Race Preview: Haskell Invitational

Before I talk about Sunday's big race, the Haskell. Sending out prayers to Haskell entrant Irish You Well's trainer Wayne Catalano who is currently batting a terrible case of pneumonia and as of yesterday was in ICU. The only WAYI strictly for 3yo's is Sunday at Monmouth Park. Here is the field that features 8 boys and 1 girl.

Monmouth Park STAKES
Haskell Invitational
Purse $1,000,000. For Three-Year-Olds. By invitation only. No nomination, entry or starting fees. The winning owner to receive $600,000, $200,000 to second, $100,000 to third, $60,000 to fourth, $30,000 to fifth and $10,000 to sixth through last. Weight: 122 Lbs. Non-winners of a Triple Crown race allowed 2 Lbs.; Non-winners of a Grade I Stake at a mile or over in 2014, 4 Lbs. The owner of the winner to receive a trophy. One And One Eighth Miles.

Post	Horse's Name	Age/Sex	Med	Jockey	Weight	Trainer
1	Encryption (KY)	3/C	L	P Lopez	118	K J Breen
2	Bayern (KY)	3/C	L	M Garcia	118	B Baffert
3	Albano (KY)	3/C	L	K D Clark	118	J L Jones
4	Irish You Well (KY)	3/C	L	J Lezcano	118	W M Catalano
5	Just Call Kenny (VA)	3/C	L	J Bravo	118	P B McBurney
6	Social Inclusion (KY)	3/C		E S Prado	118	M J Azpurua
7	Untapable (KY)	3/F	L	R Napravnik	115	S M Asmussen
8	Wildcat Red (FL)	3/C	L	L Saez	118	J Garoffalo
9	Medal Count (KY)	3/C	L	R Albarado	118	D L Romans

Encryption (Exchange Rate): 3^rd in the Long Branch and 2^nd in the Pegasus before that. All of his races have been at Monmouth Park, thus he is the local in the race.

Bayern (Offlee Wild): Won the Woody Stephens in his last after finishing 9^th in the Preakness. Before his DQ in the Derby Trial he was 3^rd in the Arkansas Derby.

Albano (Istan): Won the Pegasus, but did not participate in the Long Branch. Crossed the wire 5^th in the LA Derby, but was elevated to fourth after running well in the Risen Star and LeComte.

Irish You Well (Broken Vow): Won the Long Branch in his last, before that he broke his maiden. Still even before he did that he ran well in both the Peter Pan (won by Belmont winner Tonalist) and Illinois Derby.

Just Call Kenny (Jump Start): Long Branch runner up, won the Spectacular Bid in his last. Taking a major step up in class here.

Social Inclusion (Pioneerof the Nile): Third in his last three starts (Stephens, Preakness and Wood). That early promise is still there, but hasn't been able to finish the job.

Untapable (Tapit): Undefeated this year, KY Oaks winner and won the Mother Goose in her last. The fillies however, don't look to be as strong as they where in 09 when her trainer had Rachel Alexandra.

Wildcat Red (D'wildcat): 18^th in the Kentucky Derby two back, and won the Quality Road in his last (the runner up of that race East Hall won the Ohio Derby).

Medal Count (Dynaformer): 3^rd in the Belmont after an eighth in the Derby. Not as explosive on dirt as he is on turf/synthetic, but has a great chance.

Picks

Win- Wildcat Red
Place- Irish You Well
Show- Untapable

Video Preview


Good luck to all and safe travels!