Top Line Growth Pursues Graded Score in Salvator Mile
Image:
Description:
Photo: Jim McCue / Maryland Jockey Club
Top Line Growth will attempt to add a graded stakes victory to his resume in the Salvator Mile
Different year, different horse, different Monmouth Park graded stakes race. But, trainer Kelly Rubley hopes for a similar result.
A year after the Maryland-based trainer shipped in with Divisidero to win the Red Bank Stakes (G3), Rubley will look for history to repeat when she sends out Laurel Park track record holder Top Line Growth in the $150,000 Salvator Mile (G3), the Sept. 20 feature on Monmouth's 14-race card.
"Certainly that's the hope," Rubleysaid.
After making his 4-year-old debut in impressive fashion with a 5 1/2-length romp at Laurel Aug. 14—a race in which he threatened his own track record for a mile—Top Line Growth will face an expected seven challengers in the Salvator Mile in his quest for his first graded stakes score.
The gelded son of Tapizar returned following a 10 1/2-month layoff to sizzle a mile in 1:34.74 to launch his 2020 campaign. He set the Laurel track record for that distance June 8, 2019 when he covered the one-turn mile in 1:34.07.
"It was very impressive," Rubley said of Top Line Growth's comeback race. "He toyed with the track record he currently holds. He's a very fast horse.
"We have always felt he was a nice horse. We felt he deserved to try this race. His last race he had the conditions so we figured why not try it. It was a great start back. You hope you're not over-facing them when they're coming off a long layoff. Obviously, he was ready in that spot."
Top Line Growth has consistently displayed two traits during his career: He likes to win and he loves eight furlongs. Owned and bred by The Elkstone Group LLC, Top Line Growth is 5-for-8 lifetime and 3-for-3 at a mile. Two of his career losses have come in graded stakes races: A third-place finish in last year's Smarty Jones (G3) at Parx Racing and a fourth-place finish in the West Virginia Derby (G3).
"The race at Parx was one of his better ones numbers-wise," said Rubley. "It was a bit of an off-track and I thought he did very well.
"We always thought he was a nice horse. He was a big, growing horse at 2, so he didn't start until he was 3. Luckily the owners were wonderful in giving me the time to develop him. He certainly showed up his first start."
That was April 22 last year at Laurel, when Top Line Growth made his racing debut with a 9 1/2-length victory.
Among the horses Top Line Growth will face in the Salvator Mile is Pirate's Punch, who was disqualified to second after crossing the wire first in the Aug. 22 Philip H. Iselin Stakes (G3) at Monmouth Park after interfering with declared winner Warrior's Charge late in the race. Trainer Chad Brown will send out Valid Point, winner of the 2019 Secretariat Stakes (G1T) at Arlington International Racecourse, with the colt trying dirt for the first time in his six-race career.
Rubley, whose only two career graded stakes wins have come with Divisidero, has enlisted Joe Bravo to ride Top Line Growth.
"Joe rode him at Parx so he knows him," said Rubley, who started training in 2014. "I felt that was a logical move."
Monmouth Park, Sunday, September 20, 2020, Race 10Entries: Salvator Mile S. (G3)
PP
Horse
Jockey
Wgt
Trainer
M/L
1
1Bal Harbour (KY)
Christopher P. DeCarlo
118
Gregory D. Sacco
5/2
2
2Prendimi (NJ)
Isaac Castillo
122
Luis Carvajal, Jr.
15/1
3
3Wind of Change (BRZ)
Romero Ramsay Maragh
118
Amador Merei Sanchez
12/1
4
4Top Line Growth (MD)
Joe Bravo
118
Kelly Rubley
7/2
5
5Golden Brown (NJ)
Paco Lopez
122
Patrick B. McBurney
4/1
6
6Pirate's Punch (KY)
Jorge A. Vargas, Jr.
118
Grant T. Forster
3/1
7
7Valid Point (KY)
Antonio A. Gallardo
118
Chad C. Brown
6/1
8
8Name Changer (KY)
Hector Rafael Diaz, Jr.
118
Jorge Duarte, Jr.
10/1
