OCEANPORT, N.J. – It defies logic, but Get Serious seems to be getting stronger in the eyes of trainer John Forbes.
A 6-year-old New York bred gelding, Get Serious has already had four demanding races at Monmouth Park this meet. He could easily rest on his laurels after three wins, including Grade 3 victories in the Monmouth Stakes and the Oceanport Stakes. The lone defeat was a game pacesetting bid in the Grade 1 United Nations.
There is no slacking with this horse. Get Serious is back for more Sunday in the Grade 3, $200,000 Red Bank Stakes at one mile on the turf. He faces six rivals in the bid for a third graded stakes score to cap his summer.
“He’s acting and training better than he has,” Forbes said. “He’s trained well, but he’s training really great right now. His breeze the other morning was just like he was brand new.”
Get Serious glided a half mile in 48.40 seconds “around the dogs” on Monmouth’s turf course on Wednesday.
“He was skipping along and he came out of it super,” Forbes said. “He’s a happy horse right now. He just couldn’t be coming to the race any better.”
Speed is the name of the game for Get Serious, the very tactics employed in winning last year’s Red Bank. And he clearly fits the profile of a horse for the course with a mark of 9 for 12 on the grass at Monmouth. Drilling even deeper into the stats, Get Serious is 5 for 6 at one mile on the turf.
Get Serious is the one his opponents have to catch with Pablo Fragoso aboard.
Nownownow is one of the contenders hoping to reel in Get Serious. Trainer Patrick Biancone would love to see Monmouth get a good rain soaking, remembering back to the 2007 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf when Nownownow won here on a very boggy course.
Nownownow finished fourth to Get Serious in the Oceanport on Aug. 1, his first race since February at Gulfstream Park.
“He ran good last time,” Biancone said. “He had a quarter crack after his race in Florida. We just let it grow back in. He ran okay, considering it was a long time since he had run. This race comes at the right time. It will be tough to beat Get Serious but he should be there. We should be good, I think.”
Joe Bravo picks up the mount.
If Get Serious has company on the lead, that pressure could come from At the Disco. The gray New Jersey-bred At the Disco was a front-running winner most recently in a third-level grass allowance, earning a 93 Beyer Speed Figure that was only two points less than his career best.
“That was one of his better efforts,” said trainer Mary Hartmann. “He would need his best effort to win on Sunday against the field that he’s in.”
◗ Wall Street Wonder, a winner of two stakes over the winter at Aqueduct, launches his comeback in the $100,000 Icecapade Stakes at six furlongs.This will be his first race since being eased in the Churchill Downs Stakes on the Kentucky Derby undercard.
Temecula Creek had won four in a row prior to a fifth-place finish in the Grade 1 A.G. Vanderbilt Handicap at Saratoga.
