Is Tune Me In Ready for Red Bank?
Monmouth Park’s slate of graded stakes races gets off to a rousing start on Saturday with a full field entered in the $100,000 Red Bank Stakes (Grade 3) at one mile on the turf course.
This 39th running of the Red Bank drew 13 entrants, including 2011 Belmont Stakes winner Ruler On Ice, who is in as “main-track only” and likely to be scratched because the race is almost certain to be run on the grass.
Topping the 12 entered in the main body of the race is Live Oak Plantation’s Za Approval, who won the Appleton Stakes (G3) at Gulfstream in March for trainer Christophe Clement and is the 3-l morning line choice with Joe Bravo aboard looking for his fourth victory in the Red Bank.
But the race is truly a wide-open betting event, as evidenced by Brad Thomas’s morning line, that makes three horses co-second choices at 6-1 – Finale, Tune Me In and Monument Hill.
Patricia Generazio’s Tune Me In was the king of the Monmouth turf course last year when he won the Oceanport Stakes (G3) in July and the Cliff Hanger (G3) in September for trainer Bruce Alexander.
The 6-year-old son of Concorde’s Tune would likely have been favored if not for the fact that he hasn’t run since December, and has only been in serious training for a month.
“He just got here on April 17,” said Alexander, “and 30 days is not a lot of time to get ready for a race like this. But he’s a good horse, and he’s good here. He’s run well fresh in the past.”
Tune Me In gets a new rider in Gabriel Saez for the Red Bank as he tries to shake off the cobwebs for this highly competitive event.
“He came back last year in the McSorley (June 10) after being out all winter, and he ran well,” Alexander said. “He was third in a fast sprint (five and a half furlongs in 1:00 4/5) behind a horse (Varsity) who ran well the whole year, so it was a good effort.
“He is up against it a bit in the Red Bank,” the trainer said, “but he’s a very good horse with a solid record on the Monmouth turf. Good horses can overcome bad conditions.”
Tune Me In has a 5-4-3 record in 13 starts on the Monmouth grass, and his only off-the-board showing was a fifth the first time he ever ran here, in May of 2010. His record at one mile is impressive as well, as he’s won four of eight with two seconds.
AND WHAT ABOUT THE MISSING RED BANK STAKES HORSE?
The Red Bank Stakes drew a full field for Saturday, but it was not the names on the entry page that drew attention. It was the name that was not there.
For the past three runnings, the one-mile Red Bank has belonged to one horse, Get Serious. Owned by the partnership of Dinan, Moore and Phantom House Farm and trained by the partnership of John Forbes and Pat McBurney, Get Serious won the race in 2009, 2010 and 2012.
So why is the 9-year-old not in the entries for the 2013 running of the Red Bank?
“He wrenched an ankle last month,” McBurney said. “We haven’t been able to train him. “He’s 20 to 30 days away from being ready to run again.”
Get Serious, a son of City Zip, has won 13 of 27 starts at Monmouth, including runnings of the Elkwood, Battlefield, Oceanport and Monmouth Stakes in addition to three Red Bank renewals.
MONMOUTH GATES OPEN AT 10 A.M. SATURDAY FOR PREAKNESS SIMULCAST
Gates will open at 10 a.m. Saturday at Monmouth Park as the track beams in all the simulcast action from Pimlico Racecourse including the Preakness Stakes and Kentucky Derby winner Orb’s attempt to win racing’s second leg of the Triple Crown.
First race from Pimlico is set for 10:45 a.m. with the Preakness post at 6:20 p.m.
$9,099 CARRYOVER FOR SATURDAY’S JERSEY SHORE SIX
Monmouth’s newest wager, the Jersey Shore Six, will have a carryover of $9,099 added to the pool should one person walk away with the lone winning ticket.
The Jersey Shore Six, which is based on the popular Rainbow Six at Gulfstream, has a 10 cent base wager. To win the jackpot, a ticket must have the winner of the last six races on the card and be the only one to have done so.