BY MONMOUTH PARK PRESS OFFICE (Edited)
OCEANPORT, NJ—If Lord Eddard Stark happens to make his return to the winner’s circle following Saturday’s $100,000 Presious Passion Stakes at Monmouth Park, trainer Joe Orseno wants everyone in the vicinity to be forewarned: Stay clear of the 7-year-old gelding.
“He’s a mean horse. The whole family is mean,” Orseno said. “I have his 2-year-old brother and 3-year-old sister. They’re all mean for some reason. When you go to my barn there’s a sign that says `do not pet this horse.’
“He once took the tip of a hot walker’s finger off when she was trying to feed him grass. He’s just a mean horse. He does not want you to mess with him.”
For now, Orseno is hopeful he has finally found the right spot for the Florida-bred son of He’s Had Enough in the mile-and-a-half grass feature that will serve as the final stakes race of the meet on closing weekend.
Eight 3-year-olds and older are entered, though it is expected just six will go. Shrug expected to be scratched by trainer Diane Morici and Orseno will likely scratch Vitality, his other entrant.
Lord Eddard Stark is winless in four starts this year, all in stakes company, and was last seen finishing eighth in the Grade 2 United Nations on July 19.
“I’ve been waiting for this spot for him,” Orseno said. “I had him entered in a race at Kentucky Downs at two-and-a-sixteenth miles and he would actually prefer that distance over this. But my other horse didn’t get in that day and I would have had to ship him alone and that would have been costly for the owner [John Rowe]. This was a good option.”
Lord Eddard Stark’s last victory came on Dec. 7 at Gulfstream Park when he won by a head in the $108,000 H. Allen Jerkens Handicap (Listed) going two miles at odds of 60-1.
“This is the distance he wants – a mile-and-a-half or two miles,” Orseno said. “He has been running against some tough horses in some big races lately.
“It has been a little frustrating [getting him back to the winner’s circle] because he has been training well. I just haven’t been able to put him in a good spot. If you look at where I have run him recently, he has been 20-1 or longer in those races. That just means I have not been putting him in the right spot – though he did win the Allen Jerkens at 60-1.”
Samuel Marin, who has a meet-leading nine stakes wins and is second in the rider standings, has the mount.
Also representing Florida breeders is Morici Racing Stable’s Tee At One, trained by Diane Morici.
The 5-year-old gelded son of Bridlewood Farm stallion Tunwoo makes his first start in a stakes since an off the board finish in the $200,000 Cape Horn going a mile-and-a-half on the turf at Delaware Park in September of last year. That came directly after his second to Really Good in the $150,000 Kent going a mile-and-three-eighths on the grass at Delaware Park on July 15.
Tee At One will be making his second start off an eight-month layoff having finished a strong second in his return when a length behind Sand Pipes in a first level allowance on the Monmouth Park turf on Aug. 9.
Tee At One is out of Seacrystal, by Theatrical (Ire) and was bred in Florida by Julian Serna Jr. and Marie Serna. He has finished in the top two in half of his 10 career with starts with two wins and three seconds. He has earned $80,185.
Tee At One breaks from post eight and no rider has been named at press time. He is 10-1 on the morning line.
The field includes the Miguel Clement-trained Summer Cause, Dripping Gold from trainer Shug McGaughey’s barn, the Graham Motion-trained Hardspun Reason, and Fidelightcayut (trainer Juan C. Avila).
The Presious Passion is named for the multi-millionaire Florida-bred who won nine graded stakes including the 2008 and 2009 versions of the Grade 1 United Nations at Monmouth Park. Since his last race in 2012, Presious Passion, now 22, has resided in retirement at Pleasant Acres Stallions in Morriston, Fla.
Return to the September 12 issue of Wire to Wire
