I’ll always recall the moment I first heard of Monomoy Girl. She was on a list of entrants for Keeneland’s 2018 Ashland Stakes, noted as the likely standout of the field. When she went on to win that race by 5 1/2 lengths, using it as a springboard to Kentucky Oaks success the following month, being intrigued turned to having found a new favorite racehorse.

I eagerly awaited her return to the races after 18 months off, and was delighted to see she hadn’t lost a beat and won, though it was not at graded stakes level as she was building back up to racing before trying that. While I couldn’t attend due to COVID restrictions barring spectators from Churchill Downs, I was also glad she won that day for it was my birthday and felt like a gift in a time when gatherings and any celebrations were not possible.

When she was sold late in 2020 and became part of Spendthrift’s stable and they parlayed some of the ownership of her into a lease format for MyRacehorse, it was an exciting thought to be a little more of part of the story of the horse I’d followed since her 3-year-old year, even as it was under the lease agreement only for racing rights (including some of her earnings) for 2021 instead of outright shares like with most of their other horses. If not for Spendthrift having a commitment to MyRacehorse and being willing to provide lease rights, the chance to be even a little bit of a part of a horse of this caliber would be unlikely and I commend them for that.

Expected time frame for the lease shares to go on sale were around February 25, ahead of her Bayakoa start. The SEC took a longer time than anticipated to approve the lease for sale to investors, and I had been so eager to buy in and didn’t want to miss getting a shot before the shares sold out that it felt longer than the nearly 2 months past that time it took to approve the shares to be sold.

One thing I primarily wanted to mention, having had shares in several horses through MyRacehorse, is that the experience with each is as individual as the horses themselves. I’ve always loved Monomoy Girl’s consistency and determination, and so even when she finished second in the Apple Blossom, I was proud of her effort and it did make the anticipation pre-race more amplified for being a bit more directly involved. And that is how it is with Monomoy Girl. She impresses me with her determination and though jockey Florent Geroux indicated she may have loafed a little and lost some of her focus to maintain a lead, she never threw in the towel and I look forward to what comes next in her journey through this racing year. And I certainly hope to get back to one of her races, particularly with an investment in her, which was all off-limits due to COVID last year.

I am excited for her future endeavors and to see if it works out to get to attend with paddock or winner’s circle access which MyRacehorse offers through a lottery system for investors. That would be icing on the cake for a horse I’ve followed as avidly as I have her, and something I never dreamed would possibly be in the cards when I first heard of her. I am grateful to Spendthrift and MyRacehorse for putting such dreams in reach!