Not surprisingly, for much of the fall and early winter, prices set by the Las Vegas oddsmakers for the 2023 Kentucky Derby (G1) have been headed by a colt that impressed on Breeders' Cup Saturday. What is a surprise, however, is that the first book compiled by the oddsmakers following the Breeders' Cup featured at its head not the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) victor Forte , but instead a horse who made his debut in a maiden race on the Breeders' Cup undercard.
That horse, Arabian Knight, who scored by seven lengths at first asking, made his eagerly awaited reappearance Jan. 28 and fully lived up expectations, splashing home 5 1/2 lengths clear of Red Route One—beaten only 1 1/2 lengths in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2) on his previous outing—to capture the Southwest Stakes (G3) at a very wet Oaklawn Park. In doing so, he recorded a 106 Equibase Speed figure, one point lower than he earned on his debut.
Incidentally, while the equine Arabian Knight has shown a world of promise, he has some way to go to equal the achievements of his human counterpart, Arabian Knight being the soubriquet bestowed on the Moroccan athlete Said Aouita in the film of that name. A runner of astonishing versatility, Aouita earned Olympic medals at distances as diverse as 800 meters and 5,000 meters, taking gold in the latter event. He also set world records at 1,500, 3,000, and 5,000 meters and owns the remarkable distinction of having defeated Olympic gold medalists in every event from 800 meters to 10,000 meters over their own specialist distance.
Arabian Knight's sire, Uncle Mo , was also winter favorite for the Kentucky Derby after a three-race juvenile campaign that was highlighted by impressive victories in the Champagne Stakes (G1) and Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1). Uncle Mo opened his 3-year-old campaign with a 3 1/2-length score in the Timely Writer Stakes, but after a third-place finish in the Wood Memorial Stakes (G1), it was discovered he suffered from the liver disease cholangiohepatitis.
Away for more than four months, Uncle Mo returned in the King's Bishop Stakes (G1), where he produced an excellent effort but was caught in the shadow of the post by Caleb's Posse . Next out, tackling older horses in the Kelso Handicap (G2), Uncle Mo proved that he had trained on, drawing away to win by three lengths while running a towering Beyer of 118, the highest of the year by a 3-year-old. His only other outing was an unplaced run in the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1), after which he was discovered to be suffering from elevated gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT) enzyme level, a likely consequence of a reoccurrence of the liver ailment.
At stud Uncle Mo set a world record with a first crop that produced a staggering 25 individual stakes winners, 14 graded, and that was headed by Nyquist , only the second horse to complete the Breeders' Cup Juvenile/Kentucky Derby double. While no horse could be expected to maintain that level of productive excellence, Uncle Mo has gone on to firmly establish himself as one of North America's sire elite. He has 89 stakes winners from his first eight Northern Hemisphere crops, 46 of them graded, and 11 grade 1.
Besides Arabian Knight, his current 3-year-old crop includes graded stakes winner Mo Strike and Scoobie Quando, who recently took the Turfway Prevue Stakes, a runup race to the Road to the Derby points-paying Jeff Ruby Steaks (G3). We should also mention in a neat parallel, as a sire Uncle Mo has displayed a Said Aouita-like versatility, proving equally effective with colts and fillies, as a sire of runners on dirt and turf, and as far as distance is concerned, elite runners that range from the blazing sprinter Golden Pal to last year's Belmont Stakes (G1) captor Mo Donegal .
Turning to the distaff side of the pedigree, Arabian Knight is the first foal of Borealis Night. A daughter of the A.P. Indy horse Astrology, she ran fourth in her only start, but is half sister to the graded stakes-placed Kinsley Kisses and Spooky Woods, and to Indian Clarkie (by Uncle Mo's sire, Indian Charlie), the dam of Connie K, who took the state-bred Downthedustyroad Breeders' Stakes at Oaklawn Park last year.
The second dam, Winter Forest (by Forestry, the broodmare sire of Uncle Mo's standout Nyquist), never won a race, but was a sister to Ever Elusive, successful in the Winning Colors Stakes at Churchill Downs, and also third in the Madison Stakes (G2). She was also half sister to listed scorer Saratoga Summer, and to the dam of black-type winner Nerve.
Behind this, the family continues to be solid rather than spectacular. The third dam, Shivering Six (Saratoga Six), won three of six starts, including the Prom Stakes and Holly Stakes at The Meadowlands, and her dam, Shivering Gal (It's Freezing), ran third in the Astoria Stakes (G3). It is not until the fifth dam, Accept My Token, that we come across the first graded winning black type in the family. Accept My Token's granddaughter, Riveting Drama (inbred 3x4 to siblings Cap and Bells/Dunce), was the dam of five stakes winners, including a pair of true standouts in champion sprinter Big Drama and Personal Ensign Stakes (G1) victress Sheer Drama (she also appears as third dam of stakes winner Abrogate, who is by Uncle Mo's son Outwork ).
Ultimately, like another recent classic trial winner, Instant Coffee, the female line travels back to a sibling to the great racehorse and sire Domino. Instant Coffee goes back to that horse's talented sister Correction (whose descendants also include Affirmed, Ghostzapper , and City Zip) and Arabian Knight to Lady Reel (via Fads and Fancies, who was inbred 3x3 to Domino's dam, Mannie Grey, with Correction appearing as dam of Fads and Fancies' sire, Yankee).
The Lady Reel branch doesn't have any recent stars to match those from the Correction branch, but Lady Reel herself did produce the outstanding runner Hamburg (best of his generation at 2 and 3, a retrospective Horse of the Year, and Leading Sire in 1905), and she also appears in the tail-female line of Compliance, who took the Alabama Stakes in 1945, and of Mendez, whose son Linamix was twice leading sire in France. We've noted before that modern DNA evidence shows that this female line has been wrongly attached to the #23 family, the confusion likely coming from Lady Reel's third dam, known only as a 'Mare by Lecomte', being confused with a mare of the same name who was out of the #23 family matron Edith (1850 by Sovereign). This means that Arabian Knight is from the 'I' mtDNA haplogroup (not the 'M' like true #23 family descendants), as are Forestry, sire of his second dam, and the sire and dam of In Excess (the grandsire of Uncle Mo).
We can also add that Arabian Knight is one of 12 stakes winners by Uncle Mo out of A.P. Indy line mares, others including last year's classic winner Mo Donegal. Four of those stakes winners, three graded, including grade 1 winner Mo Town , are out of mares by Bernardini, a product of the same A.P. Indy/Quiet American cross as Arabian Knight's broodmare sire, Astrology.
