Spring return the plan for Conquest Mo Money

Conquest Mo Money could return to racing as early as next spring, with his long-range objective the 2018 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, co-owner Tom McKenna said Monday.

Conquest Mo Money last raced in May, finishing seventh in the Preakness. He was injured in a June workout and now is based at the New Mexico farm McKenna owns with his wife, Sandra.

“We’ll bring him back, probably late Sunland Park or Albuquerque,” McKenna said of the meets at home in New Mexico. “We’re just starting very light training with him.”

Sunland opens in December and runs into April, while the Downs at Albuquerque has a summer meet that typically runs from June through September.

Conquest Mo Money won the first three starts of his career at Sunland, including the $100,000 Riley Allison and $100,000 Mine That Bird Derby. He proceeded to run second in both the Grade 3, $800,000 Sunland Derby and Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby, and the McKennas supplemented him to the Triple Crown.

Conquest Mo Money was prepping for the Grade 2 Woody Stephens in June when he came out of a workout with what McKenna described as a “minor fracture” in one of his sesamoids and a suspensory ligament injury. The horse rehabbed in New Mexico.

“He’s doing excellent,” McKenna said. “We’re tickled to death and we hope we’re looking forward to the Breeders’ Cup.”

The Breeders’ Cup will be held at Churchill Downs in 2018.

Conquest Mo Money is a son of Uncle Mo who has won three of six starts and earned $508,900. He has won both of his mile starts, including an 11-length romp in the Riley Allison.