Going into Saturday, Mo Donegal was just 26th on the Kentucky Derby Leaderboard with 12 points and needed a big effort to dream about Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May. When you consider how this horse came from way back, I think his performance is even better than it appeared."įor the throng of about 120 joyous Donegal partners who turned out at Aqueduct and jammed the winner's circle, the victory was more than good enough, given what it secured. I was here at Aqueduct all day yesterday and today and no one closed against the speed bias. "In theory, 'Mo' had to be much the best to win today. "He got a great ride from ( Joel Rosario) and Todd did a great training job," Crawford said about the winner of 3 of 5 starts with earnings of $621,800. Mo Donegal punched his ticket to the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve as he rallied strongly in the final furlong for trainer Todd Pletcher and beat Early Voting by a neck to capture the $750,000 Grade 2 Wood Memorial Stakes Presented by Resorts World Casino for 3-year-olds April 9 at Aqueduct Racetrack. Our thought was he could balance out and really be something."Ībout a year-and-a-half after Donegal bought the colt they named Mo Donegal for $250,000, everything has indeed balanced out quite well. "We have a really good selection team but we make the final decisions and this horse looked like he was out of balance as many of them are at that stage of his life. "I liked a lot of things about him and so did my wife, who helps me at the sales," said Crawford, the CEO of the Donegal Racing partnership.
When Jerry Crawford and his wife, Linda, first saw a son of Uncle Mo out of the Pulpit mare Callingmissbrown at the 2020 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, it wasn't a full-blown case of love at first sight.
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