Edie Meeny Miny Mo wins Regret, gives trainer Michelle Hemingway her first stakes victory
Edie Meeny Miny Mo scored the first stakes win for herself and trainer Michelle Hemingway in the $100,000 Regret on Saturday at Monmouth Park.
Breaking on the lead in the six-furlong race under Paco Lopez, Edie Meeny Miny Mo set splits of 22.29 and 44.44 over a fast-playing Monmouth dirt track, and turned back a strong bid from narrowly favored Club Car to win by a head. Edie Meeny Miny Mo stopped the timer in 1:08.71 for six furlongs and paid $5.20 as the second choice.
Hemingway began training on her own the second half of 2021 and now has more than 30 horses stabled at Monmouth. Her first stakes winner came with her third stakes runner.
“There are no words to express the gratitude I feel right now,” said Hemingway, who trains Edie Meeny Miny Mo for Holly Hill Stables.
Edie Meeny Miny Mo made a minor splash winning her second start, a first-level allowance sprint at Laurel last June 13, with a 91 Beyer Speed Figure. She didn’t quite stay two turns in the Monmouth Oaks, ran flat when turned back to a sprint in the Prioress last September at Saratoga, and had moved into Hemingway’s barn when she returned to racing in April at Tampa Bay Downs. Hemingway said an odds-on allowance race loss there didn’t trouble her since Edie Meeny Miny Mo was being geared up for a summer campaign, and after winning a second-level Monmouth allowance race the filly landed her first stakes in the Regret.
It took some work. Club Car, older, more experienced, and faster to date, made a sharp three-wide move around the far turn and had all the momentum into the homestretch, but Lopez had saved something and Edie Meeny Miny Mo just did hold Club Car at Bay.
“The main thing now is getting her confidence back and she did that today,” said Hemingway. “She’s a class filly. She has shown she can do this in the mornings. I’m glad it translated into the afternoon.”
Edie Meeny Miny Mo, bred in Maryland by Dark Hollow Farm, is by Upstart out of Plum, by Pure Prize.