Mike Repole, co-owner of champion Forte, the 5-2 morning line favorite for the $1.5 million-Belmont Stakes (G1), took to Twitter Saturday morning to call for a governing body and national commissioner of Thoroughbred racing.
Repole campaigns Forte with St. Elias Stable, and their colt has been at the center of controversy during this spring's Triple Crown season. He was the morning-line favorite of the Kentucky Derby (G1) May 6 but was scratched the morning of the race with a bruised foot.
The scratch put him on the vet's list for 14 days, preventing a start in the Preakness (G1) May 20. In the interim, the New York Times reported that Forte had failed a post-race drug test after he won the Hopeful (G1) last summer at Saratoga. New York regulators then announced the test results—after eight months had elapsed since the race—and disqualified him from the win while suspending his trainer, Todd Pletcher, for 10 days and leveling a $1,000 fine. Each side pointed the finger at the other for the delay between the race and the ruling.
Repole laid out his grievances and suggestions to reporter Bob Ehalt in a Bloodhorse story published Friday. To read the story, click here.
ATTENTION ENTIRE HORSE RACING INDUSTRY:
I am calling for immediate action in the vision, the strategy of changing and evolving this great game we all LOVE.
Either we're an agent for change and evolution or we are on the side of stubborn, traditionalist self-inflicted demise of…
— Repole Stable (@RepoleStable) June 10, 2023
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