My Miss Mo meets Jumping the Gun again in Monmouth Oaks
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My Miss Mo and Jumping the Gun, the winner and runner-up of the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan in May, will square off again in the Grade 3 Monmouth Oaks on Saturday. While Jumping the Gun has delivered a career-best performance since, My Miss Mo will return from a short layoff for Saffie Joseph Jr.
After My Miss Mo made her overdue breakthrough in stakes company at Laurel Park, Joseph did not feel the need to rush her back into action in June. The filly had seen plenty of action in Florida over the winter, finishing second in two Grade 2 races. At one point, the plan was to bring her back in the Grade 1 Coaching Club America Oaks on Saturday at Saratoga.
“We were always going to go to the Coaching Club or the Monmouth Oaks, and the Coaching Club came up tough, so we thought the Monmouth Oaks was the better option to run her back,” Joseph said.
Instead of taking on heavy hitters in New York, My Miss Mo will come back to face Jumping the Gun, who is still looking for her first win as a 3-year-old.
In the Grade 3 Delaware Oaks last month, the Andy Simoff-trained filly made yet another compelling bid on her home track and earned a career-best 90 Beyer Speed Figure, but came up short again behind Luv Your Neighbor. Since winning two stakes in her first three races as a juvenile, she has finished in the money without another score in five straight starts.
“She came back perfect” from the Delaware Oaks, Simoff said. “She never missed a beat. Had a few real nice workouts. I used to work her in company because she was a little bit lazy, but now she works by herself in 48 and 1:01, so she’s really learned what it’s all about. I think it’s just maturity. She was a little younger then and a little greener, and now she knows what it’s all about.”
Joseph and Simoff both expressed concern about the presence of Zany in the field of 10 3-year-old fillies. Trainer Todd Pletcher said he will decide Friday whether the cross-entered contender will run at Monmouth or in the CCA Oaks at Saratoga. She will make her first start since finishing sixth as the beaten favorite in the Kentucky Oaks.
“I thought she ran a little bit flat” in the Oaks, Pletcher said. “I think she’s better than that. We were a little disappointed, but hopefully we regroup and get her back to her best.”
Pletcher said he is adding blinkers in the hopes of getting her “a little more dialed in.”
Pashmina, who finished 11th in the Kentucky Oaks for Rob Atras, was pegged as a contender in the Delaware Oaks but failed to fire. Atras has not seen anything to suspect long-term regression.
“She’s always very good in the morning,” Atras said. “We didn’t really have a sure spot picked out for her, but I was very happy with her last two works and we had her nominated to this race. I think she fits with that group if she runs her ‘A’ race.”
Trainer Mike Gorham said Wednesday that Miss Fulton Gal will scratch at Monmouth in favor of the CCA Oaks.
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