Mona de Momma scores in Humana Distaff

Mona de Momma (outside) ran eight wide down the Churchill stretch (Neville Hopwood/Horsephotos.com) Michael Talla’s MONA DE MOMMA (Speightstown) rallied down the center of the track in Saturday’s $336,900 Humana Distaff (G1) and got up to score by three parts of a length under jockey Joel Rosario. The John Sadler trainee was sent off in the seven-furlong test as the 8-1 fourth choice, and finished up in 1:22 3/5 on the sloppy, sealed track to add a second straight graded win to her resume. Warbling (Unbridled’s Song) led the field on the backstretch through fractions of :22 and :44 1/5, with Dubai Majesty (Essence of Dubai), Cassidys Pride (Medaglia d’Oro) and Free Flying Soul (Quiet American) ranged to her outside. Mona de Momma was drafting in the rear of the field but began picking off rivals entering the stretch. Free Flying Soul had taken command in the lane through six furlongs in 1:09, but the dual Grade 1-placed mare couldn’t withstand the rush of Mona de Momma, Pretty Prolific (Lion Heart) or the late-charging Informed Decision (Monarchos) on the wire. “I’m always looking to be outside with her; I don’t want to get stopped in traffic and all that,” Rosario said. “The whole way I wanted to stay outside.”

Mona de Momma paid $19.20, $8.80 and $5.60 while Pretty Prolific returned
$8.60 and $4.60 at 9-1. Informed Decision was worth $3.20 as the 2-1 favorite
for her belated rally. The exotics were worth $170 (exacta), $744 (trifecta) and
$4,583.20 (10-6-3-9 superfecta) with Free Flying Soul just missing third by a
nose.

“It was a good race for her, though she had trouble handling the track; she
didn’t especially like it,” Julien Leparoux said of Informed Decision. “And she
had trouble on the turn. She didn’t like running it and I lost a lot of ground
there. But when she straightened out, she ran hard. All in all, it was a good
try.”

Warbling, Double Espresso (Medaglia d’Oro), Cassidys Pride, Rated Fiesty
(Exchange Rate) and Dubai Majesty rounded out the order the wire after Dr. Zic
(Milwaukee Brew) was withdrawn.

Mona de Momma finished in the top three in her first six races, then suffered
her first off-the-board run when fifth while making her stakes bow in the Winter
S. to close out her sophomore campaign. Opening 2010 with a fourth in the
Wishing Well H. in her grass debut, the bay lass filled that same spot in an
allowance on March 10. She finally got back to her winning ways in her initial
graded try, the Las Flores H. (G3), prior to this one, and now boasts an
11-5-1-2 career mark to go along with $377,619 in lifetime earnings.

Bred in Kentucky by Kim and Rodney Nardelli, R.C. Durr and Dr. Michael
Spirito, Mona de Momma brought $100,000 as a Fasig-Tipton October yearling and
$335,000 when selling as a two-year-old at OBS March. The four-year-old miss is
out of Society Gal (Linkage), making her a half-sister to dual Grade 3-placed
Jigadee (Prospectors Gamble), stakes-placed Treasure Hunt (Prospectors Gamble)
and an unnamed yearling colt by El Corredor. Society Gal is herself a
half-sister to multiple Grade 3 winner and successful sire Mr. Greeley (Gone
West). This is the same family as champion Street Sense (Street Cry [Ire]), hero
of the Kentucky Derby (G1), Travers S. (G1) and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1).