SID FERNANDO Unconventional Uncle Mo makes his move
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WO were sons of the legendary breed-shaping sire Mr. Prospector, whose blood is ubiquitous in modern pedigrees. One of them, Gulch, 32, was the oldest living Eclipse Award winner until he succumbed. The other, European champion Kingmambo, 26, was one of the greatest of the old guard of international stallions based in the United States. The third, Storm Flag Flying, 16, who died from foaling complications, was a champion daughter of Storm Cat, whose blood is every bit as potent and ubiquitous as Mr. Prospector’s. It so happens that the king of the Eclipses this year, American Pharoah, is a product of crossing the Mr. Prospector and Storm Cat bloodlines. His sire, Pioneerof the Nile, is by Empire Maker, a son of Unbridled – a grandson of Mr. Prospector through his son Fappiano. American Pharoah’s dam is by Yankee Gentleman, a son of Storm Cat. Storm Flag Flying’s surviving foal of 2016, incidentally, is bred on the reverse cross of American Pharoah. The filly is by the Fappiano-line stallion Candy Ride, who has nicked exceptionally with Storm Cat mares. These bloodlines have mixed kaleidescopically back and forth, top and bottom, through the years to produce some of the best stock in North America, but also producing horses with increasingly similar pedigrees. The bloodlines have been supplemented and enhanced with other potent mixers, notably Danzig – the sire of War Front, one of the best young stallions in the world – and Horse of the Year A.P. Indy, a pensioned son of Seattle Slew. A.P. Indy sired Pulpit, an important sire whose dam was by Mr. Prospector. Pulpit is the sire of Tapit, the best stallion in North America. Tapit stands at Gainesway Farm, where Empire Maker has
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During the month of January, when the annual Eclipse Awards were the talk of the town, three older champions with symbolic links to the best of the bloodstock landscape over the last 30 or so years died within a week of each other. been repatriated from Japan to stand the upcoming season. Already the bearer of Mr. Prospector blood through Pulpit, Tapit has another dose from his dam, a daughter of Unbridled, and is therefore inbred 3x4 to Mr. Prospector. It’s quite possible, by sheer proximity, that some Tapit mares will find their way to Empire Maker -- who has crossed very well with the A.P. Indy line, producing among others champion Royal Delta this way. But because Tapit already has Unbridled in his pedigree, any foal produced on the cross with Empire Maker will be closely inbred 2x4 to Unbridled, with three strains of Mr. Prospector. This type of close inbreeding is inevitable when few stallions dominate the landscape, and in earlier eras, the names duplicated included such as Nasrullah, Bold Ruler, Raise a Native, and Northern Dancer. But also in earlier eras, the importation of new blood, allowing for diversity, was far more prevalent than it has been lately, and the books those horses served were one-third the size of what they are now, limiting proliferation. There comes a point when too much of a good thing could become a bad thing. And there also comes a point when some promising sires might not have enough diversity in the broodmare population to be as effective as they perhaps could have been in another era. Sometimes, success at stud can boil down to a matter of timing and a sire’s place in the historical pedigree landscape. Ashford Stud’s Uncle Mo, the leading first-crop sire of 2015, doesn’t suffer from this problem of bloodline oversaturation, and, in fact, may be helped because of it.
He is free of Mr. Prospector, Storm Cat, and A.P. Indy. The winner of the Eclipse Award in 2010 as American champion twoyear-old colt, Uncle Mo is unconventionally bred in today’s environment. His late sire, Indian Charlie, was bred in California and is by Irish-bred In Excess, who traces obscurely to Irish-bred Caro. He is out of a mare by Arch, an important Roberto-line horse who died the same week as Gulch and Kingmambo – and this is perhaps symbolic for his grandson’s rise. Uncle Mo’s undefeated Breeders’ Cup Juvenile-winning son Nyquist was named champion two-year-old male of 2015 and heads a group of seven stakes winners for the young stallion, sire already of two Grade 1 winners, making Uncle Mo’s start at stud as impressive and auspicious as any seen recently. Significantly, he joined Seattle Slew, Deputy Minister, and Capote as the only other juvenile champion since the advent of the Eclipses in 1971 to sire a two-year-old champion, but is the only one of them to do it in his first crop. This heady start and the promise it augurs prompted Ashford to jump Uncle Mo’s stud fee from $25,000 live foal in 2015 to $75,000 this year. They are betting that the time is right for Uncle Mo, and here’s why: Nyquist is from a Storm Cat-line mare who is from a Mr. Prospector-line mare; Grade 1 winner Gomo is from a Mr. Prospector-line mare who is out of a Seattle Slew-line mare; and six of the sire’s seven first-crop stakes winners are from mares with Mr. Prospector in the dam or the second dam. Uncle Mo appears to be in the right place at the right time. n
Sometimes, success at stud can boil down to a matter of timing and a sire’s place in the historical pedigree landscape
TRAINERMAGAZINE.COM ISSUE 39
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