By Brian DiDonato
Mo Tom (Uncle Mo) might be more highly regarded than any other horse to have ever run third, fourth and eighth in his last three outings, and he'll get another chance to run to the hype in Saturday's $500,000 Ohio Derby at Thistledown. The Tom Amoss pupil kicked off his sophomore campaign with an auspicious come-from-behind victory over fellow G M B Racing colorbearer and recent GII Woody Stephens S. hero Tom's Ready (More Than Ready) in the GIII LeComte S. in New Orleans Jan. 16. Things didn't go as well after that. He was stymied badly in the lane of the Feb. 20 GII Risen Star S., only to fly home for third, and had a similarly nightmarish trip when fourth in the Louisiana Derby Mar. 26. Having accrued enough points to still make it into the May 7 GI Kentucky Derby, the dark bay was pretty much eliminated on the far turn when subsequent GI Belmont S. hero Creator (Tapit) forced him to steady sharply, but he regained his composure to run on from there into eighth. The third, fourth and fifth finishers from Belmont's May 14 GII Peter Pan S. run here--Wild About Deb (Eskendereya), Adventist (Any Given Saturday) and Decorated Soldier (Proud Citizen)–but it's tough to know with any certainty how to read the form of that event. Winner Unified (Candy Ride {Arg}) was up the track at short odds in Monmouth's GIII Pegasus S. last Saturday, but runner-up Governor Malibu (Malibu Moon) ran very well to fourth in the Belmont after enduring a Mo Tom-like trip. Cocked and Loaded (Colonel John) annexed Churchill's GII Iroquois S. routing last September before finishing fifth in the productive GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Oct. 31. A distant third behind Unified in the GIII Bay Shore S. over a sloppy seven furlongs at Aqueduct Apr. 9, he finished very far back in both the GIII Pat Day Mile on Derby day and in the grassy GIII Arlington Classic S. May 28.
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