Monomoy Girl Moves with Ease in the G1 Acorn

ELMONT, NY –  Monomoy Girl cruised to victory in Saturday’s Grade 1, $700,000 Acorn Stakes presented by Nassau County IDA at Belmont Park. This was the seventh win in eight career starts for the 3-year-old daughter of Tapizar and her fourth consecutive first-place finish following her impressive performance in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks her last time out.

All horses broke well at the start but it was Moonshine Memories and Talk Veuve to Me that took up the early lead. The pair ran side by side with Monomoy Girl content to sit just off the pace followed by Gio Game and Caledonia Road with Starcloud bringing up the rear. The pair of Moonshine Memories and Talk Veuve to Me together set early fractions of :23.15 and :46.48 and Monomoy Girl was content to sit back off the pace. As they neared the top of the stretch, jockey Florent Geroux slowly allowed Monomoy girl to inch toward the front-running pair, and as they hit the top of the stretch Monomoy Girl moved to the front with ease. Once to the front, it was clear that Monomoy girl was going to win with ease as she continued to put distance between the rest of the field with little urging from Geroux. Talk Veuve to Me battled hard to finish two-lengths behind Monomoy Girl and was followed by Gio Game and Moonshine Memories in third and fourth respectively.

“She is great horse especially winning Grade 1s,” Geroux said. “They are very hard to win and I think she is very special. So far I think she is the leader in the 3-year-old filly division and her main goal, I think, would be the Breeders’ Cup, taking on the older fillies.”

Monomoy Girl is trained by Brad Cox and owned by M. Dubb, Monomoy Stables, The Elkstone Group, and Bethlehem Stables. Her win here today brought her earnings in 2018 alone to over $1,000,000.

“She’s been training extremely well,” trainer Brad Cox said. “I really thought she was going into this race every bit as well as she went into the Oaks, so we had a lot of confidence in her today. She’s a classy filly, I was telling somebody early she takes some training, which means when you’re breezing her you kind of have to let her do her thing. She’s happy going fast, and I’m happy watching her go fast.”

Monomoy Girl returned $3.20 to win, $2.30 to place, and $2.10 to show. Talk Veuve to Me brought back $3.60 to place and $3.00 to show, while Gio Game paid $4.60 to show.

Scratched: Spectator