Mo Town ships and wins Hollywood Derby 2017 at Del Mar

By Jonathan Lintner

Tony Dutrow originally trained Mo Town with aspirations of making it to the Kentucky Derby. He found Saturday that the Hollywood Derby, contested six months later, is a decent consolation prize.

Mo Town posted a rallying win in Saturday's Grade 1, $300,000 feature at Del Mar, where the 3-year-old son of Uncle Mo took a major step up on the turf.

The colt jumped back to stakes competition on a new surface having won his debut on the grass by 6 1/2 lengths in allowance company back home at Belmont Park.

“My first trip to Del Mar and the people out here are so nice I can’t wait to get back some day," Dutrow said. "It was a Grade I race and our horse had a chance and I just felt like we had to be here. The race itself? I don’t know how this turf course plays, but I knew at the top of the stretch Mo Town had a lot of work to do and I’m glad he was up to it.”

Behind Mo Town was a three-way photo finish for second, with Channel Maker getting the nod over Big Score. Sharp Samurai, the 7-5 favorite who entered on a four-race winning streak, was fourth having given up the lead in deep stretch.

Mo Town covered 1 1/8 miles on firm turf in 1:46.36 for his Coolmore connections as owners.

“So I got to try something different with this horse today," said jockey John Velazquez, who flew in after winning Friday's Grade 1 Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs. "I’ve been trying to get him to settle. He broke slow, so I didn’t panic with him. I let him settle and run right along. Then when I asked him he responded. He responded very well.”

Sharp Samurai was the one to beat at the top of the stretch and gave in after sprinting toward the final turn, with 3/4 of a mile clocked in 1:11.19. Velazquez wound up Mo Town through the turn but never appeared to go all out as he glided by for a win.

The victory was Mo Town's second in graded stakes company after he took Aqueduct's Remsen as a juvenile. He didn't win this year through four starts on the dirt, including the Grade 2 Risen Star and Wood Memorial on the Derby trail, before Dutrow switched surfaces last out.

In all, Mo Town is 4-1-1 in nine starts.