Uncle Mo’s Adare Manor Romps in G2 Zenyatta

It was another easy victory for Adare Manor (4f Uncle Mo x Brooklynsway, by Giant Gizmo) when she romped to a 5 ¼ length win in the Grade II Zenyatta Stakes.

Coaxed from the gate by Juan Hernandez, Adare Manor went straight to the front and opened over a length on the field as she coasted around Santa Anita Park. It was clear that Hernandez had all the confidence in the world in his mount when he took a look back as they raced into the stretch and Adare Manor proved him right.

The filly was never asked for her best down the stretch but still pulled away to a large margin with Cupid’s Desert Dawn a clear second place finisher when finishing 6 ¼ lengths ahead of the third placed runner.

“Today all the credit goes to my filly, to Bob (Baffert) and his team they brought her ready. She broke a little slow the last couple of times, but today she broke on her own, I didn’t even have to push her. She was just galloping around on the lead and I didn’t do much today,” Hernandez said.

This is the fifth straight victory for the Grade I winner, who has won four straight graded stakes races during that time. Trained by Bob Baffert for Michael Lund Petersen, Adare Manor has won seven of her 13 starts with four other on the board finishes for $981,600 in earnings.

“She had been training really well,” Baffert said. “Morgan who gets on her in the morning said she couldn’t get any better. She just keeps improving and we wanted to see something like this to see if we were going to take a crack at the Breeders’ Cup. So I think if she comes out of it well we will go for it.”

Bred by Town & Country Horse Farms and Gary Broad, Donato Lanni purchased Adare Manor for Petersen from Julie Davies for $375,000 as a 2-year-old at the OBS June 2-Year-Olds Sale.

Adare Manor was the first foal out of the Grade III winner and Grade II placed Brooklynsway. That mare is a three-quarter sister to stakes placed Giant Teddy with her dam producing three winners from four starters. This is also the family of multiple stakes winners Effie Trinket and Miss Bid Flash.

Brooklynsway had a colt by Uncle Mo on March 24 of this year.

Now headed to the Grade I Breeders’ Cup Distaff, Adare Manor is one of 13 stakes winners and 30 stakes performers by Uncle Mo this year, led by three Grade I winners. His 13 stakes winners puts him fourth on the General Sire list with his 30 stakes horses second best of all sires.