Mo Cash challenges older, faster sprinters in Big Drama

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Mo Cash is a stakes winner and the only undefeated horse in Saturday’s $100,000 Big Drama Stakes at Gulfstream Park. He’s also the only 3-year-old in the field of 10 sprint specialists, a fact that likely will move most handicappers to look elsewhere for the winner of the seven-furlong stakes restricted to Florida-breds.

Mo Cash is already an overachiever, having won his debut under a $35,000 claiming tag by nine lengths on Jan. 27. He has added two subsequent victories, both at seven furlongs, defeating starter-allowance competition by nearly four lengths on Feb. 20 before earning a hard-fought, neck decision over the more seasoned Salute With Honor in the Sophomore Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs. All three of Mo Cash’s victories have come against 3-year-olds.

“He trained well enough in the morning prior to his first start, but we didn’t give much for him at the June sale, so when he was ready, the race for $35,000 came up, we threw him in there, and to be honest, his performance was a little more than I expected,” said Ron Spatz, who trains Mo Cash for Marco Thoroughbred Corp. “The starter-allowance stakes was a good spot for his next start, and he ran very well again. I nominated him here for the Spectacular Bid, and when it didn’t fill, Tampa was our next option, and I thought he showed a lot of grit winning the way he did that day.”

Spatz said facing older horses in the Big Drama will be a difficult task for Mo Cash but added that “we just ran out of options for him at the present time.”

“These are more difficult horses than he’s been facing, and Beyer-wise, he’s in the second group, not the first,” said Spatz. “You always like to keep an undefeated horse undefeated, and this isn’t the best spot to do that. But we think we have a pretty nice horse, he keeps moving forward with every start, and if he can do that again, we’re expecting another big effort.”

The Big Drama will reunite the first three finishers – Abounding Legacy, French Quarter, and Richard the Great – from a very competitive second-level optional $62,500 claiming sprint at six furlongs over a wet track April 23. Abounding Legacy rallied off a hot pace to post a neck decision that day, his first victory since capturing the Trinniberg Stakes here 10 months earlier.

Hy Riverside and Louisiana invader Wildcat Wish, like Mo Cash, are stakes winners this season. Hy Riverside captured the Sunshine Millions Classic going 1 1/8 miles in January. Wildcat Wish, haltered for $50,000 last fall at Gulfstream Park West, won a restricted stakes going a mile at Delta Downs on Jan. 21.

Big Drama, Race 10

KEY CONTENDERS

Abounding Legacy, by Flashstorm

Last 3 Beyers: 78-82-75

◗ He stretches out to his most effective distance, having captured three of his five career starts at seven furlongs.

Hy Riverside, by Macho Uno

Last 3 Beyers: 88-85-80

◗ He has kept the best company of late, having competed in three graded stakes following his victory in the Sunshine Millions Classic, and has never been worse than fourth in seven tries going seven furlongs.