At the Post: $50M reasons to go to Monmouth

There are 50 million reasons this summer to make sure you handicap Monmouth Park.The New Jersey track has shortened its meet to 50 racing dates and daily purses will average $1 million.For bettors this means quality races and full fields which should lead to good payoffs all summer.The meet opens today with a pair of $100,000 overnight stakes on the 13-race card.To put things in perspective about the large purses, maiden special weight races at Monmouth will have a purse of $75,000. At Belmont, maiden special weight races have a purse of $51,000.Monmouth is also home to a 50-cent pick five (races 6-10 today).There appears to be an abundance of front runners signed on for the Decathlon (race 5) today and I think we can find some value in Tommy’s Memory, who has won four of five lifetime starts.The 4-year-old gelding comes in to the race after rallying to win a restricted stake at Tampa last month going six panels in 1:09.2 running down the speed who set fractions of :22.1 and :44.2.The son of Good and Tough broke his maiden at first asking by nine lengths and has a couple of good works at Suffolk for trainer Anthony Ryan.He should have legit fractions to settle behind today and will be closing late under jockey David Amiss.In the Elkwood (race 11) Get Stormy appears to be the lone speed in the 1 1/16-miles turf event for trainer Tom Bush and jockey Garrett Gomez.The 4-year-old son of Stormy Atlantic comes in to the race riding a four-race win streak but has not raced since November.The layoff should not hurt Get Stormy who won a grade-3 turfer in October after a two-month layoff.Staying On makes his second U.S. start for turf expert Christophe Clement and jockey Joe Bravo after finishing second over the Gulfstream turf in January.NOTES: Turf marathoners will be in the spotlight at Belmont this afternoon in the Grade-2 Sheepshead Bay at 1 3/8-miles over the inner turf.Clement has a couple of lightly raced horses who will certainly take some action at the windows but I believe there is good value in the race using Ballynoe, who comes in to this event after a mile prep race at Keeneland April 11 after being on the bench since October.The 5-year-old daughter of Distorted Humor has three turf wins from 12 starts and shows a win going 1 1/2 miles in a small stake at Arlington last fall.In a race that does not appear to have a ton of early runners, Ballynoe should be able to sit a good stalking trip and make a run at the leaders going around the far turn.Sunday at Suffolk Downs you can enjoy great food, fun and games as well as live thoroughbred racing during the Phantom Gourmet Safari from noon to 5 p.m.This year’s Safari will include hot dogs and more, plus an expanded kids area with a variety of fun activities.Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door (food included; water and soda $1). Children 5 and under are admitted free.All proceeds benefit the Joey Fund and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. For more information, visit phantomgourmet.com.