Oceanport Stakes draws large, deep field

A well-matched group will line up for the $100,000 Oceanport Stakes on Sunday on the Monmouth Park turf. The main field of 11 horses – there is one main-track-only entrant – includes a half-dozen graded/group stakes winners in Synchrony, Hawkish, Irish Strait, A Thread of Blue, Sacred Life, and Eons, plus two other stakes winners.

Synchrony, Hawkish, and Irish Strait have all won stakes on the Monmouth turf, but all three are looking to enter the winner’s circle for the first time this season. Synchrony won the 2018 Oceanport and Red Bank stakes, both Grade 3 events, and owns two stakes placings on this course. Last year, he won the Grade 2 King Edward at Woodbine and the Grade 3 Fair Grounds Stakes. Trained by Michael Stidham, his best finish in three starts this year is a runner-up effort in the Fair Grounds Stakes.

Despite being winless, Synchrony has broken the triple-digit Beyer Speed Figure threshold twice this year. He owns the top last-out number in this field, a 100 earned when fourth in the Grade 2 Fort Marcy on June 6 at Belmont, beaten just 1 1/4 lengths. The winner of that race, Instilled Regard, and third-place Somelikeithotbrown both came back to win graded stakes.

Unlike several of the horses in this field who are picking up new riders because of travel restrictions on jockeys this summer due to the pandemic, Synchrony will have a familiar partner in the irons. Joe Bravo has ridden the 7-year-old horse to five of his six career graded stakes wins, including both scores at Monmouth, and will be aboard Sunday.

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Hawkish scored his biggest win in the Grade 2 Penn Mile in 2018. Trained byJimmy Toner, he is unplaced in four outings since winning the Cliff Hanger Stakes in May 2019 at Monmouth.

Irish Strait owns 10 stakes wins or placings – seven of those coming at Monmouth, where he won the Grade 3 Red Bank in 2017. He will be making his first start since June 2019 and is trained by Graham Motion.

French Group 3 winner Sacred Life is multiple Grade 2-placed since joining Chad Brown’s barn last year. He picks up Monmouth leading rider Paco Lopez for his first start since finishing fourth in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Turf in January.

A Thread of Blue is looking for his first win since taking the inaugural Saratoga Derby in August 2019, part of a fine 3-year-old campaign in which he also won the Grade 3 Palm Beach and the Dania Beach. He is making his first start for trainer John Servis, who took over the colt’s care after Kiaran McLaughlin retired from training.

Eons, the winner of last year’s Grade 3 Kent Stakes at Delaware, is making his second start of 2020 after being well beaten at Belmont Park last month. The field also includes stakes winners Empire of War and Ninety One Assault.