$1million Uncle Mo Colt

Top class sire Uncle Mo kick-started Book Two of the 2018 Keeneland September Yearling Sale with a much admired colt that sold for $1million on Saturday to top the session.

China Horse Club/Maverick Racing purchased the stunning colt who is from Grade II placed Street Cry mare Sweet Bliss.

Consigned by Lane’s End, agent for Wygod Equine, he comes from the family of champion Sweet Catomine, Grade I Breeders’ Cup Ladies Classic winner Life Is Sweet and stakes winner Calimonco.

“He was really well received and was extremely popular,” Lane’s End Director of Sales Allaire Ryan said.

“He exceeded our expectations, but we did have high hopes. We wanted him to stand out, and we wanted to put him in the right spot. That goes with our strategy overall for this sale. We really streamlined what we put in Book 1. We wanted to strengthen what we put in (later books) and that will have a trickle-down effect within our own consignment. We are glad the strategy is working out. (Breeder Wygod Equine) has a lot of this family so they thought this was a good opportunity to sell and we are glad it worked out.”

China Horse Club were delighted with their purchase.

“Just a gorgeous athletic colt,” China Horse Club’s Mick Flanagan said.

“He’s by a fabulous stallion in Uncle Mo; there’s a lot of good blood on the page. There’s Giant’s Causeway, Street Cry, even a bit of Arch on there, so he’s got a mix of all those good stallions. His dam was very, very good, obviously. She could run a bit, too, so we’re very happy to get the colt.

“It was probably a little more than we wanted to give for him but we were very, very high on him, and that’s what the good horses are making so that’s where we had to be.”