Smithwick’s Spice with Jorge Gonzalez riding won the $85,000 Joey P. Handicap on September 15. (Melissa Torres/EQUI-PHOTO)
‘Youthful’ 8-year-old in peak form heading into Saturday’s Monmouth-At-Meadowlands Race
Tom Luicci/Monmouth Park
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – If there was ever an example for the saying that age is just a number, Smithwick’s Spice would be held up as Exhibit A in the Thoroughbred racing world.
The hardy 8-year-old, last seen winning the Joey P Handicap on closing day at Monmouth Park on Sept. 15, returns to the races on Saturday for trainer Doug Nunn in a starter allowance that serves as the feature race on the Monmouth-at-Meadowlands card.
It will be the New Jersey-bred gelding’s 12th start of the year – and 49th of his career – and there are no hints he is slowing down with four wins (three in stakes races) and $237,225 in earnings this year.
“Right now, he’s acting more like a 2-year-old,” said Nunn. “I have never seen a horse get better with age the way he has, and I have trained a lot of older horses. I won a race once with a 12-year-old. So, I know how to train older horses.
“He is in his prime right now. So, I’m not going to tell him no when he is telling me yes.”
A son of Frost King-Spicy McHaggis by Good and Tough, the New Spice Stable runner is mostly a turf sprinter now. Saturday’s race is at five furlongs on the grass.
“When I looked at this race, truthfully it came up much tougher than I would have expected,” said Nunn, who will send out three of the seven horses in his stable over the two racing days at the Meadowlands this weekend. “For that kind of money, it’s a little tougher than I want it to be. But he’s good right now and he is telling me he wants to go.”
After beating opening company in the Select Stakes at Monmouth Park on Aug. 17, Smithwick’s Spice was sixth, though beaten just 3¾ lengths, in the Harvey Pack Stakes at Saratoga on Sept. 2. He rebounded to win the Joey P Handicap by 4¾ lengths.
Overall, Smithwick’s Spice has a 13-10-6 line for his 48 career starts with lifetime earnings of $692,492.
He has nine wins from 21 grass starts since Nunn decided to try him on the turf for the first time on Aug. 7, 2022, at Monmouth Park.
Nunn, who broke Smithwick’s Spice as a yearling, has had the horse for most of his career, though he did lose him briefly in 2022 when he tried to get away with dropping him into a $15,000 claimer. Smithwick’s Spice was claimed that day, with Nunn eventually claiming him back for $15,000 two races later.
Though his dirt career was solid, his form at the time was largely uninspiring, prompting Nunn to give him a shot on the grass “to see if we could turn things around,” he said.
“It was a career changer,” said Nunn. “He has really flat feet and I always said I wanted to try him on the grass. It has made all the difference.”
Saturday’s start will mark Smithwick’s Spice’s Meadowlands debut and will be the eighth different racetrack he has run at, joining Monmouth, Saratoga, Delaware, Gulfstream, Tampa Downs, Fair Grounds and Laurel.
He won an open stakes race at Tampa Bay Downs in February and has won three of his last four races.
“Even looking at him you would never guess he is 8 years old,” said Nunn. “His coat is dappled out; he has a lot of energy and I think he’s the best I’ve ever had him right now. I was looking at a race at Gulfstream at the end of October but by then he will be kicking the stall down. This will be a good race for him, though. It’s not going to be easy, I can tell you that.”
Nunn aaid depending on how Smithwick’s Spice comes out of Saturday’s race he may get in one more race with him at Gulfstream. That would be his 13th start of 2024, the most he has had in any year.
“I’ve changed nothing with him,” said Nunn. “I have learned to adapt to what he wants to do, not to what I want him to do. That’s difficult sometimes because you want to be the boss. But he’s the boss and he tells me when he’s ready and I have been listening to him.”
