Mike Repole's Uncle Mo (Indian Charlie--Playa Maya, by Arch) has been retired from racing after tests revealed elevated levels of the enzyme gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) in his blood. High levels of GGT also led to the diagnosis of a rare liver ailment called cholangiohepatitis this spring, which knocked last year's champion 2-year-old off the Triple Crown trail. Uncle Mo finished 10th in Saturday's GI Breeders' Cup Classic. "It's a sad decision, but an easy one," said Repole. "This is just a rare, rare liver disease. Knowing that he's going to be healthy, taken care of and have some great racing foals someday makes me feel good."

Uncle Mo, a $160,000 KEENOV weanling turned $220,000 KEESEP yearling, was unveiled by trainer Todd Pletcher to a 14 1/4-length romp at Saratoga last August. He followed up that effort with a facile 4 3/4-length score in the GI Champagne S. at Belmont in October, and ran away with year-end honors with another brilliant 4 1/4-length drubbing in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Churchill Downs the following month.

"Since I was a 13-year-old kid, I've dreamed about owning a horse like this--it was a dream come true," said Repole. "To win the Breeders' Cup Juvenile was the highlight of owning Uncle Mo."

Uncle Mo resurfaced at three with another easy victory in the Timely Writer S. at Gulfstream Park in March, but tasted his first defeat when third at 1-9 in Aqueduct's GI Wood Memorial in April. He was subsequently diagnosed with a gastrointestinal infection, and was scratched from the GI Kentucky Derby a day before the race. Uncle Mo was then laid up at WinStar Farm in Versailles, KY, where he was diagnosed with cholangiohepatitis about a month later.

The bay made what appeared to be a full recovery in the coming months, and returned to the site of his debut 364 days after first bursting onto the scene, losing a photo finish to GI Breeders' Cup Mile winner Caleb's Posse (Posse) in the prestigious GI King's Bishop S. In his final race before the Classic, Uncle Mo took the one-mile GII Kelso H. at Belmont Oct. 1 by three lengths (video) over GISW Jackson Bend (Hear No Evil), earning a gaudy 118 Beyer Speed Figure. "We got him back for the Kelso and it was great that he got his redemption and he showed that he wasn't just a precocious 2-year-old," said Repole. "Probably one of the most brilliant races of the year by any horse was his Kelso, so to get him back and have that one more brilliant performance at three, with me being from New York, to get that brilliance one more time on a New York racetrack was special."

Uncle Mo was scheduled to arrive at Coolmore's Ashford Stud in Versailles, KY Monday afternoon, where he is set to stand the 2012 season. Coolmore purchased the colt's breeding rights in August, with Repole maintaining a interest in his star in the shed. Uncle Mo's condition is not hereditary. "I could be in this game probably another 100 years and I don't think I'll ever own another horse as talented as him because I don't think they're made too many times--maybe every 20 years or so," Repole said.