Mo Plex outruns Faster Gator in Bay Shore Stakes
?q=100)
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - The New York-bred Mo Plex earned a hard-fought head victory over a stubborn Maryland shipper Faster Gator to take Saturday’s $145,500 Bay Shore Stakes for 3-year-old sprinters at Aqueduct.
The win was the fourth from seven starts for Mo Plex and his third in a stakes race. Last summer, Mo Plex won the Grade 3 Sanford and the Funny Cide Stakes for New York-breds at Saratoga. While Mo Plex is eligible for the Mike Lee Stakes for New York-breds on June 4, the connections of Mo Plex are also thinking about the Grade 1 Woody Stephens three days later.
“Yes, we are. Why not?” Rick Higgins, part owner of Mo Plex, said Saturday.
In the Bay Shore, Mo Plex broke well and was sitting just outside of Faster Gator, under Arnaldo Bocachica. The two were within a half-length through a half-mile in 45.55 seconds.
Mo Plex and Faster Gator came into the stretch even and, though Faster Gator slipped away briefly, Mo Plex came back on again and got the narrow victory. It was one length back to the late-running Pascaline in third. Share the Ludt and McKellen completed the order of finish.
“Manny got him right where I wanted him - to the outside,” Higgins said. “We’ve been stuck inside in a couple of races, don’t like it at all. When he came around the corner, he had the outside and I felt pretty good.”
Mo Plex, a son of Complexity trained by Jeremiah Englehart, covered the seven furlongs in 1:21.96 and returned $4.60 to win.
“I got to give credit to [Faster Gator], he was tough to go by,” Franco said. “At the same time, I think my horse was running for me, so I was happy.”
Bocachica, even in defeat, was also happy with Faster Gator’s performance in his stakes debut.
“He was really game and he never gave up – the other horse just was better today,” Bocachica said. “My horse broke clean, was going comfortable the whole race, and I feel like I had horse underneath, he just wasn’t good enough today. No excuses. When I asked him, he responded, he just couldn’t beat the other horse.”
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.