Mo Dont No Put Up in Steel Valley Sprint

House horse Mo Dont No picked up some help from above to register his fourth straight win and sixth in his past seven starts Monday, Nov. 21, when he was placed first by the stewards in the $200,000 Steel Valley Sprint Stakes at a snow-speckled Mahoning Valley Race Course.

Ohio-bred Mo Dont No entered the six-furlong Steel Valley Sprint in top form with three stakes wins (one black-type) over other state-breds since July 4 at Thistledown and Mahoning Valley. On Monday the son of Uncle Mo would face an open field of other accomplished 3-year-old sprinters drawn from throughout the country by the lucrative purse.

At the finish, it seemed the connections and backers of Loooch Racing Stables' Mo Dont No would have to settle for a strong runner-up finish as Awesome Banner reached the wire two lengths in front. But a jockey's objection from Mo Dont No's rider Luis Colon would prove productive as the stewards determined Awesome Banner interfered with Mo Dont No in early stretch.

Jacks or Better Farm homebred Awesome Banner turned for home with the lead with Mo Dont No racing to his outside. Racing about two lengths off the rail, Awesome Banner appeared to react to a single left-handed whip from his jockey Tyler Gaffalione and moves out a couple of paths. The stewards determined the drifting out bothered Mo Dont No, who steadied slightly. They disqualified the winner to second.

"He (Awesome Banner and jockey Tyler Gaffalione) came out right in front of me at the eighth pole, I had to grab my horse and angle him out, and it definitely cost us our momentum," Colon said. "You hate to see anyone lose a race on a DQ, but it happened and I am glad the stewards agreed." 

Gary and Mary West's Bandwidth, sent off the 6-5 favorite, finished third and earned his first stakes placing.

Winning trainer Jeffrey Radosevich has a versatile horse on his hands in Mo Dont No who successfully cut back in distance off a narrow victory in the 1 1/4-mile Best of Ohio Endurance Stakes Oct. 29 at Mahoning Valley where he won in track-record time of 2:08.53. Since July 4, Mo Dont No now boasts three wins at six furlongs, two victories at 1 1/4 miles, and one win at 1 1/8 miles.

With the most lucrative victory of his career Monday, Mo Dont No saw his seasonal earnings surpass $400,000 with eight wins and two seconds in 11 2016 starts.

Bred in Ohio by Beechwood Racing Stable, Mo Dont No is out of the grade III-winning Defrere mare Lilah, who also has produced grade I-placed Big Blue Nation.

Grade II winner Awesome Banner appeared to have his sixth stakes win of the season in pocket before the DQ. 

A race before the Steel Valley Sprint, Godolphin Racing homebred Regia Marina rallied from eighth to score a clear victory in the $75,000 Hollywood Gaming Mahoning Distaff Stakes for fillies and mares. Trained by Eoin Harty and guided to victory by Albin Jimenez, Regia Marina, a 4-year-old Medaglia d'Oro   filly, secured the first stakes win of her career.

Earlier this season Regia Marina picked up a grade III placing when she dead-heated for third in the Seaway Stakes at Woodbine.

Multiple handle records, including total single day handle and multiple single-race and single-pool handle records highlighted the second Steel Valley Sprint program this year. The total day's handle on the nine-race program of $1,395,031 bested the previous benchmark by more than $150,000.  

"We are pleased with the numbers posted," said vice president of Ohio Racing for Penn Gaming Mark Loewe. "Today's card had several strong performances as well as several very competitive races featuring big fields and they were well received by our horse racing fans and bettors."