Repole has unfinished business in Wood

It will be equal parts anticipation and angst for owner Mike Repole when he runs his homebred Outwork in Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Wood Memorial at Aqueduct.

It was exactly five years ago that Uncle Mo – also owned by Repole – entered the Wood Memorial as the undefeated 2-year-old male champion who had won his 3-year-old debut at Gulfstream Park and was sent off as the 1-10 favorite in the Wood. Uncle Mo led into midstretch before his tail started swishing and he surrendered the lead to Arthur’s Tale, who was then overtaken by Toby’s Corner. Uncle Mo finished third.

“Part of me is very excited about getting back to the Wood and the possibility of competing and winning it,” Repole said. “There’s another part of me that’s trying to forget that day five years ago when there was so much excitement. You think you’re going to go in as one of the heaviest favorites in Derby history if you win the Wood, and it went backwards from that day.”

Uncle Mo was scratched from the Kentucky Derby the day before the race due to a gastrointestinal infection. He would come back to run three more times, getting beat a nose in the Grade 1 King’s Bishop, winning the Grade 2 Kelso, and finishing 10th in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Uncle Mo was retired from racing and in 2012 began his stud career at Ashford Stud, the North American arm of Coolmore. Repole retained a minority interest in Uncle Mo. Last year, Uncle Mo was the leading first-crop stallion, siring, among others, Nyquist, the 2-year-old male champion of 2015 whose victory in last Saturday’s Florida Derby sends the undefeated colt to Churchill Downs as the favorite for the Kentucky Derby on May 7.

Uncle Mo also is the sire of Outwork, who is out of the stakes-placed mare Nonna Mia, whom Repole also raced. In fact, Outwork was the first winner sired by Uncle Mo, winning a 4 1/2-furlong maiden race at Keeneland last April 23. After being laid off for the remainder of his juvenile season with typical 2-year-old issues, according to Repole and Pletcher, Outwork returned to the races Feb. 13 at Tampa Bay Downs to win a first-level allowance race going six furlongs by 4 1/4 lengths. A month later, Outwork finished a length behind stablemate Destin – but seven lengths ahead of the rest of the field – in the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby, his first try around two turns.

The way Repole looks at it, the Tampa Bay Derby was only Outwork’s second career start.

“He breezes five furlongs, so I don’t know that a 4 1/2-furlong race last April really counts,” Repole said. “A maiden win at six furlongs, and then he went a mile and a sixteenth – not too many horses can do something like this.”

Repole said that when he and Pletcher went to see Outwork at the farm in March of his 2-year-old season, the colt gave him the same feeling Uncle Mo did at the same point in time. Repole watched Outwork dust a stablemate – who turned out to be four-time stakes winner Sudden Surprise – in a three-furlong workout, and his time was two seconds faster than any of his other horses who trained that morning.

“He looked like he was going to be really special,” Repole said.

Said Pletcher: “It was pretty clear at that time that Uncle Mo stood out, and it was pretty clear that Outwork stood out.”

Repole said Outwork probably could have returned to the races last fall, but there was no reason to rush him.

“I said, ‘What’s the goal with this horse?’ ” Repole said. “If he’s good enough to be in the Derby, we’ll get him three starts, and he’ll go to the Derby.”

Outwork likely needs a top-four finish in the Wood Memorial to assure himself a spot in the Derby. Outwork likely will be a top-three betting choice in a Wood field that is led by Shagaf, the undefeated winner of the Gotham Stakes; Matt King Coal, a good-looking allowance winner; and Flexibility, the winner of the Grade 3 Jerome who finished fourth in the Withers. Also expected to run are Adventist, Cadeyrn, Dalmore, and Tale of S’avall. Possible starters include Cards of Stone, Cherry Wine, and Trojan Nation. Entries will be drawn and post positions assigned Wednesday.

If Outwork fails to fire and doesn’t go on to the Derby, Repole said he will root for Nyquist. Like Uncle Mo, Nyquist was an undefeated 2-year-old champion who won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Nyquist won the Grade 2 San Vicente, a one-turn race at Santa Anita, before Saturday’s Grade 1 Florida Derby. Uncle Mo won a one-turn overnight stakes at Gulfstream before the Wood.

“If Outwork is not in the Derby, Nyquist is the horse I’m rooting for,” Repole said. “I’m hoping that not only is Outwork in the Derby, but maybe on that day Nyquist is the second-best Uncle Mo in the race.”

Reflecting on the success Uncle Mo had on the track and the success he’s had as a stallion makes Repole think of what might have been five years ago.

“Not only me as an owner, but the racing fans missed out on something really, really special,” Repole said. “If Uncle Mo could have stayed healthy as a 3-year-old, we might have had an American Pharoah type of year with him in 2011.”