Originally posted on TheTDN.com

Keeping his run of strong form going, heavily-favored ‘TDN Rising Star‘ Bishops Bay (Uncle Mo) justified his 1-5 odds with a strong effort in the GIII Salvatore Mile at Monmouth Saturday. Never out of the exacta in ten lifetime starts, the son of Uncle Mo missed nearly his entire 4-year-old season but has come back just as good as a 5-year-old, racking up three straight wins including a last-out score on a muddy track at Aqueduct in the GIII Westchester Stakes May 4 which resulted in a career-best 102 Beyer Speed Figure.

Trying a sloppy track for the first time but sticking to the Westchester distance of one mile, Bishops Bay drew widest of the scratched-down six-horse field but was away in good order and had enough early speed to stay clear on the outside while settling into a two-wide stalking second. Pacesetter Nelson Avenue (Into Mischief) took that pressure into the backstretch through the opening quarter in :22.81 before Bishops Bay came fully alongside with the pair matching strides in a good rhythm past the half-mile pole. The field stayed tightly bunched (bar a trailing Tuscan Sky {Vino Rosso} who got squeezed back at the break and never factored) into the final quarter-mile but it was clear Bishops Bay was keen to go on with things and opened up an advantage into the stretch that only grew to the wire. The final time for the one mile was 1:37.16 over the slop.

“He’s such a professional horse,” said winning rider Flavien Prat. “I think he’s getting better race after race. He is very nice to be around. I don’t think the (sloppy) track affected him. This is his running style. He likes to be on the lead. He’s very athletic. He was forwardly placed and very comfortable. He seems to be gaining confidence and he understands what he needs to do when he gets on the track. Some horses show improvement like he has as a 5-year-old. He hasn’t really run much before this so he has had room to improve. It’s not like he is 5 years old and he has run in a ton of races.”