When Mike Repole brought Uncle Mo and Stay Thirsty to the Breeders’ Cup in 2010, all three lacked experience. Just one month before Repole’s colts started in the $2 million Juvenile, Uncle Mo had given the owner his first graded stakes victory when he dominated Belmont Park’s Grade 1 Champagne Stakes. A month before that, Stay Thirsty was a solid second to the well-regarded Boys At Tosconova in Saratoga’s Grade 1 Three Chimneys Hopeful.

“Last year, you didn’t know what to expect,” said Repole. “I’d never had a horse in the Breeders’ Cup – I’d never been to a Breeders’ Cup.”

Repole, a Queens native, came home from his first Breeders’ Cup with his second Grade 1 win as Uncle Mo’s Juvenile victory assured the colt Champion 2-year-old Male honors and a prominent place in any conversation about the 2011 Kentucky Derby. Stay Thirsty, fifth in the Juvenile, remained overshadowed by his then undefeated stablemate.

One year, one Eclipse award, one liver disorder, four graded stakes victories and a couple of near misses later, this trip to the Breeders’ Cup has a different meaning for Repole and his pair of stable stars.

“Last year I had a lot of fun, but I didn’t really get a chance to enjoy it as much because it was my first experience,” said Repole. “This year, it’s about enjoying the moment.”

Repole relishes the opportunity to bring Uncle Mo and Stay Thirsty back to the Breeders’ Cup all the more because of the road they took to get there. With reigning juvenile champion Uncle Mo atop many Kentucky Derby watch lists after his victorious sophomore debut, a lackluster third-place performance in the Grade 1 Resorts World New York Casino Wood Memorial at Aqueduct left his connections puzzled.  Treated for a gastrointestinal infection after the Wood, Uncle Mo failed to thrive and Repole and trainer Todd Pletcher scratched the horse from the Derby the day before the race.

Uncle Mo was diagnosed with cholangiohepatitis, a liver disorder, in June and recuperated at WinStar Farm before returning to Pletcher’s barn in late July. Trained up to a start in the Grade 1, seven-furlong Foxwoods King’s Bishop at Saratoga on August 27, exactly a year to the day he broke his maiden at the Spa in 2010, Uncle Mo was beaten a nose at the wire by Caleb’s Posse.  On October 1, nearing the anniversary of his Champagne victory, he returned to the winner’s circle at Belmont in the Grade 2 Kelso, registering a 118 Beyer Speed Figure, this year’s highest number at a mile or over. 

Stay Thirsty
Photo by Adam Coglianese

In the meantime, Stay Thirsty had begun to quietly establish a reputation of his own, winning the Grade 3 Gotham at Aqueduct in his 2011 debut. Subsequently seventh in the Florida Derby and 12th in the Kentucky Derby, Stay Thirsty was second, beaten just three-quarters of a length by Ruler On Ice in the Belmont Stakes. Since, he has won the Grade 2 Jim Dandy and Grade 1 Travers at the Spa, and finished third in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup Invitational on October 1.

“I’ve always said it’s a roller coaster game and I don’t think anyone has been through a bigger roller coaster of highs and lows,” said Repole. “But, there’s something special about being on a roller coaster versus being on a merry-go-round – at least you get some highs.” 

Repole, who has called Stay Thirsty the “Rodney Dangerfield of the barn” because he gets less respect than Uncle Mo, is the first to admit that both horses have provided highs this year. Moreover, at the 1 ¼-mile distance of the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic, he says he doesn’t know who the better horse might be.

“I feel that obviously Mo got all the attention in the beginning of the year,” Repole said. “I feel that Thirsty got all the attention after the Jim Dandy and the Travers, but in the Kelso, Mo upstaged him again. I think they’ve taken turns. To me, if these two horses ran at a mile, it wouldn’t be a question – Mo is the better horse. At a mile and a quarter, Stay Thirsty might be the better horse.”

While Uncle Mo has been pre-entered in both the Breeder’s Cup Classic and the Dirt Mile, Repole, who likely will also send 2-year-old filly Stopshoppingmaria to either the Juvenile Fillies or the Juvenile Fillies Turf, has been clear about his desire to have two horses in the Classic.   

“Last year I wasn’t naïve,” Repole said. “I said ‘This could be the last time I ever have a horse in the Breeders’ Cup.’ To know that I’m going back not only with Mo and Thirsty, but also with Stopshoppingmaria? I’m pretty fortunate and I’m really going to enjoy it.”

Despite all the ups and downs of the past year, and despite the fact they haven’t sprung the latch in the Classic just yet, Repole is aware that he is close to realizing a goal for Uncle Mo and Stay Thirsty that he set before the Derby, before the illness, before the Travers and before the Kelso.

“At the beginning of the year, I wanted Mo and Thirsty in the Breeders’ Cup Classic,” Repole said. “We took weird routes to get there, but at the end of the day, this is exactly what we wanted.”