Mor Spirit Can Become Top Miler With Met Mile Score

One year can be an eternity in the narrative of a racehorse, and Mor Spirit, a bay or brown ridgling by Eskendereya, is embarking on the second act of his running career, an act far different than his opening performances a year ago, when he was prepping for the Triple Crown series and a stretch out in distances.

Mor Spirit, owned by Pandora Jewelry magnate Michael Lund Petersen, won or finished second in his first seven starts, including a victory in the Los Alamitos Futurity (G1) late in 2015. Sent to the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) after a score in the Robert B. Lewis Stakes (G3), Mor Spirit saw his streak come to a close with a 10th-place finish. He was then given a long freshening by trainer Bob Baffert and re-emerged late last season to run fourth in the Malibu Stakes (G1) at seven furlongs.

Baffert has kept Mor Spirit in one-mile and 1 1/16-mile races since, and he has responded with a strong second in the San Antonio Stakes (G2), and victories in the Essex Handicap and Steve Sexton Mile Stakes (G3). Those efforts set him up for a run in the June 10 Mohegan Sun Metropolitan Handicap (G1) at Belmont Park.

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"Because he got the time off after the Derby, I believe that’s why he’s turned into the horse he is today," Petersen said. "He needed time to grow into himself, and that was a blessing in disguise, because it seems all the other horses from his 3-year-old class are retired already."

Lund, as he is known to his friends back home, grew up next to a racetrack in Copenhagen, Denmark, where he became a regular at the races as a teenager, attracted both by a little wagering and the beauty of the horses. Intrigued, he kept it in mind to perhaps get involved in the sport down the road somewhere.

That road led to his opening up the U.S. market for Pandora, which was started by his friend Per Enevoldsen in Denmark. Today Pandora produces some 80 million pieces of jewelry annually and is the biggest jewelry company in the world, which led Lund into Thoroughbred ownership. His One Lucky Dane, named by his wife for Lund ("She thought I was one lucky son of a gun"), finished second behind Dortmund in the Santa Anita Derby (G1) and earned enough points for a run in the Kentucky Derby only to be injured a week before the race in 2015.

"I have learned that being an owner is a lot of heartache and heartbreak," Lund noted. "I’ve bought about 20 horses over the last few years and am down to three now. Some never made the races, which is something I didn’t think about watching the horses back in Copenhagen."

But Mor Spirit is carrying more than his share of the load. The Sexton victory moved him up to more than $1 million in purse earnings and  Baffert has shown time and again his ability to transform horses as they move through their careers. A victory in the Met Mile would turn Mor Spirit into a stallion candidate, particularly since he is out of Im a Dixie Girl, a stakes winner herself and part of a producing female family.

Mor Spirit was also named by Lund’s wife, but in honor of his mother. "My mom’s name is Mor," Lund said, "and she is a passionate and enthusiastic lady. So after my wife met my mother, she came up with Mor Spirit, because if the horse has the same spirit as my mom, we couldn’t go wrong.”

Lund, who lives in the Maryland horse country outside Baltimore near Sagamore Farm, brought a coterie of friends to the Derby last year to watch Mor Spirit, but says he will be attending the Met Mile solo.

"I have been fortunate getting horses to qualify for two Kentucky Derbys," Lund said. "The Derby experience with Mor Spirit was great, even though the race was a disappointment. We had a great time with friends, but I’ve been gun-shy about inviting friends back to the races. But I’m feeling the excitement for this one. My adrenaline pumped up a bit when I read that he was made the morning-line favorite for the Met Mile."

Although a stallion deal would be nice, Lund is more excited about Mor Spirit as a racehorse.

"I didn’t get into this to make money," he noted. "I just wanted to have fun."

With Pandora bracelets still selling big worldwide, Lund doesn’t have to rely on his horses to do anything except perform and make memories, much like his jewelry. And with Baffert guiding Mor Spirit through this new phase of his career, he might just become a keepsake for Lund that keeps delivering like a charm.