Uncle Mo’s Carressa Wins Grade III Megahertz
Carressa (4f Uncle Mo x Iplaytricks, by Desert God) became the 53rd stakes winner for her brilliant sire Uncle Mo on Monday when winning the Grade III Megahertz Stakes on her stakes debut.
Racing over a mile on the turf at Santa Anita, John Shirreffs-trained Carressa broke well on the rail under Victor Espinoza and quickly placed herself two wide just a few lengths behind the leader. As they raced their way down the backstretch, Espinoza moved her closer before confronting Brill in the far turn.
Carressa raced into the stretch with the lead and wasn’t going to give it up, pulling away from multiple challenges in the final furlong to win by three quarters of a length.
“Now she can run in the dirt or the turf so they have many races to run, she’s been impressive and she is on her game. When a horse is getting good and starts winning it’s hard to get beat, they don’t come very often like Carressa that can run on both surfaces,” Espinoza said.
Owned by Mercedes Stables, West Point Thoroughbred, Scott Dilworth, Dorothy Ingordo, David Ingordo, and Steve Mooney, Carressa has won three of her last four starts with a second in that non-win. The filly has finished in the top two in four of her six starts overall for nearly $140,000 in earnings.
The filly was a $125,000 Keeneland September purchase by West Point Thoroughbreds and Vosburgh from Taylor Made Sales Agency and was bred by Michael Stinson. The first foal out of four-time stakes winner Iplaytricks, Carressa also has a 3-year-old half-sister by American Pharoah named Rawwani.
Carressa is the third graded stakes winner bred on the Uncle Mo x Fappiano granddaughter cross, led by Grade I winner Unbridled Mo with five stakes horses overall out of nine runners.
The leading sire of his generation, Uncle Mo is already the sire of four stakes horses including two graded stakes winners in 2020.