Whelen Springs

Sometimes Proxy (h, 5, Tapit--Panty Raid, by Include), the GI Clark H. winner, shows up and sometimes Proxy, the last-place finisher in the GI Stephen Foster S., makes an appearance. Saturday in Monmouth's $400,000 GIII Monmouth Cup S., it was the former, as the gutsy bay and 2-5 choice called on his class to uncharacteristically set the pace and turn back stiff challenges from Whelen Springs (Street Sense)--the only horse in the field with a recent win over the surface--and last-out GII Brooklyn S. runner-up Calibrate (Distorted Humor). "He really...

Steve Asmussen looks to take his sixth renewal of the GIII Chick Lang S.--and third straight--Saturday at Pimlico with Cogburn (Not This Time). Graduating at second asking at Churchill Downs in September, he kicked off his sophomore season on a winning note with a decisive optional claimer score at Oaklawn Mar. 25. He came up a neck short of re-opposing Whelen Springs (Street Sense) last time in that venue's Bachelor S. Apr. 30. That Arkansas-bred rival took five tries to break his maiden, finally doing so against other locals in...