Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association of New Jersey
Chuck Spina is hoping the 16th time is the charm.
The veteran trainer, a Monmouth Park fixture since 1976, will send out Jersey-bred There Are No Words against open company once again in Saturday’s $100,000 Cliff Hanger Stakes, looking to end what can only be described as an incredibly hard-luck stretch of racing results.
The Cliff Hanger, one of three turf stakes and five grass races overall on Monmouth’s eight-race Saturday card, marks the 16th stakes try for There Are No Words. He’s 0-for-15 in those previous tries, with the majority of the losses by less than a length.
Yet, the 7-year-old gelding – thanks in large part to 10 second-place finishes and six third-place finishes in 29 career starts – has banked $474,474 despite just four career wins.
Owned by Joe Ioia’s Prancing Hill Farm, the son of California Chrome will be making his seasonal debut after seven months off. The mile and a sixteenth Cliff Hanger drew a field of nine.
“He’s been a good horse for us. But it’s frustrating,” said Spina. “He hasn’t won in forever (since Oct. 19, 2023) but he keeps getting seconds and thirds. He gets that 40 percent bonus as a Jersey-bred against open company so it adds up. That’s how he has won almost a half million without winning much.
“It has been very frustrating for Joe and I that the horse can’t win. He has run against some very good turf horses. He just can’t quite get there.”
The last time There Are No Words did win, in an optional allowance claimer at Laurel 2½ years ago, he emerged victorious following a six-way photo. But he has lost 12 straight since then, with a pair of seconds in the Oceanport Stakes (2025 and 2024), two seconds and a third in the Red Bank Stakes (2025, 2024 and 2023) and a second in the Cliff Hanger in 2024.
He was sixth in the Cliff Hanger a year ago, but that was due largely to a bobbled start and a turf course that was listed as good. A speed horse, There Are No Words wants a hard, firm turf course, according to Spina.
“If it’s not like the parkway on Saturday he’s not going to get anything,” said Spina. “He’s a speed horse who needs firm turf.”
Though winless in 12 starts the past two years, There Are No Words has banked $168,280 over that time.
“Absolutely it has been frustrating,” said Spina, “He’s just very unlucky. He runs good numbers almost every time out and he’s consistent. Almost all of the comments you see about him are `gamely, gamely, gamely.’ He’s right there. He just can’t break through.”
Spina said that There Are No Words “is going pretty good right now.”
“He has some minor issues, which you expect for a 7-year-old, but he had the winter off and he’s ready to go again,” he said.
In a worst-case scenario, if There Are No Words falls just short again, there’s always the Irish War Cry Stakes for Jersey-breds on July 4 at Monmouth Park. There Are No Words has run in that race four straight years with two thirds and a second.
This marks his third time he will be trying the Cliff Hanger, a race he was second by a length in 2024.
“He’s honest and consistent. He just hasn’t won,” said Spina.
The Cliff Hanger will be supported by the $100,000 Miss Liberty Stakes for fillies and mares, 3 and up, also at a mile and a sixteenth, and the one-mile Jersey Derby, also on the grass.