Bishops Bay Gets Four In A Row With Strong Salvatore Mile Win

[Wandering Eyes]

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.”

Pedigree Note:

One of 112 stakes winners for the greatly-missed Uncle Mo, Bishops Bay is a son of SW/GISP Catch My Drift who joined the WinStar broodmare band on a final bid of $400,000 at FTKNOV in 2015. It proved to be a fruitful purchase for WinStar as Catch My Drift has produced GII Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby winner Catching Freedom (Constitution) along with MSP Strava (Into Mischief), both of whom went on to sell at Keeneland for six figures. Her yet-to-be-named 2-year-old, a filly by Not This Time, sold to Repole Stables for $525,000 at KEESEP last year and is on the work tab at Saratoga. After missing 2024, she reported a full-sister to Bishops Bay this season.

 

#9 BISHOPS BAY ($2.60) and Flavien Prat romp in the $150,000 Salvator Mile (G3) at @MonmouthPark for trainer @bradcoxracing. Congratulations to all of the connections. @spendthriftfarm @MARTINSCHWARTZ4 @Tenstrikeracing @WinStarFarm @keenelandsales pic.twitter.com/C2pfy78t4h

— FanDuel Racing (@FanDuel_Racing) June 14, 2025

Saturday, Monmouth Park
SALVATOR MILE S.-GIII, $150,000, Monmouth, 6-14, 3yo/up, 1m, 1:37.16, sy.
1–BISHOPS BAY, 124, h, 5, by Uncle Mo
            1st Dam: Catch My Drift (SW & GISP, $280,540), by
                        Pioneerof the Nile
            2nd Dam: Drift to the Lead, by Yonaguska
            3rd Dam: Drifa, by Tabasco Cat
'TDN Rising Star'. ($450,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP). O-Spendthrift
Farm LLC, Steve Landers, Martin S. Schwartz, Michael Dubb,
Ten Strike Racing, Jim Bakke, Titletown Racing, LLC, Kueber
Racing, LLC, Big Easy Racing LLC, Rick Kanter, Michael J. Caruso
& WinStar Farm LLC; B-WinStar Farm, LLC (KY); T-Brad H. Cox;
J-Flavien Prat. $90,000. Lifetime Record: 10-7-3-0, $603,550.
*1/2 to Catching Freedom (Constitution), GSW & GISP,
$1,374,850; Strava (Into Mischief), MSP, $472,326.
Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus*
Click for the  eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
Free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Nelson Avenue, 118, g, 6, Into Mischief–Via Strata, by
Street Cry (Ire). ($65,000 5yo '24 FTDMAY). O-Photos Finish
LLC; B-Godolphin (KY); T-Jorge R. Abreu. $30,000.
3–Surface to Air, 118, h, 5, Midshipman–Shemazon, by
Congrats. 1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE.
O-Premier Stable; B-Silverton Hill, LLC (KY); T-Panagiotis A.
Synnefias. $15,000.
Margins: 5, 3 3/4, 4. Odds: 0.30, 10.20, 20.30.
Also Ran: Awesome Ruta, Tuscan Sky, Trademark. Scratched: Antigravity, Offaly Cool, Vitality. Click for the Equibase.com chart or the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

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