OCEANPORT — It’s been 23 years since West Coast trainer Richard Mandella, a Hall of Famer, last sent a horse to the Jersey Shore for the $1 million TVG.com Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park, winning it in 2000 with Dixie Union.
Maybe he should think about sending more.
While the stage was set for fellow California coach Bob Baffert, who won his 10th Haskell with Arabian Knight sent off as a 4/5 favorite, it was Geaux Rocket Ride who broke away from the gang at 12-1 before making three breakaways and making his move around the other corner, beating Arabian Knight as they spun home before defeating Kentucky Derby winner Mage to start headed the stretch, threw back for a 1 3/4 win.
The winning time for the 1 1/8 mile test was 1:49.52 with Arabian Knight placing third while Extra Anejo placed fourth. It was the fourth Haskell record win for jockey Mike Smith, who achieved a lights-to-flag win in 2020 with Authentic.
“There is no man who could handle this horse better than Mr. Mandella,” said Smith. “He’s only going to get better.” We saw that today. That was the deepest Haskell field I’ve seen in a long time. Achieving this feat is a credit to Mr. Mandella and his entire crew. Of course, Geaux Rocket Ride also deserves all the credit.”
The attendance of 35,286 was the largest since 2018 and was significantly higher than the previous year’s attendance of 22,138.
Mage entered as the seventh Kentucky Derby champion to compete in the Haskell and eliminated as the fourth to miss, joining a list that includes Spend a Buck, Alysheba and Nyquist. Mage was not officially declared until Tuesday, the day before the post position was drawn, and his contacts have said throughout the week that he lacked the full strength to train, which appears to have been the case.
Geaux Rocket Ride, who receives the $600,000 winner’s share, has competed in just three races in his career, including a win at the $100,000 Affirmed Stakes in Santa Anita on June 4th. The three-year-old Candy Ride colt, owned by Pin Oak Stud, didn’t run as a two-year-old and broke his maiden race straight away in January. He finished second in the second-class San Felipe Stakes but did not compete again for three months.
It was the first time in over 20 years that Baffert had started a horse in the Haskell and not finished in the top two. He entered the race with nine wins, six seconds and a third in 16 Haskell starts and netted $7.7 million in earnings.
Monmouth Park’s Awesome Strong, coached by Jorge Delgado, was the longest player in the field at 61-1, but ran out quickly and grabbed the railing inside Arabian Knight in the first turn, while Geaux Rocket Ride finished in third place.
Awesome Strong was done after half a mile and Arabian Knight had to attempt to fend off a series of consecutive challenges, the first coming from another Longshot, Long Branch Stakes winner Howgreatisnate. But Smith got the winner going after six furlongs and they held the lead by a head early in the stretch.
While Mandella said it was unlikely they would consider participating in the Travers Stakes in Saratoga on August 26, he didn’t rule out November’s Breeders’ Cup Classic in Santa Anita.
“A mile and a half shouldn’t be a problem for him,” Smith said of the Breeders’ Cup Classic distance. “That was a furlong and he didn’t stop.”
(HASKELL UPDATES: Keep checking back here today for updates with a look at five ranked state races, including the Haskell.)
From the past:
The therapist wins grade 1 from the United Nations
OCEANPORT — Jockey Javier Castellano was just biding his time aboard the 14-1 Therapist as the field battled through some relatively slow early factions in the Grade 1 $600,000 United Nations Stakes. But as the 1 3/8 mile turf race reached the final two furlongs, Castellano got the 8-year-old gelding, trained by Michael Maker, rolling.
And in the final round of 16, Therapist picked up a win over Catnip, coached by Michael Stidham, by 1 1/2 lengths, with favorite Red Knight, also coached by Maker, another 3/4 lengths back in third place.
It was Therapist’s first Grade 1 win in his 42nd career start and took his career earnings to $1.35 million after Maker won it for owner Michael Dubb for $50,000 five races ago.
“He’s a really good horse,” said Castellano. “I like how he did it today.” He’s a horse you can do whatever you want with. He’s a professional horse. Everything he does, he does right. I like this horse at this distance. He is a long distance horse. He always seems to keep his rhythm. I knew the horse in front (55:1 shot that high) would stop. I just did my race. I knew he would come back to us. I didn’t want to pursue him and have nothing left. It’s a long way. You have to have a lot of patience and have a lot of trust in the horse. It’s amazing that he won a class 1 race at the age of 8. He’s just a professional horse.”
Coach Chad Brown, who had won the last two United Nations and five since 2013, had no runner in the 70th overtime of a race that was moved from Atlantic City Race Course to Monmouth Park in 1999.
From the past:
Shotgun Hottie Scores Surprise Victory in Class 3 Molly Pitcher
OCEANPORT — Coach Chad Brown was looking for back-to-back wins in the $500,000 Class 3 Molly Pitcher Stakes, with Search Results going off as a 4/5 favorite.
But it was 8-1 shotgun hottie, coached by Cherie DeVaux, who rolled to victory under a great ride from nine-time Monmouth Park riding champion Paco Lopez. Shotgun Hottie, a 4-year-old Gun Runner filly, is ahead of Le Da Vida, followed by Search Results in third place on the rail.
It’s been a great meeting so far for Shotgun Hottie, who took third place at the $100,000 Serena’s Song in the opening weekend before recording an impressive 5 1/2 lengths win at the $100,000 Lady’s Secret on June 10th.
More: Haskell 2023 betting guide with expert predictions, past performance and analysis
“Paco looked like he had a lot of power throughout the race and when he got back he just kept going on that run,” said DeVaux. “She kept her run and I’m just really proud of her.” I left her here (after she won the Lady’s Secret in her last tournament here on June 10) under the care of (coach) Dan Ward. She worked on this track and has a lot of track experience. She’s already done two races here (Serena’s Song, May 14) and she’s getting better every week.”
Brown was targeting his third win of the day with a Klaravich Stables runner, and together he wanted to win the Grade 3 WinStar Matchmaker as well as the map’s opening race on Saturday.
Proxy rolls to victory in the third tier Monmouth Cup
OCEANPORT – Proxy, sent off as a 2/5 favorite, fought his way through the course after setting the pace to reward his many supporters in the crowd and won the $400,000 Grade 3 Monmouth Cup by covering the 1 1/8 mile distance in 1:49.99.
Proxy won the Oaklawn Class 2 Handicap two races ago before a poor outing in the Stephen Foster Class 1 at Ellis Park resulted in an eighth place finish in the final race. The $240,000 winning share takes Proxy, a 5-year-old by Tapit, past the $2 million mark in his career earnings, including a Grade 1 win at Clark at Churchill Downs last fall.
As the field came around the corner, Proxy battled Jamie Ness’ Calibrate on the outside. Then came a big challenge on the outside of Whalen Springs as Proxy shifted gears in the final furlong to secure a 2 1/2 length win.
“He really showed courage,” Stidham said. “He’s never been on top in his life.” He was close early in his career, so we knew he could be close and still finish. But he was never on a leash so I didn’t know what to think. I was hoping for the best, and then when they tied him to the three-sixteenth bar, I was like, ‘Oh man. Let’s go.’ Then he narrowed himself down and in the end the lesson came about.
“That was very encouraging because on his last race (in Grade 1 Stephen Foster at Ellis Park) Ellis didn’t stand a chance as he favored speed and was pushed back in the first corner. We just felt like we weren’t going to sit around and wait 60 days and hopefully plan to compete in the Jockey Club Gold Cup (Class 1 at Saratoga), but that was another 60 day break. He had already had one of these. He ran great today.”
Haskell Day Runner has been human destroyed
In race seven, a $57,000 one-mile turf race, Gregg Sacco-trained Dreaming of Toga suffered a fractured sesamoid leg while struggling on the outside backstretch as the field approached the corner.
According to Sacco, Dreaming of Toga, a three-year-old gelding competing for the fourth time in his career, had to be euthanized after being taken down the backstretch in a transporter.
Dreaming of Toga was sent off 80-1 and last time out won the first race for $40,000 players.
Chad Brown-trained Consumer Spending wins the Class 3 matchmaker
It’s amazing that trainer Chad Brown hasn’t got a 1st class horse in the $600,000 United Nations on the turf in front of the Haskell, having won the United Nations five times since 2013, including the last two with Adhamo and Tribhuvan.
But Brown was well represented in the $300,000 Class 3 WinStar Matchmaker Stakes when Joel Rosario led Klaravich Stables’ Consumer Spending to victory in the 1 1/8 mile test on the grass, covering the distance in 1:40.00. It was Brown’s seventh win in the last nine matchmaker’s, including four in a row.
Consumer Spending, the Grade 3 $150,000 Eatontown Stakes winner on the Haskell Day preview map on June 17, lay in fifth place for most of the race before charging from the outside in the final furlong and passing Shug McGaughey-trained Surprisingly under the saddle of Paco Lopez.
“It looked like there wasn’t too much speed in the race,” said Rosario. “But she came out really well and I was able to get her a good place.” She is a beautiful horse. It’s easy when you drive like that. I wasn’t too worried about the slow pace because it moved really well for me and I just wanted to gain ground in the corners. When I asked her a little bit to get closer to the lead in the last corner, she answered for me. It was a slow pace, but she walked so easily for me that I wasn’t overly concerned.”
The 4-year-old filly now has career earnings of $737,000 from 11 career starts, including a Grade 2 win last year in New York.
Brown and jockey Javier Castellano teamed up to win the day’s opening race on the Klaravich’s Startup Mentality lawn.
The Matchmaker is the first of six stakes races on the map, including five tiered stakes races. So keep checking back for more results and surprises.
Haskell Stakes 2023: How much does it cost to win the Haskell? It’s not cheap
A look at the morning line of today’s $1 million TVG.com Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park tells you everything you need to know about how much money it takes to get to the top in racing.
The top 5 picks, including the favorite Arabian Knight, were acquired at auction for an average of $1.118 million.
Appropriately, the list is headed by Arabian Knight, with the Onkel Mo colt being bought by Zedan Racing as a two-year-old in training for US$2.3 million. Extra Anejo went to Winchell Thoroughbreds for $1.35 million and Tapit Trice was sold to Whisper Hill Farm for $1.3 million. Then comes Geaux Rocket Ride for $350,000 and Kentucky Derby winner Mage for $290,000.
While Salute the Stars, winner of the TVG.com $150,000 Pegasus Stakes June 17 at Monmouth Park, is a homebreeder owned by Gary and Mary West, who won the 2019 Haskell with Maximum Security, Howgreatisnate and Awesome Strong, the two longest hits in the field, were purchased for $67,000 and $30,000 respectively.
Over the past 25 years, there have been a number of Haskell winners who broke the million dollar mark in the auction ring as yearlings or two-year-olds, including Good Magic ($1 million), Any Given Saturday ($1.1 million), and Lion Heart ($1.4 million). Last year’s winner, Cyberknife, was a $400,000 purchase from former Monmouth Park regular Al Gold.
But there were also plenty of bargains along the way. Peach Rules was originally purchased by Gary Contessa for $35,000 before privately selling the colt after it lost its virginity. American Pharoah sold for $300,000 while Big Brown, a near Triple Crown winner, was bought for $190,000.
Haskell Stakes 2023: A championship test at Monmouth Park, not a ‘prep race’.
OCEANPORT – preparation race? Really?
That was the tone of Mage co-owner Ramiro Restrepo’s tone as they finally made the decision to enter the $1 million TVG.com Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park today on Tuesday afternoon, a day before the Post position draw.
“Regardless of the Haskell, we’re basically using this race as a prep for the Travers (August 26 at Saratoga) rather than giving it one more job and getting it back into the Jim Dandy the following week,” Restrepo told Daily Racing Form.
Haskell or a workout? That’s disrespectful.
More: Haskell Stakes 2023: Post Positions, Odds, Analysis Favoring Baffert’s Arabian Knight
So let’s get things straight.
If you’re looking for a championship for 3-year-olds, around 14 year-end winners have won the Haskell since 1985, including Alysheba, who was beaten by Bet Twice in an epic stretch duel.
More: Haskell 2023: Bob Baffert’s complicated legacy at Monmouth Park through the years
It was also a way to horse of the year. Since Spend a Buck in 1985, ten stallions who have won the Horse of the Year award have walked the Haskell. Spend a losing dollar, as does two-time Horse of the Year Curlin. In recent years, Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Authentic and Triple Crown winner American Pharoah carried the torch, along with gorgeous filly Rachel Alexandra in 2009.
And Alysheba is one of six Kentucky Derby winners to previously walk in front of Mage at Haskell.
With a million dollar purse, Rank 1 and a win-and-you-re-in ticket to the Breeders’ Cup Classic, the Haskell is an integral part of a championship resume that just so happens to be perfectly positioned between the Triple Crown and the Travers and is part of the stepping stones to the Breeders’ Cup Classic and year-end glory.
So to simply call it preparation is to belittle a race that has established itself as one of the most important within the division.