Moon Colony Rockets to Victory in Penn Mile
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Photo: B & D Photography
Moon Colony wins the Penn Mile at Penn National Race Course
John Oxley's Moon Colony planted his victory flag June 1, taking the $500,000 Penn Mile Stakes (G2T) at Penn National Race Course with a late-running charge down the rail.
Making his first start since finishing fifth in the Jan. 5 Kitten's Joy Stakes at Gulfstream Park, the Mark Casse trainee—guided by jockey Julien Leparoux—could not have timed his rally more perfectly in Saturday's one-mile turf test, winning at odds of 9-1.
All eyes were on two-time stakes-placed Real News, who broke on top to put the seven other horses through their paces. Running just off the rail, Real News was stalked by graded stakes winner and favorite A Thread of Blue as he set fractions of :22.71 and :47.60 through a half-mile. Extending his lead to a length, Real News showed no signs of slowing down as six furlongs went in 1:12.63. A Thread of Blue maintained the chase, followed by Forty Under and Casa Creed to his outside, as they entered the far turn.
Forty Under dropped back at the top of the stretch, and Moon Colony, who had been edging closer to the leaders on the rail, was urged forward by Leparoux and made his bid for the lead. Casa Creed moved up to challenge on the outside of Real News, and the three pounded toward the finish.
Kicking hard to the wire, Moon Colony pulled ahead of Real News and won by 1 1/14 lengths in 1:37.45. A fast-closing Casa Creed got up for second, followed by Real News in third. A Thread of Blue, Fluminense, The Black Album, Conative, and Forty Under completed the order of finish.
"He had a freshener since January. He was doing great, and Mark was telling me how good he's been breezing," said Leparoux. "Today, it worked out perfectly. We had a great trip on the fence. It worked out perfect today.
"I wanted to save the ground. With the one hole, anyway, it was the best thing to do. I kind of made one run. We went pretty quick the first part of the race, so that was good for me. By the half-mile pole, I was just cruising behind them. I just needed room. The draw worked out perfect because the (leaders) were favorites, so I was behind good horses, and it just opened up for me. It was a perfect trip. That was a good field."
"You know what? He's a pretty good horse," said Casse, who also won the Penn Mile in 2016 with Catch a Glimpse. "He was kind of an underachiever early on. I thought his last race at Gulfstream was really good. We brought him home to our training center, and I saw a different horse. I thought he'd run really well.
"What made me really feel good (was that) Julien had a lot of horse. He had a really good work at Belmont with an older horse named Mo Diddley, and he kind of played with Mo Diddley, and Mo Diddley ran seven-eighths (and won) at Belmont yesterday in 1:21. To outwork an older horse like that, I knew he was sitting on a really good race.
"The race has been good to us. I like it. It's a nice place where there's no home-field advantage. When you ship into New York, those guys have an edge over you, and at Penn National, there's no home-field advantage. It's a good turf course, and I like it. Yes, I do."
Moon Colony is the 50th black-type winner for his sire, Ashford Stud stallion Uncle Mo .
Bred in Kentucky by St. Elias Stables, Moon Colony is the seventh foal out of the Carson City mare Promenade Girl, herself a graded stakes winner on the dirt. Moon Colony is a half brother to three-time grade 1-winning mare Cavorting and to Thirstforlife, who was grade 2-placed in the 2016 Best Pal Stakes at Del Mar. Promenade Girl has a yearling Tapit filly and a Liam's Map filly who was foaled Feb. 4.
A graduate of the 2017 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Moon Colony was purchased by Oxley for $400,000 from the consignment of Trackside Farm. The bay colt has three wins in seven starts and $370,635 in earnings.