This Saturday at Monmouth Park; Cooler bag giveaways, Servis Confident Leader of the Band will rebound & Hemingway seeking 1st stakes win with Wholebodemeister

OCEANPORT  – As disappointed as trainer John Servis was in Leader of the Band’s performance in the Serena’s Song Stakes on May 8 at Monmouth Park, he knows there’s a legitimate reason for it.

That’s why he’s confident that last year’s Grade 3 Monmouth Oaks winner “she will show up” in Saturday’s $100,000 Lady’s Secret Stakes, the headliner on Monmouth Park’s 10-race card that day.

“I thought she would win,” Servis said of Leader of the Band’s fourth-place finish in the Serena’s Song. “But she didn’t get off good.”

Therein lies the problem – and the reason that the 4-year-old daughter of Bandbox was never a factor in her last start, just the second off-the-board finish of her 12-race career (the other was in the Grade 1 Cotillion last year).

Leader of the Band has a habit of leaning back, or almost sitting down, in the starting gate just before the latch springs. For this race the gate crew will use a wedge that prevents her from doing so. It was not available for her last start.

“When they break she sits back and then has a delayed break,” said Servis. “We can use a wedge where she can’t sit back at all. So once they break she’s got to go.

“I sent her to the starting gate with it on Thursday and everything was fine.”

Leader of the Band will face six rivals in the mile and a sixteenth feature for fillies and mares, 3 and up. In addition to simulcasting of the entire Belmont Stakes card on Saturday, there will be a Monmouth Park cooler giveaway for the first 5,000 paying fans.

“If she broke well and ran her race last time out maybe she would not have beaten the winner (Miss Leslie, who returned to win the Obeah Stakes at Delaware Park on Thursday),” Servis said. “But she is definitely second that day.

“I think this race might set up for her. There’s some speed in there. It looks like it might be a decent spot for her and she is coming into this race great.”

Challenges loom from the Chad Brown-trained Boston Post Road, Grade 2 winner Wholebodemeister and Moraz, the runner-up in the Serena’s Song. The unknown factor is Beth’s Speed, who is shipping from Gulfstream Park for trainer Victor Barboza, Jr., after winning her last three races by a combined 29½ lengths against lesser company.

The speedster has never tried two turns, a variable Barboza says “worries me.”

“But it’s time to try her against better horses,” he said.

Leader of the Band, owned by SMD Limited, will not have the services of regular rider Frankie Pennington, with Isaac Castillo filling in for this race.

“I used Isaac for the first time last week (aboard Milton the Monster in the Mr. Prospector Stakes),” said Servis. “He rode the horse great so I’m not concerned about that.”

In addition to the Monmouth Park cooler bag giveaway on Saturday, the Summer Wind trackside restaurant is offering a buy-one, get-one-free buffet over the weekend.

“The Summer Wind Comes Blowing In A deal” promotion will span the entire three-day racing weekend from Friday through Sunday. Guests must show a special ad in the program to receive the promotion.

Cost for the buy-one, get-one-free deal is $35 for adults and $12.50 for children 6 through 12.

HEMINGWAY SEEKING 1ST STAKES WIN WITH WHOLEBODEMEISTER IN SATURDAY’S LADY’S SECRET STAKES

Jorge Vargas Jr will ride Wholebodemeister this Saturday.

Trainer Michelle Hemingway is hoping the third time truly is a charm when it comes to her latest foray into a stakes race.

In the midst of her first year as a trainer, and her first summer stabled at Monmouth Park, the 38-year-old Hemingway will send out Wholebodemeister in Saturday’s $100,000 Lady’s Secret Stakes at the Jersey Shore track.

Manor House, the first horse she started in a stakes – the Discovery Stakes on Oct. 27 at Aqueduct, one of only three starters she had last year – “grabbed a quarter” in the race. Wholebodemeister was then set to go in in the Serena’s Song Stakes on May 8 at Monmouth Park but flipped in the gate and was scratched.

“Luckily, for as scary of a situation as it was, she has come out of it no worse for the wear,” said Hemingway. “If anything I think she’s better.”

Wholebodemeister, a Kentucky-bred daughter of Bodemeister-Wholelottashakin by Scat Daddy, has to overcome two obstacles if she is to give Hemingway her first career stakes winner. She has been idle since her seasonal debut on March 12 at Tampa Downs because of that gate scratch and has never tried two turns. The Lady’s Secret Stakes is at a mile and a sixteenth for fillies and mares, 3 and up.

“I’m not really concerned about it,” said Hemingway. “The way she trains and the way she does things she is just a very professional filly when it comes to running. She is very competitive but she is also ratable, so I don’t have any concerns with two turns.”

Wholebodemeister, owned by Holly Hill Stables LLC, enters Saturday with a victory in the Grade 2 Davona Dale at Gulfstream Park in her last start as a 3-year-old last Feb. 27. She was trained by Juan Avila then.

Hemingway, a third generation trainer who took out her license last fall, had a win and a second from her three starters last year, posting her first career victory on Oct. 16.

She has her sights set on a stakes win as her next goal.

“I think there would be no words (when she wins her first stakes race),” Hemingway said. “I think if I have that first stakes winner … I tend to get slightly emotional. The tears would be coming.”

Hemingway, who has four wins from 29 starters this year – two victories from four Monmouth Park starters – has 30 horses stabled at Monmouth Park and another 31 at Thorostock Farm in Ocala, Fla.

Her father was a trainer who spent time on the New Jersey circuit at now defunct Atlantic City Racetrack and Garden State Park.

“My dad raced at Atlantic City all of my summers as a child, so I spent a lot of time there growing up,” she said.

A native of Virginia, Hemingway is a graduate of Sweet Briar College in Virginia, where she received a degree in International Equine Business and Marketing while participating on the riding team all four years.

“My dad said `you can train race horses but you have to go to college first,’ ” she said.

Hemingway then spent parts of seven years as an assistant in South Africa to notable trainers Joey Ramsden, Glen Kotzen and Mike DeKock.

“I wanted to go somewhere my dad had not trained,” she said. “An opportunity opened up in South Africa. It was a great experience.”

Now Hemingway is hoping Wholebodemeister will provide another great experience.

She made her seasonal debut at Tampa Downs following a 13-month layoff, finishing a close third in a handicap race.

“I was really happy with that,” Hemingway said. “I knew we were about a race short. But the race came up and I wanted to get one in her to prepare for the Serena’s Song Stakes and the Lady’s Secret Stakes. She ran a very credible first race back. I was very pleased.”

Jorge Vargas Jr. has the mount aboard Wholebodemeister, who has three wins in eight career starts.

COOLER BAG GIVEAWAY, SUMMER WIND SPECIAL DEAL HIGHLIGHT SATURDAY

A cooler bag giveaway and a buy-one, get-one-free buffet special at the new Summer Wind trackside café highlight the promotional events on tap for Saturday, June 11, at Monmouth Park.

The first 5,000 paying fans will receive a redemption coupon for one free Monmouth Park cooler bag. Redemption areas are located on the 1^st floor of the Clubhouse and by the new Drink Shack in the Festival Area,

“The Summer Wind Comes Blowing In A deal” promotion will span the entire three-day racing weekend from Friday through Sunday. Guests must show a special ad in the program to receive the promotion.

Cost for the buy-one, get-one-free deal is $35 for adults and $12.50 for children 6 through 12,

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The Friday Summer Wind buffet menu consists of a craft your own salad bar; Manhattan clam chowder and soup of the day; chicken Murphy with sweet sausage; rice pilaf and grilled asparagus; dinner rolls and butter; season fruit and berries; bowtie pasta salad, and bagged chips and cookies.

The Saturday menu features of a craft your own salad bar; Manhattan clam chowder and soup of the day; grilled chicken caprese with roasted potatoes and seasonal vegetables; crisp crudité and spinach dip; dinner rolls and butter; seasonal fruit and berries, and bagged chips and cookies.

On Sunday, the menu will offer a craft your own salad bar; Manhattan clam chowder and soup of the day; orecchiette, sausage and broccoli; meatballs in pomodoro and summer splash; tomato and mozzarella caprese; seasonal fruit and berries; dinner rolls and butter, and bagged chips and cookies.

Saturday’s live racing program will be headlined by the $100,000 Lady’s Secret Stakes for fillies and mares, 3 and up, going a mile and a sixteenth. Simulcasting on the entire Belmont Stakes card will be available as well, with the Belmont Park program starting with an 11:30 a.m. post time.

Post time at Monmouth Park on Saturdays and Sundays is 12:15 p.m. On Fridays, the first race post time is 2 p.m.