Amoss Seeks Clear Sailing For Mo Tom
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Photo: Lou Hodges Jr. / Hodges Photography
Mo Tom
Tom Amoss is a son of Louisiana with deep roots as he prepares to attempt to win the biggest race in the Bayou, the $1 million Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby (gr. II) March 26 at Fair Grounds Race Course and Slots.
Amoss will be saddling morning-line favorite Mo Tom for the race, and has on his side his parents as well as New Orleans Saints owners Gayle and Tom Benson, who own the Uncle Mo colt under Gayle's G M B Racing banner.
"The local fans come out to see this horse and I don't want to let them down," Amoss said during a National Thoroughbred Racing Association conference call March 22
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Mo Tom was most recently third in the Veterans Ford Risen Star Sakes (gr. II) after an eventful trip. A confirmed closer, Mo Tom, out of the Rubiano mare Caroni, is at the mercy of the pace and traffic. The latter got him in the Risen Star.
"The race set up well with good speed up front," Amoss noted. "We moved at the three-eighths pole and (jockey) Corey Lanerie decided to go inside. A tiring horse drifted in and made contact and broke our momentum, but Mo Tom finished furiously. He's a determined horse and I thought he would have won without the trouble. He has a devastating kick and we hope to show the rest of the world Saturday."
Mo Tom will have to outkick Risen Star winner Gun Runner, who drew the rail here, and Greenpointcrusader, who enters off the Jan. 30 Lambholm South Holy Bull Stakes (gr. II) at Gulfstream Park, in which he finished second to Mohaymen.Candy My Boy, who set the pace in the Risen Star, drew just inside of Mo Tom in the five hole for the Derby. He had drawn the outside post in the Risen Star.
"He might not need to be used as much on Saturday from that post," Amoss said, "so he's going to be a concern for us as well."
David Fiske, racing manager for Winchell Thoroughbreds, which owns Gun Runner in partnership with Three Chimneys Farm, said he hopes the son of Candy Ride continues to move forward off the Risen Star victory, which was his 2016 debut.
"He's been touting himself all year in his training," said Fiske. "We were just looking for a good effort in the Risen Star and we got it. He fired a bullet last week (five furlongs in 1:00 3/5). He's got to keep getting faster. The rail might hurt a bit but we like where we are with him."