Monmouth Park barn notes 06-07-18

By John Heims —-

DYNATAIL LOOKING TO MAKE MONMOUTH TURF DEBUT
IN SATURDAY’S FEATURED $75,000 MISS LIBERTY STAKES

OCEANPORT, N.J. – The best bargain of Michael Dini’s training career will get a second chance to make her Monmouth Park turf debut in Saturday’s $75,000 Miss Liberty Stakes, the feature event on a live 12-race card.

Dynatail, purchased for $5,000 as a 2-year-old at the June 2016 Ocala Breeders’ Sales, will look to pad her career bankroll of $263,910 in the nine-horse field of fillies and mares, 3-years-old-and up. She was scratched from the May 19 Politely Stakes at Monmouth Park when that race came off the grass.

“The weather has made it tough for me so far because I have so many turf horses,” said Dini. “We’re hoping the rain holds off so we can get on the grass again.”

Dini served as the adviser when Ballybritt Stable LLC bought Dynatail for the bargain basement price and has managed the 4-year-old filly’s career for all 19 of her starts. She has four wins and is a multiple stakes winner, though the daughter of Hightail-Southern Dynamo is 0-for-3 in 2018 after earning $237,490 last year.

“She has been in a few difficult spots to start this year but I have no complaints with her,” said Dini. “She has given us more than we could have ever asked for and she picks up a check more often than not. She has been a lot of fun for us.”

Dini expects Dynatail to be close to the lead, despite drawing the outside post nine in the mile and a sixteenth race.

“There’s a lot of speed in the race and I’m not too keen about that, especially having the far outside post,” he said. “We’ll just have to see how they break and then let things sort themselves out. I would think we’ll be close early on but we’ll see.”

Dynatail is coming off a third-place finish in an $80,000 optional claimer at a mile on May 24 at Belmont Park, a race Dini turned to after the Politely Stakes was taken off the grass. Seventeen of her 19 career starts have been on the grass, with the other two on synthetic.

“I think a mile is her best distance, but I’m confident she can get a mile and a sixteenth, he said.
Dini, who has 26 horses stabled at Monmouth Park, shows a 1-1-1 line from his five starters at the meeting, estimating he has had to scratch “five or six horses,” when races were taken off the grass because of the rainy weather.

MONMOUTH TO OFFER BELMONT STAKES SIMULCASTING

Belmont Park’s stakes-filled Saturday card, highlighted by Justify’s attempt to become the sport’s 13th Triple Crown winner in the Belmont Stakes, will be simulcast in its entirety at Monmouth Park, with gates opening at 11 a.m. that day. The first race on the 13-race Belmont Park card has a post time of 11:35 a.m.

The Belmont Stakes has a listed post time of 6:46 p.m. The undercard includes the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps, the Grade 1 Acorn, the Grade 2 Brooklyn Invitational, the Grade 2 Jaipur, the Grade 2 Woody Stephens, the Grade 1 Just A Game, the Grade 1 Met Mile and the Grade 1 Manhattan.

In conjunction with Justify’s run at history, Monmouth Park is giving out free Justify pins to fans while supplies last.

Saturday will also be Scarlet Knights Saturday, with all fans wearing Rutgers gear receiving free grandstand admission. Rutgers will have a tent by the grandstand fountain to share information about its football team.

The school’s mascot will be available for pictures with fans and the Rutgers Dance Crew will be on hand as well.

48th ANNUAL IRISH FESTIVAL SET FOR SUNDAY, JUNE 10

The popular Irish Festival will hold its 48th renewal at Monmouth Park on Sunday, June 10, to complement a live racing card. Gates open at 10 a.m., with a traditional Irish Mass set for 11 a.m. on the paddock side of the grandstand on the second floor.

The day will include an Irish Band and Dance Competition, a Pipe and Drum Competition and a human horse race. Irish flags will be displayed and the Irish national anthem will be played at 11:55 a.m.
A variety of Irish food will be available and a beer area will be available in the grandstand overhang and in the bus lot.

Also on Sunday, former Monmouth Park leading ride Julie Krone, the only female to win a Triple Crown race, will be available for autographs from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. near the Jockey’s Room. Krone won the 1993 Belmont Stakes aboard Colonial Affair and was the first woman to win a Breeders’ Cup race. Elected to the Racing Hall of Fame in 2000, Krone topped the Monmouth Park rider standings from 1987-89.