Tag: Uncle Mo

Mo Stash Goes Gate-To-Wire In Transylvania

In the first graded win for young sire Mo Town (by Uncle Mo), Mo Stash (Mo Town–Making Mark Money, by Smart Strike) hung tough on the lead to win the GIII Kentucky Utilities Transylvania S. on opening day of the always-anticipated spring meet at Keeneland. Nagirroc (Lea), who finished one spot in front of the Transylvania winner in their only previous meeting, the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf over this course, was second with Webslinger (Constitution)–11th in the Juvenile Turf–third.

The complexion of the race changed when Chad Brown scratched Carl Spackler (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}), who sported a field-high 92 Beyer in his last. Mo Stash, away cleanly from stall seven in the Transylvania, shook free of the others and slid down to the rail to mark the first quarter a length clear in :23.69. The field began stringing out, but Mo Stash kept his position, getting the half in :48.41 and the three-quarters in 1:13.84. He was joined by a host of challengers in the stretch only to repel all, including Nagirroc, who briefly looked as though he had the winner measured.

“There was a lot of pacing going on up there and I thought, 'Oh, geez, now we're going to have to set the pace,'” said winning trainer Vicki Oliver, who won the first Keeneland stakes of her career in the Transylvania. “We were kind of getting pushed down the backside, and then [jockey Luis] Saez slipped away and got out on his own, and he could relax a little bit, and when he turned for home prevailed on and ran a really good race.”

Tried for the first time beyond a mile in the Transylvania, Mo Stash spent the majority of his 2-year-old campaign sprinting. A maiden winner at Ellis last August, he's done some of his best work at Keeneland. He finished second in the Lexington oval's Indian Summer S. last October at 5 1/2 furlongs which propelled him to a fourth in the one-mile Breeders' Cup. Freshened until Mar. 11, he reappeared again at a mile in Tampa Bay's Columbia S. and secured a runner-up spot behind a 91 Beyer performance by Talk of the Nation (Quality Road). Mo Stash has run exclusively on the grass.

As for what's next, Oliver added: “It's still going to be a question mark about how far he will go, but today it looked like he just kept going and could go another sixteenth. That might just be his running style. There's a lot of races out there between a mile, mile-and-an-eighth. We'll just have to pick them out as we go.”

Pedigree Notes:

Ashford stallion Mo Town, winner of the GI Hollywood Derby on the lawn and the GII Remsen S. on the dirt, has sired three black-type winners in his first crop with Mo Stash being his first to win or place in a graded event. Mo Stash is out of a mare by the late Smart Strike, whose 159 stakes winners out of his daughters include a number of champions as well as reigning GI Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike (Keen Ice).

Mo Stash is the second stakes performer for his dam, Making Mark Money, whose 2021 GII Tampa Bay Derby runner-up and GIII Sam F. Davis third Hidden Stash (Constitution) also runs for BBN Racing connections and is also trained by Oliver. The 5-year-old's most recent start was a third in an optional allowance at Tampa Feb. 21 after an eight-month layoff. He ran 14th in the 2021 GI Kentucky Derby. It was at the 2021 Keeneland September sale that BBN picked up Mo Stash for $130,000. Making Mark Money's only foal since is a yearling colt by Practical Joke. She was bred to McKinzie for 2023.

Making Mark Money's granddam is the wonderful La Affirmed, a half to champion Outstandingly (Exclusive Native) and dam of four graded winners. Among her descendants are GISWs Sky Mesa (Pulpit), Maxfield (Street Sense), and Matareya (Pioneerof the Nile). The female line traces directly to La Troienne through her granddaughter Busanda, who contributed mightily to the breed, not the least through her Horse of the Year son and stellar sire Buckpasser (Tom Fool).

KENTUCKY UTILITIES TRANSYLVANIA S.-GIII, $396,250, Keeneland, 4-7, 3yo, 1 1/16mT, 1:43.05, gd.
1–MO STASH, 118, c, 3, by Mo Town
                1st Dam: Making Mark Money, by Smart Strike
                2nd Dam: Kapsiki, by Danzig
                3rd Dam: La Affirmed, by Affirmed
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($130,000
Ylg '21 KEESEP). O-BBN Racing, LLC; B-Rhineshire Farm LLC
(KY); T-Victoria H. Oliver; J-Luis Saez. $229,400. Lifetime
Record: 6-2-2-0, $392,275. *1/2 to Hidden Stash
(Constitution), MGSP, $291,382. Werk Nick Rating: A+.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the
free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Nagirroc, 118, c, 3, Lea–Emma Spencer (Ire), by Zamindar.
O-Little Red Feather Racing, Madaket Stables LLC and William
Strauss; B-Chervenell Thoroughbreds LLC (KY); T-H. Graham
Motion. $74,000.
3–Webslinger, 118, g, 3, Constitution–Arana, by Hard Spun.
1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. ($45,000 RNA Ylg '21 KEESEP;
$25,000 Ylg '21 FTKOCT; $45,000 RNA 2yo '22 OBSAPR;
$50,000 2yo '22 OBSOPN). O-D. J. Stable LLC; B-Kenneth L. &
Sarah K. Ramsey (KY); T-Mark E. Casse. $37,000.
Margins: 1, 1, 1. Odds: 5.48, 3.63, 4.96.
Also Ran: Mi Hermano Ramon, Andthewinneris, Candidate, Freedom Trail, Dude N Colorado (GB), Wonderful Justice (GB), Movisitor, Rarified Flair. Scratched: Carl Spackler (Ire).
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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Ivar All Set for Next Chapter in Argentina

Argentinian champion and U.S. Grade I winner Ivar (Brz) (Agnes Gold {Jpn}) is preparing for his Southern Hemisphere homecoming next month, when he will take up stud duty at Haras Carampangue in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The 7-year-old, who was campaigned by Kentucky-based Bonne Chance Farm and its South American partner Stud RDI, began quarantine shortly after his second-place finish in the GI Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational S. and will depart for his new home at the end of April, leaving him plenty of time to adapt to his second career before the breeding season begins in August.

While the Southern Hemisphere breeding season is still months away, breeders in Argentina are already eager to send their mares to millionaire Ivar. Bonne Chance Farm CEO Alberto Figueiredo estimated that the new stallion will breed around 140 mares in his first season.

“All the good breeders and important names in the industry in Argentina are interested,” Figueiredo said. “There is general excitement about the horse. When you are in the stallion business, you have to pray that everything keeps going as you hope, but at least we are providing him with the best support he can have.”

Ivar's breeder and co-owner Stud Rio Dois Irmaos (Stud RDI) has retained a 55% ownership share in the stallion, but the syndicate also includes Haras Carampangue–the farm where he will stand–as well as Haras Abolengo, Gran Muneca, San Benito, La Nora and Santa Maria de Araras.

Haras Carampangue is home to four other stallions including 2013 GI Frank E. Kilroe Mile S. winner Suggestive Boy (Easing Along) and 2013 GI Hollywood Derby victor Seek Again (Speightstown).

Argentinian breeders are already more than familiar with Ivar from his undefeated 2-year-old season there in 2019, where he claimed two Group 1 victories and was named champion 2-year-old colt before shipping to the U.S. Under the tutelage of Paulo Lobo, Ivar was a winner in his second start in North America and then claimed the GI Turf Mile S. at Keeneland four months later. He ran third the following season in the GI Breeders' Cup Mile and last year, won the Jonathan B. Schuster Memorial S. and placed in two additional Grade I competitions.

Following his second-place finish in the GI Pegasus Turf in January, the decision was made for Ivar to retire. Figueiredo said that, had the horse won the Pegasus, they might have considered a trip to the Saudi Cup or keeping him in training for one last Keeneland spring meet, but ultimately they chose to give Ivar plenty of time to get through quarantine and let down before the fall breeding season.

Ivar wins the 2020 GI Turf Mile S. at Keeneland | Coady

“He ran in 11 Grade I races in his career and was so competitive, so we needed to look toward his second career,” he explained. “Since his first race in Argentina, he showed that he had a ton of potential and that he was a freak. He was a different horse. He won on the dirt and the turf and he ran until he was a 6-year-old, so he showed versatility, durability and soundness. He ran in three Breeders' Cups in a row. He was a tough boy.”

Figueiredo said that a stud fee is not yet set for Ivar's first year, but noted that he believes there is a good space in the Argentinian market for a stallion with his credentials. Ivar's sire Agnes Gold, a son of Sunday Silence who stood in Japan and Florida before making his mark in Brazil as a three-time leading sire, passed away in 2019.

Ivar was one of the first top-level performers to bring attention to Bonne Chance Farm, which is located off Pisgah Pike in Versailles and was founded by Brazilian businessman Gilberto Sayao Da Silva. Silva is a partner in Stud RDI, a breeding and racing operation established in 2008 with locations in Brazil and Argentina. In 2015, he launched Bonne Chance as his own boutique commercial farm in Kentucky.

Bonne Chance Bloodstock Manager Leah Alessandroni spoke on the significance of Ivar carrying the farm's silks to Grade I success so soon after the operation was off its feet.

“To have a horse like Ivar come up here and do what he did, holding his own against some of the best in the world on the turf and really showing up at the biggest stage every time, it's kind of hard to quantify what that means for a young organization like us. It's definitely something that we're thankful for every day and the significance is not lost on us.”

Of course Ivar is not the only success story of South American-breds performing at the top of the game in the U.S. for the Bonne Chance and Stud RDI partnership. Top performers include In Love (Brz), a gelding son of Agnes Gold who followed Ivar to victory in the GI Keeneland Turf Mile S. in 2021, and Imperador (Arg) (Treasure Beach {GB}), winner of the 2021 GII Calumet Turf Cup S. Now back at Stud RDI, Imperador bred over 80 mares in his first book and is expecting his first foals to hit the ground this year.

“There is a pipeline of these outstanding racehorses coming from the programs in Brazil and Argentina,” Alessandroni said of the Stud RDI operation. “The program that they've built there is so underappreciated on a global scale. When you look at the numbers and what they've done in South America with groups of horses that arguably aren't as respected as much as they should be, they have kind of forced people to look at the South American product and respect it.”

“To have even a little bit of that influence through Bonne Chance is awesome,” she continued. “I feel like we're sleeping on a giant because I'm so excited to see the future for Ivar as a stallion, but also for the future of the partnership of Stud RDI and Bonne Chance.”


At Bonne Chance, Ivar's dam May Be Now (Smart Strike) is creating her own pipeline of future broodmares for the Kentucky operation. Her 2-year-old Open Heart, a May-foaled daughter of Yoshida, was retained by the farm and is in the early stages of training under Paulo Lobo.

This year she produced a filly by Uncle Mo. Alessandroni said that they will take a few months to let the Mar. 11-foaled filly develop before deciding if she would be pointed toward the racetrack or the sales ring.

“She definitely favors Uncle Mo, which is one of the reasons why we bred the mare to him because we were looking for that type. She's a good mover out in the field and is a very quality filly. We're really excited about her.”

May Be Now was acquired as a yearling by Stud RDI and was a Group 2 winner in Brazil. She spent her first few years as a broodmare there before returning to the U.S. shortly after producing Ivar. She was sold in foal to Hard Spun in 2017, but was bought back by Bonne Chance as Ivar was making a name for himself.

In a few years, the team at Bonne Chance hopes to be represented by sons and daughters of Ivar. Because Southern Hemisphere horses are at a disadvantage early in their racing career as they are born in the later months of the year, Figueiredo said that Stud RDI's Ivar babies will likely race as 2-year-olds in Argentina and those that show promise will ship to the U.S. after their juvenile season.

“We would be really excited by that,” Figueiredo said enthusiastically.

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The Week In Review: Opposites Attracting Attention

Saturday's two 100-point preps for the GI Kentucky Derby yielded a pair of colts who are polar opposites in many ways. Yet the stock is on the rise for both Two Phil's (Hard Spun) and Kingsbarns (Uncle Mo), as their respective scores in the GIII Jeff Ruby Steaks and GII Louisiana Derby are attracting attention while stamping both as legitimate mid-tier threats on the Triple Crown totem pole.

Two Phil's ($150,000 KEESEP) has appeal as a 4-for-8 blue-collar closer/stalker whose strengths are versatility and adaptability. He's won sprinting and routing over fast dirt, the Churchill Downs slop, and now the Tapeta surface at Turfway, where he uncorked an eye-opening 101 Beyer Speed Figure. His racing resume includes wins well off the traditional Derby path at tracks like Colonial and Canterbury, and he'll train up to the first Saturday in May at Hawthorne for connections (jockey Jareth Loveberry, trainer Larry Rivelli, and co-owners Patricia's Hope LLC and Phillip Sagan) who have no Derby experience among them.

The far pricier Kingsbarns ($250,000 FTSAUG; $800,000 FTFMAR) is evolving into a businesslike front-running force who's never lost in three starts for connections (jockey Flavien Prat, trainer Todd Pletcher and owner Spendthrift Farm) who have ample experience at racing's elite events. To illustrate how deep Pletcher's sophomore stable is this season, the undefeated Kingsbarns isn't even considered the Hall-of-Fame conditioner's top chance at a third Derby win–the colt is currently pegged third-best, behind 'TDN Rising Stars' Forte (Violence) and Tapit Trice (Tapit).

Underdog allure…

If you parse the past-performance block of Two Phil's, he's only run two races that are off-the-board toss outs, and he had credible excuses for both.

He checked out of contention in his June 23 debut at five furlongs. Then, after roughing up the competition in Virginia and Minnesota, he took a 68-1 dive into the deep end of the Grade I pool, finishing seventh in the key-race Breeders' Futurity S. at Keeneland Oct. 8 behind eventual divisional champ Forte. But he got pinballed at the break in that race, then was crowded and bore out on the first turn before settling well and putting together a better-than-it-looks middle move that he sustained into upper stretch.

Disregarding the severity of that troubled trip, bettors let Two Phil's go off at 7-1 in the GIII Street Sense S. at Churchill, and he won going away by 5 1/4 lengths over a sealed track. He initially earned a 75 Beyer for that effort, but that number has subsequently been upgraded to a 79.

After starting his 2023 campaign with a second in the GII Lecomte S. and a third in the GII Risen Star S., Rivelli opted to try Two Phil's over Tapeta, based in part on a dynamite two-minute lick the colt once unleashed when training over a synthetic track. It was an experiment that the trainer said pre-race he would take the blame for if Two Phil's “absolutely hates the surface” under race conditions. But Rivelli also noted the Jeff Ruby seemed like “the easiest spot for the money” (not to mention its coveted qualifying points for the Derby).

Loveberry, who has been aboard Two Phil's for every start except the colt's debut, nearly missed the mount at Turfway because he suffered a hairline fracture to his fibula in a gate accident Mar. 2 at Fair Grounds. Yet he returned to action two weeks later and was able to retain the ride on Saturday.

Hard Spun, the sire of Two Phil's, won the version of Turfway's premier stakes in 2007 when the race was known as the GII Lane's End S. and run over Polytrack. That win propelled him to 2-3-4 finishes in the three Triple Crown races and a second-place try later that season in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic. Through that campaign, which came against a fairly deep crop, Hard Spun-like Two Phil's is aspiring to now-became known as a reliable, determined runner who could handle any type of distance or surface he was tasked with.

Off as the 2.8-1 second choice in the Jeff Ruby, Two Phil's broke alertly and immediately responded to a snug rating hold by Loveberry. The colt cornered three wide into the first bend, was content to be parked outside while sixth down the backstretch, then took the overland route four deep through the far turn, shadowing the move of the 1.7-1 fave Major Dude (Bolt d'Oro), a Pletcher trainee.

The two chalks accosted the pacemaker at the head of the homestretch, then the outermost Two Phil's made short work of wresting command from Major Dude. No one else was firing down the lane, and Two Phil's churned for the wire largely under his own power, stopping the timer at 1:49.03 for the nine furlongs.

Two Phil's | Coady

Meanwhile, In New Orleans…

Some 800 miles south and 25 minutes later, Kingsbarns stepped into the Fair Grounds starting gate for the Louisiana Derby as the 9-2 second choice. Bettors were chipping away at his 6-1 morning-line price because Kingsbarns projected to control the tempo, and after leading at every call through very moderate fractions (:24.71, 49.50, 1:14.69, 1:39.13) and light pressure from the competition, Prat said post-win that he knew dictating the pace would be his best shot.

“We thought there was not a whole lot of speed in the race,” Prat said. “[Pletcher] told me that the horse was pretty straightforward, and if we ended up on the lead he was fine with that. He jumped well, I was able to get myself into a comfortable spot, and from there he did the job.”

Kingsbarns got a 95 Beyer. His final time of 1:57.33 for the 1 3/16 miles, though, rates as the slowest clocking in four years since the Louisiana Derby got elongated from nine furlongs. In fact, the time was nearly a full second off the previous slowest clocking of 1:56.47.

In addition, the Fair Grounds main track was decidedly speed-favoring on Saturday. Of 11 dirt races, four were won in wire-to-wire fashion, six by pressers just off the lead, and just one by a midpack stalker. Deep closers got shut out.

Still, the prospect of an undefeated colt aiming for the first Saturday in May always creates some buzz-even if the historical hurdle is high.

From 1900 to the present, nine horses have attempted the Derby with exactly 3-for-3 records. Justify (2018), Big Brown (2008) and the filly Regret (1915) were the only ones to sail home triumphantly under the twin spires at 4-for-4.

Curlin, third in 2007, was the only other one to hit the board in the Derby. The others who tried but ran out of the money were Helium and Rock Your World (both in 2021), Materiality (2015), Showing Up (2006), and Thunderer–a full brother to Regret–in 1916.

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Uncle Mo’s Kingsbarns Stays Perfect, Wires Louisiana Derby

Spendthrift Farm's Kingsbarns (c, 3, Uncle Mo–Lady Tapit, by Tapit) made it a perfect three-for-three in a dominating, front-running performance in Saturday's GII Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds. 'TDN Rising Star' Disarm (Gun Runner) was second; 'TDN Rising Star' Jace's Road (Quality Road) was third.

Well-backed at odds of 9-2 from a 6-1 morning-line quote, Kingsbarns was sent to the front by Flavien Prat from post six and led the way through easy fractions of :24.71 and :49.60 with Jace's Road shadowing in second. Kingsbarns began to shake free from the aforementioned Gun Runner S. winner as they straightened and streaked under the wire a powerful, 3 1/2-length winner. Disarm, making only second start of the year, ran well to rally from sixth to complete the exacta.

Kingsbarns was a game debut winner going a one-turn mile at Gulfstream Park Jan. 14, then aced his two-turn debut versus six overmatched optional claiming rivals at Tampa Feb. 12. He was favored on both occasions.

Pedigree Notes:

Kingsbarns, an $800,000 2-year-old purchase by Spendthrift Farm out of the Tom McCrocklin consignment at last year's Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Sale after breezing a quarter in :20 3/5, becomes the 49th graded/93rd stakes winner for leading sire Uncle Mo. Broodmare sire Tapit is now responsible for 41 graded/84 stakes winners. Kingsbarns is bred similarly to GI Belmont S. winner Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo), who was produced by the Pulpit mare Callingmissbrown. Lady Tapit, a half-sister to GI American Oaks Invitational S. heroine Gozzip Girl (Dynaformer), is also responsible for a 2-year-old colt by Union Rags and a yearling colt by Gun Runner. She was bred to Munnings for 2023. Lady Tapit RNA'd for $675,000 as a KEESEP yearling. Spendthrift also went to a sale-topping $1.2 million at the Gulfstream Sale for the McCrocklin-consigned Ruby Nell (Bolt d'Oro), who has finished second in both of her tries thus far at Santa Anita this term.

Saturday, Fair Grounds
TWINSPIRES.COM LOUISIANA DERBY-GII, $1,000,000, Fair Grounds, 3-25, 3yo, 1 3/16m, 1:57.33, ft.
1–KINGSBARNS, 122, c, 3, by Uncle Mo
          1st Dam: Lady Tapit (GSP), by Tapit
          2nd Dam: Temperence Gift, by Kingmambo
          3rd Dam: Shapiro's Mistress, by Unpredictable
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN.
($250,000 Ylg '21 FTSAUG; $800,000 2yo '22 FTFMAR).
O-Spendthrift Farm LLC; B-Parks Investment Group, LLC (KY);
T-Todd A. Pletcher; J-Flavien Prat. $600,000. Lifetime Record:
3-3-0-0, $657,300. Werk Nick Rating: A+++. *Triple Plus* Click
for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the free
Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Disarm, 122, c, 3, Gun Runner–Easy Tap, by Tapit.
1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. O/B-Winchell
Thoroughbreds LLC (KY); T-Steven M. Asmussen. $200,000.
3–Jace's Road, 122, c, 3, Quality Road–Out Post, by Silver
Deputy. ($510,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP). O-West Point
Thoroughbreds and Albaugh Family Stables LLC; B-Colts Neck
Stables LLC (KY); T-Brad H. Cox. $100,000.
Margins: 3HF, 2 3/4, 2. Odds: 4.50, 7.80, 6.20.
Also Ran: Shopper's Revenge, Sun Thunder, Instant Coffee, Tapit's Conquest, Cagliostro, Baseline Beater, Denington, Curly Jack, Single Ruler.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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