A Mo Reay chases down Lovely Ride for victory

HOT SPRINGS — Someone finally caught Lovely Ride at Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort.

But until the last 70 yards of the mare’s third start of the meeting Saturday, one could not say that with confidence.

The Mistletoe and Pippin winner went for a stakes triple in the Grade III $250,000 Bayakoa. It took a Brad Cox trainee, no surprise, to deny Oaklawn leader Robertino Diodoro’s Candy Ride 5-year-old, owned in part by Little Rock attorney John Holleman. Cox came closest in the Mistletoe on Dec. 10 with the since-retired Coach, a past local stakes winner.

New Orleans shipper A Mo Reay won Saturday’s Bayakoa, ensuring that Uncle Mo sired the Oaklawn stakes winner a second straight week. The 2010 juvenile champion was also responsible for the winner in the Grade III $750,000 Southwest with Bob Baffert’s Kentucky Derby prospect Arabian Knight on Jan. 28.

Whereas the Baffert colt led throughout on a wet track, the Bayakoa winner closed against a lone leader over the first dry surface Oaklawn horsemen saw this week. The margin was a half-length, or .07 seconds, her first graded victory was worth $157,625.

“It’s funny. I was looking at the race and I think I had ridden four of them before and won on them, so I knew the field very well,” said Florent Geroux, A Mo Reay’s jockey. “It worked out great. I think the trip really helped. I was able to stay inside all the way; crept up a little bit on the backside. At the three-eighths pole, I ended up right behind the runner-up [Lovely Ride]. All I had to do was run her down, pass one horse. Very good filly. It was a nice battle all the way down the lane. But the last sixteenth of a mile, my filly made up the difference.”

A Mo Reay came off a Dec. 31 victory in the Pago Hop, taken off the Fair Grounds turf. Produced by a daughter of American Pharoah sire Pioneerof the Nile, she has won four of 11 starts for Hunter Valley Farm of Versailles, Ky.

The Bayakoa is named for a champion, one of trainer Ron McAnally’s best racemares and an Oaklawn stakes winner. A Mo Reay played her way into contention for the Grade II $350,000 Azeri March 11 at Oaklawn. The Azeri, at 1 1/16 miles, may see the 4-year-old debut of 2022 Oaklawn stakes winner and Eclipse Award finalist Secret Oath, trained by Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas,

Cristian Torres, breaking from outside in a six-horse field, took Lovely Ride to the lead, as expected, her ticket home in the Mistletoe mile and the 1 1/ 16-mile Pippin. They went six furlongs in 1:12.63, while others prepared their stretch bids on the turn.

“She got a good trip,” Cox said. “Florent, obviously, slipped up the inside and saved some ground. Ultimately, who knows? But it may have made the difference in winning and losing. Obviously, the runner-up [Lovely Ride] was very, very hard to get past.”

Circling the field as at Fair Grounds, Geroux took A Mo

Reay zeroed on the leader and it became a two-horse race. A slight favorite at 2-1, the Cox mare paid $6.20, $4 and $3, her 1 1/16 mile clocking in 1:45.07 under 3 pounds less (121) than Lovely Ride. Le Da Vida, a Chilean-born winner of seven races, finished third again, as in the Pippin, after being favored in both previous local starts as Lovely Ride.

“Any time you’ve got a speed horse in the race and another guy’s got two [trainer John Ortiz], it’s a part of the game,” Diodoro said. “I knew that was the play the last time — they were going to try to kill us with one of the [Ortiz horses]. It didn’t work. Just took enough starch out of her today.”

Cox’ previous stakes win at the meet came with 3-yearold colt Victory Formation in the Jan. 1 Smarty Jones mile. The trainer has so many Derby hopefuls — Victory Formation, by Tapwrit, unbeaten in three races for owners including Little Rock automobile dealer Frank Fletcher — that he is constantly updating which will start next time at Oaklawn, Fair Grounds or some other track. At this time last year, future Arkansas Derby and multiple Grade I winner Cyberknife had yet to emerge for Cox in New Orleans.

Eight-time Oaklawn riding champion Ricardo Santana Jr., working his way up the standings, had three winners Saturday — one each for trainers Rodolphe Brisset, Norm Casse and 12-time local champion and Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen.

Santana is fourth with 21 winners behind leader Cristian Torres (29), Francisco Arrieta (24) and Rafael Bejarano (23). Of the top four, Santana is riding at the highest win clip, 21%.

Diodoro leads the trainer standings with 23 victories, followed by Chris Hartman (17), Ron Moquett (11) and Asmussen, the latter approaching a North American record 10,000 career victories.