Aunt Mo's connections taking a shot in deep Starlet Stakes

Last weekend, Aunt Mo, the dazzling maiden race winner by nine lengths at Del Mar on Nov. 10, seemed unlikely to start in Saturday’s Grade 2 Starlet Stakes at Los Alamitos.

By mid-week, the partnership that owns the filly and trainer Peter Eurton had reversed course.

“Owners change their minds,” Eurton said. “Where else am I going to go with her? I’d have to wait until January.”

To start in the $200,000 Starlet at 1 1/16 miles, the group that owns Aunt Mo – Abbondanza Racing, Gino Roncelli, West Coast Racing, Neil Haymes, and William Strauss – paid $7,500 to supplement the filly to the race.

They were encouraged by Aunt Mo’s win on Nov. 10 in her first start at a mile.

“She’s doing well, and that’s a big reason,” Eurton said of the hefty investment. “She ran so damn well.”

Aunt Mo, who was third and second in her first two starts in maiden races for sprinters, will start from the inside post in a tough running of the Starlet Stakes. The field includes Vodka With a Twist, who was second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Del Mar on Nov. 1, as well as the stakes winners Nooni, Practical Dream, and Tenma.

Look Forward, another sharp maiden race winner at Del Mar last month, was also supplemented to the Starlet.

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Aunt Mo will be ridden for the first time by Umberto Rispoli, a replacement for Hector Berrios, who is not riding the Los Alamitos December meeting.

Aunt Mo led throughout her win on Nov. 10, but Eurton said she is not reliant on that style.

“Hopefully, she’s got some versatility,” he said. “There will be some speed.”

Asked where he would like to see Aunt Mo in the running of the Starlet, Eurton had a quick response.

“In front, the second time past the wire,” he said.

With an inside draw, Eurton expects Aunt Mo to be forward early.

“I want her in a comfortable position,” he said. “I don’t think she has to be on the lead. We’ll help her out of there and see what everyone else does.”

The Starlet is the last graded stakes of the year for 2-year-ld fillies, and will provide clues as to where Aunt Mo rates in the California division as 2025 nears. The maiden race win has led to a buzz surrounding the filly.

“She’s always felt like a filly that had a bit of stamina,” Eurton said. “No one could have imagined her to run that well.”

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