Almanaar Set for Seasonal Debut in Monmouth Stakes
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Photo: Coady Photography
Almanaar schools at Churchill Downs in preparation for the Breeders' Cup Mile
Grade 1 winner Almanaar will open his 7-year-old season May 25 when the son of Dubawi starts in the $200,000 Monmouth Stakes (G2T) on the turf at Monmouth Park.
The Shadwell Stable homebred finished second in last year's Arlington Million XXXVI Stakes (G1T) at Arlington International Race Course to complete a Chad Brown exacta behind winner Robert Bruce.
That race proved to be the seasonal peak for Almanaar, who closed the year with off-the-board finishes in three races, all grade 1 or grade 2 stakes. In 2017, Almanaar earned his first top-level score in the Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap (G1T).
Brown captured the past two editions of the Monmouth Stakes with Money Multiplier, and the multiple Eclipse Award-winning trainer looks set to make it three straight with Almanaar and Juddmonte Farms homebred Projected, who prepped with a close runner-up finish in the May 4 Cliff Hanger Stakes on the Monmouth turf.
A grade 2-winning son of Showcasing, Projected will try to improve on his third-place finish in last year's Monmouth.
Meanwhile, Synchrony and Markitoff will take their rivalry to a third state in the Monmouth, a 1 1/8-mile race that drew eight entries. Both enter off unplaced finishes in the May 4 Old Forester Turf Classic Stakes (G1T) at Churchill Downs. Before that race, Three Diamonds Farm's Markitoff finished second in the March 23 Muniz Memorial Handicap (G2T), where Synchrony was third, at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots.
A race before the Muniz, Synchrony scored a clear victory in the Feb. 16 Fair Grounds Handicap (G3T) at Fair Grounds, where Markitoff finished third.
The field also includes grade 1 winner Force the Pass, who won the 2018 Cliff Hanger at Monmouth, and New Jersey-bred Irish Strait, who enters off a narrow victory in the April 20 Henry S. Clark Stakes on the Laurel Park turf.
Monmouth Park, Saturday, May 25, 2019, Race 11Entries: Monmouth S. (G2T)
PP
Horse
Jockey
Wgt
Trainer
M/L
1
1Monarchs Glen (GB)
Jose Lezcano
116
William I. Mott
8/1
2
2Almanaar (GB)
Joe Bravo
116
Chad C. Brown
3/1
3
3Markitoff (KY)
Reylu Gutierrez
116
Michael J. Maker
8/1
4
4Up the Ante (KY)
Rajiv Maragh
116
Christophe Clement
6/1
5
5Irish Strait (NJ)
Jorge A. Vargas, Jr.
120
H. Graham Motion
9/2
6
6Force the Pass (KY)
Jevian Toledo
116
Jorge Duarte, Jr.
15/1
7
7Synchrony (KY)
Trevor McCarthy
120
Michael Stidham
5/2
8
8Projected (GB)
Antonio A. Gallardo
116
Chad C. Brown
5/1
