Repole, always eyeing Belmont Stakes, purchases Tonalist colt

New York native Mike Repole has made no secret that his greatest ambition in racing is to win Long Island’s biggest race, the Belmont Stakes. Repole Stable has sent out four horses as a solo owner in the oldest and longest leg of the Triple Crown, with Stay Thirsty finishing second in 2011. Last year, he ran two horses in partnership, with Repole Stable and St. Elias’s Vino Rosso finishing fourth behind the unbeaten Justify.

At this week’s Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale of 2-year-olds in training, Repole continued his quest by purchasing a colt with strong relations to the Belmont Stakes. The colt will race in Repole’s blue-and-orange colors, which he chose for his beloved New York Mets.

Repole’s $300,000 purchase, with West Bloodstock acting as his agent, is from the first crop of 2014 Belmont Stakes winner Tonalist and is out of a half-sister to 2012 Belmont Stakes winner Union Rags. The Maryland-bred colt, consigned by Tom McCrocklin as agent, had stretched out to breeze a quarter-mile, as opposed to the traditional furlong, in 22 seconds during the presale under-tack show at the Maryland State Fairgrounds.

Tonalist earned $3.6 million while winning six graded stakes and placing in five others on the New York circuit. In addition to the Belmont, Tonalist won the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup and Grade 2 Peter Pan Stakes in 2014. The next year, he repeated in the Gold Cup and won the Grade 1 Cigar Mile and Grade 3 Westchester Stakes. A son of Tapit, a perennial leading sire and the sire of three Belmont Stakes winners, Tonalist stands at Lane’s End.

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Repole’s purchase is out of the winning Cat Thief mare Miss Pauline, the dam of two winners from as many starters. Her dam is the winning Gone West mare Tempo, whose son Union Rags also won the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes as a juvenile at Belmont Park before winning the 2012 Belmont. Tempo also produced stakes-placed Geefour and the winning mare Tempo West, the dam of three stakes winners led by multiple Group 1 winner Declaration of War.