Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00:00They say, the harder the work, the greater the reward.
00:00:18This is our life's work.
00:00:21Good morning, it is 9.08, Wednesday, February 9th.
00:00:27This is the TDN Writer's Room, presented by Keeneland.
00:00:30My name is Joe Bianca.
00:00:31I'm the Associate Editor of the Thoroughbred Daily News, and my money this Sunday is going
00:00:35to be on the Rams, but my heart is with the Bengals, because every time one of these loser
00:00:39franchises rises up and overcomes, there's hope yet for the Jets.
00:00:43Good morning, Bill Finley, a correspondent for the Thoroughbred Daily News.
00:00:47Six days till pitchers and catchers, never mind, what a joke.
00:00:52Jonathan Green, General Manager of DJ Stable, and that's all I got for this morning.
00:00:57Let's get it on.
00:00:58You had nothing to follow up on with Bill's lamenting of a baseball strike?
00:01:04I got nothing.
00:01:05You guys filled the void.
00:01:06That's what we are.
00:01:07We're void fillers, Joe.
00:01:08The TDN Writer's Room is brought to you by Keeneland.
00:01:11The Keeneland Spring Meet runs April 8th through the 29th.
00:01:14New Keeneland Select accounts that wager $300 in the first 30 days earn $100 back.
00:01:19For their sign-up bonus, visit keenelandselect.com to sign up.
00:01:23So we had a pretty nice weekend of racing, mostly a golf stream in Santa Anita as the
00:01:27Derby Trail starts to warm up a little bit.
00:01:29We had the grade three Holy Bull Stakes at golf stream with White O'Barrio winning.
00:01:34He's the son of race day for Zaffy Joseph, got a 97 buyer.
00:01:38I thought he ran well, but I thought he was a little bit lucky with some of the better
00:01:43– the shorter odds horses behind him, got in a little bit of trouble.
00:01:47I thought Moe Donegal actually ran a winning race.
00:01:49I thought that was – the race kind of set up against him and the golf stream configuration
00:01:54and the way the track plays also set up against him.
00:01:57I thought he ran really well, just a missed second in there.
00:01:59So we talked to Todd Pletcher yesterday about him, and I think he felt the same way.
00:02:03So he's not going to be deterred with that horse going forward.
00:02:06But the story of the weekend was it was really an unreal weekend for Bob Baffert at Santa Anita.
00:02:10He had three graded stakes wins, and it seemed like each one was more impressive than the other one.
00:02:15He had a Darum Manor in the Las Fernandes, who got a 94 buyer.
00:02:18Really beautiful, striding filly by Uncle Moe.
00:02:21Just was absolutely dominant in that race.
00:02:23Always looked like a winner.
00:02:25Got a 94 buyer.
00:02:27He had in the Santa Monica Marinese, who was a daughter of American Pharoah, got a 108 buyer.
00:02:32So that was a breakout performance for her.
00:02:34And then I think the one that everyone's going to focus on is Messier.
00:02:37He was a son of Empire Maker and the Bob Lewis on Sunday.
00:02:40He, I thought, ran the most impressive race out of all three because he was taking heat throughout
00:02:44and then just exploded away in the stretch anyway.
00:02:47Got a 103 buyer.
00:02:49He was – I thought a little bit of a disappointment as a two-year-old.
00:02:51I know he won a grade one, but I thought that Del Mar Fraternity kind of won that race by default
00:02:56because they were going so fast up front.
00:02:57It was a four-horse field.
00:02:59That was the thing that was disappointing, honestly, about the races at San Antonio over
00:03:02the weekend, a bunch of four and five-horse fields.
00:03:04But Baffert was the story, and his horses, like I said, were – one was more impressive than the next.
00:03:09What do you guys think?
00:03:09Yeah, you're right about all of that, Joe.
00:03:11Baffert was the story, and Messier was the story among the stories.
00:03:15If the Kentucky Derby were on next week, he would be the favorite in the Kentucky Derby.
00:03:19People are going to see a 15-length win and that 103 buyer, and people are going to jump
00:03:25all over that.
00:03:26Plenty of time for someone else to jump up.
00:03:28We're going to have to see what happens with this horse.
00:03:30But he was ultra impressive.
00:03:32And again, it's the elephant in the room.
00:03:35What on earth are these owners going to do so far as getting the horse in the Kentucky Derby?
00:03:40I still have the opinion that Baffert is going to find a legal way to be able to run these
00:03:43horses in the Kentucky Derby, and I think he's telling his owners to just hang with me.
00:03:48We're going to get this done, which is why nobody that we know of has taken any horses
00:03:53away from him.
00:03:54But yeah, it's a typical year for Baffert.
00:03:56He's got so many good horses out there.
00:03:58He's got new range coming out of the Arkansas route, and he's loaded for bear.
00:04:04And perhaps Adair Manor, if they ran the Kentucky Oaks tomorrow, would be the favorite there.
00:04:08I mean, Echo Zulu is still – she hasn't raced yet this year.
00:04:12She had her first workout just the other day.
00:04:14She's obviously very tough.
00:04:16You know, the Baffert freight train, express train just keeps marching on,
00:04:21but of course, very different this year.
00:04:24White Abario, yeah, you know, 97 buyer, good race.
00:04:27I think the story there is Saffie Joseph.
00:04:30You know, this guy for the last three or four years has been killing the world,
00:04:33but it's mainly been with claiming horses.
00:04:35And we're seeing him make that transition, kind of like what Brad Cox did five, six years ago,
00:04:39from just a guy who wins an ungodly amount of claiming races to owners with good horses,
00:04:44giving him a chance, and he gets the job done with White Abario.
00:04:49The one you didn't mention was early voting in the Withers train by Chad Brown.
00:04:52Visually, very impressive, probably didn't beat much.
00:04:56And when the buyer number came out, only a 78.
00:04:59That's going to have people jumping off the bandwagon,
00:05:02if indeed they had jumped on the bandwagon after the Withers.
00:05:06You guys hit on all the major ones, you know, and it's funny because
00:05:10when you look at these horses coming in and you look at their names,
00:05:14I try to associate it with like Modonical ZZ.
00:05:17It's an Uncle Mo.
00:05:17Okay, that's an easy one for me to remember.
00:05:19Mike Prankster, who won the swale for Todd Pletcher, you know, isn't into mischief.
00:05:25So again, I kind of get that.
00:05:27And Messier, I so want Messier to be a Nyquist.
00:05:29I so want him to be a Nyquist.
00:05:31He's an empire maker, and he is a Canadian bred,
00:05:33so I can see the connection between why they would name him for Messier.
00:05:36But Joe, as a Rangers fan, you know, like you want that horse to win.
00:05:39You want that horse to be the, you know, to hold up the trophy.
00:05:43But let's, I'm going to start with Messier, you know, and again, just visually beautiful,
00:05:48visually, you know, spun away from those horses at the top of the stretch,
00:05:53you know, by eight lengths, one by 15 lengths in a hand right.
00:05:57And you guys hit on it.
00:05:58You know, California is its own island.
00:06:00There's a five horse field in there for every graded stake race.
00:06:02So you got to take this with a little bit of grain of salt.
00:06:05The second place horse, you know, Messier ran a 103 buyer.
00:06:08The second place horse ran a 79 buyer.
00:06:11So, you know, again, what was he really running against?
00:06:13I think as these races continue to develop and unfold,
00:06:17we'll see that a couple of those horses, if not all of them,
00:06:20aren't even, you know, serious candidates other than Messier.
00:06:23So, you know, he still has some, you know, some races ahead of him to kind of prove himself.
00:06:29I thought also what was interesting about Messier is now he's run six times,
00:06:34and they've taken the blinkers on and off him three different times.
00:06:38His first two races, he ran with blinkers.
00:06:40They took it off for the Bob Hope, and he won by three.
00:06:43Then they put it back on for the Los Alamos, and he ran second.
00:06:47Then they took it off again, you know, for the Robert Lewis.
00:06:50So I think as an empire maker, somebody who's owned empire makers,
00:06:53I can tell you that they are a little goofy and a little bit, you know, late maturing.
00:06:58Some people will say they were the John Greens of horses.
00:07:01I don't know.
00:07:02But, you know, they're certainly faster than me.
00:07:03But, yeah, I would, you know, it's interesting that they keep
00:07:07kind of playing around with this horse.
00:07:08Now, six starts into his career.
00:07:10You would think at this point in time, he'd be seasoned enough where they would know,
00:07:14OK, we're going to have this equipment on.
00:07:16This helps him.
00:07:16This doesn't help him.
00:07:17So I think they're still kind of learning about Messier, which that unto itself is interesting
00:07:22because they haven't, that means that they haven't really tapped bottom yet on him.
00:07:26So he comes out of that race with a 103 buyer,
00:07:29obviously fastest or should say best buyer of the three year old so far.
00:07:35And, you know, Bill, you mentioned early voting.
00:07:38And at first I was visually impressed with early voting and the way that he ran in an
00:07:4211 horse field to again run away from it.
00:07:46But when, you know, a half mile and 48 went three quarters of a mile and six for lunch
00:07:51and one 14 and one and didn't really finish up that much faster.
00:07:56So to me, there's still a lot to be to learn about early voting.
00:08:00He's two for two.
00:08:01He won a great stake race.
00:08:02He was a $200,000 gun runner, you know, and gun runners are running all over the place.
00:08:07So maybe there are some, you know, there's some additional talents that will come out.
00:08:12But, you know, you mentioned on the West Coast, it was it was the weekend for Bob Baffert.
00:08:18And I would say, you know, on these or everywhere else, it's been Todd Fletcher's world and
00:08:24we're just living in it.
00:08:25I mean, the guy has like a 25 percent win percentage overall and like a 40 percent win
00:08:30percentage at Gulfstream in the championship meet.
00:08:33That is unheard of.
00:08:34Yeah, I mean, and I think he tends to cool off throughout the meet at Gulfstream, but
00:08:39he's keeping it going pretty well here.
00:08:41If you look at him and you look at Baffert, they're both at like 40 percent in the at
00:08:45the current meet early voting.
00:08:48I agree with Bill that I thought visually it was very good.
00:08:51I thought he looked he looked really impressive.
00:08:53He didn't finish up all that great.
00:08:54But you got to remember that this was only his second career start.
00:08:57He ran once in a one turn mile and then this was stretch out to two turns.
00:09:01He really did all the running in that race.
00:09:03And I think I would take the figure with a grain of salt, especially in aqueduct, because
00:09:08it can be such a dead track in the winter.
00:09:10I think that there is a lot more talent to him than you would just think by looking at
00:09:14the buyer figure.
00:09:15I want to correct something I said before.
00:09:17Messier ran the Bob Hope.
00:09:19I got my Delmar races confused.
00:09:20It was the Bob Hope that he won that I thought kind of just fell in his lap.
00:09:24But he's obviously really turned the corner as a three year old.
00:09:28Just one random thing I thought was interesting.
00:09:30I was looking at the future wager, the Kentucky Derby future wager.
00:09:33The pool three of that opens up this weekend.
00:09:37How many not this times are there on this list?
00:09:40You've got chasing time, howling time.
00:09:44There's a couple others epicenter.
00:09:46I think there's one or two other not this time simplification.
00:09:50Not this time has turned into a very, very good sire early on for Taylor Made there.
00:09:54And not a horse that I thought had a lot of buzz going into his stallion career.
00:09:59But first two crops, man.
00:10:00You can't really complain.
00:10:01First three crops now, you can't really complain about what he's done.
00:10:05Trying to look if there's any kind of value in the future pool.
00:10:09But I think that's hard to find.
00:10:11But yeah, overall, three year olds are really starting to come on now.
00:10:15I think there's a lot to be excited about across the board.
00:10:19Bill, I wanted to ask you something.
00:10:21Cornish hasn't had any workouts yet, right?
00:10:24I know he is not.
00:10:25And I've reached out to Bob Baffert just the other day to try to get some information.
00:10:30He did not get back to me.
00:10:32Jay Pridman of the Racing Forum did report that the ownership group, the stable manager,
00:10:39I forget the person's name,
00:10:41has said that, you know, kind of gave him all the derbies, not the be all, end all.
00:10:44We'll see what happens.
00:10:46As soon as you read something like that, you got to say, uh-oh.
00:10:50Yeah, so if he doesn't have a workout soon within the next couple weeks, I think you
00:10:54can pretty much put a big line through him.
00:10:56But I have not gotten any up-to-date information on that.
00:11:01Hold that hope.
00:11:02Hold that hope, Bill.
00:11:03I'll get back to you.
00:11:05The TDN Writers Room is brought to you by Keeneland.
00:11:07Keeneland sales will be represented by 11 finalists at this year's Eclipse Awards,
00:11:11which we're going to talk about a little bit later.
00:11:13Corniche, Echo Zulu, who we both expect to win.
00:11:16Juju's Matt, Life is Good.
00:11:18Malathot, who we also expect to win.
00:11:19Nick's Go, She Dares the Devil.
00:11:21Aloha West.
00:11:22Jackie's Warrior.
00:11:23Gamine.
00:11:24And Warlight Goddess.
00:11:25So I think you have like four or five champions in there, at least who are going to be Keeneland
00:11:29grads.
00:11:30It's interesting to note the variety in sales prices with these finalists.
00:11:33If Warlight Goddess, who was a $1,200 weanling, and then Malathot, who was a seven-figure
00:11:37yearling, really shows how deep and diverse Keeneland sales graduates are.
00:11:42As a reminder, tickets for the Keeneland Spring Meet go on sale February 15th.
00:11:45That's next Tuesday.
00:11:47You can purchase tickets online at tickets.keeneland.com.
00:11:50We'll be right back after this message from Keeneland.
00:11:53We are so thrilled that Keeneland has been a part of the story for so many Eclipse Award
00:11:58finalists.
00:11:59These finalists come from all levels.
00:12:01From a $1,200 weanling purchase like Warlight Goddess, up to a seven-figure yearling purchase
00:12:07of Malathot, just represents how deep and how diverse the Keeneland sales graduates
00:12:11are.
00:12:11We are very fortunate to have courses like Latruska and Essential Quality and Malathot
00:12:16win three of our marquee races.
00:12:19Congratulations, each of you, on this amazing accomplishment.
00:12:23Maximum Security proves he's the real deal with a gate-to-wire win in the Florida
00:12:28Derby.
00:12:29Champion three-year-old.
00:12:31Maximum Security has won the TBG.com Haskell Invitational.
00:12:3611 triple-digit bias.
00:12:38Maximum Security, he smoked them in the cigar mile.
00:12:43Grade one winning four-year-old.
00:12:45Maximum Security takes them all the way in the TBG Pacific Classic.
00:12:49Secure your mayor's future.
00:12:51Maximum Security.
00:12:54The TDN Writer's Room is brought to you by Coolmore.
00:12:56Huge, huge weekend for Ashford Sires.
00:12:59And we mentioned in the open, Adair Manor, daughter of Uncle Mo, won the Las Vergenes
00:13:03by 13 lengths, 94 buyer speed figure.
00:13:06So far the highest by a three-year-old filly in 2022.
00:13:09And Marineth, who I also mentioned, defended her title in the grade two Santa Monica for
00:13:12American Pharoah.
00:13:13108 buyer.
00:13:15Practical Jokes.
00:13:16Girl with a Dream got her third straight win in the grade three forward Gal Stakes.
00:13:20Looking forward to seeing what Practical Joke does with his first crop of three-year-olds.
00:13:23Morello remained undefeated in the Jimmy Winkfield stakes at Aqueduct.
00:13:27One of three winners this year for Classic Empire.
00:13:30Of course, we can't not mention Cupid, who also had his third winner for the year over
00:13:33the weekend with Belle Goss, who broke her maiden at Tampa Bay.
00:13:37And I think God of Love is on the comeback trail for Mark Cassidy as well.
00:13:39So looking forward to seeing him on the derby trail.
00:13:43We touched on this last week and it's become a little bit more of an acute issue this week
00:13:49because the hearing that may or may not have been scheduled to determine the first steps
00:13:56for the Medina Spirit DQ was supposed to take place on Monday, this past Monday, February
00:14:037th.
00:14:03There was some debate on Twitter between Todd Schrupp and Jeremy Ballin about whether or
00:14:08not the hearing was actually scheduled.
00:14:11I think from Ballin's reporting and I think from our sources as well, there was supposed
00:14:16to be a meeting and it was postponed.
00:14:18But I think that's the whole point is that we have no freaking clue what's going on with
00:14:22this.
00:14:23And it just makes absolutely no sense.
00:14:25And you can't get an answer at anybody.
00:14:27People have emailed the KHRC and gotten this rote response that we're barred by regulation
00:14:34from announcing hearings.
00:14:36But it's only the biggest race in American sports.
00:14:41Who knows when we're actually going to get it adjudicated?
00:14:44It seems like there's no particular rush.
00:14:47We're now nine months on from the Derby last year.
00:14:51You would think in a competent, modern sport, we could have gotten this figured out in max
00:14:56a month or two.
00:14:57But here we are without even a hearing nine months later.
00:15:00I mean, what can you even say, Bill?
00:15:01It's a clown show.
00:15:02That's what you can say.
00:15:03I mean, I'd like to see it when they actually do have a hearing and they won't tell anybody
00:15:08about it.
00:15:08The car pull up in front of Churchill Downs and like 23 people come out of it in their
00:15:13clown outfits.
00:15:14Joe, I mean, this is what is so frustrating, and it's a bigger issue than the Kentucky
00:15:18Horse Racing Commission, that this is why people consider horse racing a minor league
00:15:23sport.
00:15:24This is an absolute joke, just like you said.
00:15:26First of all, why has it been nine months?
00:15:29I mean, if it was the fourth race on a Thursday, it would have been done in three or four weeks,
00:15:33and it should have been handled like the fourth race on a Thursday.
00:15:36But now they won't tell you anything.
00:15:39We don't know what's going on.
00:15:41Imagine Major League Baseball.
00:15:42I'll give you an idea.
00:15:43I love to go back to baseball, but imagine 35 years ago or 30 years ago, Pete Rose got
00:15:48mailed for gambling and somebody asked Major League Baseball, is Pete Rose going to have
00:15:53a hearing?
00:15:55Can't really tell you that.
00:15:56Well, I heard the hearing was going to be on February 7th.
00:15:58Is that true?
00:16:00Maybe, maybe not.
00:16:01No comment.
00:16:02And then February 7th comes around and they say, did Pete Rose have a hearing?
00:16:05Well, you know, we'll get back to you.
00:16:08I mean, could you imagine the uproar if something in a major sport was handled that way?
00:16:15And the only thing I can think of is the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission is so scared of lawsuits
00:16:20that they are paralyzed.
00:16:22And it doesn't matter.
00:16:24You're going to get sued no matter what.
00:16:27From here to the end of time or give them a $50 fine, you're going to get sued.
00:16:33Put on your big boy pants, run this thing like it's a real sport and not a joke and
00:16:39A, get this done and B, you know, stop this idiotic thing where you're not going to tell
00:16:44anybody even the most basic information about what's going on behind the scenes.
00:16:49And again, it is only the most important and most famous horse race in all of America,
00:16:55if not the world.
00:16:56But, you know, it's again, I think that's the only way to put it.
00:17:01It's a clown show.
00:17:03And Bill, you hit the nail on the head.
00:17:05I mean, we're comparing our industry to the major sports in the world.
00:17:11And that's, I think, the problem.
00:17:13The problem is that we expect our industry to come together and have a centralized leadership
00:17:18and centralized rules.
00:17:20And everyone, even if you don't want to hold hands and sing Kumbaya, at least everyone
00:17:24is under the same set of rules and umbrella.
00:17:26And the 3 of us have been railing against that for almost the entirety of this podcast.
00:17:33And unfortunately, it's not going to happen because we're not a real sport.
00:17:36We're basically, you know, I've gone from trying to make it to be, you know, where we're
00:17:41compared to Major League Baseball and the NBA and NFL and maybe even Major League Soccer.
00:17:47I mean, just, you know, just something here in the States that where we can say, you know,
00:17:52hey, we're a real sport, too.
00:17:53And unfortunately, I've come to the conclusion that we're more in line with bullfighting
00:18:00and dog racing and corgi racing, quite frankly, because we just don't have the ability to
00:18:08self-regulate, self-modulate and ultimately, you know, come to a conclusion that's best
00:18:13for the industry.
00:18:14Yes, in a perfect world, we would love to have transparency and have, you know, the
00:18:19group that come together and say, this is it.
00:18:22This is the ruling.
00:18:23Just to build to your point, whether it's a race on a Thursday, you know, the fourth
00:18:27race on a Thursday at some secondary racetrack all the way to the Kentucky Derby, you know,
00:18:32that we should have kind of one set of one system and one set of rules.
00:18:35It's the Kentucky Derby, for God's sake.
00:18:38Will you just tell us what's going on?
00:18:40Because you're right, Bill, it's going to get held up in court anyway.
00:18:43And I know they want to authorize and cross their T's because they know they're going
00:18:46to court.
00:18:47But it's a joke.
00:18:48Again, in a series of bad jokes, this is the latest one that's out there.
00:18:53The only thing that I can say is congratulations to the owners of Authentic because you're
00:18:57going to be the longest 10 years Kentucky Derby winner in the history of our sport.
00:19:02For sure.
00:19:02And just think about it.
00:19:03Like, we got the Eclipse awards tomorrow night and Medina Spirit is going to be a finalist
00:19:09for champion three year old.
00:19:11And we're going to have no idea whether or not he is the rightful Kentucky Derby winner.
00:19:15Just that, Joe, I actually, I actually sent an email to the Eclipse department asking
00:19:21if there was going to be an award.
00:19:23And they said, no comment.
00:19:24So we may not really have an award because I'm sure that the attorneys are going to be
00:19:29circling the parking lot going, oh, boy, we got another one here.
00:19:33I mean, it's like the ambulance chaser's delight.
00:19:35All I can think of is M-I-C-K-E-Y-O-U-S-E.
00:19:41That's the song that comes to mind when any of this kind of stuff happens.
00:19:45And racing, I just wonder, like, aren't y'all embarrassed?
00:19:48Like, if you're on the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, if you're a Kentucky regulator,
00:19:52aren't you crazy embarrassed that this is dragged on for so long and you're leaving
00:19:56the public so in the dark about your most important race?
00:19:59And, you know, I also wonder, like, where's the pressure from within the industry, from
00:20:04within the industry?
00:20:05I'm not talking about the people on Twitter.
00:20:06Are we yelling about it?
00:20:07I'm not talking about journalists like we have at TDN or Jeremy Balin.
00:20:10Like, I feel like we're doing our job trying to put the pressure on them.
00:20:14Where is the internal pressure from the industry to get this right and to have some actual
00:20:19transparency?
00:20:20You know, this is off the heels.
00:20:21Bill mentioned it yesterday when we were talking about this.
00:20:24This is on the heels of a couple of years ago when they had the DQ of maximum security
00:20:28and there was no transparency at all.
00:20:29They didn't answer any questions.
00:20:31They released a 60-second statement and then ran and hid.
00:20:35I mean, this is the kind of thing that, again, if this were a real sport, would necessitate
00:20:42a cleaning out of this regulatory body and bringing in all new people to try to not be
00:20:48such a clown show.
00:20:49But in racing, it's like—and I get that it's a government thing.
00:20:52It's a government agency.
00:20:53It's not necessarily people in racing.
00:20:55But it's racing-related people in the most racing-obsessed state in the country.
00:20:59You would think that we could do better than this.
00:21:01And just to say, you know, we can't—you know, regulations say we can't update you
00:21:05on this.
00:21:05I think it's just—you can't admit that if there's a hearing or not.
00:21:09We're not even asking you to tell us what happened at the hearing.
00:21:12Like, that would maybe be a bridge too far for you guys.
00:21:15But you can't even acknowledge whether or not there's a hearing on a decision about
00:21:19the Kentucky Derby nine months after the race was run.
00:21:23Like, I just—it's inexplicable.
00:21:25And it's just total nonsense.
00:21:27What else can you say?
00:21:29Did they even admit that February 7th was a real date?
00:21:33They said—I asked them that question, John.
00:21:34They said, no comment.
00:21:36No comment.
00:21:37They said no comment, right?
00:21:37Yeah, exactly.
00:21:38We cannot confirm or deny that February 7th does exist.
00:21:41And was, what, a Monday?
00:21:43No comment.
00:21:45You know, comparatively to that, the NHC had the quickest ruling of all time in racing
00:21:51by suspending Jonathan Kinchin for two years.
00:21:54Now, if you're unaware of this controversy, they had the NHC, the National Horseplayers
00:21:59Championship, a week or two ago, I think it was—not this past weekend, but the weekend
00:22:02before.
00:22:03Jonathan Kinchin, I'm sure if you're a racing fan, at least in America, you know who he
00:22:07is.
00:22:07He's on TV a whole bunch.
00:22:09He's on Fox Sports.
00:22:10He's a pretty sharp handicapper.
00:22:12He's gotten a lot of attention.
00:22:14In addition to being a sharp handicapper, he's a big personality with his colorful shirts
00:22:18and blah, blah, blah.
00:22:19I never met him.
00:22:20I don't know him personally.
00:22:22Seemed like an okay guy.
00:22:23I think people got mad at him for this one thing.
00:22:26And I get it.
00:22:27He was supposed to be playing in the NHC, which is in Vegas.
00:22:31And the rule is you have to be in Vegas.
00:22:35You have to be on site at Treasure Island or whatever the casino is where they're hosting
00:22:39it.
00:22:40Instead, he was at Gulfstream.
00:22:42And he didn't tell anybody he was at Gulfstream.
00:22:44He was basically photographed at Gulfstream and was having a runner make his bets for
00:22:51him.
00:22:51So that's a big no-no because theoretically, you could have an advantage because you're
00:22:56up there.
00:22:57You're up close to the horses.
00:22:59You're hearing the chatter at the racetrack.
00:23:01I think it is more of an advantage to be there than it is to watch it on a big screen even.
00:23:06So that was a big stink about that last week.
00:23:09And then yesterday, the NTRA, maybe it was 2 days ago, the NTRA came down hard and suspended
00:23:14him for 2 years from the NHC Tour.
00:23:17Now, he was an NHC Tour winner, I think, 4 or 5 years ago.
00:23:20So that's kind of a big deal.
00:23:22It's not as big a deal for him because he's on TV.
00:23:25If this was his only way of making money and eating, it would be a bigger deal.
00:23:29But it's kind of an auxiliary thing for him, I think, at this point.
00:23:32If you go on Twitter, it's just...
00:23:35Again, the variation of responses is like,
00:23:39I think this is so overboard.
00:23:41You don't need to suspend him.
00:23:42Yeah, DQ him from the event, but the suspension is crazy.
00:23:45And then the other people are like, well, Jonathan Kitchen got away with this because
00:23:48he's friends with all the people at the NCRA and the NHC.
00:23:51So I don't really have a strong feeling about it, but people are talking about it.
00:23:54And I just think it was a little bit of a shady thing for him to do, honestly.
00:23:59And it seemed like he was kind of reveling in it at first,
00:24:02and then realized how mad people were and started to apologize and back off.
00:24:06At first, he was like, yeah, totally worth it, taking pictures and everything.
00:24:10And then later on, once he realized everyone was pissed off at him,
00:24:12he released this very buttoned up statement, apologizing.
00:24:16I knew the rules.
00:24:17I broke them anyway.
00:24:18But I wonder if you guys had any thoughts about this whole hubbub.
00:24:22Yeah.
00:24:22I mean, it's a hubbub.
00:24:24There shouldn't be a hubbub.
00:24:25I mean, this doesn't change my opinion about him one bit.
00:24:28He's great on TV.
00:24:29He's a good handicapper.
00:24:30He did something stupid, and he's being penalized for it.
00:24:32And the only thing I can think of, how did he think he's going to get away with this?
00:24:36If he were some anonymous guy in the contest, Joe Smith from Poughkeepsie
00:24:41or something like that, he might have got away with it.
00:24:43But the guy's one of the most visible people in the whole contest.
00:24:46And I'm sure everybody's, where's Jonathan Kitchen?
00:24:48Where's Jonathan Kitchen?
00:24:49And then, of course, he's photographed at Gulfstream.
00:24:51But this is hardly of all the things we talk about on this show.
00:24:56All the killing the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission and this and that.
00:25:00This is just totally really a very, very minor thing.
00:25:05Whether he should have been suspended or not, I don't know.
00:25:07He'll be fine.
00:25:08He'll move on, and we'll all get over this.
00:25:12I thought that was the funniest thing, is that he's a flamboyant, outgoing personality.
00:25:17And his signature piece, I think they even sell his design shirts online.
00:25:22They're bright and loud.
00:25:24And it's almost like looking at the Where's Waldo page and being like,
00:25:29everyone else is wearing red and white shirts, and he's in a big yellow shirt.
00:25:33It's like, oh, there's Waldo.
00:25:34It's like, how did you think you were going to get away with this?
00:25:37And that's the thing that I was laughing so much about.
00:25:40And again, Joe, I don't know Jonathan at all.
00:25:43I appreciate his talent.
00:25:45And I certainly watch when he's on TV because I think he's got a very good insight.
00:25:50And he doesn't take himself too seriously, which is actually a really nice thing about
00:25:54the talking heads that are in a lot of the sporting events.
00:25:57But what we should really be talking about also is that this guy, David Harrison,
00:26:01actually won the event and won almost three quarters of a million dollars.
00:26:05He won $725,000.
00:26:07And that's really where we should be focusing our attention.
00:26:11This is kind of a sidebar with Jonathan Kitchen and whether or not he should be
00:26:15banned for life or flogged or 2 years or 2 weeks.
00:26:19Who cares?
00:26:20But this guy, David Harrison, who is actually close to Poughkeepsie Bill,
00:26:23he's actually from Western New York, which is northeast of Buffalo.
00:26:27And he won $725,000.
00:26:29I mean, that's awesome.
00:26:31That's what we really should be talking about is that the event...
00:26:34The guy did a really kick-ass job and won and not the sideshow that is this kind of...
00:26:41That's the whole thing.
00:26:42And that's why it took the attention away from David Harrison and from the rest of the NHG.
00:26:48And he said it in the story.
00:26:51He says it's a life-changing score for him.
00:26:53And that's one of the cool things about these handicapping contests is a guy like Jonathan
00:26:57Kitchen, he has made it now separately from being an NHG tour player.
00:27:01He's made it on TV and in racing as an analyst.
00:27:05But the tour and the NHG are really for guys like David Harrison, who are everyday horse
00:27:12players who probably have a blue-collar job or maybe are upper-middle class at best.
00:27:18And you win a thing like this and you can maybe retire a little earlier than you expected
00:27:23to or thought you would.
00:27:25I think that that's very cool.
00:27:26And maybe we'll have him on the show.
00:27:29Maybe we can talk to him more about it.
00:27:30Because I think that there are a lot of stories to be told from that tour about people who
00:27:37live and breathe racing and handicapping tournaments.
00:27:39So yeah, it was a little bit of a distraction, the whole Jonathan Kitchen thing from the
00:27:43NHG, which was a good story.
00:27:47Joe, do you ever do anything like that?
00:27:48I mean, I played some of the feeder tournaments on horse tourneys once in a while.
00:27:52But you really got to dedicate yourself to it to try to qualify.
00:27:56Or maybe I'm not a good enough handicapper to do it because some people can do it on
00:27:59their first try.
00:28:01But once in a while, I will.
00:28:03And I like them because it's a good way to...
00:28:07You can put in like $30, $40 and have a whole day's worth of action for it.
00:28:11Whereas if you play the horses normally, like I do, it's probably a couple hundred dollars
00:28:15in, especially on a Saturday.
00:28:18But yeah, this was totally...
00:28:21This is, I think, a little bit of the way of the future.
00:28:23And I think if you're going to have crossover from poker and things like that, it's going
00:28:29to come through handicapping tournaments.
00:28:30I honestly think it's a thing that racing should do a better job of marketing.
00:28:33There was that show a long time ago, Horse Players, which I thought was pretty good.
00:28:38It launched Matt Bernier's career.
00:28:40But yeah, this is the kind of thing that I think racing should be marketing more.
00:28:43A guy, a regular guy like David Harrison qualifying for this tournament and making
00:28:47a life-changing score.
00:28:49That doesn't get people into the game.
00:28:50Then nothing will.
00:28:53And by the way, David Harrison, just as a shameless plug, if you need to shelter that
00:28:56night, call the Green Crew and go to Green Crew.
00:28:58Yeah, come on.
00:28:59Be the guest.
00:29:00They'll kill two birds with one stone there.
00:29:02The TDN Writer's Room is brought to you by the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association.
00:29:06You can learn about all the benefits that come with breeding in Pennsylvania at pabred.com.
00:29:12Pennsylvania bred just one time.
00:29:13Recently got our first graded stakes win in grade two inside information stakes at Gulfstream.
00:29:18Four-year-old affiliates now five for six.
00:29:20Lifetime was bred by Warrior's Reward LLC.
00:29:23The PHBA released their by the numbers for 2021.
00:29:26I want to see if Bill and John can guess who was the leading Pennsylvania bred in 2021
00:29:31by earnings.
00:29:32Smarty Jones.
00:29:33I don't know.
00:29:34Well, give me a hint.
00:29:35I've talked about this horse on the show.
00:29:37Hey, Chub Wagon?
00:29:39Yeah.
00:29:39Yeah.
00:29:40Ah, there you go.
00:29:42Good job.
00:29:44Chub Wagon won six stakes races in 2021.
00:29:46Earned over $480,000 and congratulations to all the other leaders in Pennsylvania racing
00:29:522021.
00:29:54Counting down the days till I get to see my girl Chub Wagon again.
00:29:56We'll be right back after this message from the PHBA.
00:30:00Here in Pennsylvania, we're proud of our breeding program.
00:30:03The best in North America.
00:30:05But we're also proud to be leaders in this industry.
00:30:08The PA Horse Breeders Association is funding cutting edge research at PenVet into equine
00:30:13health and safety.
00:30:14And we endorse the SAFE Act to help protect the most vulnerable horses.
00:30:19Plus, we're pleased to support the aftercare programs set up by our horseman's groups.
00:30:24Just a few of the reasons why you should join us in Pennsylvania.
00:30:27The premier place to breed and race.
00:30:31The Green Group guest of the week is sponsored by the Green Group, an accounting, tax,
00:30:34consulting, and advisory firm specializing in the thoroughbred industry.
00:30:37With over 500 clients in the horse business, they have proven strategies to save you taxes.
00:30:42Learn more about how they can help you at www.greenco.com.
00:30:46So we're thrilled to bring back on the show now three-time guest on the Riders Room Hall
00:30:50of Fame trainer, Todd Pletcher.
00:30:51Thanks for coming on.
00:30:54Always good to have you.
00:30:55Always good to talk to you.
00:30:57Obviously, the big horse's life is good.
00:30:59We'll start with him.
00:31:01You made a little bit of waves, I thought, with the comment that you weren't sure
00:31:04that you would train a better horse than him.
00:31:06You're not usually a guy prone to hyperbole.
00:31:09A, what makes you say that about him?
00:31:11And B, if there was a comparison to another horse in your career, who would it be?
00:31:16Well, yeah.
00:31:17I mean, what I said, because I certainly didn't want to offend any previous horses,
00:31:22their owners that I've trained.
00:31:25But I said, I can't say that I've had one that's better.
00:31:29I do think over the years, we've had horses like Lawyer Ron,
00:31:33when he won the Whitney and shaded 147.
00:31:36I think he was the first horse ever to do that at Saratoga in Quality Road.
00:31:40When he won the Don, I thought it was a performance that ranked up there really high.
00:31:45So I've been fortunate enough to train some horses over the years that,
00:31:49on their day, ran races that were historically great.
00:31:53And I think life is good.
00:31:55It's capable of doing that as well.
00:31:58Todd, thanks for joining us.
00:31:59And I picked against the horse.
00:32:01I picked McSkoe.
00:32:02I'm not the least bit surprised that life is good.
00:32:04One, but never in a million years, I think he was going to clear off by three lengths like that.
00:32:09Literally, I thought the race, and probably you did too,
00:32:11and everybody else was over once he opened up.
00:32:14And was that the plan all along?
00:32:16Or was that I read?
00:32:18Or is the horse just that quick and that gifted?
00:32:20Take me through the strategy and how you wound up getting that was a huge advantage.
00:32:27Well, you know, the one thing when you're coming up with a strategy for a race is,
00:32:31you know what you want to do.
00:32:33You don't always know what your opponent wants to do.
00:32:36So, you know, I thought when McSkoe drew the rail that, you know, their hands were cupped,
00:32:42that they were going to have to come out running.
00:32:44And we wanted to come out running and play to our horse's strength, which is his speed.
00:32:49It surprised me a little bit that he cleared off as easily as he did.
00:32:52But, you know, if you look back to like the Alan Jerkins, I mean, life is good.
00:32:56It's super fast.
00:32:57I mean, he was a couple of weeks in front of Jackie's warrior down the backside at Saratoga.
00:33:02So he didn't break great.
00:33:05His second, third and fourth steps were really good.
00:33:07And, you know, he got there the right way.
00:33:10I mean, I was pretty confident turning up the backside, but he still had some running to do.
00:33:15And, you know, we're just delighted with his performance.
00:33:18And it was everything we hoped for.
00:33:22And Todd, one of the things that we talk about a lot on the show is when you have an extraordinary
00:33:26horse like a life is good, you know, all of us gravitate to horse like that.
00:33:30It's must see TV.
00:33:32And we want to see the horse run as often as possible.
00:33:35So give us an idea of what you think the rest of his campaign is going to look like for 22.
00:33:41And also, I'm going to ask, you know, can he run more?
00:33:43I know you've laid out four or five races for him.
00:33:46But, you know, is there a further career past 2022 in your mind?
00:33:51Well, I don't know for sure on the beyond 2022.
00:33:54I mean, could he come back in the Pegasus next year?
00:33:58That would perhaps be a possibility.
00:34:00We really haven't discussed things that far.
00:34:02I mean, I don't anticipate he would run beyond his four-year-old year.
00:34:08Again, haven't discussed that with anyone, but that would just be my feeling.
00:34:12We spoke to him this morning and, you know, we're locking in on the Dubai World Cup.
00:34:18Of course, we'll probably have his first breeze back on Friday.
00:34:20He's come out of the Pegasus in great condition.
00:34:23He's doing really well.
00:34:25So right now, the plan is if everything goes accordingly
00:34:30and he trains the way he usually does, we're planning to go to Dubai.
00:34:34Then after that, you know, we're just going to have to see how he comes back from Dubai,
00:34:38how he bounces back.
00:34:40And, you know, potentially that mile would be in play.
00:34:42But again, that's going to depend on how quickly he recuperates from going to Dubai.
00:34:48I want to turn the discussion a little bit to the Triple Crown and the Derby Trail.
00:34:52Triple Crown nominations were released yesterday.
00:34:54You let all trainers with 42 nominations.
00:34:57Obviously, you have some big names in the bar like Mo Donegal and Emmanuel.
00:35:01But I'm wondering if there are a couple of horses,
00:35:03maybe one or two horses that you have that are a little under the radar right now
00:35:07that you have particular high hopes for that can jump up in one of these next preps.
00:35:12Well, Emmanuel is definitely, you know, one that we're pretty high on.
00:35:16And he's no longer under the radar,
00:35:18even though he's only got a maiden and an allowance with at Tampa.
00:35:22Right now, we have him pointed to the Fountain of Youth
00:35:26and Major General who's coming back from a layoff since the Iroquois,
00:35:30most likely going a week later in the Tampa Derby.
00:35:33So, Mo Donegal came out of the Holy Ghoul really in good shape.
00:35:38And so, I spoke to Jerry Crawford yesterday.
00:35:40We're sort of weighing our options and going to wait to see how he trains
00:35:44and decide if we're going to have a prep race in between now and the Wood Memorial,
00:35:47which would be the 100-point race that we've got him targeted for
00:35:51since he won the Rimson there at Aqueduct and really likes the track.
00:35:54And I actually thought he ran a sneaky good race the other day.
00:35:57He was making up some ground late.
00:35:58It just everything kind of unfolded the wrong way for him.
00:36:02And it took him a while to get out of the clear and able to make his run.
00:36:06So, it was, you know, the kind of effort we were hoping for,
00:36:10even though it wasn't the result we were wanting.
00:36:14Todd, let's stay in the three-year-old subject.
00:36:15And Emmanuel is a very interesting horse.
00:36:17And but you've taken so far sort of an unconventional route with him.
00:36:20Two starts at Tampa.
00:36:22I mean, he's performed tremendously.
00:36:25Obviously, everybody thinks that he belongs with the big boys.
00:36:28But take us through the strategy there.
00:36:30Rather than, you know, doing something more conventional like,
00:36:33you know, winning a Maiden and Gulfstream into an allowance
00:36:35or into the Holy Bull or something like that.
00:36:37You know, why Tampa?
00:36:38Well, he actually did break his Maiden and Gulfstream.
00:36:40Okay, of course.
00:36:41We had him slated to go to Tampa in an allowance race earlier.
00:36:45Unfortunately, the day after they drew the entries,
00:36:48he spiked the temperature.
00:36:49So, we missed that.
00:36:50It's just trying to get back on track.
00:36:52And they have the one of the day going a one-turn mile at Gulfstream
00:36:56that we ended up running American Icon.
00:37:00Finished second.
00:37:01Him and Ironworks was third.
00:37:02So, part of the strategy was trying to split up some of these horses.
00:37:06And also, part of the strategy was trying to get him around two turns.
00:37:10And so, we were able to accomplish that in Tampa.
00:37:12And over the years, we've had pretty good luck going to Tampa.
00:37:15You know, both Super Saver and Always Dreaming.
00:37:19Ran races at Tampa before they won their derbies.
00:37:21And we've had, you know, a number of horses that have gone through there
00:37:24that have gone on to do well.
00:37:25So, I think it's a good place to lay the horse up.
00:37:29I think it's a safe track.
00:37:30And to get some two-turn experiences is key.
00:37:36And Todd, as the guy who finished second to your horse,
00:37:38I really wish you didn't run him in Tampa.
00:37:40Yeah, your horse ran well.
00:37:42I mean, he loomed up right next to him.
00:37:43And I was like, I don't know if Pablo's playing Captain Mouse
00:37:46or what he's going to do here.
00:37:47But when he asked him to go, it kind of quickened, which was good to see.
00:37:53Yeah. And part of this question is self-serving.
00:37:55So, when you have all these great derby contenders,
00:37:59and you're trying to figure out which prep to go into,
00:38:03what's your mindset?
00:38:04Because it looks like most of them are training with you in Florida.
00:38:08And you have Tampa, you mentioned, and Gulfstream with some of those preps as well.
00:38:13But how do you parcel it out and figure out which horse goes to which prep race?
00:38:19Well, a lot depends on timing.
00:38:22And the great thing about this time of year is there's a prep every weekend.
00:38:27So, last weekend, you have the Holy Bull.
00:38:30Next weekend, you have the Sam Davis.
00:38:32The following weekend, the Risen Star.
00:38:35We're going to send Pioneer Medina there
00:38:37because you won an allowance race three weeks ago.
00:38:41And so, really, it kind of comes down to a couple of things.
00:38:45One is timing.
00:38:47And two, do you feel like your horse is going to be suited to that particular track and surface?
00:38:52And so, we kind of work off that.
00:38:55As I was saying with Mo Donoghue, we think he likes aqueducts.
00:38:59So, the Wood Memorial kind of becomes a logical final prep for him.
00:39:04And Emmanuel, we know he liked Gulfstream in his debut.
00:39:08We feel like if we're able to continue moving forward,
00:39:11the Florida Derby could be a potential final prep for him.
00:39:15So, it's really just about trying to get the right horse to the right track with the right timing.
00:39:23And Todd, one other quick question.
00:39:24So, you have 42 horses that were nominated for the Derby,
00:39:27and you mentioned some of the top ones.
00:39:29Witt was a horse that last year everyone was very excited about,
00:39:34winning his first two so impressively,
00:39:35running second in the Hopeful and third in the Champagne.
00:39:38And it looks like he just came back on the work tab.
00:39:40Is he still in contention for one of the Triple Crown races,
00:39:44or is it just too early to tell?
00:39:47I would say it's too early to tell.
00:39:48I mean, I think we're certainly behind schedule for the Derby.
00:39:51You know, when we do these nominations for the Triple Crown,
00:39:54you know, you're doing it for all three races.
00:39:56And you know, the Belmont's not until the first Saturday in June.
00:39:59And so, it's a long way away.
00:40:01And we like to keep all of our options open.
00:40:06And so, some of these horses, you know,
00:40:08might not be Derby or Preakness horses,
00:40:11but we feel like we could sneak up on the Belmont
00:40:14if they were able to, you know, win a Maiden or an Etta Dan
00:40:16and go to the Peter Pan route, that sort of thing.
00:40:18So, you know, the 42 number is probably a little bit misleading
00:40:22when you think of it in terms of Derby prospects.
00:40:25I wanted to ask, you're one of the only trainers I could think of
00:40:27that wins a million-dollar race,
00:40:29and then we don't get to it until like the seventh or eighth question in an interview.
00:40:33I'll start with Colonel Liam,
00:40:34because he did win the Pegasus World Cup Turf, back-to-back wins.
00:40:38In that race now, he's really turned into a nice older turf male.
00:40:41What's next for him throughout the rest of this year?
00:40:44Well, I think if everything stays on course and we go to Dubai,
00:40:49then we're going to take him as well for the Dubai Turf.
00:40:53Same timing, you know, his life is good.
00:40:55I feel like the timing is good.
00:40:56We kind of be giving up, you know,
00:40:58like the Churchill race that he deadheated in last year.
00:41:01But I just feel like with a horse that's really in good form,
00:41:05I feel like he came out of the Pegasus Turf even better than he went into it.
00:41:08But, you know, taking a shot at a race like that is worthwhile.
00:41:13Todd, if you were a baseball player this year, you'd be hitting about 425.
00:41:17You're 31 for 88 at Gulfstream, 35%.
00:41:20Over just the last two weekends at Gulfstream,
00:41:22we've mentioned some of this,
00:41:23you won the Swale, the Kitten's Joy, the William L. McKnight,
00:41:25Pegasus Turf, the Pegasus World Cup.
00:41:28Two parts, I mean, you've been, you know,
00:41:30a high producer at a high number throughout your career.
00:41:33But can you ever recall a period like a two,
00:41:35three-month period like this where you've been this hot?
00:41:38And why is everything firing on all cylinders right now?
00:41:41What's going right?
00:41:43Well, I mean, first and foremost, it's good horses.
00:41:45And, you know, when you have horses, like life is good,
00:41:48currently and coming back and, you know, that's the real key.
00:41:52But, you know, we had a really strong group of late two-year-olds
00:41:57turning three and kind of got us kick-started,
00:42:00you know, early in the meeting in December.
00:42:02And so that's sort of been something that we've seen more of,
00:42:06that we get some of these babies in a little bit later.
00:42:09They come into Palm Beach Downs in September
00:42:12and start to get ready in December.
00:42:14And so we had a number that, you know,
00:42:16like Emmanuel that came out and won first time out.
00:42:19So it's really just sort of about quality horses coming in
00:42:24and getting ready at the same time.
00:42:26And Todd, you've mentioned in the past that it's not just the quality of horses,
00:42:29but the quality of people you have working for you.
00:42:31And, you know, we're all Jersey guys.
00:42:33So we get excited when we get to talk to Ed Rosen
00:42:35about the pedigrees of the horses you're buying.
00:42:38And Anthony Scimetta, you know, who's a Jersey guy
00:42:40who's been with you for years and years.
00:42:42Tell the audience a little bit about what each of those two guys do
00:42:44for your program.
00:42:46Well, Eddie works with Mike Rapoli.
00:42:50He's kind of his main bloodstock advisor and pedigree guy.
00:42:53So he does a great job for us when we're at the sales,
00:42:56you know, of looking up all these pedigrees.
00:42:59And, you know, that's part of what we do.
00:43:02You know, we look at the physical, we look at the pedigree.
00:43:05And of course, you know, Rapoli and Vinnie Viola
00:43:09partnered on a lot of horses with St. Elias.
00:43:12And, you know, I mean, the strategy is pretty straightforward.
00:43:16Their goal is to hopefully buy horses with stallion pedigrees
00:43:20that can win great ones and hopefully buy a lot of horses.
00:43:23Hopefully be classic type horses and go on to stuff.
00:43:26So those guys do a great job with that.
00:43:29And then Anthony Scimetta, he's been one of my main guys
00:43:33for over 20 years and just a super horseman.
00:43:37Tremendous, you know, reliable person and does a great job
00:43:43with the horses and, you know, managing everything.
00:43:48Last question from me.
00:43:49Obviously, you're based in Florida right now,
00:43:50but for the rest of the year, you're a New York guy.
00:43:53Belmont, Naira has made some news recently
00:43:56about trying to winterize Belmont,
00:43:58make it more of a year-round track
00:44:00and maybe get rid of Aqueduct in the future.
00:44:02I don't think it'll affect you as much
00:44:03because you have more dirt horses,
00:44:05but there are certain guys with turf and synthetic horses
00:44:07that maybe could stick around in New York.
00:44:09Do you think that that'll help keep some horses up north
00:44:12in New York as opposed to shipping down
00:44:14to Gulfstream going forward?
00:44:17To be honest with you,
00:44:18I don't know what the synthetic would do there.
00:44:22And one of the things that we're sort of learning
00:44:24during this meet is which horses handle the tapita
00:44:28and which ones don't.
00:44:29And I haven't been able to do it
00:44:31without actually running them on it.
00:44:33And, you know, we've had several horses
00:44:36that have won tapita races that were off the turf
00:44:39and they were coming off turf winds
00:44:40and they handled it fine.
00:44:42We had a couple other ones that were coming off
00:44:44good turf races that we ran on the tapita
00:44:46and you could tell the first hundred yards
00:44:48that they hated it.
00:44:48So, and that was sort of one of the things
00:44:51that was difficult for us before.
00:44:54Like I can think of an example at Keeneland years ago,
00:44:57we had a filly named Wade Awhile
00:44:59who's, you know, top class turf mare.
00:45:02She worked at Keeneland on the synthetic.
00:45:06I remember going like some ridiculous 46 flat,
00:45:10just, you know, with her neck bowed
00:45:11in hand the whole way.
00:45:13We were running in the First Lady,
00:45:15it rained, it came off the turf
00:45:17and I was like, you know, off that breeze,
00:45:18I have no reservation running her at all.
00:45:22And that afternoon, she never tightened the bridle.
00:45:24She hated it.
00:45:25So it's a little bit tricky to get a line on
00:45:29without, you know, running on it.
00:45:31And so, you know, I think could it keep
00:45:33some turf horses in New York?
00:45:35Possibly, yeah, I think it could.
00:45:37You know, then it would just be a matter of seeing
00:45:38if they actually took to it.
00:45:41Todd, we always appreciate the time.
00:45:43Great to talk to you.
00:45:43Best of luck with Life is Good.
00:45:45And all the triple crown nominees
00:45:46the rest of the year.
00:45:48Thank you very much.
00:45:49Thanks, Todd.
00:45:50The Green Group guest of the week is sponsored
00:45:51by the Green Group, an accounting, tax,
00:45:53consulting and advisory firm specializing
00:45:55in the thoroughbred industry.
00:45:56As this week's Green Group guest of the week,
00:45:58Todd Pletcher will receive a free
00:46:00one hour tax consultation.
00:46:01Learn more at greenco.com.
00:46:04We'll be right back after this message
00:46:05from the Green Group.
00:46:07Why do the most successful owners, breeders
00:46:09and horsemen select the Green Group
00:46:10as their tax advisor?
00:46:11We simply save them money and know
00:46:13how to make them more successful.
00:46:14Over the past 40 years, founder Leonard Green
00:46:16has owned and bred some of the best racehorses
00:46:19in the history of the sport.
00:46:20His in-depth, hands-on industry knowledge
00:46:22combined with cutting edge tax saving strategies
00:46:24has produced positive results for his clientele
00:46:26and has made the Green Group the top rated
00:46:28accounting and tax firm in the business.
00:46:30For a confidential and complimentary consultation,
00:46:32contact us at 732-634-5100
00:46:36or visit our website at www.greenco.com.
00:46:39The Green Group, proven strategies
00:46:41to save you taxes.
00:46:44So
00:46:54so
00:47:12The TDN Writer's Room is brought to you
00:47:14by XPTV.
00:47:15XPTV, work out of the week, which we're showing
00:47:17right now is ain't easy.
00:47:19You worked four furlongs in Santa Anita
00:47:21on Sunday going 48 and two, three-year-old
00:47:23filly, now three-year-old filly looked
00:47:24really promising last year as a juvenile.
00:47:26She broke her maiden on debut for Phil D'Amato
00:47:28and then won the chandelier stakes
00:47:30really impressively.
00:47:31She was going to be one of the favorites
00:47:32for the Breeders' Cup juvenile fillies,
00:47:34but had to scratch, unfortunately.
00:47:35So it's exciting to see her back in training.
00:47:37You can watch her recent works and more
00:47:39at XPTV.com.
00:47:42This was a little bit of a, there was a little
00:47:43bit of a harness racing news story last week
00:47:46and it stemmed from the doping trial.
00:47:50Adrienne Hall was a harness trainer
00:47:52who is a harness trainer and owner,
00:47:55who was one of two trainers to testify
00:47:57against Seth Fishman, who was convicted
00:47:59last week and faces up to 15 to 20 years
00:48:01in jail for his doping programs.
00:48:05The other guy we talked about last week
00:48:06was some kind of no-name guy in Ohio,
00:48:08but Adrienne Hall, I don't know how big
00:48:10of a name she was in harness racing,
00:48:11but she was a big enough name that the USTA,
00:48:13the US Trotting Association issued a ban
00:48:16on her before the Meadowlands last week.
00:48:19And Jeff Gural said that they would not
00:48:20scratch her horses over the weekend.
00:48:23Bill actually talked to her for a story
00:48:25that's going to come out either later today
00:48:27or tomorrow.
00:48:27I'm curious what she told him.
00:48:30Yeah, well, first off, John, as the news
00:48:32developed, first off, just to clarify,
00:48:35to fill in the blanks, she has as small
00:48:37time as they come.
00:48:38She has two horses, she's won a dozen,
00:48:4020 races in her entire career.
00:48:42So the first part of the story was that
00:48:44Jeff Gural of all people who has been,
00:48:46you know, the new sheriff coming
00:48:48into town, cleaning up the game,
00:48:50throwing people out left and right.
00:48:51He of all people said she can participate
00:48:55at the Meadowlands.
00:48:57And his reason being was he didn't want
00:48:58to discourage whistleblowers.
00:49:01You know, I don't, I see where Jeff
00:49:04is coming from, but I don't agree with him.
00:49:06I think that this admitting that you doped
00:49:10a horse to win a race is so egregious.
00:49:11You have something has to happen to you.
00:49:13Maybe not a lifetime ban, but maybe
00:49:15a two year ban or something like that.
00:49:18The USTA thing is not that big a deal.
00:49:21You don't need a USTA license to race anywhere.
00:49:24And then a couple of things I learned
00:49:26from talking to, first of all,
00:49:27I thought probably the talk about
00:49:29incompetent racing commissions.
00:49:32New Jersey makes Kentucky look like
00:49:33the smartest, best people that ever lived.
00:49:38I thought they probably didn't
00:49:38even know this had happened.
00:49:40I doubt they even realized that this
00:49:42has happened, but she said that
00:49:43they did call her in and they're
00:49:46investigating and they're going
00:49:47to do something to her.
00:49:49The so it's an interesting story.
00:49:51I did talk to her and a couple
00:49:53of takes from it.
00:49:54You know, she admitted she did wrong.
00:49:56But, you know, one of the reasons,
00:49:58not that it's OK or excuse everything,
00:50:00but I quote that I use what
00:50:01high up in the story.
00:50:03She said it's this is harness racing.
00:50:05Now she wasn't talking about
00:50:06thoroughbred racing.
00:50:07She said it's chemical warfare out there.
00:50:10How could I compete with guys whose
00:50:12horses just don't get tired?
00:50:15Wow.
00:50:15And that really hit the nail on the head.
00:50:17She also said Fishman was selling
00:50:20a lot of legitimate things like
00:50:21vitamins and electrolytes and whatnot,
00:50:24but said that he had a client list
00:50:26that included some huge names
00:50:27in standard bred racing.
00:50:29She wouldn't name any names,
00:50:30but but there's a lot there.
00:50:32And, you know, I think for now,
00:50:35the story is what Corral did.
00:50:38Does she or does she not deserve
00:50:40a second chance?
00:50:41And she did say that, you know,
00:50:43because of what she's gone through,
00:50:45which is the USTA getting
00:50:47roasted and social media,
00:50:49she said a lot of people are are
00:50:51mad at her for being a rat.
00:50:53And I think would be the exact opposite.
00:50:55The one thing she should nobody
00:50:57should be accusing her of
00:50:58is being a rat.
00:51:00You know, maybe she did it
00:51:01to save her own hide.
00:51:01But nonetheless, she said
00:51:03if she had to do it all over again,
00:51:05she'd have to think twice about this.
00:51:06And she does say that
00:51:08what has happened to me
00:51:09will and should discourage
00:51:12all future whistleblowers.
00:51:14Yeah, I mean, I kind of agree
00:51:16with Jeff Corral in general
00:51:18that this is, you know,
00:51:20this is kind of what you want to see
00:51:21now as these trials go forward.
00:51:24And I agree that, you know,
00:51:25there probably should be some
00:51:26sanction or some punishment.
00:51:28But I don't think a lifetime ban
00:51:29makes sense for someone who was doing
00:51:32what a lot of people were probably
00:51:34doing in the industry,
00:51:35but actually had the courage
00:51:36to come forward and admit it
00:51:38and try to implicate someone
00:51:39who was the enabler
00:51:41and the facilitator
00:51:42for that kind of behavior.
00:51:44And I think that's a that's
00:51:45I think that's a better argument.
00:51:47The chemical warfare thing
00:51:48is a better argument
00:51:49than when people get up there
00:51:50and they're like,
00:51:51but really, I was trying
00:51:52to save these horses.
00:51:53And, you know, this was
00:51:54this was something that was
00:51:55in my veterinary code
00:51:56to give these horses like PEDs,
00:51:58like there's a ridiculous argument
00:52:00that Seth Fishman tried to make.
00:52:01I think it makes more sense to say,
00:52:03what was I supposed to do?
00:52:04I was going to get
00:52:05chased out of the game
00:52:06if I didn't try to compete
00:52:08with these guys whose horses,
00:52:09as Bill said, don't get tired.
00:52:11I mean, that's I think
00:52:12that that's a big reason
00:52:13that a lot of people
00:52:14in thoroughbred racing do it.
00:52:15I don't think necessarily everyone
00:52:17that's ever juiced a horse
00:52:19is the worst person on the planet.
00:52:21I think sometimes there is
00:52:22there is mostly
00:52:23an economic interest in there
00:52:25and not being, you know,
00:52:27forced out of a game that you love.
00:52:29And we talked, you know,
00:52:30honestly, it reminds me
00:52:31of Travis Tiger.
00:52:31And we talked to Travis Tiger
00:52:33about doping and cycling.
00:52:34And he was saying that a lot of people
00:52:36had to do it, they thought,
00:52:38to compete with the Lance
00:52:39Armstrong's of the world.
00:52:40And that's an indictment
00:52:41of the system that allowed a guy
00:52:43like that to get to the top.
00:52:45And I think that that's kind of
00:52:46where racing is right now,
00:52:48that there are a lot of guys
00:52:49at the top that a lot of people
00:52:50have a lot of, I think,
00:52:51rightful suspicions about.
00:52:53And so if you're a small time
00:52:54trainer or a mid-level trainer,
00:52:56you have to think to yourself like,
00:52:57I'm not going to be able to survive
00:52:59if I can't compete with these guys.
00:53:01And I think that, you know,
00:53:02that argument at least
00:53:03makes a lot more sense
00:53:04than the I was just doing it
00:53:05for the for the horses benefit.
00:53:07Joe, one more thing
00:53:08that I wanted to bring up.
00:53:10So the question is,
00:53:12did she testify
00:53:14only to save her own butt
00:53:16that that she that
00:53:17the federal government said,
00:53:18look, we're either going to charge
00:53:19you along with Navarro
00:53:20Service and Fishman.
00:53:21You might be going to jail
00:53:23or cooperate with us.
00:53:24Or did she do it, you know,
00:53:26with with pure intentions
00:53:28to to bring down this guy
00:53:31in the stories that came out?
00:53:32It can be both.
00:53:34Well, maybe let me finish up
00:53:36and maybe you can decide.
00:53:37Yeah, I guess it can be.
00:53:39In the report coming out of it,
00:53:41it said that she did have
00:53:42an immunity deal
00:53:44with the process.
00:53:44She said told me
00:53:45that's absolutely not true,
00:53:46that they promised
00:53:47her absolutely nothing.
00:53:49And, you know, I don't think
00:53:51they're ever going to go out.
00:53:52I'm sure they're not
00:53:53going to go after her,
00:53:54try to prosecute her.
00:53:55But she said that, you know,
00:53:56I stuck my neck out
00:53:58because I wanted to
00:54:00help the government convict
00:54:01like a guy doing really bad things.
00:54:03So, you know, again,
00:54:04that's just her story.
00:54:06And she that's one of the reasons
00:54:08why she talked to me.
00:54:08She wanted to get that out there.
00:54:10Right. Yeah.
00:54:12Joe, you mentioned Travis Tigard,
00:54:15which just reminded me of something.
00:54:17I don't know if you guys saw
00:54:18and we talk about different sports.
00:54:19I don't know if you saw about baseball.
00:54:21One of the things that sunset
00:54:25was 20 years ago,
00:54:26the Major League Baseball said,
00:54:28OK, we're going to test for steroids.
00:54:30And they actually quoted
00:54:33Travis Tigard in articles
00:54:35where basically he was like,
00:54:36if this isn't back on the table,
00:54:38then what's to say that
00:54:39this isn't going to happen again
00:54:40in baseball,
00:54:41which I thought was very interesting.
00:54:43Just that they reached out
00:54:44to Travis Tigard.
00:54:45My thought immediately,
00:54:47my selfish thought immediately went to,
00:54:49well, it looks like USADA
00:54:50is not going to be involved
00:54:51in Major League Baseball,
00:54:52you know, drug testing anymore.
00:54:54So they have a lot of excess capacity.
00:54:55Now let's get back in there.
00:54:56How is that?
00:54:57We have an opportunity
00:54:58to get them back to the table.
00:54:59Baseball is baseball is a lost cause.
00:55:01Come on back, guys.
00:55:03Come on back.
00:55:04Come on back.
00:55:04I don't think there's a bigger story
00:55:06that baseball is going to stop
00:55:07testing for steroids.
00:55:08I don't know why that wasn't like
00:55:09leading all the talking head programs.
00:55:13Right.
00:55:13Well, it's because everyone's talking
00:55:14about whether or not
00:55:15there was a hearing on Monday.
00:55:17You know, in our sport.
00:55:20And the Eclipse Awards,
00:55:21which seamless transition
00:55:24is tomorrow night.
00:55:26It's a great day for racing.
00:55:29Obviously, there's a lot of clouds
00:55:30hanging over, you know,
00:55:32some of the Baffert stuff.
00:55:33And, you know, it's just
00:55:34there's a lot of messiness in racing.
00:55:36But I think the Eclipse Awards
00:55:37are a night to just to celebrate
00:55:38all the great horses
00:55:39and the great performances.
00:55:40Jim Clarkson and everybody
00:55:41at the Eclipse Awards
00:55:42does a great job.
00:55:43And I'm not just saying that
00:55:44because they gave me one,
00:55:45although that helps.
00:55:47That's it's it's a it's a great night.
00:55:49And it's, you know, I just
00:55:51it's a night to just put
00:55:52all this messiness to the side
00:55:54and just celebrate the horses
00:55:56and at least some of the connections.
00:55:58But there's I don't know.
00:55:59There's a little bit of new blood this year.
00:56:00Joel Rosario is going to win
00:56:02champion rider after Ira Ortiz
00:56:04won it three years in a row.
00:56:05And I think before that
00:56:05it was Jose.
00:56:06Before that, it was Javier
00:56:08for four straight years.
00:56:09So Rosario obviously deserves it.
00:56:11He had a monster monster year.
00:56:13And I wouldn't be surprised
00:56:14if he won another Eclipse Award
00:56:15or two in the future.
00:56:16He's just such a great big race rider.
00:56:19You know, he just seems to step it up
00:56:21in these big, great ones.
00:56:22So that's a little bit interesting.
00:56:24Brad Cox is going to win
00:56:25his second straight Eclipse Award.
00:56:27So I think you've seen
00:56:28like a little bit
00:56:28of the passing of the baton.
00:56:30You know, obviously,
00:56:30Todd Butcher and Chad Brown
00:56:32are still big kahunas in racing.
00:56:34But in terms of, you know,
00:56:35day to day winning races,
00:56:37I think that Brad Cox has
00:56:39has taken over them a little bit.
00:56:41I don't know if there's any Bill.
00:56:43You think there are any like
00:56:44really debates about
00:56:44who's going to win
00:56:45some of these categories?
00:56:46I wouldn't say debates.
00:56:47I think there's a couple divisions
00:56:48that are not no brainers.
00:56:51You know, the no brainer,
00:56:52like an Echo Zulu,
00:56:53should get 100% of the votes
00:56:55in the juvenile fillies.
00:56:56I put down, I just scribbled
00:56:57a couple of down turf,
00:56:58Philly Mayor turf,
00:57:00the sprint and the Philly
00:57:01and Mayor sprint
00:57:02headed by the mean who I
00:57:05it's disgrace.
00:57:05They haven't put her
00:57:06and made a special rule
00:57:07and put her in the Hall of Fame
00:57:08already, you know,
00:57:09ahead of schedule.
00:57:10But, you know, there's
00:57:12there's no nail biters here.
00:57:14One thing I'll say is somehow
00:57:15I got hoodwinked into covering
00:57:16the ceremony tomorrow night.
00:57:18It starts at eight o'clock.
00:57:20People, please keep your
00:57:21acceptance speeches short.
00:57:24Bill, I'll be right there with you.
00:57:25I'm closing the paper that night.
00:57:28What was I thinking?
00:57:29Yeah, yeah.
00:57:31I should have said, like,
00:57:31you know, I had to wash my hair
00:57:33on the story about
00:57:35about the eclipse is that
00:57:36it's being broadcast live.
00:57:39John, always the company, man.
00:57:40I forgot to mention that.
00:57:42Thank you, John.
00:57:43Yeah, you can watch it
00:57:44on the TDN website and Bill
00:57:45and I will be burning
00:57:46the midnight oil as these
00:57:48speeches go on and on and on.
00:57:50Well, that's what kind of
00:57:51what was nice about having
00:57:52it be virtual last year
00:57:54is they limited you.
00:57:56Like you could not have
00:57:57you cannot record a speech
00:57:58longer than however,
00:58:00like I think the schlubs
00:58:01like me got 30 seconds
00:58:02and the bigger people got
00:58:03like a couple of minutes at least.
00:58:05But I guess that Jesus.
00:58:09Bill, is that is that
00:58:11why is that why Bill
00:58:12and I weren't in your
00:58:13thank you speech?
00:58:14You can only thank so many people.
00:58:19I like how you got
00:58:20you got to your girlfriend,
00:58:21your family, your dog,
00:58:22and then that was it.
00:58:23And then, you know,
00:58:24and you did mention
00:58:25Patrick saying that you guys
00:58:27are the wind beneath my wings
00:58:29through everything
00:58:30I accomplish in this world.
00:58:33The TDN Writer's Room
00:58:34is brought to you
00:58:34by West Point Thoroughbreds.
00:58:36Joining a West Point
00:58:37Thoroughbreds partnership
00:58:37can vault you into the world
00:58:38of instant camaraderie
00:58:39among people surrounding
00:58:40high class horses
00:58:41and stakes action
00:58:43for a fraction of the cost
00:58:44of trying to do it on your own.
00:58:45You can learn more
00:58:46at westpointtb.com.
00:58:48West Point had two winners
00:58:49over the weekend with Chestertown,
00:58:51who's a very likable gray
00:58:53that runs in New York
00:58:54throughout the winter,
00:58:55won by over four lengths
00:58:56at Aqueduct and in SWAT analysis.
00:58:58John has an interest
00:58:59in that horse who won
00:59:00it Sunday on Fairgrounds,
00:59:02Louisiana bred.
00:59:03Congratulations, John
00:59:04and the partners.
00:59:05And West Point's Obezos,
00:59:07who ran in the Kentucky Derby
00:59:08last year and won
00:59:09his first start of 2022,
00:59:11is aiming for the grade three
00:59:12mine shaft stakes
00:59:13next week at Fairgrounds.
00:59:14So we're looking forward
00:59:15to seeing him develop
00:59:16as a four year old.
00:59:17We'll be right back
00:59:18with this message
00:59:18from West Point Thoroughbreds.
00:59:22All the thrills.
00:59:26Fraction of the bills.
00:59:30Experience the power
00:59:32of the partnership.
00:59:36Change your life,
00:59:37make new friends
00:59:38and compete at the highest level
00:59:40of thoroughbred racing.
00:59:44West Point Thoroughbreds,
00:59:45the gold standard
00:59:46in racing partnerships.
00:59:48Visit westpointtb.com.
00:59:51Being a small family business,
00:59:52I guess we're part
00:59:53of a dying breed.
00:59:54We're really grateful
00:59:55for the people that entrust us.
00:59:57We know it's a huge responsibility.
00:59:59We're always with your horse.
01:00:01Every step of the way
01:00:02when it comes to being
01:00:03at the sales ground,
01:00:04showing your horses,
01:00:05we are with your horse.
01:00:07Just driving up down the road
01:00:08every day.
01:00:09There's not a time
01:00:09that I don't look out
01:00:10and feel a responsibility
01:00:11to the sport, the animal,
01:00:13the people that come
01:00:14to invest in the game.
01:00:15I want to see as many people
01:00:16enjoy this sport
01:00:17as they possibly can,
01:00:18because we do have
01:00:18the most beautiful sport
01:00:19in the world.
01:00:23The TDN Writers Room
01:00:24is brought to you
01:00:24by Legacy Bloodstock.
01:00:26Do you think that 50 years
01:00:27combined experience
01:00:28in the horse business
01:00:29could benefit your program?
01:00:30Give Tommy or Wendy a call.
01:00:32They personally advise
01:00:33on each horse
01:00:33as if they were their own.
01:00:35Legacy has 17 winning
01:00:36sales grads already in 2022.
01:00:38That's almost impossible.
01:00:39That's a great number
01:00:41for a year.
01:00:42It's only a month old.
01:00:4317 winning sales grads.
01:00:44Our most recent winner
01:00:45was Music Festival,
01:00:46who broke her maiden
01:00:47at Golden Gate.
01:00:48She was purchased in utero
01:00:49for $120,000 in 2019.
01:00:53Just wanted to mention this
01:00:54before we sign off.
01:00:55This was something
01:00:56that got a lot
01:00:56of horse players mad.
01:00:58In general, horse players
01:00:59are a very ornery group,
01:01:00but I think most of the time
01:01:02they have a legitimate beef.
01:01:04And this was definitely
01:01:05a legitimate beef
01:01:06on Sunday at Tampa Bay Downs.
01:01:08We had a major pick five
01:01:09carryover.
01:01:10I think it was a little
01:01:10over $90,000,
01:01:12which was a 15% takeout.
01:01:14You can't really,
01:01:15in a 50 cent minimum,
01:01:17can't really beat that
01:01:17in terms of value in racing.
01:01:20So they had no rain.
01:01:23The turf course was firm
01:01:24for the first part
01:01:25of the card, I believe.
01:01:26And then about 10, 15 minutes
01:01:28before the fifth race,
01:01:30which was the start
01:01:30of the pick five,
01:01:31was set to go off.
01:01:33They took the remaining
01:01:34races off the turf.
01:01:35So there were three turf
01:01:36races in the sequence.
01:01:37They took them all off the grass,
01:01:39which is something
01:01:40that you would think
01:01:41they could have made
01:01:42that decision earlier
01:01:43in the card.
01:01:44But nevertheless,
01:01:45if you're going to make
01:01:46that decision before
01:01:47the fifth race,
01:01:48you have to extend
01:01:49the post time.
01:01:49You have to extend
01:01:50the post time at least
01:01:51another 10, 15, 20 minutes.
01:01:53People put hours
01:01:54into handicapping
01:01:55these sequences.
01:01:56And you're going to
01:01:56completely change it
01:01:5810, 15 minutes
01:01:59before the first race goes off.
01:02:01I think that's
01:02:01totally unacceptable.
01:02:02I think you have to have
01:02:03more respect for people's
01:02:04time and people's work
01:02:06in handicapping these races.
01:02:07And then to put the cherry on top,
01:02:09there were there were
01:02:10horses that were scratching
01:02:12in the later races
01:02:13as the horses were
01:02:14loading into the gate
01:02:15for the first race
01:02:16of the sequence,
01:02:17which is just
01:02:19for the life of me,
01:02:19I cannot understand
01:02:21why tracks cannot
01:02:22get these things right.
01:02:23Like this should be
01:02:24the easy stuff.
01:02:25We talk all day in racing
01:02:27about all the systemic
01:02:28problems we have
01:02:29and all the really
01:02:31perplexing and vexing issues
01:02:33that we need to get
01:02:34past in racing.
01:02:34This should be the easy stuff.
01:02:36Just show respect
01:02:37for the people
01:02:38who are funding the game.
01:02:39And especially in
01:02:40a circumstance like this,
01:02:41where you're already
01:02:43you're already screwing them
01:02:44and making their previous
01:02:45handicapping completely
01:02:46null and void
01:02:47to then be scratching
01:02:48horses as they go in the gate
01:02:50to pressing people's payouts.
01:02:52This should be easy, guys.
01:02:53You've got to have
01:02:54more respect for the
01:02:55horse players in this.
01:02:56It just makes no sense to me
01:02:58how tracks struggle
01:02:59every single,
01:03:00almost every single time,
01:03:01but like way too often
01:03:03to get we go back to
01:03:04the Breeders' Cup
01:03:04juvenile turf thing.
01:03:05Like, you know,
01:03:06at least that was
01:03:07a little bit more
01:03:07complicated than this.
01:03:08This was an easy one, guys.
01:03:09Just extend the post times,
01:03:11have all the scratches in,
01:03:12and give people
01:03:13at least 20, 30 minutes
01:03:14to redo their players.
01:03:16I think they turned
01:03:17a lot of people off.
01:03:17And I like Tampa.
01:03:18I think Tampa does a good job.
01:03:19They have low takeout.
01:03:20They have a nice turf course,
01:03:21except when they take races
01:03:22off the turf
01:03:23when there's no rain.
01:03:24And I think overall
01:03:25they do a good job.
01:03:26They have good simulcast feed.
01:03:27And, you know,
01:03:28they're good on social media,
01:03:30press releases,
01:03:30all that kind of stuff.
01:03:32But none of it matters
01:03:33unless you treat
01:03:33the players right.
01:03:34And this was a big slap
01:03:36in the face towards players.
01:03:37And I think they have a right
01:03:38to be outraged over it.
01:03:39All right.
01:03:40So that's going to do it
01:03:41for this week's edition
01:03:41of the TDN Writers' Room
01:03:42presented by Keeneland.
01:03:43A reminder that the
01:03:44Keeneland Spring Meet
01:03:45runs April 8th
01:03:46through the 29th.
01:03:47You can buy tickets
01:03:47starting next Tuesday,
01:03:49February 15th
01:03:50at tickets.keeneland.com.
01:03:52I want to thank Bill Finley,
01:03:53John Green,
01:03:54our Green Group guest of the week,
01:03:55Todd Pletcher,
01:03:56our producer, Patty Wolf,
01:03:57our associate producer,
01:03:58Katie Petruniak,
01:03:59and our editors,
01:04:00Anthony LaRocca,
01:04:01Aaliyah LaRocca,
01:04:02and Nathan Wilkinson.
01:04:03Thank you so much for watching.
01:04:04Enjoy the Eclipse Awards
01:04:06and the Super Bowl.