Photo: Eclipse Sportswire
I feel like I’ve been saying this a lot this year, but what
a weekend we have on tap! It seems to be ladies week around the country. We
have favorite Beholder taking on the boys out west at Del Mar, while back east, the Alabama Stakes
is an extremely competitive affair. Without a doubt, I will be cheering hard
for my girl, I'm A Chatterbox there, but I am going to turn my focus on the Jersey Shore one last
time before the sun sets on this summer.
The Grade III Monmouth Oaks
features an intriguing field of 11 fillies. High Dollar
Woman is the only runner with a graded stakes victory but that was in the
slop at Indiana Grand. The race has quite a few story lines with it. Can Eskenformoney
find that early season form again? Is Lady Serena
primed for her big breakout performance? Can Trevor McCarthy
score another big win on the shore with Light the City?
Or will Cindy
and Larry Jones get their fifth combined win in this race with White Clover? As
you can see there are plenty of questions to be asked, which can happen in a
wide open event like this one. That is why I find myself looking for some
value.
I really like the only New Jersey-bred in the race, Love Came to
Town. She is coming into this race HOT, winning her last three affairs by a
combined 22 lengths. She seems to be improving with each start. This will be
her longest race to date but I don’t think that will bother her all that much.
Her last race at 1 mile was the best of her career and she has history on her
side. Her mom is Talkin About
Love who also won this race in 2007 and her dad is Medallist who won both
the Dwyer and Withers Stakes.
This would be a fantastic win for the New Jersey father and
son team of Gerry and Kevin Sleeter,
who have been down on their luck in recent years. A victory would also give
young jockey Mychel
Sanchez his first graded stakes win. The team may appear to have long shot
written all over them, but all it takes is one great run to erase all of that. I
will have my fingers crossed that it can happen on Saturday.
8-Light the City and 4-Delightful Joy will round out my
trifecta. Trust me, you do not want to overlook 10-Love Came to Town or the Monmouth
Oaks on Saturday. Both may offer a nice bang for your buck! Hope everyone has a
winning weekend!
