Uncle Mo imperious in Juvenile
Uncle Mo laid down his marker for the title of juvenile champion and went to the head of the market for the Kentucky Derby when he put up a truly impressive display to win the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Churchill Downs.
John Velazquez was looking around for dangers from halfway on Todd Pletcher’s colt and then pulled away to beat Boys At Tosconova into second and Rogue Romance in third.
The race had been expected to be a showdown between the two star colts from the east coast; Uncle Mo, unbeaten in two starts including the Grade One Champagne Stakes at Belmont, and Boys At Tosconova, the winner of the Grade One Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga, but any hopes that Boys At Tosconova was going to make a race of this evaporated before the furlong pole.
Uncle Mo’s raking stride easily took him into the slipstream of the leader, Riveting Reason, while Jaycito – the Californian horse running on dirt for the first time – threw in the towel early in the back stretch. Boys At Tosconova was still in there fighting off the home turn but it was boys against men. Velazquez had already sized up the situation and eased his colt into the lead and Uncle Mo then simply bounded down the stretch.
Uncle Mo is now the obvious choice for the Kentucky Derby but the record of Juvenile winners in the Derby is appalling. So far they are only 1-26 but that one was Street Sense who won his Juvenile at Churchill in 2006. But Velazquez is clearly impressed by what this colt has in the locker. “He showed something different today that he doesn’t have to be on the lead. He had somebody to follow and he was impressive. You get him to relax and, as soon as you ask him, he’s there for you instantly. He was cruising all the way around and I was just waiting for the quarter-pole to ask him to do something. And he responded very good,” the jockey said.
Pletcher and Garrett Gomez collected their second two-year-old race on the grass when Pluck won the Juvenile Turf with a stunning stretch run.
Breaking from stall 12, Gomez could not try to make a dash for the pace after the horse pitched onto his nose exiting the gates and was full a dozen lengths off the leader, Madman Diaries. Gomez then had to avoid Anna Napravnik when she was thrown from the saddle as Rough Saddle slipped on the first bend.
That left Gomez nearly 20 lengths adrift as Madman Diaries was joined by Humble and Hungry down the back stretch. Early in the home stretch Banned was the one making progress but then Gomez managed to weave Pluck through horses and the colt delivered a withering last-furlong run as he cut down the leaders to beat Soldat with Gomez pulling up before the line.
Aidan O'Brien's Master of Hounds - sent off the favourite - had every chance down the stretch but just could not live with the finishing surge of the winner and was out of the places. “He stumbled badly at the start and had to manoeuvre [around] a fallen rider,” Pletcher said. “At that point, you're just kind of hoping you can regroup and hit the board. He really exploded down the lane.”
Rough Sailing was found to have a broken bone in the right fore and was euthanized.
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