Miss Temple City Set for U.S. Return in Matchmaker

After being thrown into the deepest of waters for her seasonal debut, the plan for multiple grade 1 winner Miss Temple City was to give the dark bay mare a chance to get her sea legs back. 

In what will be her first start since a disappointing result at Royal Ascot, the Graham Motion-trained distaffer has a prime opportunity to land a confidence booster when she heads up a field of seven fillies and mares in the July 30 WinStar Matchmaker Stakes (G3T) at Monmouth Park.

When a combination of minor setbacks and soft turf prevented Miss Temple City from getting a prep race in this past spring, her sporting connections made the decision to press ahead with their original goal of sending her across the pond for the June 20 Queen Anne Stakes (G1) at Royal Ascot—her first outing since her Matriarch Stakes (G1T) victory Dec. 4 at Del Mar.

The time off and the stout competition proved too much to overcome, as the daughter of Temple City   never settled early and faded to 13th behind race winner Ribchester.

For her second start in her 5-year-old season, Miss Temple City only has to take a van ride from her base at Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland and, on form, should have a much better chance of having her way Sunday. In addition to being the only graded stakes winner in the Matchmaker field, Miss Temple City twice bested males last season, winning the Maker's 46 Mile Stakes (G1T) and Shadwell Turf Mile Stakes (G1T) at Keeneland.

"I'm really excited to have Miss Temple City back in the entries—looking forward to it," Motion said. "You know, we're kind of getting off to a little bit of a late start after we ended up going to Ascot. But she's done well since she came back from England and I'm really excited to get her back on track on Sunday."

Owned by The Club Racing, Needle In a Haystack, and Sagamore Farm, Miss Temple City will break from post 2 in the Matchmaker field with regular rider Edgar Prado up. 

The biggest challenge Sunday for Miss Temple City could be the 1 1/8-miles she will travel in the Matchmaker, a distance she has never won at. Should she prove vulnerable, the Chad Brown-trained Wekeela would be a strong candidate to step up and earn her first graded score since arriving in the U.S. from France last year.

Aside from a 10th-place finish in the Diana Stakes (G1T) at Saratoga Race Course last July, Wekeela has asserted herself well in her four stateside starts. The daughter of Hurricane Run finished second in both the Coolmore Jenny Wiley Stakes (G1T) at Keeneland and Gamely Stakes (G1) at Santa Anita Park last year and took a 1 1/8-mile allowance race at Belmont Park in her season debut June 11.

Shug McGaughey trainee War Flag also began her career in France, where she won the group 3 Prix Chloe at Chantilly last July. In her North American debut, the 4-year-old daughter of War Front   prevailed by a half-length in a 1 1/16-mile allowance race over the Monmouth course June 18.

WinStar Matchmaker S. (G3T)

Monmouth Park, Sunday, July 30, 2017, Race 11

• 1 1/8m
• Turf
• $100,000
• 3 yo's & up Fillies and Mares
• 5:12 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Wekeela (FR)	Javier Castellano	118	Chad C. Brown	5/2
2	2Miss Temple City (KY)	Edgar S. Prado	120	H. Graham Motion	4/5
3	3War Flag (KY)	Nik Juarez	116	Claude R. McGaughey III	7/2
4	4Quiet Kitten (KY)	Frankie Pennington	116	Thomas Morley	10/1
5	5Giovanna Blues (KY)	Flavien Prat	116	Michael W. Dickinson	12/1
6	6I Dream of Lois (KY)	Jenn Miller	116	David Nunn	30/1
7	7Judy's Chance (NJ)	Wilmer A. Garcia	116	Derek S. Ryan	20/1