Uncle Mo

GII Rebel Stakes winner Class President (Uncle Mo) will scratch from Saturday's GI Toyota Blue Grass Stakes. The news, reported on social media by DRF's David Grening, comes from the colt's trainer Todd Pletcher who is quoted as saying, "Just didn't like the way he went today. Not saying he's off the Derby trail. We'll check him out." Class President, who is owned in partnership by WinStar Farm, First Go Racing and the China Horse Club, last put in a recorded breeze March 28 at Palm Beach Downs when he...

'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard', Further Ado (Gun Runner) was tabbed by track oddsmaker Nick Tammaro as the 8-5 morning line favorite in a field of nine 3-year-olds for Saturday's 102nd running of the $1.25 million GI Toyota Blue Grass Stakes, Keeneland said via a press release on Tuesday. Contested at 1 1/8 miles on the main track, the Blue Grass offers 200 qualifying points for the GI Kentucky Derby. The winner receives 100 points with a sliding scale of 50-25-15-10 points to the second- through fifth-place finishers. The...

Prom Queen (Quality Road) is heading to the big dance. Tabbed as a 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' off an eight-length maiden victory at second asking going two turns at Gulfstream Park Feb. 12, the Gary and Mary West homebred punched her ticket to Louisville with a powerful 2 3/4-length victory in Saturday's GII Gulfstream Park Oaks, good for 100 points on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks. My Miss Mo (Uncle Mo) held second after setting the pace. Favored She Be Smooth (Lexitonian), an impressive winner of the...

5. LET'S BE FRANK, SA, 3/20-3rd, 1 mile (turf) (Video) Beyer Speed Figure - 83 (2nd) (c, 3, by Liam's Map--Proudly (Kor), by Alternation) O/B-Nice Guys Stables (Ky). T-Michael McCarthy. J-Hector Berrios. It won't tell you much that his dam Proudly earned 3.6 million South Korean won, which currently translates into $2,422. More telling is that Proudly has a recognizable full sister: Kentucky Oaks winner Serengeti Empress. The unraced Darley-bred dam of both females, Havisham, was four when she was unloaded for $5,000 and in 2016 had just dropped her...

Over 200 two-year-olds, one of them a St Mark's Basilica half-brother to G1 Derby winner Anthony Van Dyck (Galileo), have been catalogued for the Arqana Breeze-Up Sale. Breezes will take place over the Deauville turf on Thursday May 7 from midday, before the sale begins at 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 9. Set to sell as lot 174, the bay is also a half-brother to G1 Railway Stakes heroine Bounding (Lonhro), while multiple group winner and sire Kuroshio is under the second dam. Other choice lots include lot 19, a...

Code Review (Uncle Mo) was the subject of much pre-race chatter and lived up to the hype on Gulfstream debut Jan. 25, making all the running en route to a 1 1/2-length victory and 'TDN Rising Star' presented by Hagyard plaudits. The bay was given an entry for Saturday's Virginia Derby, but connections opted to ship in for this considerably softer spot, for which he was made the 1-5 mortal. Code Review hopped slightly as the gates flew back, but he quickly stepped away to a clear lead before Tyler...

2nd-CNL, $80k, OC 62k/N1X, 3yo, 1m, 1:00 p.m. ET. Code Review (Uncle Mo) takes on winners for the first time after delivering a 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' performance at first asking going six furlongs at Gulfstream Park Jan. 25. The full-brother to the ill-fated GII Jim Dandy S. winner Laoban earned a 78 Beyer Speed Figure for the front-running victory. He fired a four-furlong bullet in :46 4/5 (1/63) at Gulfstream Mar. 1. Code Review, a $200,000 FTKNOV weanling turned $575,000 KEESEP yearling, is campaigned in partnership by...

2nd-TAM, $60k, Msw, 3yo, 7f, 12:45 p.m. ET ACE FROM SPACE (Into Mischief) brings both an imposing pedigree and worktab into this career debut. The Stonestreet homebred is the latest runner out of the SW & GSP Glinda the Good (Hard Spun), whose four winners includes dual Grade I-winning champion and leading sire Good Magic (Curlin). Glinda the Good is herself a half-sister to GSW and stakes-producing Take the Ribbon (Chester House) and SW & GSPs Flash Forward (Curlin) and Flash Mash (Smarty Jones). Irad Ortiz, Jr. has the call...

By now, no doubt, it must be among my most wearily familiar complaints. Only last week, in fact, I was again lamenting the days when old-school trainers would start Classic campaigns round one turn, gaining sharpness and conditioning without entering a stress zone. Nowadays those benefits are forfeited by the twin imperatives of hiding horses in their stalls, even as they need GI Kentucky Derby points. Those points being unavailable in sprints, the defining test of the American Thoroughbred has duly been shorn of raw speed. Other traditionalists presumably shared...

HOT SPRINGS, Ark.--A strong tradition for any Kentucky Derby hopeful along the campaign trail to May is passing the two turn test. With distance in mind, owners and trainers are looking for their nominees to stretch their legs, embrace the debate that comes in the form of traffic and find ways to grind out a hard-earned victory. At Oaklawn Park in the GII Rebel Stakes on Sunday, WinStar, First Go Racing and CHC Inc. owned colt Class President (Uncle Mo--Top Quality, by Quality Road) proved best at the wire as...

Gary and Mary West's Sticker Shock (Uncle Mo--Smokey's Love, by Forestry) made it two-for-two going a route of ground when winning at Oaklawn Thursday afternoon. Allowed to settle in a two-wide third as Copper Wind (Gun Runner) led the way through a :23.49 quarter, the 3-2 favorite, who was getting-first-time Lasix here, took closer order as the pacesetter kept up the tempo through a half-mile in :47.62. Starting to put the pressure on the leader as the round the far turn, the West homebred held a narrow advantage straightening for...

"Looking for the hidden gem." That, to Mike Slezak, is the point of crossover; the place where his breakout success dovetails with a personal passion that has now evolved into a way of life. "Which means trying to ask questions in a different way," he elaborates. "Not making assumptions, looking a little closer." To the many who first encountered Slezak in his American Idol debrief shows, the next stage of the analogy will make perfect sense. "It's scouting for a contestant like David Cook," he explains. "No-one thought he was...