Judy the Beauty tops the compact field as the even-money favorite for trainer and owner Wesley Ward. A six-year-old daughter of Ghostzapper, she is the reigning Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint (G1) champion and has been on the board a total of eighteen of her nineteen starts with nine victories. She will be making her second start of the year and finished second in her first start off of a six-month freshening in the Humana Distaff (G1). Joel Rosario will be aboard from post four.
Second choice at 8-5 on the morning line is La Verdad for trainer Linda Rice. A five-year-old daughter of Yes It’s True, she has won thirteen of her nineteen starts and was fifth in this race last year. She is undefeated from three starts this year and two of those victories have come against graded stakes competition. Jose Ortiz will be in the irons and they will break from post position three.
Also in the field at morning line odds of 6-1 is Street Story for trainer Steve Asmussen. A four-year-old daughter of Street Cry (IRE), she has won five of her fourteen starts and is a multiple graded stakes winner. She was last seen finishing second in the Bed o’ Roses Handicap at Belmont Park and will have Javier Castellano aboard from the outside post as she goes for her second win of the year.
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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