News & Barn notes

Sassy Sienna, Gio Game Among Nine Fillies Entered For Saturday’s Grade 3 Monmouth Oaks

August 15, 2018

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Grade 3 winner Sassy Sienna, looking to regain her sharp winter form, and the Mark Casse-trained Gio Game are among nine 3-year-old fillies entered for Saturday’s Grade 3 Monmouth Oaks at Monmouth Park following Wednesday’s draw. 

Impressive in four Oaklawn Park races from January to April, the Brad Cox-trained Sassy Sienna won the Grade 3 Fantasy Stakes on April 13. That earned her a spot in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks, where she was sixth. 

The $100,000 Monmouth Oaks, at a mile and a sixteenth, will go as race 10 on a 12-race card that includes 2-year-olds going a mile on the turf and leg two of the Malouf Auto Starter Handicap Series. There is also a $50,000 allowance for Jersey-breds going six furlongs on the card. 

Gio Game, a daughter of Gio Ponti-Game For More owned by John Oxley, arrives with a 2-3-2 line from nine career starts. Her only off-the-board finishes came in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies as a 2-year-old and a fifth-place finish in her most recent start in the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks. She was also third in the Grade 1 Acorn Stakes. 

The Todd Pletcher-trained Mo Shopping, from the Repole Stable, comes in off a third-place finish in the Grade 3 Delaware Oaks on July 7. Blue Union Rags, fourth in that race, is also set for the Monmouth Oaks. 

First race post time on Saturday is 12:50 p.m.