Fireball Birdie

A son of Indian Charlie, Uncle Mo was crowned the champion 2-year-old colt of 2010 following an undefeated campaign that produced standout performances in his career debut, the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, and Grade 1 Champagne.

As a 3-year-old, he won the Grade 2 Kelso and was a narrowly defeated second in the prestigious Grade 1 King’s Bishop. A nonhereditary liver condition prevented Uncle Mo from competing in the Triple Crown and eventually led to his retirement to the breeding shed in 2012. The colt was an instant hit as a sire.

Uncle Mo’s initial crop was an excellent one and led him to being recognized as North America’s champion freshman sire with a record 25 stakes winners! In just his first crop he produced a Classic winner, Nyquist, the victor of the 2016 Kentucky Derby, a milestone victory for the sire which was preceded by Nyquist’s victory in the 2015 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Nyquist is now a top sire himself, with his first two crops of 2-year-olds thrusting him to No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in the North American stallion ranks.

Other Grade 1 performers sired by Uncle Mo include Bast, Dream Tree, Mo Donegal, Mo Town, Mo Forza, Outwork, and Unbridled Mo. Through the middle of September of 2022, the sire was represented by 10 stakes winners for the year including his second Classic winner, Mo Donegal, the hero of the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes, the final leg of the American Triple Crown.

Uncle Mo progeny are always in hot demand and at the 2022 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, multiple offspring lit up the board with hefty prices including a colt who sold for $850,000 at the first session of the elite sale.

Uncle Mo stood the 2022 breeding season at Coolmore for a fee of $160,000.

This colt’s dam, Song of the Lark, has been a very productive producer, with 5 winners from 7 to race. Song of the Lark is a granddaughter of the breed-shaping sire Mr. Prospector and a daughter of Seeking the Gold, who represented the impeccable breeding program curated by the Phipps family until he was pensioned from stud duties in 2008. Song of the Lark, a homebred for the legendary Sam-Son Farm in Canada, was a winner on the racetrack but her best work has come in the breeding shed.

She produced a half-brother to this Uncle Mo colt, Up With the Birds, (Stormy Atlantic) who was crowned a Canadian Horse of the Year and was a multiple graded stakes winner, highlighted by a Grade 1 victory in the Jerome Handicap over Belmont Park’s inner turf course. The colt raced 36 times and registered more than $1.8 million in earnings with wins in both Canada and the U.S.

Speightsong (Speightstown), another half-brother to this Uncle Mo colt, raced until he was 8 years old and was a winner of 9 races, including the Queenston Stakes in Canada.

The presence of black-type winners and durability on the female tree also extends to this colt’s second dam, Wilderness Song, another Canadian champion and a Grade 1 winner in the U.S. with her victory in the Spinster Stakes at Keeneland. In all, Wilderness Song made 37 trips to the starting gate to produce earnings topping $1.4 million.