Timeform Features 
/ Simon Rowlands / 12 April 2011 / Leave a Comment 
The Kentucky Derby is less than four weeks away
"Uncle Mo has lost his mojo and he needs to get it back, fast."
Our blogger looks at the Kentucky Derby market after Uncle Mo defeat...
It is an exciting time of year for followers of Flat racing, with major Guineas trials this week and the reappearance in one of them of Frankel, a brilliant and undefeated two-year-old in 2010.
It all seems so clear at this stage: Frankel will win the Greenham Stakes easily at Newbury on Saturday and cement his position as a short-priced favourite for the first colts' classic. He cannot possibly be beaten, can he?
Well, strange things sometimes happen in racing, and they happened on Saturday night to a three-year-old with a profile every bit as elevated as Frankel's.
Uncle Mo went into the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct as the favourite for the Kentucky Derby at odds only slightly bigger than Frankel's [1.98] for the Guineas. The winner of all four of his races, by a combined total of 27 lengths, Uncle Mo had earned a Timeform rating of 127p, looked to have a ton in hand of his eight rivals (none of which had won in Graded company) and went off at 1/9. And he was beaten.
Horses - even very good ones - get beaten often enough without necessarily lessening their worth. But anyone looking for excuses where Uncle Mo is concerned will have to look very hard.
The sectionals of the Wood Memorial show that Uncle Mo was well placed up front, and that he not so much failed to quicken but failed to do anything much at all when challenged in the home straight.
Stamina might have been an issue, but not the sole one given that Uncle Mo had won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile at just half a furlong shorter in an excellent time. The Kentucky Derby is over another furlong again. There is also the fact that Uncle Mo sustained a small injury ("insignificant" according to his trainer) to his left-fore foot leaving his stall and that he edged left late on to consider.
Remarkably, it is also possible that the colt was short of peak fitness, with this $1m cakewalk considered by all bar a few as little more than a stepping stone to the big one.
Either way, Uncle Mo has lost his mojo and he needs to get it back, fast. The Kentucky Derby is less than four weeks away, and he can now be backed at 6.0 on Betfair, having been matched at as high as 32 soon after Saturday's race.
Those looking for alternatives to Uncle Mo (and that includes me now) are not exactly spoilt for choice. Several of his more credible rivals have fallen by the wayside in recent weeks.
Dialed In (rated 120p) is [5.4] favourite, though his rivals were softened up by the time he swept past them late on to take the Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park on April 3. The extra furlong of the Kentucky Derby should help rather than hinder him.
The Factor (rated 119p, having won his last three races impressively) figures prominently in the betting at [8.8] but has clear stamina doubts to dispel. More should become apparent when he runs in the nine-furlong Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park this coming Saturday.
For my part, I have had a few quid (in addition to my more-than-a-few quid on Uncle Mo over the winter) on Midnight Interlude, a latecomer to the Kentucky Derby picture having been unraced as a juvenile and won just a maiden before landing the $1m Santa Anita Derby on Saturday from the smart Comma To The Top.
The Bob Baffert-trained colt looks to be improving fast (rated 116p) and can still be backed at [25.0] on Betfair.
Get a free form guide for racing in the US & Canada at http://www.timeform.com/free/.
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