Serena's Song Stakes Picks

On class, #1 Power Squeeze (even) towers over the field as she is a multiple time GSW including taking the 2024 Alabama (G1) in a thrilling victory over Candied. It is worth nothing Thorpedo Anna skipped that race to prepare to run against the boys in the Travers (G1), but Power Squeeze has done some of her own running against the boys in recent starts. I was perplexed by her entry in the Pegasus World Cup (G1) where she ended up finishing eighth while beating home 2024 Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Mystik Dan, 2024 Santa Anita Derby (G1) winner Stronghold, and 2024 San Pasqual (G2) winner Newgrange. She followed that up with a runner-up finish in the Ghostzapper (G3) where she finished five lengths behind White Abarrio but beat 2024 Pegasus Stakes winner Tuscan Sky. While the rest of the field did not contain much, she has proven to be far more effective running against the boys than I thought, and her last race was even more impressive because she finally showed good early speed. In many of her previous starts she lacked early bursts and was reliant on a strong closing kick but could be mitigated on a speed-favoring track like Monmouth Park. However, the fact it will be such a short field and that she draws the inside rail means that jockey Javier Castellano will likely make sure she is sitting a pocket trip behind the leaders. If one horse could upset her, it is #2 Takethemoneyhoney (3/1) for trainer Michael Moore as she represents the lone speed in the race and could take them gate-to-wire depending on how the track is playing. The daughter of Golden Lad hardly has a massive pedigree, but she showed last time out at Laurel Park that she can get two turns when she won a $40,000 optional claimer going one mile over a good main track. Her only loss is to Catherine Wheel and that was by a nose while being pressured most of the way around. If jockey Eliseo Ruiz can get her comfortable up front while setting modest fractions, she could easily pull off the upset. Her 94 Beyer Speed Figure (BSF) last time out is higher than anything Power Squeeze has run and she might just be scratching the surface. Of course, she will be switching off Lasix for Sunday’s race, so how she responds to that is a great unknown. She has been working out beautifully for more and it is hard to ignore the 47 second bullet work on May 3rd that was first of 39 at Parx. Finally, #5 Catherine Wheel (3/1) is another ascending horse coming off a close third-place finish in the Heavenly Cause Stakes at Laurel Park over a muddy track. She prefers to track within a couple lengths of the leaders but look for her to be more aggressively placed Sunday simply to keep Takethemoneyhoney within her sights and not let her get too loose on the lead. Jockey Sammy Camacho rides for trainer Chad Brown regularly at Monmouth Park and the two team up to win at a 32% clip. While her 88 BSF from her last race might not be quite fast enough to win, she has only been improving since coming back from nearly a one-year layoff in February. If she continues to move forward, she is a serious threat to win. In my opinion, you either have to single Power Squeeze, who will be a very short price, or you use Catherine Wheel and Takethemoneyhoney to beat her in this leg.