Fresh off a win in the Grade 1 Ruffian at Saratoga
on Aug. 1, Malibu Prayer will headline a field of six fillies and mares entered
for this Sunday’s Grade 2, $300,000 Molly Pitcher Stakes at Monmouth Park.
Trained by Todd Pletcher, Malibu Prayer sports a record of 6-3-2 from 12 starts
and earnings of $558,026. She sports two starts at Monmouth Park,
a runner-up finish in last year’s Monmouth Oaks (G3) and a win this year in the
Lighthouse Stakes on June 26. Garrett Gomez has the return call on Malibu
Prayer, who will break from post position one in the mile and a sixteenth Molly
Pitcher.
Second choice in the field at 9-5 is the Patrick Biancone-trained Queen Martha,
who exits a runner-up finish in the Lady’s Secret here on July 24, beaten just
three lengths by Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra. The 4-year-old filly by
Rahy has won two of her seven starts, both in Great Britain. She’s twice been
second since arriving in the U.S.
and will be making just her second start on dirt in Sunday’s stakes when she
breaks from post five with regular rider Joe Bravo in the irons.
The Molly Pitcher will go as race 11 on a 12-race program. The entire field for
the race, with rider assignments and Brad Thomas’s morning line, is:
1. Malibu Prayer, Garret Gomez, 6-5
2. Stage Trick, Elvis Trujillo, 15-1
3. Just Jenda, Terry Thompson, 4-1
4. Unforgotten, Eddie Castro, 20-1
5. Queen Martha, Joe Bravo, 9-5
6. Milwaukee Appeal, Stewart Elliott, 9-2