FILE - In this May 5, 2011, file photo, exercise rider Hector Ramos takes Kentucky Derby entrant Uncle Mo for a workout at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Garry Jones, File)
Versailles, Ky.
The Thoroughbred industry suffered a great loss this week with the death of champion horse Uncle Mo.
Mike Repole, Uncle Mo’s owner, shared that his stallion was euthanized on Thursday following a left foreleg injury.
The Repole Stable said the 16-year-old thoroughbred underwent surgery for the injury the day before, but the recovery process was too much for him to endure.
“The Repole Stable family, Todd Pletcher family and the entire Coolmore family are heartbroken,” the Repole family shared. “Uncle Mo was so much more to me than a champion and iconic stallion - he was and always will be a part of my family.”
Uncle Mo was bred in Kentucky and was the son of multiple graded stakes winner Indian Charlie.
Todd Pletcher trained Uncle Mo over his racing career while being ridden by John Velazquez. The multiple-stakes winning runner finished his career with five wins in eight starts, including a dominating win in the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, while earning more than $1.5 million.
Uncle Mo retired to Coolmore’s Ashford Stud after his racing career, where he went on to sire nearly 900 winners who have earned more than $120 million.
“We’re all still in shock,” Coolmore America’s Dermot Ryan said. “He will be greatly missed. He was an exceptional sire on the racetrack and in the sales ring.”
Repole added, “Thank you Uncle Mo for fulfilling my childhood dreams of owning a special racehorse.”