Top Derby contender Uncle Mo's next race is set

NEW YORK (AP) - The connections of leading Kentucky Derby contender Uncle Mo say the colt will make his 3-year-old debut in a recently created race to be run at Florida's Gulfstream Park on March 12.

Owner Mike Repole and trainer Todd Pletcher said Tuesday their choice for Uncle Mo's first race of 2011 is the $100,000 Timely Writer. If the mile race does not draw enough entries, Uncle Mo's second option is the $350,000 Tampa Bay Derby, also March 12.

Uncle Mo has won all three of his starts and was voted 2-year-old champion after winning the Breeders' Cup Juvenile in November. Uncle Mo is stabled at Palm Meadows, just north of the Gulfstream Park.

The Timely Writer was created last week by Gulfstream.