Uncle Mo’s Bishops Bay Lives Up to Hype at Fair Grounds
Uncle Mo’s highly regarded Bishops Bay (3c Uncle Mo x Catch My Drift, by Pioneerof the Nile) lived up to the hype on Saturday with a debut victory at Fair Grounds.
Starting his career going six furlongs on the dirt, Bishops Bay broke well and was among the leaders as the field raced away from the gate. Going off at odds of 1-2, Bishops Bay wasn’t willing to lay back and kept pressure on the leader throughout the run with much of the field dropping back a few lengths to watch the battle.
In the stretch, his rival dropped back with just one other horse making any sort of serious challenge for the lead. Bishops Bay had to dig in to keep his advantage but didn’t show any inexperience when doing just that to win by three quarters of a length with the rest of the field over six lengths back.
A $450,000 purchase by the BSW/Crow Colts Group as a yearling, the colt is the 2,000th winner for trainer Brad Cox. Cox trains the colt for an ownership group that includes Spendthrift Farm, Steve Landers Racing, Martin Schwartz, Michael Dubb, Ten Strike Racing, Jim Bakke, Titletown Racing, Kueber Racing, Big Easy Racing, Winners Win, Michael Caruso and breeder and co-owner WinStar Farm.
Bishops Bay is a half-brother to the stakes placed Strava with the duo out of stakes winner and Grade I-placed Catch My Drift. The family also includes stakes winner and Grade I placed Brill among others.
Uncle Mo is in the midst of another banner year with five stakes winners and six stakes performers in the first month and a half of 2023 with those five stakes winners putting him second among all North American sires.