10
winner’s
circle
Friday, August 19, 2011
Uncle Mo Stays Thirsty for Win by Brendan O’Meara Saratoga TODAY It has been some time since 2010 Champion Juvenile colt Uncle Mo has had a winning effort under his girth. According to trainer Todd Pletcher, Uncle Mo is starting to get his game face on. "He's back in race mode," Pletcher said. "You can see a change in his disposition leading into these works the last couple of times. At the same time, he's been settled. It was another bullet work and he did it well within himself. He galloped out strongly and came back well. We're excited photo provided about where he is at the moment." Stay Thirsty runs the Jim Dandy at the Saratoga Race Course. Uncle Mo fired off a fiveeighths move in 1:00.38 in his scheduled start in the seven fur- Travers Stakes undercard. second-to-last drill before his next long Grade I King's Bishop on the Uncle Mo, owned by Mike Repole, toed the track at just after 6 a.m. on Sunday, August 14 with stablemate and Curlin Stakes winner Turbo Compressor. By the end of the work, Uncle Mo was two lengths ahead of Turbo Compressor. "Right now, he's Uncle Mo and he's perfectly healthy," Pletcher added. "As long as that continues to be the case, then we're confident he'll go over and run his 'A' race." After being diagnosed with a rare liver disorder that subsequently led to his being scratched from the Kentucky Derby, Uncle Mo has steadily regained his strength. Pletcher acknowledged that his champion colt is in for a tough test. "When you are looking at a horse who has accomplished as much as he has, you're not going to find an easy race to come back in. The first start of his life he ran an enormous race here at Saratoga and we would expect him to run a big race first time back." Jim Dandy winner Stay Thirsty, the Bernardini-colt also owned by Repole, worked a half-mile in 51.98 as he readies for the Grade I Travers Stakes on August 27. "He went a tick slower than we set out to do, but I felt better after seeing a group of horses work," said Pletcher. "The track was definitely on the slow side. We were looking for a maintenance-half, and we'll come back and do something a little more serious with him next week."