Mohs wins Hawthorne Derby, Bramble Queen takes Illini Princess
Saturday stakes racing in Stickney, Illinois, belonged to two horses in from New Jersey.
Mohs won the featured $100,000 Hawthorne Derby by one length over Grey Streak after traveling from trainer Patrick McBurney’s base at Monmouth Park.
Two races earlier, Monmouth-based Bramble Queen prevailed by a length over pacesetting Katie M’Lady in the $66,300 Illini Princess Stakes for Illinois-bred fillies and mares.
Jareth Loveberry, leading rider at Arlington over the summer and currently atop the Hawthorne standings, rode both winners over a Hawthorne grass course rated “good.”
Mohs, second choice by $243 behind Royal Prince, paid $6.80 to win while running 1 1/8 miles in 1:50.32. Breaking from the outside gate in a field reduced to six by Last Samurai’s scratch, Mohs was taken to the back of the field by Loveberry, a change in style for a horse whose best races had come on or near the lead. But Mohs didn’t mind.
The horses raced in three sets of two down the backstretch and into the far turn, Royal Prince and Temper Tantrum going past the half-mile in a moderate 50.32 seconds. Loveberry saved ground and bided his time spinning around the far turn, and when Grey Streak vacated the rail at the five-sixteenths pole, Mohs scooted up the fence and into position. Coming willingly through a large gap between Temper Tantrum and a tiring Royal Prince, Mohs made the lead at the sixteenth pole and held clear Grey Streak, who finished with interest on the outside. Temper Tantrum stayed on well for third, less than a length behind Grey Streak, as Royal Prince, several lengths farther behind, edged Battle Scars for fourth, Modus Operandi bringing up the rear.
McBurney, who never had started a horse at Hawthorne, trains Mohs for owners ABL Stable, Dominic Bossone, Peter Donnelly, and W. Oberdorff. Mohs, purchased at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October yearling sale for $70,000, is by Hard Spun out of Bag of Jewelz, by A.P. Indy. His sister, Grandaria, is a two-time stakes winner.
Bramble Queen, meanwhile, won the Illini Princess for the second year in a row and also benefitted from an astute Loveberry ride. Breaking from the rail, Bramble Queen settled into a good rhythm while saving ground racing fifth around the first turn and down the backstretch. Loveberry waited for the outside pressers to fade away, then brought Bramble Queen outside 3-year-old Katie M’Lady, who held off her older rival until the final half-furlong before succumbing in the final stages.
Bramble Queen paid $5.20 to win and was timed in 1:42.70 for 1 1/16 miles. Longshot Embarrassing was along to finish third.
Mike Dini, who used to be based in Chicago, trains Bramble Queen, a homebred, for Balybrit Stable. The 6-year-old mare, now an 11-time winner from 37 starts, is by Silent Name out of Regal Rose, by Empire Maker.