Trainer Ashby looks to add another graded stakes win to her resume

With a graded stakes win already under her belt with Thoroughbreds at Monmouth Park this season, trainer Lynn Ashby will look to add another one to her resume, this time with Arabians in the Grade 1 Shk Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Cup, the third leg (Diamond) of the Triple Jewel Series, on Monday.

The Grade 1 event will be one of two races strictly for Arabian horses on the special holiday card as part of the HH Sheikh Mansoor Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival.

Ashby will send out two of the seven entrants in the day’s feature as she looks to add to her victory in the Grade 3 Violet Stakes with late-charging Tricky Escape, her first Thoroughbred graded stakes win two weeks ago.

Quick and Rich, a 7-year-old son of Th Richie out of the Highnoon Eclipse mare Quick Noon, and Thess Is Awesome, another 7-year-old by Dahess out of the Monarch Ah mare In Awe, both are coming out of the Grade 1 Delaware Classic Handicap on Aug. 19, finishing fifth and sixth behind fellow Nahyan Cup entrants Paddys Day and Ivory Shores.

Owned by Tom Fritz, Quick and Rich is looking to get to the winner’s circle for the first time in two years when he took back-to-back allowance races at Delaware Park in 2015. Carlos Hernandez will get the mount for the first time on Saturday.

Thess Is Awesome defeated morning-line favorite Paddys Day for his last victory in a Grade 1 at Santa Anita last April in the HH Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Darley Awards Stakes, taking the field wire-to-wire to win by a length and a quarter.

“Both horses are doing good and will be shipping up to Monmouth Saturday morning,” said Ashby. “I think both horses will look to be up or on the lead from the start and see if they can take it the whole way. It’s going to be a great day and I love coming to Monmouth Park. The people there are always for the horseman and are very accommodating. It’s such a beautiful racetrack.”

The Shk Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nayhan Cup will run as race 4 while the other Arabian race on the day’s program, the HH Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Apprentice World Championships, is set as race 2.

Hall of Fame jockey Julie Krone will be on-hand for an autograph/meet-and-greet session from 3-4 p.m. as an ambassador of the HH Sheikh Mansoor Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival.

Gates will open at 11:30 a.m. for the final day of the BBQ & Craft Beer Festival and first post is scheduled for 12:50 p.m.

 

 

The BBQ & Craft Beer Festival continues at Monmouth Park Labor Day with some of the best barbeque and breweries from the area and around the country.

All day long, patrons can taste barbeque cuisine from Local Smoke BBQ, Oink and Moo BBQ, One Big Party BBQ, and Jack’s Goal Line Stand, along with local favorites Enzo’s and El Lechon de Negron and more.

Over 25 breweries will be on-hand and for just $10, guests will be able to sample 10 different beers from commemorative 2-ounce mason jars.

Along with the delicious food and beer, Monmouth Park will host Arabian horse racing, with two races on the card dedicated strictly to Arabians, including a Grade 1 event.

Gates open at 11:30 a.m. with first post scheduled for 12:50 p.m.