All Equine All The Time

Nyquist arriving at Keeneland in April With Preakness week rolling into gear, the field is becoming clearer with 11 probables as of Monday evening. Just like the Kentucky Derby, the Uncle Mo train seems to be rolling through Baltimore, Maryland uninterrupted with the stallion having over a quarter of the entries with four of his sons looking like they’ll enter the race. Of those four only one, the Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist, ran in the Kentucky Derby giving Uncle Mo a total of six different horses running for him in the first two legs of the Triple Crown. The champion 2-year-old of 2010, Uncle Mo never had a chance to run in a classic after scratching from the Kentucky Derby due to illness but has made a big impact on the racing scene since his first runner hit the track last year. As of May 15, he currently sits second to Tapit by stakes winners, is tied by stakes wins and leads Tapit in Grade 1 winners with 109 less runners than that leading sire.   Uncle Mo won’t...

Paddy O'Prado As the racing season starts to ramp up, eyes are turning to last year’s First-Crop sires to see if their runners can continue on as 3-year-olds. There are over 300 stallions listed on Blood-Horse as having their first 3-year-olds this year but here are six in North America that the racing industry should have an eye on in 2016. While Uncle Mo (Indian Charlie) set records in 2015 as the leading First-Crop sire and has the most 3-year-olds nominated to the Triple Crown of any sire, there are skeptics about how his 3-year-olds will train on this year. While the doubts make sense as a number of good first year sires haven’t had a lot of success in subsequent years and Uncle Mo wasn’t as brilliant as a 3-year-old as he was at 2, I personally don’t see any reason why his horses won’t step up this year. While not as brilliant as he was at 2 Uncle Mo himself was a good 3-year-old, even with his illness knocking him out for a decent chunk of the year, winning the Gra...