Uncle Mo as a Stallion

**UPDATE** Uncle Mo's listed Stud Fee at Ashford is $35,000, stands and Nurses. Looks like that just posted either last night or today. I'm surprised there hasn't been a press release.

I was planning on looking at Uncle Mo's prospects as best I can, and since the question was asked, I'll try to project his stud fee. Unlike many prospective stallions, UM has one huge thing going for him: fame. He is the horse that could've been the next great one. Everyone knows him. But ultimately, a few illnesses and his going hard for the Classic (at a less than optimum distance for him, in my opinion) brought him ever so slightly back to earth. But once you've examined his pedigree, minimizing his exposure on the track and maximizing it in the press will probably make Mike Repole a lot of money thru UM's first two season. Money that may not be justified in spending on him as a stallion.

First, I'll look at Indian Charlie, not only as a producer of winners, but as a producer of producers and of stallions. Second, I'll peek into the female tail of the pedigree and see what kind of producers his female ancestors are. Third, I'll try to match him up against any similar juvenile sires from this. Lastly, I'll speculate on what I think his stud fee should be versus what I think it will be. So let's get started.

First, his full pedigree, complete with links to every horse in his last 5 generations (big ups to PedigreeQuery.com):

Indian Charlie is a top 20 stallion. But don't let the #1 Juvenile Sire ranking for 2010 fool you. Uncle Mo really inflated his overall earning by winning the BC Juvenile.(On that note, in my opinion, the best time to look at sire rankings is immediately pre-BC, due to the fact that the huge pots really throw off overall earnings. The Juvenile rankings best show that effect with My Miss Aurelia and Stephanie's Kitten rocketing their sires up the leader board.) He is, however, an extremely high quality sire, probably worth near every penny of his $70,000 stud fee. He produced 12 SWs this year and has produced 4 eclipse champions over the past five years headlined by Uncle Mo, Indian Blessing, and Fleet Indian. He is a favorite in the auction arena and is a hugely popular sire. As a broodmare sire, the Stallion Register says, "Indian Charlie is the sire of 122 dams of 184 foals, 97 rnrs (52%), 64 wnrs (34%), 8 2yo wnrs (4%), 1.71 AEI, 1.55 CI; 11 sw, Leading Earner: Original Fate ($793,248)." That's good, but not elite as a broodmare sire.

Indian Charlie has not produced any significant stallions. Only eight of his offspring even stand as of right now and none for more than $3,000.

That's great and all, but the really interesting part is the female tail of his lineage.

His dam, Playa Maya, is by Arch out of a Dixieland Band mare.Lifetime she has 6 starts and is  3 - 1 - 2 with earnings of $81,921. She is stakes placed. The mare has had three foals. A Gelding, born 2006, has run 29 times, and is 5-5-2 with winnings of $79k. A Filly, born 2007, has run 6 times and is 1-1-0 with winnings of 21k. Her 2008 foal is Uncle Mo. She has no registered foal for 2009 or 2010. Arch is a productive broodmare sire with a proclivity for NOT producing 2yo runners as a broodmare sire (however, as a stallion, that same number is near 40%). As per the Stallion Register Online, "Arch is the sire of 90 dams of 161 foals, 105 rnrs (65%), 76 wnrs (47%), 8 2yo wnrs (4%), 1.92 AEI, 1.52 CI; 9 sw, Leading Earner: Uncle Mo ($1,606,000)."

Playa Maya is productive, but not extraordinarily so. She would never be considered a cornerstone broodmare, but clearly has good genes and produces winners when they make it to the track.

His 2nd Dam, Dixie Slippers is by Dixieland Band out of a Cyane mare.  Lifetime, she has 9 starts and is 3-1-0 with earnings of $41,630. Her only foal is Playa Maya (see above). Certainly a less than stellar record as a producer.

His 3rd dam is Cyane's Slippers. She earned $630. She had 11 foals between 1988 and 2003. there were two winners of $100k+ and 2 non-winners. Average winnings per foal was $64,000. A quality producer.

In summary, the female lineage is not terrible, but certainly does not justify any type of excitement whatsoever. I would evaluate it as average to just below average, once you exclude Uncle Mo.

Freshman stallions that match up similarly in terms of lifetime performance (ie their 2yo campaign) and class are Scat Daddy (won the Champagne, but Scat Daddy is much better bred) and Street Sense (he remained healthy and had an amazing 3yo campaign after a Champion 2yo run). Currently stud fees for the two are: Scat Daddy for 17.5K and Street Sense for 40k. (these two in and of themselves demonstrate the unpredictability of the stud fee vs. the performance since Scat Daddy is by far the better stallion thus far).

In my opinion, Uncle Mo is a moderately well-bred horse with dubious health issues (though these don't seem to be structural, as they are not musculo-skeletal issues). His colangelohepatitis issues have become recurring since they seemed to have popped up again and that makes me a bit nervous. He never matched up with world-class mature talent until the BC Classic, where he finished 10th. His female lineage is nothing spectacular (especially when compared with most big time horses). His stallion does not have any history of producing an impact stallion, despite his own dazzling record, despite having 10 crops of runners thus far.

I would guess that his stud fee would be in the range of $45,000, stands and nurses. Had he won the BC Classic, that number would easily be 75k. However, I would not pay more than $7,500 to breed to a horse that had great success at two, got sick, showed dominance again, but ultimately showed he was not the best horse in a field of champions in the Classic, and subsequently (well, seemingly) got sick again.

I know I sound like Debbie Downer here, but I'm just being honest. I didn't come into this piece with a prejudice either way (except for his known racing record), but once I did the research, he doesn't seem to be anything special to me. In fact, all signs point to him being a complete fluke based on his female family. Consistency in a family lineage is important in breeding. But I'll take a fluke on the track every day of he week. My first FanPost was on how Smarty Jones was a complete bust as a stallion (despite his #1 **cough** Pennsylvania stallion **cough** ranking). For some reason, my gut is screaming the same thing about Uncle Mo.