Mony Mony wires Star Shoot Stakes, gives Sofia Vives third straight win

Mony Mony did not sneak away with the Star Shoot Stakes, she took it over from the break. Sofia Vives sent the Munnings filly to the front in the $125,000 sprint at Woodbine Racetrack and the race never stopped looking like hers, a style of victory that says more about the filly than the margin did.

The 3-year-old filly carved out sharp fractions of :22.80, :46.30 and :58.42 and still had enough left to repel Lakota Lady through the stretch, holding on by a length in 1:11.02 for six furlongs. Day to Day faded to third and Edey was fourth in a field of seven fillies. Sent off as the 9-5 favorite, Mony Mony returned $5.90 and looked every bit the horse with the plan from the start.

That matters because this was not just a rebound from a bad trip or a hot pace that collapsed behind her. Mony Mony entered off a sixth-place finish in the Serena’s Song Stakes at Turfway Park on March 28, a race that ended a two-race winning streak. Joe Sharp shipped her in for Woodbine’s first stakes of the 2026 Thoroughbred season, and the move paid off immediately. If her next start comes on the same terms, she has a profile that fits the better sprint races at the meet, not just a one-off score over a favorable setup.

Vives’ ride was the other headline. The win gave her a third straight Star Shoot victory, after she also won the race in 2024 and 2025, and it came in the 70th edition of a stakes that has been on the Woodbine calendar since 1956. The race, a traditional prep for the $500,000 Woodbine Oaks Presented by Stella Artois, has long served as an early-season test for sophomore fillies, and this year’s renewal again pointed to a filly with room to move up.

Mony Mony was purchased for $110,000 at the OBS Spring Sale in April 2025 and is owned by Scott Dilworth, Evan Dilworth and Randy Andrews. Bred in Kentucky by Gary and Mary West Stables, she now owns three wins from seven starts and more than $215,000 in earnings. For Sharp and her connections, the message from Toronto was clear: the filly is learning how to control a race, and that is the kind of trait that can carry into the summer stakes schedule.