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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 908 Wednesday, April 6th.
00:00:27This is the TDN Writer's Room, presented by Keeneland.
00:00:29My name is Joe Bianca, I'm the Associate Editor of the Thoroughbred Daily News.
00:00:32If you look all around you, the rites of spring are here, flowers are blooming, Keeneland
00:00:37opens in two days, the birds have returned north, and Bill Finley is ready to start complaining
00:00:41about the Red Sox again.
00:00:43Hi, I'm Bill Finley, the Red Sox complainer, and I'm a correspondent for the Thoroughbred
00:00:47Daily News.
00:00:48And I'm not going to worry about baseball just yet, I'll get psyched for tomorrow.
00:00:51But I got a question for you guys that's been keeping me up at night.
00:00:55And you know, in racing media, we want to be right about things.
00:00:58Everybody keeps calling it the Jeff Ruby Steaks.
00:01:01Isn't it the Jeff Ruby Steaks Steaks?
00:01:02Good question.
00:01:03I think about it.
00:01:06It's S-T-E-A-K is Steaks for his restaurant.
00:01:09It's the Jeff Ruby Steaks Steaks.
00:01:11Nobody calls it that.
00:01:12You know what, Bill?
00:01:13That was a rare moment of you being well done.
00:01:20I prefer to be rare, actually.
00:01:22Yes, exactly.
00:01:23You see what I did there?
00:01:24I got you.
00:01:25Jonathan Green, General Manager of DJ Stable.
00:01:29And I want to thank, genuinely thank everyone for their thoughts and kind words and support.
00:01:35As you can see, I did run the 5K.
00:01:38I broke through a personal best.
00:01:40You can see the photo, Patty will put it up there.
00:01:43That is really me that is not doctored because God knows if I was doctoring it, I'd make
00:01:47myself look even skinnier.
00:01:48But thank you for everyone that broke through and did a lifetime best.
00:01:5428.58, Joe and Bill.
00:01:5528.58.
00:01:56Good job, Jon.
00:01:57Good job.
00:01:58It's still a little bit left in the tank.
00:01:59So I'm signed up for another one on May 15th.
00:02:0228.58, geared down at the wire, I'm sure.
00:02:06Gearing down.
00:02:07That's exactly what it said in the past performance.
00:02:10It said gearing down.
00:02:11The only problem was I would have gone a little faster, but Paco Lopez was riding one of the
00:02:15other contestants and kept bumping into me.
00:02:20And Jon, I want to let you know, I talked to Andy Byer himself last night.
00:02:23He got a 53.
00:02:24Oh, 53.
00:02:25This is just a prep for the marathon, right, Jon?
00:02:28There you go.
00:02:29No, no, I'm a sprinter.
00:02:30That's why I love Gamin so much, because I am a pure sprinter to hell with the two turns.
00:02:37So yourself and her, that's great.
00:02:40The TDN Riders Room was brought to you by Keeneland.
00:02:42Mark your calendars for the April Horses of Racing Age sale after the races on closing
00:02:46day of the Spring Meet, which is Friday, April 29th.
00:02:50An opening day of the Spring Meet is just two days away.
00:02:52It's a phenomenal car, going to be a great weekend of racing.
00:02:56We cannot wait for that Keeneland Spring Meet to open its doors.
00:03:00So we're halfway home in the major derby, the final round of derby preps.
00:03:05Last weekend we had the Florida Derby and the Arkansas Derby.
00:03:07This weekend coming up, we've got the Wood Memorial, the Santa Anita Derby, as well as
00:03:12the Bluegrass at Keeneland.
00:03:13The big story of the weekend was Secret Oath.
00:03:16I thought she had a terrible ride, and I thought she deserved much better than that
00:03:20in that race.
00:03:21And I thought in Florida, White and Barrio ran a really good race.
00:03:25I thought clearly that was the better prep of the two that looked like that going in.
00:03:30Definitely did not disappoint in that regard.
00:03:32What'd you guys take away from the weekend?
00:03:34Well, it took away a lot, John.
00:03:36Excuse me, Joe.
00:03:37Let's start with Secret Oath.
00:03:39And I do agree on the ride, by the way.
00:03:41I mean, I don't think it cost her the race, but it was kind of erratic, and maybe he moved
00:03:46too soon and asked too much of her.
00:03:48Just to let you know, Luis Contreras is the rider, and he's a good rider.
00:03:51He rides at Woodbine, but he's not in the same league with the Ortizes and the Rosarios
00:03:56and the Flavian Prats.
00:03:57I asked Wayne Lucas if he would make a rider change.
00:03:59He said absolutely not.
00:04:00He's sticking with them.
00:04:01So I was a little bit surprised to hear that.
00:04:03But anyway, so much to go over, but I guess, like you said, Secret Oath was the biggest
00:04:07story.
00:04:08She ran great, absolutely great.
00:04:11And did she run well enough to merit a start in the Kentucky Derby?
00:04:14No.
00:04:15It was a big test.
00:04:16It made all the sense in the world to do it.
00:04:18It was a smart move.
00:04:19I mean, they were six to five, or was it seven to five?
00:04:22Six to five or seven to five in a $1.25 million race with Kentucky Derby points on the line.
00:04:28And she ran great.
00:04:30Looks like now that it's going to set up for what is, by the way, no one's paid a whole
00:04:33lot of attention to the Kentucky Oaks, but that field is loaded, I mean, absolutely loaded
00:04:37with her, Echo Zulu, Kathleen O, who won over the weekend, Nest, who goes in the Central
00:04:42Bank, Ashland at Keeneland.
00:04:44So that was the big story there.
00:04:46And Lucas also said that, you know, he says, don't be surprised if we try something like
00:04:50this again.
00:04:51She somehow won the Kentucky Oaks.
00:04:53Maybe the greatness, maybe the greatness for her.
00:04:55The winner, Cyberknife, you know, can you get real excited about him?
00:04:59Probably not.
00:05:00He just came off an allowance win.
00:05:01He had the Brad Cox factor with him.
00:05:04Then White Iberia was very good.
00:05:06If anyone read my TDN Week in Review, I just slobbered all over Chargett.
00:05:11I thought he was great in that race.
00:05:15Absolutely great for his third lifetime start.
00:05:17He ran greenly.
00:05:18He lugged in, lugged out.
00:05:19You know, if we want to have a future book on the Travers or something like that, I'm
00:05:23making him the favorite.
00:05:24I don't know if he can win the Kentucky Derby, but I love his potential and what he showed.
00:05:29And Tis the Bomb wins the Jeff Ruby Stakes.
00:05:32And now Ken McPeak, who we're going to hear from in today's show, tells us it's likely
00:05:36to go on for the Kentucky Derby, which would, for now, mean a trip over to Europe.
00:05:41Nice horse, but can he win on the dirt against that level?
00:05:45I don't think so.
00:05:47And to me, the big races or the big horses to talk about weren't even necessarily the
00:05:52winners of the Derby preps.
00:05:54And Bill, you hit the nail on the head with Chargett.
00:05:58That's why I picked him, actually, for the contest, because he's just so impressive and
00:06:02he's so green and inexperienced, and you could see it going down the stretch.
00:06:06He didn't know if he wanted to go right or left or forward or sideways.
00:06:10I mean, he was all over the place and is definitely a horse to watch in these more classic distances.
00:06:17He's still a legitimate horse, again, bred up the wazoo, a tappet out of an Indian Charlie
00:06:21mare. And I'm just excited for that horse.
00:06:26Again, not that we're the be all and end all experts, but once again, we hit the
00:06:31superfecta. Our picks were the first, second, third and fourth place finishers in the
00:06:36Kirtland, Florida Derby, with Joe's White Abario winning.
00:06:40My Chargett finished second, Al's Simplification third and Bill's Papa Cap finishing
00:06:45fourth. So again, guys, I know we're not handicappers, but man, just
00:06:50For yourself.
00:06:52Exactly. Give yourself a tennis elbow, pat on yourselves on the back.
00:06:55I'm a handicapped show, John.
00:06:57You can't say that I'm not a handicapper.
00:06:59The rest of us aren't a handicapper, right?
00:07:03You know, you're above and beyond.
00:07:05You're above reproach when it comes to handicapping.
00:07:07Just making sure. With your own spinoff, you know, Laverne and Shirley show.
00:07:11Yes, exactly. You're riding the coattails of all your success right now, buddy.
00:07:17The other race that I thought was really or the other horse I thought was really, really
00:07:21impressive is Kathleen Oak.
00:07:22Can we just talk about her for a couple of minutes here in the Gulfstream, winning the
00:07:26Gulfstream Park Oaks?
00:07:27You know, not only does she stay undefeated and she won kind of in a, you know, in a
00:07:31hand ride when she switched leads and kept going, but she and the second place
00:07:36finisher got us a fire in that race.
00:07:37We're 17 lengths up on the rest of the field, 17 lengths on the rest of the on the rest
00:07:41of the field. And I know it wasn't the stellar group that you normally see for the
00:07:46Oaks, but Kathleen Oak just really impressed me.
00:07:49And and, you know, first and foremost, she hit my radar when she sold for two hundred
00:07:53seventy five thousand as a two year old, which for an upstart, that's a lot of money to
00:07:57pay. And and I got to give the old hand, Chug McGahee, a lot of credit for that.
00:08:01A lot of credit. You know, he's doing it the right way.
00:08:04He broke her maiden going seven eighths.
00:08:07Then he stretched her out to a one turn mile when she won the cash run, gave her a
00:08:11little bit of time. She won again coming back in the Devonet Dale.
00:08:14And now she went two turns for the first time here in the Gulfstream Park Oaks.
00:08:18And guys, I know we've said it before, but how good is that?
00:08:22Is that Oaks race looking in comparison to the Derby?
00:08:25I know Bill just said it as well, but I mean, you know, I think dollar for dollar that
00:08:30the Oaks is going to be a more exciting race than the Derby is at this point.
00:08:34And I don't remember saying that in the past few years.
00:08:37It always seems like that, you know, the Derby has been the dominant story in this.
00:08:40But if I was, you know, not that I work for, you know, for for any of the publications,
00:08:45but you almost have to make them front page at this point, the Oaks, because these
00:08:49fillies are really, really talented.
00:08:51And that race is coming together to be maybe one of the top three races of the year.
00:08:56That's how that's how impressive I think the group is going to be.
00:08:59At least the top four or five are going to be.
00:09:02Again, we spoke to Kenny McPeak about Tis the Bomb.
00:09:06You know, I've heard from people that if you can run on the Churchill Down, if you can
00:09:11run on the poly, then it's similar packed to the way that the Churchill Downs racetrack
00:09:18is in late April, early May.
00:09:20I don't know if I can subscribe to that theory, but I guess we're probably going to
00:09:25see it with Hit the Bomb and, you know, see how that horse can transition over to, you
00:09:34know, to a dirt racetrack.
00:09:36But, you know, Tis the Bomb ran exactly the way it was supposed to.
00:09:39He went by those horses and he and Tawny Point, excuse me, I guess are going to be
00:09:43earning enough points and heading to the Derby.
00:09:46But to me, you know, Chargett, who ran second in the Florida Derby and Kathleen O, who
00:09:53won the Oaks, those were the stories for me for the weekend.
00:09:56To follow up on some of that stuff, I'm shocked that they're not going to change
00:10:00jockeys on on Secret Oath.
00:10:02You know, no disrespect to Luis Contreras.
00:10:04I don't have anything against him personally, but I think that's twice in a row that he's
00:10:08given her a pretty bad ride in the honeybee, even though she won off by a lot of lengths.
00:10:13I thought that, you know, he kind of got her into unnecessary trouble in that race.
00:10:19And in this race, she was just way too far out of it.
00:10:21And it was a very hesitant ride.
00:10:24It seemed like he was unwilling to hit holes or go inside horses or around horses.
00:10:29And then she made that big move and just flattened out in the stretch.
00:10:32She really honestly had nothing to be disgraced about in that race.
00:10:35I thought she ran terrific, like you guys are saying.
00:10:38And John's right.
00:10:39John said this actually a couple of weeks ago.
00:10:41We were talking about how there hadn't really been any breakout performances from the
00:10:45Phillies yet. And he said, just give it a little bit of time.
00:10:49We're going to see some big races.
00:10:50And we've seen that.
00:10:51We saw, you know, Secret Oath, even though she didn't win a big race in the Arkansas
00:10:55Derby. I really liked Echo Zulu's race in the Fairgrounds Oaks.
00:10:58And then, like you guys said, Kathleen O was crazy impressive in that race.
00:11:03You know, Goddess of Fire, I think, is a nice horse.
00:11:05She's gotten a little bit unlucky.
00:11:06I think she moved a little bit early in that Fairgrounds race.
00:11:09And the Rachel Alexandrin just got run down late by Turner Luce.
00:11:13Yeah. And on Saturday, she just was second best to a really, really good horse.
00:11:17As you mentioned, they were well clear of the rest of the field.
00:11:19The rest of that field was pretty much a joke.
00:11:22But those two definitely ran big races.
00:11:24And Kathleen O, very exciting horse.
00:11:26I think, honestly, I would make her the favorite at this point in the Oaks.
00:11:30I know she's not going to be because Secret Oath has so much buzz.
00:11:33And I think, you know, Echo Zulu obviously as a champion has a lot of buzz, too.
00:11:38But I don't know if Kathleen O is three to one or seven to two in the Oaks.
00:11:42I think that's pretty good value with the way she's looked.
00:11:44She's just been so impressive.
00:11:46And just like you guys are saying, has taken that step forward every single time.
00:11:50And Shug is great at that.
00:11:52He's great at getting those horses to develop kind of uniformly along the way.
00:11:56And, you know, daughter of Upstart, built an interesting story on the owner recently
00:12:00when she first was coming on the scene.
00:12:02It was like his first horse or two that he bought at auction.
00:12:06So that's always interesting.
00:12:07That's always fun to see people who are new to the game be successful right off the jump.
00:12:12Just, you know, just to piggyback on the Florida Derby discussion,
00:12:17you know, that was a little bit of a stagger fest late.
00:12:19And I thought White Abaro, I think, you know, even though he he got a lower figure
00:12:23than Kathleen O, he got a 96, you know, I thought he ran clearly the best race.
00:12:28You know, charge it.
00:12:29You can say, you know, he's a little green and cost himself the race.
00:12:32I would agree with that.
00:12:34But I don't know.
00:12:34I thought White Abaro did more of the hard work in that race.
00:12:37So I thought he was he was pretty clearly best.
00:12:39I want to say simplification moved a little bit early.
00:12:41I think those top three, I think I would take those top three from the Florida Derby
00:12:46over anybody that I saw in the Arkansas Derby.
00:12:48You know, maybe Secret Oath and the Preakness could make some noise.
00:12:51But in terms of in four and a half weeks from now, I want I don't want any of those
00:12:56horses out of the Arkansas Derby.
00:12:57I'd rather take the horse from the Florida Derby.
00:12:58And one other horse I wanted to mention was Gufo, who came back with the Pan American
00:13:03stakes on Saturday at Gulfstream.
00:13:05And he was incredibly good looking in that race.
00:13:08And he's you know, he's a legitimate grade one turf animal.
00:13:11He took a little bit of time off.
00:13:13You know, he last run in the Breeders' Cup.
00:13:15He did not run well in the Breeders' Cup.
00:13:16He was well up the track, totally empty.
00:13:19But he had run some big races in grade one spots throughout the year.
00:13:22And this was you know, this was a grade two, grade three type field.
00:13:26But he was right.
00:13:27He ran past a bond like he was standing still in the stretch, kind of two to his one
00:13:32strides type thing.
00:13:33And, you know, I think he's definitely a horse to look for in the turf division going
00:13:37forward, because I don't know, off the top of my head, I can't think of any real
00:13:41star turf horses we have right now.
00:13:43You know, Colonel Liam won the Pegasus World Cup, but I don't think he's really
00:13:46scaring anybody away in some of these grade one races later in the year.
00:13:49So Gufo, I think, is definitely one to watch later in the year.
00:13:52Off the layoff, five months off, going a mile and a half, just blew by him in the
00:13:56stretch. Super, super impressive, I thought.
00:13:59Yeah, Joe, I thought, you know, it's funny because I forgot to mention Gufo.
00:14:02I have him marked right here on my on my form.
00:14:05But how about this?
00:14:06And you got to give, you know, Clement, you know, a lot of credit.
00:14:10He took the blinkers off the horse this time and the horse had all he had done was
00:14:14win a grade one sword dancer wearing blinkers.
00:14:17And for whatever reason, he opted to take the blinkers off for this race, you know,
00:14:22for the Pan American.
00:14:23And the horse responded.
00:14:25So maybe it's just, you know, sometimes horses get into ruts and you need to change
00:14:29things up on them to kind of, you know, encourage them or surprise them a little bit.
00:14:33And I don't know if that was the rationale behind taking the blinkers off or not.
00:14:36But kudos to, you know, to Clement for making that decision.
00:14:41And and the horse really responded.
00:14:43So, yeah, I don't get excited usually about watching mile and a half turf races.
00:14:47But Gufo, you have to give a tip of the cap to all that are, you know, it's all the
00:14:52humans that are involved with that horse because they are campaigning him really,
00:14:56really well. And you're right.
00:14:57He is quickly at the top of that division with regard to all the horses that can go
00:15:02long on the turf. We know there's going to be some Euros that will come in to run up
00:15:06against him. But man, that was a really impressive race, you know, especially knocking
00:15:11the rust off because the horse hadn't run since the Breeders' Cup.
00:15:14Well, it was interesting, too, because he put the blinkers on.
00:15:16If you remember, he had that race where he ran third behind domestic spending in the
00:15:20Manhattan and he took like a right turn in the middle of the stretch.
00:15:23And then Clement put the blinkers on after that and he'd run in blinkers for four
00:15:27starts. And then after the Breeders' Cup turf, they decided to go in the other
00:15:31direction. You would think the Man O' War or the Manhattan is next for him.
00:15:34Five-year-old son of Declaration of War.
00:15:37So, yeah, I thought he was of the undercard races, was the star of the weekend.
00:15:42The TDN Writer's Room is brought to you, as always, by Keeneland.
00:15:44We're just days away from opening weekend at Keeneland.
00:15:47Opening weekend features 10 stakes worth four point five five million dollars.
00:15:51You already have the entries for Friday's race, Friday's races with an eight horse
00:15:55field in the grade one Central Mac Ashland headlined by two to one morning line
00:15:59favorite Nest, who John mentioned earlier, as well as cocktail moments.
00:16:02We're going to talk to Kenny McPeak about later.
00:16:05Also on Friday, we'll have the grade three Transylvania stakes.
00:16:07You know, it's overall a tremendous card, as you would expect on opening day from
00:16:11Keeneland. We have one claiming race.
00:16:13The rest are straight maidens, allowances and stakes.
00:16:17Of course, we started with the two year olds going four and a half furlongs.
00:16:20And I think one of the things that's interesting about those two year old races,
00:16:22it used to just be Wesley Ward and then a bunch of nobodies.
00:16:25I think there's going to be more horses that can potentially challenge Wesley
00:16:29Ward's forces in the two year old races this week.
00:16:32But we got our first baby race of the season.
00:16:34And of course, the stakes with featuring coinage.
00:16:38John, how excited are you?
00:16:40I'm beyond excited to have a horse like coinage represent us in the grade three
00:16:45Transylvania at Keeneland is like a dream come true.
00:16:50And the fact that he's in a six horse field, which is really unusual at Keeneland
00:16:54to have anything less than a full starting gate.
00:16:57So we're really excited about his possibilities.
00:17:00I think he's probably going to be one of the favorites, if not the favorite.
00:17:03I know Grand Motion's got a really nice horse named Cy Dog, who's undefeated,
00:17:06who will be coming down here to Keeneland as well.
00:17:09And Verbal, who's a Juddmont homebred of Chad Brown's, is also undefeated.
00:17:15So it's not an easy race, but but certainly we're excited.
00:17:18And I wouldn't trade my horse for anybody else in the race right now.
00:17:23The other race that is really exciting for me again, you know, the Ashland is
00:17:26always a must see TV for me personally.
00:17:30But how about this, guys?
00:17:31There's there's five Keeneland grads in the race, five horses
00:17:35that are in that are in the field that sold through Keeneland as a yearling.
00:17:40You know, and you have starting with Nest,
00:17:43was a really nice daughter of Kerlin out of an AP Indy mare,
00:17:46you know, who was almost undefeated.
00:17:48You know, she she won three races and lost another one by three quarters of a length.
00:17:52Happy soul. You talk about Wesley Ward and getting horses ready.
00:17:55Another run happy that seems to be doing well.
00:17:58They're trying to stretch her out for the first time to go two turns in this race.
00:18:01And then you have cocktail moments who we talked a little bit about with Kenny
00:18:05McPeak, you know, about how she's starting to trend in that direction.
00:18:09And he mentioned that he he wants to step her up a little bit in class.
00:18:13And he's a hometown guy, which is why he's running her in the Ashland,
00:18:15as opposed to one of the other preps.
00:18:17But top to bottom, it is a really strong group of fillies
00:18:21that are going to be in that race.
00:18:22And, you know, a couple of them are going to graduate into the Oaks.
00:18:25And you already know that's going to be a very deep field.
00:18:27So Keeneland, kudos to Keeneland for putting together such a great card.
00:18:30The first day, I think it's really apropos, like Joe said,
00:18:34that they're running a two year old race, the first thing out of the gate.
00:18:37I think that's that that's the immediate sign that spring is here.
00:18:41And it should be a great, great weekend of racing at Keeneland.
00:18:45I'm really excited.
00:18:46I'm glad that we're going to be a part of it.
00:18:48And let's go coinage.
00:18:51Yeah, and let's look at the weather.
00:18:52It might be a little bit colder than normal this weekend,
00:18:54but it looks completely dry.
00:18:56So hopefully the weather cooperates throughout the meet.
00:18:59But yeah, cannot wait for those Keeneland races.
00:19:01And I got to root for CyDog, because, you know, just a little hunch play.
00:19:05I have a dog named Cy.
00:19:06So it's a little spelled differently.
00:19:08It's not spelled S-Y.
00:19:09But if John doesn't win, we're rooting for CyDog, OK?
00:19:12We'll leave it at that.
00:19:13Thank you. Thank you, Joe. I appreciate that.
00:19:15Otherwise, you're going to have to change your dog's name to coinage.
00:19:19That's what I get for not making him a rising star.
00:19:22Exactly. See, I'll show you.
00:19:24I whisper in his ear every time I see him.
00:19:26It's Joe Bianca who screwed you out of being a rising star.
00:19:30And he's like,
00:19:33that's my that's my coinage impersonation.
00:19:36Sounds just like him.
00:19:37We'll be right back after this message from Keeneland.
00:19:42With all eyes on the bluegrass this spring,
00:19:44there's no better way to take in the action than Friday, April 29th at Keeneland.
00:19:51And they're off.
00:19:52We get into it with hip number one.
00:19:54Good luck.
00:19:54Featuring a day filled with world class racing,
00:19:57followed by a unique sales experience in the evening.
00:20:00The April Horses of Racing Age Sale.
00:20:03After the races on closing day of the spring.
00:20:08Follow the action this April to Keeneland.
00:20:11Maximum security proves he's the real deal
00:20:14with a gate to wire win in the Florida Derby.
00:20:17Champion three year old.
00:20:18Maximum security has won the TVG.com Haskell Invitational.
00:20:24Eleven triple digit buyers.
00:20:26Maximum security.
00:20:28He smoked them in the cigar mile.
00:20:30Grade one winning four year old.
00:20:32Maximum security takes them all the way in the TVG Pacific Classic.
00:20:37Secure your mayor's future.
00:20:39Maximum security.
00:20:42The TDN Riders Room is brought to you by Coolmore.
00:20:44At the Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Sale,
00:20:46Freshman Sire Justify was represented by the top priced coal of the sale.
00:20:50The juvenile out of grade one producer,
00:20:52winner, grade one winner and producer,
00:20:54Appealing Zofie brought $1.1 million.
00:20:56Meanwhile, his stud mate, Uncle Mo,
00:20:58another one of the top sellers of the auction with an $800,000
00:21:02coal out of Lady Tapit.
00:21:04Uncle Mo also represented with a new graded stakes winner
00:21:07this past weekend with Family Way.
00:21:08Looked very good winning the grade three Orchid Stakes
00:21:11at Gulfstream for Brennan Walsh.
00:21:13She had a big day on Saturday.
00:21:14She's one of 10 stakes performers and three stakes winners for Uncle Mo in 2022.
00:21:19We talked about the two year old race right out of the gate
00:21:22and on opening day, Kingland.
00:21:23Two horses in that field are by Ashford Sire,
00:21:26or sons of Ashford, first Crap Sire Motown.
00:21:30So we'll definitely have an eye on those horses like Motown.
00:21:32Definitely an interesting son of Uncle Mo.
00:21:34Could have a big first year.
00:21:36He was a very nice two year old.
00:21:37So we'll be looking at his horses as well.
00:21:39You know, maybe we'll see Cupid along the way,
00:21:43somewhere here in April.
00:21:44Tease.
00:21:45Yep.
00:21:46And Joe, don't forget,
00:21:47Modonical is going to be running in the Wood Memorial.
00:21:49True that.
00:21:50Yep.
00:21:51Definitely an under the radar Derby contender.
00:21:53I expect a big race out of him on Saturday.
00:21:56So in this week's segment of Trainers Behaving Badly,
00:21:59we've got updates on all of your favorite bad boys
00:22:02in the training game.
00:22:03First off, Bob Baffert, not necessarily a bad boy
00:22:06like the other guys we're going to mention,
00:22:07but he's finally going to start serving his suspension.
00:22:11It began April 4th, which was two days ago.
00:22:13The last stays were denied for him and Amr Zidane
00:22:17by the Kentucky Court of Appeals.
00:22:19It also was reported earlier this week
00:22:21that Baffert's legal team is withdrawing,
00:22:23at least for now, the complaint against Churchill Downs.
00:22:27So they are retaining the option
00:22:30of picking that back up later on.
00:22:32Cause remember he's banned for this year's Derby
00:22:35and the 2023 Derby.
00:22:37So, you know, at least for now they're finally,
00:22:39finally, I think signaling a little bit of a retreat,
00:22:42which I think is, you know, a welcome change for us all
00:22:45because all of this stuff has been dragging on for so long
00:22:47and we're so tired of talking about it.
00:22:49But I mean, you guys tell me if I'm wrong.
00:22:51I think the world will go on
00:22:53as long as Bob Baffert is on suspension.
00:22:55I think when he comes back,
00:22:56all of those horses are going to get back into his barn,
00:22:59you know, and I just think that it was,
00:23:01it was just such a ridiculous argument this whole time
00:23:04that his career was going to be shattered
00:23:06by this 90 day suspension.
00:23:07But, you know, what do you think?
00:23:09Do you think there's any chance
00:23:10that he loses any of these horses permanently?
00:23:12No, Joe, you're absolutely right.
00:23:13He's not going to lose any of these horses.
00:23:15I don't know much about the guy
00:23:16that's still an in from Sean McCarthy,
00:23:18kind of a veteran trainer.
00:23:19Apparently his wife works as a bookkeeper for, for Baffert.
00:23:24And we also have the other horses,
00:23:25the more high profile horses going over to Tim Yaktin,
00:23:28the first of which Doppelganger didn't run a step
00:23:30in the Arkansas Derby.
00:23:31So, you know, to me, I'm glad only that now we finally
00:23:36sort of have a resolution to this.
00:23:38There's still going to be more legal crap,
00:23:41but we can pretty much move on now.
00:23:43He's got a suspension.
00:23:44He's got the 90 days.
00:23:45He's had to disband his barn in Southern California
00:23:48because of the CHRB rule.
00:23:50Sean McCarthy will be the trainer through early July.
00:23:54Then Delmar will come around.
00:23:55They'll all go back.
00:23:56All the horses will go back to Baffert.
00:23:57And you're right.
00:23:59You know, he's still got the likelihood
00:24:01of not being able to run in the 2023 Kentucky Derby.
00:24:04But once that's out of the way,
00:24:06he'll go right back to being Bob Baffert.
00:24:09You know, they needed to make this argument,
00:24:10the legal argument about how it's irreparable damage
00:24:12to his career to try to get the injunction,
00:24:14which they couldn't get.
00:24:16But, you know, and I just wonder
00:24:18if you give him some truth serum,
00:24:20would you say, Bob, was this really all worth it
00:24:22to go through all this, to wind up getting nothing less
00:24:27than what you would have got in the first place
00:24:28if he just said, my bad, I did it.
00:24:30See you in 90 days, whatever.
00:24:32See you at the 2024 Derby.
00:24:34You know, again, I'm sure I would imagine
00:24:36Bob Baffert has an awful lot of money,
00:24:38but how much was spent on legal fees in this?
00:24:40It's gotta be an astronomical amount.
00:24:41But yeah, you know, look, it's a complicated story,
00:24:46but in some respects, we can now just move on.
00:24:49I wish Sean, I don't know Sean McCarthy
00:24:50for a hole in the wall, but I wish him well,
00:24:53and we'll see how these horses do.
00:24:55But Bob Baffert will be running great guns at Del Mar.
00:24:58He'll win every race there, and he'll,
00:25:01Country Grammar will come back to his barn
00:25:03and win the Breeders' Cup Classic,
00:25:05and Bob Baffert will say, weeweeweeweewee.
00:25:08The thing that I'm most surprised about,
00:25:10again, as an owner, is just the amount of stability
00:25:16that's gone on through this whole thing.
00:25:18Like, I can't believe that all of these owners
00:25:21have kept horses with Baffert.
00:25:24And that's the surprising thing.
00:25:25I mean, there's such an amount of, a degree of loyalty.
00:25:28And you wonder why that is.
00:25:30Is it because, you know, they really believe
00:25:32of his innocence?
00:25:33Maybe, because they really believe
00:25:35that he's being picked out out of a lineup
00:25:39of allegedly cheating trainers,
00:25:42that he's the scapegoat?
00:25:45Maybe.
00:25:46Is it just that they believe that once he comes back
00:25:48into good graces and serves his suspensions,
00:25:52that he's gonna be the top trainer winning races
00:25:53all over the place and developing horses?
00:25:56Yeah, I think that's probably it.
00:25:57I think that it's blinding, almost,
00:26:01how loyal the owners have been
00:26:03throughout this whole turmoil and process.
00:26:07I'm glad to see that finally the courts
00:26:11are going the route of saying enough,
00:26:14and Baffert and his legal counsel saying enough,
00:26:17and that we're able to just kind of go forward
00:26:19on the calendar and start counting days
00:26:22for the suspension to be implemented
00:26:23and also for it to be done.
00:26:26The fact that there was a symbolic taking the signs
00:26:29off the barn in California and how terrible it was,
00:26:33nobody cares.
00:26:34Nobody cares.
00:26:35And since the suspension's over,
00:26:36they're all gonna come back.
00:26:41It's gonna be Bob Baffert with his flute,
00:26:45playing and bringing all the horses back into his barn
00:26:49where they belong.
00:26:50And it's gonna be like business as usual.
00:26:52And unfortunately, business as usual
00:26:53isn't great for the industry
00:26:54because we still have so many issues
00:26:57with regard to testing and banning and penalizing.
00:27:03People who don't play by the rules.
00:27:05And it's across the board.
00:27:07It's not just in California or just specific trainers.
00:27:10It's across the board that the lackingness
00:27:13that we have as far as how we can police
00:27:15and investigate all of these issues.
00:27:18But thank goodness that the HIZA suit,
00:27:22it looks like it's gonna get thrown out also.
00:27:24And we can start moving forward with that.
00:27:25But again, who's policing and paying for that deal?
00:27:29Well, in honor of this 90-day suspension
00:27:33finally going into effect,
00:27:35I am hereby banning us from talking about Bob Baffert
00:27:39for 90 days on this show.
00:27:41Chunk, chunk, do the long order gavel sound.
00:27:45So I have ruled.
00:27:46Unless there's something crazy that happens,
00:27:49like Bob Baffert goes to space with Jeff Bezos or something.
00:27:53No way.
00:27:53No more Baffert.
00:27:54He might, he's got time.
00:27:56He's got time on his hands now.
00:27:57He very well could.
00:27:58Yep.
00:28:00But that's good.
00:28:00I like that, Judge Joe.
00:28:01I concur.
00:28:03Okay.
00:28:04All right.
00:28:04Maybe a second career for me.
00:28:06Chopper in a row next time.
00:28:09But we have some other trainers behaving badly news.
00:28:11I'll let Bill take it away.
00:28:12This is his favorite story of the week.
00:28:15Yeah, I mean, there's a guy that probably nobody,
00:28:17none of us were paying any attention to
00:28:18by the name of Juan Silva,
00:28:20trainer out at Turf Paradise.
00:28:21And the story happened earlier in March
00:28:23where in a $3,500 maiden claiming race,
00:28:27he ran a horse that was one to 20.
00:28:29One to 20, meaning if he wins, he's gonna pay 210.
00:28:32The horse was dropping from a $30,000
00:28:34maiden optional claimer ran third
00:28:35into a $3,500 maiden claimer.
00:28:39Two steps out of the gate, maybe one step out of the gate,
00:28:42the jockey, a guy by the name of Du Silva,
00:28:44no relation, pulled the horse up.
00:28:46They gave him a 30-day suspension
00:28:48because they said that he didn't report the horse
00:28:51or didn't ask the veterinarian to go over the horse
00:28:54and didn't put in the kind of effort that was required
00:28:59when he obviously knew the horse was unsound.
00:29:00But then they came back and they gave the trainer
00:29:02Juan Silva 180 days and they really nailed him.
00:29:06They said, among other things,
00:29:07he knew the horse was unsound, was claimed by the way,
00:29:11no waiver, there's no waiving a claim in Arizona.
00:29:14So the poor people that claim the horse
00:29:15obviously have damaged goods.
00:29:17They gave him 180 days, a six-month suspension.
00:29:21They also said he perjured himself during the hearing.
00:29:24But to me, here's the bigger story of this.
00:29:27I mean, frankly, I'm not such a degenerate
00:29:30that I'm paying attention to Turf Paradise.
00:29:31I never even heard of this guy.
00:29:33But he was the leading trainer there last year.
00:29:36But in 2008, his license was taken away
00:29:41for quote, for being of not good repute or moral character.
00:29:46What does that mean?
00:29:47What did he do?
00:29:47I don't know, but trust me, it wasn't a ban on me.
00:29:52So he didn't train for six,
00:29:54they kicked this guy out for six years from 2008 and 2014.
00:30:00And this isn't a racetrack notorious
00:30:01for letting every miscreant in the game,
00:30:04thank you, Marcus Vitale, able to run there.
00:30:09So what we talk about a lot on the show
00:30:11and it brings up the same question here.
00:30:13I mean, assume whatever this guy did
00:30:15to get thrown out for six years was very serious.
00:30:17Why did you let him back?
00:30:19And look what happened.
00:30:21When in this sport is enough is enough
00:30:24that people can do something so serious
00:30:26that the sport just has to say,
00:30:28we're better off without you, goodbye,
00:30:31good luck with the rest of your life.
00:30:32Clearly that should have been done with this guy.
00:30:34Now this time, maybe they will.
00:30:35They referred it to the Arizona race.
00:30:37Usually in these cases, the stewards are limited
00:30:40to how long suspension they can give a guy.
00:30:43I assume 180 days is the most.
00:30:45They referred it to the Arizona Racing Commission
00:30:47recommending that they really throw the book at this guy
00:30:49and maybe he will now be done in racing.
00:30:51But they let him back and this is what you get.
00:30:54Again, it's kind of, in some respects,
00:30:57it was fortunate that it was at Turf Paradise
00:30:59because what if this happened
00:31:00on a Saturday afternoon in Gulf Stream?
00:31:01But then again, I'm sure the Stronach Group,
00:31:03which cares about this stuff a lot,
00:31:04never would have let the situation happen.
00:31:06Now also, and I'm sorry to keep going on here,
00:31:09but Turf Paradise deserves a ton of blame here too.
00:31:13How did the system fail so badly
00:31:16that this horse was allowed to run?
00:31:18What about the vet inspection in the morning?
00:31:20What about the fact that the horse
00:31:22was dropping seven levels in class or whatnot
00:31:24and we better take an extra, extra look at this horse?
00:31:27What about the vet going into the gate,
00:31:29looking at him saying, hey, what's going on here?
00:31:32Maybe asking the jockey, you sure this horse is okay?
00:31:34For the best we can tell, Turf Paradise totally,
00:31:37the management and the veterinary team there totally failed.
00:31:40And again, it was on a Monday or Tuesday at Turf Paradise.
00:31:43There's probably $50,000 in the wind pool.
00:31:45But the poor people that bet on this horse, God.
00:31:48Well, that's what I was gonna say is that
00:31:50this is again, one of those instances
00:31:52where having racing Twitter is a big deal
00:31:56and it holds people accountable because
00:31:59I saw people posting that video on Twitter.
00:32:01I saw Craig Malkowski posting it,
00:32:03like how would you have liked to bet this horse
00:32:05at one to 20 and it gets pulled up
00:32:07two strides out of the gate.
00:32:08I don't know that anybody would have really cared
00:32:10or really paid attention if there wasn't
00:32:13that congregation of people, degenerate sometimes,
00:32:17who are watching Turf Paradise on a Monday or a Tuesday.
00:32:20And this stuff, it's just as important,
00:32:23their horse's safety at Turf Paradise
00:32:25as it is in California, Florida, or New York.
00:32:29And like Bill says, this was a failure up to
00:32:32and leading to when they get in the gate
00:32:34and when they open the gate.
00:32:35Like there were so many things that could have happened
00:32:37to stop this horse from running.
00:32:39Even just looking at the past performances,
00:32:41like Bill says, like there are certain horses
00:32:44that you've just seen in the past performance
00:32:44that should throw up immediate red flags
00:32:47with those steep droppers,
00:32:48especially at like a small track and a 3,500,
00:32:51like that's the bottom.
00:32:53That's like, unless you're talking about like the fares,
00:32:55that's the lowest you can get in American racing.
00:32:58And if anything, those horses need the most protection
00:33:01from their trainers and from the tracks.
00:33:04And yeah, that to me is what's disappointing.
00:33:06Honestly, when I first saw the story,
00:33:08I thought it was that they stiffed the horse,
00:33:10that they bet a bunch of other horses in the race to show
00:33:13and then pull the horse up two strides out of the gate,
00:33:16but maybe that would have been too obvious.
00:33:17If it was indeed a thing where the horse's safety
00:33:21was in peril, then that to me is in a way even worse.
00:33:27Joe, let me just jump in here.
00:33:29That's a good point,
00:33:30but there were nothing irregular in the betting patterns.
00:33:32There wasn't any like huge exact boxes
00:33:34throwing this horse out or a big show bet
00:33:36or something like that.
00:33:37So yeah, that is something that you would be,
00:33:40geez, you stiff a one to 20 shot,
00:33:41you can make a ton of money on a race,
00:33:43but there was nothing,
00:33:44and even the exacted didn't pay less than it should have.
00:33:47So it doesn't appear that anybody was,
00:33:50that this had anything to do with trying to-
00:33:52Yeah, no, but it just,
00:33:53it reflects so poorly on the veterinary situation
00:33:56that the horse was somehow deemed well enough
00:33:58to go into the gate
00:33:59and then was pulled up two strides out by the jockey.
00:34:02I mean, that just is unacceptable at any track.
00:34:06And guys, if you don't mind me jumping in,
00:34:08I have a different trainers behaving badly
00:34:10and things that we're tired of talking about already,
00:34:13but it's our friend, Wayne Potts,
00:34:15who was the leading trainer at Monmouth Park.
00:34:17Yay, I'm sure Monmouth's very excited
00:34:19that in all of his headshots,
00:34:20he's got the Monmouth Park logo right there
00:34:22over his heart on his chest.
00:34:25But in battle trainer, Wayne Potts
00:34:27is gonna serve another suspension
00:34:30because apparently he was found with an illegal substance
00:34:33in his tack room back in February.
00:34:36And they actually had to stagger this suspension
00:34:40to make sure that it would work
00:34:41with his other existing suspensions
00:34:43that are already in place.
00:34:45So, again, another trainer who's being kicked out
00:34:48of a number of different jurisdictions
00:34:50and is not allowed back in the Maryland race.
00:34:53Laurel is not allowed back to stable at Naira,
00:34:56although he can run there,
00:34:57but he's not allowed to stable there anymore.
00:34:59And now he's gonna have like, I don't know,
00:35:01a 385 day vacation.
00:35:04It's not really that long, but it seems like it.
00:35:0675 days.
00:35:0775 days. 75 days.
00:35:08Yeah, if you wanna be exactly Bill, yes.
00:35:11So 75 days where he's gonna be on the sidelines,
00:35:15not able to train horses.
00:35:16And again, you have to sit there and say,
00:35:18why, why does this guy keep getting all these chances?
00:35:21Why is he getting all these opportunities?
00:35:23And then on top of it,
00:35:25and I'm sure this is strictly ironic
00:35:27and just a weird timing,
00:35:29but right before, on March 31st,
00:35:33right before April Fool's Day,
00:35:35a number of us in the industry got a text
00:35:39from allegedly from Wayne Potts,
00:35:41promoting the fact that he's picking winners now.
00:35:43And you can give him $21 and he will pick winners for you
00:35:47because he knows the industry as an insider.
00:35:49And the first time I looked at it,
00:35:51I was like, this has gotta be an April Fool's joke.
00:35:53And I texted a couple of my buddies and said,
00:35:55did you get this?
00:35:55And like, it went out to a number of people.
00:35:57I mean, it went out to almost the entire industry
00:36:00as if Wayne Potts was, you know,
00:36:02trying to sell his handicapping services, you know,
00:36:05and picking up a second career
00:36:07since he's not gonna be able to train for 75 days.
00:36:10And he is refuting it saying that it wasn't him.
00:36:14It was just, you know, strictly coincidence.
00:36:16Somebody's using his name.
00:36:18But for the love of God, man,
00:36:19if you were gonna run a business,
00:36:20why would you pick Wayne Potts as your trainer to nom?
00:36:23I mean, if you were gonna say, hey, I'm a trainer
00:36:26and you can look me up in Google
00:36:28and be excited about all my successes in the industry
00:36:34and achievements and accomplishments in the industry,
00:36:36I don't think it would be Wayne Potts.
00:36:37I think that there'd be some other trainers ahead of him
00:36:40that you would wanna, that have better name recognition.
00:36:42Like maybe Jason Service has better name recognition
00:36:45and a better name right now than Wayne Potts does.
00:36:47Or even Jorge Navarro probably has a better name right now
00:36:50than Wayne Potts.
00:36:52But you wouldn't pick Wayne Potts as your guy,
00:36:54as your go-to guy that I'm gonna hook my wagon
00:36:56to this guy's good name to tout horses
00:36:59and sell my goods and services.
00:37:02It was just really, it was a strange, strange
00:37:04couple of days for Mr. Potts.
00:37:07Well, and he becomes one of those things where I'm like,
00:37:10isn't it more effort at this point to cheat
00:37:13than just to play by the rules?
00:37:15Like, I feel like a lot of times people, you know,
00:37:18they cheat and they drug horses to get an edge
00:37:22because they don't wanna play by the rules
00:37:23because they don't wanna really have to do all the training
00:37:26that it takes with like a horse
00:37:27without performance enhancing drugs.
00:37:30Now it seems like Wayne Potts is going out of his way
00:37:33to try to rack up these violations.
00:37:35It's just one after another.
00:37:37And it seems like he would be better off
00:37:39just trying to play by the rules.
00:37:40But I guess certain personalities don't even think that way.
00:37:43And it's really just about trying to get away
00:37:46with whatever you can get away with.
00:37:47The tout service thing was so bizarre.
00:37:50I mean, I guess I take him at his word that it wasn't him.
00:37:53And someone was just playing an April Fool's joke
00:37:56because that would be a completely ridiculous thing.
00:37:58And just, you know,
00:37:59kind of another very attention seeking thing.
00:38:02Like when you're facing all these suspensions
00:38:04to do something like that, it was crazy.
00:38:07You know, Joe, I wanna weigh in on the tout service.
00:38:09And this was about the strangest thing that I've ever seen.
00:38:12And by the way, all of the websites and everything
00:38:14that were linked to this, which were very well done.
00:38:16I mean, this was not, you know,
00:38:18somebody who was just throwing 20 bucks into this thing.
00:38:20They've all been taken down
00:38:23and they're not accessible anymore.
00:38:24I tend to believe him for this reason.
00:38:27Could anybody be that stupid in his shoes
00:38:31with all his problems to come out with,
00:38:33oh, now I'm gonna tout you on winners.
00:38:35And John, I kind of disagree with you.
00:38:37If I'm gonna put up, oh, I'm gonna do this,
00:38:40which of course I'm never going to do.
00:38:42I go to Wayne Potts because I think his notoriety
00:38:45makes people, oh, he knows everything.
00:38:47He's an insider.
00:38:48He's, you know, a slick operator type of thing.
00:38:50You know, if you did it with Jimmy Jerkins,
00:38:53well, you know, this is vanilla as they come,
00:38:56straight shooter, he's not gonna have any great insights.
00:38:58I just picked that name out of the air.
00:39:00But yeah, if I ever decide to put out a fake website,
00:39:04you gave me a good idea.
00:39:05Let's say that we got Jason Service working for us,
00:39:08picking winners.
00:39:09And we think a lot of people would flock to that thing
00:39:11much more so than they would if you said GramMotion.
00:39:14Right, so what we've learned,
00:39:16the takeaways from this piece is that
00:39:18now we know how to set up a fake touting service
00:39:22with the right kind of trainer.
00:39:23And we know how to stiff a race at Turf Paradise
00:39:26and win, you know, a lot of money
00:39:29as long as we spread the bets out, you know, over time
00:39:31and with different accounts and stuff like that.
00:39:33So this is just an educational show
00:39:35as well as an entertainment show.
00:39:37If you guys decide to do this, we won't even charge you.
00:39:40It's free advice.
00:39:41Knock yourself out.
00:39:45I just reserved the website, betonjason.com.
00:39:49Speaking of which, I meant to ask this,
00:39:52maybe I missed it.
00:39:53Did they ever resolve the Saudi cup purse thing with him?
00:39:56No, and they won't until he either is found innocent
00:39:59or pleads guilty.
00:40:00And again, it's going to drag on, you know,
00:40:02they're not even going to do this, the lawsuit till 2023.
00:40:05Nope.
00:40:06And money's just sitting there collecting dust
00:40:08and hopefully interest in some Swiss bank account
00:40:10or something.
00:40:11I thought the Saudis were going to do
00:40:12their own investigation.
00:40:14Yeah.
00:40:14They're still investigating.
00:40:16They're still looking.
00:40:17The TDN Writer's Room is brought to you
00:40:19by the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association.
00:40:21Interest is growing for the upcoming two-year-old
00:40:23P.A. Sired, P.A. Bred Stallion series
00:40:26that we've talked about before on the show.
00:40:27They recently announced the addition of $50,000
00:40:30in trainer bonuses to what's already a lucrative series.
00:40:33It'll consist of four stakes exclusively for P.A. Sired,
00:40:36P.A. Bred Colts and Fillies,
00:40:38two on Monday, August 22nd at Parks,
00:40:41two on Saturday, September 24th at Parks,
00:40:43which I believe is Pennsylvania Derby Day,
00:40:45if I'm not mistaken.
00:40:46Free early nominations are due by July 11th
00:40:49and all information is available at pabred.com.
00:40:53We'll be right back after this message from the PHBA.
00:40:57The P.A. Horse Breeders Association
00:40:59introduces the Pennsylvania Stallion Series.
00:41:02Four brand new races to be run at Parks
00:41:04for P.A. Sired, P.A. Bred two-year-olds.
00:41:07There are two $100,000 contests on August 22nd,
00:41:11P.A. Day at the Races.
00:41:12September 24th, P.A. Derby Day
00:41:15has two more races, each with a $200,000 purse.
00:41:18The P.A. Stallion Series,
00:41:20yet another reason why Pennsylvania
00:41:22is the premier place to breed and race.
00:41:24For more, please visit pabred.com.
00:41:27The Green Group Guest of the Week
00:41:28is sponsored by The Green Group,
00:41:30an accounting, tax, consulting, and advisory firm
00:41:32specializing in the thoroughbred industry.
00:41:34With over 500 clients in the horse business,
00:41:36they have proven strategies to save you taxes.
00:41:38Learn more about how they can help you
00:41:39at www.greenco.com.
00:41:42So we're thrilled to welcome back to the show
00:41:44live from the beautifully restored Magdalena headquarters,
00:41:47Tenney McPeak, thanks for coming on.
00:41:49Thanks for having me.
00:41:50Always good to talk to you.
00:41:51So let's talk about Tiz Tha Bomb,
00:41:53big win over the weekend at Turfway
00:41:54in the Jeff Ruby stakes.
00:41:56There was some consideration about taking him to Europe
00:41:58and possibly going to the Kentucky Derby.
00:42:00It sounds like you're leaning towards the Derby.
00:42:02What goes into that formulation
00:42:04when you're trying to figure that out?
00:42:06Well, when we ran him in Florida,
00:42:10the colt didn't handle the Gulf Stream surface
00:42:13and he didn't handle the kickback.
00:42:15That surface is a little bit different.
00:42:17It's sand-based and he just didn't go for it.
00:42:22I sent him to Turfway to get his confidence back
00:42:24in the Bataglia.
00:42:26I felt like he needed to get back in winning ways
00:42:28and of course that worked out.
00:42:30And then the natural next step was the Jeff Ruby,
00:42:34which is a race that, since I was a young trainer,
00:42:37I started up at Latonia before it was even Turfway.
00:42:40And I had watched it when it was a spiral
00:42:43and then obviously became the Jim Beam
00:42:45and Jerry Carroll did a great job promoting that racetrack
00:42:48back in the early years of Turfway.
00:42:51But he punched in the other day, ran a super race
00:42:55and there was an idea that I actually felt like
00:42:59he would be a great horse to take over
00:43:01for the 2000 Guineas in Europe.
00:43:04I think that the undulation of Newmarket
00:43:08wasn't any worse or actually be easier
00:43:10than his victory at Kentucky Downs.
00:43:14But through some logistics and technicalities,
00:43:18he's not gonna go to the 2000 Guineas.
00:43:20And our next option is either a Turf race at Churchill
00:43:24or the Kentucky Derby.
00:43:26I really think at this point,
00:43:28the horse probably deserves a chance.
00:43:30Kenny, thanks for joining us today.
00:43:32And could you talk about the Derby
00:43:33and how much of this is, if you do go in the Derby,
00:43:37it's just that it's the Derby,
00:43:38the lure of running in one of the most prestigious race
00:43:42in the United States of America
00:43:44versus a grass race where you might be six to five,
00:43:47judging on without knowing who'd be in there
00:43:49versus the Kentucky Derby where you might be 12 to one
00:43:51or something like that.
00:43:53Yeah, you know, I think for stallion potential,
00:43:56it's certainly, I think the horse deserves,
00:43:58it's made a million dollars.
00:44:00I mean, the grass race at Churchill is an easy race to lose
00:44:04because it's a seven, eight start course
00:44:06and it's really tight and a lot can happen.
00:44:09The ground at Churchill is different
00:44:12than the ground at Gulf Stream.
00:44:14And I think you're gonna find that,
00:44:16actually horses handle,
00:44:17turf horses probably handle it a little bit better
00:44:20because it's not such a hard kickback,
00:44:22but there's not a lot of options with him otherwise.
00:44:25And after the Kentucky Derby,
00:44:27I really am ambitious to take him to England and Ireland.
00:44:32And Kenny, not only do you have
00:44:33a really strong three-year-old colt,
00:44:35but you also have a really nice three-year-old filly
00:44:37in cocktail moments.
00:44:38The overnight just came out from Keeneland
00:44:40and it looks like she's gonna be running in the Ashland.
00:44:42Tell the audience a little bit about how she's developing
00:44:46and she's an Uncle Mo filly,
00:44:47so I'm assuming that she's probably got some length
00:44:49and length to her and this will be her fourth start
00:44:51after running third in the Devonadale
00:44:53and third in the Untappable.
00:44:55This filly's got some things to prove.
00:44:58You know, I didn't wanna run her on the synthetic
00:45:00at Turf White because I already had Sandstone up there.
00:45:03And the Gulf Stream Park Oaks, I think it's a good race.
00:45:08I actually wanted a couple of seasons in a row
00:45:10and this year I talked to Bill Shively,
00:45:14the principal at Dixiana,
00:45:16and between him and Steve Cawthon, we thought,
00:45:19well, let's see if we can get her at the worst
00:45:21in grade one placing.
00:45:23And maybe she'll surprise and win in grade one.
00:45:25She's got some work to do.
00:45:28I have no idea what she's drawn in against yet.
00:45:31I haven't had a chance to study it,
00:45:33but all indications was it was gonna be
00:45:35kind of a wide open affair.
00:45:39Yeah, it looks like it's an eight horse field.
00:45:40You pulled the seven hole
00:45:43and there's a couple of nice fillies in there
00:45:44aside from yours.
00:45:45Nest is in there and Happy Soul.
00:45:48So it's what I would consider to be a legitimate
00:45:51grade one Ashland for you,
00:45:53but it's not the 12 horse field
00:45:55that you usually get in the Ashland, which is good.
00:45:57Exactly.
00:45:58You know, she wanted to be on the outside?
00:46:00Yeah, she'll be fine out there.
00:46:02She wanted one turn in her maiden win
00:46:05and then the Devon Adeo was a one turn mile
00:46:09and she was third at fairgrounds.
00:46:11I'm not sure she ran her best race at the fairgrounds either.
00:46:14She went off heavily favored
00:46:15and kind of struggled the last part of it.
00:46:18But, you know, look, she's young
00:46:19and if she can't get third or better in the Ashland,
00:46:23we'll probably regress in running an A other than.
00:46:26And look, if she jumps up and surprises
00:46:27and fits against these,
00:46:29then, you know, maybe we find her in the Kentucky Oaks.
00:46:33Some other big action for you at Keeneland,
00:46:34obviously with Smile Happy coming up.
00:46:37He's a horse that I think has a, you know,
00:46:39a pretty deserved big reputation
00:46:41in the three-year-old class.
00:46:43He ran second in the Risen Star.
00:46:44I think a lot of people thought he ran better
00:46:46than perhaps the figure or the time would indicate.
00:46:49How do you feel about him?
00:46:50Has he progressed since the Risen Star
00:46:52and what are your thoughts on this weekend?
00:46:54Well, this is a really special colt.
00:46:57I've been sitting on this horse
00:46:59like a keg of dynamite for months now.
00:47:02I didn't want more than two preps
00:47:04going into the Kentucky Derby.
00:47:06I think the points that he got in Louisiana
00:47:09and the Risen Star will more than likely get him in.
00:47:13And I want to see him run well in the Bluegrass, obviously.
00:47:16And my guess is he'll probably make him
00:47:18the favorite in the Bluegrass.
00:47:21Being a Lexington boy,
00:47:23it's always fun to win the Bluegrass.
00:47:26I'm not going to deny it.
00:47:28And I opted for the Bluegrass over the Florida Derby
00:47:31for not only that,
00:47:33but also the Mackin family are from here in Kentucky.
00:47:35So we felt like the Bluegrass was good for everybody.
00:47:41I didn't want to over-race this horse this winter.
00:47:44I really, really set on him for a reason
00:47:46because I think that he's a horse
00:47:48that can handle the progression
00:47:50of the Derby Preakness Belmont.
00:47:52And you've got to have some juice in the tank
00:47:56for those races.
00:47:57If you're already a little tired
00:47:59or you've overdone it going into these three races
00:48:02or those three races,
00:48:04then obviously your horse is going to be taxed.
00:48:08But he could set up really well for those.
00:48:12And the Bluegrass, my expectation is he can win.
00:48:15And as long as he gets points and he punches his Derby trip,
00:48:19then that's also important.
00:48:21So just to follow up,
00:48:21the tentative plan is to run him
00:48:23in all three Triple Crown races?
00:48:25Exactly.
00:48:26Gotcha.
00:48:27Yeah.
00:48:28Kenny, you've won so many big races.
00:48:30You won a Preakness, you won a Belmont,
00:48:31but of course you have not won a Kentucky Derby.
00:48:34How do you feel about your chances this year?
00:48:36And is this 2022 the strongest hand you've ever had
00:48:40at this point, four weeks out from the Derby,
00:48:42four plus weeks out from the Derby?
00:48:44Well, the Bluegrass will certainly dictate that.
00:48:47I mean, if Small Happy runs the expectations
00:48:51in the Bluegrass, it will definitely be the best hand
00:48:52that I've ever had.
00:48:54I've had some horses that I think,
00:48:56coulda, woulda, shoulda.
00:48:59Tahana Run was a horse that struggled
00:49:01with a lung infection all winter
00:49:03and still ran a real credible second.
00:49:06I really think we should have won it with Harlan's Holiday,
00:49:08but I think that the pace of that race,
00:49:11I think we made some tactical errors on that.
00:49:13And then Repent was probably that same season,
00:49:16a horse that coulda, woulda, shoulda.
00:49:20But look, you gotta be lucky to win the Derby.
00:49:22I mean, even if you've got a great group of horses,
00:49:25you still gotta have the race unfold and the right ride
00:49:28and a lot of good things have gotta happen.
00:49:30And I'm resigned to the fact that when it's our turn,
00:49:34it's our turn, and if it's not, it's not.
00:49:35I'm okay with it.
00:49:37And yeah, we're already 10 minutes into the interview.
00:49:40We haven't even mentioned Rattle and Roll,
00:49:42who ran a credible fourth in the Louisiana Derby.
00:49:46Is he still on pace for the Kentucky Derby?
00:49:50I don't have an excuse for him in Louisiana.
00:49:52I was ultra impressed by Epicenter.
00:49:54I think he's a very legitimate favorite at this point.
00:49:57I think I saw on the Futures that he's now the favorite
00:50:01on the Kentucky Derby Futures.
00:50:05I just didn't have an excuse.
00:50:07I know that this is a horse that needed a few races
00:50:10to get back in gear, but is he good enough?
00:50:13He's gonna have to find another level.
00:50:15He is what I'd call a setup horse.
00:50:19He's a horse that needs, and if you'll look back
00:50:21at the Futurity that he won at Keeneland,
00:50:24they went 46 and change up front.
00:50:27They melted each other down.
00:50:29He sat back there, wiggled his way through,
00:50:31and punched home.
00:50:33He's not gonna be a horse that if the pace is slow
00:50:37and they don't give him something to run at,
00:50:40I think his chances are compromised.
00:50:44The likelihood is that I'll run him back in the Lexington.
00:50:48I talked to Mike Mackin, the Mackin family,
00:50:52they're all involved in Smile Happy and Rattle and Roll,
00:50:56and we think the Lexington's a pretty good spot.
00:50:58We contemplated Oaklawn Stakes.
00:50:59There's a race down there a week later,
00:51:02but the Lexington's obvious,
00:51:04and if the horse has a good week, then he'll go in there.
00:51:07But if he were to win the Lexington,
00:51:08will he run in the Kentucky Derby?
00:51:10Maybe that depends on Smile Happy.
00:51:12Maybe it depends on whether Rattle and Roll
00:51:15we think has got a legitimate chance.
00:51:18He's gotta find another gear, though.
00:51:21I wanted to shift gears a little bit
00:51:22and kind of, I think, tee you up for this one,
00:51:24because you've been an outspoken critic
00:51:26of LASIKs in the past.
00:51:27One thing I noticed from the Equine Injury Database results
00:51:30that were released last week was a steep drop
00:51:32in breakdowns, fatal breakdowns, for two-year-olds,
00:51:34which I had never seen before.
00:51:36It was below one, it was .98.
00:51:38And some people have made the connection
00:51:40that getting rid of LASIKs in two-year-old races
00:51:43and stakes races could contribute to a decrease
00:51:46in the breakdown rate.
00:51:47What are your feelings on that?
00:51:49I would be surprised if there was a direct correlation
00:51:53to that, because I do think over the long run,
00:51:56I mean, there are studies in humans
00:51:59that LASIKs contribute to osteoporosis.
00:52:04The dehydration factor that, to me,
00:52:07is a bigger detriment with the LASIKs than anything
00:52:11is in the long run, I think it could very well be an issue
00:52:15for horses' bones, but perhaps when they get older
00:52:18and they've been treated with it many, many times,
00:52:22I'm not a scientist, but common sense says
00:52:25that that might be the case.
00:52:27And if that's the case with humans,
00:52:28perhaps there's a direct connection.
00:52:32But with two-year-olds, I would be surprised.
00:52:35And the truth is, is that two-year-olds
00:52:37really don't need it.
00:52:39And I think the percentage of horses
00:52:41that actually do need it is smaller
00:52:43than the use of it previously.
00:52:47And so I'm glad to see that we're using less,
00:52:50and I never used a lot to begin with anyway,
00:52:53and hopefully it's an evolution
00:52:55of the game here in the States.
00:52:58Kenny, I wanna take you down another path,
00:53:00and you're somebody who made a lot of history
00:53:01with the Philly a few years ago
00:53:03with Swiss Skydiver winning the Preakness.
00:53:05Did you become a fan of Secret Oath?
00:53:07And what did you think of her race the other day
00:53:09and how Wayne has campaigned her?
00:53:12I've watched her a little bit, having been at Oaklawn,
00:53:14I watched her train a bit.
00:53:16And Wayne's a good friend of mine.
00:53:20I wished I had worked for him when I was younger,
00:53:23but I've got a lot of respect for Wayne.
00:53:26And I would have loved to have seen
00:53:28that Philly make the Derby.
00:53:29I think it would have been really good for the sport.
00:53:32I'm not sure, maybe she was a little too far back
00:53:35the other day.
00:53:36She ended up way off the pace.
00:53:38And I can't tell you how Cyberknife and her were positioned,
00:53:43but she didn't quite make the kick.
00:53:45And she's a big, beautiful Philly.
00:53:50Maybe she wins the Oaks and she comes back in the Preakness,
00:53:54which Rachel Alexander did, but she's a superstar.
00:53:58And Rob and Stacey Mitchell,
00:54:00I'm one of the first trainers
00:54:02that Rob and Stacey had years ago.
00:54:03And their farm actually is close to Magdalena,
00:54:06where I'm sitting now.
00:54:07And they deserve a good horse.
00:54:10They've kind of knocked around it.
00:54:11And Rob's always been very ambitious.
00:54:14I actually ran a Philly in the Kentucky Oaks
00:54:16for him years ago.
00:54:17And I'm not sure she had a legitimate chance,
00:54:21but Rob was always like, let's get in those races.
00:54:23Well, he's got a real deal now.
00:54:25She's a real deal.
00:54:26Yep.
00:54:27And from those good Phillies to one
00:54:29that you campaigned Swiss Skydiver,
00:54:32now that you're a year away,
00:54:34a year past her racing career,
00:54:36can you look back on one of the races
00:54:39or one of the moments that you had with her
00:54:41that resonate with you as a trainer?
00:54:44Well, that Preakness was magical.
00:54:47The way that all the details went down,
00:54:50I didn't have a jockey 24 hours going into the entry,
00:54:54which was still kind of irks me a little bit.
00:54:57But anyway, we worked it out and Robbie did a great job.
00:55:01And Robbie, he works for me now and he's retired
00:55:06and he never really did get his career kick started again.
00:55:09I'm not sure why, but he's been a big part of the team.
00:55:13And the Preakness, he and I, every day we got up,
00:55:16we went and took care of her.
00:55:17He got on her every day, got to know her.
00:55:20Love him or hate him, Robbie Alvarado is a great, great hand,
00:55:24great talent.
00:55:25And I think people see a picture of him and I slapping,
00:55:30high fives right after the race,
00:55:32because the deal was that we pulled it off
00:55:34because we knew we were kind of a,
00:55:37we knew we were an outsider, but man, she had a great week.
00:55:40I hot walked her all the time.
00:55:43The connection with her was strong
00:55:45and you don't get many opportunities like that.
00:55:48I mean, training horses can be sometimes too much business
00:55:52and not enough horse and human.
00:55:54And when I traveled with her,
00:55:58I tended to spend a little more time with her,
00:56:01which is fun.
00:56:03Yeah.
00:56:04All right, this is a personal question for me
00:56:05on the way out.
00:56:06I'm going to, we're going to Lexington.
00:56:07We're going to be at Keeneland.
00:56:08We're going to record a show live
00:56:10from Keeneland later this month.
00:56:11I never been to Lexington.
00:56:12I'm sure these guys have, you're a Lexington guy.
00:56:15Give me some recommendations.
00:56:16What are some things I have to do
00:56:18for the time I'm in Lexington?
00:56:20Oh goodness.
00:56:23Let's see.
00:56:24So what day are you arriving?
00:56:25I'm coming in Saturday morning.
00:56:26So I'll be at the race this Saturday, Sunday.
00:56:29Well, Saturday morning,
00:56:31I'm giving a confirmation clinic here at Magdalena.
00:56:33I've got, we've invited some people out.
00:56:35You're welcome to come to that.
00:56:36It starts at 10.
00:56:37All right.
00:56:38Saturday night, we're having a barbecue here at Magdalena.
00:56:40Ooh.
00:56:41Which you're welcome to come.
00:56:42I don't know if everybody on this podcast
00:56:43wants to be here.
00:56:44You hear that?
00:56:46Open invite.
00:56:47Open invite.
00:56:48We do that every spring.
00:56:50But look, there's some great restaurants in town.
00:56:52Merican is one of my favorites.
00:56:55Yeah.
00:56:56Tony's, Dudley's.
00:57:00I guess Frankie and Dino's is a new one that's really good.
00:57:05You need to go downtown.
00:57:07Are you going to be there through Thursday?
00:57:09No, we're leaving Tuesday.
00:57:11Okay.
00:57:11Well, Thursday night live is typically a good spot.
00:57:14Okay.
00:57:15I mean, you know, the Bourbon Trail
00:57:16takes a little bit of time.
00:57:19And if you can hit any of the farms,
00:57:21I mean, those are amazing around town.
00:57:25You know, certainly, you know,
00:57:26the Claiborne's and Three Chimneys and Blaine's Inn
00:57:29but I think you've got to get on the tour,
00:57:31the horse country tours to do a lot of that.
00:57:35Gotcha.
00:57:35And I don't know, being from here,
00:57:37I'm probably, I don't think about all that that much.
00:57:39Yeah, that's why I am.
00:57:41I know that driving the country roads
00:57:43in the spring in Lexington, Kentucky
00:57:45is one of the coolest things.
00:57:47And I know that when I leave Keeneland
00:57:49at night after the races,
00:57:51I always go the back roads home
00:57:53because it's gorgeous, the horse farms
00:57:55and you know, the scenery.
00:57:57And you can't take that for granted.
00:58:00It's really amazing.
00:58:00Kenny, thank you so much for coming on with us.
00:58:02Best of luck this Saturday
00:58:03and the rest of the Derby and Triple Crown season.
00:58:05We love talking to you.
00:58:07No, thanks for having me.
00:58:08Thanks Kenny.
00:58:09The Green Group guest of the week
00:58:10is sponsored by the Green Group,
00:58:11an accounting tax consulting and advisory firm
00:58:13specializing in the thoroughbred industry.
00:58:15As this week's Green Group guest of the week,
00:58:17Ken McPeak will receive a free one hour tax consultation.
00:58:20Learn more at greenco.com.
00:58:22We'll be right back after this message from the Green Group.
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00:59:27the Green Group's annual TDN Records Show.
00:59:30The TDN Writers' Room is brought to you by XBTV.
00:59:34The XBTV Workout of the Week this week
00:59:36is Kentucky Derby hopeful, Messier,
00:59:38working five furlongs as you can see on the screen right now.
00:59:41On Saturday, it's Santa Anita going one minute and 3 5ths.
00:59:45The winner of the Grade 3 Bob Hope Stakes
00:59:47and Grade 3 Bob Lewis Stakes
00:59:48recently transferred to the Tim Yaktin Barn.
00:59:51And we'll see him this weekend in the Grade 1 Run Happy
00:59:54Santa Anita Derby.
00:59:55Very much looking forward to seeing how he runs.
00:59:57He's been off for a little bit
00:59:58since that Bob Lewis effort.
01:00:00Obviously, he's got a new trainer now.
01:00:02He's gonna have a new trainer, I think,
01:00:04for at least the next three months,
01:00:06unless something unexpected happens.
01:00:08But he was, like I said before,
01:00:09he was the real wow performance of the derby season.
01:00:12I think before Epicenter, if you want to say Epicenter,
01:00:15is up there with him now.
01:00:16But so we've been waiting to see him run.
01:00:18And if you want to see his works,
01:00:19if you want to see all the prep works
01:00:21for the Santa Anita Derby,
01:00:22the award memorial, the bluegrass,
01:00:26and leading up to the Kentucky Derby,
01:00:28always go to xbtv.com, just search the horse.
01:00:31Almost certainly, they'll be in there.
01:00:33So we've got a big, big weekend of derby prep races.
01:00:36This is the last major weekend, you know.
01:00:40Kemi Peek said he might run the Rattle and Roll
01:00:42in the Lexington and then go to the derby.
01:00:44But in general, we're gonna know who the derby field is
01:00:47after this weekend.
01:00:48It's been a long road, but it's been a fun road
01:00:50with these derby trail preps.
01:00:53I think there is a number of ways you can go right now
01:00:56in the derby, and we'll get a little bit clearer picture
01:00:59after this Saturday.
01:01:00But let's check out the derby chase standings points
01:01:02because I'm making a move.
01:01:04I'm coming up on Bill Finley, White and Barrio,
01:01:06who was my fourth round pick.
01:01:09There's good value there, I thought.
01:01:10Got 100 points for winning the Florida Derby.
01:01:13So I'm up to 190.
01:01:14Bill is still sitting in the catbird seat in charge at 210.
01:01:18Al's at 130.
01:01:21He had simplification, who ran third in the Florida Derby.
01:01:24John has got 95.
01:01:26He got 40 from Chargent, running second in Florida.
01:01:29And Sue is at 25, all thanks to Pioneer of Medina.
01:01:33So this weekend, let's see who we got in the prep races
01:01:36before we dive into the probables.
01:01:40John has Moe Donegal in the Wood Memorial,
01:01:43Emmanuel in the Bluegrass.
01:01:46I have Smile Happy in the Bluegrass.
01:01:48Al has Early Voting in the Wood,
01:01:51as well as Xandun in the Bluegrass.
01:01:53And in the Santa Anita Derby, Bill,
01:01:55looking very strong with Forbidden Kingdom and Messier.
01:01:59As John mentioned off-air, Bill had the guts to take Messier,
01:02:02not knowing whether or not the Kentucky Derby
01:02:06was on the radar for him.
01:02:07He's going to make it in now,
01:02:09unless he runs disastrously this weekend.
01:02:11But Bill's sitting very pretty,
01:02:13I would think, going into the weekend.
01:02:15But we got a great, great stakes weekend
01:02:17coming up at Keeneland.
01:02:19We got, in addition to the Friday stakes,
01:02:21we got the Appalachian, we've got the Commonwealth,
01:02:23the Madison, the Shaker Town, the Toyota Bluegrass
01:02:26on Saturday at Keeneland.
01:02:28At Aqueduct, we've got the Distaff, the Carter,
01:02:30the Bayshore, the Gazelle, the Wood Memorial.
01:02:33At Santa Anita, we've got the Monrovia, the Providencia,
01:02:35the Burrell Heroine, and the Santa Anita Derby.
01:02:38Take your pick.
01:02:39It's one of the most action-packed weekends of the year.
01:02:42What are you guys looking forward to?
01:02:44The Derby favorite will come out of this weekend,
01:02:46not last weekend.
01:02:47Who that's going to be, I have no idea.
01:02:50Messier would be the most likely one.
01:02:52If he runs off the screen in the Santa Anita Derby,
01:02:54he's going to be the favorite in the Kentucky Derby.
01:02:56And, you know, Forbidden Kingdom, too.
01:02:59The question is, how far can he go?
01:03:01I mean, he just looked awesome winning the San Vicente.
01:03:04The other thing I want to say, and smile happy,
01:03:06I'm a big fan of his, Joe.
01:03:07I think he'll win the Bluegrass,
01:03:09and I think he'll be one of the favorites
01:03:11in the Kentucky Derby.
01:03:12And we have some interesting,
01:03:14some of the comments we heard from Ken McPeak about him
01:03:16were very interesting.
01:03:17The other thing I want to mention is, you know,
01:03:19the Wood Memorial has been the prep
01:03:21that everybody likes to beat up on.
01:03:23It's the one that's still a grade two
01:03:25that used to be a grade one.
01:03:26I don't know if the Wood winner
01:03:28is going to win the Kentucky Derby,
01:03:30but this is a much better Wood Memorial
01:03:32than we've seen in a long time.
01:03:34I mean, you have three very good horses in there,
01:03:36Mo Donegal, Morello, and Early Voting.
01:03:39And whoever wins that race,
01:03:40I don't think they'd be the favorite in the Kentucky Derby,
01:03:42but they certainly come into it as a big contender.
01:03:45Yeah, as much fun as last weekend was
01:03:48with the three big prep races,
01:03:49including the Jeff Ruby Steak Steaks,
01:03:53this is it, this is the one.
01:03:54We've got some very, very good horses running this weekend.
01:03:58And when we do this show at this time next week,
01:04:01I think we'll be able to say,
01:04:02hey, fill in the blank, maybe Messier, maybe Smile Happy
01:04:05will be the horse to beat in the Kentucky Derby.
01:04:08And this weekend's racing
01:04:10is one of the most exciting for me.
01:04:13I count, you know, the first weekend of April
01:04:16and the first weekend of October
01:04:18as two of my all-time favorite days of racing,
01:04:20because it is the prep day, basically, prep weekend.
01:04:24In the first weekend of April,
01:04:25obviously it's the prep for all the Oaks
01:04:27in the Derby candidates.
01:04:29And then in October, it's for all the Breeders' Cup races.
01:04:32So I love this weekend of racing.
01:04:35And Joe, you mentioned all the different steak races,
01:04:38all the different graded steak races
01:04:40that are gonna be unfolding right before our eyes,
01:04:43you know, on Friday into Saturday.
01:04:46And I'm really, really excited just to watch
01:04:49and be a fan of the industry, just be a fan of the sport
01:04:51and watch how things develop
01:04:53and see which underdogs come up
01:04:55and end up beating the favorites
01:04:57and which favorites go on
01:04:58and take the next step and graduate.
01:05:01The other thing I wanted to mention is,
01:05:02you know, when we did our contest,
01:05:05I wrote down, you know, who the top candidates were
01:05:07and who trains them.
01:05:09And in my top 25 or so,
01:05:11I only had one horse that Brad Cox was,
01:05:13you know, was the trainer of, and that was Zozo's.
01:05:16And boy, have things turned around since that time.
01:05:18I mean, he is really loaded for bear now.
01:05:21And I think that he actually may have more entries
01:05:25in the derby than any other trainer
01:05:27other than maybe Todd Pletcher.
01:05:29So we lost Bill to some technical difficulties
01:05:31and promise we didn't kick him out
01:05:33for any of his comments before on any of the trainers.
01:05:35He's gonna be back next week,
01:05:37but I just wanted to wrap up that segment
01:05:38and put a bow on it.
01:05:40As John was saying, Brad Cox now has potentially
01:05:42three derby horses in Cyberknife, Zozo's,
01:05:45and Tony Port, who was second in the Jeff Ruby stakes.
01:05:47Stakes, shout out to Bill.
01:05:49And just wanted to mention a couple other horses
01:05:52on the undercard races
01:05:53that I'll be looking forward to watching.
01:05:55You know, in the Santa Anita Oaks,
01:05:56we've got Adair Manor,
01:05:57who I thought was probably one of the most impressive fillies
01:06:00of the year, at least until the past couple of weekends.
01:06:03So very much looking forward to seeing her run.
01:06:06And I think we're gonna get to see Golden Pal
01:06:07in the Shaker Town, who's back.
01:06:09He's gonna make his four-year-old debut at Keeneland.
01:06:12You know, that's a turf course that he likes for sure.
01:06:15And then in the Carter, Speaker's Corner,
01:06:17who I mentioned last time, I thought was just,
01:06:20he blew me away, honestly, in that stakes,
01:06:23in the Gulf Stream Park mile stakes.
01:06:25So we're gonna see him in the grade one,
01:06:26seven furlong Carter.
01:06:28So just a couple of horses to watch.
01:06:30But as John said, it really is one of the best weekends
01:06:33of the year, racing-wise,
01:06:35where you can just really hop all around the country
01:06:37and get great action.
01:06:38And, you know, it's gonna be a hell of a day
01:06:40and we're gonna have fun recapping it.
01:06:43Next week, I'm looking forward to what we're gonna have
01:06:45in terms of a set derby field,
01:06:48which I think we're gonna get after this weekend.
01:06:51The TDN Writers' Room is brought to you
01:06:53by West Point Thoroughbreds.
01:06:54Joining a West Point Thoroughbreds partnership
01:06:56can vault you into the world of instant camaraderie
01:06:58among people surrounding high-class horses
01:07:00and stakes action for a fraction of the cost
01:07:02of trying to do it on your own.
01:07:04You can learn more at westpointtb.com.
01:07:06West Point added two prospects to their racing roster
01:07:09at the Fasig-Tipton Gulf Stream Sale.
01:07:11A colt by Medaglia D'Oro is a half-brother to Constitution,
01:07:14so very royally bred there,
01:07:15as well as a colt by freshman sire West Coast,
01:07:18Lane's End Stallion.
01:07:19Both will be going to Shug McGahee.
01:07:22West Point also has a runner on opening day
01:07:23of the Keeneland Meet, Magnolia Midnight.
01:07:26Looks to get his second straight one of the year
01:07:27on the Lafayette Stakes.
01:07:28That's a great field.
01:07:29Definitely go check that race out.
01:07:31Best of luck to our friends at West Point this weekend
01:07:33and throughout the Keeneland Meet.
01:07:34We'll be right back after this message
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01:08:08Being a small family business,
01:08:10I guess we're part of a dying breed.
01:08:12We're really grateful for the people that entrust us.
01:08:14We know it's a huge responsibility.
01:08:16We're always with your horse, every step of the way.
01:08:20When it comes to being at the sales ground,
01:08:22showing your horses, we are with your horse.
01:08:24Just driving up and down the road every day,
01:08:26there's not a time that I don't look out
01:08:28and feel a responsibility to the sport, the animal,
01:08:31the people that come to invest in the game.
01:08:33I wanna see as many people enjoy this sport
01:08:34as they possibly can,
01:08:35because we do have the most beautiful sport in the world.
01:08:40The TDN Writers Room is brought to you by Legacy Bloodstock.
01:08:43If you think that 50 years combined experience
01:08:45in the horse business could benefit your program,
01:08:47give Tommy or Wendy a call.
01:08:48They personally advise on each horse
01:08:50as if they were their own Legacy sales graduates.
01:08:53Continue to pose for the camera in 2022 with 56 winners.
01:08:57Already, they've earned over $2 million in 2022
01:09:00and over $138 million all time.
01:09:04They had an impressive graduate last weekend
01:09:05with Life is Hard, who got a second straight win
01:09:07at Oaklawn Park.
01:09:08That was a nice looking field.
01:09:10He looks pretty good.
01:09:11I think he's a Jimmy DeVito trainee, if I'm not mistaken.
01:09:14Son of Muddings went through their consignment
01:09:15at the 2018 Keeneland November sale.
01:09:19So great job to Tommy and Wendy
01:09:20in getting that course prepared.
01:09:21And the yearling sale season will be here
01:09:24before you know it, so give them a shout.
01:09:26Well, thank God, Bill is back from timeout.
01:09:29I'm glad he was able to rejoin us.
01:09:32It's time for this week's Remy cartoon.
01:09:34So this week's Remy cartoon,
01:09:36the horses might have to get their beak wet a little bit
01:09:39with the Bob Baffert kind of dispersal,
01:09:42at least for the time being.
01:09:43So why not get involved if you're a horse
01:09:46and pick up a couple extra bucks?
01:09:48Sell anything you got.
01:09:49Horseshoes, feed, halters.
01:09:52I respect the horse's hustle in that way.
01:09:54And also last week's cartoon, I very much related to.
01:09:58I felt very seen.
01:09:59We had the two guys, one bet Medina Spirit,
01:10:03one bet Mandaloon.
01:10:04Guy that bet Medina Spirit is on a boat and chilling.
01:10:08Life is great, even though the horse is de-queued
01:10:10from the derby and the guy with Mandaloon, me,
01:10:13ends up with just a ripped up ticket for all his troubles.
01:10:16So shout out to Remy for seeing all of us
01:10:19disgruntled Mandaloon bettors in that cartoon.
01:10:22Just wanted to mention this before we go.
01:10:24A federal judge last Thursday threw out
01:10:28the constitutionality lawsuit,
01:10:30which was initiated one year ago
01:10:32by the National Horseman's Benevolent
01:10:34and Protective Association.
01:10:36That was designed to keep HISA,
01:10:38the Horse Racing Integrity and Safety Act,
01:10:40from going into effect on July 1st, 2022.
01:10:43Just going to read the quote here
01:10:44from the United States District Court Judge, James Wesley.
01:10:49He said,
01:10:49the court recognizes that HISA's regulatory model
01:10:52pushes the boundaries of public-private collaboration.
01:10:55The court also acknowledges the dramatic change
01:10:58that HISA imposes nationwide
01:10:59on the thoroughbred horse racing industry,
01:11:01but that change resulted from a decision of the people
01:11:04through Congress, and despite its novelty,
01:11:07the law as constructed stays
01:11:08within current constitutional limitations
01:11:11as defined by the Supreme Court and the Fifth Circuit.
01:11:14So there was a little bit of a nod there that, yes,
01:11:16this pushes the boundaries a little bit.
01:11:19And so it wasn't that he threw it out out of hand,
01:11:23but at the end of the day, Congress passed a law
01:11:28and the FTC has a chance to go through
01:11:31and to have comment periods.
01:11:33There has been,
01:11:34I think there's been enough public response allowed
01:11:37for this bill to go into effect.
01:11:39So obviously, again, not a lawyer,
01:11:42but this made sense to me.
01:11:43And I hope we can just move on from this.
01:11:46We saw some of the HISA regulations get approved
01:11:48in the past week.
01:11:49Some of the cost structure is starting to come into focus.
01:11:54We still need the drug enforcement thing
01:11:55to be taken care of.
01:11:56That's like the big elephant in the room,
01:11:59but I would hope at least now that we can move on
01:12:02and at least start to implement the safety aspects
01:12:05of this program as we work on the drug enforcement aspect.
01:12:08So kudos to that judge.
01:12:11And again, hopefully we don't have to talk
01:12:13about the HBPA lawsuits forever now.
01:12:15So I can't ban it.
01:12:17I can't ban it like I did with the Baffert speech,
01:12:19but fingers crossed we're at the end of this road.
01:12:23All right, so that's going to do it
01:12:24for this week's edition of the TDN Writers' Room
01:12:26presented by Keeneland.
01:12:27Remind you that the Keeneland Spring,
01:12:28I shouldn't have to remind you.
01:12:29You should already know it's two days away,
01:12:32opening day, Friday, April 8th.
01:12:33Don't forget about the Keeneland Horses of Racing H-Tail,
01:12:36which is after the races on closing day, April 29th.
01:12:39I want to thank Bill Finley, John Green,
01:12:41our Green Group Guest of the Week, Ken McPeak,
01:12:44our producer, Patty Wolfe,
01:12:45our associate producer, Katie Petroniak,
01:12:47and our editors, Anthony LaRocca,
01:12:49Aaliyah LaRocca, and Nathan Wilkinson.
01:12:51Thank you so much for watching.
01:12:52See you next week.