Uncle Mo on road to recovery says WinStar Farm President Elliot Warden, Todd Pletcher and Mike Repole happy
Three year old bay colt, Uncle Mo, has gone through extensive medical care and testing for the past seven weeks and he has been found to have cholangiohepatitis, a disease that affects the liver and causes severe inflammation of bile passage and distribution.
It took the vet’s time to determine that what exactly Uncle Mo is suffering from because cholangiohepatitis is hard to diagnose, since the symptoms, including colic, fever, and jaundice are mild in nature.
Uncle Mo has been on the road to recovery at WinStar Farm in Kentucky for the past three weeks. He was sent there after he got scratched from the May 7, 2011, Kentucky Derby.
Since then Uncle Mo has shown positive signs and shown signs of health, which would please his owner Mike Repole and trainer Todd Pletcher
He is set to resume his scheduled light training after 10 days at the farm according to the WinStar Farm President and Racing Manager, Elliot Walden.
As long as racing is concerned, it all depends on how Uncle Mo recovers in the next three months and that will determine whether he is fit to race or not but doctors are optimistic that if he keeps showing positive signs it won’t be too long before he returns
to the racing tracks.
Uncle Mo is steadily getting back to health and his appetite has improved, which resulted in gaining weight, and, acquiring high levels of energy. Mike Repoles colt weighed 1,083 when he arrived at the farm and now as of 7 June he weighs 1,162 pounds, which
indicates that he is gradually coming to his own.
“He just started getting the dapples this week”, Walden said. “He’s starting to feel good. When he first got here, he wouldn’t run much at all. His appetite has been great. He’s on no medications at all and has gained about 10% of his body weight back”.
Uncle Mo is likely to be back on the field because his disease has been diagnosed before getting into the advanced stages, had it been left untreated, or, had the nature of the disease been ambiguous then he would have been in for a longer period of recovery.
Uncle Mo had an impressive run in 2010 by winning all three starts thus winning juvenile championship including the Grade 1 Grey Goose Breeders Cup juvenile. If he had been fit, he would’ve been among the favourites to win the upcoming Belmont Stakes, but
for that to happen he has to get back into shape and wait another year.
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