Modernist
Uncle Mo—Symbolic Gesture, by Bernardini
Owner: Martin and Pam Wygod
Breeder: Wygod Stables LLC. (KY)
Trainer: Bill Mott
Jockey: Junior Alvarado
Belmont Stakes Odds:
First Race at Belmont Park-Photo Courtesy of Adam Coglianese / NYRA)
As good as Uncle Mo was as a 2-year-old, winning the 2010 Champagne Stakes and Breeders Cup Juvenile, he failed to make the gate for any of the classics in 2011 and retired at the end of 2011 unplaced in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. But what the son of Indian Charlie couldn’t accomplish on the racetrack he has more than made up for in the breeding shed, siring multiple grade 1 winners and millionaires, including 2015 Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist. Modernist’s dam, Symbolic Gesture, is a daughter of 2009 Broodmare of the Year Sweet Life, who is also the dam of champion Sweet Catomine and Breeders’ Cup Ladies Classic winner Life Is Sweet.
California-based owners Martin and Pam Wygod have achieved a tremendous amount of success in horse racing, their powder blue and white silks worn by jockeys aboard names like Idiot Proof, After Market, Tranquility Lake and Benchmark (in addition to those previously mentioned), but Modernist is their first Belmont Stakes starter.
Trainer Bill Mott has saddled eight Belmont Stakes runners with Drosselmeyer in 2010 being his only winner.
Junior Alvarado has ridden a single Belmont Stakes starter to date, Unstoppable U was sixth in 2012.
** The 152nd Belmont Stakes will be held this Saturday, June 20, and for the first time will be the anchor leg to the Triple Crown. This year the race will be contested at 1 1/8 miles, three furlongs shorter than the traditional Belmont Stakes distance of 1 ½ miles. The weather in New York on Saturday is expected to be warm and possibly even wet with afternoon thunderstorms likely. The day’s high temperature will reach into the lower 80s. First post at Belmont Park is 11:45 p.m. ET and the Belmont Stakes field will break from the gate at 5: 42 p.m. ET.
Miriam Lee has always been a horse racing fan thanks to trips to the tracks in her home state of Maryland with her father as kid. She owns an OTTB and is an advocate for promoting the sport among her peers. Miriam studies communication arts at Hood College and will receive her master’s degree in 2021, which she plans to use for a career in screenwriting.