OCEANPORT, N.J. - “I thought we got beat,” trainer Mark Casse said after his Get Smokin desperately fended off rail-skimming Grand Sonata to win Saturday’s Grade 2, $600,000 United Nations Stakes for 3-year-olds and upward racing 1 3/8 miles at Monmouth Park. A key scratch of speedy So High allowed Get Smokin easy access to the lead, and the veteran immediately sprinted clear to set legitimate fractions of 23.54, 47,86, and 1:11.74. Get Smokin and jockey Fernando De La Cruz had a four-length cushion after a one-mile clocking of 1:35.69, but those quick fractions took a toll. Get Smokin got rubber-legged inside the eighth pole and hopped back to his left lead, but just got his nose down to deny a fast-closing Grand Sonata. Tawny Port, who raced in closest attendance to Get Smokin’s early pace, stayed on for third, a head behind Grand Sonata. Then came Emmanuel, Dataman, Running Bee, Webslinger, Fort Washington, race favorite Far Bridge, Adhamo and Starting Over. :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets. Get Smokin (98 Beyer Speed Figure) finished up in 2:12.57 and paid $20.20 to win as the fifth betting choice. Casse prepared Get Smokin for the United Nations by racing him in the Grade 2 Eclipse Stakes at 1 1/16 miles over Woodbine’s Tapeta surface on June 1. Get Smokin finished fourth in the Eclipse, his 2024 debut, after setting the pace. “It was everything,” Casse said of the Eclipse as a fitness-builder. “Not only that but getting ready on the synthetic [helps]. If you have to train on dirt all the time, it’s hard on them.” Casse said that he will point Get Smokin to the Grade 2, $2 million Kentucky Downs Turf Cup on Sept. 7. Get Smokin won that race last year, also in gate-to-wire fashion. “I guess we’ll go there next,” Casse said. “They’re going to stop letting him get the lead.” Grand Sonata received a perfect ground-saving trip under Javier Castellano. One stride after the wire, he was in front. “I thought I got the bob,” Castellano said. “I’m very satisfied the way he did it. He tried really hard. I had a perfect trip saving every single step of the way inside in great position. Just got beat.” Casse also conditions Webslinger, who raced closer to the pace than usual, made a good-looking bid on the third turn, then flattened out in the stretch. “I think he may have been a little too aggressive,” Casse mentioned. “He didn’t settle and that’s not him.” Get Smokin was bred in Kentucky by Hurstland Farm and James Greene Jr. He is a 7-year-old gelding by Get Stormy out of Hookah Lady, by Smoke Glacken. An $11,000 yearling buy, Get Smokin was a multiple graded stakes-winner at ages 3 and 4 when trained by Tom Bush. He was privately purchased by his current connections at the end of 2021. Get Smokin has won 7 times from 29 starts for earnings of $2,034,278,   :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.