Uncle Mo: Diagnosed with Cholangeohepatitis, Is a Return Possible?

The illness that forced owner Mike Repole and trainer Todd Pletcher to scratch Uncle Mo, from the Kentucky Derby, has finally been diagnosed. The 2010 Breeder’s Cup Juvenile winner and Eclipse Award winner as outstanding two-year-old colt has cholangiohepatitis.

According to the Merck Veterinarian Manual, Cholangiohepatitis is “a severe inflammation of the bile passages and adjacent liver, which sporadically causes hepatic failure in horses and ruminants. It is occasionally associated with cholelithiasis in horses.” Read more on the illness here.

Uncle Mo suffered the first loss of his career back in the Wood Memorial on April 9 at Aqueduct, finishing third to Toby's Corner and Arthur's Tale. Both owner Repole and Pletcher agreed it was an atypical performance by Uncle Mo, and shortly after the race, a full battery of blood tests were performed on Uncle Mo in order to find out if there was anything wrong with him.

The results of those blood tests revealed there was actually something wrong with Uncle Mo. The veterinarians had found a gastrointestinal tract infection, which gave some sort of relief to Repole and Pletcher that they found out a reason for the lackluster performance by Uncle Mo. The vets also concluded that Uncle Mo was perfectly capable of returning to full training while the treatment for the infection was being applied.

They pointed Uncle Mo to the Derby, but were emphatic that if the horse was not 100 percent, he would not run. And before wagering started on Friday before the Derby, they scratched him, citing depressed appetite, loss of weight and his hair coat not being right.

They were not certain on the puzzling illness and erred on the side of caution acting in the colt's best interest, by scratching him from the Derby, taking him off training and shipping him shortly after the Derby to Kenny Troutt's WinStar Farm in Versailles, Kentucky to recover from the undiagnosed illness

That illness was not known until yesterday. In addition to disclosing the diagnose, veterinarians Bill Bernard, D.V.M., Doug Byers, D.V.M., and Tom Divers, D.V.M., said in a joint statement.

“Since Uncle Mo has been at WinStar he has gained 67 pounds, his blood work is going in the right direction, his energy level is up, and his attitude has improved. We are optimistic about his prognosis and getting back to the track and continuing his racing career.”

Now that its known what has been plaguing the son of Indian Charlie, Mike Repole has stated that if Uncle Mo returns to be 100 percent he will go back to training with Todd Pletcher, hopefully before August 1st.

Now, the concern remains that being a liver disease, we might be looking at even odds on whether Uncle Mo is able to fully recover and return to racing. Even if he does, remains to be seen if he can reclaim the form that made him the two-year-old champ.

There is no denying that the colt is an exciting one to watch, and that the expectations on him were maybe the biggest in a three-year-old campaign in recent memory. But, with an August 1st date to return to training, can he make it to proper form in order to compete in the Breeders Cup classic?

He might be looking at maybe a two-race prep schedule before the Classic, and that even for Uncle is Mo is a wide stretch. The Travers on August 27 and the Woodward on September 3 would seem too close. That may force their connections to run in maybe a non-graded stakes race in late August, then think which Stakes race to run before the Classic in November.

Right now, first we will have to wait and see if he is able to return to training, and with the return date known start guessing at which races he might be able to fit in. But as of now, his chances of making it to the Classic are weak at best.

Hopefully we can see him return to form, and then the interesting question will be whether John Velazquez will take him over Animal Kingdom.