Mo Plex scoots to Grade 3 Sanford victory

By Tom Law

Jeremiah Englehart gave owners Rick Higgins and Howard Reed a bit of a warning after Mo Plex blasted to a 10-length victory last month during the Belmont at the Big A meeting, giving the New Yorkers reason to dream big about the biggest meet of the year in their backyard.

“This isn’t how it always happens with 2-year-olds when we buy them,” Englehart told the longtime friends, who race as R and H Stable.

Englehart might need to double down next time he puts the tack on Mo Plex, after the son of Complexity ran his record to 2-for-2 in Saturday’s co-featured Grade 3 Sanford Stakes at Saratoga Race Course.

“That was awesome,” Reed, who lives in the Albany area, said after posing with Higgins and Englehart before heading to celebrate the latest graded stakes victory for a product of the New York-bred program.

“We liked his chances, even though not a single prominent handicapper picked him on top,” said Higgins, who lives on Union Avenue in Saratoga just down the road from the racetrack.

Mo Plex’s owners, Englehart and gamblers that packed Saratoga on a steamy afternoon Saturday liked the colt’s chances a lot more after morning-line favorite Mentee came out of the race in the morning with a temperature. Mo Plex went off as the 9-5 second choice behind Studlydoright, down significantly from his 6-1 morning-line price from the outside post in the reduced field of seven.

Irad Ortiz Jr. put Mo Plex on the lead from the break, clicking off strong fractions of :22.51 and :45.92 into the backstretch and around the far turn.

In control throughout, Mo Plex turned for home up by more than a length and extended his advantage to 1 1/2 lengths over the tiring chaser Mr. Squeaky Wheels through 5 furlongs in :58.26. Mo Plex wasn’t seriously threatened from there and finished a length clear of Tremont Stakes winner Studlydoright at the finish in 1:11.72. Three Echos rallied for third.

Bred by Avi and Rhoda Freedberg’s Everything’s Cricket Racing, Mo Plex is the first foal out of the unraced Uncle Mo mare Mo Joy.

A $27,000 RNA at last year’s Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York-bred yearling sale, Mo Plex was purchased by Englehart’s JCE Racing for $45,000 at the OBS April sale of 2-year-olds in training. Englehart added R and H Stable to his client list late last year and is thrilled to bring the New Yorkers to his predominantly New York-bred stable bedded down in the Oklahoma Annex at Saratoga for the spring, summer and fall.

Englehart, a longtime player in the state who lives in Schuylerville and has turned much of his attention more to New York-breds in recent years, credited the program.

“This is where I call home all year long, and I concentrate and focus on buying New York-breds,” Englehart said. “Hopefully, we’ve got a few more we can unveil later in the meet and have some fun with. It’s just a tremendous program, and they’ve shown they can run with anything. To me, it’s fantastic and it’s almost like job security when you’re able to have New York-breds. I’m blessed.”

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2024/07/13/mo-plex-scoots-to-grade-3-sanford-victory/

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