Repole: Grande would have been ‘safe & sound’ in Ky. Derby
A day after Grande was scratched by a state veterinarian from Kentucky Derby 2025, his owner Mike Repole took to social media to say the colt would have been just fine to race in Saturday’s $5 million classic.
“Grande is doing great this morning,” Repole wrote on X. “He walked like a runway model. He jogged like a record-setting marathon runner. He twirled like a ballerina. He would have been as safe and sound to compete in today’s Kentucky Derby race as any of the other 19 runners.”
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Grande, the runner-up April 5 in the Grade 2 Wood Memorial, was scratched Friday after he was diagnosed with a foot bruise, according to Churchill Downs. It was the same type of injury that led lead partner Tom Ryan and trainer Bob Baffert to announce Thursday that Wood Memorial winner Rodríguez would not go in the Derby.
Because Rodríguez was a trainer scratch, he is eligible for the Preakness in two weeks at Pimlico. By being a vet’s scratch, Grande cannot be entered in the Preakness, although his trainer Todd Pletcher usually holds his horses for the Belmont Stakes. That race will be run June 7 at Saratoga.
Right after Grande was removed Friday from the Derby, Repole posted a critical, detailed reaction on X.
“Unfortunately the vets told us (Friday) morning they were scratching the horse despite the clean diagnostics,” part of Repole’s post said. “We were very confused with all the clean diagnostics and improvement all week, why they rushed to judgment to scratch (Friday). With the race being (Saturday), and Baeza already having drawn into the race, we are also shocked and confused why this decision was made now. We were given no real explanation why Grande was scratched 36 hours before the race. ... We are baffled and confused by what criteria vets are using to determine who scratches, who doesn’t and when, especially when every diagnostic tells us the horse is safe and sound.”
Repole has had three of his Derby horses knocked out of the race with 11th-hour fitness trouble. Uncle Mo was the second choice on the morning line in 2011 when he was diagnosed with a gastrointestinal infection the day before the race. Futures and morning-line choice Forte was found to have a bruised foot and was scratched by a state vet on race day in 2023.
Mo Donegal, who was fifth in 2022, was the best finisher of the eight horses who have lined up for Repole and his partners in the Derby.