Monmouth Park 2023: Haskell contender emerges as Howgreatisnate wins Long Branch Stakes

OCEANPORT – It didn’t take long for a contender for the $1 million TVG.com Haskell Stakes to emerge.

Just minutes after Howgreatisnate hit the wire first in the $100,000 Long Branch Stakes on opening day at Monmouth Park, trainer Elizabeth Dobles, following her first race as the 3-year-old’s trainer, declared his next race would likely be the track’s Grade 1 fixture on July 22.

“Haskell!” said Dobles, based at the Palm Meadows Trainer Center in Boynton Beach, Florida, when asked about the 3-year-old colt’s future path.

“We’ll go back down there and recover from this race, depending on how he comes out of it we’re going to point towards the Haskell.”

Dobles indicated she would train Howgreatisnate up to the Haskell. That’s how convincing the hard-fought victory by the 3-year-old colt was, getting past Offaly Cool to win the 1 1/16-mile test by a head at 5-1.

Dobles took over training Howgreatisnate two months ago when Imaginary Stables owner John Guarnere sought to make a change, moving the colt from Andrew Simoff’s barn after a disappointing fourth-place finish in the Private Terms Stakes at Laurel Park. Two starts back, Howgreatisnate stumbled at the start and lost his rider in the Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct, after winning all four races as a two-year-old.

“Elizabeth gets on the horses, and I know the jockeys in Florida so I just wanted get an opinion on Nate from Elizbeth and jockeys down there, and I felt good,” Guarnere said. “The only thing was shipping up here at last minute, but he has a big heart.”

After sitting just off the pace down the backstretch for jockey Jairo Rendon, Howgreatisnate and Offaly Cool battled down the stretch, with the winner getting to the wire a head in front.

“I thought going into the turn they were moving quick - I thought he made his move a little too early but he showed a lot of heart to fight off the other horse,” Dobles said.

Favored Slip Mahoney, trained by Brad Cox and owned by Al Gold, who won last year’s Haskell with Cyberknife, tried to rally as the field rounded the turn, but eventually finished fourth.

Gold has said his Grade 2 winner Instant Coffee is being pointed towards the Matt Winn Stakes at Churchill Downs, with the ultimate goal of running in the Haskell.

From Friday:

A year after Haskell win, owner with local ties seeks more

OCEANPORT - You might remember the last time Al Gold ran a horse at his beloved Monmouth Park. The move on the inside. The emotional winner’s circle scene decades in the making. And a connection to the rich history of an event only a long-time regular at the Jersey Shore racetrack could understand.

Because when Cyberknife got up to beat Bob Baffert-trainee Taiba by a neck in the $1-million TVG.com Haskell Stakes last summer, it marked a pinnacle of a life spent in racing for the long-time Ocean Township resident.

“It was a great experience,” said Gold, who now splits his time between Saratoga Springs, New York, and Del Ray Beach, Florida, of Cyberknife’s success, which included a pair of Grade 1 wins and $2.1 million in earnings, and now a lucrative career as a stallion.

“It was shocking that it happened after so many years without having a really good horse.”

Now Gold, 66, has a bunch of them. And one of them, Slip Mahoney, takes on seven challengers in Saturday’s $100,000 Long Branch Stakes for 3-year-olds, the opening day feature in Oceanport.

It marks the first time Gold, who spend decades walking the Monmouth Park clubhouse as a bettor and owner, has entered a horse at Monmouth Park since Cyberknife. And as of Thursday, he was “50/50” on whether he would make the drive from Saratoga for the race.

Waiting in the wings, however, could be Gold’s Haskell horse, as he tries to become the first owner ever to repeat in the nine-furlong test.

Comeback plan for Instant Coffee

Instant Coffee, a Grade 2 winner, had been on the Triple Crown trail. But the winner of the Grade 3 Lecomte Stakes at the Fair Grounds finished sixth in the Louisiana Derby and was shut down due to a foot injury.

The plan for Instant Coffee is to run in the Grade 3 Matt Winn Stakes at Churchill Downs on June 11. If all goes well there, he would be pointed towards the Haskell on July 22. That’s the same route Cyberknife took last year, when a victory in the Matt Winn was the start of an incredible summer, which included a second in the Travers Stakes at Saratoga.

“It would be great to get back to the Haskell. That’s the goal,” Gold said.

Having Slip Mahoney live up to his potential would be the latest success for Gold’s stable, Gold Square LLC. The decision was made Thursday to run in the Long Branch rather than Saturday's Peter Pan Stakes at Belmont Park, or the Sir Barton Stakes on next Saturday's Preakness undercard at Pimlico.

“We changed bloodstock agents (to Joe Hardoon) and we’ve been spending a little more money, so those two things combined,” Gold said. “They’re picking out better horses and they’re showing it on the racetrack.”

Cyberknife, a son of red-hot sire Gun Runner, was a $400,000 purchase as a yearling, which now seems like a bargain. Instant Coffee, purchased for $200,000, has earned $452,815 on the racetrack in five starts, while Slip Mahoney, bought for $150,000, has earnings of $148,600 in five starts.

In the Long Branch Stakes, Slip Mahoney tries to overcome a pair of bad trips in his last two outings, including a sixth in the Grade 2 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct in which he got bumped hard heading into the first turn, was forced to check and never recovered. Two races back, the son of Arrogate finished second in the Grade 3 Gotham Stakes after running last for much of the race.

“l throw out his last two races,” said Gold. “He broke bad and was way behind the field in both. In the Gotham, it’s hard to judge when they go out in 45 (seconds) and home in 52. So he made up ground into a very slow pace, but he did pass 11 horses in the stretch. So can you say that was a good race, a bad race? It’s hard to tell.

“We’re hoping to have a good second half of the year from Slip Mahoney and Instant Coffee.”

And that could mean more trips to Monmouth Park for a guy who was a fixture there for many years.

$100,000 Long Branch Stakes

(Post time 4:04 p.m.)

PP Horse (Jockey) Trainer

1. Slip Mahoney (Hector Diaz Jr.) Brad Cox 5/2

2. No Confession (Anthony Nunez) John McAllen 12-1

3. Coffeewithchris (Daniel Centeno) John Salzman 9/2

4. Howgreatisnate (Jairo Rendon) Elizabeth Dobles 6-1

5. Didinger (Paco Lopez) Robert Reid 8-1

6. Offaly Cool (Jeremy Laprida) Jacinto Solis 15-1

7. Ninetypercentmaddie (TBA) Robert Reid 7/2

8. Hayes Strike (Samuel Marin) Ken McPeek 3-1

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Monmouth Park NJ 2023: Long Branch Stakes winner headed to Haskell