Sir Brian's Sword prevails in Elkwood

OCEANPORT, N.J. - Fresh from winning two stakes Saturday at Calder, Joe Bravo returned home to Monmouth Park Sunday afternoon to ride Sir Brian's Sword to a one-length victory in the $50,000 .

Bravo, as he does so often on the Monmouth turf course, found a seam in a wall of horses in the stretch and sent his gelding through to victory.

"They really had this horse ready to go," Bravo said. "At the top of the stretch, he split horses and just exploded."

It was potent combination: Bravo, the leading grass rider at the track; trainer Christophe Clement, one of the top turf trainers and a horse who rarely runs a poor race on the grass.

Sir Brian's Sword paid $6.00 to win and he ran the 1 1/16 miles in 1:39.86, a record for the course with the temporary rail set 10 feet from the inner fence.

Autonomy finished second with American Freedom third.

Follow Me Home remained unbeaten in three starts at the meet with a front-running win in the $50,000 Candy Eclair for 3-year-old fillies.

She ran the six furlongs in 1:09.69.

Follow Me Home earlier won the Crank It Up Stakes, a five-furlong race slated for the turf but shifted to the sloppy main track, and an allowance race.

Trainer Robert Levine thinks she might be ready for a stiffer test.

"She seems to keep improving," Levine said. "I don't know where the limit is, but I'm sure we'll soon find out."

Levine is considering longer distances and would like to see Follow Me Home take a shot in graded stakes at some point,

Follow Me Home paid $12.20 to win with Julian Pimentel aboard. She beat Travelator by 3 1/2 lengths with Holiday Runner third.