Zedan Racing Goes to $2.3M for Quick Uncle Mo Colt

Zedan Racing Stables went to battle April 19 during the first day of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, emerging victorious with a $2.3 million sale-topping colt by Uncle Mo  . Consigned as Hip 206 by Top Line Sales, the colt worked impressively in :9 4/5 during the April 11 under tack show.

Agent Gary Young, alongside trainer Bob Baffert, bid on the colt for his client Amr Zedan, seeing out underbidder Coolmore, who stand Uncle Mo at their Ashford Stud near Lexington for an advertised fee of $160,000 for the 2022 season.

"He was a tremendous athlete; everything about his preview was good. When I went and saw him in the barn, he was very nice. Mr. Zedan wants good colts running this time of the year," Young said. "We did alright last year with Taiba , winner of the Runhappy Santa Anita Derby (G1) April 9. We hope that we have some nice colts for next year's 3-year-old races."

Bred in Kentucky by Corser Thoroughbreds and consigned to the 2021 Keeneland September Sale with Terrazas Thoroughbreds, Scott and Evan Dilworth picked up the pricey pinhook for $250,000.

Scott, on hand with his wife to watch the colt command attention in the ring, recalled what drew him to buy the son of Uncle Mo, then a yearling, out of Borealis Night, a half sibling to grade 2 placed Kinsley Kisses , and grade 3 placed Spooky Woods . Borealis Night comes from the female family of Shivering Six, dam of a pair of stakes winners in Ever Elusive and Saratoga Summer. 

"He walked out of the stall and I went, 'Wow,' and that was that," Dilworth said. "It's funny when we went and looked at him a ton of times—you know when you like one, you go back and look at them a few times—and I remember (Eduardo) Terrazas said, 'How come you are always smiling so big whenever you come and see this horse?' I said, 'He just makes me smile.'"

Jimbo Gladwell, who consigned the colt on behalf of the Dilworths, commented: "He is a superstar in the making; I have to give all the credit to Scott. He twisted my arm to buy him. All we did was get him ready. He's easy (to work with) and is a smart colt. He has trained great every day of his life and he is going to the best trainer in the world."

"(Hip 206) acts like he could do anything," Young commented. "He will probably get a month off at Barry Eisman's to unwind and then come out to join Bob's stable, and when (Baffert) gets back right before Del Mar, he will probably come in about then."

Young picked up another colt (Hip 11) earlier in the day by Coolmore's Triple Crown winner Justify  , paying $600,000 for the colt consigned by Hidden Brook. 

The juvenile was a standout during the under tack show when he breezed in :10. He was bred in Kentucky by Bonne Chance Farm out of the Distorted Humor  mare Unbound , a winner in Japan and stakes-placed in the 2014 Punkin Pie Stakes at Belmont Park. The dam, who has already produced three winners, is a full sister to stakes-placed winner Mary Rita  and is from the family of 1988 champion older mare and 1996 broodmare of the year Personal Ensign , the $1.6 million earner and producer of six graded stakes contenders.

The Justify colt's second dam, Possibility, is a half sister to grade 1 winners Miner's Mark , My Flag , and Traditionally ; grade 1 stakes-placed Our Emblem ; and grade 2 stakes-placed Salute  and Proud and True , a grade 3 stakes-placed winner.

"I really like his attitude. He is a very chill horse," Young said. "It seems like you could bring him home and sit him down at the dinner table, and he would be fine with that. He has a nice way of going, he had a nice work, and he didn't seem too rattled walking off the racetrack (following his breeze at the under tack preview). It was about what we thought we'd have to pay for him."

"A friend of mine, Jamie Hill, who I respect a lot, watched this horse train all winter, and he said the colt was a very professional horse."