Count de Monet sloshes home for the upset win. (Coady Photography)
Jennifer Hoyt/Oaklawn Racing
HOT SPRINGS, Ark.— Charles Galli’s Count de Monet is now a perfect three for three after stalking the pace and then drawing clear to win the $150,000 Advent Stakes at odds of 15-1 before an opening day crowd of 13,500. Friday’s edition marked the second running of the race for 2-year-olds after making its debut last year when Oaklawn began the tradition of December racing.
As expected, 4-5 favorite Tyler’s Tribe grabbed the lead at the break and proceeded to set early fractions of :22 1/5 and :46 while being closely tracked by Too Much Info. The winner, who had been stuck along the rail down the backstretch, finally got clear in the stretch, wore the leader down and drew off to win by three lengths under jockey Santo Sanjur over the late closing Alto Road. The winning time was 1:05 for 5 ½ furlongs over a muddy track. Tyler’s Tribe held on for third.
“Everything he’s done here has been tremendous,” winning trainer Tom Swearingen. “I’ve really, really liked what he’s done since we got here. My experience since I’ve been coming to Oaklawn is you’ve got to get your horses used to this track. I don’t think they overlooked us. I think we were in against a horse (Tyler’s Tribe) that was a little more accomplished at the time. We’ve got to see how he comes back and progresses here in the next couple of weeks and maybe we do take another shot down the road. It will definitely be here. We’ve come to Oaklawn to run here.”
The Advent marked the second straight loss for Tyler’s Tribe, who began his career with five straight wins.
“He just came up a little bit short, but he’ll be all right,” said jockey Kylee Jordan, who won races on the card. “Tim (Martin) will get him right. He was running like he always does every single time, but stuff happens and Tim will get it right. This is his first time on an (off track), but he worked the other day in the slop and he did all right. We’ll see what Tim comes up with tomorrow.”
Count de Monet, a son of Speightster, has now earned $132,188 with his three victories. He returned $33.20, $13.20 and $5.60.
Live racing resumes Saturday with a 12:30 p.m. first post. The 2022-2023 season runs through May 6.
