Horses Arrive for Monmouth Park Meet

In the early hours of Friday morning, a van carrying the horses of trainer John Mazza rolled through the Monmouth Park stable gate, officially kicking off the training season for the 2012 season.

“It’s always great to be back at Monmouth,” said Mazza, who’s been coming to the Oceanport racetrack since 1948.  “I’ll have about a dozen horses this season, a good mix of babies and proven runners.”

The first to set foot in the stable area was Roron Stables’ Brightest Rainbow, who arrived with her stable mates at 7:05 a.m.  A 4-year-old grey filly who’s been working steadily at Gulfstream Park, Brightest Rainbow was bred in the Garden State by her owner.

In addition to Brightest Rainbow, the Mazza trainees include a highly regarded 2-year-old by City Zip out of Veggie, who has produced four winners including multiple stakes victor Carrots Only.

Other early arrivals on Monday included horses from the barns of Skip Einhorn and Paul Kopaj.

As always, Monmouth’s stable area will be at capacity as 1,600 horses will call the Oceanport backstretch their home.

The Monmouth Park racing season gets underway on Saturday, May 12.  The meet will once again be highlighted by the $1 million Haskell Invitational, set for Sunday, July 29.  Other graded stakes highlights include the United Nations Stakes on July 7, the Iselin on Aug. 18, and the Molly Pitcher, being run for the first time on Haskell Day.