Second favourite for the 2011 Kentucky Derby Uncle Mo has been scratched from the event.
As reported all week he’s being battling an intestinal infection but the horse has not only failed to recover, if anything he has deteriorated.
His owner Mike Repole held off on a decision for as long as possible but shortly before wagering opened in the United States he withdrew his star colt.
Uncle Mo was at $5 and just off favourtism for the 137th running of the Kentucky Derby however his withdrawal leaves the field with only 19 runners.
Repole and his trainer Todd Pletcher do still have hope of salvaging something from this year’s event with their second entry Stay Thirsty, however he’s at odds of 20 to 1.
Naturally the decision to scratch Uncle Mo was left all connections devastated.
“Honestly, I’ve never had a horse as good as Uncle Mo,” Pletcher said.
“To not make it here is a big letdown. I take it as a personal failure.”
Pletcher, who won his maiden Kentucky Derby last year with Super Saver, says the most worrying thing is that vets still haven’t found the cause of the illness.
In the past week he’s shed weight, failed to eat and returned tests showing high levels of enzymes in his blood.
“They’re baffled. That’s what gets us nervous the most,” Repole said.
The first signs of illness in the horse were picked up after his last start in the Wood memorial.
Previously unbeaten, Uncle Mo finished third in the race and was put on medication to try and iron out the bugs before the Kentucky Derby.
Initially it wasn’t thought to be too serious however with no improvement witnessed a team of three top vets examined the horse to try and work out the problem.
Amazingly none of the vets actually said Uncle Mo was unfit to run in the race but in a gutsy call Pletcher told Repole the horse just didn’t feel right and he wished to not run him in the Derby.
“We’ve got something going on inside that I don’t know what it is. The best vets in the world don’t know what it is,” Pletcher said.
Some have attacked Pletcher for not withdrawing his horse earlier, if he had the emergency Sway Away would have claimed a spot in the final field.
As it stands though the scratching occurred too late and the field will now run with only 19 horses.
“We weren’t trying to prevent someone else from entering. We needed every minute to try to figure this out,” Pletcher said.
“We ran out of time.”
Nick Zito, trainer of the favourite and Uncle Mo’s main rival Dialed In said he took no joy from hearing about the scratching.
“We all would have liked to see him run,” Zito said.
“It’s devastating.”
John Velazquez, the jockey of Uncle Mo, has had slightly better fortune though and will still get a spot in the field.
The rider who is still searching for his first win from 12 attempts will switch to the mount of Animal Kingdom in the worlds most famous race.
It’s a bitter sweet story for Velazquez though as the ride only became available after Robby Albarado broke his nose in a race fall earlier this week.
