Uncle Mo’s Yaupon Stays Undefeated in Amsterdam
Yaupon (3c Uncle Mo x Modification, by Vindication) kept his undefeated streak alive in tremendous style on Saturday with a maiden stakes victory in the Grade II Amsterdam Stakes to complete a Saratoga graded stakes double for his sire.
A muddy track proved no issue for the 3-year-old colt during the six furlong affair as he went straight to the lead out of the gate.
He didn’t face much opposition setting the pace and entered the stretch with plenty in hand under Joel Rosario. Never asked for his best, Yaupon traveled strongly through the stretch with only Grade I winner Basin within four lengths of him at the finish.
Winning the Amsterdam Stakes four races after Bye Bye Melvin won his own graded stakes for Uncle Mo, Yaupon is the 64th stakes winner and 36th graded stakes winner for his leading sire.
Trained by Steve Asmussen for William and Corinne Heiligbrodt, the colt was a $255,000 2-year-old purchase at last year’s OBS June 2-Year-Old Sale and has been held in high regard by his connections since they purchased him.
"He's extremely fast. He's got an elite amount of speed,” Asmussen said. "It's very important that a horse with his physical, and as fast as he is, is a graded stakes winner here at Saratoga. I think we can sit down and map out a serious future for him from here.”
The colt was bred by Betz, Lamantia, CoCo Equine, Magers, and Burns and is a half-brother to dual Grade II-placed Sawyer’s Hill out of Grade I-placed Modification. A half-sister to three stakes winners, Modification is the sixth generation of her family to produce a stakes winner after Yaupon’s victory.
Modification has a yearling American Pharoah filly consigned as Hip 291 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale with Betz Thoroughbreds and she returned to Uncle Mo this year.
The sire of nine 3-year-old graded stakes victors and 11 graded stakes winners overall in 2020, the red-hot Uncle Mo has sired eight stakes winners in August alone.