On paper, there were multiple reasons to like A Mo Reay in Saturday’s $500,000 Grade I Beholder Mile at Santa Anita.
— She was coming off the first graded-stakes victory of her career, signifying the 4-year-old filly was improving as she matured.
— She’s trained by Brad Cox, who knows a thing or two about horses and doesn’t ship out of state unless he’s confident of a strong effort.
— Flavien Prat, who’s emerged from perhaps the worst slump of his career since moving his business to the U.S., had the riding assignment. When Cox and Prat hook up, they win at a 38% clip.
That success rate is a little higher today after Prat guided A Mo Reay to victory by a head over 6-5 favorite Fun to Dream. Final time was 1:36.25 over a main track labeled “good” as the winner remained unbeaten in three starts for Cox, who took over training duties in late December.
A daughter of Uncle Mo, A Mo Reay debuted for Cox with a victory in the ungraded Pago Hop Stakes at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans on Dec. 31 and then tuned up for the Beholder with a win in the Grade III Bayakoa Stakes at Oaklawn Park on Feb. 4.
“When you end up winning, it is always better,” said Prat, who won two other races on the card and got up in the late stages to nail the favorite at the wire. “She really dug in when it was time to run and she was traveling well all around. I watched her previous race and I talked to Brad (who watched the race from Oaklawn) and he was really high on her and really wanted her in this race. He was right.”
Sent postward at the generous odds of 7-1, A Mo Reay raised her career earnings to $692,650 with the winner’s share of $300,000. Overall, she’s won five of 12 starts with one second and two-thirds.
“Brad has a great team and they all did a fantastic job,” said Adrian Regan, part of the winning ownership group that races as Hunter Valley Farm. “It’s the first Grade I in our colors, so it’s special. It is just great for the farm, everybody at home. It is unbelievable, really.”
Fun to Dream, trained by Bob Baffert, saw her four-race winning streak end in a disappointing way. She’d won the Grade I La Brea Stakes and Grade II Santa Monica during Santa Anita’s Classic meet. She was the only Cal-bred in the eight-horse field.
San Carlos Stakes
Spirit of Makena outfinished 9-5 favorite Forbidden Kingdom by 1 1/2 lengths in the $200,000 Grade III sprint after the two ran first and second throughout the 7-furlong race.
The winner, sent postward at 5-2, won for the third time in four starts, running the distance in 1:22.06 for trainer George Papaprodromou and jockey Joe Bravo.
Forbidden Kingdom is winless in five starts since his win in the San Felipe Stakes nearly a year ago.