Monmouth Park to open thoroughbred season on Saturday

OCEANPORT, N.J. (AP) Monmouth Park will open its thoroughbred meet on Saturday with an 11-race card that features the $75,000 Decathlon Stakes.

More than 100 horses were entered for the races, with the Decathlon for 3-year-olds and up drawing a field of eight, including last year's winner A.P. Indian.

A.P. Indian has raced just three times since winning the Decathlon at odds of 2-1. His last outing was Oct. 2 at Keeneland in the Grade 3 Phoenix, finishing fifth to Runhappy.

The morning-line favorite is trainer David Jacobson's Seeking the Sherif, who has won both his starts this year and earned $54,000.

Delta Bluesman also should attract attention, coming off a front-running win in a six-furlong allowance race at Gulfstream last month in 1:08.80. The 6-year-old is a two-time winner over this track.

The stakes schedule for the meet is led by the $1 million Haskell Invitational on July 31. Other major stakes include the $300,000 United Nations on July 4th weekend.