**Please see the attached photo of Uncle Mo getting off the van at Belmont Park. Credit NYRA/Coglianese Photo. To watch video of the colt's arrival, please visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U89EsXvWJws **
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Contact: NYRA Press Office
718-659-2244
UNCLE MO ARRIVES IN NEW YORK
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Mike Repole's undefeated champion colt Uncle Mo arrived Wednesday morning at Belmont Park in advance of a planned start in Saturday's 87th renewal of the Grade 1, $1 million Resorts World New York Casino Wood Memorial at Aqueduct Racetrack.
Expected on Tuesday, Uncle Mo's flight out of Florida was delayed and eventually cancelled due to unsettled weather in New York. Rescheduled for Wednesday, the flight left Palm Beach International at approximately 7:15 a.m. EDT and touched down at Republic Airport in Farmingdale, N.Y. just before 9:45 a.m. Vanned to Belmont from the airport, Uncle Mo arrived in trainer Todd Pletcher's barn shortly after 11:20 a.m.
"He seemed to ship in really well and everything went smoothly," Pletcher said. "I'm glad we waited a day and let the weather clear up. I'd rather have a three hour flight today where everything went perfectly than delays and a turbulent flight yesterday. He'll just have some routine gallops here at Belmont on Thursday and Friday and then ship over to Aqueduct the day of the race."
Uncle Mo had a sensational juvenile campaign, including a 14 ½-length score in his debut at Saratoga Race Course, followed by dominant victories in the Grade 1 Champagne at Belmont Park and the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Churchill Downs, earning him Eclipse Award honors as 2010's Champion Two-Year-Old Male. Easy winner of the Timely Writer at Gulfstream Park last month, the Resorts World New York Casino Wood Memorial will be the Indian Charlie colt's second start of 2011 and his final race before the May 7 Kentucky Derby. Uncle Mo was favored at 3-1 in the Kentucky Derby Future Wager pool that closed Sunday evening.
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