The partnership of Mike Repole's Repole Stable and Vinnie Viola's St. Elias Stables has emerged as one of horse racing's most formidable high-end duos over the past decade, both on the racetrack and in the sale ring, but it was one of their less-heralded purchases that made the most noise on Saturday in the Grade 1 Claiborne Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland.
Like many of the partnerships that dominate the current commercial landscape at auctions, Repole and Viola send their team out in search of colts to one day land lucrative stud deals, and they're not afraid to buy big to find them.
Repole and Viola partnered up to buy 43 horses at last year's Keeneland September Yearling sale, with those purchases totaling $16,045,000. Thirteen of those purchases were signed for $500,000 or more, and their average sale price was over $373,000.
In a slate of splashy buys, future Breeders' Futurity winner Forte fit the program, but he didn't necessarily fit the mold.
As a $110,000 purchase as Hip 2035 in the marathon Keeneland September sale, Forte was the fifth least expensive horse in their 2021 haul, and the partnership's fifth-to-last purchase of the sale.
Though Forte may not have been the most heralded rookie to join the team from that year's class, bloodstock agent Jacob West recalled seeing big-time potential in the Violence colt during pre-sale inspections.
“He was in a late book, Book 4,” West said after Forte's win at Keeneland. “He was one of the least expensive horses we bought, but you see him now and he's grown up into a beautiful horse. He looks like his daddy. He's out of a Blame mare, and he's setting the world on fire as a broodmare sire right now, and it's just worked out. He was a big, athletic horse who reminded me a lot of his father when I saw him.”
Bred in Kentucky by South Gate Farm and consigned at the September Sale by Eaton Sales, agent, Forte is the first foal out of the stakes-winning Blame mare Queen Caroline. His extended family reaches back to Grade 1 winner Come Dancing and Grade 2 winner Tizahit.
West, a longtime adviser to Repole, said the team that shops the sales for the duo includes Repole's pedigree expert Eddie Rosen, racing manager Jim Martin, and assistant racing manager Danielle Bricker, along with Rory Babich and Monique Delk representing the St. Elias operation. He said the buck stops with the two principals when it comes to final decisions on which horses to pursue, and Forte jumped through those commercial hoops.
“Stallion prospects, two-turn, try to go and win the Derby type horses,” West said. “Horses that will eventually end up in the breeding shed. That's what he was, and now, he's got two Grade 1 wins as a 2-year-old. If we go show up the first Friday of November, we hope it leads to a champion 2-year-old campaign. It's a realistic view now.”
With the victory on Saturday, Forte has improved his record to three wins from four starts with trainer Todd Pletcher, for earnings of $555,150.
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Forte won on debut in May at Belmont Park, taking a five-furlong race by 7 3/4 lengths. He finished a wide-running fourth in his graded stakes debut in the G3 Sanford Stakes at Saratoga Race Course, but he came back later in the meet to win the G1 Hopeful Stakes by three lengths over favored Gulfport over a sloppy sealed track.
The colt earned a “Win and You're In” berth to the Breeders' Cup Juvenile on Friday, Nov. 4 at Keeneland by virtue of his score in the Breeders' Futurity, and as a multiple Grade 1 winner with a recent victory over the surface, he is set to be one of the race's favorites.
Using the field of contenders with public intent to run in the Juvenile as a guide, Forte could end up being the least expensive auction graduate in the field, and the horse that enters the race with the highest earnings.
“We've had a lot of faith in him from day one,” West said. “Early on, Todd knew he had a lot of ability. To win up in Saratoga on a sloppy track, people kind of doubted him a little bit, but we always knew he was a top-class horse. To show up here and win this race against these horses confirms the beliefs we had in him.”
The post ‘He’s Grown Up Into A Beautiful Horse’: West Recalls Yearling Purchase Of Breeders’ Futurity Winner Forte appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
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