'Jersey Joe' Bravo ends 20-month Monmouth Park exile Saturday; Hot Rod Charlie returns

The star of Monmouth Park’s 1988 opening day card  was Julie Krone, with the future Hall of Famer riding five winners. And in the second race, a young Joe Bravo finished third on a 42-1 longshot named Kitty Copy, with 13 riding titles and thousands of wins at the Oceanport racetrack to follow.

But Bravo’s 20-month self-imposed exile at the place he’s synonymous with, a byproduct of the whip ban New Jersey had in place in 2021, ends Saturday when “Jersey Joe” returns to Monmouth Park from his new home in Southern California.

“It will be interesting to see what kind of welcome we get,” said Bravo. “To me, it always feels like Jersey is coming home. I just got off the plane a couple of hours ago. I went and had breakfast with a buddy of mine and it just feels nice to be back on the Jersey Shore. I have a lot of memories around here.”

The return comes because of the month-long gap between the end of the Santa Anita meet Sunday and the July 22 opening of Del Mar. So rather than ride at Los Alamitos, the 50-year-old has opted to return to the Jersey Shore.

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Bravo was part of a boycott by some top jockeys over the New Jersey Racing Commission rule that prohibited riders from striking a horse with a whip for any reason other than a safety emergency. He  opted not to ride at Monmouth Park last year, feeling the restrictions created an unsafe situation.

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The whip rule has been replaced this year by what will be the new national standard beginning on July 1, which allows up to six overhand strikes, and no more than two in succession.

So Bravo relocated to Southern California. He rode 21 winners and hit the board at a 44 percent clip last summer at Del Mar and hasn’t looked back. He sold his home in Eatontown, bought a place in Pasadena, and now rides full-time at Santa Anita and Del Mar.

“I think everybody is going to have their own opinion, and I’m just hoping for a good welcome,” he said. “I miss the place. A lot of good memories. This is home, so I’m excited about coming for a short stay and seeing everybody and catching up – I consider a lot of people on the Jersey Shore family.”

With four mounts on Saturday, Bravo will ride Tax, a Grade 2 winner with $982,060 in career earnings, in the Grade 3 $150,000 Monmouth Stakes, and Alms in the $150,000 Grade 3 Eatontown Stakes. He then returns to Santa Anita for closing day, before heading back to New Jersey.

And Bravo isn't the only top jockey planning to ride at Monmouth Park Saturday, with out-of-towners including Florent Geroux, Manny Franco, Jose Lezcano, Mike Smith and John Velazquez also coming in.

In Bravo’s last mount in the state, he got Stay Smart home first to win the Smart N Classy Handicap to close the 2020 meet. His agent on the West Coast has been Matt Nakatani, son of jockey Corey Nakatani, who will handle his book in New Jersey as well.

And on Thursday morning Bravo will be walking around Monmouth Park’s stable area again, reconnecting with horsemen.

“I have some good business with a couple of New York guys but whoever has a good horse, I’m open-minded,” he said. “If I’m riding it, it’s because I think he’s got a good shot.”

Bravo, whose mounts, including 5,553 wins, have earned $194 million, recently received the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award, presented by Santa Anita Park to the jockey who demonstrates high standards of personal and professional conduct both on and off the racetrack.

Hot Rod Charlie returns

It was the defining moment of the 2021 Monmouth Park meet, when Hot Rod Charlie was disqualified for interference after hitting the wire first in the $1 million TVG.com Haskell Stakes.

Now Hot Rod Charlie is heading back to Monmouth Park for Saturday's Grade 3 $150,000 Salvator Mile.

It's one of four stakes races on the card, billed as a preview of Haskell Day, set for July 23. The four stakes races will go as the final four races on the card as part of an all-stakes Pick 4.

Unraced since finishing second in the World Cup in Dubai on March 26, Hot Rod Charlie is trained by Doug O'Neill, who is looking to return the 4-year-old colt to the Breeders' Cup Classic later this year.

Hot Road Charlie has earned $5.1 million from 15 career starts, including victories in the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby and the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby, as well as second-place finishes in the Dubai World Cup, the Belmont Stakes, and the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. He also finished third in the Kentucky Derby and was fourth in Breeders’ Cup Classic.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Jersey Joe Bravo returns to Monmouth Park NJ racetrack after absence