Hey Chub wins Lincroft Handicap

It was a busy day at Monmouth Park on Saturday, as the New Jersey Thoroughbred Festival showcased some of the Garden State's top horses in a action-packed 10-race card.

When it was all said and done, Hey Chub took the Lincroft Handicap, Paradise Tonight won the Jersey Girl Handicap, and the Eleven North Handicap went to Way With Words. Eddie Castro won the latter two stakes as part of a five-win performance. In the Monmouth County Hunt Novice Stakes, Seer prevailed in a photo finish.

In the $75,000 Lincroft Handicap, 8-yearold Hey Chub made his last race a memorable one. After the victory, Hey Chub's connections reported the Lincroft was his final race.

He stalked a swift pace and wore down Bythebeautifulsea to win the six-furlong event. Who's the Cowboy, the 4-5 favorite, uncorked his late rally but could not catch the winner. Hey Chub finished one-half length ahead of Who's the Cowboy, who edged Bythebeautifulsea by a head.

Hey Chub, third choice in the five-horse field, paid $9.20, $3.80, $2.20 across the board and topped a $20.40 exacta with Who's the Cowboy. The trifecta paid $14.60 for a $1 wager. Hey Chub and jockey Carlos Marquez crossed the wire in 1:10 over a fast main track.

"We knew there was a lot of speed in this race so the plan was to settle just off the early leaders and try to save as much horse...as I could for the last sixteenth because Who's the Cowboy always comes running at the end," Marquez said. "My horse dug in so we can hold him off."

Hey Chub broke sharply, and Marquez guided him to the outside of pacesetter Primal Impact and Bythebeautifulsea heading into the final turn. Primal Impact dropped back along the rail, and Hey Chub and Bythebeautifulsea battled to the wire. Hey Chub gradually drew clear in the final sixteenth of a mile. Who's the Cowboy and jockey Stewart Elliott advanced down the center of the track but couldn't reach the winner in time.

Hey Chub, a son of Carson City-Donna Doo, by Spend a Buck, earned his first win of the year and seventh in a 36-race career. Danny Lopez, his former trainer, owns Hey Chub, and Kathleen Demasi trains him. This is his second stakes victory. He's always been a hard-luck horse, taking the runner-up spot 16 times. Today he had enough to reach the winner's circle.

Eddie Castro won his fifth race of the day aboard George L. Schwartz's Way

With Words in the $75,000 Eleven North Handicap for fillies and mares at six furlongs. It was the second-to-last race of 10 for thoroughbreds.

Way With Words earned her first stakes victory in her first try. Sitting behind a wicked early pace of :21 4/5 and :44 4/5, Castro and his filly stormed past Open Skies in the final furlong to win by 2 1/4 lengths.

Open Skies finished well clear of Heckuva Good Time for the runner-up spot. Way With Words stopped the timer in 1:09 on a fast main track. Way With Words paid $5.20, $3.20, and $2.40 and topped a $13 exacta with Open Skies.

Mary Eppler trains Way With Words, a 3- year-old filly out of Defrere-Raspberry Ice, by Stop the Music. Her career record is now 4-3-0 in nine starts; three of her four wins have come over the Monmouth strip.

"This filly has been nothing but professional," Eppler said. "She really seems to like this track. We're going to go to the Meadowlands and give her another chance on turf, probably in the Violet (Grade 3 on Oct. 17)."

Paradise Tonight also made her stakes debut a victorious one when she captured the $75,000 Jersey Girl Handicap. The 3-year-old filly defeated a field of five other fillies and mares at one mile and one-sixteenth on the main track. It was Castro's fourth win on the card. Castro allowed his filly to coast along behind a pace set by Cat Mistress, who was joined by Talkin About Love down the backstretch. As those two slugged it out in the lane, Paradise Tonight cruised past both in deep stretch. She covered the distance in 1:43 2/5 and defeated Talkin About Love by two lengths. It was a neck back to Cat Mistress.

Paradise Tonight paid $5.20, $2.60, $2.20 to win as the 8-5 favorite. The exacta with second choice Talkin About Love returned $13.60, and a $1 trifecta wager paid $13.50.

Paradise Tonight is owned by J. Wark, F. Anfuso and her trainer Joe Pierce. Pierce also bred the daughter of Slew Gin Fizz-First Glance, by Salt Lake. She improved her career record to 5-2-2 in 11 starts and could remain a dominant horse in the New Jersey-bred distaff division for years to come.

"We've had a lot of nice Jersey-breds over the years and she's another," Pierce said. "She's good enough to take on open. She beat open in an allowance race already. After the Meadowlands we'll give her the winter off - she's earned it."