Alex and JoAnn Lieblong's Mo For the Money (Uncle Mo), an impressive 5 1/2-length winner of an allowance event at Oaklawn Sunday, has thrived since arriving to Oaklawn, trainer Tony Dutrow said Thursday.
“He's a horse that we really like,” commented Dutrow. “[We took] him to Belmont Park the first time, and he ran the right way–beat some nice colts. But, his next two races, he was so speed crazy.”
Mo For the Money–the first Oaklawn winner sired by champion Uncle Mo–captured his Oct. 28 debut at Belmont by a half-length over subsequent graduate Seymourdini (Bernardini) and closed out his 2-year-old campaign with a third-place finish in the Nov. 27 Kings Swan S. at Aqueduct. Dutrow noted that the horse has successfully slowed down in his training since arriving to Oaklawn, resulting in a better ability to rate off the pace in sprints and possibly stretch out to route distances.
“Joe Rocco had been on him a couple of times and the horse relaxed, let the speed go and finished up,” Dutrow added. “I think the only problem we had was a young horse that was aggressive. Now, I think he's grown up a little bit and matured some. His last race proved it. I do believe the horse will go long.”
Dutrow said that he does not have any concrete plans for Mo for the Money's next start.
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