USA TODAY International Edition
After skipping Derby, Conquest Mo Money a Preakness contender
BALTIMORE After announcing he wouldn’t pay the $ 200,000 fee to supplement his Conquest Mo Money into the Kentucky Derby, owner Tom McKenna said he “got all kinds of feedback.”
“Some pro, some con,” McKenna said Wednesday morning after watching his horse gallop at Pimlico Race Course. “There were a lot of questions.”
Conquest Mo Money had enough points to qualify for the Kentucky Derby after finishing second behind Classic Empire in the April 15 Arkansas Derby, but McKenna cited two reasons for skipping the Run for the Roses and heading to this Saturday’s Preakness Stakes.
For one, he thought the threeweek gap between the Arkansas Derby and Kentucky Derby was too short for Conquest Mo Money. Second, he didn’t like the prospect of a 20- horse field at Churchill Downs in Louisville.
“It’s bumper cars,” McKenna said of the Kentucky Derby. “It’s the trip, not the race. Here, this is a race. … I still think I made the right choice, especially after it rained ( before the Kentucky Derby). Had I entered, I probably would have scratched anyway.”
Conquest Mo Money will get his chance in a Triple Crown race Saturday and is expected to be a key Preakness player, especially in the early- pace setup. Conquest Mo Money drew post No. 10, and his odds were set at 15- 1.
McKenna and trainer Miguel Hernandez said Wednesday that they expected Conquest Mo Money to be near the front early, likely contesting for the lead with Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming and Classic Empire.
Conquest Mo Money set the pace in the Arkansas Derby before being caught at the wire by Classic Empire, losing by a halflength.
“I like the track,” McKenna said of Pimlico. “I think it will play well to us. It’s a pretty firm track with tight turns. But there are a lot of good horses.”
That Conquest Mo Money or McKenna or Hernandez are even here was a bit of a long shot.
Mark Casse, trainer of Classic Empire, originally helped purchase Conquest Mo Money — a son of Uncle Mo — for Conquest Stables for $ 180,000 in August 2015. When Conquest Stables got out of the racing business and had a dispersal sale at Keeneland last November, McKenna purchased him for $ 8,500.
“I had him,” Casse said. “But he kept getting a little of this and that. We never got him up close enough to the races. He just had baby ankles and stuff.”
It wasn’t necessarily love at first sight for Hernandez, either. “In the beginning, he was kind of lazy,” Hernandez said. “Still, he’s kind of lazy. But once he started working 5 furlongs, he showed a different attitude and started running better and better.”
Conquest Mo Money won his first three races at Sunland Park, including the Mine That Bird Derby on Feb. 26. He finished second behind Hence in the Sun- land Derby.
McKenna said the horse has continued to improve since the Arkansas Derby. “As well as he’s training right now, I don’t know what to expect,” said McKenna, who says he raises horses “the cowboy way” and Wednesday was sporting a large belt buckle promoting Sunland Park Racetrack and Casino. “But he won’t embarrass us. I guarantee that.”
Hernandez has his first Preakness horse after going into training in 2013. He was a successful jockey before a spill at Ruidoso Downs in July 2013 resulted in a broken back and knocked him out of riding. McKenna was one of the first to call and offered Hernandez a few horses to train. Now he trains 26 horses for McKenna and is excited for his first chance in a Triple Crown race.
“It’s like, ‘ OK, am I dreaming?’ ” Hernandez said. “My wife, my kids are like, ‘ Hey, Miguel, are you sure you’re OK? You’re not nervous?’ I’m kind of cool. This is new for us, and it’s a big race. Maybe a few minutes before the race I’ll be shaking. Right now it’s just something I never thought would happen in my life.”