James Dinan and Phantom House Farm’s Get Serious was back to
his winning ways on the 4th of July holiday card at Monmouth Park, capturing
the Grade 3, $100,000 Red Bank Stakes by a half-length.
Get Serious set the pace, was headed down the backstretch by
El Commodore and then drew away from that foe, stopping the timer in 1:32.63
for the mile over firm turf. The
8-year-old gelding paid $12.40, $7.20 and $4 across the board and topped a $140
exacta. El Commodore returned $11.40 to
place and $5.20 to show. It was another
length and a quarter back to Queen’splatekitten, who paid $2.80 to show. Lubash, the 2-1 favorite in the field of six
colts and geldings, checked in fourth.
“We talked about it before the race, and we knew the horse
on the outside (El Commodore) had speed, but not our type of speed,” said
winning jockey Pablo Fragoso. “My horse
broke well and I just tried to settle him down as much as possible. Around the 3/8ths I asked him for all he had,
and I think the other horse was already being ridden at that point. In the stretch, he battled back like he
always does.”
Wednesday’s stakes victory was the first since Sept. 5,
2010, when Get Serious captured that year’s Red Bank Stakes as the 3-5
favorite. He won the race in 2009 as the
13-10 choice. The Red Bank was not
contested in 2011.
“We thought he was going to be back to himself this year and
he’s proved it,” said winning trainer John Forbes. “We were concerned when he was getting pushed
a little for most of the way, but he’s as game as they get. As he’s gotten older, he’s learned to relax
more when there’s a horse on his flank.
“We’ve had him for his whole career and we’ve had a terrific
time with him. We’re very proud of
him. I hope that he’ll be back in other
stakes here this year.”
A son of City Zip from the Java Gold mare Java Gal, Get
Serious has now banked $1,098,091 for his connections. The New York-bred sports a lifetime record of
14-2-3 from 37 starts, with 13 of those victories coming in Oceanport.
Live racing continues at Monmouth Park on Friday, July 6 –
gates open 11:30 a.m., first post 12:45 p.m.