Zipse: The championship legacy of Uncle Mo will endure

What will I remember most about Uncle Mo? There is plenty to fondly recall when thinking back about the champion son of Indian Charlie, but for me it was being at Churchill Downs to watch him outclass his competition in the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.

It was a victory that emphasized his place as not only the finest 2-year-old in the country but also one of the best of his era. Trained by Todd Pletcher, owned by Mike Repole and ridden by Johnny Velázquez, Uncle Mo was simply in a class by himself as a juvenile. Seeing him in the flesh was witnessing something special.

Champion and influential stallion Uncle Mo is euthanized. 

My next favorite personal memory of Uncle Mo came a half-dozen years later, when I saw him up close at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud. At the age of 8, he was truly everything you would want to see in a young stallion. While racing always comes first for me, it was the latter memory that I believe will be connected to celebrating him for years to come.

It’s nothing but sad when a life ends way too young. Uncle Mo was euthanized Thursday after suffering a left foreleg injury. He was only 16 years old.

While it hits hardest to all those who knew him best, his importance to horse racing was such that his sudden loss is a devastating blow for the entire industry.

As much as his 3-year-old season on the racetrack was a year of what might have been, I am not worried about the legacy he will leave. At 108 stakes winners and counting, his place as a sire, a broodmare sire and a sire of sires will endure.

His son Nyquist is a wonderful starting point in more ways than one. Like his sire and his grandsire Indian Charlie, who went off favored in the 1998 Kentucky Derby, he was brilliant right from the outset. From the first crop of Uncle Mo, the Doug O’Neill trainee won each of his five starts at 2, including the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.

The 2-year-old champion continued his success through the 2016 Kentucky Derby, which was his eighth straight win without a loss. Arrogate would pass him by for championship honors that year, but now Nyquist has made his place as one of the nation’s best sires. Johannes and Immersive are his latest stars and further proof of his versatility at stud.

Speaking of versatility as a sire, two of Uncle Mo’s other best sons include Mo Donegal and Golden Pal.

Mo Donegal could run all day as evidenced by a decisive win in the 2022 Belmont Stakes at 12 furlongs. He also won the Remsen Stakes (G2) and Wood Memorial (G2) at Aqueduct, but unfortunately an injury kept him from racing more than seven career starts. His victory in the third leg of the Triple Crown was his final career race.

Golden Pal had a longer career in much shorter races. A horse with devastating early speed, he won 8 of 13 career starts, highlighted by wins in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint and Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint in consecutive years.

Both Mo Donegal and Golden Pal entered stud in 2023, and as a pair of unique and talented sons of Uncle Mo, they are two of the more promising young stallions on the market. Their first crop of 2-year-olds will be worth watching when they hit the racetrack in 2026.

Of course, Uncle Mo’s prowess as a sire is far from a boys club. He has been an outstanding sire of females as well. Recently retired Adare Manor has been the best to date.

With 10 wins and five seconds in her 18 lifetime starts, she raced at a top level for three seasons and amassed nearly $2 million in earnings. She would have been sent to the post the favorite against the males this year in the Pacific Classic (G1) had she not been sidelined. She will be a finalist for this year’s older dirt-female championship.

An outstanding broodmare prospect, Adare Manor will look to join other daughters of Uncle Mo who have distinguished themselves in motherhood.

As a son of Indian Charlie, who has proven himself a top broodmare sire with horse of the year Flightline among many others, it should come as no surprise that Uncle Mo is ready to take his place among the elite in this realm.

Look no further than the sensational filly and this year’s likely horse of the year Thorpedo Anna to understand the potential of Uncle Mo as a broodmare sire. The daughter of Fast Anna was produced by Uncle Mo mare Sataves.

Then there’s the hot Kentucky Derby prospect and recent winner of the Los Alamitos Futurity (G2) Journalism, who was produced by durable, graded-stakes winning Uncle Mo mare Mopotism.

Uncle Mo will be dearly missed but never forgotten. He was a champion on the racetrack, but his lasting legacy will come from his sons and daughters who pass on his brilliance to future generations.