Monmouth Park Barn Notes for Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2018

By Tom Luicci —-

NATIONS SET TO DEBUT PROMISING FILLY PROUD MANDATE
IN THURSDAY’S TURF SPRINT FOR 2-YEAR-OLDS

OCEANPORT, N.J. – As trainer Keith Nations continues with a major overhaul of his barn, moving to better quality, less quantity and with a focus on younger horses, he acknowledges he hasn’t had anywhere near the impact he originally hoped to have during his first summer at Monmouth Park.

That will change next year, he vows.

“Next year when we come here we’ll be ready to run,” he said.

For now, the focus will continue to be on his 2-year-olds, which account for 20 of the 45 horses he has stabled at Monmouth Park.

One of them, Proud Mandate, will make her racing debut in Thursday’s Maiden Special Weight race for 2-year-old fillies at five furlongs on the grass that goes as the seventh race on an eight-race card.

“If it’s on the turf or off, we’ll go either way,” said Nations. “She has trained really nicely. I think she’s got a lot of talent. She seems to have a lot of class so I don’t see her having any problems with the first-time starting. I think she will handle everything very well.

“We’ve got very high expectations for her.”

A daughter of Strong Mandate-Proud Dame, Proud Mandate will face nine rivals in the $36,000 dash.
She represents both the future promise and the reason for the current lack of production for Nations so far this meeting, where he has four winners from just 19 starters – a far cry from what he expected before deciding on a philosophical makeover.

“We love being here. The facility is awesome, we love the barn and the area is great. And the people have been tremendous in welcoming us,” said Nations. “Unfortunately, we got caught in a transition year to a lot of young horses and had more horses than we normally do that were not ready to run because of that. I feel bad we haven’t run more because everyone here has been great to us, but we’re revamping our approach and it just happened to be this year.

“We thought we’d start a lot more. Look at our numbers the past two years. We started 385 horses in 2017 and another 300 (308) the year before and this year we’re at about one-third of that (with 114 starters overall). Next year we will have this planned out better and when we get to Monmouth Park next year we’ll be ready to run.”

Nations has weeded out a considerable number of the claimers and low level allowance horses that had been under his care, with the 57-year-old conditioner going from 70 horses to his current 45.

“The goal is to keep it even smaller but with better quality,” he said. “I’d really like to get it to around 30-something horses. We’re getting there. I’m already planning ahead for next year at Monmouth so we can run more. It takes time when you’re revamping everything the way we are but we’ll get there.”

PICK 6 CARRYOVER AT $271,479 FOR THURSDAY’S CARD

A record Jersey Shore Pick 6 carryover of $271,479 awaits handicappers for Monmouth Park’s eight-race card on Thursday – the final Thursday program of the meeting. The 20-cent base wager pays out the entire jackpot pool only if there is a single winning ticket.
The Pick 6 sequence starts in the third race on Thursday. First race post time is 1:15 p.m.

NAVARRO, FERRER CLOSING IN ON TITLES AT MONMOUTH

With 10 racing days left starting with Thursday’s card, trainer Jorge Navarro and jockey Jose Ferrer are closing in on individual titles at Monmouth Park – a familiar ending to the meeting for Navarro but a new one for Ferrer.

Navarro currently has a track record 75 victories in his quest for an unprecedented sixth straight training title. His victory total – which includes three record-tying five-win days – is more than double that of runner-up Jason Servis’ 32.

Ferrer, 54, is seeking his first Monmouth Park riding title. He enters the four-day race week on Thursday with 75 winners, 13 more than five-time track riding champion Paco Lopez.