Mo Donegal

Owner Mike Repole purchased a minority interest in GI Kentucky Derby contender and GII Wood Memorial S. winner Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo), ownership group Donegal Racing announced Friday. The price and ownership stake were not disclosed. Mo Donegal, a $250,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase, captured Aqueduct's GII Remsen S. over future GI Toyota Blue Grass winner Zandon (Upstart). Third in the Feb. 5 GIII Holy Bull S. behind White Abarrio (Race Day) and Simplification (Not This Time), he returned to New York Apr. 9 for the Wood Memorial S., rallying...

Affable Iowan Jerry Crawford, a longtime client of Werk Thoroughbred Consultants, runs the successful racing partnership Donegal Racing, which was established in 2008 with the specific goal of winning the Gl Kentucky Derby. That may have sounded like wishful thinking at the time, but Crawford's stable has made it to Louisville on average every three years or so, with live runners, and with horses that haven't been purchased for exorbitant sums: Paddy O'Prado (El Prado {Ire}), a $105,000 Keeneland September purchase and among the first yearlings bought by the fledgling...

These rankings are in "likeliest winner" order, and they are different from the points leaderboard Churchill Downs uses to determine starting berths. Access that list here. The GI Kentucky Derby can have a field of 20 with four also-eligibles. 1) ZANDON (c, Upstart--Memories Prevail, by Creative Cause) O-Jeff Drown. B-Brereton C. Jones (KY). T-Chad C. Brown. Sales History: $170,000 ylg '20 KEESEP. Lifetime Record: GISW, 4-2-1-1, $713,000. Last Start: 1st GI Toyota Blue Grass S., KEE, Apr. 9. KY Derby Points: 114. Right after the final nine-furlong preps were complete,...

It was a busy Friday morning at Churchill Downs with 10 GI Kentucky Derby and GI Kentucky Oaks contenders logging their penultimate work prior to the first weekend in May. Half of those workers were from Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher's barn--Oaks contenders GII Gulfstream Park Oaks runner-up Goddess of Fire (Mineshaft) (five furlongs, 1:00.80); GI Central Bank Ashland S. winner Nest (Curlin) (four furlongs, :49.80); and unbeaten G3 UAE Oaks heroine Shahama (Munnings) (five furlongs, 1:00.80) and Derby contenders GI Curlin Florida Derby runner-up Charge It (Tapit) (five...

The Week in Review by T. D. Thornton This past Saturday's last-chance trio of nine-furlong preps for the GI Kentucky Derby unfolded like a tense card game that came down to the crucial final draw. Some decent hands had already been dealt over the course of the long season, but we still needed to see the last three cards from the deck to get a handle on how intriguing and entertaining this year's Run for the Roses would turn out to be. That final turn revealed, in succession: An ace....

Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo) returned to the scene of his previous career best score to stamp his ticket to the Run for the Roses with a late-rallying score over Early Voting (Gun Runner) in the GII Wood Memorial S. at Aqueduct Saturday. It was the seventh Wood Memorial victory for Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, tying Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons record. His previous winners were Eskendereya (2010), Gemologist (2012), Verrazano (2013), Outwork (2016), Vino Rosso (2018) and Bourbonic (2021). Verrazano went on to win the GI Haskell Invitational and Vino Rosso...

The New York road to the GI Kentucky Derby concludes with Saturday's GII Wood Memorial S., featuring the winners of Aqueduct's GII Remsen S., GIII Withers S. and GIII Gotham S., respectively. Morello (Classic Empire) brings a perfect three-for-three record to the table for Steve Asmussen following sharp, press-and-pounce victories in the Jimmy Winkfield S. Feb. 6 and one-turn mile Gotham Mar. 5. He is the 8-5 morning-line favorite for this first test around two turns. "We're excited. The horse is doing well, he's super sharp and we think we...

   Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo), the 3-1 morning-line favorite in Saturday's GII Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth S. at Gulfstream, will be scratched from the race, reports owner Jerry Crawford. His next start will most likely be in the GII Wood Memorial S. Apr. 9 at Aqueduct. Crawford said he and trainer Todd Pletcher were considering scratching after Mo Donegal drew the 12 post for the Fountain of Youth, but the decision became more clear cut after the colt developed a minor virus. "We are going to scratch," Crawford said. "In...

The South Florida worktab was dotted with several horses tuning up Saturday morning for a possible start in the GII Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth S. at Gulfstream Park Mar. 5. WinStar Farm and Siena Farm LLC's 'TDN Rising Star' Emmanuel (More Than Ready) will be in search of a third win in as many starts in the Fountain of Youth and tuned up for the 8 1/2-furlong test with a bullet half-mile in :48.05 (1/32) Saturday morning at trainer Todd Pletcher's base at Palm Beach Downs. He worked great, I...

With less than three months remaining before the running of the GI Kentucky Derby, trainer Todd Pletcher, with 42 horses nominated to the Triple Crown, will be active in a number of Derby preps as he prepares his troops for his annual invasion of Churchill Downs. Pletcher divulged his plans during this week's TDN Writers' Room podcast, which will be available Wednesday afternoon. Despite finishing third as the favorite in last Saturday's GIII Holy Bull S. at Gulfstream, Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo) may represent Pletcher's best chance of winning a...

Led by last term's hard-fought GII Remsen S. winner Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo), a deep field of nine will line up for Saturday's GIII Holy Bull S. at Gulfstream Park. Owned by Donegal Racing and trained by Todd Pletcher, Mo Donegal outslugged Zandon (Upstart) by a nose after a roughly run stretch drive while making his stakes debut in that aforementioned 1 1/8-mile affair at Aqueduct last time Dec. 4. "We decided that the Holy Bull was the right starting point," Pletcher said. "It gives us plenty of options. If...

'TDN Rising Star' Life Is Good (Into Mischief), a dominant winner of the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile Nov. 6, continues to train forwardly toward his 4-year-old debut in the $3-million GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational Jan. 29 at Gulfstream Park. Life Is Good was among two dozen horses breezing for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher Saturday morning at Palm Beach Downs. He was clocked in 1:00.41 (5/11) for five furlongs. "He's a phenomenal workhorse. He's a very talented, gifted animal that when you watch him breeze you kind...