OCEANPORT, N.J. – Segesta got a perfect trip pressing a slow pace and needed every bit of it to win the Grade 3, $300,000 Matchmaker to kick off the Haskell Day stakes action Saturday at Monmouth Park.
Perched outside pacesetting No Mo Candy after melting into the great hands of jockey Irad Ortiz, Segesta tracked a half-mile split of 50.09, a walking pace over a firm Monmouth turf course, and from there the sprint was on. Picking up steam toward the end of the backstretch, the leaders ran their second half-mile in a little over 47 seconds, and coming to the three-sixteenths pole at the top of the stretch, Ortiz had barely moved on Segesta.
Ortiz, who praised his mount for relaxing so quickly and completely, said Segesta does not appreciate an aggressive approach from her jockey; thus, he waited as long as possible to do more than coax her forward. And when Ortiz asked, Segesta gave, taking the measure of No Mo Candy and running hard to hold clear a run from favored Sacred Wish.
Sacred Wish, the even-money favorite, didn’t break especially well, and while she made her way over the fence and into the pocket under John Velazquez, Sacred Wish was playing catch-up behind the slow tempo. Velazquez steered outside after turning for home and Sacred Wish finished strongly but fell a neck short of the winner.
Just behind her, Segesta’s Chad Brown-trained stablemate Grayosh turned in a strong performance. Much farther back at the half-mile pole than Sacred Wish, and rallying a few paths wide around the turn, Grayosh’s sustained bid carried her to within a nose of second, and her fourth quarter-mile in 22.86 was easily the race’s fastest.
Segesta completed the 1 1/8 miles in 1:49.17 (89 Beyer Speed Figure).
Brown owns this race. Segesta ($7.60) made it six straight Matchmakers for Brown and eight overall. He trains Segesta for her breeder, Juddmonte Farms, who mated Ghostzapper to their Grade 1-winning, Brown-trained mare Antonoe, by First Defence, to produce Segesta. Segesta won for the third time in eight starts and landed her second graded stakes after capturing the Grade 2 Wonder Again last season.
The Matchmaker, sponsored by WinStar Farm, awards the top three finishers a one-time breeding to the WinStar stallion Timberlake. Timberlake finished third here last summer in the Haskell Stakes. Segesta got the money in the Matchmaker.
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