Donegal Momentum looks to keep it rolling in G3 Kelso

Donegal Racing’s Donegal Momentum goes for a graded stakes double in Saturday’s Grade 3, $175,000 Kelso, an inner turf mile for older horses, on Day Three of the July 4th Racing Festival at Saratoga Race Course.

Trained by Tom Morley, the 4-year-old son of Uncle Mo was last seen wiring the Grade 3 Poker on June 5 over course and distance to land his first graded stakes victory, cruising through splits of 24.34 seconds, 48.09 and 1:11.53 over the firm footing with Hall of Famer and regular pilot Javier Castellano aboard. Donegal Momentum kicked clear to a two-length lead at the stretch call, and dug in gamely to keep returning rival Intellect at bay and win by 1 3/4 lengths while completing the course in 1:34.22. He earned a career-best 96 Beyer Speed Figure for the effort.

Morley said Donegal Momentum has continued to flourish at Saratoga, where he worked a half-mile on the main track on June 19 [49.14] and June 26 [49.03]. 

“He’s doing great,” Morley said. “He’s in good order and his coat looks really well. I’m very happy with him. This is an enthusiastic horse that loves his work, and I think Javier knows him very well by now.”

The Poker win came in his fourth start this year, building upon a narrow optional claiming win in March at Fair Grounds Race Course and an off-the-board finish in the Grade 2 Carter presented by NYRA Bets on the main track at Aqueduct Racetrack ahead of a half-length optional claiming second when returning to turf there in May.

Donegal Momentum’s sophomore campaign featured an 8 1/4-length romp when debuting in a six-furlong maiden sprint on dirt last May at Aqueduct, and his first stakes win in the Gio Ponti on the Big A turf in October en route to a hard-trying third in the nine-furlong Grade 1 Hollywood Derby at Del Mar.

Morley said the firm turf-loving Donegal Momentum has always tried his best despite frequently catching courses with give in them.

“Occasionally horses have to overcome adversity, and I feel like this horse has had to overcome adversity more than he has had his exact conditions,” Morley said. “He was unlucky in California and it was just too far for him at that stage in his career, and he’s overcome soft ground a few times before, but when he got a flat mile around a track that he’s obviously very comfortable on, on genuine firm ground, he showed how good he can be. I think he continues to improve from it.”

Morley also credited jockey Mitchell Murrill for his work with Donegal Momentum in the mornings at Fair Grounds over the winter.

“I have to give him a lot of props,” Morley said. “He has breezed this horse two winters in a row and never got to ride him in a race. He’s done a fabulous job with him as well.”

A $375,000 purchase at the 2022 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Donegal Momentum was bred in Kentucky by Speedway Stable and is out of the stakes-placed Malibu Moon mare Moon Dash.

Castellano will be aboard from post 4.

David Gruskos, Ken Sentel and Resolution Road’s dual Grade 1-placed Mountain Bear [post 6, Victor Espinoza] makes his second start off the layoff for trainer Wesley Ward, entering from a closing second in a one-mile optional claimer on May 25 at Churchill Downs in his first start for Ward.

The 4-year-old No Nay Never bay tracked in eighth-of-11 through the first quarter-mile and was more than three lengths off the pace under a patient ride from Corey Lanerie before swinging four-wide in the final turn to split rivals in the lane and come up two lengths shy of the reopposing Nantasket Beach.

The effort came off a more than seven-month respite dating to a rallying third-place finish in the Grade 1 Coolmore Turf Mile at Keeneland, where he finished 2 1/4 lengths back of the victorious Carl Spackler.

Mountain Bear put together a strong juvenile campaign for trainer Aidan O’Brien that included a stakes win in the seven-furlong Star Appeal over the Dundalk synthetic, as well as two graded/group placings that were led by a runner-up finish in the 2023 Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Santa Anita Park.

“He’s a horse that’s got some antics to him, but we learned a lot in his first race,” Ward said. “He was second in the Breeders’ Cup for Aidan O’Brien and ran some great races. It took a lot of getting used to him, and hopefully we’ve got his number, but with those kind of horses, you never know.”

Those antics include some unsettled behavior when hitting the racetrack, which Mountain Bear memorably displayed prior to the Coolmore Turf Mile when rearing up and nearly dumping jockey Christopher Hayes. However, Ward said Mountain Bear appears to have put most of that behind him.

“He’s a beautiful colt, and he trains at Keeneland every day and is settled in now,” Ward said. “He was good last time we ran him at Churchill. The thing about a horse like him is that over in Europe, they don’t race at their home track, but we do. I can get him up to Saratoga and let him get to know his surroundings, whereas in Europe, you have to show up the day of the race. We’ll do some schooling and let him get over the track, and hopefully he’ll show who he is.”

Last year, Mountain Bear picked up two more group placings in addition to his Turf Mile effort, landing a respective second and third in Leopardstown’s Group 3 Desmond and Group 2 Solonaway. Bred in Ireland by Whisperview Trading, Mountain Bear was initially campaigned by the Coolmore partners of Mrs. John Magnier, Derrick Smith and Michael Tabor, and he was subsequently sold to Ward for nearly $450,000 at the Tattersalls Autumn Horses-in-Training Sale following the Coolmore Turf Mile.

Live Oak Plantation’s Grade 1-winner Win for the Money [post 8, Dylan Davis] makes his return from a more than five-month layoff dating to a pace-pressing seventh in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational in January at Gulfstream Park.

The 6-year-old Mohaymen gelding is in search of his first win since taking the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile in September at its namesake course, making up six lengths early to steadily improve position at each point of call and win by 1 1/2 lengths over stablemate Filo Di Arianna. The win matched a field-best 102 Beyer Speed Figure.

The consistent gelding has hit the board in 12-of-19 starts, including three other graded placings and a 6 3/4-length romp in Gulfstream’s 1 1/16-mile Mr. Steele last May, an effort that also produced a 102 Beyer.

Win for the Money has been impressive throughout his four previous seasons, but Casse said he feels the gelding could be in career form heading into the Kelso, evidenced by a five-furlong work in 58.85 seconds Monday over Saratoga’s Oklahoma turf training track.

“I feel like Win for the Money is better than he's ever been,” Casse said. “We gave him a break after his last start and sent him home to Live Oak for a while. When we got him back, I was just amazed how good he was. I think the time off really helped him and if you looked at that breeze you would certainly think so, it was impressive.”

A $350,000 purchase at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton Select 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, Win for the Money is out of the War Chant mare Mayakoba, who also produced dual stakes-winner Price Talk.

Godolphin’s Kentucky homebred Think Big [post 3, Jose Ortiz] provides interest as he stretches out beyond 5 1/2 furlongs for the first time since an off-the-board finish in a nine-furlong main track allowance in October at Keeneland.

Trained by Michael Stidham, the dual graded stakes-winner enters from an even seventh in the 5 1/2-furlong Grade 1 Jaipur on June 8, where he tracked in ninth-of-10 after an awkward start and made a mild bid with a six-wide move. He scored back-to-back Grade 2 wins ahead of the Jaipur when taking Keeneland’s Shakertown in April and Churchill’s Twin Spires Turf Sprint on May 3.

The 4-year-old Twirling Candy gelding’s longest win to date came in a second-out graduation sprinting seven furlongs on the Colonial Downs main track in July. He is out of the stakes-winning Street Sense mare Always Thinking.

Completing the field are multiple graded stakes-winners Arzak [post 7, Irad Ortiz, Jr.] for trainer Michael Trombetta and Neat [post 1, Junior Alvarado] for trainer Rob Atras; as well as Grade 3-placed Intellect [post 2, Flavien Prat] for five-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown and eight-time winner Nantasket Beach [post 5, Julien Leparoux] for trainer Lauren Robson.

Wynstock, Yo Daddy, Bank Frenzy and Game Warden have been entered for the main track only.

The Kelso is slated as Race 10 on Saturday’s 12-race program, which also features the Grade 1, $500,000 Belmont Oaks Invitational in Race 11 and the Grade 3, 175,000 Sanford in Race 3. First post is 12:35 p.m. Eastern.

Statistics for the 37-day Belmont at the Big A spring/summer meet will include the July 4th Racing Festival at Saratoga Race Course.

America’s Day at the Races will present live coverage and analysis of the July 4th Racing Festival at Saratoga Race Course on the networks of FOX Sports. For the broadcast schedule and channel finder, visit https://www.nyra.com/saratoga/racing/tv-schedule/.

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