Repole never lacks opinions on the sport he loves

Talk with billionaire horse owner Mike Repole and it’s obvious he’s not part of the sport’s old guard. He’s quick with opinions on how the sport could attract more fans and build a better business. Consider:

■ Horse racing’s structure: He thinks the sport needs a commissioner and even offered to do the job for free.

■ The Kentucky Derby: The purse for the marquee event should be at least five times higher, he said.

■ New York’s storied tracks: He wishes he could buy them and says they’d be much better off financially if he could.

Repole’s love of horse racing started in his youth. He grew up poor in Queens, yet managed to often attend races at Aqueduct. He achieved much of his wealth about 10 years ago, when Coca-Cola paid more than $4.1 billion to buy Vitaminwater, a company he co-founded.

Repole, 47, got into horse racing when he was in his mid-30s and since then has won 40 graded stakes races,

Photo by: Getty Images

including the Travers, Wood Memorial, Coaching Club American Oaks, Alabama and Breeders’ Cup Distaff. His horse Uncle Mo won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile in 2010 and was the favorite going into the 2011 Kentucky Derby, but scratched the day before the race.

Today, Uncle Mo is arguably the hottest sire of race horses with multiple graded stakes winners that include Repole’s horse and Wood Memorial winner Outwork and this year’s Kentucky Derby winner, Nyquist. Horse racing breeding publication Bloodhorse estimated Uncle Mo’s value could reach $245 million. (Repole owns Uncle Mo in partnership with Coolmore Stud, the Kentucky-based breeding farm.)

In an interview with SportsBusiness Journal’s Liz Mullen, Repole spoke about what’s right, and wrong, with horse racing.

What is your background?

REPOLE: My mom was a teacher. My dad was a waiter. Born in Queens. Went to St. John’s University. Majored in sports management. Had my stellar 2.2 grade point average — that is already out there.

Started Vitaminwater in 1998 with a partner. In 10 years we were able to sell it to Coca-Cola for $4.1 billion. Then I got involved with some other brands like Kind Bars and Pirate’s Booty. Then I started another sports drink company called BodyArmor sports drink. We are up 200 percent this year, it’s our fifth year of business and we are an over $100 million retail brand. We are the No. 3 sports drink behind Gatorade and Powerade.

Was it difficult to get into the sport as an owner?

REPOLE: You know it is still mainly a blue-blood sport. Most owners are probably in their 70s. You know I have been on the scene from my mid-30s to my mid-40s.

It’s a very tough sport. The sport has to do a better job of evolving and changing. I think it has to get some new young fans into the game and it needs to get some new owners into the game, and I don’t think the sport has done a good job of doing that.

How do you get people in the sport to work together? Do you think horse racing needs a commissioner?

REPOLE: That’s the first problem right there: There is no commissioner of horse racing. Imagine the NBA without Adam Silver. Imagine the NFL without (Roger) Goodell.

How does this sport have no racing commissioner? The first thing I would do is hire a commissioner. Why don’t we start with that? Why don’t we have a governing body of the sport instead of state legislators?

There are tracks like NYRA, that are owned by New York state. Then there are tracks like Churchill that are public companies. There are tracks like Gulfstream that are owned by the Stronach Group, which is an individual. So you have an individual, you have a state and you have a public company. And everybody is running their company a different way.

In horse racing there are local and regional rules and regulations. And, at the end of the day, I think the tracks, and the horsemen — trainers and jockeys and owners — have to work together to do what’s best for the sport and not the individual. And, it’s not happening right now. It’s discouraging, because the sport will thrive if everybody gets together. But now everybody has a short-term plan for horse racing. And that short-term plan is about three months, not three years and not 30 years.

Would you be that commissioner?

REPOLE: I would voluntarily do it for nothing. But at the end of the day, if you don’t get the major tracks on board, you are just wasting your time.

What else would you do?

REPOLE: The other thing I’d have to do is I’d have the state of New York sell me NYRA and let me take it private. And let me have Belmont, Saratoga and Aqueduct, and they would make more money than they ever have before by running it. And I would make the New York tracks a private entity. And then you work with Stronach, which is a private entity, and then you work with Churchill Downs, which is a public company.

You’ve had much success with Uncle Mo. Tell us about the horse.

REPOLE: Right now Uncle Mo’s stud fee is $75,000, but next year we expect that to at least double to $150,000. He will probably cover 150 to 200 (mares) next year.

I bought him for $220,000 in 2009. He is the sire of Nyquist, who won the Kentucky Derby.

How difficult is it to make money in the sport?

REPOLE: I used to have a saying that in horse racing, 95 percent of the people are losing money and the other 5

Repole’s Uncle Mo carries a $75,000 stud fee. Photo by: Breeders' Cup

percent lie about it. Thanks to Uncle Mo and his $150,000 stallion fee, I will (make money). But having Uncle Mo, you probably have a better shot of hitting the Powerball twice than having Uncle Mo.

Should races offer higher purses?

REPOLE: I mean, the Kentucky Derby, OK? Churchill is a public company, it has the Kentucky Derby, it’s the most-watched race probably in the world, definitely in the United States. It’s what nonracing fans want.

Churchill fits in 155,000 people. I’ve run in it three times. Owners don’t get much of a break. I have to win the race in order to break even, because I have 50 to 75 people there. My family CFO is happy when I don’t have a horse in the Kentucky Derby because we’ll save money.

So at the end of the day, how is that race only a $2 million race? That should be a $10 million race. That should be a $20 million race. Why is that only a $2 million race?

What do you get out of being part of the sport?

REPOLE: The one thing about Repole Stable, it’s brought so much joy and fun into my family life, it’s been amazing. I had a 15-month-old daughter and a 90-year-old grandmother and they both were at the Kentucky Derby this year. Four generations. And my mom was there and my brother and my friends and family. How special can that be? When I am walking a horse in the Kentucky Derby with 25 people who are my brother, my nephews, some of my best friends, and you are doing the Derby walking in front of 150,000 people, you can’t put a price tag on that. That’s a dream come true. When you get those type of family moments, it’s priceless.