It was a year ago that prominent Thoroughbred owner and St. John’s University alumnus and mega booster Mike Repole can recall being at Gulfstream Park with Red Storm men’s basketball coach Rick Pitino to watch the Florida Derby (G1).
Together they saw Repole’s 2-year-old champion Fierceness romp in Florida’s top prep for the Kentucky Derby (G1).
But if Repole’s most fervent wish comes true, he and Pitino will not be able to attend the March 29 Florida Derby or the April 5 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, where Repole and Pitino grew up and St. John’s is located.
“The goal for me is to miss the Florida Derby and the Wood Memorial and for Rick to be very busy those weekends,” Repole said.
There is something happening those weekends that at the moment carries far more importance to Repole than a graded stakes or two.
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The Florida Derby coincides with the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament and the Wood falls on the weekend of the Final Four, and Repole believes Pitino and the Red Storm, who are entering the post-season as outright Big East Conference regular season champions for the first time in 40 years and are ranked sixth nationally by the Associated Press with a 27-4 record, can give the Big East a third straight national title following back-to-back crowns for the University of Connecticut.
“Why not us? UConn won back-to-back national titles and we beat them twice. It’s been a surreal season for St. John’s,” said Repole, who attended and graduated from St. John’s from 1986-91.
The story of Repole’s involvement with the St. John’s men’s basketball program is reflective of the new atmosphere in college athletics, and should come as no surprise to anyone in the Thoroughbred racing industry who knows him.
The 56-year-old Repole is a self-made billionaire who has never shied away from his Queens roots. He still refers to himself as “Mike from Queens.” In less than 20 years in the racing industry, his Repole Stable has become one of the sport’s biggest and most successful and well-known outfits with a larger-than-life owner at the helm. In racing, Repole has become known as a lightning rod for controversy with his free-speaking nature, as seen in his self-appointed role as commissioner of the self-created National Thoroughbred Alliance advocacy group, and a willingness to spend quite freely to build a top-class stable.
Those attributes now make him a perfect fit in college basketball. The recent birth of Name, Image, and Likeness in the NCAA for student-athletes allows universities to offer six- or seven-figure deals for players to enroll at schools like St. John’s or transfer to the Queens college.
People close to the situation say Repole has donated several million dollars to St. John’s recruiting ventures for each of the last two years since Pitino was hired for the 2023-24 season. The proud St. John’s alum is by far the leading donor to an annual $4 million NIL war chest for St. John’s to entice recruits to come to the university and convince its undergraduate players to stay put and avoid entering the NCAA’s transfer portal.
“Mike is very much a co-owner and partner in our team. He’s a shared investor; a shareholder in our program. Mike brings not only generosity and leadership but the kind of approach that is allowing folks to get behind him and join forces with him,” said St. John’s vice president and director of athletics Ed Kull, who spent 6 1/2 years working for Repole at Vitaminwater some 20 years ago. “Mike has exuded a confidence and an energy that our program can be on a national stage and can become a national champion. And he’s instilled that conviction, that confidence, that swagger, that grit, that determination that St. John’s can become a national champion.”
RIck Pitino talks with media outside Goldencents’ barn ahead of the 2013 Kentucky Derby
The teaming of the 72-year-old Pitino’s unparalleled coaching skills and a Hall of Fame résumé with seven Final Four appearances and national titles at the University of Kentucky in 1996 and the University of Louisville in 2013 (which was later vacated) and Repole’s generous funding have made St. John’s basketball the biggest hit on Broadway.
“Mike has been a big part of this,” said sportswriter Zach Braziller, who covers St. John’s for the New York Post. “When Rick was hired, he came back into the fold. Rick has not shied away from the importance of NIL and Mike is a big part of this. He’s very passionate about St. John’s, and he’s all in now. No question about that. Having a big-time booster like Mike is so important these days. Someone putting in that kind of money is a huge, huge thing. No one will deny Mike is a huge part of this year’s success.”
Pitino, a horse owner himself who owned a share of two-time Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1) winner and stallion Goldencents , first met Repole about 20 years ago when he filmed a Vitaminwater commercial. They later became friendly through meetings at the racetrack and when St. John’s needed a new coach for last season, Repole passionately advocated for the Red Storm to hire the Hall of Fame coach away from nearby Iona University.
“I’ve had some highs and lows with St. John’s, just as I have with horse racing. But Rick and I have come full circle,” Repole said. “I did commercials with him 20 years ago and now we’re together with St. John’s. We text and talk a lot. It’s very special. He went from being a mentor/role model to a very good friend.”
In Pitino’s first year at St. John’s, the Red Storm improved from 18-15 to 20-13 but was not selected for the NCAA Tournament.
In the off-season St. John’s was able to land transfers like Kadary Richmond, who reportedly received an NIL deal in the neighborhood of $850,000 to leave Seton Hall University; Deivon Smith, and Aaron Scott, and now they figure to be a No. 1 or No. 2 seed in the NCAAs based on what happens in this week’s Big East Tournament. The way the team has captured the imagination of fans in New York City and beyond was evident in a recent appearance on the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
“Along with Rick being one of the three greatest coaches in college basketball history, Rick and Mike have created a partnership that has given credibility, accountability, and complete confidence, not only to the program, but the university and New York City,” Kull said. “We have sold out Madison Square Garden the last four times we have played there. People are excited. The same way they trust and believe in Rick Pitino, they know with having Mike Repole behind the program that there is sincere, sustainable and strong leadership. The symmetry between Rick and Mike makes them a match made in heaven.
“Mike has been nothing but excited and supportive about having Rick as our coach,” he added. “There’s mutual respect in how they achieved their success and it’s contagious to our student-athletes. They embody what Rick and Mike are all about, that determination, that fight, that Queens toughness.”
For Repole, the chance to be a part of building the kind of winning tradition he saw as a teen at St. John’s in the 1980s through players like Chris Mullin and Walter Berry has been as euphoric as any classic win at the racetrack.
“This has been a dream 40 years in the making for me. We’ve gone through 25 years with very little excitement or thrills,” Repole said. “This team has given me déjà vu to see the Garden sold out, all in red, rocking. It feels like I’ve been in a time machine and gone back to the 1980s. To see the way New York has embraced St. John’s and Rick Pitino is incredible. There’s a buzz out there that has gone beyond St. John’s. It’s gone from a great St. John’s story to a great New York City story to a great national story. Rick and his team have given St. John’s the exposure it hasn’t had for 25 years.”
Mike Repole
Aside from the basketball program, Repole has also helped his alma mater by frequently talking to students and players. Prior to a game against UConn, he spoke to a group of 250 business majors and imparted his business wisdom on them. He is living proof of how the son of a waiter and seamstress who slept in a bunk bed with his brother when he was in his 20’s can push himself to become one of the world’s richest and most successful businessmen.
“Mike is the face of all our kids. You’ll see him in a hoodie or a t-shirt. He likes to brag about having a GPA below 2.0 and being on probation and barely graduating and yet he’s proof you can still achieve greatness and everything you want in life,” Kull said. “He is the American Dream that way. He shows our students who grew up poor or come from families that barely get by that you can change your life. He is inspiring to our students. He is the face of a Queens kid and what St. John’s is all about.”
While Pitino and Repole plan on being busy for the major 3-year-old preps, summertime at Saratoga Race Course promises to be a different story. Pitino, who won a Feb. 14 race at Aqueduct Racetrack with his New York-bred gelding Aggelos the Great under his RAP Racing banner, is a frequent visitor to the Spa and perhaps one day he and Repole might be rooting for their horse in a race.
“It will happen,” Repole said about partnering with Pitino on a horse. “We really enjoy our relationship and owning a horse together will give us another way to get together or call each other. I’m 56 and so blessed with what I’ve done in business and horse racing. But I’m not content. Rick is the same way. He’s got seven Final Fours and a couple of national titles and he wants more.”
Check back on Wood Memorial weekend to see if Repole and Pitino do indeed get “more.”
