Lion Heart captures Haskell by a length
Record 45,365 see fan favorite Joe Bravo win Monmouth’s biggest race

PHOTOS BY JEFFGRANIT staff Above, Chrusciki finishes a nose ahead of Misty Sixes during the eighth race at Monmouth Park on Sunday. Below, winning Haskell Invitational jockey Joe Bravo, a Long Branch native, gets weighed in after a race. Below left, horses emerge from the tunnel on their way to the track for a race.

OCEANPORT — Lion Heart had all the courage he needed in the stretch as he held off a determined My Snookie’s Boy to register a one-length victory Sunday in the $1 million Haskell Invitational (G1) before a crowd of 45,365, third-highest in the history of Monmouth Park.

Wagering on the 14-race card totaled a record $12,686,430, with $3,802,494 of that bet on-track, second-highest in Monmouth history.

The first two finishers in the 1 1/8-mile Haskell reaffirmed the validity of the Long Branch Breeders’ Cup Stakes finish, when Lion Heart beat My Snookie’s Boy by a head.

But the roles were reversed on Sunday as jockey Joe Bravo seized the day by pushing Lion Heart into the lead right out of the gate. The colt by Tale of the Cat was in front at every pole and had plenty left in the tank when My Snookie’s Boy put in a game run through the stretch.

Pies Prospect and Royal Assault, the two Nick Zito-trained horses, finished third and fourth, with Swingforthefences fifth.

Rock Hard Ten, the 9-10 favorite in the field of eight, pressed the pace early and then tired to finish sixth, with Tap Day and Wimplestiltskin trailing in behind.

Lion Heart earned a prize of $600,000 for his owners, Derrick Smith and Michael Tabor, and brought his career total to $1,380,800 on a record of 5-3-0 in nine starts. His sire, Tale of the Cat, broke his maiden at Monmouth Park when he was trained by John Forbes.

"He is just an unbelievable horse," said trainer Patrick Biancone. "Joe Bravo said he would like to be in the first or second spot from the break, and if Rock Hard Ten tried to chase us, he will not survive.

"This horse is more mature now than he was in the spring; he can carry his speed. The early fraction [23 seconds] was the key. Three months ago, it would have been 22 and change. But he is a sensible horse now, and he is extremely fit. He is unbelievable."

"Patrick told me I’d have more horse today than I did in his last race [Long Branch]," Bravo said, "and he was right. He broke so sharp right out of the gate, I had a length on the field. We were going to the lead today. I just wanted to let him run his race, and he did. He was awesome.

"Our horse was going so easy down the backside he made Rock Hard Ten run and work to stay with him. When I called on him, he had plenty left. When horses run like that, it makes it easy.

"If you watched Lion Heart’s last race, he galloped up very aggressively. No one really gave My Snookie’s Boy the respect he deserved, and he showed it today. I can’t say I did anything special with my horse today. Again, I’ve got to give all the credit to Patrick Biancone, he had him ready to roll."Stewart Elliott, who rode My Snookie’s Boy, had no complaints regarding his horse’s performance.

JEFFGRANIT staff Horses emerge from the starting gate during one of the early races on Haskell Sunday at Monmouth Park in Oceanport.

"My horse ran great," he said. "Coming to the eighth pole, I thought, ‘If Lion Heart is finished, I got a shot to beat him.’ But when I got to him, he had a little left."

Allen Iwinski, trainer of My Snookie’s Boy, was also pleased with his horse’s performance.

"There’s no disgrace in running second in a race like this," he said. "No one went with Lion Heart early. If someone had run with him, we might have had a shot to run him down."

Jason Orman, trainer of Rock Hard Ten, took some of the blame for his horse’s performance.

"We were just asking too much of this horse," Orman said. "We should have given him some more time off. We’ve shipped him across the country four times now, and that’s too much."

The horse’s jockey, Corey Nakatani, agreed, saying, "He felt really good early in the race. He got a little excited, but he had been through at lot going back and forth to California. He ran a big race in the Swaps, and it probably was a bit much asking him to ship back east. We’ll just have to regroup and come back next time. I know that the real Rock Hard Ten would beat these horses."

The win was especially pleasing to Bravo because it provided the local fans a chance to display their admiration for Monmouth’s top jockey.

"Wow. That was some experience," Bravo said. "I almost went deaf going through the paddock, out to the track and coming back. It was such a great feeling, having the whole crowd behind you like that, my hometown track, what a feeling."

That hometown advantage was the reason why Biancone wanted Bravo riding his horse all along.

"We used Joe Bravo because Monmouth Park is Joe Bravo’s garden. He fits well with the horse. He is full of happiness and confidence. What more do you want from a jockey? As for the future, you never change a team that wins."

The crowd was third-best in Monmouth history, behind only last year’s state record 53,638 and the 2001 gate of 47,127. The total betting on the day topped last year’s total of $12,536,345. On-track betting was second only to last year’s $3,965,648.

Lion Heart heads home
to prepare for Travers

Lion Heart shipped in to Monmouth Park Sunday morning, won the $1 million Haskell Invitational, and by Sunday night he was on his way home to Saratoga and no worse for the wear, according to Biancone.

"He’s doing fine. I’m very happy with him," said Biancone, from his Saratoga headquarters. "He was on the van [Sunday] night and everything’s fine with him. He’ll run next in the Travers [Aug. 28]."

The future of second-place finisher My Snookie’s Boy is not so certain.

"He came out of the race excellent," said Allen Iwinski, who conditions My Snookie’s Boy for Preferred Pals Stable. "It was the first call I made this morning, and they told me he licked his tub clean and he’s perfect. I couldn’t ask for more than that. He ran a great race and he came out of it in top condition.

"I’ll sit down with the owners in a couple of days and decide on his next race. There are several obvious races he could go to, but we’ll make a decision soon. He’ll stay at Monmouth until we make a decision and he may stay there even after that. He’s comfortable at Monmouth, and we may not want to change that."