Monmouth Park: Surface to Air upsets First Mission in Iselin

Surface to Air took advantage of odds-on favorite First Mission’s hard work on the front end early in Saturday’s Philip H. Iselin Stakes at Monmouth Park.

After traveling in third place, Surface to Air took the lead at the quarter pole and outdueled First Mission to the finish for a three-quarter-length win in the Grade 3, $250,000 test for five horses, ages 3 and up.

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The two-turn, 1 1/16-mile race on the fast main track was supposed to be a confidence builder for First Mission (1-5). The Godolphin-bred 5-year-old multimillionaire who is trained by Brad Cox was coming off a third-place finish in the Stephen Foster (G1) at Churchill Downs.

Instead, 5-year-old Surface to Air (7-2) seized on both the pedestrian pace and jockey Samuel Marín’s patient ride to win for 26-year-old trainer Peter Synnefias and owners Rob and Sarah Byers of Premier Stables.

Pacesetter Repo Rocks (11-1) and First Mission raced within a length of one another through slow early fractions of 24.46, 48.33 and 1:12.24. Surface to Air bided his time while conceding as many as three lengths up the backstretch.

First Mission accelerated under Florent Géroux in the second turn, but Repo Rocks and Francisco Martínez stayed with them. At the same time Surface to Air made his bid going three wide through the turn.

All three horses dug in down the homestretch before Surface to Air and First Mission drew clear through a mile in 1:37.51. Surface to Air started to pull away, but First Mission re-engaged in deep stretch only to come up short at the end.

The winning time was 1:44.27.

Surface to Air paid $9.00, $2.10 and $2.10 across the board. First Mission returned $2.10 and $2.10. Repo Rocks, another 4 1/2 lengths back in third, paid $2.20 to show. Vitality (24-1) finished fourth, and Gran Yaco (24-1) came in last. Offaly Cool, who was 5-1 on the morning line, was scratched to race instead Monday in the $75,000 Mayor’s Mile at Parx.

Surface to Air is an entire son of Midshipman who won July 19 in the 1 1/8-mile Monmouth Cup (G3) over the same main track as the Iselin was run Saturday. Privately acquired by Premier Stable, he added $150,000 to bring his career earnings of $682,054 from a record of 22: 6-1-3.