Thoroughbred Daily News by Jill Williams Saturday, June 21, 2025 at 6:43 pm
He may have taken a right turn out of the starting gate and drifted in the lane, but Mo Plex (c, 3, Complexity–Mo Joy, by Uncle Mo) made a beeline for the finish line in the nine-furlong GIII Ohio Derby, gliding through his first attempt at two turns with efficacy. Chunk of Gold (Preservationist), recently profiled on these pages after his GI Kentucky Derby ninth, was second, while McAfee (Cloud Computing), the GIII Peter Pan Stakes runner-up and half to Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna), was third.
Entered in the June 4 Mike Lee Stakes going seven furlongs at Saratoga, Mo Plex was forced to scratch when one of trainer Jeremiah Englehart’s horses tested positive for strangles and the barn was placed under a two-week quarantine. No horse stabled in the barn was allowed to race or train among other horses at Saratoga, but they were permitted isolated training sessions on the Oklahoma training track following the rest of the horse population’s scheduled training hours. While not allowed to race, Mo Plex missed no training time and registered two bullet works on the Oklahoma during the quarantine, including four furlongs in :48 2/5 (1/64) June 13. Englehart reportedly routed Mo Plex to the Ohio Derby as the colt was ready for a race and the timing was right.
Bred in New York by Everything’s Cricket Racing, the R and H Stable runner kept pacesetter Clever Again (American Pharoah)–last seen also showing the way in the GI Preakness Stakes after three straight wins to start his career–honest through fractions of :23.42 and :47.75. Despite Mo Plex sitting just off his flank with McAfee threatening to join the fray from third, Clever Again motored on nicely through the first six furlongs with his ears flicking back and forth. Jockey Joseph Ramos and Mo Plex pounced on the turn, looked Clever Again in the eye, and drove clear while drifting in the stretch when Ramos encouraged him with a left-handed stick. Ramos swapped the crop to his right as Mo Plex put an exclamation point on his afternoon, pulling away by two lengths in the final sixteenth as Chunk of Gold chased him home.
A $27,000 RNA at Fasig-Tipton’s New York-bred yearling sale in 2023, Mo Plex sold as a 2-year-old in training for $45,000 to JCE Racing at the 2024 OBS Spring sale. Unveiled by Englehart a year and a day before the Ohio Derby in a statebred maiden special weight during Belmont’s Aqueduct meet, Mo Plex trounced his foes by 10 lengths, then put together a three-race winning streak which included the GIII Sanford Stakes and Saratoga’s statebred Funny Cide Stakes. After closing out his year with placings in the GI Champagne Stakes and Sleepy Hollow Stakes, he revved up again after a 4 1/2-month freshening with another placing in the Gander Stakes. He was last seen winning the Apr. 18 Bay Shore Stakes at Aqueduct, where he notched the highest Beyer Speed Figure–an 88–of his career. Although never off the board, until Saturday all of Mo Plex’s career wins had been at seven furlongs or less, while he had not won in his previous three attempts at a mile. His final time for the 1 1/8 miles of the Ohio Derby was 1:50.72.
Pedigree Notes:
One of two graded/group winners by young Airdrie stallion Complexity, Mo Plex also is one of seven black-type winners for his second-crop sire. Winner of the 2018 GI Champagne Stakes, Complexity closed out 2024 among North America’s top five leading freshman sires by earnings, while finishing in a tie for the most black-type winners and the most graded winners. He remains among the top five of his crop for 2025 as well, with four stakes winners on the year and an initial 2-year-old winner from his second crop already in the books.
Mo Plex is the first foal for his unraced dam, Mo Joy, a granddaughter of 1997 GIII Florida Oaks winner and GI Ashland Stakes runner-up Anklet. Like herself, Mo Joy’s own dam was unraced. A daughter of the late Uncle Mo, whose 25 stakes winners out of his daughters include 2025 luminaries Thorpedo Anna, Journalism, and Nitrogen, Mo Joy has a 2-year-old colt by Maximus Mischief, a yearling colt by Improbable, and a Mar. 27-foaled colt by Independence Hall.
O-R and H Stable; B-Everything’s Cricket Racing (NY); T-Jeremiah C. Englehart.
Saturday, Thistledown
OHIO DERBY-GIII, $500,000, Thistledown, 6-21, 3yo, 1 1/8m, 1:50.72, ft.
1–MO PLEX, 126, c, 3, by Complexity
1st Dam: Mo Joy, by Uncle Mo
2nd Dam: Gold Anklet, by Lemon Drop Kid
3rd Dam: Anklet, by Wild Again
($27,000 RNA Ylg ’23 SARAUG; $45,000 2yo ’24 OBSAPR).
O-R and H Stable; B-Everythings Cricket Racing (NY);
T-Jeremiah C. Englehart; J-Joseph D. Ramos. $300,000.
Lifetime Record: GISP, 8-5-1-2, $745,000. Werk Nick Rating: A++.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Chunk of Gold, 126, c, 3, Preservationist–Play for Gold,
by Cairo Prince. ($2,500 Ylg ’23 FTKOCT). O-Terry L. Stephens;
B-Brereton C. Jones (KY); T-Ethan W. West. $100,000.
3–McAfee, 126, c, 3, Cloud Computing–Sataves, by Uncle Mo.
($40,000 Ylg ’23 KEESEP). O-Black Type Thoroughbreds,
Swinbank Stables LLC, Judy B. Hicks and Scott C. Rice; B-Judy
Hicks (KY); T-Richard E. Dutrow, Jr. $50,000.
Margins: 2, 2, 4 3/4. Odds: 5.40, 1.20, 3.10.
Also Ran: Extradition, Brereton’s Baytown, Clever Again, Bohemian Style, Capo Luca. Scratched: Curvino, Master Controller. Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
