By Dick Jerardi
After winning $100,000 stakes races Saturday and Sunday at Monmouth Park, the 3-year-old colt Kentucky Outlaw and 4-year-old filly Takethemoneyhoney, both based at Parx, have now raced a combined nine times with seven wins, three by the colt, four by the filly.
Kentucky Outlaw, who gave owner/trainer Felissa Dunn her first stakes win, could not have been more impressive in winning Saturday’s Long Branch. After again breaking slowly, a nasty habit that eliminated any chance the horse had to win the April 19 Federico Tesio at Laurel Park, Kentucky Outlaw, under jockey Paco Lopez, ran himself right into the race and always looked like the winner.
With Lopez not doing much more than holding on, Kentucky Outlaw cruised by the leader at will, ran straight and true in the stretch and won by a convincing 1 1/2 lengths. His fifth in the Tesio was way better than it looked and the bettors acted accordingly, with all the late money flowing in to make him the 9-5 favorite.
In the Tesio, Kentucky Outlaw broke more poorly than usual, got in an early traffic jam, made a wild middle move before getting predictably tired in the stretch. Wearing blinkers for the first time in the Long Branch did not solve the starting gate issue, but the horse’s natural ability overcame it.
If the husband and wife training team of John and Felissa Dunn can figure out how to get this horse to break better, there is no telling what he could become. The talent is obvious for a colt that just wants to go. He only cost $12,000 at a 2-year-old OBS sale last year. Kentucky Outlaw is worth way more than that these days.
While the Long Branch win earned free entry and start fees to the July 19 Haskell at Monmouth, the Dunns are thinking maybe the June 21 Ohio Derby at Thistledown would be the next logical spot.
On May 11, 2019, trainer Michael Moore took a filly named Goodonehoney to Monmouth Park for the Serena’s Song Stakes. She finished first by 4 lengths, but was disqualified for interference entering the backstretch and placed third.
Six years to the day later, May 11, 2025, Moore took Takethemoneyhoney to Monmouth Park for the Serena’s Song Stakes. Her mother? Yes, Goodonehoney. And, like her mom, Takethemoneyhoney finished first in the Serena’s Song, but this time, there was no DQ even if it was much closer.
After leading all the way under jockey Eliseo Ruiz, the filly held on to beat the Chad Brown-trained Catherine Wheel by a nose with 1-2 favorite Power Squeeze a neck father back in third. It was a wild stretch run and Takethemoneyhoney, the 2-1 second choice, just would not be passed.
Both mother and her first foal are owned by Kasey K, Final Turn and Michael Day. Her only loss was by a nose at Aqueduct to Catherine Wheel who caught her that day.
After her first stakes try was successful, Moore is thinking about a return to Monmouth Park for Takethemoneyhoney to take a shot at the July 19 Grade 3 $500,000 Molly Pitcher on Haskell Day. By winning the Serena’s Song, Takethemoneyhoney earned free entry and start fees for the Molly Pitcher where the competition will no doubt be tougher. But when you are a nose from being unbeaten in five starts, it is clearly time to go for it.
