon bounced onto the track, it didn't matter how the race would go. I was in. It was enough to latch onto despite the outrage I felt towards my home-state regulators for an ill-advised whip rule that took down Midnight Bourbon, along with my exacta box. But...

Cody's Wish (Curlin) worked five furlongs in 1:00 (1/15) Saturday over the Oklahoma training track in preparation for the $1-million GI Whitney Aug. 5. The Godolphin homebred is currently on a six-race winning streak topped by a powerful 3 1/4-length score last out in the GI Hill 'n' Dale Metropolitan H. June 10 at Belmont Park. "He was very good. He went five eighths and went well and appeared to be well within himself," Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott said. "We're uncertain about the nine furlongs (in the Whitney),...

GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby hero and 'TDN Rising Star' Taiba (Gun Runner) was given the morning-line nod from post postion two at odds of 7-5 in the 55th GI TVG.com Haskell Invitational S. Saturday at Monmouth Park. The nine-furlong centerpiece of the summer meeting at the Jersey Shore offers the winner a fees-paid berth in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Keeneland Nov. 5. It was a little more than three years ago that Maximum Security (New Year's Day) won the Haskell on a day where temperatures soared so...

'TDN Rising Star' Taiba (Gun Runner) will contest next Saturday's GI TVG.com Haskell Invitational S., trainer Bob Baffert confirmed to Monmouth Park officials Friday. The $1.7-million FTFMAR purchase by Zedan Racing Stables took the GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby in just his second start, but was last seen finishing 12th in the GI Kentucky Derby May 7. Those last two starts came for trainer Tim Yakteen, who took over training of the colt during Baffert's recent suspension. "I hadn't seen him in a long time. I'm happy with the way...

Tickets for Monmouth Park's signature event, the $1-million GI TVG.com Haskell S. slated for Saturday, July 17, will go on sale Sunday, June 6 at 11:30 a.m. Once available, tickets can be purchased online at www.seatgeek.com/monmouth or by calling (732) 571-5563. Haskell tickets will also be sold at the Reserved Seats booth on the second floor of the Grandstand on live racing days. Admission on Haskell Day is $20 for the Grandstand and $30 for the Clubhouse. Self parking will be $20. A Dining Club buffet is available for $200,...

Guys. Come on. What was the one thing we were told, right from the outset? Wash your hands. Obsessively, wash your hands. Yet here's our most accomplished trainer, explaining that his assistant transferred a trace from a medicinal patch on his own back to the tongue-ties of their two most charismatic sophomores. Somebody seems to have been no more vigilant in the jocks' room at Los Alamitos, creating a fresh headache for Bob Baffert in the postponement of a barn debut, scheduled for Del Mar this weekend, for Maximum Security...

Hoping to allow crowds as large as 15,000 to its live racing days, Monmouth Park management has been given new guidelines by Governor Phil Murphy's office that will cap live attendance at a much smaller number. Dennis Drazin, chairman and CEO of Darby Development LLC., which operates the track, was still crunching the numbers yesterday prior to opening day at the abbreviated meet and going over what he could and could not do, but estimated that the amount of people that would be allowed in the track would be between...

Monmouth Park, which has delayed the start of its racing season until July 3, has revised its stakes schedule to include 35 races totaling $5,050,000. The schedule's traditional anchor race, the $1-million GI TVG.com Haskell S. remains scheduled for July 18, but will not be run as an invitational in 2020. The nine-furlong race will be contested as a stakes race and nominations  will close June 26. The July 18 card will also feature the $300,000 GI United Nations S., GIII $300,000 Monmouth Cup S., $250,000 GIII Molly Pitcher S.,...