Program Trading wins United Nations Stakes at Monmouth Park

Program Trading (GB) won the Grade 2 United Nations Stakes at Monmouth Park, taking Race 11 on the Haskell Day card July 18 and reinforcing his standing among the division’s better turf runners. The 3-year-olds-and-up race carried a $300,000 purse and was run at about 1 3/8 miles on turf.

The United Nations was part of Monmouth’s Haskell Day program, scheduled from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., with first post set for 12:50 p.m. on Saturdays, Sundays and holiday Mondays. It shared the card with the $1,000,000 NYRA Bets Haskell Stakes, putting the turf feature on one of the track’s biggest summer stages.

Program Trading’s name alone points to the kind of horse that can shape American turf stakes. The “GB” designation signals British breeding, and that international background remains a major thread in top-level grass racing in the United States. In a race built to test stamina and class, the conditions favored a runner with enough staying power to handle the long Monmouth trip, especially with weights set at 121 pounds for 3-year-olds and 124 for older horses. Supplemental nominations were allowed.

The United Nations has been part of Monmouth’s identity since 1953, when it was originally run at Atlantic City Race Course before becoming a summer fixture at Monmouth Park. The race entered 2026 with a strong recent run of form at the top of the stable. Monmouth’s pre-race note said Chad Brown and Michael Maker had accounted for the last two winners, and Redistricting took the 2025 edition. Monmouth also had already pointed to Program Trading as the horse to beat in this year’s renewal.

That made the result more than a routine graded-stakes outcome. A win in the United Nations often carries forward into late-summer and fall turf planning, particularly for horses stretching out at a distance that separates true routers from speedier types. Program Trading answered that test at Monmouth, leaving the Grade 2 feature with a victory that fits both the race’s history and its place in the East Coast turf calendar.