Synchrony's late rally gives him Oceanport victory

OCEANPORT, N.J. – After Synchrony finished a close third in the 1 3/16-mile Arlington Handicap on July 6, trainer Mike Stidham had a decision to make - try and go a little farther in the upcoming Arlington Million or shorten the 5-year-old up in distance.

Stidham took the latter route and the 1 1/16-mile trip of the Grade 3 Oceanport at Monmouth Park on Sunday seemed to sharpen Synchrony’s late rally. Under a ground-saving ride by Joe Bravo, Synchrony finished fast to pull away by 2 1/4 lengths.

Over the winter, Synchrony had won the Grade 3 Fair Grounds Handicap and Grade 2 Mervin Muniz Memorial at 1 1/8 miles.

“We were kind of at a crossroads with him because he had won both stakes at Fair Grounds going a mile and an eighth,” Stidham said. “At Arlington I think the distance kind of took that punch away from him. So we learned from that.

“The mile and an eighth lets him give that nice turn of foot he’s got.”

Synchrony paid $3.40 as the favorite in the seven-horse Oceanport. He was timed in 1:42.05 over firm turf and covered the final sixteenth in 5.68 seconds.

Synchrony didn’t have the smoothest of journeys. He was bumped at the start and then on the far turn was racing near the rear of the pack with nowhere to go. Bravo bided his time until the stretch and the inside paths opened.

“He just shot through there like nobody’s business,” Bravo said.

Mo Maverick set the early pace on an open lead through slow fractions of 25.56 and 49.93. He was challenged by Doctor Mounty on the far turn, but neither had an answer for Synchrony’s stretch run.

Doctor Mounty held second by three-quarters of a length over Irish Strait, who lost early position when he was bumped hard at the start by Mo Maverick.