The Jockey Club bites as prominent owner Mike Repole readies to sue

Key American thoroughbred industry regulator The Jockey Club has launched a strong response to a series of claims by leviathan owner Mike Repole, who threatened to sue it and host of other racing-related bodies last week.

Repole said that the Jockey Club and their entities, the Breeders’ Cup, the NTRA, TOBA, and all their stewards, have been notified legally of what his intentions are, saying the legal action would “bring forward facts that have long remained hidden and are critical to the future of the sport”.

Everett Dobson, the chair of The Jockey Club, accused Repole of waging a “campaign of inflammatory social posts and public statements targeting The Jockey Club and other leading Thoroughbred organisations”.

“His campaign offers no solutions or concrete plans and appears instead to be part of an effort by Mr Repole to anoint himself the “Commissioner” of the sport,” Dobson said.

“As Stewards of The Jockey Club, we work to improve racing and breeding in ways that protect the horse, support workers, grow the industry, and build public trust.

“Our priority has been to focus on the work and avoid giving oxygen to Mr Repole’s baseless charges. But faced with escalating threats and a torrent of misinformation, it is time to set the record straight–with facts, not rhetoric.”

Dobson then set out debunking six claims made by Repole around accusations of conflicts of interest, misuse of cash reserves, aftercare issues, the use of industry data, the decline of the foal crop and equine safety measures.

“In summary, Mr Repole disagrees with The Jockey Club and most of the industry on these and other issues. Members of the Board of Stewards have met with Mr Repole on multiple occasions to try to address his comments in a productive manner,” Dobson said in the statement.

“Unfortunately, those meetings devolved into a one-way stream of heated accusations and demands from Mr Repole.

“Diatribes and disagreement do not give him special authority to dictate the industry’s direction and appoint himself as the “Commissioner” of our sport–especially when his positions are not based in fact or reality and he has yet to articulate any concrete or viable plans for progress.”