Cairo Surprise Continues Upward Trend With Dominant John J. Reilly Handicap Win
OCEANPORT, N.J. — Cairo Surprise made his presence felt in Sunday’s $75,000 John J. Reilly Handicap at Monmouth Park, drawing clear effortlessly to win the New Jersey-bred stakes by 6¼ lengths. The 3-year-old gelding, trained by Cal Lynch, has improved with each start this season and delivered what may have been a career-best effort in earning his first stakes victory.
“This was not unexpected,” Lynch said. “He has been consistently good his whole career. We gelded him last year, then gave him a break and trained him lightly through the winter, looking to pick a spot or two — which we did — and have him ready for this race fit and tight. He’s still developing.”
Pounded down to 1-9 near post time, Cairo Surprise justified his role as the heavy favorite, taking command early in the six-furlong sprint and never looking back. Facing nine New Jersey-breds, he dominated from the start in a front-running performance and returned $2.20 to win.
Breaking sharply under Paco Lopez, who captured four races on the Sunday card, Cairo Surprise briefly dueled on the outside of Speaking, the 2023 Reilly winner, through an opening quarter-mile in 22.49 seconds.
But rather than wait for his rival to tire, Lopez urged his mount forward midway down the backstretch, and the gelding responded with a strong burst of speed. By the half-mile mark, clocked in 45.53 seconds, Cairo Surprise was already seven lengths clearentering the far turn.
Four weeks earlier, Cairo Surprise had delivered a standout performance in a statebred allowance at Monmouth, drawing off by 9¼ lengths and earning a 100 Beyer Speed Figure. Given the Reilly field included four stakes winners, Sunday’s runaway — clocked in 1:10.84 for six furlongs — may have been even more impressive.
“I was impressed with his race today because coming in it looked like a pretty tough race,” Lopez said. “I know a lot of those horses he was running against. There were some good Jersey-breds in this race.”
Cairo Surprise is now unbeaten on dirt in four starts this year, and if not for a disqualification in a second-level allowance on turf at Laurel Park in April, he would also have a victory on grass. With his first stakes title secured, his options are expanding.
“We’ll stay in Jersey with him and race him at Monmouth,” Lynch said. “He’s eligible for a few of those Jersey-bred turf races, so we’ll see.”
Boardwalk Jack, making his 4-year-old debut for trainer Eddie Owens Jr., ran on for a distant second in his first stakes appearance, finishing 2½ lengths ahead of stablemate Great Navigator, who rallied for third.
