Royal Mo led every step of the way to post an easy win in this five-horse affair.
Taking advantage of his rail draw, Royal Mo led through early fractions of :23.86 and :47.37 with the maiden Irap sitting just to his outside in a tracking second. Irap, a well-beaten second in last term's GI Los Alamitos Cash Call Futurity S., drew alongside Royal Mo at the top of the lane, but the pacesetter had plenty left in the tank for the stretch and drew clear late to win for fun.
Winning owner Jerry and Ann Moss and trainer John Shirreffs also campaign last year's GI FrontRunner S. hero and last month's game GIII Sham S. winner Gormley (Malibu Moon).
“This has been an amazing experience,” Moss said of his loaded handed of 3-year-olds. “We haven't had two horses in this position in a long time and it's fun. We're going to keep those two horses separated as long as we can. I'll have to talk to John [Shirreffs], but I think we'll go to Arkansas with one and stay here with the other. [Royal Mo] is almost 17 hands, but he's still got some growing to do. We really don't see anyone else coming up that scares us. This horse has been working great and the Derby is a great thing to dream about.”
Shirreffs added, “I was very happy with how he ran, the pace, the fractions, having that horse [Irap] outside of him, hooking him a little bit, so I think he showed a lot of character. You take it as it comes [when asked if he would keep Royal Mo and Gormley, ticketed for the GII San Felipe S. Mar. 11] apart. Obviously, you don't really want to run them together. We'll just have to see how it goes. I haven't spoken with Mr. Moss about that, so we'll see.”
Royal Mo dueled early and stayed on nicely in his debut sprinting at Del Mar Aug. 21, then blew the break and rallied impressively from the clouds to be a well-beaten second behind 'TDN Rising Star' Beach Bum (Arch) at Santa Anita Nov. 6. He returned three weeks later to wire a Del Mar maiden special weight in his two-turn debut last out.
Pedigree Notes:
Royal Mo, a $300,000 KEESEP yearling, was produced by ClassicStar Stable homebred Royal Irish Lass, a maiden of six career starts. In addition to the stakes winner Tara From the Cape (Leroidesanimaux {Brz}), the 14-year-old has also produced a 2-year-old filly by Malibu Moon, a yearling colt by Malibu Moon and was bred back to Honor Code. Royal Irish Lass brought $210,000 from Royal Mo's breeder Brandywine Farm at the 2012 KEENOV sale. Royal Mo's second dam is the grassy New York-bred millionaire Irish Linnet (Seattle Song).
Saturday, Santa Anita
ROBERT B. LEWIS S.-GIII, $150,000, SA, 2-4, 3yo, 1 1/16m, 1:43.48, ft.
1–#@ROYAL MO, 120, c, 3, by Uncle Mo
1st Dam: Royal Irish Lass, by Saint Ballado
2nd Dam: Irish Linnet, by Seattle Song
3rd Dam: Royal Slip (Ire), by Royal Match
($300,000 Ylg '15 KEESEP). O-Mr. & Mrs. Jerome Moss;
B-Brandywine Farm (Jim & Pam Robinson) (KY); T-John A.
Shirreffs; J-Victor Espinoza. $90,000. Lifetime Record: 4-2-2-0,
$144,200. *1/2 to Tara From the Cape (Leroidesanimaux
{Brz}), SW, $152,668. Werk Nick Rating: C+. Click for the
eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.[bullet ad=”brandywine-congratulations-to-the-moss-and-john-shirreffs”][bullet ad=”brandywine-bred-and-raised-by-jim-pam-robinson”][bullet ad=”mckathan-brothers-training-grad”][bullet ad=”kbif-g2g3″]2–Irap, 120, c, 3, Tiznow–Silken Cat, by Storm Cat. ($140,000
RNA Ylg '15 KEESEP; $300,000 2yo '16 OBSMAR). O-Reddam
Racing LLC; B-Aaron & Marie Jones (KY); T-Doug F. O'Neill.
$30,000.
3–Sheer Flattery, 120, c, 3, Flatter–Venus Rosewater, by Grand
Slam. ($100,000 2yo '16 OBSMAR). O-Thomas Barrow,
Richard Robertson & Jerry Hollendorfer; B-Amy Boulton (KY);
T-Jerry Hollendorfer. $18,000.[bullet ad=”crupi-trained”][bullet ad=”jelmchristina-purchased”]Margins: 3HF, NK, 2 1/4. Odds: 1.50, 4.20, 1.40.
Also Ran: Term of Art, Dangerfield. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
