Another Mystery shows he's not done winning with Buck's Boy Handicap

Few Thoroughbreds can win a stakes race five years after their first victory, but that’s how things stand for Another Mystery following a hard-fought three-quarter-length victory Sunday at Hawthorne in the $75,000 Buck’s Boy Handicap.

Eight-year-old gelding Another Mystery, a Team Block homebred by Temple City out of Ioya Two, by Lord At War, won for the first time in May 2019. He won at least once in 2020, 2021, and 2022 before getting blanked in six 2023 starts. On Sunday, in his second 2024 outing, Another Mystery found the right spot capturing the Buck’s Boy, a turf route for older Illinois-breds, as the 120-pound highweight.

A graded-stakes class 1 1/2-mile turf horse in his heyday, Another Mystery ($5.60) is a mere head away from being 5-5 in Illinois-bred turf stakes. At one mile, the Buck’s Boy falls far short of Another Mystery’s ideal distance, and he needed nearly all the homestretch to wear down 59-1 pacesetter Man On Attack.

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Readthecliffnotes looked like the speed of the Buck’s Boy, but broke slowly and appeared to be struggling early over a yielding course, unable to contest the pace. That left Man On Attack loose on the lead through splits of 24.74 and 49.68, and at the head of Hawthorne’s daunting homestretch, Man On Attack had broken loose from the pressers and was opening a lead.

Another Mystery, never too far off the pace, began gaining momentum at the three-sixteenths pole, had two lengths to close at the stretch call, and finally asserted his class as Man On Attack wilted in the final half-furlong.

A wide margin, 4 1/2 lengths, separated the runner-up and third-place Silver Quarters, who closed from a distant last. Another Mystery completed his mile in a slow 1:38.83.

Orlando Mojica rode the aging winner for trainer Chris Block, whose racing seasons once revolved entirely around Arlington Park. That’s where Another Mystery won for the first time, before the Covid-19 pandemic, before the unraveling of the once-proud Chicago racing circuit. Arlington’s long gone, but Another Mystery still is going out and winning races.

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