Trendsetter Carries On Uncle Mo's Legacy

In December 2024, 2010 champion 2-year-old male Uncle Mo died at the all-too-young age of 16, but with a 2-year-old and a yearling crop still to run, he's already shown that he is going to leave a significant mark on the breed. As a sire, Uncle Mo was an instant success. From a first crop conceived at a fee of $35,000, he was represented by what is believed to be a record 27 individual stakes winners worldwide. Since then, he's gone on to sire 120 stakes winners—64 graded, 16 grade 1. Almost equally rapidly, Uncle Mo has earned a place as one of the most sought-after broodmare sires around. He was the youngest horse in the top 15 in that category in 2025, and his daughters have already produced 38 stakes winners, 21 graded—including champions Thorpedo Anna and Nitrogen, 2025 Preakness Stakes (G1) victor Journalism, and other grade 1 scorers Muth, Howard Wolowitz, Geaux Rocket Ride, and Strictly Business (AUS). Uncle Mo also has a very good shot at extending his male line. He is already represented by 18 stallion sons who have sired at least one stakes winner, including Nyquist, who is firmly established among the stallion elite and currently third on the 2026 general sires list; last year's leading freshman sire Yaupon; other grade 1 sires Laoban and Outwork; and the over-performing Mo Town, sire of 19 stakes winners—seven graded—from three seasons standing at a very modest fee. Among Uncle Mo's younger sons are Golden Pal, a 2026 freshman whose first starter is a winner; Mo Donegal (first runners in 2026); and Arabian Knight and Kingsbarns (both with first-crop foals in 2026). The latest Uncle Mo stallion son to begin making his mark is Modernist, who from a first crop sired at $10,000, moved into the top 10 on the second-crop sires list following the victory of his son Trendsetter in the final Kentucky Derby (G1) points-paying contest of 2026, the Lexington Stakes (G3). At 2, Trendsetter followed a 5 1/2-furlong maiden special weight victory at Colonial Downs with success in the non-black-type Hickory Tree Stakes at the same venue. In his final two starts at 2, Trendsetter was tried on turf, finishing off the board in the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Sprint Stakes and the Indian Summer Stakes. Trendsetter made his first start of 2026 on the all-weather, taking second in the Turfway Prevue Stakes. He returned to dirt for a fourth in the Spectacular Bid Stakes at Laurel Park, then back to the all-weather for a third in the Rushaway Stakes on his final outing prior to the Lexington. Modernist was a winner on the Road to the Kentucky Derby, following a maiden tally with a score in the 2020 Risen Star Stakes (G2). Third in the Louisiana Derby (G2), Modernist skipped the first two legs of the Triple Crown but did take his chance in the Belmont Stakes (G1), where he finished seventh. Fifth in the Peter Pan Stakes (G3) in his only other start that year, Modernist returned at 4 to win the Excelsior Stakes (G3) and take second in both the Challenger Stakes (G3) and Pimlico Special Match Series Stakes (G3) in the first three of four outings. Trendsetter is the second black-type victor from the 50 starters and 22 winners from the first crop by Modernist, following the Withers Stakes winner Talk to Me Jimmy. He has also been represented by three other black-type placed horses. Trendsetter is out of the mare Suyapa, a daughter of the A.P. Indy horse Astrology. She ran six times, placing only once, when second in a maiden $50,000 claiming event at Laurel. Trendsetter's granddam, the Holy Bull mare Holy Fashion, plied her trade in the Southwest, winning the 2006 Aspen Cup Thoroughbred Stakes and Desert Rose Handicap at Ruidoso Downs, and the non-black-type La Paz Stakes in 2005 at Turf Paradise. In addition to Suyapa, Holy Fashion produced a useful runner in the shape of the Paddy O'Prado filly Above Fashion, successful in the 2015 Letellier Memorial Stakes and placed in three black-type events, including the 2015 Delta Downs Princess Stakes (G3). Holy Fashion's dam, Looking for a Win, also earned bold black type, taking the 1992 Weekend Surprise Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack, and finishing third in the Comely Stakes (G2). Looking for a Win's granddam, the stakes-placed Native Dancer mare Dancing Lark, was a very successful producer, represented by stakes winners Sonny Says Quick, Gustoso, and Creeque Alley. Furthermore, through her stakes-placed daughter Free to Fly, Dancing Lark is the granddam of a really good horse in Fly So Free, champion 2-year-old male in 1990, when he won the Champagne Stakes (G1) and Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1), and subsequently successful in six other black-type events, including the 1991 Florida Derby (G1). Another Dancing Lark daughter, the unraced Roundabend, is third dam of 2006 Hollywood Turf Cup Stakes (G1T) winner Boboman. Modernist is one of seven stakes winners by Uncle Mo out of a mare by Bernardini. Given that Bernardini is by A.P. Indy, Trendsetter conforms to a pattern that frequently works well—that of crossing a stallion back over mares from his own broodmare sire line. In the case of Trendsetter, there is more to it than that, as both Bernardini and Trendsetter's broodmare sire, Astrology, are out of mares by Quiet American, making them three-quarters related. Quiet American is himself an intensely inbred horse, with three-quarter siblings Killaloe and Demure 2x1 in his pedigree. Killaloe and Demure are both by Dr. Fager—by Rough'n Tumble out of Aspidistra—and share a granddam in Cequillo, and Trendsetter's second dam is by Holy Bull, whose own sire, Great Above, is by a son of Rough'n Tumble out of a daughter of Aspidistra. We might also note that Uncle Mo's young sire son, Arabian Knight, is out of a mare by Astrology, which would strongly encourage breeding him back over mares by Bernardini and sons.