On Saturday at Del Mar, the featured race is the $100,000 Bob Hope Stakes. Restricted to two-year-olds, the Grade 3 race will be contested at seven furlongs on the main track and has drawn a field of seven colts and geldings.
Toews on Ice, one of two horses in the race for trainer Bob Baffert, tops the field as the favorite at odds of 2-1 on the morning line. A dark bay son of Archarcharch, he has been on the board in all four of his starts and both victories came against stakes company. After winning the Speakeasy Stakes at Santa Anita last time out, he will step up to graded stakes competition and is scheduled to break from post position four under jockey Martin Garcia.
Second choice at morning line odds of 5-2 is Jury, one of two contenders who will come out of the Jerry Hollendorfer barn. A bay son of Tale of the Cat, he was purchased for $140,000 earlier in the year and will be making his stakes debut following a victory in his first career start. He broke his maiden as the favorite over eight rivals at Santa Anita last time out. Rafael Bejarano will be aboard and they will break from post position two.
Also in the field at morning line odds of 8-1 is Mac Daddy Mac for trainer Kathy Ritvo. A chestnut son of Put it Back, he was purchased for $200,000 and will be stepping up to stakes competition for the first time. He broke his maiden at first asking last time out in an upset performance at odds of nearly 20-1 at Santa Anita. He will get a jockey change to Gary Stevens and they will break from post position five as he makes his stakes debut.
The field is set for the $1 million Haskell, where Nyquist will be trying to re-stake his claim as the top three-year-old in the country.
On Sunday at Monmouth Park, the featured race is the $300,000 United Nations Stakes. Scheduled to be run at a mile and three-eighths on the turf, the Grade 1 event has drawn a field of ten colts and geldings.
On Sunday at Monmouth Park, the featured race is the $150,000 Pegasus Stakes, a key prep race for the Haskell Invitational (G1). The Grade 3 event will be contested at a mile and a sixteenth and has drawn a field of seven three-year-olds.
With five grade 1 races and a grade 2, the undercard for the June 11 Belmont stakes could be the best single day of racing on the calendar outside of the Breeders’ Cup.
Haskell Invitational Picks for Monmouth Sunday
29 July 2016The field is set for the $1 million Haskell, where Nyquist will be trying to re-stake his claim as the top three-year-old in the country....
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