Adare Manor 13th Grade I Winner for Uncle Mo
It was a Coolmore-sired 1-2 finish in the Grade I Clement L. Hirsch Stakes on Saturday when Adare Manor (4f Uncle Mo x Brooklynsway, by Giant Gizmo) beat Desert Dawn (4f Cupid x Ashley’s Glory, by Honour and Glory) by a length.
Looking for her fourth straight victory and first at the Grade I level, Adare Manor tracked Elm Drive around Del Mar in the 1 1/16 mile dirt race. Jockey Juan Hernandez started getting serious on the filly just outside the final quarter mile and the chase was on.
Adare Manor had the lead by the final sixteenth and started pulling away from there. A late run from Desert Dawn, who had been the back marker for most of the race saw her secure second late with a 1 ½ length margin on the third placed runner in the end.
“At the quarter pole I asked her to pick it up and she exploded again to the wire. She is a big filly; sometimes it takes a couple jumps to keep her momentum. She is the best. She was faster than me and so I sit quiet saving my horse till the last stretch. She (stays on) pretty well; she is really kind,” Hernandez said.
It was the sixth victory for the Michael Lund Petersen runner, who now has $861,600 in earnings. Trained by Bob Baffert after Donato Lanni purchased her for $375,000 as a juvenile from Julie Davies, she has finished in the top three in six graded stakes with four of those including trips to the winner’s circle.
Bred by Town and Country Horse Farms and Gary Broad, Adare Manor is out of the Grade III winning Brooklynsway. That mare is a three-quarter sister to the stakes placed Giant Teddy and out of a half-sister to multiple stakes winner Effie Trinket.
Brooklynsway foaled a colt by Uncle Mo this year.
Uncle Mo’s two Grade I winners in 2023 puts him third among all North American sires with his daughter A Mo Reay winning the Grade I Beholder Mile in March. In all, Uncle Mo has 13 Grade I winners – putting him 10th among all active North American sires as the youngest in the top 10 - and 93 stakes winners overall with 164 stakes performers.