BY STEVE KOCH
Florida-bred gelding Classic Mo Town will compete in Saturday’s $150,000 Dominion Day Stakes (Grade 3) at Woodbine as the 4/1 third choice on the morning line. The 5-year-old son of Mo Town enters the Grade 3 contest coming off a triumphant performance in the bet365 Eclipse Stakes (Grade 2) on May 31, marking his first graded stakes victory.
Bred by John B. Penn & Sue’s Farm II, LLC, Classic Mo Town was purchased for just $18,000 as a yearling at Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company before developing into a stakes-caliber performer under the care of trainer M. Drexler. Now owned by Bruno Schickedanz, the gelding has compiled a solid record of 6-3-8 from 22 career starts with earnings of $294,399.
In the first quarter of 2025 he finished fourth in both an allowance optional claiming race and a handicap at Gulfstream Park before finding his stride when shipped north to Woodbine. The Florida-bred finished second in the bet365 Valedictory Stakes (Grade 3) last December, demonstrating his ability to compete at this level. Eswan Flores will guide Classic Mo Town from post position eight at 121 pounds.
The Dominion Day Stakes brings together eight horses for a one and one-eighth mile test on Woodbine’s all-weather surface with post time scheduled for 5:39 p.m. ET.
The morning line establishes Funtastic Again as the 2/1 favorite coming off a sixth-place finish in the Grade 1 Maker’s Mark Mile at Keeneland. The Kentucky-bred has earned $436,819 across 12 career starts, including a runner-up effort in the 2024 Shoemaker Mile Stakes (Grade 1). Essex Serpent follows at 5/2 for the Mark Casse stable after winning an allowance optional claiming race at Woodbine on May 10, though the 4-year-old Ontario-bred struggled when finishing 10th in both the King’s Plate and Prince of Wales Stakes.
The field lines up from the rail out with Bail Us Out (jockey Pietro Moran, trainer Kevin Attard) breaking from post one, followed by Fashionably Fab (Pietro Moran, Kevin Attard) in post two, Stanley House (Leo Salles, Mike De Paulo) in post three, Fly the W (Sahin Civaci, Martin Drexler) in post four, morning line favorite Funtastic Again (Victor Espinoza, Wesley Ward) in post five, Dancin in Da’nile (Jose Luis Campos, Gail Cox) in post six, Essex Serpent (Patrick Husbands, Mark Casse) in post seven, and Classic Mo Town (Eswan Flores, Martin Drexler) completing the field from the outside post.
Parts of this article were composed by Claude.ai.
Return to the June 26 issue of Wire to Wire
