How to bet the 2022 Tale of the Cat Stakes

A well-matched field of eight sophomores will travel 1 1/16 miles on the Monmouth Park turf in Sunday’s $100,000 Tale of the Cat S. I think there is value to be had in the feature and I will base my wagers around a pair of runners with healthy morning-line prices attached to them. 

The Jamie Ness-trained #4 Crabs N Beer (8-1) ran a few solid races in the allowance ranks on the main oval earlier in the season, but his move to the lawn two back is when the son of Blofeld really started to improve. Bred in Maryland, the gray three-year-old made a huge late run to beat allowance foes in a turf sprint at Laurel, which preceded a clear third-place result in the James W. Murphy S. at Pimlico on Preakness Day.

Crabs N Beer finished behind a pair of very talented turf performers last time out, and the gelding landed in a spot today against a cast that collectively has yet to conquer a stakes race. The stalker should get a reasonable voyage behind an honest early tempo with Ruben Silvera picking up the mount.

Another interesting contender in the field is #6 Affable Monarch (5-1). Conditioned by Jorge Duarte, the son of Arrogate was a superb debut winner on the Monmouth dirt in 2021 and capped his brief two-year-old season with a runner-up stakes result. The colt returned to be third in an allowance heat at Pimlico off the long break and the Kentucky-bred will try the lawn for the initial time on Sunday.

Affable Monarch is out of a mare who bagged the Eatontown S. (G3) on the course in her day, and the dam is also responsible for producing 2015 Belmont Derby (G1) star Force the Pass, who was also a stakes victor at this locale. The Colts Neck homebred is bred to thrive on the green and is surely worth using at a nice number beneath Joe Bravo.

Pletcher’s #1 Quality G (3-1), who will run as a gelding for the first time, the twice stakes placed #7 Fort Washington (7-2), as well as Chad Brown’s #8 Portfolio Company (5-2), are each worthy inclusions.

Tale of the Cat Wagers

• $12 win and place #4 Crabs N Beer ($24)
• $1 trifecta 4,6 with 1,4,6,7,8 with 1,4,6,7,8 ($24)
• 50-cent superfecta 4,6 with 4,6 with 1,7,8 with 1,7,8 ($6)