Coolmore America Handbook 2020

“one of the modern greats” …Uncle Mo’s debut two-year-olds hit the track in 2015, and he made a dazzling first impression by supplying three-time Grade 1 winner and champion juvenile Nyquist, Alcibiades heroine Gomo, Grade 3 scorer Sanford, and Forevamo, Lost Raven, Mo Tom and Uncle Brennie, all successful at Listed level. Unsurprisingly, his fee at Ashford Stud in Kentucky was trebled to $75,000 for the 2016 covering season and the resultant foals, now aged two, include Bast, who stormed to a near nine-length victory in the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante Stakes on Saturday. Even better was to come on the racecourse as Uncle Mo’s first crop turned three. Nyquist landed the Florida Derby and became only the second horse to complete the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile-Kentucky Derby double; Outwork took the Wood Memorial; Laoban and Mokat struck at Grade 2 level; and Auntie Joy, Front Pocket Money and Unbridled Mo scored in Grade 3s.The sire’s next generation of two-year-old runners, meanwhile, included the impressive Grade 2 Remsen Stakes winner Mo Town. Uncle Mo’s fee was consequently doubled to $150,000 in 2017… Reflecting on Uncle Mo’s stallion career, Ashford Stud manager Dermot Ryan says: “Ever since his first crop hit the racetrack he’s been shattering records…As well as being so good-looking, Uncle Mo was a seriously talented racehorse. Breeders identified this and have been extremely supportive of him throughout his career.” Ryan reports that Uncle Mo’s “phenomenal” book in 2017 included the brilliant racemare Beholder, Zenyatta’s Grade 1-winning half-sister Balance and Starlet Stakes scorer Diplomat Lady, as well as Miss Macy Sue, the dam of Liam’s Map and Not This Time, and Mythical Bride, the dam of Vino Rosso. Since that stunning sophomore season in 2016, Uncle Mo’s offspring Bast, Dream Tree, Mo Town and Unbridled Mo have also won Grade 1 contests, and this year Epical, Life’s A Parlay, Miss Mo Mentum and Moon Colony have delivered Graded stakes victories. In all, with his oldest crop aged six, the stallion is credited with 26 Pattern winners and another 25 Listed winners, with 85 stakes performers in total (up to late August). That has been achieved mainly by his first four crops who were bred off fees ranging from $25,000 to $35,000. Strong support for Uncle Mo naturally continued to this year’s covering season, when he stood at $125,000. Among the mares he was sent were Circle Of Life and Dream Of Summer, Grade 1 winners themselves and dams of Grade 1 winners Circular Quay and Creative Cause; further Grade 1 scorers Heavenly Love and Intangaroo; and the dams of Bricks And Mortar, Lines Of Battle, Stormy Liberal, Sweet Loretta and World Of Trouble. … If the improved pedigrees of the Uncle Mo yearlings and enhanced demand for them translate into even better racecourse results, then the sire might just go on to become one of the modern greats. M ARTIN S TEVENS , R ACING P OST B LOODSTOCK , S EPT . 9 TH 2019 68

Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker