John Petrini’s JOEY P. (Close Up) kept his perfect record intact Monday in
the $130,000
Jersey Shore Breeders’ Cup H. (G3) at Monmouth Park when defeating four rivals
in the gelding’s stakes debut. Jockey
Joe Bravo was content to settle the New Jersey-bred in third while 4-5 favorite More Smoke
(Smoke Glacken) and Razor (Concorde’s Tune) set blistering fractions of :21 1/5
and :43 4/5 over the fast track before cueing his mount to the lead as the pack
entered the turn. Coming along on the outside, the Frank Costa trainee pulled
away from his tiring opponents by 1 3/4 lengths to complete the six-furlong
affair in 1:08 1/5.
Joey P. left the gate at 9-2 to return $11, $5 and $3.40 to his backers,
keying a $36.80 exacta. Celtic Innis (Yarrow Brae) got up to grab second and
give back $4.80 and $3.40 at 9-2 while Razor held on the the third spot to pay
$3.80 for place at nearly 3-1, rounding out the $97 trifecta. Maddy’s Lion (Lion
Hearted) and More Smoke completed the order of finish.
The winner was bred by his owner in the Garden State and the dark bay
three-year-old is
out of the winning mare Luckey Lipco (Lucky Jin Beau). He’s a full brother to
an unraced two-year-old colt named Herecomesjr and now owns a record of 5-5-0-0
with $194,820 in earnings.