Uncle Mo exits Timely Writer ‘very well’, headed to Wood

Uncle Mo is expected to make his next start in the Wood (Adam Coglianese Photography)

Champion and early Kentucky Derby (G1) favorite UNCLE MO (Indian Charlie), an
easy and impressive winner of his 2011 debut in Saturday’s Timely Writer S. at
Gulfstream Park, will most likely prepare for the 137th Run for the Roses in the
$750,000 Wood Memorial (G1) at Aqueduct on April 9, trainer Todd Pletcher said
Sunday morning.

Owned by Mike Repole, the three-year-old colt scored his fourth win in as
many starts when posting a 3 3/4-length victory in the Timely Writer, covering
the mile in 1:36 2/5 in his first race since taking the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile
(G1) by 4 3/4 lengths on November 6.

“He came out of the race yesterday very well,” Pletcher said from his barn at
Palm Meadows Training Center. “The plan all along has been to go to the Wood; I
don’t think anything has changed out of that.”

Purchased for $220,000 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Uncle Mo
made a sensational debut at Saratoga on August 28, breaking his maiden by 14 1/4
lengths, then won the Champagne S. (G1) at Belmont Park on October 9 en route to
his Breeders’ Cup victory and the Eclipse Award as the nation’s top two-year-old
colt.

“One thing I will say, I’m not going to micromanage a five-time Eclipse
Award-winning trainer,” said Repole, who also owns Gotham S. (G3) winner Stay
Thirsty (Bernardini). “If Todd tells me we’re going to the Wood, Florida Derby
(G1), Louisiana Derby (G2) or Arkansas Derby (G1), that’s where we’ll go. Right
now he’s saying Uncle Mo is going to the Wood, and Stay Thirsty is going to the
Florida Derby, and that’s the way things are working out. If they stay healthy,
99.99 percent that’s the plan.”