Uncle Mo auction raises $220,000 for San Luis Rey relief

Coolmore and Mike Repole will donate a total of $220,000 to the Thoroughbred Charities of America’s Horses First Fund following the sale of two no-guarantee seasons to champion Uncle Mo to benefit racehorses and their caretakers displaced by the wildfires that devastated California’s San Luis Rey training center earlier this month.

Coolmore and Repole initially put forward the 2018 season to Uncle Mo to benefit the fund. Prominent owner and breeder Gary Barber won the auction, which concluded last week with a final bid of $110,000, fending off competition from Tom VanMeter, Joe Allen, Tom Ryan of SF Bloodstock, Ken Donworth, and Craig Bernick of Glen Hill Farm.

Following the auction, Juddmonte Farms offered to match the winning bid if a second season was made available, adding another $110,000 to the donation.

Uncle Mo, who raced in Repole’s colors and stands at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud in Kentucky, stands for an advertised fee of $125,000. The leading freshman sire of 2015, he was represented by 2016 Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist in his first crop and leads the third-crop sire list.