Golden Brown added to Sunday’s Haskell Field

By Tom Luicci —-

GRADE 3 WINNER GOLDEN BROWN ADDED TO HASKELL LINEUP
BRINGING FIELD TO 7 FOR SUNDAY’S $1 MILLION RACE

OCEANPORT, N.J. – The betfaircom Haskell Invitational added a little more Jersey flavor to Sunday’s 51st edition of Monmouth Park’s signature race, with Grade 3 winner Golden Brown being the latest addition to field, which will number seven 3-year-olds.

Trained by Pat McBurney, Golden Brown comes in off an upset victory in the Grade 3 Kent Stakes at nine furlongs on the grass at Delaware Park on July 14.

The Jersey-bred son of Offlee Wild-Suzee Sunrise is based at Monmouth Park and has raced four times at the track – three in dirt sprints and once long on the grass. He was a fast-closing second in the Dan Horn Stakes at a mile and a sixteenth on the turf at Monmouth Park on June 17.

Kentucky Derby runner-up Good Magic, Preakness runner-up Bravazo, Ohio Derby winner Core Beliefs, Lone Sailor, Navy Commander and Roaming Union comprise the rest of the field for the Grade 1, mile and an eighth Haskell Invitational, which headlines a stakes-filled 14-race card on Sunday.

“He has performed so well on the grass that the only way I’d consider trying him on the dirt again right now is in this race. Monmouth Park is home and it’s the Haskell,” said McBurney. “If you’re going to try long on the dirt for the first time this would be the race. That being said, he has actually performed well on the dirt and though they’ve been in sprint races, his sheet numbers are equally as good as what he has run on the turf.

“I always thought he would be better going two turns. Paco Lopez rode him his first two races and loved him. He always said he wanted a distance of ground. He has certainly shown that on the turf.”
Golden Brown shows three wins and three seconds from seven career starts, with lifetime earnings of $209,500.

This will be McBurney’s third Haskell starter. Just Call Kenny was sixth in 2014 and Cable Boy was fifth in 2007.

So he fully understands the magnitude of the test for his colt.

“It’s a very tough test,” he said. “These are the best 3-year-olds in the country that are racing now and it’s a distance of ground on the dirt, which we’re an unknown quantity at. But it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity. The Haskell is just for 3-year-olds, so this is his one chance. I feel like the stars are aligned for him right now. He’s going into this in fantastic shape, so we’ll see what happens.”

First race post for Sunday’s card is noon, with gates opening at 7:30 a.m. and the parking lots opening at 6:30 a.m.

The Haskell is also part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge “Win and You’re In” series, with the race winner receiving an automatic spot with fees paid for the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 3 at Churchill Downs.

NBC-TV will carry the race live from 5-6 p.m., with the Haskell having an estimated post time of 5:47 p.m.

HASKELL CONTENDER CORE BELIEFS SETTLES IN

Following an uneventful cross-country journey from trainer Peter Eurton’s Southern California base late Tuesday afternoon, Core Beliefs got his first feel for Monmouth Park’s racing strip Wednesday morning as he prepares Sunday’s $1 million betfair.com Haskell Invitational.

Luis Martinez, the colt’s regular groom who also accompanied him when he won the Grade 3 Ohio Derby in his last start, said that Core Beliefs was happy, relaxed and “strong” following his easy jog once around the oval under veteran exercise rider Findlay Bishop while accompanied by a pony.

“He’s a smart horse and he’s a good shipper. He does everything right,” Martinez said. “He went out on the track today just to stretch his legs and get a look around at the new surroundings, and he did very good.”

Flavian Prat, the leading rider at the recently concluded Santa Anita Winter-Spring meet, will fly from California to ride Gary Broad’s colt, who is a son of spectacular young sire Quality Road out of the Tactical Advantage mare Tejati. It will be a first time partnership for Prat and Core Beliefs, who was unraced as juvenile and has two wins from six starts. In April he finished third behind eventual Triple Crown winner Justify in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby.

Martinez, who is overseeing the preparations until Eurton arrives on race day, said Core Beliefs will gallop about a mile and an eighth Thursday morning and visit the paddock on Friday for a schooling session.