The public may have given up on Fierceness (City of Light) before the GI DraftKings Travers S., sending last year's 2-year-old champion off at 7-2. It was all about his inability to string together two good races. But owner Mike Repole remained confident and that confidence was rewarded in the Travers in a victory that put his homebred squarely in the mix for Horse of the Year.
To talk about Fierceness, and also his desire to make changes in the sport through his National Thoroughbred Alliance, Repole joined this week's TDN Writers' Room Podcast, presented by Keeneland. He was the Green Group Guest of the Week.
“I've been around this game a long time and we know there's a lot more lows than there are highs,” Repole said. “So anytime you're having a high in this game, it's easy to feel better about having lows. I really feel great for Todd [Pletcher] who really puts a lot of effort into every horse. He's been around for over 25 years. I've joked with him that he's going to go down in history as the trainer who got Fierceness beat three times. That's going to be his legacy. But he did an amazing job and the horse ran super.”
Repole realizes that in the Travers it took a super effort to beat a super filly in Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna).
“One of the biggest compliments I could have given to Kenny McPeek was this…I said to him, 'Please keep this filly with the girls. I don't want to do this again.' I don't want to face her anymore. I mean, she ran an amazing race,” Repole said.
Repole has frequently discussed his frustrations with the sport. He is so bent on making changes that he created the National Thoroughbred Alliance (NTA). It is his way of having an even louder voice. One of the first issues the NTA has tackled is the aftercare situation. Repole believes that there should be a funding mechanism in place in which all Thoroughbreds are guaranteed a good home after their racing careers end.
“I think we're making a lot more progress than people think,” he said. “First of all, there's more talk over the last 10 months than there's ever been. Many people agree with what I've been saying. The only negative feedback I get is that they don't like my style. And, you know what? Other styles haven't worked for 40 years. If you can show me a style that works…that if you just come in and you hold hands and you sing Kumbaya, and that works, then I'd do it. This is a game where 90% of the people want changes, but not when it comes to something they're doing. This sport has become pretty selfish. I have to look myself in the mirror. If I want to be in this game three years, five years, 10 years, 25 years from now, I have to feel good about the sport that I'm in. And right now I don't feel good about things like horse aftercare. I don't feel good about 2-year-old sales. I don't feel good about how the sport is undermined by people on the inside. I don't feel good about the committees that are making the calls. I don't feel good about the selfishness. I've been in the game for 20 years and I love winning races. To me, though, it's more important over the next five years that I have a lead role in helping change the game for the better for the next 25 years.”
Repole noted that the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance tries to get by on a budget of $3.5 million and said that is woefully inadequate.
In our breeding spotlight section, we took a look at the WinStar stallion Independence Hall.
Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders' Association, West Point Thoroughbreds, WinStar, XBTV.com, McCauleys Feeds, and Stonestreet Farm, the team of Randy Moss and Bill Finley took a detailed look at the Travers, with both in agreement that it was one of those rare races that actually lived up to the hype. They also looked back at the other four Grade I races on the Saturday card at Saratoga and the GII Pat O'Brien S. at Del Mar.
Finley and Moss also discussed the Kentucky Downs phenomenon, where purses have reached levels that used to be unthinkable, and the upcoming appearance by Adare Manor (Uncle Mo) in the GI Pacific Classic S.
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