Uncle Mo looks good in workout

Associated Press

LOUISVILLE, Ky.

Uncle Mo looks good to go. The Factor is good to go home.

A dozen days before the Kentucky Derby, two of the top contenders are headed in opposite directions.

Uncle Mo appeared right at home on the dirt at Churchill Downs on Tuesday, leaving trainer Todd Pletcher and owner Mike Repole optimistic he’ll be ready to run under the twin spires on May 7.

The Factor, meanwhile, will be a non-factor. The Sam Vincente and Rebel Stakes winner is out of an increasingly wide-open Derby after throat surgery.

Chalk it up to another chaotic day in a series of them leading up to the big race.

A semblance of sanity, however, may have returned following Uncle Mo’s steady, five-furlong workout under the lights in the pre-dawn darkness.

The 3-year-old colt clocked the distance in 1:01.80 under the lights early Tuesday, his first major training move since a gastrointestinal infection was discovered following a third-place finish in the Wood Memorial on April 9.

Pletcher called the move “an indication that he’s in good form.”

Repole, who cautioned his horse is still “50-50” for the Derby, was even more effusive.

“The work was very Mo-like,” Repole said. “We couldn’t have been more pleased. It’s been a really tough 17 days after the Wood. Haven’t had much sleep in the last 17 days.”

Uncle Mo was originally scheduled to work around 8:30 a.m. but Pletcher decided to send him out just before 6 a.m. to avoid another line of storms that have pummeled the track in recent days.

The reigning 2-year-old champion looked at ease in the muck, easily finding his way over the surface under regular rider John Velazquez.

“When he was pulling up on the backside a couple of gallopers went by him and he got in the bridle again,” Pletcher said. “He seemed really, really good this morning.”

Uncle Mo was the prohibitive Derby favorite until his puzzling run in the Wood, where he led briefly in the stretch only to tire in the final yards to finish third behind Toby’s Corner to suffer the first loss of his career.

A series of postrace tests revealed the infection. Uncle Mo will continue to be treated for the condition, though Pletcher and Repole are encouraged by the way the horse has bounced back since returning to the track where he won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile going away last November.

“I feel like, especially in the last 96 hours, we’re seeing signs around the barn that he’s back to his old self,” Pletcher said. “Right after the Wood Memorial his appetite was depressed, and he wasn’t eating the way he normally was, and I think that the treatment we have him on, he’s responding favorably, too.”

Pletcher cautioned, however, that there’s still a long way to go before Uncle Mo makes his way to the starting gate May 7.

He should know. The five-time Eclipse Award winner came to Churchill Downs last year with heavy Derby favorite Eskendereya only to withdraw the horse from consideration six days before the race due to a leg injury.

Pletcher went on to win his first Derby with Super Saver and has two shots this year in Uncle Mo and stablemate Stay Thirsty, also owned by Repole. Stay Thirsty will be ridden by Ramon Dominguez in the Derby, Repole said. Three-time Derby winner Calvin Borel worked Stay Thirsty on Sunday.