By Jill Williams
When Indian Charlie died prematurely from cancer at the age of 16 in 2011, the loss was palpable. He had perennially been among the nation's leading sires, while his prowess as a broodmare sire had yet to fully emerge. He had several sons already at stud, but waiting in the wings was his top successor and one who would ultimately put him on the map as a sire of sires. At the time of Indian Charlie's death, Uncle Mo had just closed out his racing career and was preparing for his first breeding season.
No one could have envisioned what would happen next. Uncle Mo was the runaway leading freshman sire in 2015, setting what was then a record for freshman earnings with his first crop, but he didn't stop there. He's constantly come up with good horse after good horse since, then sent his own first sons to stud, where they took three of the top four freshman spots in 2020. And he's showing no signs of slowing down, with current GISWs including Breeders' Cup-bound Arabian Knight and Adare Manor. Two of his sons–dual Breeders' Cup winner Golden Pal and GISW Mo Town–have since joined Uncle Mo on Ashford's roster. As icing on the cake, Uncle Mo's first daughters are doing him credit as a broodmare sire, with Saturday's GI American Pharoah S. winner Muth (Good Magic) and this summer's GI TVG.com Haskell S. winner Geaux Rocket Ride (Candy Ride {Arg}) among his early black-type winners as a damsire.
Uncle Mo, and the man who campaigned him, Mike Repole, are so entrenched as part of the fabric of the upper echelon of the sport that it's difficult to remember that wasn't the case as recently as 15 years ago. When 'Mo' was born, Repole had never even won a stakes race and was focused on claimers. Repole's purchase of the bay as a $220,000 yearling at Keeneland September in 2009 changed everything.
No one can tell it better than Repole himself, who captures the heart of the sport as he shares his memories:
“Basically if there was no Uncle Mo, Repole Stable wouldn't be where it is today. He was the patriarch to Repole Stable. I was in horse racing at a claiming level probably from 2004-2009 and then the son of Indian Charlie out of the dam Playa Maya burst on the scene. I was just doing business with Todd [Pletcher] for about a year and I asked him if he liked the horse. He said, 'I think he's really good,' but I didn't know what that meant.
“We won [on debut] on Travers Day. Uncle Mo stole the day. The day was supposed to be about the Travers but he broke his maiden by 14 and that's what people were talking about.
“I never had a good horse like that before. He was something special. So now, [I'm realizing] this is pretty serious.
“I got to witness a superstar [break his maiden]. As someone who has been in racing as a fan since I was 13, I watched horses do this and then I'd be awestruck. I felt like a 13-year-old kid again. It took me about five minutes before I realized he was my horse and I was on my way to the winner's circle.
“I never had a horse like this; I had chills.”
And that was just Uncle Mo's maiden! Uncle Mo would go next in the GI Champagne S. at Belmont in October of 2010 and get Repole his very first black-type win.
“I was 0-37 in stakes races before,” said Repole. “Uncle Mo was my first stakes win. It was pretty special. He won the Champagne by five lengths. Then we went to Churchill [for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile] and he was the favorite. He won by five lengths again.
“Fifteen years ago I didn't even know what the Eclipse Awards were and then I won one. It was all new, it was surreal. My whole family–50 or 60 of us–went to every single race. I always knew the game, but this with Uncle Mo was something special.”
Repole, in partnership, has won two more Eclipse Awards with Breeders' Cup winners: Vino Rosso in 2019 and Forte in 2022.
“To win the Breeders' Cup, to be an Eclipse Award winner…they all feel incredibly special, but nothing like Uncle Mo.
“The feelings I experienced then, the innocence of being a first-time owner of a pretty special horse, it makes me emotional just thinking about it.”
Ashford, where Uncle Mo now stands, is no stranger to top-class stallions. It's a testament to his ability as a sire that Uncle Mo has topped the Ashford roster's fees for the past few years.
“Uncle Mo was a sensational racehorse and is proving to be a very important stallion,” said Charlie O'Connor, Ashford's director of sales. “Successful from the start, he sired 25 stakes winners from his first crop including a Kentucky Derby winner and has since gone on to sire 14 Grade I winners and just shy of 100 stakes winners. They can run on any surface and at any distance: he can get you a Grade I Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint winner, a Grade I Belmont Stakes winner, and everything in between. He has had another terrific year at the sales with five $1-million+ yearlings and is proving to be a very successful sire of sires and an emerging top broodmare sire, all of this whilst still only being 15 himself. He's a very special horse.”
Uncle Mo (2008 bay horse, Indian Charlie–Playa Maya, by Arch)
Lifetime record: Ch. 2yo colt, MGISW, 8-5-1-1, $1,606,000
Breeders' Cup connections: B-D. Michael Cavey DVM (KY); O-Repole Stable; T-Todd Pletcher; J-John Velazquez.
Current location: Coolmore America/Ashford Stud, Versailles, Ky.
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