Season Review: Synchronize Snares the Prize

It was a season overflowing with tangerine black-type success - the 198 wins so far this season (plus that Group 1 victory and whisper Group 1 second in Australia by Imperatriz) is already a national record.  Of those domestic wins, 33 have been Group/Listed and we are truly proud of our successful stakes' winners.

Today it is the turn of Savabeel mare Synchronize to step into the limelight of the season almost complete ... 

Nine-time Champion Trainer Mark Walker worked his magic with Synchronize (4 m Savabeel - Splits, by O'Reilly) winning the $100,000 Hallmark Stud Handicap (Listed, 1200m) on Boxing Day at Pukekohe.

Impressive winning over 1400 metres in May at Rotorua, Synchronize bled when resuming in August at Taupo, but showed she was back on track when unwinding nicely for second in a trial on 12 December at Avondale.

An absolutely beautiful looking mare, Synchronize has any amount of ability, has won four of eight starts, and with this performance, added an invaluable stakes' success.

Settled beyond midfield by Craig Zackey, Synchronize was stifled for room but once clear inside the 200 metres she put paid to her opponents in a few strides.

“They wanted to see her settled and breathing and I was in a good position,” said Zackey, the former South African Champion Apprentice who recorded his previous stakes' win aboard stable-mate Prise De Fer (Savabeel) in the Eagle Technology Stakes (Gr. 3, 1600m). 

Synchronize was purchased by David Ellis CNZM for $280,000 at the 2020 Karaka Book 1 Sale, from the draft of Waikato Stud, and is owned by Te Akau Flexibeel Racing Partnership (Mgr: Karyn Fenton-Ellis MNZM).

Ellis also purchased Festivity (5 m I Am Invincible), who won the corresponding race last season as a five-year-old mare. 

“She was a beautiful yearling, and is an exciting horse, and to win black type with a Savabeel mare is just a dream come true especially for her owners,” Ellis said. 

“It's not an easy race to win, but thank you to Mark & Vicki, and Denny Baker, they're a champion family and we've been doing business together with Hallmark Stud since 1985. You would not meet better people involved in New Zealand racing and to win the race they sponsor is a real honour.” 

Synchronize is a granddaughter of Joint top filly on the 2005-06 NZ 3YO Free Handicaps Legs (Pins - River Century, by Centaine), who recorded Group One wins in the New Zealand Oaks (2400m) and Kelt Capital Stakes (2040m), 

Although unraced, her dam, Splits (O'Reilly), is a sister to Te Akau trained Spring Classic (Listed, 2000m) winner Wolfwhistle.

At stud, grand-dam Legs has left six individual winners of 19 races, including Te Akau trained Scrutinize (Savabeel), an impressive debut winning two-year-old who was stakes' placed at three before an injury-enforced retirement (he is living out his days in luxury at Te Akau Stud).

It is also the family of Te Akau trained 2000 Guineas (Gr. 1, 1600m) winner Xtravagant (Pentire), now standing at Newhaven Park, N.S.W. and proving a successful sire in Australia.

Synchronize concluded the 2022/23 season with a record of four wins from her 14 career starts, with almost $100,000 in prize money.

Previous wins for Te Akau in the Hallmark Stud Handicap (Listed, 1200m):

2022 - Festivity (I Am Invincible)