Donegal Racing

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - It was quite easy for Donegal Racing to come up with a name for Gate to Wire (Munnings), who turned in an eye-catching debut performance Friday. "He looked fast," said Donegal CEO Jerry Crawford. Gate to Wire has lived up to his appearance in training and showed his speed in the opener at Saratoga Race Course, while posting a 1 3/4 -length victory in the $100,000 maiden special weight for 2-year-olds. Though he did not lead every step of the way, Gate to Wire, with leading...

Spendthrift Farm's Mo Donegal, the classic-winning son of Uncle Mo, sired his first reported foal this week when a colt was born at WinStar Farm in Versailles, the stallion's farm said in a release Friday afternoon. Bred by Alfredo Gastaneta, the bay colt is out of the Declaration of War mare Andavete, a half-sister to 2020 GI Kentucky Derby third-place finisher Mr. Big News (Giant's Causeway) and hailing from the immediate family of champion sire Saint Ballado. "This is a good size colt with good bone and leg underneath him,"...

To get his new business off the ground--or at least out of the basement of his house in Iowa--Dennis Albaugh took out an SBA loan of $10,000. "Against the house," he says. "Had to talk my wife into that. Then I bought an old tanker and, my first trip out, I loaded up with chemicals headed for South Dakota. And all the way up there I'm thinking, 'Hey, this is really a good truck.' It just runs a little better all the way up. I get there, I get out,...

Out of the 404 entrants, the leading earner in this week's Thoroughbred Makeover and National Symposium, presented by the Thoroughbred Charities of America, at the Kentucky Horse Park is GISW Arklow (Arch). After being gelded once his racing career ended last year at this time, the former Brad Cox trainee with a $3,025,996 in earnings over a seven-year career for Donegal Racing will be ridden in the event by Gina Gans in the field hunting division. The 9-year-old will jump obstacles at the Horse Park's grass steeplechase course. Recently retired...

Donegal Racing and Repole Stable's Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo--Callingmissbrown, by Pulpit), last seen validating favoritism with a three-length victory in the GI Belmont S. presented by NYRA Bets June 11, has been retired from racing and will enter stud for the 2023 breeding season at Spendthrift Farm. He will command a fee of $20,000, stands and nurses terms. Bred in Kentucky by the Lyster family's Ashview Stud in partnership with Richard Santulli's Colts Neck Stables--also the breeders of Belmont S. runner-up and leading 3-year-old filly Nest (Curlin)--Mo Donegal was purchased...

Donegal Racing and Repole Stable's Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo) exited his GI Belmont S. victory with bone bruising and will be out of training for 60 days, according to a press release distributed by his owners Saturday. Jerry Crawford, CEO of Donegal Racing, and Mike Repole said that they will share Mo Donegal's progress as he continues to be evaluated. The GII Remsen S. and GII Wood Memorial S. winner delivered a three-length victory in the final leg of the Triple Crown for trainer Todd Pletcher following a rallying fifth...

The winner's circle after Saturday's GI Belmont S. surely rivaled any in Triple Crown history in terms of population after Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo) crossed the wire three lengths to the good. In addition to Mike Repole and his substantial crew of family and friends, the celebration contained the massive partnership of Donegal Racing, which brings all of its investors along for the ride with every horse it purchases. Tuesday, the CEO of Donegal, Jerry Crawford, sat down with Joe Bianca and Bill Finley of the TDN Writers' Room presented...

Donegal Racing CEO Jerry Crawford joined the TDN Writers' Room to discuss the experience of sharing Mo Donegal's Belmont victory with the colt's enthusiastic ownership group.

ELMONT, NY - The kid from Queens got his GI Belmont Stakes. Carrying the royal blue-and-orange, New York Mets-inspired silks of Middle Village native Mike Repole, Donegal Racing and Repole Stable's Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo) delivered an authoritative, three-length victory as the 5-2 favorite before an announced crowd of 46,103 in Saturday's GI Belmont Stakes. It was the fourth victory in the third leg of the Triple Crown for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher. The filly Nest (Curlin), also campaigned in partnership by the co-founder of Glaceau and trained...

Owner Mike Repole purchased a minority interest in GI Kentucky Derby contender and GII Wood Memorial S. winner Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo), ownership group Donegal Racing announced Friday. The price and ownership stake were not disclosed. Mo Donegal, a $250,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase, captured Aqueduct's GII Remsen S. over future GI Toyota Blue Grass winner Zandon (Upstart). Third in the Feb. 5 GIII Holy Bull S. behind White Abarrio (Race Day) and Simplification (Not This Time), he returned to New York Apr. 9 for the Wood Memorial S., rallying...

Affable Iowan Jerry Crawford, a longtime client of Werk Thoroughbred Consultants, runs the successful racing partnership Donegal Racing, which was established in 2008 with the specific goal of winning the Gl Kentucky Derby. That may have sounded like wishful thinking at the time, but Crawford's stable has made it to Louisville on average every three years or so, with live runners, and with horses that haven't been purchased for exorbitant sums: Paddy O'Prado (El Prado {Ire}), a $105,000 Keeneland September purchase and among the first yearlings bought by the fledgling...

   Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo), the 3-1 morning-line favorite in Saturday's GII Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth S. at Gulfstream, will be scratched from the race, reports owner Jerry Crawford. His next start will most likely be in the GII Wood Memorial S. Apr. 9 at Aqueduct. Crawford said he and trainer Todd Pletcher were considering scratching after Mo Donegal drew the 12 post for the Fountain of Youth, but the decision became more clear cut after the colt developed a minor virus. "We are going to scratch," Crawford said. "In...