Conquest Mo Money to rehab in New Mexico

Preakness starter Conquest Mo Money is scheduled to arrive in New Mexico next week to rehab from injuries he sustained while preparing for the Grade 2 Woody Stephens on the June 10 Belmont Stakes card. The progress he makes will dictate whether he returns to the races at Zia Park, which opens in September and runs into December, or Sunland Park, which starts its season on the heels of Zia.

“We’re not going to push him,” said Tom McKenna, who races Conquest Mo Money with his wife, Sandra.

Conquest Mo Money was diagnosed with a “minor fracture” in one of his sesamoids as well as a suspensory ligament injury following a three-eighths work June 2 at his Fair Hill Training Center base in Elkton, Md. McKenna said the horse underwent surgery Wednesday at the New Bolton Center to place a screw in the sesamoid and is presently in the care of the Fair Hill-based trainer Tres Abbott III.

“Conquest Mo Money is 100 percent on the mend,” McKenna said Friday. “He’s still with Tres out in Baltimore. We’ll do follow up [exams] and bring him out here to rehab.”

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The McKennas have a farm near Fort Sumner, N.M., the town famous as the site where the outlaw Billy the Kid was killed and buried. Tom McKenna said the county’s population is small, with about 1,500 residents.

“Mo Money is a really big deal,” he said of the horse’s popularity in the area located midway between the New Mexico cities of Clovis and Albuquerque.

The McKennas supplemented Conquest Mo Money to the Triple Crown at a cost of $150,000, targeting him for the Preakness following his runner-up effort to champion Classic Empire in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby.

Conquest Mo Money finished seventh in the Preakness, beaten 6 1/4 lengths. Earlier in the year, the $8,500 auction buy won his first three career races at Sunland, including two stakes, before finishing second to Hence in the Grade 3, $800,000 Sunland Derby. Conquest Mo Money has earned more than $500,000.

“We couldn’t ask for anything better,” Tom McKenna said. “He tries hard every time the gate opens. He had a bad trip at the Preakness. I think he’s got a lot of career ahead of him. We’ve been getting calls to put him to stud, but right now there’s too much racing possibility.”

McKenna said veterinarians have indicated that the horse should make a full recovery and miss about eight months of racing. McKenna had said immediately after the work that he was looking forward to the Woody Stephens.

“It was just a freak thing,” McKenna said. “He came back perfect. We were on cloud nine, sitting where we needed to be. Back at the barn that afternoon, he had a little swelling. An [ultrasound] didn’t show much, but we knew we had a problem.”

Miguel Hernandez has trained Conquest Mo Money throughout his career and is presently based at Prairie Meadows. Hernandez will resume training Conquest Mo Money following the horse’s rehabilitation, McKenna said.

Mine That Bird at SunRay

Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird and his trainer, Chip Woolley, are scheduled to make a special appearance Sunday at SunRay Park in Farmington, N.M. Mine That Bird won the Kentucky Derby in 2009 after being based in New Mexico and inspired the film “50-1.” The meet closes Monday.

SunRay will distribute free autographed photos of Woolley, who lives near the track in Bloomfield, N.M.

Mine That Bird raced for Leonard Blach of Buena Suerte Equine and Mark Allen of the Double Eagle Ranch. Hall of Fame jockey Calvin Borel rode the horse in the Kentucky Derby.

Dead heats in major races at Ruidoso

Ruidoso Downs put on its first round of major stakes for Quarter Horses last weekend, and both Grade 1, $1 million races resulted in dead heats for the win. In the Ruidoso Derby on June 10, Tough to Bee ($20.20) and Magical Jess ($16) hit the wire together, each earning $240,000. It was a nose back to High Plains Perry in third.

In the Ruidoso Futurity, Eagle Jazz ($3.80) and Uptown Dynasty ($14.60) finished first, a length in front of third-place finisher This is a Deal Too. The winners each earned $300,000.