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Speed Is Name of the Game on Monmouth’s Dirt Track
By GREG MELIKOV
Monmouth Park, host for the 24th Breeders’ Cup, has a reputation of being a fast dirt track. As one racing writer put it two months into this year’s 79-day meeting:
“Calling it speed-favoring doesn’t do it justice and the favorite for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint will look more like a top-fuel eliminator.”
Through July 21, according to Brisnet.com, 40 percent of winners in 191 races at six furlongs (distance for BC Sprint and Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint) went wire to wire. By the time the 62nd meeting was history on Sept. 2, winners that led at every call captured 40 percent of more than 300 races.
“Records fell all over the place,” said Paul Grimm, editor of the online Oceanport Racing Report (http://oceanportracingreport.com) “I heard many complaints from owners that the strip was too fast.
“Claimers $20,000-$18,000 were running in the 1:09 range, kind of skewed many handicappers because the speed was so dominant that the bias made horses that were mediocre look better than average for a while.”
And good horses did even better, like Idiot Proof. The Hollywood-based 3-year-old rocketed to a 7 ¼-length victory in the Jersey Shore Stakes at six furlongs in 1:07 2/5 on July 4 for his fourth win five starts.
“The record that stood out is the six furlong mark, which was set by Gilded Time as a 2-year-old in 1992 – 1:07 4/5,” Grimm said. “I can remember at that time people being up upset that a 2-year-old would set such a time. I never in my lifetime thought that record would fall again.”
The outstanding performance had trainer Clifford Sise Jr. considering coming back on Oct. 27 to try the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.
While there were only 27 races at 5 ½ furlongs, wire-to-wire jobs were 44 percent. Joey P., who loves the oval, broke the track record of 1:02 4/5 set last year by Man of Danger.
The 5-year-old gelding shattered the mark by a full second winning the opening day Decathlon Stakes on May 12 for his ninth victory at Monmouth Park. Don’t be surprised if the 5-year-old also shows up for the BC Sprint.
In all, there were five track records broken, including a pair on the turf.
“I will say that over the final five weeks or so the times got slower as it looked as if the dirt surface was adjusted,” Grimm pointed out. “Quarter and half-mile split times in sprints still ranged from 21 to 22 seconds and 43 to 44, but coming home was 1:11 to 1:12. At the beginning of the meet those races were finishing in 1:10.”
That’s the way one of my favorite tracks played before the main track was enlarged and redone several years ago. Gulfstream Park was known as speed favoring, especially in the first month of a meeting.
Naturally, there were complaints after the South Florida track landed the 16th Breeders’ Cup, which I covered. On that gorgeous Nov. 6 afternoon in ‘99, Artax defeated Kona Gold by a half-length in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, equaling the track record of 1:07 4/5 set in ‘73 by Mr. Prospector.
Since Gulfstream was renovated in time for the ‘05 season it has played more fairly. Monmouth could do the same in the future since its main track was redone for the ‘07 meeting.
Greg Melikov has been handicapping and writing about horses for decades. His articles and columns appear in print and on the Internet around the world. Greg is a retired newspaperman who became a racing fan at 13 when he saw 1948 Triple Crown winner Citation, his favorite horse, whip 20 older horses at old Arlington Park.
Greg Melikov has been handicapping and writing about horses for decades. His articles and columns appear in print and on the Internet around the world. Greg is a retired newspaperman who became a racing fan at 13 when he saw 1948 Triple Crown winner Citation, his favorite horse, whip 20 older horses at old Arlington Park.
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