Elysea's World Scores Over Dream Awhile in Matchmaker

The setting may have been Monmouth Park on the Jersey Shore, as opposed to Saratoga Race Course in the Adirondack Mountains, but it was still another case of Chad being Chad.

Another example of two-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown's Midas touch on turf was displayed in the $100,000 WinStar Matchmaker Stakes (G3T) as two of his distaff runners battled to the wire in a match race for a victory on the July 29 betfair.com Haskell Invitational Stakes (G1) undercard.

"At that point, as they come to the wire together, you are hoping for a dead heat because the horses are that close in ability," Brown said. "You hate to see one lose."

In this case, it was favored Dream Awhile who came out on the short end of the photo, as uncoupled stablemate Elysea's World and jockey Jose Ortiz grabbed a narrow lead over her in the final strides and posted a neck victory in the 1 1/8-mile turf stakes.

"Both horses were training well," said Brown, who was uncertain of future plans for both horses. "I couldn't pick a winner between them, and they carried equal weight. I thought a mile and an eighth might be a tick far for Dream Awhile."

Owned by the Sheep Pond Partners of Sol Kumin and Jay Hanley and All Pro Racing of current and former New England Patriots players Devin McCourty, Vince Wilfork, and Jerod Mayo, Elysea's World notched her second graded stakes win in a career that has featured five wins in 20 starts and earnings of $502,383.

Bred in Ireland by Haras D'Haspel, the 5-year-old daughter of Champs Elysees recorded her first graded stakes win in the Feb. 10 Suwannee River Stakes (G3T) at Gulfstream Park, but after that she was fourth in the May 19 Gallorette (G3T) at Pimlico Race Course and third behind Dream Awhile in the June 30 Eatontown (G3T) at Monmouth.

"It was a great win. She's run a lot and always brings it, but only has the five wins," Kumin said. "We won a graded stakes with her earlier in the year, so it took some pressure off us. She ran a great race, and it was a perfect ride by Jose. He knew who the horse to beat was and saved some ground and then tipped out and caught her."

Part of the allure of the Matchmaker is it allows the owners of the top three finishers to choose between breeding seasons to WinStar stallions Exaggerator , Tourist , and Commissioner .

Kumin, whose mare earned him and his NFL partners the No. 1 draft pick, said he plans to sell Elysea's World at some point and wasn't sure whether he would make the decision. If he did, the part-owner of 2016 Preakness Stakes (G1) winner Exaggerator knows who he would chose.

"We'll sell Elysea's World either this November or next year, depending on what Chad says. I'm not sure of how we'll handle the breeding season. Exaggerator would be pretty cool. He'd be my first choice, no question," said Kumin, who added that he has some breeding seasons of his own to Exaggerator.

Elysea's World covered the nine furlongs in 1:47.70 and gave Brown his third Matchmaker win. He also won last year's race with Wekeela.

Eatontown runner-up Special Event was third, five lengths behind Joseph Allen's Dream Awhile.

Two races earlier, the $100,000 Oceanport Stakes (G3T) for 3-year-olds and up going 1 1/16 miles was a successful bid for Pin Oak Stable's Synchrony.

Life on the 2016 Triple Crown trail did not work out that well for the 5-year-old son of Tapit .

But Plan B has been a smashing success.

After finishing third in the 2016 Lexington Stakes (G3) at Keeneland, Synchrony headed to the sidelines for 10 months, and before long he was embarking on a highly successful career on turf.

A 2 1/4-length victory in the Oceanport, the first of six stakes on the Haskell card, gave Synchrony his third graded stakes victory on turf and reaffirmed trainer Michael Stidham's wisdom in switching the homebred to the grass a year ago.

"He had the kind of female family that indicated he would be strong on turf," Stidham said. "Early on, Donnie Von Hemel trained him and he ran well enough in some preps to hope he could get on the Derby trail. Ultimately, he needed some time off to get over some bone bruising and minor issues. We gave him that time, switched him to the grass, and we have a really nice horse."

Out of Brownie Points, a Forest Wildcat mare, Synchrony added the odds-on victory to previous wins this year in the Muniz Memorial Handicap (G2T) and Fair Grounds Handicap (G3T). He has a record of 4-2-2 in eight turf appearances.

With numbers like that, it's not surprising Stidham has visions of a Saratoga stakes for nonagenarian owner Josephine Ambercrombie's Synchrony.

"We're looking at the races at Saratoga," Stidham said, "but nothing's set in stone. He needed a race like this to give us confidence to try grade 1 and 2 stakes. We'll see how he looks after that, but we'll stay at a mile and an eighth or under."

The two races at the Spa that fit that mold best would be the Sept. 3 Bernard Baruch Handicap (G2T) and the Aug. 11 Fourstardave Handicap (G1T).

Though heavily favored Sunday, Synchrony had some obstacles to overcome en route to covering the 1 1/16 miles in 1:42.05. He received a solid bump at the start and was sixth in the field of seven, four lengths off the frontrunning Mo Maverick after a half-mile in :49.93.

"He got murdered at the start, and it cost him a lot of positioning," Stidham said. "But he has showed he can sit back or stay closer if needed, and today it was slow. Today I was worried, because it was (:25.56) and (:49.93) early on."

Approaching the quarter pole, Synchrony was still sixth and seemingly in a bad spot behind a horse on the rail. But, thankfully for his connections, he has a sleek frame.

"If he was a fat horse, he wouldn't have made it through that hole," said jockey Joe Bravo after his third Oceanport win and second in a row. "Thank God he's thin. He just burst through the hole."

Once in the clear along the inside leaving the eighth pole, Synchrony quickly widened his lead as 18-1 shot Doctor Mounty grabbed second, three-quarters of a length ahead of 4-1 second choice Irish Strait. 

The victory was the sixth in 15 starts for Synchrony and raised his earnings to $556,552.

Video: WinStar Matchmaker S. (G3T)