Gypsy's Warning Heads Miss Liberty

The $75,000 Miss Liberty Stakes, at a mile and a sixteenth on turf for fillies and mares, always comes up as one of the most interesting events on Monmouth’s Fourth of July holiday weekend.

In 2009, the Miss Liberty winner was Maram, who had made her mark in 2008 by taking the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf.

This year, the big name is Gypsy’s Warning, a South African mare who made her North American debut at Monmouth last year in winning the Grade 3 Eatontown Stakes. The Graham Motion-trained runner went on to cap her season with a score in the Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes at Hollywood Park in November.

Despite the presence of a Grade 1 winner, the Miss Liberty still drew a field of 12, including stakes winners Romacaca from trainer Nick Canani, Marquet Madness from Mary Hartmann, and Mystic Miracle from Mark Hennig.

Trainer Gregg Sacco will jump right into the fray with Red Oak Stable’s Bella d’Oro, who has raced well over the Monmouth turf, but has not started since she won an allowance race here last Oct. 10.

“This is a tough place to start off the season, meeting a Grade 1 winner” Sacco said, “but she’s a powerhouse right now. She never worked last year like she’s been working for this.”

Bella d’Oro, a 5-year-old daughter of Medaglia d’Oro, broke her maiden at Monmouth on the main track in August of 2009. Then she was out until May of last year, when she turned in two poor efforts on the dirt.

“She had some foot issues,” Sacco said. “But then we put her on the grass, and she found a home.”

In five starts on the Monmouth turf last year, Bella d’Oro had two wins and three seconds, showing a fine turn of foot.

“She’s a fast filly,” Sacco said. “She couldn’t be training any better, and we feel she’s up to this.

“We also got Elvis Trujillo to ride Sunday,” the trainer said. “Elvis broke her maiden in 2009, and I wanted to reunite the winning team.”