Last Five Weeks an Upsetting Time for Team Forte

There was time a little more than five weeks ago when owners Mike Repole and Vinnie Viola and trainer Todd Pletcher were on top of the Thoroughbred racing world. Their champion 2-year-old colt, Forte, was undefeated in two starts at 3 for Repole Stable and Viola's St. Elias Stable and was the morning-line favorite for the May 6 Kentucky Derby (G1). Then, with the opening leg of the Triple Crown just days away, a stone bruise was detected on Forte's right front leg. The connections and their private veterinarian believed it was minor and he could still run in, and even win, the 1 1/4-mile opening leg of the Triple Crown. Regulatory veterinarians disagreed and scratched Forte on the morning of the race. Compounding matters, the scratch landed Forte on the vet's list for 14 days and prevented him from running in the May 20 Preakness Stakes (G1). Then three days after Mage, a horse Forte beat in both of his 2023 starts, won the Kentucky Derby, a story broke in the New York Times that Forte had failed a post-race drug test after his win in the Hopeful Stakes (G1) on Labor Day at Saratoga Race Course. A day later, the New York State Gaming Commission announced the finding, disqualified Forte, and suspended Pletcher for 10 days and fined him $1,000. In response, the next day, Repole organized a press conference in which he, Pletcher, their attorney Karen Murphy, and Steven Barker, a chemist retained by Repole, blasted the ruling and announced they are appealing the decision. They claimed the small,.5 nanograms of meloxicam, a medication used by humans to combat arthritis, in Forte's system was due to contamination. "To even call it a drug violation is questionable," Repole said earlier this week. "It's 100% contamination." Barker said 1,000 nanograms of meloxicam would be needed to affect a horse's performance and Dr. George Maylin, director of the New York State Equine Drug Testing Program, told BloodHorse that contamination was a possibility. "I do not set the penalties," Maylin said. "It was established to be a zero-tolerance medication." Meanwhile, both sides blamed the other for the eight-month gap between the race and the ruling. The NYSGC even took the unusual step of distributing a timeline in the case to dispute Team Forte's claim that it was at fault. It is against this backdrop—a haze as thick as the Canadian smoke clouds which created historically poor air quality in the New York area earlier this week—that the $1.5 million Belmont Stakes (G1) will unfold on June 10 at Belmont Park with Forte, of all horses, as the 5-2 morning-line favorite. While clear skies June 9 have generated the belief that the smoke will not be hovering over Belmont Park at post time, it seems a certainty that the anger, frustration, concern, bickering, and disappointment generated by the events of the last five weeks surrounding Forte will linger for a much longer time. It seems destined to lead to legal bills that will dwarf the winning purses for the Kentucky Derby and Belmont and possibly drive one of the game's largest and most successful owners out of the sport. "I won this race last year (as co-owner of Mo Donegal) and I have the favorite this year, I should be in a little better mood or a little more excited... but for me it's disappointing. This has been quite a journey," Repole said. "It was tough enough scratching Forte and then watching the horse that he beat the last two times (Mage) win the Kentucky Derby. It wasn't the best feeling in the world. Then watching National Treasure, who Forte beat in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) (win the Preakness), it verifies that you didn't see the best 3-year-old out there and on Saturday we're going to see something pretty special (from Forte)." Yet don't believe for a minute that winning the Belmont Stakes is the only thing on Repole's mind at the moment. As much as he is optimistic that the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority will be an effective regulatory body, after being hit with the 1-2 punch of Forte's scratch and the Hopeful disqualification in less than a week—both of which drew staunch disagreement from Repole—his long-simmering concerns about the sport have boiled over. More than ever, the colorful and opinionated owner believes a lack of national leadership raises questions about the sport's ability to thrive or survive in the future. "This is disappointing. When you buy a yearling you think he's going to race in one or two years, but the trend of where the sport is going is the worst I've seen in 15 years. I think if nothing drastic happens to the sport in the next year to 18 months the sport will be in real jeopardy for the next 5-10 years. So, buying horses this year, I might be more cautious," said Repole, who individually or with partners such as Viola has spent at least $40 million at sales on young horses in the last five years. "If this isn't a wake-up call for all the organizations in the sport, all the tracks, and all the horsemen to do something, then they will be asleep for the rest of their lives. Right now I am very disappointed with people in the industry. I think more people are spending time avoiding and hiding and hoping this stuff will go away and I'm not. "This is the kind of adversity that should bring us together, but the old school thinks it will just go away and the blue bloods don't want to change, so it won't happen. There needs to be a governing body in the sport and if there isn't one in the next two years I don't think the sport survives for five years and I don't know if I want to be in the sport for five years. "I'm concerned about the welfare of the horse but also the welfare of the people in this sport," Repole continued. "I get horse safety but there are people whose livelihoods rely on leadership in this sport and they are getting none. Who is the (NBA Commissioner) Adam Silver? Who is the (NFL commissioner) Roger Goodell? And then you have these Mickey Mouse boards that meet just to meet and nothing ever gets accomplished. I've never seen an industry with so little collaboration and it's sickening." Pletcher, the sport's all-time leader in earnings and an eight-time Eclipse Award winner, has also been awash in controversy. "It's been tough. When you have a horse like Forte and you think he has a big chance in the Kentucky Derby and then you don't get to run, it's frustrating," Pletcher said. "I told someone, we got 64 horses to the Derby over the years and we couldn't get him in." Aside from the scratch and the suspension and fine, news also broke May 31 that Pletcher is facing three medication violations in Florida, two for Class 4 drugs and one for Class 5. Drugs are classified on a scale of 1-5 based on their ability to impact an equine athlete's performance, with 1 the highest and 5 the lowest. "It's been a very stressful period for a number of reasons," said Pletcher, who is appealing the Florida findings. "But you have to focus on preparing your horses for races and block out the noise." While Pletcher may not be as vocal about the situation as Repole, people close to both of them have seen how disturbing the last five weeks have been for both owner and trainer. "Mike is a great ambassador for the sport and it puts a cloud on him and Todd. It's been emotionally upsetting for them," said Ed Rosen, who has been a pedigree analyst for Repole for the past 12 years. "Things fed on each other with the stone bruise and then the positive for Forte right after it, especially the way the medication violation came out in the Times." Rosen says Repole's warnings that he may leave the sport are not hollow threats, even if the 54-year-old Queens native has been a lifelong fan of the sport. "All of this makes Mike concerned about his participation and ultimately his survival in the sport. Last year he spent roughly $20 million at the sales and he wants to continue in it, but if he keeps running into these experiences and road blocks he says he can have more fun somewhere else with his money," said Rosen, who worked for owners affiliated with Pletcher before joining forces with Repole. "Mike has a great passion for the sport and it needs people like him. When we walk through the grandstand people want to high-five him and talk with him and he'll stop and talk with them. He really is a man of the people. He'll bring 75 family members and friends to the track for a race and pay for everything. Who else does that? He jokes that he wants to win the Derby to pay the tab for all the people he has brought to the race." As much as the millions of dollars Repole has poured into it makes horse racing a business for the prosperous billionaire, there is also a personal side to the game for him, especially now. After the release of Forte's failed drug test, Repole said he will exhaust every legal option in a bid to overturn the ruling. "I've spent $20 million buying horses," he said. "I'll spend $20 million fighting it in court." He also spoke of seeking a correction from the Times for the use of the word "doping" in its story or he would file a lawsuit against the newspaper and he views the legal battles ahead as a way of standing up for others in the game who lack the financial means to engage lawyers for lengthy court battles. "At the end of the day I love the sport and I have passion and I try my best to represent my stable the best I can and I see others that don't have the money, the resources or the know-how to fight or figure out what's right or wrong," Repole said. "There are too many people being taken advantage of. Before you get true transparency you need true communication and understanding. No one knows that the Forte thing, under HISA rules, is a non-issue, and before that it was a non-issue. But it's misunderstood and then you have major publications using words that are dangerous not only to the sport, but the horse's reputation, my reputation, Todd Pletcher's reputation, and the stable's reputation. It's incompetence at the highest level and I blame the industry. What have we done in the last 20 years to move this sport forward? Nothing." And so, on Saturday, how Forte fares in the 1 1/2-mile Belmont Stakes may be the main source of interest for the connections, but there will also be smoke in the background in a figurative sense. While Viola, who owns the Florida Panthers, will be with his team Saturday for Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals, Repole will be at Belmont Park with the customary group of 75 family and friends he brings to major races. Yet this time, after what has transpired in the last five weeks, he may offer a surprising response if one of his buddies asks about buying a horse. "I'm blessed to play this game at a higher level. I'm blessed to know people that can play the sport but I wouldn't recommend this to anyone. I couldn't. When new owners come to me, I say 'I'll do you a favor. I'll buy the horse, I'll pay the bills, you just spend time with me, eat, drink and be merry.' When I am passionate about something but not willing to let other people get into it, it's quite concerning," Repole said. "I am at the concern level. But the pause level could be 18 months to two years away. I'm watching all these organizations and they don't make decisions and no decision is the wrong decision. When you run a bad business it can go bankrupt. You run a bad industry, it could disappear."