Uncle Mo still on the fence for Derby; decision pending

It was a relatively uneventful morning for the Repole

Stable duo of Uncle Mo and Stay Thirsty, who went trackside at 8:30 a.m. (EDT) during the special Derby/Oaks training

period and galloped 1 3/8 miles under their regular exercise riders

-- Hector Ramos on Uncle Mo and Fernando Espinoza on Stay Thirsty.

But outward appearances can be

deceiving and behind the scenes at trainer Todd Pletcher's Barn 34 the wheels

were turning and churning on a scenario that might rob Derby 137 of its "name"

horse.

Uncle Mo, the colt who won all three of his starts last year -- including the

Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile run at Churchill Downs -- and was named two-year-old champion, has

had a not-so-dominant three-year-old season thus far. He won a

less-than-competitive overnight stakes at Gulfstream Park in March, then was a

beaten third in the Grade 1 Wood Memorial in New York on April 9, after which he was diagnosed with a

stomach ailment that required antibiotics for treatment.

And while reports out

of the Uncle Mo camp have been generally positive over the past several weeks as

he has trained up to the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs, the doubts about his "real"

condition linger and they were coming to a head Thursday.

Owner Mike Repole addressed a

gathering of about three dozen media types at approximately 9:30 a.m. Thursday

outside Barn 34 and spoke of the quandary that he and Pletcher have concerning

their star.

"When I see him on the track, like

I saw him this morning, I say he's doing super, he's doing great, he moves like

the best athlete on the track," the New York businessman said. "But I'm not the

expert and we just aren't sure here where this horse is. Is he back to 80

percent of himself; 90 percent, 100 percent? We don't know. If this was an

'outside' issue, you probably could be sure of what you're dealing with. But

this is an 'internal' thing and they're much harder to tell.

"So today we're having three

veterinarians go over him and test him and we're going to make a decision. Dr.

(Ken) Reid, Dr. (Steve) Allday and Dr. (Doug) Byars are going to check him out

and test him and give us their opinions -- whether we should run him or not.

"Todd

(Pletcher) and I will be involved in the final say. Todd will be the real key

for me. If the three vets said go ahead and run him, but Todd voted no, then we

wouldn't run. He's the guy.

"Probably by the end of the day

we'll know what we're going to do. We'll know for sure by the morning. And we

won't wait until Saturday to make a decision. We'll say tomorrow, one way or

another.

"If he doesn't run, I don't know

what the plan will be. We'll have to let Uncle Mo tell us what is next."

Uncle Mo drew post position 18 in

the Derby lineup and is scheduled to be handled by his regular rider, John

Velazquez. Stay Thirsty will start from post position four under Ramon Dominguez.