Monmouth

Douglas Thomas, a graded-stakes winning jockey who raced primarily at Monmouth Park in the 1970's and 80's, died Mar. 9 at the age of 78, according to an obituary written by his son Robert Thomas and sent by the Thoroughbred Breeders' Association of New Jersey. An earner of over $21 million over the course of his career, the Canadian native retired in 1997 having made over 18,000 starts with a win total in excess of 2,000 races. Many of his winner's circle photos took place at tracks across New Jersey...

Wygod Equine's Victory Way (City of Light) leads a nine-horse field in Parx's Tuesday feature, the GIII Smarty Jones S. A winner of two of his three starts, the homebred's only defeat came in when narrowly third in the seven furlong GIII Bayshore S. at Aqueduct Apr. 8. To get the win, the Bill Mott trainee will have to take on another homebred in Salute the Stars (Candy Ride {Arg}) for Gary and Mary West. Riding a three-race win streak, including the Pegasus S. at Monmouth at this distance over...

1st-Monmouth, $55,250, Msw, 8-6, 2yo, 1mT, 1:39.91, fm, 4 lengths. NOMOS (c, 2, Uncle Mo--Westit {GB} {SP-Fr, SP-USA}, by Tapit) went off favored at 9-5 in this grass debut and got a clean start against the fence from the two slot after the rail horse steadied and was pulled up early in the race. Racing in the middle of a tightly-bunched group into the backstretch through an easy opening quarter in :24.15, he stayed glued to the inside and began to pick up momentum and position as the field swung...

2nd-SAR, $136K, Msw, 2yo, 6f, 1:07 p.m. The action kicks off with a heavily-loaded maiden race on the Whitney undercard Saturday. A quartet of colts, all first-time starters, take to the dirt led by the inside draw BE YOU (Curlin), the first of a pair of starters for Todd Pletcher. Out of the graded-stakes winning mare Jacaranda, herself a $2,000,000 purchase by this colt's breeder Alpha Delta, Be You already has a stakes-placed full-sister in American West, a $925,000 Keeneland yearling herself. Jacaranda is out of the Distorted Humor mare...

1st-DMR, $82K, Msw, 2yo, f, 5fT, 7:00 p.m. Picked up for $550,000 at the OBS April Sale earlier this year following a sharp :21.1 breeze, SHE IS ROMANTIC (Blame) debuts Friday out of the Peter Eurton barn for owner C R K Stable. Already a half-sister to a pair of stakes-placed horses, the filly is out of a full-sister to MSW Frolic's Revenge and a half to GSW/MGISP Super Frolic (Pine Bluff) and MSW/GSP Stormy Frolic (Summer Squall). TJCIS PPS 4th-MTH, $57K, Msw, 2yo, 5 1/2f, 3:24 p.m. Debuting on...

An upset winner at 10-1 in his Gulfstream debut tackling the Royal Palm Juvenile S., No Nay Mets rebounded from a poor performance at Royal Ascot in the G2 Norfolk S. with a nice showing in Sunday's Tyro S. stateside on the Jersey Shore. The popular wagering choice at 4-5, the 2-year-old looked to repeat his Florida effort by again going straight out for the early advantage, quickly opening up a length on the field in this five-furlong sprint despite a minor bobble at the gate. Showing the way under...

Therapist (Freud), winner of last weekend's GI United Nations at Monmouth, will be pointed for Kentucky Downs' $1.7 million, GII FanDuel Kentucky Turf Cup Sept. 9, according to trainer Mike Maker. Maker confirmed that stablemate Red Knight (Pure Prize), the UN third-place finisher who won the Kentucky Turf Cup last year, will also target the 12-furlong race. The 9-year-old won the June 10 GI Man o' War S. The Turf Cup is a 'Win and You're In' for the Breeders' Cup Turf, held at Del Mar this November. "[Therapist] finished...

Undefeated two-for-two GIII Southwest S. winner and 'TDN Rising Star' Arabian Knight (Uncle Mo) has been made the slight 5-2 morning-line favorite for Saturday's $1-million, GI TVG.com Haskell S. at Monmouth Park at the expense of GI Kentucky Derby winner Mage (Good Magic), who was tabbed as the joint 3-1 second choice alongside GI Toyota Blue Grass S. winner and 'TDN Rising Star' Tapit Trice (Tapit). The top three choices drew post positions eight, four, and five, respectively. "I believe the horse's entire body of work and his entire career...

After initially saying he was uninjured following a spill he was involved in on Sunday at Monmouth Park--and even riding two races later--jockey Jorge Luis Gonzalez revealed Monday that he suffered a stable fracture of his L3 vertebrae from the incident that could sideline him four to six weeks. Gonzalez went for tests at Monmouth Medical Center late Sunday night after feeling discomfort. "I'm in a lot of pain now," he said. In addition, jockey Samy Camacho, involved in the same spill, will undergo further evaluation Monday in Florida to...

GII Louisiana Derby winner Kingsbarns (Uncle Mo) remains a possibility for either the GII Jim Dandy July 29 at Saratoga Race Course or the previous week's GI Haskell S. at Monmouth Park said Spendthrift Farm's general manager Ned Toffey. "We're freshening him a little bit, keeping some options open," Toffey said. "There's the Haskell and the Jim Dandy and we'll look at those, but we'll talk with [trainer] Todd [Pletcher] and just keep things open. Obviously, it gets pretty tough with fewer spots for these good 3-year-olds. You won't find...

Salute the Stars continued his rise through the ranks here with a determined victory in the Pegasus S. at Monmouth Park. Coming into the race riding a two race win-streak which began when he wrapped his juvenile season with a victory against maidens at Ellis on the grass, he moved from John Ortiz to Brad Cox before his seasonal bow last out May 14 in an off-turf allowance. Winning there by a neck, he was made the 5-2 second choice behind Kingsbarns, who was reappearing for the first time since...

Parx track announcer Chris Griffin has been named the new track announcer at Monmouth Park starting with the 2023 meet that gets underway in May. Griffin, the back-up announcer at Monmouth Park since 2020, will replace Frank Mirahmadi, who is taking over as the track announcer at Saratoga next summer after eight years at Monmouth Park. Mirahmadi is also the track announcer at Santa Anita. The 41-year-old Griffin was also recently named the track announcer for the Aqueduct winter meet that runs from January through April. "We're pleased to have...