Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association of New Jersey
Dan Illman, DRF
Thanks to the race not being carded in 2023, Smithwick’s Spice waited an extra year to defend his Joey P. Handicap title.
It was worth the wait.
Jockey Jorge Gonzalez wanted the lead with Smithwick’s Spice, dissuaded pace rivals Gold Trust, Speaking and Bingo’s Boy through an opening quarter in 21.86 seconds, then drew away to prevail by 4 3/4 lengths over Like What I See in Sunday’s $85,000 five-furlong turf dash for New Jersey-breds at Monmouth Park.
Grouch placed another half-length behind in third place. Next came Gold Trust, Golden Brown, favored There Are No Words, Speaking and Bingo’s Boy. Lemon Creek Louie and Ohana Empire scratched.
Smithwick’s Spice stepped the distance in 55.94 over firm going and returned $5.20 to win as the public’s second choice.
Smithwick’s Spice is trained by Douglas Nunn, who has kept the gelding busy in 2024. The Joey P. was his 11th start of the year, and his fourth race of the Monmouth meeting.
Smithwick’s Spice wintered in Florida, where he captured the Turf Dash at Tampa Bay Downs on Feb. 24. Smithwick’s Spice won a restricted allowance at Delaware on July 31, scored the open Select at Monmouth 17 days later, then finished sixth in Saratoga’s Harvey Pack on Sept. 2.
A homebred owned by Robert Matthies’s New Spice Stable, Smithwick’s Spice is an 8-year-old gelding by Frost Giant. He has compiled a record of 13 wins from 48 starts for career earnings of $692,492.
When describing Smithwick’s Spice’s effort in the Harvey Pack earlier this week, Nunn said that the veteran is “not a horse that wants to be down inside. From the quarter pole all the way to the sixteenth pole, he was in tight and even got checked late. I think we didn’t get to see the best of him.”
Nunn got Smithwick’s Spice’s best in the Joey P, the final stakes race of the 2024 Monmouth meet.