Mo Plex

A two-horse race in the wagering played out exactly as the public saw it going with Sacrosanct (Honest Mischief) getting the best of his GSW/GISP rival Mo Plex (Complexity) in Sunday's Sleepy Hollow Stakes to kick off the stakes action for Empire Showcase Day at Belmont's Aqueduct meet. A debut winner at Saratoga, Sacrosanct unleashed on the field in the Bertram F. Bongard Stakes last out Sept. 22, wiring an over-matched group by 12 lengths to set up Sunday's showdown in a step up in distance facing Mo Plex who...

After breaking his maiden impressively facing New York-breds at Aqueduct June 20, Mo Plex jumped right into stakes company and took the GIII Sanford Stakes in gate to wire fashion on opening weekend at Saratoga July 13. Coming in with the clear class advantage as the sole stakes winner in the field, the even-money favorite, used to setting the tempo, was outrun from the outside gate by In the Chase (Weekend Hideaway) and had to settle for an outside stalking trip while fanned out wide. Not able to save much...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N. Y. - Before summer at Saratoga began, eternally young Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas was confident his young horses would make him proud before the 40-day meet ended on Labor Day. The clock is ticking. Lukas has had one disappointment after another with his 2-year-olds. "I thought that a couple of them that I liked would have broken their maidens by now," Lukas said, sitting in his office at his barn at the Oklahoma Training Track. "I was looking for one of them to jump...

Kyle Zorn considers himself and his partners Travis Durr and Kristian Villante to be a group of big thinkers. The trio set out with some pretty high expectations for themselves when they formed Legion Bloodstock three years ago, but looking back now, they never could have predicted the initial success that their partnership has enjoyed. Over the next few days in Saratoga, Legion Bloodstock's handiwork will be on full display. Their biggest find to date, Grade II winner Honor Marie (Honor Code), takes on the GI Travers Stakes, but there...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Back at his office on the Oklahoma Training Track Wednesday morning, Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott was trying to describe the four-furlong work he had just seen from his 3-year-old colt Batten Down (Tapit). "Wooosh," was one of the sounds he made. "Phhhffftt," was another. The cartoon melodies made by Mott were, supposedly, offered to show how impressive the grey/roan Batten Down looked to him. Batten Down was timed in :48 (2/13) in the move on the Oklahoma Training Track. It was his first work...

There can't be many tracks that that deviate further from the standard American model than Goodwood. Even in Britain nobody today would dream of laying out a racecourse along a twisting ridge of downland, and we remain duly indebted to the militia officers who first eked out a little sport here 223 years ago. Not that the horses themselves share our appreciation for a gorgeous panorama of cornfields and woodland, focused as they are on keeping their balance over the swaying terrain and round sharp right-hand bends. Yet last week...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.--Trainer Jeremiah Englehart has some time to figure out what to do next with GIII Sanford Stakes winner Mo Plex (Complexity). The 2-year-old colt came out of his one-length Sanford win last Saturday in good shape, Englehart said Thursday outside his barn at the Oklahoma Annex. Now he has to decide when we'll see Mo Plex again. The options are the six-furlong, $200,000 Funny Cide for New York-breds on Aug. 25 or the seven-furlong, $300,000 GI Hopeful on Sept. 2, closing day. "I am definitely not ruling out...

At this point in the season, a freshman sire can hardly do better than to win Saratoga's--and the nation's--first graded stakes of the year for 2-year-olds. When that young stallion also leads the nation's first-crop sires in winners with 12 (75% of starters), he's signaling he might be something special. With that kind of start, it's no surprise Airdrie Stud's Complexity, a son of Maclean's Music, is firmly on top of the freshman stallion list at this early juncture. He's also currently leading all sires, regardless of number of crops,...

3rd-Saratoga, $90,000, (S), Msw, 7-17, 2yo, f, 5 1/2f, 1:05.08, ft, 10 3/4 lengths. BELLACOSE (f, 2, Audible--Little Bullet, by Uncle Mo) continued a very positive start to the current meet for this barn, which was represented by GIII Sanford Stakes winner Mo Plex (Complexity) last Saturday. The 32-5 betting alternative to odds-on Vehemente (Vekoma), Bellacose won the break beneath Manny Franco and galloped his seven fellow firsters through an opening quarter in :22.20. With Vehemente improving one spot to try to take the race to the pacesetter nearing the...

When GIII Sanford Stakes morning-line choice Mentee (City of Light) was scratched Saturday morning, it might have been assumed the race had lost some of its luster, but apparently no one told Mo Plex (c, 2, Complexity--Mo Joy, by Uncle Mo), who was featured in TDN's Saratoga Notebook Friday. The New York-bred Jeremiah Englehart trainee went gate to wire to stay undefeated and give his freshman sire (by Maclean's Music) his first graded win. Studlydoright (Nyquist) and Three Echos (Echo Town) each suffered bumps at the break, but kicked on...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY -- It's a tossup as to what is the biggest sporting event this weekend for trainer Jeremiah Englehart. The choices are these: the $175,000 GIII Sanford Stakes at Saratoga Race Course on Saturday or the Vermont Lacrosse Classic two and a half hours away in the town of Essex. Come again? Englehart will do double duty because three of his five kids are in the lacrosse travel tournament. He wont miss that. And he can't be absent from the Spa because he has to to saddle Mo...

2nd-Belmont The Big A, $75,000, (S), Msw, 6-20, 2yo, 5 1/2f, 1:05.05, ft, 10 lengths. MO PLEX (c, 2, Complexity--Mo Joy, by Uncle Mo), sent off at even money from his high draw, was hustled into contention as Man From Malta (Honest Mischief) cut out an opening quarter in :22.16. Narrowly in front approaching the quarter pole, the favorite was given his cue by Irad Ortiz Jr. straightening for home, and the New York bred shot clear late, scoring by 10 lengths over fellow firster Chasing Colton (Leofric). With the...