Brown trio face Lady Rockstar in wide-open Matchmaker

OCEANPORT, N.J. – Chad Brown sends out three quality runners on Saturday in Monmouth’s Park’s Grade 3, $200,000 Matchmaker for fillies and mares at 1 1/8 miles on turf – Lemista, Fluffy Socks, and Flighty Lady.

The connections of the top three finishers in the Matchmaker will receive a free breeding to either Global Campaign, Tom’s d’Etat, or Improbable, all of whom stand at WinStar Farm.

Lemista and Fluffy Socks finished third and fourth, respectively, in the local prep for the Matchmaker, the Grade 3 Eatontown on June 18. Both horses were likely compromised by a lack of pace.

“Lemista lacks a turn of foot, so you have to have her more forwardly placed,” Brown said. “She was dragged to the back. That wasn’t the right strategy.”

A Group 2 winner in Ireland in 2020, Lemista is winless from five North American starts, but did place in last summer’s Grade 1 Beverly D. at Arlington.

Fluffy Socks captured the Grade 2 Sands Point at Belmont Park last fall and appears to be racing herself back into top shape.

She finished second in her first start of the year, a conditioned allowance at Keeneland, then was a close second to stablemate Bleecker Street in the Grade 3 Modesty at Churchill Downs on May 6.

“Fluffy Socks has a better kick so if she gets a better trip, she can close,” Brown said.

Flighty Lady adopted front-running tactics when third, beaten only three-quarters of a length, by Bleecker Street in the Grade 1 New York at Belmont on June 10. She was dismissed by the bettors at 51-1.

“She was clearly there to ensure some pace and hope for a minor award,” Brown said. “The way she dug in did surprise me. Hopefully we have her back on track and figured out what she wants to do.”

When asked if what she wants to do is be on the lead, Brown replied, “You got it, unless some of these roll on the front.”

Lady Rockstar, a daughter of the sensational Frankel, is unbeaten from two starts since arriving in North America and being transferred to Brendan Walsh.

“They thought the world of her in England,” Walsh said. “She needed some time to mature, and she’s turned into a big, beautiful mare.”

Last month, Lady Rockstar won a second-level allowance with a $62,500 claiming option over Belmont’s inner turf.

“She always seemed very comfortable,” Walsh said about that race. “I thought Belmont would really suit her, a big galloping track. She was impressive and beat a couple of nice fillies.”

Walsh mentioned that Lady Rockstar was originally slated to run in the River Memories at Belmont on July 9, but that race didn’t fill.

Vigilantes Way finished second in the Eatontown for Shug McGaughey and Paco Lopez. A Monmouth horse for course with two wins and three seconds from five local turf starts, Vigilantes Way’s greatest assets are her consistency and tactical speed. She settled into a pace-tracking, ground-saving position in the Eatontown and only came up a length short behind the pacesetting winner.

Wholebodemeister, out of a dam that was multiple stakes-placed on turf, makes her surface debut with speed. Core Values, sixth in the New York, and maiden Office Etiquette round out the field.

Wolf Hill

The Critical Way looks to win consecutive editions of the $100,000 Wolf Hill Stakes, a 5 1/2-furlong turf race for 3-year-olds and up.

Trained by Jose Delgado, The Critical Way backed up last year’s Wolf Hill victory with a game nose triumph in the Grade 3 Parx Dash on Aug. 31. He failed to draw into the oversubscribed Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint field Nov. 6, then was pulled up when offered for a $75,000 claiming tag at Tampa Bay on Dec. 1.

Delgado gave The Critical Way plenty of time off and the 8-year-old gelding responded with a victory in Monmouth’s Get Serious on May 22. Most recently, The Critical Way finished fourth as the favorite here in the Select.

The Critical Way’s game is speed. He is expected to once again be forwardly placed.

Conversely, Belgrano would prefer a quick pace up front. The late-kicking 8-year-old, described by trainer Frank Russo as “probably the best horse I ever had,” ran past The Critical Way to win the Select.

Russo believes that stretching out from five furlongs to 5 1/2 furlongs and getting contested fractions were the keys to Belgrano’s successful Select. Belgrano has won five of eight over the Monmouth turf course.

“He loves all kinds of grass, but he really loves this place,” Russo said.

In the Select, Proven Strategies turned back to an abbreviated sprint for the first time since a runner-up effort in the 2019 Skidmore at Saratoga and rewarded trainer Mark Casse by finishing a neck behind Belgrano. A stakes winner at a mile, he should kick in the stretch.

Montauk Daddy enters off wins in three of his last four, albeit on dirt; Breakthrough went gate to wire in a first-level allowance here on the Fourth of July; Admiral Abe was Grade 3-placed over boggy going at Parx last fall; Constant Knight completes the field. Big Package was entered at Saratoga on Friday.