Donegal Momentum Goes All The Way in Gio Ponti

It was a second straight victory for Uncle Mo’s Donegal Momentum (3c Uncle Mo x Moon Dash, by Malibu Moon) on Thursday with a win in the Gio Ponti Stakes at Aqueduct.

The Thomas Morley trainee was immediately sent to the front by Kendrick Carmouche in the one-mile turf race from the third widest gate and given duties as pacemaker in that position. Happily rated by his jockey, he kept a little over a length between himself and the rest of the field while racing comfortably.

Carmouche urged him on nearing the quarter pole and asked him with the whip as they turned into the stretch. Donegal Momentum never gave up the lead, digging in to win by two lengths at the line with Churchill’s Take Me To Church losing second by just a neck to finish third.

“He was pretty much floating along. I was riding him, but he was just floating. By the time I Iooked underneath my arm past the three-sixteenths, I just cocked my whip, and he still had the same stride. The stride on this horse is so smooth. I never felt one like this in a while on the grass that just glides over the top. He’s pretty cool to ride,” said Carmouche

Donegal Momentum has won three of five starts with a second as well for Donegal Racing. That operation went to $375,000 to buy him from Stone Farm at Keeneland September in 2022.

Jerry Crawford was excited about the colt’s performance and expects more from him in 2025.

“He’s absolutely at least as good on the dirt as he is on turf,” Crawford said. “We’ll probably keep entering on turf in big races and hope we get a little precipitation sometimes because not everybody can do what he can from a versatility standpoint. We’ll let him tell us [regarding a next start] as opposed to forcing a decision. He could be a really special 4-year-old. You don’t want to plan the next race as much as the next year.”

Bred by Speedway Stable, he is out of the stakes placed Moon Dash. That Malibu Moon mare has seen both her runners win at least one race, following in her stakes winning dam’s footsteps with In The Slips producing five winners from seven to race.

Donegal Momentum is the 13th stakes winner of the year for Uncle Mo, putting him third among all North American sires with his 26 stakes performers good for sixth in the group.