Race One Goes as Planned

Mo is officially back. Last night he made his first start at Pocono Downs in a Non Winners of 3 to 5 races lifetime. You know the old saying that ‘perception is reality’? Well, my perception of what this race would be like wasn’t really reality. I kind of expected Mo to fall into a relatively soft field and have a legitimate chance to win even coming off this long layoff. That wasn’t the reality, but now that I look back at it a day removed, that’s just fine.

The field he faced was actually chalk full of talent. The #1 horse, Mobile, won $110,000 as a 2 year old and like us was making his second charted race off of a layoff (he was off a month). The #2 horse, My Old Friend John, won $124,000 as a 2 year old and made a run at the Berry’s Creek stake a couple weeks back. He didn’t make the final after finishing 6th in his elimination race, but only got beat by 2 lengths. The #7 horse, Precious Medal, took in $98,000 as a 2 year old and was coming off two fast qualifiers as compared to Mo’s single qualifier. Toss in a hot 5 year old (Nuclear Joe Joe) coming off two straight 1.51.1 miles and you have the makings of a stakes race. Not an easy task for Mr. Mo off that long layoff.

In the end our driver, Joe Pavia Jr., did what was best for Mo: he took him to the back and raced him up easy before urging him to turn it on in the stretch. I have to be honest, though, it was kind of hard to watch him sit back like that. The in race emotion was ‘why is he so content to just sit back?’, but upon further review, there was no other way to do it. Mo needed this race to get tight and he did. After closing with the fastest last quarter of the bunch in 27.4, he flew at the leaders and took 4th, only getting beat by 2 and ½ lengths. A longer stretch and he probably would have caught one or two more, but in the long run, that really doesn’t matter. He dropped 2 more seconds off his qualifying time to pace in 1.53.1. That’s a nice first mile on that track.

Now things start to get really exciting. We’ll be entering Mr. Mo in the first leg of the Pennsylvania Sire Series next Thursday at the Meadows Racetrack near Pittsburgh. It will be a tough race, but will go for good money and after last night, I really feel Mo is ready. He will likely be facing much of the same types of horses as Mobile, My Old Friend John and Precious Medal (and potentially will actually see them). What’s more, Danny and I are flying out to cheer him on! It has been a long time since we’ve seen the colt. We will make sure to get some new pictures to put up on the site. Stay tuned, the draw is on Monday and after our perpetual outside post positions, we are due for a good one.