Pin Oak Picks Up Brownie Points With Dam of Synchrony

Josephine Abercrombie spied a striking stakes-placed Forty Niner mare while shopping the 1999 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale for new bloodlines to enhance her Pin Oak Stud broodmare band.

Besides her good looks, the mare named Stylish Society came from a talent-rich family. The mare's dam, Northern Style (by Ack Ack) was a graded-placed stakes winner and the dam of grade 1-placed, multiple graded stakes winner Stylish Star, who in turn was a stakes producer.

When the hammer fell, Stylish Society went to Abercrombie for $675,000.

"I remember, we paid a lot more than we anticipated going in," said Pin Oak farm manager Clifford Barry. "Ms. Abercrombie really liked the mare physically, she had some talent, and it was a new family for us."

A quick return is desired by most business enterprises, but the most successful Thoroughbred breeders understand the balance required in giving a family enough time to prove itself and knowing when to cut your losses.

Stylish Society did not deliver the early successes hoped for, getting two modest winners out of three to race among her first four foals. By 2005, the mare was back at Keeneland in November where she went to new owners for $35,000.

Don't feel bad for Abercrombie, though, because the owner/breeder only let the mare go after she had two daughters waiting in the wings.

"Ms. Abercrombie keeps a very tight hold on her broodmare band and is an astute businesswoman," Barry said. "At the time we were around 40 mares and some have got to come in, so some have got to go out. We also had a branch of the family in Brownie Points, who physically was very, very attractive even as a foal and a yearling."

All the promise radiating from Brownie Points, a daughter of Forest Wildcat, turned into genuine ability once she stepped onto a racetrack. She broke her maiden in her second start, was stakes-placed in her third start, and became a black-type winner by November of her juvenile season. Brownie Points won the Cimarron Stakes at Remington Park about 11 days after Pin Oak sold her dam at Keeneland.

Brownie Points became Stylish Society's only stakes winner. She won eight black-type stakes and finished in the money in 20 stakes on dirt and turf. Her best performances came at 5, when she won the Ouija Board Distaff Handicap (G3T) and finished second to 2010 Horse of the Year Zenyatta in the Apple Blossom Handicap (G1). The mare retired with a 9-8-4 record in 27 starts and $951,230 in earnings.

As a broodmare, Brownie Points got off to stronger start than her dam. Her first four foals are all winners and she's already become a graded stakes producer. Her star runner is Pin Oak's 5-year-old Tapit  homebred Synchrony, who captured his third graded stakes in five starts July 29 when he squeezed through a narrow gap along the rail and rallied in deep stretch to win the Oceanport Stakes (G3T) at Monmouth Park.

"If you put Synchrony and Brownie Points together, you'd be struck by how similar they are to one another," Barry said. "There would be no doubt who his dam is. They have a lot of stretch and scope and a lovely hind leg on them. They are very strong behind and most important they have great minds. Brownie Points had a great mind and ... Synchrony just takes everything in stride."

Synchrony as a foal radiated the same potential as his dam. When he broke his maiden at Keeneland by 3 3/4 lengths and earned a 94 Equibase Speed Figure, only three ticks off the average speed figure for all juvenile stakes winners, Pin Oak knew it had a serious horse.

The colt's sophomore season didn't materialize to match the dream, however. He finished third in the Smarty Jones Stakes and third in the Lexington Stakes (G3), but then simply needed time off.

When Synchrony came back to the races at 4, he went to trainer Mike Stidham's barn at the Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots because there were dirt and turf options at the New Orleans track. Almost have of Brownie Points' stakes starts and five of her eight stakes wins were on grass.

"Mike put him on the grass and the horse has absolutely excelled," Barry said, noting Synchrony's 3-2-2 record in seven turf stakes starts. "The horse can run on dirt or turf, but now he has been so good on the grass it would take a pretty brave person to jump back to the dirt."

Brownie Points' reputation as a producer seems well poised to continue growing.

One filly ready to grow the mare's legacy is Chocolate Kisses, a daughter of Candy Ride  and one of the few Brownie Points offspring that Pin Oak has offered at auction.

"There is no magic to what we offer," Barry said. "We have a business model in place and assess each year what we need out that year's yearling crop to keep the lights on. Ms. Abercrombie knows when to take some chips off the table. 

"Candy Ride was hot at the time and she was a nice filly," Barry continued about the decision to enter Chocolate Kisses in the 2017 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale, where Denali Stud sold her for $410,000. "We felt that we could go to Saratoga and get rewarded. The most exciting part of all is that Mark Casse signed the ticket for the Oxleys. Not only did we great a price for her, she went into great hands. We were thrilled to see her come back and break her maiden at Saratoga." 

Chocolate Kisses won by a length in an $85,000 1 1/6-mile maiden special weight on the turf July 22.

Brownie Points has a yearling colt by More Than Ready  and produced a colt by Pioneerof the Nile  this year that Barry describes as a "strong physical."

The mare was bred back to grade 1 winner Mastery , an undefeated son of Candy Ride that won three graded stakes at 2 and 3 before injury ended his racing career. The stallion stands at Claiborne Farm.

"We like the Candy Ride line and Mastery was probably among the best of his generation but just didn't get to show it," Barry said. "We have a mare that is proven so we are going to try an unproven stallion. Turns out we've been lucky with this family. The mare has been very rewarding."