Synchrony on track for Muniz Memorial

NEW ORLEANS – Trainer Mike Stidham believed Synchrony was going into Saturday’s Fair Grounds Handicap as well as in 2018, when he scored a breakout win in the race, and from all appearances Stidham was right.

Racing wide in the homestretch, over the worst part of the Fair Grounds grass course Saturday, Synchrony still stormed to a 1 1/4-length victory racing as the 121-pound highweight. He got a 100 Beyer Speed Figure, two points off his winning figure in the same race last year.

Synchrony on Sunday appeared to have come out of the race in good shape and is booked to try and win the Muniz Memorial Handicap for the second year in a row on March 23. A 5-year-old horse likely in his final year of racing for Pin Oak Stable, Synchrony lacks a Grade 1 win, a hole in his résumé his connections hope to fill in the Old Forester Turf Classic at Churchill on the Kentucky Derby undercard.

◗ Harlan Punch sustained a significant injury Saturday at Fair Grounds during the Mineshaft Handicap, in which he finished second, but the problem, while potentially career-ending, is not life-threatening. Radiographs taken Saturday of Harlan Punch’s lower left foreleg revealed no fractures, Cox said. Further diagnostics evaluated Sunday suggested a tendon injury. Harlan Punch as of Sunday remained in his stall at Fair Grounds. Cox said the gelding could be shipped some time soon to Kentucky.