Rachel Alexandra, Summer Bird top loaded Haskell field

Close to 50,000 racing fans are expected to converge on Monmouth Park at Oceanport this Sunday for the richest horse racing invitational in North America.

And this year, it's even richer.

The 42nd running of the Haskell Invitational will include a record purse of $1,250,000 this year after the track boosted the prize money by a quarter of a million dollars in a last attempt to attract Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird, and complete a field that was already loaded.

However, the winner's share of $700,000 was not enough to change the mind of Mine That Bird's trainer, Bennie Woolley Jr., who will instead run his horse in the $750,000 West Virginia Derby on Saturday.

However, the Kentucky Derby winner's absence will do little to dampen the enthusiasm heading into Sunday's Haskell, which is the centerpiece of the Monmouth Park racing season and has featured 24 champions, including five Horse of the Year honorees.

This year's field will include the two winners of the year's Triple Crown races for the first time since 1987, when Belmont winner Bet Twice edged Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Alysheba and multiple stakes winner Lost Code.

The mile and eighth race has drawn superstar filly and Preakness winner Rachel Alexandra, Belmont Stakes champion Summer Bird as well as Arkansas Derby winner Papa Clem, multiple graded stakes winner Munnings, Monmouth Park stakes victor Bunker Hill, Long Branch Stakes victor Atomic Rain and Iowa Derby winner Duke of Mischief.

Sensational filly Rachel Alexandra is scheduled to ship from Saratoga to Monmouth Park on Friday, trainer Steve Asmussen said.

The 3-year-old daughter of Medaglia d'Oro, who made short work of distaff rivals in both the Kentucky Oaks (a 201.4- length score) and Mother Goose Stakes (a 191.4-length win), beat male rivals in the Preakness to become the first filly to win the second jewel of racing's Triple Crown in 85 years. Calvin Borel, who has been aboard in all of Rachel Alexandra's wins this year, will ride in the Haskell.

Asmussen said the filly is scheduled to school in the paddock with the field for the Friday's sixth race, an event for fillies and mares that goes off at about 3:10 p.m. A victory in the Haskell would be the filly's eighth straight win and would mark the first time a filly has won the event since Serena's Song in 1995.

Belmont Stakes winner Summer Bird put in his final work Sunday morning for the Haskell, breezing five furlongs in 1:01.80 with jockey Kent Desormeaux aboard.

The Birdstone colt was on the track at approximately 9:45 a.m. The surface was muddy and sealed after over night rains swept through the area.

Monmouth Park clockers got him going the first quarter in :26 and the half in :49 before coming home in 1:01.80.

"He had a good strong work and he galloped out strong," said Tim Ice, who conditions the Belmont winner for Drs. Kalarikkal and Vilasini Jayaraman.

"Everything was great. I couldn't be happier."

Kent Desormeaux, who was aboard for the Belmont Stakes win and will be back aboard in the Haskell, was on hand at Monmouth Park Sunday morning for the work.

"The track was a little slick and I got him coming home in 11 and change," Desormeaux said. "I tried to get him over the best part of the racetrack.

He knows the game and knows how to prepare himself. He's ready."

Desormeaux is looking to the first rider in Monmouth history to win back-to-back Haskells. He captured last year's race atop Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Big Brown.

Atomic Rain has a local connection that will make him one of the fan-favorites on Sunday, as he was owned by George and Lori Hall and trained by Old Bridge's Kelly Breen before being sold to Godolphin on Wednesday. The son of Smart Strike has proven a horse for the course at Monmouth, with all of his career wins coming over this track.

Rachel Doré, a Godolphin representative, flew in from England Friday and is overseeing the colt's Haskell preparations. Doré said that either Godolphin trainer Saeed bin Suroor or New York-based assistant Rick Mettee would be at Monmouth on Sunday to saddle Atomic Rain for the Haskell.

Joe Bravo, who has ridden the colt the last five races and won the Long Branch aboard Atomic Rain, will retain the mount for the Haskell, Doré confirmed.

The colt finished second in his first start and then broke his maiden at Monmouth as a 2-year-old, and this year has won an allowance race and the Long Branch for a 3- 1-0 mark in 4 starts here.

Among the other jockeys confirmed to have a mount for the Haskell are Kendrick Carmouce (aboard Bunker Hill), John Velazquez (Munnings), Elvis Trujillo (Papa Clem) and Eibar Coa (Duke of Mischief.

The entire Haskell card will be featured on the Television Games Network (TVG). The race will be run as the 13th on a 14-race program, with an estimated post time of 6:14 p.m. Gates will open on Haskell Day at 10 a.m., with the first race set to go at noon.

A limited number of reserved seats are still available and can be purchased at the reserved seat booth on the second floor of the Grandstand on a live racing day or by calling 732- 571-5563. In addition, fans can also buy tickets at www.ticketmaster.com.