A Mo Reay 12th Grade I Winner for Uncle Mo
A Mo Reay (4f Uncle Mo x Margaret Reay, by Pioneerof the Nile) became the 12th Grade I winner for her sire on Saturday with a determined victory in the Grade I Beholder Mile at Santa Anita.
Shipping in to race a mile on the dirt for trainer Brad Cox, A Mo Reay raced a few paths wide just a length behind the leader in the middle of the tightly packed field. It wasn’t until the turn that Flavien Prat asked A Mo Reay to step up the pace and the serious work began.
A Mo Reay had one horse to chase down in the stretch but with every stride, she cut into the margin and was even with the leader in the shadow of the wire. A last second surge was exactly what she needed to get her head in front and secure her third straight stakes victory.
“She really dug in when it was time to run, and she was travelling well all the way around. I watched her previous race and I talked to Brad (Cox) and he was really high on her and really wanted her in this race. He was right,” Prat said.
Purchased last November at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale for $400,000, A Mo Reay races for Hunter Valley Farm and is now the winner of five of 12 starts for $692,650 in earnings.
Out of the Grade III placed Margaret Reay, A Mo Reay was bred in Kentucky by T & G Farm of Kentucky as one of two winners from three to race out of her dam. Margaret Reay herself is a half-sister to the stakes winning Lezendary and out of a half-sister to the dam of Grade I winner Wonder Lady Anne L.
Uncle Mo’s six stakes winners in 2023 puts him second among all North American sires while his 12 Grade I winners is 10th best among all active sires with each stallion ahead of him having at least one more crop.