Mike Repole © Benoit Photo
‘THE COMMISSIONER’ BRINGS HIS CAMPAIGN TO DEL MAR
Michael Repole is a Thoroughbred owner based in New York. The list of big name horses he’s owned is impressive. Uncle Mo, Stay Thirsty, Forte and Fierceness just to name a few. He also tends to hire the best in the business, like Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher, to take care of his horses.
Over the years he’s been a vocal critic of the sport of horse racing, voicing his personal concerns with how the industry conducts itself and the problems that now plague the sport. But this is where Repole separates himself from the rest of the movers and shakers in horse racing. Repole is willing to put his money where his mouth is.
Take for instance the state of California racing. The number of horses racing in the Golden State has been declining for years. Repole recognizes that California racing is paramount to the health of racing overall in the United States. So this summer he shipped a string of horses out west.
“I’m concerned about California racing,” Repole says. “I feel if you care about this sport nationally, and not just in the state of Kentucky, you should try to do your best. So I’m spreading horses out. I sent horses to Michael McCarthy, who I’ve known for a long time.”
He’s sending good, talented horses. His filly Pushiness was the favorite in last week’s Betty Grable.
“I’m going to send more,” Repole insists. “I’m sending horses to Canada, Florida and Kentucky. I’m buying horses overseas. I’m just enjoying the game. I’ve been more vocal than usual and I’ve always been vocal. I want to wake people up.”
Ten years ago Repole came out to California for the first time. When he’s out on the West Coast he spends most of his time at Santa Anita or Del Mar.
“Racing needs to be in California,” Repole explains. “You’re not a national sport if you’re not in California. The most important initiative is Thoroughbred aftercare and after that it’s saving and growing California racing. It’s not like if California goes, we get more shares. If California goes, we all lose.”
Repole is calling himself ‘The Commissioner’ these days, a nickname he gave himself when he started crusading for reforms in racing.
“We’ve been identifying the problems for 15 years,” Repole contends. “I’m trying to get a little more urgency, a call to action. I’ve spoken to Belinda (Stronach) and Aidan (Butler at Santa Anita); I’ve spoken to Bob Baffert, Michael McCarthy and other trainers. I’m talking to people on The Jockey Club board, on the Breeders’ Cup board. (Thoroughbred owner) Barbara Banke’s out here, Bill Farish, (David) O’Rourke at Belmont and even Bill (Carstanjen) at Churchill. We have to figure it out because it’s going to hurt them, too.”
Repole says he fell in love with horse racing when he was 13 years old. He bought his first race horse when he was 33. Now he’s 55.
“I’m trying my best to help the next generation,” Repole says. “I’ve gone behind the scenes and asked guys ‘Hey, why don’t you send some horses here.’ The industry has to get together and try to help each other. There’s no real leadership, no real collaboration, no real alignment.
“What’s happening in California is, I think, what’s happening in the industry for the last 20 years,” Repole continues. ”People have identified the mistakes but no solutions and they keep looking the other way. California is not alone. Florida’s not doing great, New York has its issues. The only state doing well is Kentucky and I’ve called out Kentucky.”
Many in Kentucky horse racing circles have dismissed the idea of helping California racing, taking a position of ‘It’s their problem, not ours.’ Repole begs to differ.
“Kentucky’s done a lot of great things for racing,” Repole claims. “But if it only benefits the state of Kentucky then we’re only going to be racing in the state of Kentucky in the next 10 years. All that purse money is going to go nowhere because there will be no interest.”
FALL TURF FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS NEXT WEEKEND’S STAKES ACTION
Del Mar’s Fall Turf Festival kicks off next week. It’s a bit earlier on the calendar due to the absence of racing on Thanksgiving this year. Instead of the G3 Red Carpet launching the Turf Festival on Turkey Day, it will be run on the Sunday before the holiday.
The Red Carpet is one of two graded stakes slated for next weekend. The G3 Native Diver is also on the docket. It will be run next Saturday and the 1 1/8-mile event for 3-year-olds and up is shaping up to be one of the more intriguing races of the fall. Eight horses have been nominated for the Native Diver, including the winner of this year’s G1 FanDuel Racing Pacific Classic.
Calumet Farm’s Mixto is coming off of an 11th-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. But he worked this morning (4f, :47.80) and trainer Doug O’Neill said he “looked good.”
Bob Baffert has nominated Santa Anita Derby runner-up Imagination to the Native Diver, as well as the promising Ultra Power and Mirahmadi.
C R K Stable’s Skinner is also on the list of nominees for the race, as well as Wertheimer & Frere’s Salesman.
Entries for the Native Diver will be drawn Wednesday.
Then next Sunday the Turf Festival begins and if the number of nominations for the first race are any indication, we are in for full fields and competitive racing.
Twenty horses were nominated for the Red Carpet including several out-of-town invaders from the barns of Brendan Walsh, Christophe Clement, Graham Motion and Jonathan Thomas.
The 1 3/8 mile event is for fillies and mares, 3-year-old and up. Nominees include Solana Beach Stakes winner Moment’s Pleasure; G2 Santa Maria winner Coffee in Bed; G2 Dance Smartly winner Mouffy, and UAE Oaks runner-up Mizzyaan.
Entries for Sunday’s races will be drawn Thursday.
The Red Carpet is the first of eight races that comprise the Fall Turf Festival, which continues through the final week of racing at Del Mar. Seven of those races are graded including the G1 Hollywood Derby on Saturday the 30th and the G1 Matriarch on Sunday, December 1.
BOB BAFFERT: STILL HAVING FUN AFTER ALL THESE YEARS
Bob Baffert is about to wind up his 44th year training horses and like so many of the others, it has been a successful campaign. He just finished having a nice Breeders’ Cup weekend, notching his 19th Breeders’ Cup win with Citizen Bull in the Juvenile. He won the training title at Del Mar last summer and followed with another title at Santa Anita’s autumn meet.
“I have the clientele that like to play at the top level and we’re always developing young horses,” Baffert says. “Having a barn full of nice horses is what motivates me the most and keeps me excited. You’re always looking for that next superstar. I love the people I train for. They’re my clients but they’re my friends, too. We have fun. They all want to show up for the big races and we win and it’s a lot of fun.”
While Baffert runs horses at all the major racetracks around the country, he remains based in Southern California.
“To run in Southern California, you just can’t beat it,” he states. “You don’t have to pick up every four months and move everybody. We’re spoiled here in California. We have the weather and the best of everything. It’s still the best place for developing horses and get them ready for the big races like the spring classics, the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness, the Belmont and all the big races they run back east.”
Baffert has accomplished just about all there is to accomplish in the sport of horse racing. Eclipse Awards, two Triple Crowns, Breeders’ Cup victories and he’s in the Hall of Fame. But ask him what his favorite moment of his career and he’ll tell you it’s that he got to enjoy a lot of his success when his parents were alive.
“That meant a lot to me,” he notes. “They were both there for the Hall of Fame and they were the proudest parents. I’ll never forget when I introduced them and they stood up. My father didn’t want to sit down, I could tell. They just loved it. To me that was my greatest moment. They raised seven kids and here we are. My whole family was there. My wife Jill and my kids were there. To share that with them, that was big. I’ll never forget that because I knew what it meant to him (his father).”
His parents also got to enjoy some of his Kentucky Derby wins when they were alive. Their son hopes to return to the Derby next year after a three-year absence. He has the early, early favorite in Citizen Bull.
“The first Kentucky Derby I ever saw was in 1971 (at his home in Nogales, Az),” Baffert remembers. “After I watched it on a black and white TV I started following it in the newspaper because our TV was always down. The cows would knock down the antenna.
“I would read about it (the Derby) in the Arizona Daily Star,” Baffert continued. “It had five pages and pictures of coverage on the race. I never thought anything of it. Then I got horse crazy and fell in love with the Quarter horses. In 1980 I decided I wanted to be a horse trainer and I went public. My mother was totally against it. She said ‘You’re kidding me. You can’t make any money being a horse trainer,’ because we didn’t have very good horses. It took a while but then I started doing well.”
The game has taken Baffert to places he says he never dreamt about going to growing up in a house with seven children in the high desert of Arizona.
“You have to get lucky,” Baffert contends. “There are highs and lows. The highs are high and the lows can be very, very low. You have to be able to ride them out. It can be tough. It’s a very humbling business and there are sacrifices that have to be made. I’d like to take more vacations.”
But he’s worked hard at it and he’s been rewarded.
“There’s a lot of good people in horse racing,” Baffert comments. “A lot of characters. That’s what I love about it.”
COOLING OUT: Practical Dream came out of her win in Saturday’s $100,000 Desi Arnaz “Excellent” according to trainer Tim Yakteen this morning. He says they will point her to the G2 Starlet at Los Alamitos next month…Five of the nine races on Saturday required a camera to decide the winner. Races four through eight ended in photo finishes. As race 8 came to a thrilling conclusion track announcer Larry Collmus called it a ‘Day of Photos.’…Notable works on Sunday: Dirt – Raging Torrent (4f, :47.80); Tequilaandtherapy (4f, :48.60); Mouffy (5f, 1:02.40); Red Flag (5f, 1:00.00) and Skinner (5f, 1:01.40). A total of 56 horses put in official workouts.