Tres Abbott to assist in training of Conquest Mo Money

BALTIMORE - Owner Tom McKenna is sending Conquest Mo Money, who finished seventh in Saturday's Preakness, to the Fair Hill barn of trainer Tres Abbott for the summer.

Conquest Mo Money, who had previously finished second in both the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby and Grade 3 Sunland Derby, has been trained throughout his career by Miguel Hernandez, McKenna's private trainer.

Hernandez was based at Sunland Park during the winter and has about 25 horses for McKenna at Prairie Meadows, outside Des Moines, Iowa.

Conquest Mo Money is under consideration for the Belmont Stakes. If he runs in the third leg of the Triple Crown, Hernandez will be listed as trainer, according to Abbott.

:: 2017 Belmont Stakes Advance-Access packages

"I am going to work with Miguel to train him," Abbott said. "We're going to take it race by race."

McKenna visited the Fair Hill training center during Preakness week and spoke with several trainers regarding Conquest Mo Money. He ultimately selected Abbott to help train the colt.

"My horse is New York-bred and it makes sense to keep him in the East," McKenna said. "There are a lot of 3-year-old stakes coming up."

Conquest Mo Money was being vanned from Pimlico to Fair Hill on Sunday afternoon.

Abbott, 34, has 30 horses at Fair Hill. Before going out on his own in 2010, he worked for Sir Michael Stoute, Aidan O'Brien, and Todd Pletcher. He has won 60 races, including two graded stakes.

Since 2015, Abbott has worked closely with the horses of World Cup Alpine ski champion Bode Miller, who races as DB Dojo LLC. Abbott and Miller have won 14 races from 76 starts together, a win average of 18 percent.

The Elkton, Md., training center has a one-mile dirt track, a seven-eighths mile Tapeta synthetic surface, a seven-eighths mile turf course, and cross-country and turf gallops.

Conquest Mo Money did not break sharply in the Preakness, dropping farther off the pace set by Always Dreaming and Classic Empire than expected.

Jockey Jorge Carreno, who has ridden Conquest Mo Money in all six of his races, said his mount was not ready when the gates opened.

"We walked into the gate and they hit the button," Carreno said. "He was still moving forward and he lunged when the gate opened."

Conquest Mo Money, whom McKenna purchased for $8,500 at the Conquest Stables dispersal at the Keeneland November sale, has a 6-3-2-0 record and earnings of $508,000.