While we in Saratoga were having our typical mid-February cold and overcast days Eclipse Award-winning 2-year-old UNCLE MO was working out in balmy Boynton Beach after some time off at a farm in Ocala. A few days ago he galloped a half mile in 47:45, “a tad quicker than we expected” said trainer TODD PLETCHER.
Uncle Mo’s last race was November 6 and Pletcher has said that his first race in 2011 will be the Tampa Bay Derby on March 12 followed by the Wood Memorial on April 9.
A month later comes the Kentucky Derby, for which Uncle Mo has already been touted as the 6-1 favorite.
And speaking of the KENTUCKY DERBY and the TRIPLE CROWN, so far 360 horses have been nominated for the Triple Crown Series: 360 males and just 4 fillies. Last year there we a total of 372 nominees so despite the economy Thoroughbred racing seems at this point to be on par with 2010. By the way, early nominations cost $600 and closed January 22 and late nominations will cost $6000 before closing on March 26. Trainers Todd Pletcher and BOB BAFFERT lead all trainers with 20 nominees each followed by STEVE ASUUSSEN with 17 nominees. So far no nominees (yet) from GODOLPHIN RACING and there are a handful of European nominees. But we still have more than a month before all names must be in.
For those of you who either didn’t know or forgot, the Triple Crown Sweep has been made only 11 times since the series was incorporated in 1919 and the last horse to do it was AFFIRMED in 1978. That was 38 years ago; not sure whether I want the record to last a few more years or not. Maybe like the 2004 Red Sox, it had to happen sometime so maybe 2011 will be the year for the next Triple Crown winner.