Eddie Rosen | Horse Racing Free Tips

America’s Repole Starts to Make His Mark in Europe

DEAUVILLE, France– On Nov. 19 at Aqueduct, Leslie's Rose (Into Mischief–Wildwood Rose {Ire}) by Galileo {Ire}) made a spectacular debut, demolishing the competition by almost 10 lengths, becoming her sire's 42nd 'TDN Rising Star'. Nothing new there. But the Into Mischief cross with a Galileo mare got Mike Repole thinking.

Repole, the American entrepreneur who looks set to earn his second straight Eclipse Award with a champion juvenile, this time with his homebred GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner Fierceness (City of Light), has become more and more invested in the breeding end of the business over the past few years, and is now looking to Europe for strains of soundness and stamina, according to the team of Eddie Rosen and Alex Solis who represented him at the Arqana December sale this week.

“Mike is a student of the game and he's very forward-thinking,” said Solis, who has worked as an advisor to Repole for several years. “In the U.S., the medication rules are changing, and becoming more like they have been in Europe for a long time, so jumping into those European pedigrees where horses are more durable and have stamina makes sense to him. So we're mixing up the bloodlines and trying new things. The mares we bought over here are really of a shape that works on the dirt.”

“Now that we're more involved in breeding, Mike has realized that the infusion of bloodlines from all over the world would be helpful to our breeding program,” said Eddie Rosen, who serves as General Manager of his Repole Stable. “We participated at Goffs and Tattersalls this year, and while Alex has been here many times, it's my first time at Deauville and Mike thought it would be a good experience for me to be here.”

Solis said that the win by Leslie's Rose in such an impressive performance made Repole think that the mixing of American and European bloodlines was the way forward for his breeding program. He has since spent €450,000 at Goffs on four mares through Jacob West, and bought three more at Tattersalls for 480,000gns. But he saved most of his powder for France. From Arqana, the team will bring back five purchases; four in-foal mares and one 2-year-filly, for a total of €875,000.

“He started buying European mares at Goffs because of the Niarchos reduction,” said Solis. “He then purchased three mares at Tattersalls. Along the same theory with the European mares, he'd like to find some South American mares.”

Repole's father was born in Nice, France, and it wouldn't be surprising to have him turn up personally in Deauville in the future, Solis said. “I have helped Mike at the sales for the last three years, and he has turned from someone I advise to a friend. It's amazing how motivating he is and the thing I really appreciate about Mike is that he's willing to try all kinds of things.”

All five of his Arqana purchases will be sent home to America. Repole keeps mares at Lane's End, Brookdale Farm, and WinStar.

Lot 45, All Grace (Fr) (Kingman {GB}), is a 7-year-old mare in foal to Too Darn Hot (GB), and brought €250,000. Lot 97, Baltic Duchess (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}), is nine, and in foal to St Mark's Basilica (Fr), and sold for €180,000. Lot 104, Pamplemousse (Ire) (Siyouni {Fr}), is a 9-year-old also in foal to Too Darn Hot and brought €100,000. Deep Impact (Jpn) mare Tempel (Fr) (lot 482), an 8-year-old winner who ran fourth in the G3 Prix Penelope, joined the Repole fold for €95,000 in foal to successful Grey Sovereign (GB)-line sire Kendargent (Fr) during Sunday's session.

While Repole retired his potential turf champion Up To The Mark to Lane's End Farm this winter, matings for the mares have not yet been determined, said Rosen. “They are all by sires that we like, out of very strong female families, in foal to young, very promising sires. Kingman is a sire that we have great respect for and he's had a lot of success in America, so he's appealing to us,” said Rosen of All Grace. “And this mare is from an excellent female family and we believe that Too Darn Hot is a young sire and we have confidence in him succeeding.”

“Lope de Vega, much like Kingman, has had tremendous success in America. She's in foal to St Mark's Basilica, another young sire that we think is a good prospect, and this mare [Baltic Duchess] is stakes-placed from a strong family.”

Of Pamplemousse, Rosen said, “Siyouni is another that Mike really, really likes, a successful sire, and the kind of blood we want to bring to America. It's another strong female family, and again, in foal to an excellent young prospect.”

His fourth Saturday purchase, the 2-year-old filly High Handed (Ire) (Siyouni {Fr}) will be shipped home to America and pointed to a racing career. She was purchased for €250,000.

Rosen, a lawyer by trade, has served as a pedigree advisor to various clients for years, selecting horses such as Tale of the Cat and More Than Ready, among others, and recently gave up his law career to work for Repole full time. He said that Repole was very involved in the selection process, and ran up an international phone bill talking to Solis and Rosen throughout the day as he watched the sale from home in America.

“We haven't had a breeding program for a long time, but we have now bred the presumptive 2-year-old champion, and Mike likes to participate in every aspect of the business. I think that he's found that the breeding side of it is appealing to him. We have tried to upgrade the quality of the broodmare band, and have sold quite a few and purchased a few others, in order to have an exclusive broodmare band to breed from. Part of that plan was acquiring bloodlines outside of American breeding.”

“Mike is directly involved in every aspect of the program,” said Rosen. “He's very hands-on, he's brilliant and he thinks outside the box. That's why this appealed to him. He likes to try different approaches in an attempt to succeed at every level.”

Rosen tried to make the most of his first visit to Deauville, taking a D-Day tour on the Thursday before the sale with his wife, Barbara. “It has been a wonderful experience. Deauville itself is an incredible place. The D Day tour was a very emotional and educational experience. The food is fantastic, from breakfast to dinner, and meeting new people is a great part of the experience. And Arqana has been wonderful. They have been very warm and welcoming and made our stay really incredible.”

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‘Incredibly Positive’ Vibe: Keeneland September Sale Starts Monday

LEXINGTON, KY – The Keeneland September Yearling Sale, which produced gangbuster results in 2022, returns for its 2023 renewal Monday in Lexington. Perennially a bellwether of the industry's sales market, the 12-day auction opens with a pair of elite Book 1 sessions beginning at 1 p.m. and, with the Keeneland barns awash with activity Sunday, both sales officials and consignors were heading into the sale with plenty of optimism.

“The traffic has been incredibly positive,” said Keeneland Vice President of Sales Tony Lacy. “There are quite a few buyers here. It's probably as positive as I've seen it since pre-COVID. The feedback that we are getting is that it's a very good group of horses. The buyers are very satisfied. The sellers are very positive about the feedback they are getting on the stock they have here overall. So, in general, I am cautiously optimistic.”

Standing outside his Candy Meadows Sales consignment at Barn 11, Matt Lyons smiled when asked about his expectations for the week.

“I suppose we are eternally hopeful as consignors, aren't we?” Lyons said. “Traffic has been pretty good so far. And we are seeing all of the main players and the main syndicates that people are expecting to see. There are quite a few groups from Japan, it looks like, on the grounds and they are looking hard. So we are hopeful.”

The 2023 Keeneland September sale has a tough act to follow. Last year's auction surpassed $400-million in gross sales for the first time in its history, while also setting records for average and median for the second year in a row. A year ago 2,847 yearlings grossed $405,495,700–to better the previous record set in 2006–for an average of $142,429 and a median of $70,000.

“The market has been good, we've had a bull run for the last 15 years, so I don't expect any dramatic changes,” said Brad Weisbord, whose Elite Sales makes its Keeneland September debut this week. “The colts groups seems to have their money together, so they will probably be the high end. The middle market has struggled for a couple of years. The pinhookers have been strong. They made money the last couple of years–which is nice to see–so I don't expect many changes. But we will know at the end of the sale. This sale determines what the yearling market is throughout the whole year, so at the end of this marathon we will really understand how the market is.”

While Sheikh Mohammed's Godolphin and his late brother Sheikh Hamdan dominated the top of the Keeneland September market for many years, the decreased participation of those two Dubai-based entities in the last three years has been largely filled by American-based partnerships focused mainly on purchasing colts with Classic potential.

Leading the way in the last two years was the team of Mike Repole and Vinnie Viola, who purchased 31 yearlings for $12,840,000 in 2022. Repole is expected once again to be on site during the first four days of the Keeneland sale as his agent Jacob West and advisor Eddie Rosen were on the grounds Sunday. Chasing them for the leading buyer title last year was the stallion-making partnership of SF Racing, Starlight Racing and Madaket Stables, as well as BSW/Crow Colts Group.

The Keeneland September sale annually attracts buyers from around the world and the buying bench's international flavor should be strong in the coming week, according to Lacy.

“We have been very pleased with the support we have been getting from the international market and especially Japan,” Lacy said. “We have had more Japanese visitors this week and they are staying longer. I think they are finding that we have certain sire lines and pedigrees that have worked internationally for them. We are becoming more affordable and very relevant for their program.”

Among the Japanese shoppers on the sales grounds Sunday was Hideyuki Mori, whose five yearling purchases a year ago were led by a $1.2-million son of Curlin.

The international buying bench is also strengthened by new overseas opportunities like the Goffs Dubai Breeze-Up Sale, which was topped this past March by a son of Gun Runner who sold for $583,520 after bringing $160,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale.

“The Dubai sale that Goffs run in the spring every year has proven to be a very profitable endeavor for a lot of the pinhookers from Europe coming over here to source stock,” Lacy said. “That has really been a great addition to the diversity of what people are looking for.”

Lacy continued, “We have Australians here, I think we will have a lot of South Americans here and people from all over the world. From the Middle East, we have buyers from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and Dubai. We've put a lot of work travelling around the world over the last couple of years to reach out to our clients at every stage and provide a level of customer service that they would expect anywhere else. Those efforts have started to pay off as we start to look at the diversity through the sales grounds and the excitement about the quality of stock that the U.S. is producing, which is really encouraging.”

Shadwell Farm, which had long been one of the leading buyers at the Keeneland September sale before the death of its founder Sheikh Hamdan al Maktoum in 2021, made four purchases last year and could be a resurgent presence at this year's auction. Sheikha Hissa, now at the helm of her late father's operation, was at the Keeneland sales grounds Sunday.

“Sheikha Hissa came for Malathaat's race in the Doubledogdare S. last year,” Lacy said. “So she got the experience of coming here. She very much wants to have the same experience that her dad did, so we've been working diligently so that we have the same people working with her as worked with her dad.”

Keeneland has settled into a format for its September sale, which for the third year features Book 1 sessions Monday and Tuesday with 383 yearlings, followed by Book 2 sessions Wednesday and Thursday with 728 yearlings a before a dark day Friday.

“[This format] allows the higher-end buyers to be able to look at these horses in a relaxed manner without being rushed and also have the opportunity to go and look at Book 2 horses before the first horse walks through the ring,” Lacy explained. “So there is good idea of what the quality is out there. We put a lot of effort into making sure we have good physicals up front that have pedigree, that have commercial appeal, knowing what the marketplace is looking for.”

He continued, “I see this year people are in a more relaxed mode and they are able to give these horses the consideration that they deserve and I think they feel comfortable with that.”

Following its Book 1 and 2 sections, Keeneland will hope for demand to continue into what has seemed to be a weakening middle market.

“I think, looking at the yearling sales that have already happened this year, you have to be positive that [demand] will carry through to at least the middle of the sale,” Lacy said. “I think it could carry through right to the end.”

After buying in a bullish yearling sale a year ago, pinhookers faced a tougher market to sell in this spring, but Weisbord expects they will still be a strong presence at Keeneland.

“Listen, that's their business,” Weisbord said. “They buy yearlings to sell 2-year-olds. So I expect them to be strong from $75,000 to $275,000. After that, it becomes a very difficult pinhook, but I think that market for them will still be strong.”

The Keeneland September Book 1 sessions Monday and Tuesday will begin at 1 p.m. Book 2 sessions Wednesday and Thursday begin at 11 a.m. Following Friday's dark day, the auction continues through Sept. 23 with sessions beginning daily at 10 a.m.

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Big Dreams in Mind for City of Light’s New Rising Star

Named in honor of Mike Repole's beloved grandmother, Nonna Mia (Empire Maker) won her second career start by 12 lengths for Repole Stable in 2008 and she went on to place in the GI Frizette S. and GIII Tempted S. as a juvenile that year. The mare's first two foals Nonna's Boy (Distorted Humor) and eventual Grade I victor and sire Outwork (Uncle Mo) were both debut winners early in their 2-year-old years and her third foal Nonna Bella (Stay Thirsty) claimed her first two career starts at three.

Last Friday in Saratoga, Nonna Bella's son Fierceness (City of Light)–a second-generation homebred for Repole Stable–showed the same precocity that his family before him has displayed in his 11 plus-length dominating maiden score, but the Repole team is confident that with a sire like City of Light, the new 'TDN Rising Star' has much more to show.

“City of Light was very well received at the outset, got big books of mares, and they sold exceptionally well,” recalled Repole Stables General Manager Eddie Rosen. “But I think you have to remember that he didn't emerge until late in his 3-year-old year and then his 4-year-old year is when he excelled and was spectacular. I think he's one of those sires, like Curlin was, where you have to have some patience and understanding that the best is yet to come.”

City of Light earned his first Grade I victory in the 2017 Malibu S. four months after his maiden win and he went on to claim three more top-level scores including the 2018 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile.

As a shareholder in City of Light, who is now a second-crop sire, Repole Stable has been a supporter of the Lane's End stallion from the get-go. They bred Nonna Bella to the son of Quality Road in his second year at stud hoping to emulate the cross that produced one of Quality Road's best daughters.

“Nona Bella is by Stay Thirsty–a son of Bernardini who Mike raced as well,” Rosen explained. “One of my favorite fillies of recent date is Dunbar Road, who is by Quality Road out of a Bernardini mare, so it was a nick that I thought would work.”

Fierceness as a foal at Lane's End | courtesy Lane's End Farm

And “work” it did as Fierceness was a standout from the start when he was foaled at Lane's End. While initially slated to go through the sales ring, he was ultimately withdrawn from Keeneland September and retained by his breeder.

Like his dam, granddam and both his grandsires, Fierceness was sent to represent the Todd Pletcher barn and he turned heads early there as well.

“He came into our Monmouth division and quickly showed that he was at the head of the class there,” Pletcher shared. “When we brought him in to Saratoga and got serious with some of his breezes, we were impressed with what we were seeing.”

Going into his debut with eight published works under his belt, Fierceness was sent off at even money and quickly turned the six furlong contest into a one-horse race. Taking the lead early, the bay opened up over the Saratoga slop to win in hand, coming home in 1:09 2/5.

“We knew that he had good gait speed from his works and we had a sloppy track, so we talked to Irad and said to make sure you get away from the gate alertly,” explained Pletcher. “We didn't want to be behind a bunch of horses in a sloppy track. So he broke alertly and it was a pretty straightforward performance from there. At the eighth pole you felt good about it and then he opened up impressively and Irad took him in hand late and the time was exceptional. It was everything you could hope for in a debut.”

“There are a lot of them where you're wishing for the wire or hoping to get there in time, but this was one where you could kind of sit back and enjoy the ride,” Rosen added with a laugh.

The 95 Beyer Speed Figure that Fierceness earned in his debut is the co-second highest number of any 2-year-old so far this year.

“It gives you a lot to look forward to,” Rosen said. “I think when you have a 2-year-old that wins like that first-time out, obviously dreams come to mind and the biggest dream is the first Saturday in May. But it's a long time between now and then.”

As for the rest of the colt's juvenile season, Pletcher said they are aiming to take on the Oct. 7 GI Champagne S. ahead of a trip to the Breeders' Cup.

Pletcher is looking forward to debuting another City of Light colt soon. Enlighten, a $450,000 yearling purchase for Centennial Farms, breezed five furlongs in 1:01.55 (1/23) on Aug. 27 at Saratoga.

“We're high on the City of Lights that we have,” Pletcher said. “There are so many good-looking ones that resemble City of Light, who greatly resembles Quality Road. I love to see that in a stallion line when they pass along similar conformation and looks.”

City of Light has 34 winners on the year thus far. On the same card that Fierceness debuted on, the stallion's 3-year-old daughter White Chocolate drew clear to break her maiden definitively for Chad Summers and Gold Square LLC. City of Light's six stakes winners are led by G3 UAE Oaks victress Mimi Kakushi, GI Alcibiades S. runner-up Chop Chop, and GSP Gaslight Dancer, who returns to the starting gate on Saturday in the Gun Runner S. at Kentucky Downs.

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Who Will Be the Leading First-Crop Sire?

In Thursday's TDN, we talked to four top judges of equine talent who had a divergence of opinion on who this year's leading first-crop sire would be. Who comes out on top in this edition?

EDDIE ROSEN

Top Pick: Vino Rosso (Curlin–Mythical Bride, by Street Cry {Ire}). Spendthrift Farm, 2023 fee: $15,000.

Full disclosure, as a member of Team Repole that selected and raced Vino Rosso, I am obviously biased. However, I sincerely believe he will be the leading freshman sire. While he, as a Curlin, was slow-maturing and peaked as a 4-year-old, the 2-year-olds we saw this spring appear to be surprisingly precocious. If forced to recuse myself, my second choice would be Mitole. He was exceptionally fast and he should pass that speed on to his offspring.

Under-the-radar pick: Maximus Mischief (Into Mischief–Reina Maria, by Songandaprayer). Spendthrift Farm: 2023 fee: $7,500.

My slightly under-the-radar pick would be Maximus Mischief, a son of Into Mischief out of a Songandaprayer mare whose yearlings were well received.

DAVID INGORDO

Top pick: Vino Rosso

I'll go with Vino Rosso. We broke a bunch of them at Mayberry's. They were really smart, good-moving horses. They were kind of plainish, which you'd expect from the pedigree. But once you got them under tack and got them moving they were pretty impressive. I don't expect them to win 4 1/2-furlong races at Keeneland or early in the Churchill meet, but by the time we get to Del Mar and Saratoga when the really heavy 2-year-old races start, he should get some winners. I can see him having a Breeders' Cup winner. I know he developed a little slower, but they don't look like horses that are going to take forever to mature.

Under-the-radar pick: Catalina Cruiser (Union Rags–Sea Gull, by Mineshaft). Lane's End, 2023 fee: $15,000.

I really like Catalina Cruiser. He had brilliant speed and is a physically imposing horse who comes from a good family. We raised the horse at Lane's End and we broke him at the Mayberry's. We bought him for Mr. Hronis and John Sadler trained him. He was kind of an unlucky horse to not win a Grade I. He set a stakes record in the True North on Belmont weekend. That's a race that has been around a long time. His offspring look the part; they look like their sire. We bought two at the 2-year-old sale and we bought a yearling by him, so we are supporting him. I could see him becoming a War Front or Distorted Humor-type stallion, a sprinter who had a lot of speed, maybe didn't win at the top level but imparted their speed to their offspring. I can see him really, really making it in that mold.

ZOE CADMAN

Top pick: Mitole (Eskendereya–Indian Miss, by Indian Charlie). Spendthrift Farm, 2023 fee: $15,000.

My top pick is Mitole. I loved his babies at the recent OBS March sale. They look to be quick and early, but with quality and scope enough to go on around two turns.

Under-the-radar pick: Vino Rosso

Vino Rosso will be my sleeper. By Curlin, you would think these need all the time in the world. However, it was really surprising to see several come out flying at the OBS March sale. Obviously, they will come alive the latter part of the year. But don't be shocked to see some early ones, too.

TERRY FINLEY

Top pick: Catalina Cruiser

We purchased a really sharp colt of his in March who is going to Cherie DeVaux shortly. We liked them as yearlings. They stand up in front of you with class and poise and are good-boned and athletic. Catalina Cruiser was also a similar racehorse to freshman sire favorite Omaha Beach in that he was effective both sprinting and routing. Those types tend to make the best stallions. I think he has a chance to make a good bit of noise this year.

Under-the-radar pick: Maximus Mischief

My under-the-radar pick is Maximus Mischief, who has the number power that Catalina Cruiser lacks. He bred 196 mares in his first year at stud, so he's already emulating his high-volume sire and he has a close physical resemblance to Into Mischief as well. Several of his 2-year-olds sold well at March OBS. They are good movers and seem very sensible. Maximus Mischief was a very nice 2-year-old himself; some people forget he was one of the Kentucky Derby favorites before he got injured. Big upside.

SEAN PERL

Top pick: Mitole

My top pick for this year's first crop sire is Mitole. His offspring were supported greatly at the yearling sales and he stamped them really well, showcasing them in all shapes and sizes. I personally purchased some for my clients to both race and pinhook. For a bubble-year horse whose book is full, that says a lot in itself. Trained by Steve Asmussen, for whom I have the utmost respect as a horseman and a person who needs no introduction, and being supported by Mr. and Mrs. Heiligbrodt in the breeding shed and at sales, connections who know how to win in all facets of life, I would have to imagine they'll come out running this spring on the ultra competitive Kentucky circuit straight into the Saratoga summertime maiden races.

Under-the-radar pick: Flameaway (Scat Daddy–Vulcan Rose, by Fusaichi Pegasus), Darby Dan, 2023 fee: $7,500.

My under-the-radar sire is Flameaway, a son of Scat Daddy who is an absolutely stunning physical himself. He won races from distances of 4.5f to 1 1/16 miles and stakes on both turf and dirt. I feel as the year goes on, we will hear from Flameaway's offspring more and more.

In tomorrow's TDN: more first-crop sire picks. Want to send in your selections? Email suefinley@thetdn.com.

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