Donegal Racing and Repole Stable

Donegal Racing and Repole Stable, two of racing’s prominent owners, teamed up to win the 2022 Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets with Mo Donegal.

Des Moines attorney Jerry Crawford and nine partners formed Donegal Racing in 2008 with the goal of buying a colt that might make it to the Kentucky Derby. They put up $500,000 to purchase eight colts at auction and got to the Derby with their first swing. The most expensive of the original group was Paddy O'Prado, who finished third in the 2010 Kentucky Derby and won five graded turf stakes before an injury forced him into retirement with earnings of $1.7 million. He is standing at Spendthrift Farm.

In 2012 Donegal was back in the Kentucky Derby with dual Grade 1 winner Dullahan, who also finished third in the Derby. Later that year Dullahan won the Grade 1 Pacific Classic against older horses.

Donegal also campaigned Keen Ice, winner of the 2015 Travers Stakes and the only horse to defeat American Pharoah during his Triple Crown season. Keen Ice also finished third in the Belmont Stakes and second in the Haskell Invitational Stakes.

Crawford and Donegal campaigned Mo Donegal during the 2022 Derby prep season, and the colt unleashed a powerful performance in his final prep race for the first jewel of the Triple Crown, closing with a sustained late surge to reel in pacesetter Early Voting by a neck in the Wood Memorial Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets April 9 at Aqueduct. After the Wood, Repole Stables purchased an interest in Mo Donegal.

The Uncle Mo colt finished fifth in the Kentucky Derby but rebounded to post a clear win in the Belmont Stakes, giving trainer Todd Pletcher a fourth win in the classic.

Mike Repole, a native of Queens and a lifelong horse racing fan, ventured into ownership roughly around the time he sold his beverage company Glaceau for $4.1 billion in 2007. His first well known runner was Uncle Mo, who was named the 2010 champion juvenile. Uncle Mo was also one of the favorites for the 2011 Kentucky Derby prior to having to be scratched Derby morning due to a rare liver ailment which plagued the horse. Uncle Mo has since retired to stud and has made a big splash in his early years as a sire, with Mo Donegal the latest top-level winner among his progeny.