Florida-bred filly earns $5,000 FTBOA Export Incentive
BY BROCK SHERIDAN
Florida-bred My Miss Mo pounced on longshot Savor it midway around the second turn then battled with Jumping the Gun until the final furlong when she kicked clear to win the Grade 2 George E. Mitchell Black-Eyed Susan at Laurel Park Friday. After finishing second against graded stakes fillies in her last two starts at Gulfstream Park, My Miss Mo broke through in the $300,000 Black-Eyed Susan, defeating eight other 3-year-old fillies going a mile-and-an-eighth.
In addition to earning the $180,000 first-place check, My Miss Mo picked up a $5,000 Export Incentive for breeders Valerie Mastromonaco, Tristan de Meric and Uncle Mo Syndicate for winning the out-of-state race at this level.
Jockey Tyler Gaffalione had My Miss Mo starting sharp from the outside post nine but was unable to get to the rail into the clubhouse turn as Savor It, Miss Fulton Gal and Jumping the Gun negotiated to her inside.
“Coming from the outside post, we wanted to get forward,” Gaffalione said. “She breaks alertly, so [we] just wanted to not get ahead of ourselves but let her get forward. That way we wouldn’t lose too much ground going into the first turn. I was very confident.”
Savor It emerged a length in front coming out of the first turn as Gaffalione allowed My Miss Mo to settled into second on the outside. Savor It raced on the lead through comfortable quarter-mile splits of :24.14 and :49.10 before My Miss Mo and Jumping the Gun went by her with three furlongs to run. Jumping the Gun stuck a head in front at the top of the stretch but My Miss fought back on the rail before pulling away in deep stretch to win by a length-and-three-quarters in 1:52.15 on the fast track. Jumping the Gun was second by a length ahead of A. P.’s Girl in third. Florida-bred Majestic Lucia rallied from last to get fourth followed by Holly’s Holiday, Braken Poppa, Ivy Girl and Savor It. Haute Diva was scratched.
“Going down the backside, I kept having to take a pull. She was wanting to get going a little bit, but she was doing it very easy. So I tried to sit as long as I could. She was traveling beautifully. So I just let her be. As soon as I called on her at the eighth pole, she found another gear. She did it well.”
My Miss Mo was sent to the gate as the 5-2 favorite and paid $7 to win.
Trained by Saffie Joseph Jr. for Rich Averill of Bradenton, Florida, who races in the name of his Averill Racing; Mathis Stable of brothers Bill and Terry Mathis of Oklahoma City and Tristan de Meric of Ocala, Florida; My Miss Mo improved her record to two wins with three seconds in six starts and earnings of $328,030.
As a 2-year-old, My Miss Mo showed promise in her second start, winning a seven-furlong maiden special weight by 12 lengths at Gulfstream Park in November. Joseph then sent her to Tampa Bay Downs on December 6 for the $102,000 Sandpiper where she finished fourth.
“She was very gutsy. This filly, we liked her from the beginning,” Joseph said. “We thought she showed so much speed that she was going to be a sprinter. We were wrong. We didn’t see the goodness until we stretched her out. She is a different filly going longer.”
Joseph kept the faith, sending her onto the Road to the Longines Kentucky Oaks in the Grade 2 Davona Dale going a one-turn mile at Gulfstream on February 28 and she responded with a second to She Be Smooth at odds of 26-1 while being ridden by Gaffalione for the first time. She then tried a mile-and-a-sixteenth in the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Oaks where she was second again, this time behind winner Prom Queen, earning a spot in the Kentucky Oaks.
Joseph scratched her out of the Kentucky Oaks days before race and pointed her to the Black-Eyed Susan.
“She was very game at the end, and I am proud of her,” Joseph said. “She was challenged and she dug in, and it worked out great. Congrats to the owners. They were patient. We had to scratch out of the [Kentucky] Oaks. It was the right decision. This was a better spot for her. I did not look at [missing the Oaks] as a disappointment, maybe for the owners it was, but for me, my philosophy is different. What is meant to be … today was the right race. No regrets.”
Gaffalione said he can feel My Miss Mo improving in each race.
“It’s just a combination of things. Experience, maturity and more confidence in herself,” he said. “I think last time [in the Gulfstream Park Oaks], going two turns for the first time, we really got to see the best of her that day. Obviously, she took a step forward, and that’s what we were expecting from her, and she showed up big for us.”
My Miss Mo is by Uncle Mo out of the winning Florida-bred mare In a Dream, by Quality Road. In A Dream was bred in Florida by France Weiner and her late husband Irwin J. Weiner in partnership with Valerie Mastromonaco and Tristan de Meric. My Miss Mo is her first foal and only starter. Her unnamed yearling filly by Flightline sold as a weanling for $285,000 at the 2025 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale. She has a weanling colt by Flightline.
My Miss Mo was a $320,000 purchase by Averill Racing and Mathis Stable out of the de Meric Sales consignment at the 2025 Ocala Breeders’ Sales March Sale.
