SARATOGA SPRINGS — Mike Repole walked downstairs from his first-row clubhouse VIP box at Saratoga and conferred with jockey John Velazquez on the edge of the winner’s circle after Saturday’s eighth race at Saratoga.
The billionaire entrepreneur and St. John’s basketball benefactor did not step inside. It was not his time.
His horse, Fierceness, the winner of the 2024 Travers Stakes, the signature summer event at this historic track, finished second by 2 ¹/₂ lengths to California invader Raging Torrent in the $1 million Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap.
While the 8-1 Raging Torrent earned an automatic bid to this fall’s Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, Repole and trainer Todd Pletcher were left to pick up the pieces.
“If you told me he’d finish ahead of White Abarrio and Just a Touch, I’d [believe I’d] be taking my picture in the winner’s circle,” Repole told The Post. “You know, it happens. We knew [Raging Torrent] was going to go for the lead. He got brave. I thought at the 3/8ths pole we had him, the quarter pole we had him. And then I saw him open up and, you know, I don’t know.
“It was a tough, tough race and a tough, tough loss,” Repole said, “and there’s absolutely no excuse.”
Raging Torrent’s jockey, Frankie Dettori, praised his horse’s will to win.
“At the quarter pole, I was in the lap of gods,” the 54-year-old Italian rider said. “He showed great determination to get to the line.
“He puts his head down, even when [Fierceness] pressured me [and he fought really hard.”
Fierceness, the sub-even-money favorite, got into trouble immediately breaking out of the Wilson chute, which sends horses directly into the middle of the first turn.
“Johnny [Velazquez] said he broke so sharply he kind of hit the gate and came back with some blood on his mouth from hitting the gate at the start,” Pletcher said. “The first 16th of a mile was pretty rough. They were bouncing around trying to get position. After that he got into the exact position we wanted to, he just couldn’t get by the horse in the lead.”
Repole said Fierceness likely will be targeted for the $1 million Grade 1 Whitney Stakes on Aug. 2 at Saratoga.
In the 10th race, A.P. Kid, ridden by Velazquez and trained by Pletcher, ran past the leader at the top of the stretch and pulled away by five widening lengths.
Repole and his contingent of 80 family and friends later watched long shot Uncaged finish out of the money in the Belmont Stakes.
Repole wasn’t the only owner with St. John’s connections to enter a horse on Belmont Stakes Day.
Coach Rick Pitino’s RAP Racing took a fourth place in the fifth race with Aggelos the Great.
Pitino was not in attendance but told The Post in a text: “We’re disappointed. We all thought he was ready to win. But, you know, [it’s] horse racing.”
Pitino said he was told by jockey Manny Franco the horse did not like the muddy conditions.