No Mo' Spending saves best for last to win Joseph A. Gimma
by Brian Bohl
No Mo’ Spending stayed just off Irish’s Constitution’s fractions before a late bid in deep stretch allowed her to overtake the pacesetter for a victory by a neck in the 27th running of the $100,000 Joseph A. Gimma for New York-bred juvenile fillies on Thursday at Belmont Park.
Owned by Randall Bloch, Six Column Stables, David Hall, Michael Steele, Jim Gladden and Gene Rice, No Mo’ Spending broke her maiden at third asking last out going 6 ½ furlongs on August 30 at Saratoga Race Course. Stretched out to seven furlongs for the first time, the Uncle Mo filly won her stakes debut for trainer Ian Wilkes.
Off as the 2-1 third choice, No Mo’ Spending broke well from post 4 under Hall of Famer Javier Castellano, settling into second position as Irish Constitution led the five-horse field through a 23.86-second opening quarter-mile with the half in 47.75 on the fast main track.
Under jockey Manny Franco, Irish Constitution maintained the lead out of the turn, staying close to the rail with No Mo’ Spending giving pursuit. Entering the final sixteenth, Castellano’s encouragement paid off, with his charge gaining the edge approaching the wire and completing the course in a final time of 1:25.08.
“She's a big horse with a long, beautiful stride and I wanted to time it right,” said Castellano, who notched a four-win afternoon. “I didn’t want to rush her too much or ask her too much too early and have her flatten out. I rode her with a lot of patience and a lot of confidence because I know when I ask her, she was going to finish strong.
“The way the race developed, the speed horse was the only horse that went to the front and no one chased her,” he added.
No Mo’ Spending, bred by Repole Stable, returned $6.90 on a $2 win wager. A $180,000 purchase at the 2019 Keeneland September Sale, she improved her career earnings to $97,416.
“You could just see that she switched leads well today,” Wilkes said. “The other filly got through some easy fractions early, but we were able to wear her down in the stretch. When she switched leads, I was just hoping to get there, and our filly ran well.”
Wilkes said he skipped the Grade 1 Darley Alcibiades on October 2 at Keeneland to run in the Joseph A. Gimma but is unsure when he will run her next.
“I toyed with the idea of the Alcibiades but I decided to go with the more conservative route,” he said. “She’s a big 2-year-old filly and I think she needs a little more time before you see the better of her. Where we go from here, I don’t know. I’ll talk to all of the owners, get her back here and see how she handles everything.”
Irish Constitution, trained by Ray Handal, ran 4 1/2 lengths in front of Chasing Cara, who overcame a bad break out of the gate to earn blacktype for trainer Mitchell Friedman.
Irish Constitution won her debut on July 24 at the Spa before running fourth in her previous appearance in the Grade 1 Spinaway at the same track September 6.
“I didn’t expect we would be able to go that slow in front,” Franco said. “She was traveling fine, and I just went on with her and we got run down at the line. The other horse ran well.”
Stimulus Check, the 9-5 favorite, and Infringement completed the order of finish. Mashnee Girl was scratched.
The race is named in honor of the late chairman of the New York State Racing Commission.
Live racing resumes Friday with a 10-race card highlighted by the $100,000 Bertram F. Bongard for state-bred 2-year-olds going seven furlongs in Race 9. First post is 12:50 p.m. Eastern.
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