MONMOUTH: EL TERRENO CRUISES TO WIN SATURDAY’S BLUE SPARKLER

By Tom Luicci —-

El Terreno #5 with Jairo Rendon riding won the $100,000 Blue Sparkler Stakes at Monmouth Park Racetrack in Oceanport, NJ on Saturday July 13, 2024. Photo By Bill Denver/EQUI-PHOTO

OCEANPORT, N.J. – With the overflow of speed that was in Saturday’s $106,000 Blue Sparkler Stakes at Monmouth Park jockey Jairo Rendon, riding the ultra-quick El Terreno, expressed some concerns to the fillies’ connections about making the lead – where she likes to be.

“Talking to Jairo Rendon beforehand he said he was hoping to find an early spot because of all the speed in the race,” said Ed Haney, the assistant to Christophe Clement. “I told him `you’re going to be on the lead.’ She’s that fast.”

Haney could not have been more spot on.

El Terreno bolted to the lead in the 5½-furlong turf feature and cruised to a two-length victory over the eight other 3-year-old fillies in the field. It marked the first stakes win for the Kentucky-bred daughter of Speightstown.

In the supporting feature, the $100,000 Boiling Springs Stakes, Spaliday benefitted from an early rail-saving trip under Samy Camacho and rallied from last after the opening six furlongs, going on to a 1¼-length victory in the mile and a sixteenth grass race for 3-year-old fillies.

Chad Brown trains the winner and also had the third-place finisher in Lady de Berry, as slight 19-10 favorite Brocknardini struggled to be fifth in her first start back following an 8½-month layoff.

El Terreno, who won her only two starts at 2, both in gate to wire fashion, had been struggling to regain that form at 3. She faded to last in her seasonal debut at Gulfstream Park on March 24 in her first try in stakes company, then could not sustain her front-end quickness in her turf debut in the Stormy Blues Stakes at Laurel on June 16. She finished fifth that race.

Her good form returned Saturday.

The winning time over a turf course listed as firm was 1:03.11, with El Terreno paying $8.40 to win. Shuangxi held for second, a nose ahead of 11-10 favorite Tiffany Gold, a front-end sort who broke at the back of the pack.

“She’s very fast. That’s pretty obvious,” said Haney. “In her first career start she ran 1:08.4, the fastest six furlongs for a 2-year-old in the history of Presque Isle. That’s what they told us. Her first start this year she was a big favorite and she got dueled into the ground. She’s obviously bred for the grass and we were finally able to get her on it in her last start. I thought she was a winner at the eighth pole in that race. But that turf course is not speed favoring (she faded to fifth).

“Here, all you can say after seeing that is wow.”

Rendon said El Terreno, owned by Castleton Lyons, took him to the lead on her own.

“She has a lot of speed,” Rendon said. “She went right to the lead and I just kept her there. In her last race when she was on the lead she got a lot of pressure and wasn’t too happy with the spot she was in. Today she was clear in front and she kept running.

“If you look at the race on paper there was a lot of speed. But she showed that she is faster than all of them.”

Spailday, meanwhile, made her stakes debut a winning won, covering the mile and a sixteenth on the grass in 1:41.44.

The Kentucky-bred daughter of More Than Ready, owned by Peter Brant, paid $5.80 to win. Madame Mischief was second, 2¼-lengths better than Lady de Berry.

“The blinkers on for the first time seemed to help,” said Luis Cabrera, who oversees Brown’s division at Monmouth Park. “They breezed her with blinkers (at Saratoga) and she seemed to be better with them on. She keeps getting better.

“They were kind of honest with the fractions so I wasn’t too concerned with how far back she was. Samy Camacho was able to save ground and then found room late. He gave her a nice ride.”

Camacho said the difference was his decision not to swing wide coming out of the final turn, but to dart back inside, where he found an opening in deep stretch and ran down Madame Mischief.

“At the half-mile pole I knew I had a lot of horse,” said Camacho. “I tried to make the decision to go around horses (coming out of the final turn) but when I saw (Lady de Berry and Brocknardini) floating wide I decided to stay where I was on the inside and I was able to find room in the stretch. I think I won the race when I made that decision.”

Spaliday paid $5.80 to win.