Laoban’s Devious Mo takes $200,000 New York Stallion S. in black type debut

Devious Mo won the Times Square Division of Saturday’s $200,000 New York Stallion S. at Aqueduct in the 3-year-old Laoban colt’s stakes debut, taking the 6 1/2-furlong contest by three-quarters of a length over Sinful Dancer.

Fresh off his 8 3/4-length maiden win on March 13, Devious Mo hustled away from the gate and was head to head with Lobsta in the first furlong. Devious Mo backed off a bit, but retook the lead with three furlongs to run. Sinful Dancer made a run at him in the stretch, but Devious Mo dug in to hold him off and finish the distance in 1:17.10 on a “good” main track.

“I just kept him up there (along the inside),” said Devious Mo’s jockey Manny Franco. “By the three-eighths pole, I had to go because the hole was closing up, so I asked more of my horse. When (Sinful Dancer) came to me, my horse was really trying. When I asked him, he was there for me.”

Devious Mo, owned by Repole Stable, has earned $147,820.

Bred by McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds, Devious Mo is out of Devious Chic, a half-sister to Grade 2 winner Sky Cape and stakes winner Sunny Skies. 

Laoban, who is standing his initial season this year at WinStar Farm, is in the top three on the Second-Crop Cumulative Sire list by graded stakes winners, black type winners, black type horses and progeny earnings. His 2021 fee is $25,000 S&N.