Conquest Mo Money will not run in Kentucky Derby

The owners of local horse Conquest Mo Money announced Tuesday that they will not be entering their horse in the Kentucky Derby on May 6.

Tom McKenna, an Austin High School graduate and Conquest Mo Money’s owner, said the decision was a difficult one, since the Kentucky Derby is the dream of anyone involved in the sport.

“That’s what everybody in horse racing dreams about, whether they have on horse or ten horses or whether they’ve been in racing a year or ten years or 20 years,” he said. “Everybody wants to get to the Derby.”

Conquest Mo Money placed second in this year’s Sunland Derby and had more than enough qualifying points to get him into the Kentucky Derby.

Instead, McKenna says that he and his team will focus on the Preakness and possibly the Belmont Stakes after that.

“We decided that Mo Money would probably fit the Preakness track a lot better. We didn’t like the number of horses that were running at Kentucky,” said McKenna. “I never, ever agree with 20 horses, 20 three-year-olds on a track.”

While Conquest Mo Money won’t be representing New Mexico in the Run for the Roses, two other horses that ran in this year’s Sunland Derby are expected to compete in Kentucky.

Hence, the horse that won the Sunland Derby is expected to start at the Kentucky Derby, as is Irap, the horse that finished fourth at the Sunland Derby.