Kelly's Humor to stay sprinting; Monomoy Girl in 'excellent' shape

Kelly's Humor rallied from seventh in the stretch to finish third in Saturday's Grade 1, $500,000 Longines Test, marking the first time the 3-year-old had finished on the board in three career Grade 1 starts.

Trainer Brad Cox said Kelly's Humor came out of the race well at Saratoga and has found a comfort level going shorter distances. After running eighth in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks at 1 1/8 miles on May 4 at Churchill Downs, the Midnight Lute filly has since raced twice at the Test distance of seven furlongs. She is 1-2-1 in four career starts at the distance, where her conditioner said she will likely continue to run.

"She came out of the race in good order. I don't know where we'll go from here; we'll look for races going seven-eighths around one turn," Cox said from his barn Sunday morning. "I think [seven furlongs] is her thing. You're always a little bit of a victim of the pace. They didn't go extremely fast yesterday. Honestly, the mission was to finish in the top three, and she got it done.

"She's picked up. She's run solid in every race," he added. "Even the Oaks, she ran good, the mile and an eighth is probably something she doesn't want to do. She definitely likes that [shorter] distance."

Breaking from post 8 in her Saratoga debut, Kelly's Humor stayed well off pacesetters Classy Act and Mia Mischief under jockey Joel Rosario. Out of the turn, Kelly's Humor was second-to-last in the eight-horse field but used a stretch-drive surge to the wire, besting Alter Moon by a nose to earn third.

"Joel did an excellent job," Cox said. "The plan was to save some ground off the turn, fan her off the turn and get her out in the middle of the track. He did a good job in recognizing that there were some lanes open on the inside. It worked out great."

Cox also said leading 3-year-old filly contender Monomoy Girl is slated to return to the worktab next weekend. After winning the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks on July 22 at the Spa, The Tapizar filly is 5-for-5 in her sophomore campaign and has already compiled four Grade 1 wins this year, including the Ashland on April 7, the Kentucky Oaks and the Acorn on June 9 at Belmont before besting Midnight Bisou by three lengths in the 1 1/8-mile route on Saratoga's main track last month.

"She's doing excellent, we'll probably breeze next weekend. The chances are we'll [work] her next Saturday or Sunday," Cox said.