On Monday at Belmont Park, a field of eight fillies and mares is set to compete in the 2nd edition of the $100,000 Punkin Pie Stakes. Restricted to fillies and mares that have not won a graded stakes in 2014, the race will be run at seven furlongs on the main track.
Topping the field at morning line odds of 2-1 is Katie’s Garden, a homebred daughter of Elusive Quality for owners Jerry and Ann Moss. The four-year-old filly is out of the mare Tarlow, a Grade 1 winner that the Mosses also campaigned. Trained by John Shirreffs, the dark bay filly has won three of her six starts and was last seen finishing second in the Sky Beauty Stakes as the favorite. She has recorded a bullet workout since that race and will have John Velazquez aboard from post two.
Second choice at morning line odds of 3-1 is Unbound, a five-year-old mare who will be making her first United States start after competing in Japan. A daughter of Distorted Humor from the female family of the legendary Personal Ensign, the chestnut mare has won three of her ten starts. She will be making her first start under the tutelage of Graham Motion and will have Joel Rosario in the irons. She has been training steadily at Fair Hill for her stateside debut.
Also in the field at morning line odds of 5-1 is Classic Point, the runner-up in the inaugural running of the Punkin Pie Stakes in 2013. Trained by James Jerkens, the five-year-old daughter of Flatter will be getting the addition of blinkers for the first time. She has won five times, one of which came this year against optional claiming competition. Irad Ortiz, Jr. will be aboard replacing Junior Alvarado after a fifth-place finish in the Gallant Bloom (G2) last time out.
The field is set for the $1 million Haskell, where Nyquist will be trying to re-stake his claim as the top three-year-old in the country.
On Sunday at Monmouth Park, the featured race is the $300,000 United Nations Stakes. Scheduled to be run at a mile and three-eighths on the turf, the Grade 1 event has drawn a field of ten colts and geldings.
On Sunday at Monmouth Park, the featured race is the $150,000 Pegasus Stakes, a key prep race for the Haskell Invitational (G1). The Grade 3 event will be contested at a mile and a sixteenth and has drawn a field of seven three-year-olds.
With five grade 1 races and a grade 2, the undercard for the June 11 Belmont stakes could be the best single day of racing on the calendar outside of the Breeders’ Cup.
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