Personal First takes second at Monmouth

By BRANT JAMES

© St. Petersburg Times,
published June 6, 2001

MONMOUTH, N.J. -- Personal First, a 4-year-old colt co-owned by Brooksville's Dianne Waldron and Leah Killingsworth, rallied down the stretch but could not overcome Oro de Mexico in a $50,000 allowance race at Monmouth Park on Saturday.

Still, the son of Personal Hope continued to prove himself a commodity at shorter distances.

Personal First had originally been scheduled to run in the $150,000 James B. Moseley Breeders' Cup Handicap at Suffolk Downs in Boston, but trainer David Paulus elected to take his chances in New Jersey and what he thought would be a drier track.

"It had rained pretty good all week up East, and we thought that race was going to come up real sloppy," Paulus said. "We're stabled at Monmouth anyway, so rather than shipping four or five hours up to Boston, we went ahead and ran here thinking it wouldn't be so bad."

Persistent rains turned the Monmouth surface officially to "sloppy," but better than in Boston. Ridden by Eibar Coa, the beaten favorite earned $10,000 of the purse for finishing second.

Paulus said he is pointing Personal First toward the June 23 Longfellow at Monmouth or the $150,000 Iowa Sprint Handicap on July 4 at Prairie Meadows. Both are sprints, in keeping with Paulus' assessment that short distances suit the colt. Personal First has run at 6 furlongs in his last six races, finishing in the money five times.

"I think he's suited for anywhere from 3/4 of a mile to a mile," Paulus said. "To run against the caliber of horses he does, I don't feel he will be on top at much over a mile. Everyone wants their horse to run that classic route, but he has been pretty good to us shortening up the distance."

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