News & Barn notes

New York’s Finest Wins Friday’s Turf Sprint Feature Handily

July 13, 2018

New York Finest_300

Turf sprint specialist New York’s Finest broke on top and never had an anxious moment in winning the $40,000 featured allowance race on Friday at Monmouth Park to improve to 5-for-5 lifetime at five furlongs on the grass. 

Sent off as the 3-2 favorite in the field of six, New York’s Finest blazed fractions of :20.64 to the quarter and :43.07 to the half. He flashed under the wire in 55:23, with Nautical Nature 3¼ lengths back in second. It was another length to Blue Chip Prospect in third. 

The Linda Rice-trained gelding is now 5-for-7 overall on the grass. 

“He loves this,” said winning rider Jose Ferrer. “He was a rocket out of there. On the backside we were in front and moving pretty good but he was really relaxed. He broke out of the gate fast but was really comfortable the whole way. 

“You ask him to roll and he just rolls.” 

The 4-year-old son of City Zip-Is It Safe returned $5.00 to win. The exacta with Nautical Nature paid $27.00. 

Racing resumes at Monmouth Park on Saturday with a 12-race card. Post time is 12:50 p.m.