Bramble Bay (#2) nips the wire to take the 2022 edition of the Pino Grigio (Bill Denver/EQUI-PHOTO)
Friday’s Monmouth-at-Meadowlands All-Turf Card
Tom Luicci/Monmouth Park
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J.— The Pinot Grigio Handicap for New Jersey-breds headlines a six-race card as the all-turf Monmouth-at-Meadowlands meet looks to resume on Friday – weather permitting — following three straight cancellations of live racing due to inclement weather.
A total of 62 horses (plus one also eligible) are entered on the card, which features a jackpot Pick 6 carryover of $18,488.
First race post time is 7 p.m.
Bramble Bay, idle since an off-the-board finish at Saratoga on July 27, is listed as the 2-1 morning line favorite in a field of nine fillies and mares, 3 and up, to repeat in the $65,000 Pinot Grigio Stakes. The feature race will be contested at five furlongs and goes as the fourth race on the card.
Now trained by Robert Falcone, Jr., Bramble Bay has banked $500,163 during her career. The 7-year-old daughter of Bullet Train, owned by Final Turn Racing Stable, shows an 8-8-4 line from 31 lifetime grass starts. She is 1-2-1 from four career turf sprints.
That turf sprinting record includes a half-length victory in last year’s Pinot Grigio Stakes, held at Monmouth Park.
Trainer Chuck Spina will be giving Mia’s Crusade another shot on the grass in the Pinot Grigio, with the two-time stakes winner during the recent Monmouth Park meet 0-for-2 in her career on the turf. One of those grass tries was a fourth-place finish in last year’s Pinot Grigio Stakes.
The 4-year daughter of Greenpointcrusader comes off a victory in the Eleven North Handicap at six furlongs on the dirt at Monmouth Park on Aug. 27. She won the Spruce Fir Handicap earlier in the Monmouth Park meet.
Overall, Mia’s Crusade has a 5-2-2 line from 15 career starts with earnings of $311,781.
The Monmouth-at-Meadowlands meet runs on Fridays and Saturdays through Oct. 14.
