The temperature in Lexington didn't crack 50 degrees until almost 9 a.m. Nov 2, and nearly all of those on the Keeneland backstretch wore a light jacket or sweatshirt. This was in contrast to one individual, the former president and co-founder of Glaceau (maker of Vitamin Water), who was casually dressed for summer in a t-shirt and shorts.
Nothing can cool off Thoroughbred owner Mike Repole these days.
This summer, the New York-born Repole, 53, teamed with Donegal Racing to win the Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1) with Mo Donegal , fulfilling his lifelong dream of winning the classic at the track where he developed a love for the sport. Repole, in fact, ran 1-2 in the Belmont when his filly Nest, owned in partnership with Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Michael House, took the place honors.
For Nest and other equines in his stable, it was just the beginning of the success to come for Repole Stable over the next five months. Nest notched three consecutive grade 1s, and two of his juveniles, Forte (owned with St. Elias Stable) and Chocolate Gelato scored two top-tier stakes victories and one such win, respectively.
All three come into the Breeders' Cup as leading players. Nest is favored at 9-5 on the morning line to win the Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1), Chocolate Gelato is pegged as the slight 7-2 favorite in the NetJets Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1), and Forte is tabbed as the 4-1 second favorite in the FanDuel Breeders' Cup Juvenile Presented by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (G1).
Chocolate Gelato and Forte race on Future Stars Friday, Nov. 4, and Nest follows in action Nov. 5.
"I've got three simple goals in racing: win, have fun, and share success," Repole said in an interview outside Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher's barn at Keeneland. "I enjoy doing all three of them. I've got 10 friends now and 35 coming on Thursday, and you know what, if we go 3-for-3 it's going to be great; If we go 2-for-3 it's going to be great; and if we go 1-for-3 it's going to be great. And honestly, in the big scheme of life, if we go 0-for-3, it's going to be great, too."
There was no putting a chill on his enthusiasm Wednesday morning. He noted his yearling shopping spree this summer—saying he bought a hundred horses—though it is his active runners that are commanding his attention this week.
He isn't alone. His 7-year-old daughter Gioia apparently likes coming to the track nearly as much as her father, hugging Nest, the stable star, and feeding her mints.
Watch: Repole Discusses Nest, Other Breeders' Cup Starters
"I asked Gioia what's her favorite part of the track. She said the winner's circle," he noted. "So she's like her dad, cause that's my favorite part, too, by the way."
He has visited it often, including in the Breeders' Cup. In partnership with St. Elias Stable, Repole Stable won the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) in 2019 with Vino Rosso , which followed another memorable win when his ultra-talented 2-year-old Uncle Mo won the 2010 Breeders' Cup Juvenile. Both horses were later honored as champions.
"Listen, I used to joke that I did this with 5% of my time. Now I say I'm doubling up, so I'm doing it with 10% of my time," he said. "Listen, being older, been in the game for 12 years—Uncle Mo, I can't believe he won the Juvenile in 2010—it seems so long ago."
Despite his growing stable, Repole isn't ready to have horse racing be his sole area of focus.
"If I went full-time into horse racing, I'd have to get another job soon," he said.
Besides, he's having too much fun enjoying the sport as he currently is.
Baffert Feels the Love in Kentucky
Trainer Bob Baffert was back in Kentucky on a cool Wednesday morning in Lexington.
Not that he had been away for long. He had been there earlier in the fall.
"I've been here a lot for sales," the Hall of Famer said.
Yet this time it was something different. He was in the stable area at Keeneland, overseeing the training of the five horses he entered in Breeders' Cup races there Nov. 4-5. Though he ran a couple horses during Keeneland's fall meet, Wednesday marked the first time Baffert himself was back in the Bluegrass State preparing his horses for a race since May 2021 and the fallout from the eventual disqualification of Medina Spirit from a victory in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1).
"I love Kentucky," Baffert said. " I love it here. I love going to the farms here and the people here. So I don't feel awkward or weird or anything like that because the fans are happy to see me and everybody is happy to see me. There's been a lot of well-wishers. It feels normal to me."
Baffert's legendary career has indeed been returning to normal bit by bit in recent months. A 90-day suspension imposed by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission for Medina Spirit's failed drug test ended July 2. The New York Racing Association's ban is scheduled to end in less than three months, on Jan. 25. That would leave the suspension by Churchill Downs and its network of tracks that will run through this summer—and prevent him from running a horse in the 2023 Kentucky Derby—as the final hurdle to clear before he can fully resume his profession without any of the restrictions and inherent stress that he has faced for the last year and a half.
Being in Kentucky Wednesday, Baffert was as jovial and sharp-witted as ever in discussing his own situation and assessing his horses' chances.
"I've always had a fan base (in Kentucky) and always gotten a good reaction since I got here. I came to the sales and people are behind me and a lot didn't like what happened to me. But it's one of those things you just deal with it. There are a lot of good people out there. It was tough on the family. I knew when I got that call (about Medina Spirit's failed drug test) my life was going to change, but you have to deal with it. We're here. We're healthy and that's important.
"It was a salve (on Medina Spirit)," he added. "If you could run it back, I didn't handle it well. I knew something was wrong. It was crazy, but you learn from it. In this game you win or you learn."
Baffert said the pressure of the court battles and suspensions became easier to handle thanks to the horses he sees every day in his barn.
"The thing about these horses, they are the best therapy you can have, and they bring us hope," said Baffert, who is still teaming with owner Amr Zedan in a court battle to have Medina Spirit's disqualification overturned. "They give us hope. I love to be around them. I am very attached to them. I am horse crazy and once you get the bug, you can't get rid of it. There's no rehab for it. You have to die, like I tell people. And when you're horse crazy, you love being around them, and I love competing at the highest level. I just stay focused. You surround yourself with these great horses and really great clients. They are my friends and they stuck with me."
Baffert also expressed gratitude to his staff for maintaining the stable during his 90-day suspension.
"I have a great team and while I was gone they did a great job," Baffert said. "I didn't know what I was going to come back to and that was really scary, but I have a great team and we're just happy to be here."
Baffert arrived at the Breeders' Cup doing about as well as ever with a 29% winning percentage this year. Winner of 18 races at the World Championships—the second-highest total in Breeders' Cup history—his starters this weekend include one of the series' biggest favorites in the 2-year-old colt Cave Rock.
A son of the Baffert-trained Arrogate, Cave Rock is undefeated in three starts and won both the Runhappy Del Mar Futurity (G1) and American Pharoah Stakes (G1) by identical 5 1/4-length margins for the ownership group of Mike Pegram, Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman.
"There's no telling how good he can be," Baffert said about the son of the Bellamy Road mare Georgie's Angel who was bred by Anne and Ronnie Sheffer and bought for $550,000 from the Gainesway consignment at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale.
"He's been unbelievable."
Cave Rock was pegged as the odds-on 4-5 favorite in the Nov. 4 $2 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile.
Joining Cave Rock in the Juvenile will be National Treasure , who was second in the American Pharoah. A son of Quality Road bred by Peter E. Blum Thoroughbreds and bought for $500,000 from the Bridie Harrison consignment at The Saratoga Sale, Fasig-Tipton's New York Sale of Select Yearlings, he drew post 10 for his consortium of owners.
"National Treasure hasn't caught up with them, but he will," Baffert said. "He's still growing up."
Baffert will also send out Pennsylvania Derby (G1) winner Taiba to tackle 3-5 choice Flightline in the centerpiece $6 Million Classic Nov. 5.
Baffert is hoping the prospect of an intense speed duel between Life Is Good (6-1) and the undefeated Flightline could boost the chances of a 3-year-old with some late kick such as Taiba.
"When (Flightline) passes the 5/8ths pole, he will go into full flight and that's when they are going to be churning it up," said Baffert, who is approaching the 42nd anniversary of his first stakes win as a trainer. "So, if I can just draft behind them a little bit. Taiba likes a target and he couldn't have two better targets (in Flightline and Life Is Good). I just hope he can keep contact with the field. I'd like to see him beat those other 3-year-olds."
Owned by Zedan, Taiba drew the rail for the 1 1/4-mile Classic and was pegged at 8-1 odds. The son of record-breaking stallion Gun Runner bred by Bruce C. Ryan, the Runhappy Santa Anita Derby (G1) winner was purchased for $1.7 million from the Hartley/De Renzo Thoroughbreds consignment at The Gulfstream Sale, Fasig-Tipton's Florida Sale of Select 2-Year-Olds in Training.
Chain of Love Japan's Lone BC Horse After Currency Drop
After Japan's success at the 2021 Breeders' Cup at Del Mar, including the victories of Marche Lorraine and Loves Only You for trainer Yoshito Yahagi, only one contender returns to the World Championships this year.
Chain of Love, trained by Michihiro Ogasa for Koji Maeda's North Hills operation, will contest the Nov 5. Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1) at Keeneland.
Stabled separate from the rest of the contenders, the atmosphere was quiet as Japan representative and translator Kate Hunter spoke about how the 5-year-old daughter of Heart's Cry was settling in.
"She traveled really well. She didn't particularly like being alone in quarantine. She was a pretty ornery chestnut mare while she was in there," Hunter said.
"Once we got in the van she was a completely different horse and once she got here surrounded by other horses she's super happy... She's having the time of her life."
Hunter says the mare has enjoyed training over the Keeneland surface throughout the past couple of days. The routine is typically two laps around the training track followed by a light gallop on the main.
With Chain of Love the single competitor representing her country after a successful 2021 season, it begs the question, where are the other Japanese contenders? Hunter's response was matter-of-fact—the funding is just not there.
"The Japanese currency collapsed. It's the second-worst collapse since World War II. It's not the best situation to be in," Hunter said. "The country is fine, it's just really expensive to buy things. For example, to enter in the Sprint is $60,000, but it would cost $90,000 worth of Japanese yen to pay the $60,000.
"It's about a third more expensive than it was before. The flight from Japan to the United States doubled. For a round trip it's about $200,000. Between that plus the one-third loss in value in the currency, unfortunately, if the Breeders' Cup would have been in January, it wouldn't have been a problem."
She said that many Japanese horses traveled to Europe to compete during the summer which helped to eat up more of the budget.
"There's a lot of money used and not a lot of money coming back so everyone is kind of cutting their losses this fall and staying home where the prize money is pretty spectacular," Hunter said.
As for Ogasa, Hunter says that he is focused on representing Maeda and North Hills. She mentioned that it will be exciting for the entire team to see the mare move in conditions that she likes, as she does not typically have the opportunity in Japan.
"I think she's been a victim of her own birthplace. There are no graded stakes dirt sprints for fillies and mares in Japan. There aren't even many sprints that she'd be allowed to run in," Hunter said. "She's been running against colts almost her entire life on the dirt going in the sprints.
"This is really the first time she's going to be able to run a distance she likes, on a surface she likes against her own sex."
The mare has yet to win in graded stakes company, though she has won twice in stakes company in the 2021 Aqualine Stakes at Nakayama and last out in the Enif Stakes at Chukyo.
Her record sits at 3-2-3 from 22 starts with $910,796 in earnings.
"We're up against a whole lot of good horses and it's a very big field," Hunter said. "While looking at her on paper I don't think she would be a horse that people would be interested in. If you look past that at the situations around where she's running, she looks a lot better.
"Personally speaking, when I recruited her (I thought) that if she can't win than she'll hit the board. She's real fast at the end. If we get a good pace, I'd like to see her fly in."
Trainer Walsh Hopes for Strong Showing From BC Trio
Conditioner Brendan Walsh will send out starters in three Breeders' Cup turf races Nov. 4-5 at Keeneland. And, while each horse is listed as a longshot on the morning-line odds, the Kentucky-based trainer sees reason for optimism for each.
On Friday Walsh will send out Qatar Racing, Fergus Galvin, and Marc Detampel's Reckoning Force in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1T) off a seventh-place finish in the Castle & Key Bourbon Stakes (G2T) Oct. 9 at Keeneland. Before that race, the son of Air Force Blue showed determination through the stretch to win the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Mile Stakes Sept. 14.
On Saturday, Cazadero, campaigned by Qatar Racing, Detampel, Galvin, and Barry Clohessy, enters the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1T) off a clear victory in the Nearctic Stakes (G2T) Oct. 8 at Woodbine. That win at six furlongs marked just the second turf try for the son of Street Sense and first start in a stakes on the grass.
Also Saturday, Family Way enters the Maker's Mark Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1T) off a runner-up finish to Going to Vegas (also entered in Saturday's 1 3/16-mile test) in the Rodeo Drive Stakes (G1T) Oct. 8 at Santa Anita Park. Campaigned by Galvin's Hunter Valley Farm, Debra O'Connor, and Detampel, the 5-year-old daughter of Uncle Mo always seems to be in the mix as she has finished second or third in her past five races—all graded stakes.
All three horses are listed at 20-1 for their various races but Walsh believes each has done enough to suggest they can compete.
Walsh liked the way Reckoning Force finished in the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Mile and thought the son of Air Force Blue faced some tough racing luck in the Bourbon, where he was in tight at the start and bumped with a foe in the stretch. In his stakes win at Kentucky Downs, Reckoning Force closed the final quarter-mile in :23.93 on the course's uphill stretch.
"I think he's got the talent," Walsh said. "In the Bourbon he was just a little slow away and then there was a horse in front of him kind of the whole way around. Everywhere we went, we just got stopped. We tried to go inside and we got stopped. We tried to go outside and we kind of got stopped outside. It was just a disaster.
"That's why we said we'd go ahead with the plan and give him another shot at it here. I think if he gets a good trip, I can't see him being too far away."
A glance at the past performances suggests Family Way typically finds a way. While her lone win this year came in the Orchid Stakes (G3T) in April at Gulfstream Park, racing exclusively in graded stakes she has hit the board in all seven of her starts.
"She's done nothing wrong really," Walsh said. "All year she was a little unlucky. I thought the last race in the Rodeo Drive she got a little too far back but she did show us a nice turn of foot, which she had not really shown before. She has been knocking on the door all year so hopefully she gets a good trip and she shouldn't be too far away.
"I mean, she's not been far away from any of these fillies all year. So I can't see why she would be this time. It was nice to see that turn of foot last time because there was probably not that much pace to run at and it shows that she's not just one dimensional. She's doing well."
With this year's trio, Walsh will nearly match the four Breeders' Cup starters he's had in previous editions of the World Championships, highlighted by a third-place finish by Worldly in the 2013 Breeders' Cup Marathon (G2).
Happy Saver to Receive Patch for Quarter Crack
Wertheimer and Frere's Happy Saver , the longest shot in the Nov. 5 Breeders' Cup Classic at morning-line odds of 30-1, missed training Wednesday due to a quarter crack, Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher said.
"We're just waiting on our blacksmith to get over here," Pletcher said around 10 a.m. ET Wednesday. "He was over at Churchill this morning. We'll patch that—back in action tomorrow."
He is optimistic the chestnut 5-year-old by Super Saver, can recover from the setback to compete in Saturday's $6 million Classic at Keeneland. "I think he'll be fine," Pletcher commented.
A quarter crack is a vertically-oriented fissure in the hoof wall that can cause sensitivity and lameness. Farriers have multiple options to treat a quarter crack, including using a patch to conform to the hoof wall.
Happy Saver, winner of the Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) during a 4-for-4 campaign in 2020, will retire to Airdrie Stud in 2023 to begin stud duty. Fourth most recently in the Lukas Classic Stakes (G2) at Churchill Downs, he has a 5-5-1 record in 12 starts with earnings of nearly $1.2 million.
