Roaring Lion Nips Wildcat Brief at Monmouth

Repole Stable’s Roaring Lion reeled in pacesetter Unwritten and held off the charge of Wildcat Brief to capture the $100,000 Mr. Prospector Stakes by a nose at Monmouth Park on Monday.

Trained by Bruce Levine, Roaring Lion sat off Unwritten’s fractions of :22 for the quarter and :44 for the half mile before coming home in 1:09 flat for six furlongs over a fast main track. The winner returned $10.40, $6.20 and $4.80 and topped the $74.20 exacta. Wildcat Brief paid $8.40 to place and $6.40 to show. It was another length back to Unwritten, who returned $5.80 to show.

“The race set up just as we thought,” said winning rider Eddie Castro. “We were able to sit right behind the two leaders. In the stretch, he ran on well and dug in to hold off the other horse (Wildcat Brief).”

In capturing the Mr. Prospector, the 6-year-old Roaring Lion improved his record to 10-4-5 from 26 starts. The son of Lion Hearted from the Horatius mare Smartly has now earned $399,370.