Tyrion Lannister holds on courageously to win the Newlands Stakes (Picture: Wayne Marks)
Sarah Whitelaw
Despite having a relatively few number of runners to his name, Klawervlei Stud’s resident sire Royal Mo has been enjoying a good spell of success this year.
Not only did his son Royal Aussie win the recent Listed Pongracz Jet Master Stakes on SplashOut Cape Derby day, another son, Tyrion Lannister claimed another Hollywoodbets Kenilworth feature race when he won the recent Newlands Stakes in courageous fashion.
The Klawervlei bred Royal Aussie has proved a wonderful money spinner for his connections. Also victorious in the 2023 World Sports Betting Gold Rush, and third in the 2024 G1 L’Ormarins King’s Plate, Royal Aussie has already banked more than R5.813 million in prize money and he looks sure to add to this impressive total in the year ahead.
Four-year-old Royal Aussie is one of just 12 runners in his sire Royal’s Mo first crop. Of those 12, seven have won and just two of Royal Mo’s first crop runners have failed to finish in the placings.
Royal Mo’s second crop, which includes the aforementioned Tyrion Lannister, has produced 24 runners of which nine have won and a further six have finished in the money. The stallion’s third small crop has produced just four runners this far, but this crop includes the useful two-year-old Sweetie Darling, a winner on debut who ran third, behind subsequent Listed World Sports Betting Summer Juvenile Stakes winner Roman Agent, in The Trippi Stakes second time out. (On that occasion, Sweetie Darling had brilliant G3 City Of Cape Town Cape Of Good Nursery victor One Stripe behind her in fifth spot).
The talented Royal Mo won twice from just six starts, and he scored his biggest win when landing the G3 Robert B. Lewis Stakes of 2017. In landing the Robert B. Lewis Stakes, Royal Mo had subsequent G2 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes winner Irap three and a half lengths adrift back in second.
His jockey on that occasion, Victor Espinoza, said of the Uncle Mo colt, ““He’s improving a lot.From the last few races to this race, he’s really coming along. He’s going in the right direction. Hopefully, we keep going all the way.”
Following his Robert B. Lewis victory, Royal Mo went on to finish a close up third, beaten just a length, in the G1 Santa Anita Derby, one of the principal trials for the G1 Kentucky Derby. Unfortunately, a career ending injury forced his retirement while Royal Mo was being aimed at the G1 Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the US Triple Crown.
Royal Mo, his sire’s only son at stud in South Africa, is a son of champion racehorse and outstanding sire Uncle Mo. The latter went unbeaten in three starts at two, winning the G1 Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile by four and a quarter lengths, and the historic G1 Champagne Stakes by a four and three quarter lengths.
North America’s Champion 2YO Colt of 2010, Uncle Mo won all three starts at two by an aggregate of 23 lengths, with the colt having scorched to a 14 length win at the first time of asking.
Despite suffering from various physical maladies, Uncle Mo still managed to win both the G2 Kelso Handicap and Timely Writer Stakes at three, when he was also runner up in the G1 Foxwoods King’s Bishop and third in the G1 Resorts World New York Casino Wood Memorial Stakes. He retired having won five of eight starts and earned more than $1.6 million in prize money.
Retired to stud at Ashford Stud in Kentucky, Uncle Mo had instant success at stud and was North America’s Leading First-Season Sire of 2015, and also topped North America’s Leading Sires of 2YOs premiership in 2015.
His stellar first crop produced a staggering 25 black type winners, headed by Kentucky Derby/Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner Nyquist and fellow G1 winners Unbridled Mo, Outwork, and Gomo.
The versatile Uncle Mo, whose tally of black type winners is now more than 90, has since come up with a flood of G1 winners headed by Belmont Stakes winner Mo Donegal, dual Breeders’ Cup winner Golden Pal, and FanDuel Racing Pacific Classic Stakes hero Arabian Knight.
The Ashford Stud resident has already become a highly successful sire of sires, and Uncle Mo sire sons look poised for more success this year. His champion son Nyquist is already the sire of G1 winners Vequist, Gretzky The Great, Slow Down Andy, and Randomized, with Nyquist among the Leading Sires in North America in 2023.
Nyquist is also the sire of hugely exciting US three-year-old Nysos, an impressive winner of his first three starts and a seven and a half length winner of the 2024 G3 Robert B Lewis Stakes.
Other sons of Uncle Mo to have sired G1 winners already include Laoban and Outwork, while his G1 Hollywood Derby winning son Mo Town, whose oldest Northern Hemisphere runners are four, is already the sire of eight black type horses and he is also the sire of this year’s exciting three-year-old Doncho, a smart winner of his first two starts.
Uncle Mo’s G1 Forego Stakes winning son Yaupon had first crop weanlings make up to $450 000 at the 2023 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale, while Uncle Mo horse Golden Pal covered more mares (293) than any other stallion in North America in 2023.
Uncle Mo is a son of the once beaten G1 Santa Anita Derby winner Indian Charlie. The latter sired more than 80 stakes winners, headed by Breeders’ Cup winning champions Uncle Mo and Indian Blessing, including G3 Edgewood Stakes winner Feathered. The latter is dam of the brilliant, unbeaten US Horse Of The Year Flightline.
