With Forte ready for Jim Dandy, Repole ponders exit

Six days after sending out one champion to victory in Saratoga, owner Mike Repole hopes to hit the replay button Saturday, when Forte heads a field of five entered Wednesday for Saturday’s Grade 2, $500,000 Jim Dandy Stakes.

Forte, the juvenile champion of 2022, is coming off a runner-up finish in the Belmont Stakes that Repole believes only served to strengthen his belief that Forte is still the top of his generation. Before he was scratched from the Kentucky Derby to a bruised foot, Forte had won both the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth and Grade 1 Florida Derby, both times defeating Mage, who would win the Kentucky Derby and run third in the Preakness.

“You’re going to see Saturday what I know I see – the best 3-year-old in the country win the Jim Dandy at 3-5,” said Repole, who owns Forte in partnership with Vinnie and Teresa Viola. “That’s what you’re going to see and then you’ll [have] the Travers favorite.”

Forte’s competition in the Jim Dandy will be Angel of Empire, Disarm, and Hit Show, the third- through fifth-place finishers in the Kentucky Derby, and Saudi Crown, the Grade 3 Dwyer runner-up. Saudi Crown, like Angel of Empire and Hit Show, is trained by Brad Cox. Saudi Crown set the pace and was beaten a nose by Fort Bragg in the Dwyer at Belmont.

Waiting for this group in the Travers are Kentucky Derby winner Mage, Belmont Stakes winner Arcangelo, and potentially Preakness winner National Treasure.

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When last seen at Saratoga, Forte finished first in the Grade 1 Hopeful by three lengths. Eight months later, the New York Gaming Commission revealed that Forte tested positive for the substance meloxicam, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory used to treat arthritis in humans. The Gaming Commission has ruled that Forte should be disqualified and trainer Todd Pletcher be suspended 10 days and fined $1,000. Repole and Pletcher, who contend the meloxicam was there via contamination, are contesting the disqualification and subsequent penalties.

The Gaming Commission held the appeal hearing into the matter last Thursday in Schenectady, with a ruling likely to be issued in the fall. Repole doesn’t expect it to go his way but he does plan to fight an adverse ruling in outside court.

Repole believes that if rules now in place under the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) were in place at the time of the Hopeful, this wouldn’t have been called a positive.

“Any sane jurisdiction would just say there’s a reason why this is the new HISA rule and they’re supposed to have the toughest regulations out there. It looks like a no-brainer to me,” Repole said. “But what’s par for the course is most likely New York state will rule in favor of the judgment and we’ll be going to the Supreme Court and have some fun with this one.”

Frustration is nosing out fun in this game for Repole, who, with approximately 270 horses in his stable, has talked about getting out of the game in three years. He mentioned it in an interview with Horseracing Nation earlier this week and did so again in a conversation with Daily Racing Form. It’s hard to fathom Repole getting out when he has horses like Nest, who returned from an eight-month layoff with a spectacular victory in Sunday’s Grade 2 Shuvee, Forte, and Up to The Mark, arguably the leading older male turf horse in the country, and an army of 2-year-olds and yearlings.

“Those three horses are why I’m not leaving the game this year and if it doesn’t change it’s three years,” Repole said. “When you can take your mind away from the incredible frustrations of this game and really just spend a day at Saratoga with 25,000, 30,000 fans, great weather, and great racing and see a performance like that, it’s why I feel in love with the game 40 years ago.”

◗ Reigning sprint champion Elite Power will seek his eighth consecutive victory when he runs in Saturday’s Grade 1, $350,000 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap

Elite Power, the 126-pound highweight, will face Gunite, Dean Delivers, Synthesis, Gun It, Little Vic, and Awesome Aaron.

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