East Avenue is a grade 1 winner and has won multiple graded stakes but on three occasions where he's faced grade 3 winner Chunk of Gold the Godolphin homebred has finished behind him twice. The 4-year-old son of Medaglia d'Oro looks to turn the table on this rival Aug. 15 in the $150,000 Philip H. Iselin Stakes (G3), going 1 1/16 miles at Monmouth Park.
East Avenue comes into the Iselin off a nose victory in the June 13 Salvator Mile Stakes (G3) at Monmouth where he out-dueled Bishops Bay at the wire. Bishops Bay also is entered in the Iselin.
Jockey Tyler Gaffalione will be aboard East Avenue for the Iselin, as he was for the Salvator Mile and the 2024 Breeders' Futurity (G1) at Keeneland where East Avenue won by 5 1/4 lengths. Since that grade 1 win, the colt's record in graded stakes has been spotty. Following the Breeders' Futurity, he's contested nine graded stakes that yielded five unplaced finishes along with wins in the 2025 Matt Winn Stakes (G3) and aforementioned Salvator Mile and close seconds in the 2025 Blue Grass Stakes (G1) and 2026 Oaklawn Mile Stakes (G3) for trainer Brendan Walsh.
Chunk of Gold and East Avenue faced each other first in the 2025 Risen Star Stakes (G2), where Chunk of Gold ran second to Magnitude and East Avenue faded to 10th. Both colts started in the Kentucky Derby (G1), where East Avenue finished eighth and Chunk of Gold was behind him in ninth.
The competitors met next in the 2025 West Virginia Derby (G3). Chunk of Gold prevailed by 4 1/4 lengths running gate-to-wire while East Avenue never gained traction and finished fifth.
Owned by Terry Stephens and trained by Ethan West, Chunk of Gold has not finished out of the money in four races since the West Virginia Derby. He won a 1 1/8-mile allowance optional claiming race last October at Keeneland by 8 1/4 lengths and ended his 2025 campaign with a close third in the Clark Stakes (G2). He's made one start so far this year, in which he ran second in a $137,808 allowance optional claiming race going 1 1/16 miles June 28 at Churchill Downs.
East Avenue and Chunk of Gold face four other competitors in the Iselin.
KAS Stables' 2025 Cigar Mile Handicap (G2) winner Bishops Bay is a 6-year-old son of Uncle Mo trained by Brad Cox. He has been first or second 14 times out of 16 career starts and earned more than $2.5 million. The field also includes Frassetto Stables' Stars and Stripes, who is a 4-year-old son of Not This Time trained by Bill Mott. He has won four of eight career starts including a win in April's Ben Ali Stakes (G3) at Keeneland. Stars and Stripes comes into the Iselin off an eighth-place finish in the 1 1/4-mile Suburban Stakes (G2), and is cross-entered in the Aug. 13 Birdstone Stakes.
Monmouth Park, Saturday, August 15, 2026, Race 5Entries: Philip H. Iselin S. (G3)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1East Avenue (KY) Tyler Gaffalione 124 Brendan P. Walsh 9/5 2 2Chunk of Gold (KY) Jaime A. Torres 118 Ethan W. West 3/1 3 3Sergeant Capps (KY) UNKNOWN 118 Panagiotis A. Synnefias 30/1 4 4Stars and Stripes (KY) Junior Alvarado 124 William I. Mott 4/1 5 5Bishops Bay (KY) Luis R. Rivera, Jr. 118 Brad H. Cox 7/5 6 6La Frost (KY) Melissa Iorio 118 Teresa M. Pompay 20/1
