Mo Strike Another Juvenile Stakes Winner for Uncle Mo

Uncle Mo earned a second 2022 juvenile stakes winner on Saturday when Mo Strike (2c Uncle Mo x Featherbed, by Smart Strike) won the Grade III Sanford Stakes by 3 ½ lengths two weeks after Gulfport’s Listed Bashford Manor win.

Making his second career start, Mo Strike immediately took up a position pushing the leader in the six-furlong race. That one gave in as they turned into the stretch but Mo Strike still had work to do and wasn’t willing to give in.

Pressured by another front runner, he dueled that one inside the furlong pole but that duel proved to be deceiving when he got serious about his job. In only a matter of strides, Mo Strike was all alone for a 3 ½ length victory under Florent Geroux.

Bred by Blue Heaven Farm and Ashford Stud, Mo Strike was a $325,000 OBS Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds purchase earlier this year for his racing owner Nasser Bin Omairah from Gene Recio and is trained by Brad Cox.

"He galloped out really well in his first run and he's a pretty intelligent horse," Cox said. "I think he can stretch a bit – I'm not going to say he's going to go a mile and a quarter just yet, but he's a nice horse that I think his biggest asset is his mind."

Mo Strike’s dam Featherbed was a Saratoga stakes winner and Grade I-placed racemare herself and is also the dam of the Grade III-winning Dynamic Impact. This is also the family of Eclipse Champion Turf Mare Rushing Fall and Grade I winner Albert The Great.

Uncle Mo is now tied with Triple Crown winner Justify atop the Leading 2-Year-Old Sires list with both stallions having two stakes winners. In July alone, Uncle Mo has had four stakes winners with 10 stakes winners and 27 stakes horses overall in 2022.