New York-bred Mo Plex back to winning ways in Listed Bay Shore

R and H Stable’s New York-bred Mo Plex returned to winning form with a hard-fought head score under Manny Franco in Saturday’s Listed $150,000 Bay Shore, a seven-furlong sprint for sophomores, at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Trained by Jeremiah Englehart, the Complexity colt showed star power as a juvenile by winning his first three starts, all at sprint distances from the outermost post 7, including the Grade 3 Sanford and state-bred Funny Cide presented by Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital at Saratoga Race Course.

Mo Plex completed his 2-year-old campaign with on-the-board efforts here traveling a one-turn mile in the Grade 1 Champagne and state-bred Sleepy Hollow. He entered Saturday’s test from a close third in his seasonal debut in the local one-mile state-bred Gander on March 8.

Englehart said Mo Plex, who exited post 4-of-5 carrying a field-high 123 pounds – five pounds more than each of his rivals, proved tenacious in victory.

“Any time that you get a horse who looks very precocious as a 2-year-old, and goes on and wins his first three races, obviously he's going to be running against tougher competition,” Englehart said. “He got beat a couple of times, but if you look at who beat him, they are no slouches. His last race was his first race off a layoff going a flat mile. You want them to back up what you think of them, and I'm glad to get another ‘W,’ and kind of re-affirm what we have thought all along about him." 

Faster Gator, who entered a perfect 2-for-2 at Laurel Park, made the lead from post 3 under Arnaldo Bocachica but it was Mo Plex who pressured from the outside and put a head in front through an opening quarter-mile in 23.09 seconds over the fast main track.

Pascaline attempted an inside move approaching the turn with Share the Ludt and McKellen trying wide bids as Faster Gator battled back to gain a half-length advantage after a half-mile in 45.55. Mo Plex put his head back in front at the stretch call, but a stubborn Faster Gator continued to find more as the field straightened away. However, Mo Plex, game and determined, would not be denied the narrow win in a final time of 1:21.96. Pascaline completed the trifecta with Share the Ludt and the Hall of Famer Javier Castellano-piloted McKellen rounding out the order of finish.

Franco tipped his cap to the Anthony Farrior-trained Faster Gator.

“You’ve got to give credit to the horse from Anthony – he was tough to go by, but at the same time, I feel my horse was running for me, so I was happy,” Franco said. “I was happy with where I was. The three horse [Faster Gator] broke on top, I let him take it and just sit right next to him and put the pressure.

“I knew that I got Javier outside, so he wanted to get close to me and I let my horse go a little bit. I had a lot of horse under me the whole way,” Franco continued. “He’s getting more mature, more intelligent. He liked to get out before, but now it seems like he’s straightening out a lot better this year.”

Bocachica said Faster Gator performed admirably in his first start outside of Laurel Park.

“He was really game and he never gave up – the other horse just was better today,” Bocachica said. “My horse broke clean, was going comfortable the whole race, and I feel like I had horse underneath, he just wasn’t good enough today. No excuses. When I asked him, he responded, he just couldn’t beat the other horse.”

Rick Higgins, winning co-owner of Mo Plex, confirmed they would consider a potential start in the seven-furlong Grade 1, $500,000 Woody Stephens presented by Mohegan Sun on June 7 during the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga Race Course.

“It’s a great race for moving forward, no question about it,” Higgins said of the Bay Shore win. “I think distance is an issue… I think seven furlongs may be his sweet spot, but we’ll see. Maybe we’ll stretch him out a little come summertime.”

Bred by Everything’s Cricket Racing, Mo Plex banked $82,500 in victory while improving his record to 7-4-1-2. He returned $4.60 for a $2 win bet. Mo Plex was a $45,000 purchase at last year’s OBS Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training and is out of the unraced Uncle Mo mare Mo Joy, a half-sister to dual stakes-placed Little Daddy.

Live racing will resume Wednesday at the Big A with an eight-race card. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern. 

America’s Day at the Races will present live coverage and analysis of the Aqueduct Racetrack spring meet on the networks of FOX Sports. For the broadcast schedule and channel finder, visit https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/tv-schedule/.
 
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