Pedigree Profile: Mo Plex

Complexity's first graded stakes winner comes from the same mtDNA haplotype as his sire

Mo Plex proved his ten-length debut romp was no fluke with a win in the G3 Sanford Stakes this weekend. As he did on debut, the son of Complexity showed good speed to get to the front and held sway as Studlydoright and Three Echoes attempted to close, with Mr. Squeaky Wheels holding on for fourth.

Bred in New York by Everything’s Cricket Racing, Mo Plex was a $27,000 RNA at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York Bred Yearling Sale, then sold for $45,000 at this year’s OBS April Sale. He’s owned by R and H Stables and trained by Jeremiah Englehart. Irad Ortiz, Jr. has been aboard for both of his starts.

Mo Plex’s win pushed Complexity to a comfortable earnings lead over Vekoma, with whom he’s been contesting the top spot on the leading freshman sire board for weeks. Complexity is now the sire of 12 winners in 16 starters, with a graded stakes winner and a stakes placed runner to his credit.

The fact that Complexity’s offspring have been competitive as two-year-olds should be no surprise, as Complexity himself was a remarkably fast sprinter-miler who was a G1 winner of the Champagne Stakes as a two-year-old. He was off for nearly 7 months following a 10th-place effort in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, reportedly battling a quarter crack, but after a poor effort in the G1 Woody Stephens he again took an extended break before returning with an allowance win at Aqueduct. He was a well-beaten fourth behind Omaha Beach in the G1 Malibu Stakes before again going to the shelf for seven months. He returned victorious at the age of four with an allowance win over Win Win Win, who turned the tables next time out in the G1 Forego. In that race, Complexity set blazing fractions of :44.63 and 1:08.90 and was just caught in the final jumps. Complexity then handily defeated a short field in the G2 Kelso Handicap, earning a 110 Beyer Speed Figure, before finishing his career with a fourth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. He retired to stud at Airdrie Farm for a $12,500 fee.

Complexity is a son of another brilliantly fast racehorse, Maclean’s Music, who made only a single dazzling start in his career but has become an outstanding sire, producing the likes of champion Jackie’s Warrior, Preakness Stakes winner Cloud Computing, and Woody Stephens winner Drain the Clock. Complexity is out of an unraced daughter of Yes It’s True, Goldfield, who is also the dam of graded stakes winner Valadorna (a daughter of Curlin who was second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies) and a stakes placed runner in Korea by Ghostzapper. He’s a member of Lowe family 4m, a family he shares with his sire’s damsire Unbridled’s Song.

Although he was beset with nagging physical issues in his career, there’s no arguing that Complexity was extremely talented, and he’s been passing on that talent to his offspring. Even before his first foals hit the track, there was quite a bit of buzz around them: last year, they sold for an average of $83,583 - 6.7 times his stud fee - and his first crop of two-year-olds sold for an average of $101,076. Those prices have proven to be justified, as Complexity has gotten 75% winners from his first 16 starters, and looks to have a classy juvenile competitor in Mo Plex.

Mo Plex is the first foal out of the unraced Uncle Mo mare Mo Joy. Although Mo Plex is the first starter on the cross of Maclean’s Music with Uncle Mo, he is one of three stakes winners in just 13 starters on the cross of Maclean’s Music with Uncle Mo’s sire Indian Charlie - listed stakes winners Firecrow and Thunders Rocknroll are out of Indian Charlie first and second dams, respectively.

Mo Plex’s second dam, Gold Anklet, by Lemon Drop Kid, was also unraced, but is the dam of a stakes placed turf miler by English Channel. Mo Plex’s third dam is graded stakes winner Anklet, a daughter of Wild Again who produced a stakes placed two-year-old in France by Kingmambo (the sire of Lemon Drop Kid). Going back to Mo Plex’s fifth dam, Green Greek, there are fifteen stakes winners tracing to this branch of Lowe family 13c - which shares a mitochondrial haplotype with family 4m. Most notably, Green Greek shows up as the fourth dam of G1 winner Bullsbay and the fifth dam of G1 winner Grace Adler, who is out of a half sister to Bullsbay. Green Greek is the third dam of Bullsbay’s dam, The Hess Express. More recently, this family is responsible for this year’s G3 Pimlico Special winner Pyrenees, a full brother to Grace Adler who was most recently second in the G1 Stephen Foster.

With the amount of brilliance and precocity in his pedigree, I think Mo Plex is the type of horse who could continue to excel as a two-year-old this year, but I do think there are reasons to wonder whether he’ll ultimately prove to have distance limitations, and whether he’ll continue to dominate later in the year or if, as a January 20th foal, he’s simply maturing quicker than his competition. I expect that he’ll find his niche as a sprinter, perhaps a miler. The question of distance will be one to keep in mind with the offspring of Complexity moving forward, but whether they’ll improve with age or are simply early-season two-year-olds is less of a concern. Considering Complexity’s performances at age four, there’s plenty of reason to think that as a whole, even with their precocity, they’ll continue to improve with maturity as well. For breeders, a horse who was precocious enough to win at two but also went on to display his talent as a four-year-old is a win-win, and I expect that we will see plenty more from Complexity as his first crop matures and as breeders recognize the speed and ability he’s throwing.