With the help of a rock-hard grass course, a new world
record for a mile was established at Monmouth Park on Sunday when
Mandurah covered the distance in 1:31.23.
Trained by Grant Forster and ridden by Alex Solis, Mandurah established
the record in the day's 9th race, his first-ever try on the grass. The
old record was held by Mister Light, who ran 1:31.41 on January 3, 2005,
at Gulfstream Park.
A lack of rain in the area has made the turf course extremely hard, and
Mandurah was able to draw away late even after setting a blistering
early pace of :22.26, :44.76 and 1:08.13 for six furlongs.
Later on the card, in the day's feature race, Cool Bullet, the 4/5
favorite, stalked an early duel and wore down the leaders through the
stretch to capture the $100,000 Rumson Stakes by two lengths.
Posting his fourth win in nine starts, Cool Bullet covered the six
furlongs in 1:11 2/5 over a fast main track on a hot and humid day at
Monmouth Park. Cool Bullet was coming off a 2nd-place finish in the Matt
Winn Stakes at Churchill Downs, and his win in the Rumson was the third
stakes score of his career.
Nathan's H Q, who had won his first two career starts, was involved in
an early pace battle with Kens Cape but was able to hold the place,
while My Man Marty closed nicely for the show after racing well back
early on.
Trained by Steve Margolis and ridden by Garrett Gomez, Cool Bullet paid
$3.60, $2.20 and $2.10. The $2 exacta with Nathan's H Q returned $8.00.
