It took some time to get Mo Money Mo Honey to the races, but no time at all for the offers to start coming in following the 3-year-old Uncle Mo colt's impressive debut victory July 16 at Laurel Park.
Owned by R.J. Bristle of Metropolitan Thoroughbreds and Robin Doser, Mo Money Mo Honey romped by six lengths as the even-money favorite over five rivals in a 5 ½-furlong maiden special weight for sophomores. The winning time was 1:04.62 over a fast main track.
“He came out of the race good. Actually we got a couple people that have offered us some money for him already,” trainer Ben Feliciano Jr. said. “They called us and threw some numbers out, but I don't think the owners are selling him right now.”
Breaking from the rail, Mo Money Mo Honey got off a step slow in his unveiling but quickly gathered himself and was in front by the first call after going the opening quarter-mile in 22.98 seconds. He gradually pulled clear of the competition and took a five-length lead into the stretch, coasting to the wire under jockey Horacio Karamanos.
“He had been working really well. I actually told the owners, 'I think you might have something,'” Feliciano said. “Everybody would come out and watch him work and the way he did things. We never really asked him to run, even in the morning.
“About the third work I said to Kevin Witte, Horacio's agent, 'Could you come over and breeze this horse for me because, honestly, I think he can run.' Horacio came back and said, 'This horse is all right,'” he added. “The more we kept working him the more we were thinking he was OK. I didn't know if he was going to transfer that over to the races, but apparently he did.”
A son and grandson of champions, Mo Money Mo Honey is out of the Curlin mare Stopshoppingdebbie, who won nine of 10 career starts including eight stakes at Emerald Downs in Washington from 2012-14. Despite his breeding, Mo Money Mo Honey fetched just $14,000 at Keeneland's September 2020 yearling sale.
Some time later Feliciano, named Maryland's trainer of the year in 1998, learned from jockey agent John Santagata of some well-bred horses for sale in Kentucky by sires such as American Pharoah, Tapit and Uncle Mo.
“I was looking for horses to buy or claim for the owners,” Feliciano said. “I got a picture of the Uncle Mo and he looked good in the picture. He was a good-looking horse. I asked how much they wanted for him and they said $15,000. I said '$15,000? For an Uncle Mo?'”
Feliciano brought the idea to Bristle and Doser and they agreed to take a look at Mo Money Mo Honey and split the cost if they decided to buy.
“My ex-wife is in Kentucky and she's actually right next to the farm, so I asked her to go down to look at him,” Feliciano said. “She said he's big and pretty but he's real fat and his feet are all messed up. I said for that amount, if he vets we're buying him. He had something in his hock but other than that he was fine, so we took him and put him on a van and sent him back to us.”
Mo Money Mo Honey was foaled in Kentucky and his mare bred to other top sires such as Medaglia d'Oro, American Pharoah, Pioneerof the Nile and Street Sense.
“None of the babies had really done anything to speak of, so I think that's maybe why he slipped through the [yearling] sale,” Feliciano said. “They're breeding her to huge sires and they're trying I guess to get something, but maybe we just got lucky and got one that looks like it could run. I don't know what happened there, if it was fate or something.
“I've had horses come in and had babies come in along the line but mostly I'm known for claiming. I saw his picture and thought, 'Wouldn't it be nice to have an Uncle Mo in Maryland?' he added. “When he came to the paddock the other day I saw people looking at the horse and saying, 'Damn, he's pretty.' When you've got those kinds of horses with the breeding, it's really nice.”
Feliciano said he will take the next logical step up in class with Mo Money Mo Honey, as well as continue to field the occasional phone call for his potential star.
“In the barn, he's real quiet and lazy. It's weird. Sometimes I don't even know how we ended up with him. It's crazy,” he said. “I'm just going to look for an a-other-than here in Maryland and take one step at a time with him. We did get some offers, but [Bristle] said it wasn't anything that was going to change his life so he'll just keep running him.”
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