My Miss Mo goes gate to wire to win Saturday’s Grade 3 Monmouth Oaks by 1 1/2 lengths

By Tom Luicci —-

My Miss Mo #5 with Micah Husbands riding held off the challenge of #8 Bodacious Bay and Cristian Torres to witn the $150,000 Grade III Monmouth Oaks at Monmouth Park Racetrack in Oceanport, NJ on Saturday July 25, 2026. Photo By Ryan Denver/EQUI-PHOTO

OCEANPORT, N.J. – All it took was a little added distance to transform My Miss Mo from a promising sprinter to a multiple graded stakes-winning two-turn horse.

The Florida-bred daughter of Uncle Mo followed up her May 15 score in the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan with a gate-to-wire victory in Saturday’s Grade 3 Monmouth Oaks, shrugging off one brief challenge to win comfortably by 1½ lengths at Monmouth Park.

After sprinting last year, the Saffie Joseph, Jr.-trained filly now has two wins and two seconds in four starts this year – all in graded stakes company.

“She just needed two turns. That’s the difference,” said Joseph. “She showed so much speed breezing we thought she would be a very good one-turn graded stakes filly. We weren’t really seeing it (stretching out). Even when she won by 12 lengths (in her second career start at Gulfstream last year) the number didn’t come back good. But since she has gone two turns she is a different horse.

“She always trained really good. We thought we had a really good sprinter. She showed above average talent and we were kind of surprised we weren’t seeing her as a two-turn horse. Once she went two turns she became a different horse.”

With a sharp break under jockey Micah Husbands, My Miss Mo set all of the fractions in the $150,000 mile and a sixteenth feature, going :24.60 and :48.88 to the half, getting her first challenge when Bodacious Bay tried to draw alongside coming out of the final turn.

My Miss Mo would have none of it, flashing across the finish line in 1:43.29.

She paid $7.80 in the field of six 3-year-old fillies.

“My plan was, if I got an easy lead, I was going to take it,” said Husbands. “If anybody really wanted it more than me I was going to track, But she broke good and nobody really wanted the lead so I never took her out of her rhythm. She got into a nice rhythm. When it was time to finish it up she fought the whole way. It feels like she is just getting better at 3. The whole race she just fought the whole way.

“I felt the horse on the outside (Bodacious Bay) coming at us to challenge but it kept my horse going. It kept her focused. I don’t think it was a serious threat for her. For a rider, knowing someone is there you get a little concerned but she handled it professionally.”

Owned by Averill Racing, Mathis Stable and Tristan DeMeric, My Miss Mo improved to a 3-3-0 line from seven career starts.

It was another 2¼ lengths back to Jumping the Gun in third.

For My Miss Mo, there could very well be a Grade 1 try in her future.

“Obviously you want to see a race like this to follow up her Black-Eyed Susan win,” said Joseph. “We were thinking about the Coaching Club America Oaks (at Saratoga) but it came up very tough and she was coming off a little layoff. We thought it made more sense to go to Monmouth to see if we would see the same kind of filly and then if she did good we could get ambitious and try her in a Grade 1 after this. It could be the Alabama or Cotillion.

“This one is nice today. This one means a lot. We’re going to enjoy it and then come up with a plan.”