After Sanford Win, Hopeful Likely Next for Mo Strike

Nasser Bin Omairah's Mo Strike (Uncle Mo), winner of Saturday's GIII Sanford S., will likely make his next start in the Sept. 5 GI Hopeful S., trainer Brad Cox confirmed Sunday.

“He's great and looks fantastic. I think the right thing to do, from a timing standpoint, is to look at the Hopeful and work our way back from there,” Cox said Sunday. “I think we'll skip the [Aug. 13 GII] Saratoga Special, because it's asking a lot of him and this gives him more time. We brought him back quick off of his maiden win, so he'll have all summer here. It's a great place to be, so there's no rush.”

Mo Strike was Cox's third winner of the three-day old Saratoga meeting. The trainer will look to add to his graded tally in the coming weeks with Caravel (Mizzen Mat) looking to repeat in July 23 GIII Caress S. and Arklow (Arch) making his 8-year-old debut off a nine-month layoff in the July 31 GII Bowling Green S.

Caravel and Arklow both breezed over the Oklahoma turf training track Sunday, the former working a half-mile in :49.60 (24/52) with jockey Tyler Gaffalione up and the latter drilling five furlongs in 1:01.72 (2/15).

Cox said he was particularly impressed with the way Caravel has trained since her win in the June 10 GIII Intercontinental S.

“She was amazing. She was amazing last week [:47.22 (1/29)] and this week she was too, but a little more steady–a maintenance move,” Cox said. “Tyler was on her; he's worked her several times in Kentucky and she looks like she's set up for a big race Saturday. I don't know if we need to see any improvement from her, just more of the same. She likes it up here and we're hoping she can duplicate her run from last year.”

Arklow has not raced since finishing fifth in the GI Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at Belmont last October.

“It's a tall task off the layoff, but he's shown the ability to run really well off layoffs,” Cox said. “Last year, his first race back was in the Louisville H. and he won that. I'm pretty happy with how he's doing.”