A rising star and an established one shared the spotlight Saturday on Monmouth Park’s Haskell Preview Day, with Grade 1 winner East Avenue regaining his winning ways and Baby Vino possibly punching his ticket to the Grade 1 NYRA Bets Haskell Stakes.

East Avenue, prominent on the Triple Crown trail a year ago but winless in his past four starts, showed his championship fiber by digging in to beat multiple graded stakes winner Bishops Bay by a nose in the Grade 3, $150,000 Salvator Mile.

Baby Vino, meanwhile, continued his upward arc by romping to a 10¾-length victory in the $125,000 NYRA Bets Pegasus, earning his first stakes win after leaving the Maiden Special Weight ranks in his last start. The Pegasus serves as the final local prep for the $1 million Haskell Stakes on July 18.

In the Grade 3, $150,000 Eatontown Stakes, Gimme a Nother, a sensation in South Africa, rolled to a 3½-length win in the mile and a sixteenth grass race. It was his ninth win in 13 career starts.

In the $125,000 Monmouth Stakes, odds-on Program Trading, trained by Chad Brown, took advantage of a precipitous class drop to win the mile and an eighth turf race by two lengths.

On the human side, Paco Lopez, well on his way to a record-tying 13^th Monmouth Park riding title, won six of the 10 races on the card.

East Avenue, trained by Brendan Walsh, had every ounce of his ability coaxed by jockey Tyler Gaffalione to finally get by the Brad Cox-trained Bishops Bay at the wire.

“It appears he might be back by the looks of that race,” said Walsh. “He showed great heart today. He battled hard. He’s a very solid horse. I think this year he has finally been piecing it all together.

“I don’t think he learned a lot as a young horse because he was so good right away. He’s had some issues as well. I think he is finally piecing things together. He has shown a lot of fight this year, which is great to see. He’s a super-talented horse, obviously.”

The victory was his third in graded stakes company and fourth overall from 11 career starts. East Avenue, a 4-year-old son of Medaglia d’Oro, won the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity in his second career start and was later second by a nose in the Blue Grass Stakes.

The winning time for the mile was 1:35.99.

Bishops Bay was 5¾ lengths better than Sea Streak.

“This was definitely a step in the right direction for him,” said Gaffalione. “I had to work a little bit harder than I expected to. He was travelling well down the backstretch and when we got to the turn they quickened. It just took a little bit from there for him to get going. He just continued to grind. He showed a lot of heart and would not give in.”

In the Pegasus Stakes, Baby Vino, ridden by Lopez, hinted at a brighter future, covering the mile and a sixteenth in 1:44.36 wrapped up.

“Paco rode him like he was on the best horse and it worked out very well,” said winning trainer Lindsay Schultz. “He showed us another gear today. He’s maturing with each start. He had a lot of trouble in some of his previous starts but this was a nice trip.”

With free entry and start fees as a bonus for the victory, Schultz said the Haskell was “the logical next spot if the horse is doing well.”

Baby Vino paid $7.80 to win.

Program Trading, who had raced against Grade 1 company seven times in his previous nine starts, showed his class with a 3½-length win in the Monmouth Stakes under Flavien Prat, with Whiskey Decision, last year’s winner of the race, second.

It marked the 6-year-old’s first win since May 4, 2024 and was his sixth in 14 career starts.

“This was a big class drop for him,” said Luis Cabrera, who handles Brown’s Monmouth Park division. “He’s a really good horse. I think the biggest thing to come out of this was getting his confidence back. He ran good enough here that we have to think about coming back on Haskell day (for the Grade 2 United Nations).”

The winning time for the mile and an eighth on the grass was 1:48.71.

Gimme a Nother, 7-for-7 in South Africa in 2023 and 2024, won his second straight graded stakes in the United States in the Eatontown, giving him nine wins and three seconds from 13 career starts.

Jorge Ruiz rode the winner, who paid $4.40 to win. The winning time for the mile and a sixteenth on the turf was 1:42.90.

“It was a perfect trip,” said Ian Wilson, the assistant to trainer Graham Motion. “We thought she might end up on the lead the way she has been running her last couple of starts, but it was fine that he let that longshot (Creative Stuff) set the pace with her right behind in slow fractions. There wasn’t a ton of speed in the race so Jorge (Ruiz) did exactly what we wanted him to do.

“She does know how to win, that’s for sure. She was undefeated in South Africa before she came here. She had a bit of a slow start to her career in the United States but lately she has not done anything wrong. Even in her defeats she was very good. With the Southern Hemisphere horses it is quite a transition bringing them to the United States. We’ve done it in the past with South American horses, not so much horses like this from South Africa. It does take them a little time to get accustomed. It’s not an easy thing.”

Total handle for the 10-race card was $8,559,135.