Name Changer, Berned Get First Graded Wins at Monmouth
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Photo: Taylor Ejdys/EQUI-PHOTO
Name Changer and Jose Ortiz take the Monmouth Cup Stakes at Monmouth Park
Colts Neck Stables' homebred Name Changer notched his first graded stakes victory in a hard-fought stretch run in the July 29 Monmouth Cup Stakes (G3), and Berned also earned her first graded win in the Molly Pitcher Stakes (G3).
Haskell Day at Monmouth Park featured an undercard of four graded stakes with purses of $100,000 or more, with the $150,000 Monmouth Cup—going 1 1/8 miles on the main track for older males—and the $100,000 Molly Pitcher for fillies and mares making up the undercard's dirt division.
With Jose Ortiz aboard, Name Changer bumped with the 8-5 betting favorite Zanotti coming out of the gate but settled well behind the pacesetters in third. Phat Man, flanked by Remembering Rita, set fractions of :23.48 and :47.86 through the opening half-mile.
As Phat Man and Remembering Rita faded on the far turn, Name Changer took over the lead but was followed by a fast-closing Zanotti. Battling through the stretch, the pair finished within a half-length of one another and five lengths ahead of fan favorite Page McKenney. Final time over the fast track was 1:49.56.
The winner returned $10.40, $4.60, and $3. Zanotti paid $3.20 and $2.40 for second. Page McKenney returned $2.60 and was followed by Remembering Rita, Let Me Go First, and Phat Man to complete the order of finish.
Name Changer won back-to-back starts in allowance company to start the year but finished third in the Carl Hanford Memorial Stakes at Delaware Park in his most recent outing.
"I don't know what happened in his last race. I was a little surprised, other than he ran in fractions that were too fast early," trainer Alan Goldberg said of the third-place effort. "It was a real clunker. It was a head-scratcher and he was close, so we said we'll try it because he was going really good before that last race.
"Today, I thought we'd be a little farther back, but I thought that with the horses in first and second early, he'd be out there going with them," Goldberg continued. "This horse has been breaking better than he did in the past. He broke good, maintained his position, and everything was cool from there."
The 5-year-old son of Uncle Mo has a record of 7-1-3 from 15 starts.
Video: Monmouth Cup S. (G3)
Two races later, Robert Masiello, West Point Thoroughbreds, and Chris Larsen's Berned flew by the leaders at the top of the stretch to win the Molly Pitcher.
The 4-year-old, Graham Motion-trained daughter of Bernardini has competed at a much tougher level in the past, with off-the-board efforts in the 2016 Starlet Stakes (G1), the 2017 Coaching Club American Oaks (G1), and the June 9 Ogden Phipps Stakes (G1), where she finished sixth.
Although she won the May 12 Serena's Song Stakes and the 2017 Safely Kept Stakes, she hadn't finished better than third in graded company since her third start, when she was second in the Tempted Stakes (G3) at Aqueduct Racetrack in 2016.
Jockey Joe Bravo kept Berned near the back of the field while Divine Miss Grey and Unchained Melody battled on the front end, running fractions of :23.51 and :46.80 through a half-mile. Rallying three wide into the stretch, Berned pulled clear of the field early, but Dreamcall, coming in off a three-race winning streak, sprinted from last to close to within three-quarters of a length at the wire.
Final time for the 1 1/16-mile race was 1:44.52. Divine Miss Grey held for third.
Bred by AR Enterprises out of the Giant's Causeway mare First Passage, Berned was a $550,000 purchase by West Point Thoroughbreds when she was consigned to the 2015 Keeneland September Yearling Sale by Bluegrass Thoroughbred Services.