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00:30The atmosphere was weird.
00:35There were SWAT teams about, you couldn't, it was funny, I was looking across at the
00:41tote board, and there was a little something different about it, and I looked at, and there
00:48was this shed, and I put up my binoculars and looked into it, and there were SWAT team
00:54guys with high-powered rifles.
00:57It was very unsettling.
00:59There was a lot of security, everybody checked coming in.
01:03It was very different than a normal race day, and it was not a normal time.
01:10The Breeders' Cup was the first international sporting event in New York after 9-11, and
01:19it drew a lot of attention.
01:21The first glimpse I got of the crowd in the stands was before the first race, management
01:28asked us, all the jockeys, to all walk out onto the turf course for a photo opportunity
01:34before the first race ran, and we were all carrying little American flags and wearing
01:40either an FDNY hat or an NYPD hat.
01:44There was a lot of cheering for those guys carrying the American flag in that ceremony
01:50before the races began, but when the horses came on the track, yeah, there were cheers.
01:57There were cheers for Tisdall in particular, he was carrying the banner for us.
02:02And they're off!
02:05To the cheers of the crowd and guided tour brakes alert...
02:08He broke really well.
02:09He was, I think, he was number 13 or something like that, way on the outside, and at Belmont
02:16going a mile and a quarter, you're actually braking on a turn, so he got away cleanly
02:21and was able to place himself in third position.
02:24He stayed third most of the way around the track.
02:27I sort of felt that I had the two horses in front of me, I thought I could overtake them
02:33any time I wanted, but I knew there was going to be some horses coming from behind, most
02:38notably Saki.
02:40And so I heard somebody coming to my outside as we turned to home, I saw this big dark
02:47horse with Frankie Dettori on him coming along, and I said, oh, here he is, now the race is
02:53on.
02:54And we fought head and head from the head of the stretch to the 16th pole, and I had
03:00it in my mind that I was not going to hit him with the stick, I wanted to let him be
03:04the boss.
03:05And Saki actually went by me by about a neck.
03:08And I thought, well, I've got nothing to lose, I might as well see if he'll respond from
03:12a little tap.
03:13So I tapped him once left-handed, and I felt him accelerate.
03:18And Tisnow is battling on, the American Horse of the Year, and the arc winner, our heads
03:24apart with a fair long to go in the classic, on the outside, Saki, Tisnow fights on, here's
03:31the wire, desperately close, Tisnow wins it for America!
03:37I knew it was going to be an exciting stretch run, sometimes you get that feeling when horses
03:42hook up at the top of the stretch.
03:44I don't really know if in my notes previous to that I was going to say that Tisnow wins
03:50it for America, I don't know, but it was in my subconscious somewhere.
03:54Some would argue that that was a rather jingoistic thing to say, but that was the story.
03:59That was a big story there.
04:02When he screamed, Tisnow wins it for America, it was a happy day, a real happy day, especially
04:09in light of what happened just a month earlier.
04:13In the back of my mind was the story, and you've got to realize that at Belmont Park,
04:21I live right by Belmont Park, I live two blocks from the training track, and many people in
04:30my neighborhood were New York City firemen.
04:34Thirty people from my church died in 9-11.
04:38Obviously at that point in time, people were trying to latch onto something positive that
04:44could happen in their lives.
04:46With the devastation and the tragedy of 9-11, people were really longing for something to
04:53make them happy.
04:56It just so happened that the Yankees won the World Series that year, and it really put
05:01a lot of smiles on people's faces for sure, and then when Tisnow wins it for America,
05:07that was kind of the icing on the cake.
05:10So people do, from time to time, go, I remember my favorite call years was Tisnow, and this
05:16race or that race.
05:18And it was funny.
05:19We were playing golf the other day, and Chris McCarran's in the foursome in front of us,
05:24and they're walking off the green, and we're coming up, and he yells back, and Durkin wins
05:34it for America!
05:52The first horse that I retired under my care as stallion manager was Tisnow.
05:57Tisnow's one of the smartest horses I've ever been around.
06:00He just handles everything.
06:02He looks a lot.
06:03When we first got him, I noticed that, that I'd take him out to graze him or something.
06:08He'd just look.
06:09Nothing fazed him.
06:10One time we had him at a tour a long time ago, and a girl got bit by a bee right next
06:14to him, and she screamed bloody murder, and he just stood there.
06:18Some of the horses that I ended up having stand as stallions, Colonel John was one of
06:22my favorites.
06:23And then Philly Folklore, obviously, and then Couturist, he's still, he's here, and he's
06:31just kind of like his dad, you know, pretty even keeled, nothing much gets him wound up.
06:38I've never really seen one that didn't have composure and kind of knew what was going
06:43on and knew how to handle things and didn't get real excited about it.
06:47And, you know, he was a good, useful sire that was a California bred horse that, if
06:52you think of it, shouldn't have been a stallion, but he made himself by winning two Breeders'
06:57Cup Classics.
06:58And that's the other thing, really, is he's the only horse ever to win two Breeders' Cup
07:02Classics back-to-back, and I'm not sure if anybody's ever going to do that.
07:07Well, I would have to think what made Tisnow such a great racehorse was the length of his
07:11stride.
07:12It was huge.
07:14He covered a lot of ground in a hurry, and he had the great ability to be able to carry
07:20that speed that he had.
07:22He could run all day, as we say, and he was a very, very game horse, too.
07:27He had a lot of heart.
07:28He did not like to let horses go by him, and typically, when he made the front at some
07:35point in the race, he stayed there.
07:37He never let a horse get by him.
07:39He didn't lose any head-to-head fights.
07:42He was all heart.
07:46Tisnow's retired now.
07:58He does everything the other stallions do, except he gets a little bit more lead weight
08:01because he's a teacher favorite.
08:03If he wants to stay out, we'll let him stay out a little bit longer than other horses.
08:07He's got a little attitude to him.
08:08I think it's a little bit of a bravado as he's getting older.
08:10He doesn't want anybody to mess with him.
08:12He does squeal and does a little bit to try and intimidate the young boys as they go through.
08:19It doesn't work, but he thinks it does, so we'll let him think that.
08:25Our first three stallions that we retired or got here were, obviously, Distorted Humor,
08:29Tisnow, and Spikestown, and those three were unbelievable to set the tone for Windstar.
08:36It's kind of a rock for a liable horse that helped my career out as well as Distorted
08:43Humor did.
08:44If it wasn't for those two horses, or Spikestown, obviously, I'd just kind of be a regular Joe,
08:50but now people say, oh, that's the guy that took care of Distorted Humor and Tisnow, and
08:55they're pretty easy horses to take care of, really.
08:58Don't tell anybody that.
09:01What I learned from him was tremendous.
09:04He taught me a lot about the relationship between a person and a horse.
09:09Once I learned, I tried to figure out what made him tick and just let him be the boss.
09:15That's what he wanted, so I just followed his lead, and fortunately, we had a lot of
09:22success together.
09:24He was certainly very, very special, and I love the fact that he lives 10 minutes from
09:28me, so I get to see him quite often, and so it's nice.
09:32Yeah, he's special.
09:34He's special.
09:35He's special.
09:36He's special.