Grade 3 winner Mission of Joy looking for confidence boost in Sunday’s Miss Liberty Stakes at Monmouth

By Tom Luicci —-

GRADE 3 WINNER MISSION OF JOY SEEKING CONFIDENCE BOOST

OCEANPORT, N.J. – After a year that saw Mission of Joy go 0-for-6, all against graded stakes company, trainer Graham Motion is taking a different approach with the 5-year-old mare this year.

To that end, the two-time Grade 3 winner will look to bolster her credentials and confidence in Sunday’s $100,000 Miss Liberty Stakes at Monmouth Park, her second straight start in a non-graded stakes.

The daughter of Kitten’s Joy won her seasonal debut on April 25 in an optional $100,000 claimer at Tampa Bay Downs, snapping a nine-race losing streak. Some perspective on that: Of her 16 career starts, 11 have been in graded stakes.

“Probably to my detriment I got a little carried away with her last year,” said Motion. “She was beaten a half-length in the (Grade 1) Just A Game Stakes (at Saratoga last June 7) and I think pretty much after that I put her feet to the fire a little bit.

“So we’ve re-grouped and want to get her back on track.”

The Miss Liberty Stakes, at a mile and a sixteenth on the grass for fillies and mares 3 and up, offers an important next step, according to Motion. She will face seven rivals in the feature race.

Another graded stakes race try is very much on the radar, Motion said, especially since the winner of the Miss Liberty Stakes earns free entry and start fees to the Grade 3 WinStar Matchmaker Stakes on the July 19 NYRA Bets Haskell Stakes day undercard.

“It’s going to come down to this weekend,” said Motion, who has trained 14 different Grade 1 winners, among them 2011 Kentucky Derby winner and 2013 Dubai World Cup winner Animal Kingdom. “If she handles things well then we’ll progress to a graded stakes again.”

Mission of Joy, owned by RayZan Sun Racing LLC and Madaket Stanles LLC, picked up a pair of Grade 3 wins (the Regret Stakes at Churchill Downs and the Florida Oaks at Tampa Bay Downs) in 2023. She has been third in a pair of Grade 1 races as well – the Just a Game Stakes and the Queen Elizabeth Challenge Cup.

Of her 16 career starts, 15 have been on the grass. The other was over synthetic.

Now Motion is looking for the Canadian-bred Mission of Joy to re-gain her confidence against non-graded stakes company for a second straight start.

“I never quite know how overrated that is from a horse’s point of view,” he said. “But I think there is something to it. This is about giving her a chance away from those graded races and hoping to build up to it again. That’s certainly in our mind with her.”

Mission of Joy has won five races overall with three thirds for career earnings of $526,632.

The field for the Miss Liberty Stakes from the rail out: Dreaming of Abba, Fun With Flags, Damaso, Precious Avary, Spaliday, Mohawk Trail, Joyful Lass and Mission of Joy.

TICKETS FOR NYRA BETS HASKELL GO ON SALE SATURDAY;

JERSEY SHORE FOOD TRUCK FESTIVAL KICKS OFF WEEKEND

Tickets for the July 19 NYRA Bets Haskell Stakes will go on sale starting at 10 a.m. on Saturday, which coincides with the start of the three-day Jersey Shore Food Truck Festival at Monmouth Park over the course of the Memorial Day weekend.

Haskell Day tickets will be available through seatgeek.com/monmouth, at the reserved seat booth on the second floor of the grandstand, or by calling 732-571-5563.

Thirty-two food trucks will be stationed at Monmouth Park when the Jersey Shore Food Truck Festival kicks off a weekend of culinary delights and live music.

Saturday and Sunday will also feature Family Fun Day activities, with free face painters, clowns a bounce house, pony rides and music.

Gates open at 11 a.m.

Soulstirs will perform “On the Green” on Saturday from noon to 4 p.m., followed by All That Roxx on Sunday and Chris Morissy on Monday.

In addition, Survival at the Shore, Monmouth Park’s free online handicapping contest, gets underway on Saturday. Entrants must pick three races per day and if a selected horse hits the board in any of those races the player advances, Participants must be registered by 11 a.m. Saturday morning, doing so via challenge@survivalattheshore.com

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