Synchrony, Elysea's World strong contenders in turf stakes

Monmouth Park will wrap up its stakes schedule for the year Saturday with the Red Bank and the Violet, a pair of Grade 3 turf races, and the Sapling and Sorority for 2-year-olds.

The Monmouth meet will continue through Sept. 9, with racing this Sunday, on Labor Day, and then next Saturday and Sunday. The New Jersey racing season will move north to The Meadowlands for six turf-only cards on Fridays and Saturdays from Sept. 14-29.

The clock also is ticking on the 20-cent Jersey Shore 6, which hasn’t been hit this meet and coming into Friday’s card had a carryover of $305,470. If there isn’t a single-ticket winner beforehand, there will be a mandatory payout Sept. 9.

Saturday’s bundled-stakes card will offer a $150,000-guaranteed payout if there is a single winning ticket in the late pick five.

The star of the show Saturday is Synchrony, who figures to be a solid favorite in the $100,000 Red Bank, a one-mile turf race for 3-year-olds and up. Trainer Mike Stidham shortened him up in distance for the 1 1/16-mile Oceanport on the Haskell undercard, and the result was a powerful closing rail run under Joe Bravo and a 2 1/4-length victory.

Earlier this year, Synchrony won the Grade 2 Muniz and the Grade 3 Fair Grounds Handicap in Louisiana at 1 1/8 miles. He finished third in the 1 3/16-mile Arlington Handicap prior to the Oceanport.

“If you want to get into the bigger races like the Shadwell Mile and the Breeders’ Cup, we felt like the mile distance would be more to his liking,” Stidham said.

The eight-horse Red Bank lineup includes three horses who finished behind Synchrony in the Oceanport, including Irish Strait, who won this race a year ago for Graham Motion, and Force the Pass, who took the Cliff Hanger earlier this meet by a nose over Irish Strait for Alan Goldberg. On their best day, both are dangerous.

A new player in the field is Conquest Enforcer, who will make his debut for perennial Monmouth leading trainer Jorge Navarro. Conquest Enforcer was a Grade 2 winner at Santa Anita at age 3 but is winless in eight starts over the past two years. He has the best early speed in the field.

The 1 1/8-mile Violet, a $100,000 race for fillies and mares, centers around Elysea’s World, Lift Up, and Bishop’s Pond.

Elysea’s World used a late burst of energy to win the Grade 3 Matchmaker on Haskell Day over her Chad Brown-trained stablemate Dream Awhile. A late-running 5-year-old, Elysea’s World has now won two of her last four following a nine-race losing streak.

Lift Up lagged too far back behind an even pace in the Matchmaker and finished fifth for trainer Michael Dickinson. This field looks to have a bit more pace, and she will offer plenty of betting value.

Bishop’s Pond will be stretching out around two turns and returning to turf while making her second start following a layoff for trainer Jason Servis. If the other expected front-runners, Viva Vegas and Special Event, don’t challenge Bishop’s Pond early, her class will carry her a long way on the lead.

The $75,000 Sapling, a one-mile main-track race for 2-year-olds, has a field of nine. Unionizer, who will be Bill Mott’s first Monmouth starter in more than a year, and Successful Zip, who has been sold since his 8 1/4-length maiden win, are the chief contenders.

Unionizer, who is part of the Breeders’ Cup Future wager this weekend, is coming off a seven-furlong maiden win at Saratoga.

Successful Zip will be making his debut for trainer Miguel Vera and the Newtown Anner Stud of Maurice and Samantha Regan. He earned a race-high 74 Beyer Speed Figure in his maiden score.

The field also includes Stage Left, a Keeneland debut winner for Wesley Ward in April, and Mooji Moo Jr., winner of the off-the-turf Tyro for Pat McBurney.

The Sorority, for 2-year-old fillies, will be run over a mile on turf. The principal players look to be Malocchio, a 2 3/4-length maiden winner at Delaware Park for John Servis, and Horologist, who destroyed New Jersey-bred maidens by 20 lengths in her debut, and is trained by 81-year-old John Mazza.

“I got tears in my eyes seeing that,” Mazza said. “I remember thinking, ‘Holy cow, what do I have here?’ ”