Monmouth Park Barn Notes

By John Heims —-

SERENA’S SONG STAKES TOPS MONMOUTH’S 12-RACE CARD SATURDAY, MAY 12

Trainer Ben Perkins, Jr. can live with the results his stable produced on opening day at Monmouth Park with two seconds from two starters – as long as the second-itis doesn’t become a habit. After essentially being forced to shut down his training operation in January and February because of bad weather, the veteran conditioner arrived at Monmouth Park with a barn of freshened runners and big expectations.

A Place to Shine can start to deliver on those expectations in the featured $60,000 Serena’s Song Stakes on Saturday, May 12. The Serena’s Song will go as the 11th-race on a 12-race program for the second live card of Monmouth Park’s 52-day meeting. Opening day on Saturday, May 5, drew a crowd of 20,736.

“She was like a lot of our horses. We planned to give her a couple of weeks off in the winter but the weather changed those plans,” said Perkins, Jr. “So we got behind with her and, like with most of our horses, we stopped on them and gave them January and February off. We couldn’t do anything for two months because of the weather.”

A 5-year-old daughter of Tale of Ekati, A Place to Shine shows a solid 5-3-1 line from 15 career starts, with $198,940 in career earnings for owner Jeremiah Kane. But she has been idle since a Dec. 22, 2017 race at Aqueduct.

“I think she will run well,” said Perkins, Jr. “She tries. She’s a nice horse and she runs well fresh. The first time we ran her last year (off a 10-month layoff) was at Parx and she went wire to wire and won. That’s tough to do going long at that track.

“So I’m hopeful she will run well. We’ve had enough seconds already.”

A Place to Shine, like Perkins, Jr., is no stranger to Monmouth Park, having finished fourth in the Grade 3 Monmouth Oaks on Aug. 20, 2016.

Perkins, Jr., meanwhile, is marking his 50th year on the Monmouth Park backstretch.

“I was here with my dad (former trainer Ben Perkins) as a hot walker when I was 12,” said the 62-year-old Perkins, Jr. “We were in the barn with Mr. (Jimmy) Croll then. So I’ve seen a lot of horses here.
“I remember when I graduated from college, that was the year (Grover) Buddy Delp had Spectacular Bid as a 2-year-old here and he put him at the end of the barn.”

Spectacular Bid, considered one of the all-time greats, captured the 1979 Kentucky Derby and Preakness and won 26 of 30 career starts. The only off-the-board finish of his career was when he was fourth in the 1978 Tyro Stakes at Monmouth Park.

JOCKEY ANTONIO GALLARDO THRIVES ON HEAVY WORKLOAD

Fresh off his fourth riding title at Tampa Bay Downs, jockey Antonio Gallardo hopes to seize on that momentum by challenging for two separate riding titles simultaneously.

Gallardo, third in the Monmouth Park jockey standings in 2017 with 50 winners, says he is poised for a big summer at the Shore track, but will also ride regularly at Presque Isle Downs when Monmouth Park is dark.

“I think I can have a good meet,” said the 31-year-old Spaniard. “I like it here. The people know me now so that helps a lot.”

Gallardo, the second leading rider by wins in North America in 2015 and 2016, said he plans to ride at Presque Isle Monday through Thursday and then at Monmouth Park on the weekends. He will not take a break until October.

“I like keeping busy,” he said. “I love to work, but it’s really not work to me. I don’t call it work when someone pays you o do something you love”

Gallardo already has a win and two seconds from seven mounts on Monmouth Park’s opening day card and knows that making a run at the riding title will be challenging.

“You have Paco Lopez and Jose Ferrer. They have great business here. And now you have Angel Arroyo and Eric Cancel coming from New York,” said Gallardo. “There are a lot of good riders here. I don’t see anyone running away with the riding title easily. There are a few guys who can win it. I know I’m trying to win it.”

FREE MILLER LITE GRANDSTAND ADMISSION AVAILABLE SATURDAY

Monmouth Park is offering a free Miller Lite Grandstand Pass to all paid admissions on Saturday, May 12, with patrons receiving a redemption form for one grandstand admission pass that is good from May 13 to July 20.

Also on Saturday, the track will host a $250 Handicapping Contest and a Simulcast Series Invitational.

Following the 12-race live card there is live music on tap on two on-site venues. The Beer Garden at Blu Grotto will feature music by Grafitti Canyon, with Shore Thing providing the musical entertainment in the William Hill Sports Bar.