‘A family feeling.’ Forte’s show of strength in Breeders’ Cup Juvenile leaves owners beaming.

The Vitaminwater man, Mike Repole, and his partner in horses were as spellbound as everyone else at Keeneland, holding their breath, daring not to breathe for fear of blowing their colt named Forte off course as he ground down the favorite, Cave Rock, in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Keeneland on Friday.

He had so little, yet so far, to go a sixteenth of a mile from home.

Stride by stride, inch by inch, it was over for Cave Rock as soon as Forte made his fateful, determined push ahead, then pulled away with his grinding momentum to win by 1 1/2 lengths in a 1 1/16-mile race timed in 1:43.06.

The task had looked impossible when Forte — whose name means strength — began his run from five horses back even as Cave Rock looked like a dead-certain winner up on the front end. But nothing ever is certain, and you have to try no matter the odds, which in Forte’s case were 5-1.

Cave Rock’s stablemate, National Treasure, finished third at 8-1, odds longer than Forte’s. And those were the particulars in this race that generally deems the winner the early favorite for the Kentucky Derby the following spring.

Repole’s partner in Forte, a son of Violence out of Queen Caroline whose sire was Blame, is the St. Elias Stable of Vincent Viola.

Beyond the numbers, the story behind this renewal of the Juvenile goes back 12 years to this same race on another Breeders’ Cup day when Repole won with Uncle Mo. The colt became the season’s champion and was a top choice for the Kentucky Derby — until he had to be scratched.

Repole had been in racing only since 2005 and had a fairly quick rise to the top, but still, the Uncle Mo disappointment was tough to take.

Repole made his fortune co-founding Vitaminwater and then selling its parent company, Glaceau, to Coca Cola for $4.1 billion. It’s been a life of racehorses ever since and Repole has spent big bucks assuming his place among the major players in the sport. In partnership with Viola’s St. Elias Stable, Repole won his second Breeders’ Cup race, the Classic, in 2019 with Vino Rossi.

This year he came to the Breeders’ Cup with a trio of hot contenders. His Chocolate Gelato ran 12th Friday in the Juvenile Fillies but the division leader among 3-year-old fillies that he owns with Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Michael House, named Nest, gives him one more chance Saturday in the Distaff.

Rory Babich, who assists Repole’s partner, St. Elias Stable, said after winning Friday’s race, “It really is a family feeling. It’s such a team effort.

“It’s a special feeling to have a horse just make the Breeders’ Cup. And to win, and win at Keeneland. ... it’s just an absolutely unbelievable feeling.”

The team this time was trainer Todd Pletcher, jockey Irad Ortiz Jr., Kentucky breeder South Gate Farm, and the descendants of Joe O’Farrell who introduced Forte to saddle in Ocala, Fla., and taught him the basics of racing prior to Forte’s arrival in Pletcher’s racetrack barns.

And, of course, there have been numbers of grooms, exercise riders, hot walkers, veterinarians, saddle repair persons, sales attendants, and all the others who go into the making of a racehorse.

The Breeders’ Cup Juvenile was Forte’s fifth race in what is hoped will be a lengthy career of races in front of him. He has lost only one time in those five starts.

He started out last May at Belmont Park, leaving the gate third but making his way to the front at the head of the stretch. He finished that one with an exclamation point, winning by 7 3/4 lengths. His two other wins were in the Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga and most recently, in early October, in the Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland.

He came from somewhat off the pace to win the Futurity at Keeneland, a bit like he won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. He appears to like to deliver those heart-stopping runs from a bit behind to grab the lead nearing the finish line. His signature move in the race Friday gave him $1,040,000 to add to the more than half-million dollars he had banked prior to the Juvenile.

“We learned a little something (from the Breeders’ Futurity) and we tweaked off the last race and it paid off coming here,” Pletcher said. “The last time, he made the lead pretty comfortably, but he got to waiting and laying on the horse next to him so today, if we were lucky enough to get in a position to get (the lead), we wanted to give ourselves plenty of space and not get close to the horse next to him.”

Someone mentioned after the race how this colt of great promise carries a most fortuitous name. Forte unrolls linguistically with the power the name implies.

“When it’s given to a great horse it becomes a great name,” Repole said.

Now, it’s on to the future.

A slight footnote to the Juvenile seems called for here: the future for stablemates Cave Rock and National Treasure. Their trainer is Bob Baffert who is precluded from saddling any horses at Churchill Downs until his suspension ends or his lawsuit against that track is resolved.

Baffert entered horses at Keeneland during the Fall Meet but Friday was his first time at the races in person in Kentucky since his state-wide suspension expired last spring. Baffert, who has won the previous two Breeders’ Cup Classics at Keeneland with American Pharoah (2015) and Authentic (2020), has entered Taiba in Saturday’s $6 million event.

He liked what he saw from his second- and third-place finishers in the Juvenile on Friday.

“Forte ran a great race and came and got us.” Baffert said. “(Cave Rock) got tired and that other horse came running. He ran a big race. There is a reason why he won three in a row.”

Friday’s Breeders’ Cup winners at Keeneland

Juvenile Turf Sprint: Mischief Magic

Juvenile Fillies: Wonder Wheel

Juvenile Fillies Turf: Meditate

Juvenile: Forte

Juvenile Turf: Victoria Road