Almanaar game in Monmouth Stakes triumph

Almanaar, returning from a five-month layoff, held off Synchrony on Saturday to win the Grade 2, $200,000 Monmouth Stakes by a neck.

The Monmouth was the second stakes win on the card for trainer Chad Brown and jockey Joe Bravo, who teamed up to win the $75,000 Boiling Springs with Beautiful Lover earlier in the day.

Irish Strait went right to the lead in the Monmouth, a 1 1/8-mile turf race. He clicked off fractions of 23.73 seconds, 47.78, and 1:10.89 while being tracked by Up the Ante and 9-5 favorite Synchrony, who was racing much closer to the pace than usual.

Almanaar, who had only Monarchs Glen beaten early in the eight-horse field, made a strong move on the backstretch to loop the body of the field and challenge Irish Strait entering the far turn. Almanaar came away with the lead in upper stretch, drifted out in front of Synchrony, then held that rival at bay in the final furlong for the win.

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Trevor McCarthy, aboard Synchrony, lodged an objection against the winner but it was disallowed by the stewards.

Almanaar paid $6.80 to win while completing the distance in 1:45.75. Force the Pass finished third, 4 1/4 lengths behind Synchrony.

“My horse definitely drifted out, but we were clear,” Bravo said. “I didn’t want to make that big middle move but he was fresh and wanted to do it, and he’s so strong I didn’t want to get into a tug of war with him.”

The Monmouth was Almanaar’s first graded win since the Grade 1 Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap in February 2017. He finished second last summer in the Arlington Million, beaten a half-length by his stablemate Robert Bruce.

Following the Million, Almanaar cocnluded 2018 by finishing off the board in The Shadwell Turf Mile, Breeders' Cup Mile, and Fort Lauderdale.

"Today, he was running at a distance that suits him and firm ground is what we were looking for," Brown said. "His form tailed off last year from just being in the wrong races, I'll take the blame for that. We gave him a little breather and committed him to another season of racing but only on firm ground and at distances that suit him."

Almanaar has run well fresh before. He won an optional-claiming race last June at Belmont Park while coming off a 16-month layoff.

A 7-year-old gelding owned by Shadwell Stable, Almanaar is now 7 for 20 in his career with earnings of $810,349.

- additional reporting by David Grening