Issue link: http://nytbreeders.epubxp.com/i/609330
December 2015 | nytbreeders.org | New York Breeder 35 "So I named him Giant Surprise be- cause no one was expecting him to work like that." For better and worse, that was not the last surprise the colt would have in store for his owner. He won by 4 1 ⁄ 4 lengths that day at Saratoga, but Repole's entourage didn't get to have their picture taken with him. Steps after passing the wire, jockey John Velazquez pulled Giant Surprise up. He was vanned off with a non-displaced con - dylar fracture, later diagnosed as career- ending. "We were so excited about this pros - pect, and then he wins, and then he never even makes it back to the winner's circle," said Repole. "It was terrible." Nearly two months to the day after that race, and just weeks after the off - cial announcement of Giant Surprise's retirement, the Genting Resorts World Casino New York City at Aqueduct held its grand opening. After delays of more than a decade, gaming money would infuse both the purses of the New York Racing Association and the New York Thoroughbred State Breeding and De - velopment Fund. "We loved Giant Surprise's breeding; we loved everything about him," said Repole. "And because of the slots, Vinery was coming to New York. Giant Surprise stood his frst three seasons at Vinery New York at Sugar Ma - ple prior to moving to Rockridge Farm for the 2014 breeding season. "I love this game," he went on. "Whether it's a $5,000 claimer or a grade I stakes, I love this game. I knew that Uncle Mo (Repole's champion 2-year-old male of 2010) was going to be a stallion, I knew that Stay Thirsty was going to be a stallion. So I talked to some people, and I fgured that I could breed a half-dozen mares to Giant Surprise, and maybe with his breeding and standing in New York, he'd get some mares." Admitted Repole, "I didn't know what to expect. It was the frst time I'd done anything like this." It would be safe to say that he didn't expect that, as the end of 2015 approach - es, two of his stallions—he maintains a minority interest in the multiple grade I-winning champion Uncle Mo, who stands at Ashford Stud—would be in the top 10 on the national list of frst-crop sires. Uncle Mo tops that list, with Giant Surprise coming in at No. 7, his progeny having earned $660,170 (through Nov. 22). "It's pretty cool," said Repole. Leading the list of Giant Surprise's earners is the Repole homebred Sudden Surprise, with four wins in fve starts, in - cluding three stakes wins in the Funny Cide, Bertram F. Bongard, and Nov. 21 Notebook stakes (see page 40). Sudden Surprise, an earner of $326,300, is out of the More Than Ready mare Ready and Good. Super Surprise, a flly out of the Lang - fuhr mare Miz Lynne Kelly that Repole purchased for $55,000 at the 2014 Fasig- Tipton sale of preferred New York-bred yearlings, comes in next with earnings of a little more than $200,000. Taken by Surprise, bred by Repole, and Surprise Cameo, purchased by him, both broke their maidens this fall. "I almost get more excited with the Giant Surprise winners than I did when Nyquist won the (Sentient Jet) Breeders' Cup Juvenile (gr. I)," Repole said. Ny - quist tops the list of Uncle Mo progeny with earnings of more than $1.6 million. When Repole decided to stand Giant Surprise, he was bereft of broodmares, and he knew he'd have to support his stal - lion if he had any chance of being suc- cessful. When Ready and Good, one of his 2-year-old fllies, was retired after one start, Repole bred her to Giant Surprise, producing top earner Sudden Surprise. Now owner of a broodmare band that numbers about a dozen, he boards his mares in Kentucky at WinStar Farm and in New York at Sugar Maple Farm. And he supports his stallions at the sales as well as in the breeding shed. Of the 15 foals by Giant Surprise offered at auction, Repole has purchased seven; he's also bought offspring of Uncle Mo and Stay Thirsty. "When I go to the sales, I don't look at the foals by my stallions that much differently," he said, "but when it comes down to a horse that Crupi, Martin, and Rosen like, and it happens to be by, say, Stay Thirsty, I'm going to have more al - skip dickstein adam coglianese/nyra Mike Repole's entry into the stallion business is of to a hot start Sudden Surprise winning the Bertram F. Bongard Stakes