Mo Town works, targets Remsen Stakes

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Mo Town, the promising 2-year-old who was scratched from the Grade 2 Nashua on Nov. 4 due to muscle soreness, returned to the work tab Thursday morning, breezing five furlongs in 1:01.21 at Belmont Park.

Mo Town picked up company in the workout, having to negotiate his way past a pair of Nick Zito-trained runners that broke off at the half-mile pole. Mo Town got his last quarter in 24.38 seconds and proceeded to gallop out six furlongs in 1:13.76, seven furlongs in 1:26.69, and a mile in 1:41.23.

Mo Town is training toward a start in the Grade 2, $300,000 Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct on Nov. 26.

“We wanted to get a good work out of him today,” trainer and part-owner Tony Dutrow said. “It’s been 11 or 12 days since his last one. We did want to get the big important workout in today and we’re very happy.”

Dutrow said exercise rider Carlos Martinez told him Mo Town felt “as good as ever.”

Mo Town, a son of Uncle Mo, won a one-mile maiden race by seven lengths at Belmont on Sept. 24. He was training toward a start in the Nashua when, after an Oct. 29 workout, he was found with soreness in his left gluteal muscle, which forced him to scratch from the Nashua. Dr. Steve Allday blistered that area two weeks ago.

“Dr. Allday was thinking it was nagging him,” Dutrow said. “We didn’t want to take a chance on it getting any worse on him going forward. We thought we’d clear that up and go for the Remsen.”

The Remsen, run at 1 1/8 miles around two turns, offers 17 qualifying points (10-4-2-1) to the top four finishers toward a berth in the Kentucky Derby.

“We definitely wanted to run him again,” Dutrow said. “Now we get to go in a race that carries points. It’s two turns. I’m thrilled with that.”