G2 Dance Smartly Victory for Uncle Mo’s Mouffy

Shipping to Woodbine, George Strawbridge homebred Mouffy (5m Uncle Mo x Truly Together, by Smart Strike) won her second stakes in her last three starts Saturday with a win in the Grade II Dance Smartly Stakes.

Racing in the 1 1/16-mile turf race, Mouffy quickly dropped to the back of the field with just one horse beat. The mare moved inside a few other horses down the backstretch before floating out a little wider in midturn.

In the stretch, Mouffy still had plenty of ground to make up but a hole opened in front of her to make life easier going into the final furlong. It was a battle all the way to the line with another late closer making a serious challenge for the win, but the determined Mouffy stuck out her nose to win by a head in a photo finish.

Trained by Jonathan Thomas, Mouffy has won six of 14 starts with four other top two finishes. Among her wins are three stakes victories with two other placings at the graded stakes level as well.

A granddaughter of four-time Grade I winner Forever Together, Mouffy is one of three winners from three foals out of the Grade III-placed Truly Together. That mare is a full sister to the stakes placed Smart Together with those runners two of the five winners from seven runners produced by their dam.

Truly Together has a winning Uncle Mo 3-year-old named Uncle Truly as well.

This is the second stakes winner in three days for Uncle Mo, with the stallion also seeing Donegal Momentum win the Gio Ponti Stakes at Aqueduct.