Mojovation's better breeze puts him in Futurity
RACE REPLAY IS NOT AVAILABLE
ELMONT, N.Y. – Mojovation took himself out of consideration for a start in last weekend’s Grade 1 Champagne Stakes when, in the estimation of his trainer Todd Pletcher, he didn’t work up to par.
Mojovation put himself in the entry box for a start in next Saturday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Futurity at Belmont Park with a better breeze over Belmont Park’s training track.
Mojovation was one of six 2-year-olds entered Monday in the Futurity, a six-furlong race that shares billing on Saturday’s 10-race card with the $200,000 Pebbles Stakes for 3-year-old fillies on turf.
An impressive debut winner at Saratoga on July 29, Mojovation finished seventh, beaten 19 1/4 lengths, in the Grade 1 Hopeful.
“He didn’t break well, didn’t react well to the kickback,” Pletcher said.
On Sept. 29, Pletcher worked Mojovation in blinkers, but wasn’t particularly pleased with the move. Last Saturday, Mojovation worked a half-mile in 48.90 seconds in company with Adorable Miss. Mojovation galloped out five furlongs in 1:02.32 and pulled up six furlongs in 1:16.26.
Pletcher said the work “was more of what we were hoping to see than we did in his previous breeze.”
Mojovation drew post 4 and will be ridden by John Velazquez in the Futurity.
Among those entered was the filly Happy Like a Fool, who ran second in the Grade 2 Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot. Trainer Wesley Ward said he would enter Happy Like a Fool back in Sunday’s Grade 2 Matron Stakes for 2-year-old fillies and is likely to run her there instead.
Also entered in the Futurity were Red Peril, Barry Lee, Smooth B, and Engage.
