Mo Tom Hopes To Shine In Ohio Derby

Posted Under: News by Jim Murphy on 22nd June 2016

Thistledown Race Track in North Randall, Kentucky might not be too far from Churchill Downs in the literal sense but metaphorically it’s a world away. Likewise, the Ohio Derby is a completely different world from the Kentucky Derby. For Kentucky Derby 8th place finisher Mo Tom, however, it’s a chance to get his racing career back on track. Mo Tom is the 5-2 morning line favorite in the Ohio Derby at Thistledown this Saturday.

Thistledown and the Ohio Derby is a good place for a ‘comeback’ as the race is trying to do the same thing. The Ohio Derby lost its status as a graded race back in 2014. Since then, however, track management has done a good job rebuilding it’s status to the point that they’ll likely be awarded ‘Grade 3’ designation next year. The purse is now a not-insignificant $500,000. Mo Tom does have a few good horses to deal with but it’s very much his race to lose.

Mo Tom’s last victory came in the Lecomte in January. By all accounts he’s a very talented colt trained by Tom Amoss and a particularly strong closer but we’ve really yet to see that due to his biggest liability. He has a knack for ‘finding trouble’ in races. Initially, Amoss blamed Mo Tom’s inability to get a clean trip on jockey Corey Lanerie but even so stayed with Lanerie for both Kentucky Derby prep races and the ‘Run For The Roses’ itself. Amoss is hoping that a jockey change to Javier Castellano for this race will help. Mo Tom might very well be as talented as trainer Amoss assists but until he finds an ‘untroubled’ trip in a race we’ll have to take his word for it.

Since his win in the Lecomte his three year old career has been one of unfulfilled promise He finished fourth in the Louisiana Derby though with a clean trip he would have been no worse than second behind Gun Runner. He finished second in the Risen Star when he found trouble midrace and fell off the pace–this was a race that he very well could have won without the snafu. The story was the same in the Kentucky Derby as Mo Tom lost momentum on the far turn but closed well to finish 8th.