Mocito Rojo can answer the bell again in Keeneland's Fayette Stakes
Wayne T. Davis’ Louisiana-based Mocito Rojo arrived at Keeneland on Monday ahead of the Grade 2, $200,000 Hagyard Fayette Stakes on closing Saturday of the Fall Meet with a record of 17 victories in 25 starts and earnings of $797,000.
He’s on a five-race win streak that includes the Steve Sexton Mile (G3) in April at Lone Star Park and the Lukas Classic (G3) at Churchill Downs on Sept. 28 in his most recent start.
Trainer Shane Wilson credited Keeneland Racing Secretary Ben Huffman, a longtime friend, with encouraging him to send Mocito Rojo here for the race.
“We’d like to try him in a Grade 2 spot somewhere,” Wilson said. “He likes to win. Every time we’ve put him in a little tougher spot, he’s run a little bit better and a little better.”
Wilson and Davis claimed Mocito Rojo for $10,000 in his winning career debut at Delta Downs in December 2016. Wilson said he had been impressed with the youngster’s works and hoped he’d be as good as his older full sister, Blutadda, who had earned about $100,000 at the time.
For his new connections, Mocito Rojo won at Delta, Evangeline Downs and Louisiana Downs. Wilson studied the competition and believed the Kentucky-bred was ready to travel outside Louisiana.
“We decided to try a Grade 3 just based on the speed figures he’d been running,” he said. “He stepped up and ran well there (in the Steve Sexton Mile, which he won by two lengths). We came back for the Lukas Classic, and he did it again.”
The Lukas Classic, which Mocito Rojo won by a neck, is at 1 1/8 miles, the same distance as the Fayette.
Now Mocito Rojo is in Lexington, where the Hagyard Fayette will mark the Keeneland debut for his regular jockey, Filemon Rodriguez.
“They may be better riders, but they don’t know my horse,” Wilson said. “Filemon Rodriguez has won 14 times on the horse. He broke his collarbone a couple months back, so that’s why Gerard Melancon rode him in his last two starts. But he’s back now. He knows the horse; he’s the only one who’s ever breezed the horse.
“First time at Keeneland, he might be a little nervous. But I think once they’re in the gates and break, he’ll be fine.”
Also coming from Louisiana for the Hagyard Fayette are Wilson’s wife and their two sons along with Davis, for whom Wilson has trained for many years.
“Mr. Davis is 90, and this is the best horse he’s ever had,” Wilson said. “When (Mocito Rojo) won at Churchill the last time, he said, ‘Shane, I’ve made some money in my life, but I’ve never had as much fun as I’m having right now.’ He tells me all the time: ‘I’ve heard all my life that if you’ll stay at it (in horse racing) long enough you’ll get a good horse.”