Horse Racing

Multiple Grade 1 winner Lawyer Ron (Langfuhr) and Preakness
Stakes (G1) winner Curlin (Smart Strike) breezed on Monday in
preparation for planned starts in the $750,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup
Stakes (G1) on Sunday.

Street Sense and Hard Spun are both confirmed to run in the Kentucky Cup. These are the last prep races leading up to the Breeder's Cup. Soon it will be time for a Breeder's Cup pool.

Finally The Bride!

Hard Spun won the Grade I King's Bishop Stakes yesterday going 7 furlongs for the second time in his career. Ridden to victory by Mario Pino, this was Hard Spun's first Grade I win.

According to his trainer, Larry Jones, this win is an important one for his future stud career. Jones is quoted as saying “It’s very important for his stallion career to have the Grade 1 under him. This is a very important race for making stallions, and that was one reason we looked at it.”

The Haskell Field Sunday at Monmouth

1. Any Given Saturday (Distorted Humor), Garrett Gomez, 118, Todd Pletcher;
2. Cable Boy (Jump Start), Jose Velez Jr., 118, Patrick McBurney;
3. Stormello, (Stormy Atlantic), Eddie Castro, 118, Bill Currin;
4. Imawildandcrazyguy (Wild Event), Manoel Cruz, 118, Bill Kaplan;
5. Reata’s Shadow (Include), Joe Bravo, 118, Joe Orseno
6. Curlin (Smart Strike), Robby Albarado, 122, Steve Asmussen
7. Hard Spun (Danzig), Mario Pino, 118, Larry Jones, and;
8. Xchanger (Exchange Rate), Edgar Prado, 118, Mark Shuman.

The Haskell

The Haskell will run this weekend at Monmouth Park, featuring Derby/ Preakness starters Curlin, Hard Spun, Any Given Saturday, and Xchanger. This will be a great rematch against a few of these horses after some rest. I hope to see a great horse race, and the key players aim towards The Travers Stake on August 25th at Saratoga along with Street Sense. The Travers and The Breeders Cup will probably be the last two chances for these horses to run against each other. I hope we get our moneys worth this year!

Hard Spun has been reunited with jockey Mario Pino for the Haskell Stakes. His trainer, Larry Jones, badly tarnished his halo in my eyes after he took Pino off of Hard Spun coming out of a third place finish in the Preakness. He switched to Garrett Gomez, the regular rider of Rags To Riches when it looked like the filly would not run in the Belmont, and then refused to release him from the commitment when they decided to run R To R after all. After the Belmont, Larry Jones complained quite loudly that all jockeys are pretty much stupid and can't judge pace. I thought he looked like a sore loser and bad sportman. Hopefully he will stick with Pino this time through thick and thin, win or lose!

Daily Racing Form: News

Also read:

JONES GIVES JOCK GOMEZ 'HARD' TIME By RAY KERRISON Sports News Scores Results