Flat Out, the beaten favorite in last year’s $5 million
Breeders’ Cup Classic, will be at Monmouth on Saturday to contest the Grade 2
$200,000 Monmouth Cup. The race will be his first for Hall of Famer Bill Mott,
who took over training the multiple graded stakes winner this past winter.
“He’s a cool horse, he’s nice to be around, fun to train,”
said Mott. “He’s just a real neat horse, he’s a good horse. I think he’s proven
he’s a good horse. Scooter (Dickey) had him and did well with him. The (owners)
wanted him to be in New York
and I was the lucky recipient of him. I hope I can get him back to good form
when he ran his best races.”
The Preston Stables LLC color bearer takes on a field of
five others three and up in the one mile affair on the main track. Under Rosie
Napravnik, he’ll face multiple Grade 3 winner Rule, one of two entrants along
with San Pablo trained
by Todd Pletcher, and Ponzi Scheme, winner of the $75,000 Decathlon Stakes here
on opening day.
In his last start two weeks ago, Ponzi Scheme didn’t fare as
well in the Donald LeVine Memorial Handicap at Parx and ran fifth behind Sloane
Ranger, who is also in the Monmouth Cup field.
“We just threw that race out,” said Juan Serey, Ponzi
Scheme’s trainer. “We had to ship on a very hot day and he wasn’t right by the
time the race came. He should race much better this time. He loves this track,
and we don’t have to ship in the heat.”