Mo Donegal, Zandon on Derby Trail in Aqueduct's Remsen

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 12/01/2021 - 13:45
Link: 
Mo Donegal, Zandon on Derby Trail in Aqueduct's Remsen
Image: 
Description: 

Photo: Coglianese Photos/Chelsea Durand
Mo Donegal runs down Fromanothamutha in a maiden race at Belmont Park

Those that didn't play Mo Donegal  and Zandon  in the first round of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager last week have another opportunity to back those colts, this time in competition in the $250,000 Remsen Stakes (G2) Dec. 4.

The 1 1/8-mile stakes is one of four graded contests Saturday at Aqueduct Racetrack. It provides qualifying points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby on a 10-4-2-1 scale to its top-four finishers.

Donegal Racing's Mo Donegal was more fancied of the two runners in the Kentucky Derby Future Wager, sent off at 37-1, compared to Jeff Drown's Zandon at 56-1. Their prices will be much shorter Saturday with the two colts likely to go off as the favorites among a cast of eight.

It's a race that Donegal Racing has previously won, capturing the 2011 edition with the Dale Romans-trained O'Prado Again .

Mo Donegal, by Uncle Mo  , stretched out from 6 1/2 furlongs to 1 1/16 miles to break his maiden second time out at Belmont Park Oct. 21. That followed a rallying third Sept. 30, also at Belmont.

Sign up for

Though Mo Donegal scored going away over fellow Remsen entrant Fromanothamutha , he didn't look the part of a winner until late. Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. needed to strike him with his riding crop on the turn to pick up the leaders, and only when straightened up in the lane did Mo Donegal produce the necessary acceleration. The Todd Pletcher trainee raced 1 1/16 miles in 1:44.50, earning a 97 Equibase Speed Figure.

"We feel like the mile and an eighth will suit him well," Pletcher said. "He had a good work at Belmont last week. It seems like the further he goes, the better he gets."

The Hall of Fame trainer captured the Remsen with Bluegrass Cat  (2005) and Overanalyze  (2012) for different owners.

Mo Donegal, bred by Ashview Farm and Colts Neck Stables, was bought for $250,000 from the Ashview Farm consignment at the 2020 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. He is out of the Pulpit  mare Callingmissbrown , who is out of the grade 1-winning millionaire Island Sand . 

Off a bit awkwardly in each of his two starts, Mo Donegal breaks from post 1.

Zandon (Upstart  ) hasn't yet routed but finished as a horse with staying power in winning his debut going six furlongs Oct. 9 at Belmont. After hitting the gate at the start, he stalked the pace in fourth along the inside and finished well once shifted outside the leader to surge ahead by 1 1/2 lengths. 

Trainer Chad Brown, who won the 2014 Remsen with Leave the Light On , believes Zandon will appreciate the added distance.

"He ran one time going six furlongs and he won, but I've always thought of him as a pure route horse," Brown said. "The fact that he was able to go three-quarters, I was quite impressed. I thought he would've been a late-running horse that would have needed a start, but he won. I was quite impressed by that because I don't think that's what he wants to do at all."

Zandon, a $170,000 purchase from last year's Keeneland September Yearling Sale from the Airdrie Stud consignment of breeder Brereton C. Jones, is out of the unraced Creative Cause   mare Memories Prevail . The dam is a half sister to turf stakes winners Cariba  (last year) and Cairo Memories (this year). 

Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey will seek a fifth Remsen victory when sending out Courtlandt Farms' Judge Davis , a last-out third in the Nashua Stakes (G3) Nov. 7 at Belmont.

Mr Jefferson , Eloquist , Who Hoo Thats Me , and Midnight Chrome  are other entrants.


Entries: Remsen S. (G2)

Aqueduct Racetrack, Saturday, December 04, 2021, Race 8

  • Grade II
  • 1 1/8m
  • Dirt
  • $250,000
  • 2 yo
  • 3:14 PM (local)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L
1 Mo Donegal (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Irad Ortiz, Jr. 118 Todd A. Pletcher -
2 Who Hoo Thats Me (NY) Trevor McCarthy 118 Jorge R. Abreu -
3 Judge Davis (KY) Jose L. Ortiz 118 Claude R. McGaughey III -
4 Fromanothamutha (KY) Manuel Franco 118 Raymond Handal -
5 Midnight Chrome (KY) Luis Saez 118 J. Tyler Servis -
6 Eloquist (KY) Dylan Davis 118 Robert E. Reid, Jr. -
7 Zandon (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Joel Rosario 118 Chad C. Brown -
8 Mr Jefferson (MD) Kendrick Carmouche 120 Michael J. Trombetta -