MESA MOON TAKES FEATURE ALLOWANCE, WINNING FOR THIRD TIME THIS SEASON AT REMINGTON PARK
A star is forming in the barn of trainer Scott Young and that nova appears to be Mesa Moon, who won for the third time in five tries, taking the feature race Tuesday at Remington Park.
It seems that 3-year-old gelding Mesa Moon has inherited some of the running talent possessed by his sire (father), Sky Mesa. All Sky Mesa did was win the Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga and the Grade 2 Lane’s End Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland in 2002 before running second in the Grade 1 Haskell as a 3-year-old, behind winner Peace Rules. Sky Mesa finished ahead of Kentucky Derby winner Funny Cide in that race.
Now comes Mesa Moon at Remington Park. This son of Sky Mesa, out of the Smarty Jones mare Creative Spirit has more blue blood than fills every mansion in Kentucky. The only horse that Mesa Moon has lost to since he moved to Young’s barn and to rider Floyd Wethey, Jr., was two-time Oklahoma Horse of the Year, millionaire Welder, who owns multiple track records at Remington Park. Last time out on Oct. 16, Mesa Moon went off 2-1 against Welder in the $130,000 Oklahoma Classics Sprint and finished second, four lengths back. That’s as close as any horse has run to Welder on the dirt this year.
Mesa Moon came back in Tuesday’s second-level allowance race for Oklahoma-breds and rightly was sent off as the 1-5 heavy betting favorite in the seven-furlong sprint. He won going away by five lengths over runner-up Euromantic (6-1), who was another 1-1/4 lengths ahead of third-place runner Sweet Medicine (29-1).
When Mesa Moon wins, he wins for fun. In his three victories, he has won by a combined 25 lengths. He broke his maiden at Remington Park by nine lengths on Aug. 22, his first try out of Young’s barn, in a six-furlong sprint. He won at the same distance next time out at Remington, clearing the rest of the field by 11 lengths. He went virtually wire-to-wire after breaking poorly Tuesday afternoon, setting fractions of :22.45 for the first quarter-mile, :44.82 for the half-mile, 1:09.94 for three quarters of a mile and stopping the timer in 1:23.41 over a sloppy track.
The biggest indicator that Mesa Moon was going to run huge after losing to Welder was two workouts at Remington Park on Nov. 8 and 15 when he got the bullet both days (best workout at the distance) going five furlongs in 1:00.33 handily and then four furlongs in :48.21 handily, respectively on those two dates. Everything he does is fast. With his Okie-bred bloodlines, expect Mesa Moon to cash some big checks on future Oklahoma Classics Nights and other future Oklahoma-bred stakes events.
Mesa Moon paid $2.40, $2.10, and $2.10 across the board. Mesa Moon earned $22,443 for the win from the $38,888 purse and improved to five starts, three wins, one second and one third for $96,843 in his young career. He was bred in Oklahoma by his owner, Cimarron TTT Farms.
Remington Park racing resumes on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 27 & 28 with the first race both nights at 7:07pm-Central.
Tracked by more than 164,000 fans on Facebook and 10,500 Twitter followers, Remington Park has provided more than $252 Million to the State of Oklahoma general education fund since the opening of the casino in 2005. Located at the junction of Interstates 35 & 44, in the heart of the Oklahoma City Adventure District, Remington Park is open daily for casino gaming and simulcast horse racing. The $200,000 Springboard Mile, the top stakes event for 2-year-olds at Remington Park, is featured on Friday, Dec. 18. The 2020 Thoroughbred Season continues through Sunday, Dec. 20. Visit remingtonpark.com for more information.
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