Vives claims third straight Star Shoot win aboard Mony Mony

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Jockey Sofia Vives won the $125,250 Star Shoot Stakes for the third consecutive year at Woodbine Saturday aboard the Joe Sharp-trained shipper Mony Mony, who made the most of a speed-favoring track in the six-furlong dash.

Mony Mony broke on top and then shrugged off some early challengers to establish a comfortable lead on the turn, with Day to Day taking up the chase in second. The talented maiden Lakota Lady stalked along the inside in third and then took dead aim at Mony Mony in the stretch, but the latter dug in to score by a length, in a time of 1:11.02.

Day to Day weakened to finish another 5 1/4 lengths back in third. Edey, Golden Thread, Likely Story, and Nonna’s Love completed the order of finish in the race for 3-year-old fillies.

Vives won last year’s Star Shoot on Brindi and took the 2024 running with Sabatini. Mony Mony was coming off sagging sixth in the Serena’s Song Stakes at Turfway.

“When you’re on the lead, you gotta ride confident,” Vives said. “Her last start, she didn’t win on the lead. But I thought if we could get soft fractions today and just let her catch her breath and get her legs underneath her, with the way the track was playing today, it was really going to be in her favor.”

Mony Mony returned $5.90 as the favorite. The daughter of Munnings earned $75,000 in her first stakes tally for the partnership of Scott and Evan Dilworth and Randy Andrews.

:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.