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00:00:00For the love of the horse, for generations to come.
00:00:28It's December 14th at 1.04 p.m.
00:00:31Good afternoon, everybody.
00:00:32This is another edition of the Thoroughbred Daily News Writer's Room Podcast.
00:00:35I'm your host, Bill Finley, and I'm a correspondent for the Thoroughbred Daily News.
00:00:39My name is Randy Moss with NBC Sports.
00:00:41It was actually Zoe's idea for the two of us to get a little festive as Bill reacts
00:00:48to that one there.
00:00:51An ugly Christmas sweater was the request.
00:00:54Zoe and Bill, I live in Minnesota.
00:00:56I don't have a single sweater to my name.
00:01:00I'm a sweatshirts and jeans kind of guy, but I borrowed this from my 20-year-old daughter,
00:01:04Hallie, who is away in college and doesn't know I'm wearing it, so I hope this will suffice.
00:01:11It will suffice indeed.
00:01:13Thank you very much.
00:01:14I'm Zoe Catman for First Racing and XBTV, and there is my full exposé, guys.
00:01:20I've been told I have to cover it up in just a minute while we get the proceedings going,
00:01:25but delighted to be here.
00:01:27And, you know, we've got our resident Scrooge in the house because Bill doesn't have an
00:01:31ugly Christmas sweater, so he can play Scrooge.
00:01:35I just don't own one.
00:01:36I'm sorry.
00:01:37I mean, you know, and chalk that up to good taste, by the way.
00:01:41But Randy, well done.
00:01:42That's really ugly.
00:01:43That's awful.
00:01:44And Zoe, I don't even know where to go with that.
00:01:47I want to remind you that the TDN Writer's Room Podcast is brought to you each week by
00:01:51Keeneland.
00:01:52We appreciate their support.
00:01:54Well, guys, let's get back into the mud.
00:01:56Jason Service, the story had another chapter where he pled guilty in a federal courtroom
00:02:03last week.
00:02:04It looks like he's going to get four years in prison somewhere around that neighborhood.
00:02:09He pled guilty to one felony count and one misdemeanor.
00:02:13Felony count is the same one they've been getting everybody on this called misbranding
00:02:16and drug adulteration.
00:02:19So he pled guilty to that.
00:02:21You know, is four years enough?
00:02:22I don't think 400 years is enough for what these guys did, but I was a little bit surprised
00:02:28he didn't get more because, first of all, Navarro, Jorge Navarro, got five years.
00:02:34And secondly, Service was hit with a charge that Navarro wasn't a very serious one conspiracy
00:02:40to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, which carried a 20 year sentence.
00:02:45So he was facing potentially 25 years.
00:02:48I'm surprised they let him off the hook for only four.
00:02:51He will be on his way to prison sometime next year.
00:02:55His sentencing is on the day of the Preakness, believe it or not, the Preakness week, believe
00:03:00it or not, will be his sentencing.
00:03:03But I was a little bit disappointed that he I think he kind of got off easy, Randy.
00:03:08Well, the same judge, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Mary Kay
00:03:13Viscasill, who sentenced Jorge Navarro, will be sentencing Jason Service.
00:03:19And at the moment she gave Navarro his five years, she commented that she would have preferred
00:03:26to give him more.
00:03:27But it was all that the law allowed.
00:03:30I don't know exactly what that means.
00:03:32And I can only surmise that perhaps because Navarro was much more brazen in his flouting
00:03:41of the rules, he almost seemed to embrace the moniker juice man.
00:03:46I mean, he had shoes, he had a pair of Crocs.
00:03:49It had juice man emblazoned on him and he was caught on wiretap, you know, very actively
00:03:55encouraging other trainers to to do as he had done, whereas Jason Service, even though
00:04:00his horses were more high profile for the most part, was more of a more of a quiet abuser
00:04:07of the rules, I guess you can say.
00:04:08So that might be one possible explanation.
00:04:11I think the primary reason the service changed his plea from not guilty to guilty was that
00:04:16the wiretap evidence was authorized to be used in any trial against him.
00:04:23Supposedly, according to the legal experts, it's extremely tough to beat the U.S. Attorney's
00:04:29office anywhere, especially the Southern District of New York.
00:04:33Damian Williams is the U.S. attorney for the Southern District.
00:04:37And those people are very hardcore when they set their sights on an offender.
00:04:42If you want to know exactly how hardcore, if you're a fan at all of the TV program Billions,
00:04:49you're familiar with Chuck Rhoades played capably by Paul Giamatti.
00:04:54Chuck Rhoades in the TV series Billions was the U.S. attorney for the Southern District
00:05:01of New York.
00:05:02And we all know how hardcore Chuck Rhoades was.
00:05:04So I think that's a possible explanation for why Service may be facing a four year sentence
00:05:11instead of Jason Navarro's five.
00:05:15Yeah, and to echo basically what Randy said there, Navarro was the bad guy, got blood on his hands.
00:05:23We know that X, Y, Jet, no one's really quite sure how he died, but he was one of the high
00:05:28profile horses that was doped and did, in fact, die.
00:05:32Nobody really knows how.
00:05:33And then Jason Service, the elder statesman, the quieter guy, had five stones, not caught him
00:05:40had they not had a wiretap.
00:05:41A lot of people probably wouldn't believe because he was a nice guy, a nice trainer, that he
00:05:47was capable of any of that stuff.
00:05:49So he gets four years, the maximum that was allowed.
00:05:52And four years is a long time behind bars.
00:05:55And he's not a young guy.
00:05:56And he basically got what he deserved.
00:06:00He really did.
00:06:01And for me, I'm delighted to see these two guys go down.
00:06:05It's just a shame that we won't have five stones investigating more people.
00:06:10I mean, hopefully we don't have more people that come to light that need investigating.
00:06:14But this is exactly how these guys were caught.
00:06:18So I'll disagree with you on one thing.
00:06:20I know Service wasn't, as Randy said, the other guy, Navarro sort of embraced this.
00:06:26I mean, the juice man, Crocs, he deserved five years in prison just for those.
00:06:30But leading up to this, if you were to ask me who are the two most prolific cheats in
00:06:36horse racing, I would have told you Jorge Navarro and Jason Service.
00:06:39I mean, even though he was more quiet and humble than Navarro, I mean, especially here
00:06:44on the East Coast, everybody kind of just assumed that he was up to no good.
00:06:49But now that up to no good is going to lead him to prison.
00:06:52And he's right.
00:06:53He's not a young guy.
00:06:54He's 65 years old.
00:06:55So by the time that he does go to prison, he'll be made by 66.
00:06:59So he's looking at spending in prison until he's into his early 70s.
00:07:03And we'll find out about that.
00:07:05But so now there's, you know, other stories to come from this.
00:07:10And the Saudi Cup now, which has been in limbo since maximum security won it way back in
00:07:152020, is still in limbo.
00:07:18And here's the background on this.
00:07:20The race was the indictments came out only nine days after the Saudi Cup was run.
00:07:26So they had not paid out the purse money yet.
00:07:29And they said, as soon as this indictment came out, they said, hey, wait a minute.
00:07:33We may not pay maximum security because of these allegations against Jason Service.
00:07:39Now, all this time later, they still have not paid the money.
00:07:43And they had said that they're going to wait to see how this comes out in the courts.
00:07:48I had expected that with Service pleading guilty, it was on a Friday, was it not?
00:07:54But by that Monday, we would have a statement from the Saudi Cup saying that they had taken
00:07:59down maximum security because of the allegations against Service.
00:08:03And Midnight Bissu was officially declared the winner.
00:08:06They put out a statement and said, saying, we're going to keep looking into this.
00:08:09I don't quite get what what more do they hope to find?
00:08:12They don't have any information that's not available, hasn't been made available through
00:08:15the court case.
00:08:17If Service was a drug cheat, and they were not going to give the money to a drug cheat,
00:08:22why would they even bother to keep looking into it?
00:08:24I don't know.
00:08:25I do think eventually this money will be taken away from owners Gary and Mary West.
00:08:29He will be disqualified and Midnight Bissu will be declared the winner.
00:08:32That's a big hit.
00:08:33It's a $10 million purse to the winner.
00:08:36Yeah, maximum security had career earnings of $12.4 million, even though that $10 million
00:08:42hadn't been actually paid out to Gary and Mary West.
00:08:45Now that'll drop, we assume, to $2.4 million.
00:08:49Midnight Bissu will go from the $3.5 million runner-up share that she had up to the $10
00:08:55million winner's share, which will elevate her career earnings to $13.9 million.
00:09:02That's only a little less than $100,000 shy of Enable as the all-time leading money-winning
00:09:07female to ever compete in a race in North America.
00:09:11Yeah, I mean, it's a nice Christmas present if it happens before Christmas for Jeffrey
00:09:16Bloom, Saul Kuhlman, and Chuck and Lori Allen, who were the owners of Midnight Bissu.
00:09:22She's now been sold.
00:09:23She's now owned by Japan, a Japan interest as a broodmare.
00:09:26But it's just a matter of time.
00:09:29Probably between a rock and a hard place, because he didn't physically test positive
00:09:36for any substance.
00:09:39So could someone, I know the West said they'll go along with whatever happened, but could
00:09:44something happen to where they don't have to give up the purse?
00:09:48Because he passed every test that was given to him.
00:09:50Right, let me tackle that, Zoe.
00:09:54I don't think they should take, as much as I'm, you know, an anti, you know, all the
00:09:59drugging and everything, I don't think they should take the purse away from him for the
00:10:03very reasons that you just said.
00:10:06They conducted drug tests, certainly post-race, I believe they did pre-race as well.
00:10:09And just like in the United States, he never tested positive.
00:10:12None of Jason's service horses ever did test positive.
00:10:15So if this were the Pegasus World Cup, instead of the Saudi Cup, or this was the Breeders'
00:10:21Cup Classic, to the Saudi Cup, there'd be no grounds whatsoever to disqualify him.
00:10:27But this is a different country with a very different legal system than we have.
00:10:32They play by their own rules.
00:10:34They can do whatever they want.
00:10:36They can say he didn't test positive, but you know, we're not stupid.
00:10:41The guy's on wiretap saying he drugged everything in his barn.
00:10:45And that's good enough for us.
00:10:47We're going to take the money away from him.
00:10:49Now, even though the West have said they're not going to contest this, and good for them,
00:10:54even if you wanted to contest this, what would you do?
00:10:56I mean, I, you know, I'm no expert on Saudi judicial systems, but I think what they say
00:11:03goes and there's no recourse for people, you know, what would they do?
00:11:06They'd sue him in Saudi Arabian court.
00:11:08They can't do that.
00:11:10So, again, I'll say this.
00:11:11I don't think they should take the money away from him just for the reasons you said.
00:11:15But you know, you're not dealing with the United States, you're not dealing with our
00:11:17judicial system.
00:11:18You're not dealing with our laws.
00:11:19You're not dealing with our racing regulations.
00:11:21They can do whatever they want.
00:11:23Maybe they'll send it up to MBS and let him try to make the ultimate decision.
00:11:28I think what it's going to come down to is this.
00:11:30Not only is Gary and Mary West said they won't contest it, they've actually endorsed the
00:11:37idea of taking the purse money away from maximum security.
00:11:41Gary West, we believe the decision to take the Saudi cup purse from maximum security
00:11:44and redistribute it is the correct one.
00:11:49So that might take a little of the heat off of the off of the Saudi people that are trying
00:11:54to make that decision.
00:11:55It'll be interesting.
00:11:56Yeah.
00:11:57We'll say stay tuned to that.
00:11:58I think eventually he will lose the money.
00:12:00So now the basically everybody who was originally indicted in this has been dealt with now.
00:12:07And the southern district, the federal government is pitching a perfect game.
00:12:11We've got everybody.
00:12:12Nobody has been exonerated or got off on this.
00:12:16You know, the sentences vary from very short to longer sentences, etc.
00:12:21But we're almost three years into this breaking.
00:12:25It broke in March of 2020.
00:12:27So we're what that's about four months shy of three years.
00:12:31And you know, it was a watershed moment in horse racing.
00:12:35And you know, one of the things that I wrote at the time and a lot of people said was,
00:12:39let's turn this into a positive because let's take this as the blow we needed, the warning
00:12:46shot to get our act together and do a better job and clean up the sport.
00:12:53And I'm wondering all these years later, what has happened?
00:12:56And, you know, it's a little bit complicated, a little bit difficult to answer that question
00:13:00because we don't know what's happening with Heisman.
00:13:01We'll get into that a little bit later.
00:13:04But I would say this.
00:13:05If Heisman goes by the wayside, which is very possible, we're right back to where we started.
00:13:11State racing commissions handling this, relying primarily on drug tests, which never catch
00:13:17anybody other than people using overages of therapeutic medications, which is really such
00:13:22a minor deal.
00:13:23I would say, unfortunately, some three years later or two years and eight months or whatever
00:13:28it is, we're just right where we started from, right back where we started from.
00:13:33I don't think so, because we've caught two of the biggest cheaters in the game.
00:13:37So that's two guys off the table and they went to jail and they were caught squarely
00:13:42and fairly.
00:13:43So I think we have definitely taken a step forward in this.
00:13:48I really do.
00:13:50My point would be, though, you're absolutely right about that, but, you know, short of
00:13:55the FBI launching a second investigation, which I think is very unlikely at this point,
00:14:01how are we going to catch the next bad guy?
00:14:05I don't know.
00:14:06We've got to figure that out.
00:14:07I mean, the only reason that Jason Service and Jorge Navarro and everyone else that was
00:14:15involved in that Sting effort were caught in the first place was the involvement of
00:14:21the Jockey Club.
00:14:22As you pointed out, Bill, the state racing commissions didn't have the funding to launch
00:14:29investigations or the desire, the wherewithal to do it, and the Jockey Club stepped in and
00:14:35ultimately enlisted the Five Stones investigative group that were the ones who took down all
00:14:42those people.
00:14:44Absent that, absent something else like that happening again, then I think thoroughbred
00:14:50racing is going to be back to the beta methazone positives and the lanocaine positives and
00:14:56the 21 picograms and everything else that seems to make the headlines nowadays.
00:15:01When the real cheaters out there, however many of them, like Navarro and Service, there
00:15:09still are, go unpunished.
00:15:12I think that's one of the reasons why people were looking forward so much to the
00:15:16implementation of HISA was the investigative aspect of what HISA might have and hopefully
00:15:24maybe still will bring to the table.
00:15:26But without that, I think the sport is looking pretty impotent to try to catch some of
00:15:35these guys.
00:15:37Yeah, that would be my point.
00:15:38I mean, how have we progressed?
00:15:40But hopefully things will work out with HISA.
00:15:43And again, we'll talk about that after a couple of messages from our sponsors.
00:15:47But, you know, a sorry chapter in thoroughbred horse racing.
00:15:51And we move on into the future.
00:15:53And let's hope the future is better than the past.
00:15:56The TDN Writers Room is brought to you by Keeneland.
00:15:59Keeneland recently supplemented 69 horses to their January Horses of All Ages sale,
00:16:05including Seasons, one of my personal favorites.
00:16:09She's a four-year-old Grade 1 filly by Tappet, offered as a broodmare or racing
00:16:14prospect. Quick, a Grade 3 winner carrying her first foal by Medaglia d'Oro.
00:16:19Bold Connection, a two-year-old stakes place daughter of Uncle Mo, who is a half
00:16:24sister to Grade 1 winner Sweet Loretta, offered as a broodmare or racing prospect.
00:16:30And also Bold Connection, a two-year-old stakes place daughter of Uncle Mo, who is a
00:16:34half sister to Grade 1 winner Sweet Loretta, offered as a broodmare or racing
00:16:39prospect. The Keeneland January sale will cover four sessions from January the 9th
00:16:44through the 12th and now features a total, listen to this guys, of 1,578 horses.
00:16:52Hand warmers are free, by the way.
00:16:55We'll be right back from these messages from Keeneland.
00:16:58If this place could talk, it would roar.
00:17:08It would say, this is racing, this beating heart in the heart of horse country, steady
00:17:17and strong beneath the roar, reminding us why, for the love of the horse, for
00:17:25generations to come.
00:17:28Spicetown, Bunnings, Echotown, it's Echotown for Joe Palermo and Echotown breaks the
00:17:43way and Echotown is drawing away in the stretch, Echotown wins the Alan Turkin Stakes.
00:17:50A sire line so prolific it repeats itself, Echotown.
00:17:58The TDN Writers' Room is brought to you by Coolmore.
00:18:02It was a big weekend for Ashford's Justify, who was in the running for top first crop
00:18:07sire of 2022.
00:18:09He had a pair of winners on American soil on Sunday with Don Alberto's homebred,
00:18:15Alphabella, who survived a steward's inquiry to break a maiden at Goldstream Park.
00:18:20And right after that, prove right, won allowance optional claimer at Laurel.
00:18:25Justify is the sire of 28 winners this year alone and his progeny have brought in six
00:18:29wins in the last 15 days.
00:18:32Randy, are you surprised that Justify is in the running for leading first crop sire?
00:18:38Not at all, Zoe. Big, beautiful, exceptionally well bred, speed.
00:18:44And not only does he have a great pedigree, he's a son of Scat Daddy.
00:18:47So you would think there would be quite a bit of turf influence there.
00:18:50So you could have some versatility for sons and daughters of Justify.
00:18:54It's going to be exciting to watch them run.
00:18:56And let's just not forget that Justify was in training as a two year old, but a slight
00:19:00injury just set him apart.
00:19:02He probably was online to be a top class two year old in his own right.
00:19:07Well, the other news of the week, the other big story of the week was that we had a
00:19:11decision from the Federal Trade Commission, which is the body that oversees horse
00:19:15racing integrity and safety authority.
00:19:16And we were getting close to January one.
00:19:19And despite all the lawsuits that are going back and forth and the losses that HISA has
00:19:24taken in court, they were ready to begin the anti-doping and medication control program
00:19:28on January one.
00:19:30The Federal Trade Commission came out this week and said, put put the red light out,
00:19:34says, let's not do that now.
00:19:36Let's not do this on January one.
00:19:38They said that there's a need for uniformity.
00:19:40That's what this was all about.
00:19:42And without the uniformity in the rules, because different states would have different
00:19:45rules and different court decisions would affect different states.
00:19:48They didn't think it was the time to go forward with this.
00:19:52Even though I'm a HISA fan, this was the right decision to make.
00:19:55I mean, this thing is so messed up at this point.
00:19:58There was no you couldn't go forward with it.
00:20:00And nobody, you know, as each day goes by, something else comes out.
00:20:03And I'm trying to follow this story and I don't know what's going on half the time.
00:20:07It's so confusing.
00:20:08So that was it was another blow for HISA, but it was the right thing to do.
00:20:13And so, again, as we talked about in segment one, we're right back to where we were,
00:20:20you know, for all these, you know, the years prior to HISA coming to be where everything
00:20:25again is going to be handled by the state racing commissions.
00:20:28An unfortunate decision, but the right one, Randy.
00:20:31Yeah, absolutely.
00:20:32And credit to the FTC for actually taking the time to do this before January the first,
00:20:38because this is way down on the FTC's list of priorities right now.
00:20:43Right now, the FTC is in the headlines for trying to put the kibosh on Microsoft's
00:20:48proposed $75 billion purchase of Activision.
00:20:52So that's what they've been focused on.
00:20:54This is probably just an annoyance to them.
00:20:56But I completely agree with you that it had to be done.
00:20:59I mean, if a trainer was suspended for a drug violation or a jockey was suspended for a
00:21:05whip violation under the jurisdiction of HISA, how could that ever hope to stick in court
00:21:12when a judge has already, you know, issued an opinion that HISA is unconstitutional to
00:21:17begin with? So this was the only thing that could be done, I think, to lessen the chaos
00:21:25that this is all this is all causing.
00:21:27Otherwise, we're going to just be sitting here each week talking about lawsuit over
00:21:32lawsuit over lawsuit and people suing and days.
00:21:36And are they going to have days?
00:21:37They're not going to have days.
00:21:39It would just be a complete joke.
00:21:40So at least we have that done January 1st and we're going to go back to what we were
00:21:45doing before. And we're going to play a wait and see game.
00:21:49It's as simple as that.
00:21:51And maybe Mitch McConnell at all can can go back to the drawing board and can figure out
00:21:56a way if there is a way to to make HISA fit under the constitutionality problems that
00:22:05it's that it apparently has right now vis a vis the FTC.
00:22:08And maybe this thing can be kickstarted again, jumpstarted again, hopefully sooner rather
00:22:14than later. Well, Randy, that's one of the ways that you might get HISA back on track
00:22:19after it's gone off the rails.
00:22:21But I'm pessimistic that that is going to work or anything's going to happen.
00:22:25And let's try to take a deep breath and review where we are.
00:22:28One court has already said it's unconstitutional.
00:22:32A second court is now dealing with the exact same case and the constitutionality of HISA.
00:22:38And from what the legal experts say, according to the judges that have been handed this
00:22:45case in that court, what is that?
00:22:47I forget which is the fifth and which is the sixth.
00:22:49I think this is the Sixth Circuit that it's bound to most likely is going to be rule
00:22:54unconstitutional in that circuit as well.
00:22:56And going forward, I don't see I think HISA is over.
00:23:01I really do.
00:23:03I think you can pull the plug on it.
00:23:04Now, you know, the things they could do this and bank hearing where they take it back to
00:23:09the court and say they want the full all the judges to rule on it rather than just a panel
00:23:14of three. I don't see any court accepting that.
00:23:18I don't especially if both circuits of the federal appeals court make the same ruling.
00:23:23I don't see the Supreme Court taking the case.
00:23:26And if they did, as conservative as the Supreme Court is, I see them also ruling against
00:23:32HISA. Then it would be up to the politicians to try to figure this mess out and make it,
00:23:37as you were talking about, Randy, you know, put it in a way that it is it answers these
00:23:44constitutionality questions, which would be giving the FTC more authority.
00:23:48But just like you pointed out, I mean, really, you don't want the FTC to have more
00:23:52authority because you don't want bureaucrats and people worried about the things you've
00:23:57just mentioned with Microsoft and whatever having to run horse racing.
00:24:01I mean, HISA, whether you like it or not, is run by people who that's all they do.
00:24:06They pay attention to horse race and they become experts in horse racing and they
00:24:09understand the issue. So, you know, we're not getting HISA on January one.
00:24:15And I don't think we're getting HISA on July one or January one of twenty twenty four or
00:24:19anything else. I hope I'm wrong, but I'm extremely pessimistic.
00:24:22Well, look, if HISA indeed goes away, then I think everyone in horse racing should hold
00:24:30the various HBPA groups to what they've been saying.
00:24:36They've been saying in their challenges of HISA, along with a lot of other racing
00:24:39states, but primarily HBPA has been saying this, that we don't need HISA.
00:24:45We're already making progress on all these issues in thoroughbred racing, you know,
00:24:49through the Racing Commissioners International and through other avenues.
00:24:52We don't need federal involvement.
00:24:54We can handle this ourselves.
00:24:56Now, horsemen and horse racing groups have been saying that for decades.
00:24:59We know that. And nothing ever really happened.
00:25:03There is a movement toward more uniformity in medication rules from state to state.
00:25:09But that's not the only problem right now.
00:25:10And if the HBPA thinks that racing can solve its own problems, hey, have at it.
00:25:16But we're going to be watching to see if that indeed is what happens.
00:25:21And to echo what Ed said when we had him on a couple of weeks ago, I asked him the
00:25:27question, there was something where HISA could be pushed back to the end of 2023.
00:25:34I said, would that be a possibility to fix where you think HISA is wrong and push it
00:25:40back? And he said, absolutely.
00:25:42That's what we're trying to do.
00:25:44So I think the only good thing about all the problems that we've had with HISA, it's
00:25:48got people talking.
00:25:50It's got people thinking.
00:25:52And hopefully we can get together and move this thing forward in some way, shape or
00:25:57form. And just remember, you can't keep all of the people happy all of the time.
00:26:02There are already going to be some people somewhere that are pissed off about this.
00:26:07But hopefully the majority is going to think it's a good thing moving forward.
00:26:12But I'm skeptical about that.
00:26:17I mean, we've been doing things the same way for 150 years and, you know, really, we've
00:26:21never seen any progress.
00:26:22That's why you should have worn your sweater today, so you'd be less skeptical and a bit
00:26:29more positive.
00:26:30You should have put your ugly Christmas sweater on.
00:26:34Well, Zoe, Christmas is coming.
00:26:35You know what to get me now, right?
00:26:37Absolutely. I'm going to put it in the mail for you.
00:26:40OK. All right.
00:26:41So we will find out more about what's going forward with HISA.
00:26:44But on January 1, we are not moving forward with the anti-doping medication control.
00:26:50And we will be back to the status quo.
00:26:52I don't think the status quo is good.
00:26:54That's one person's opinion.
00:26:56We've given you reminders.
00:26:58We've given you more than one reminder.
00:27:00Well, here is your final reminder.
00:27:01The nominations for the 2023 Pennsylvania Sired, Pennsylvania Bread two-year-old
00:27:07stallion series are open.
00:27:09The nomination fee right now is only $200.
00:27:12If you do it by December 31st, as we said last week, it goes up exponentially after
00:27:17that. So get those nominations in.
00:27:19The series will be expanded in 2023, three separate legs of two-year-old colt and
00:27:25two-year-old filly races.
00:27:26For those of you who aren't good at math, that's six stakes races in all with a
00:27:30$50,000 trainer bonus for the top three point earning horses.
00:27:34Oh, by the way, the 2023 Pennsylvania Stallion and Boarding Farm Directory is now
00:27:39live. Statistics, photos, backgrounds on all Pennsylvania stallions.
00:27:43Check it out at pabread.com.
00:27:46And we'll be right back after this message from the PHBA.
00:27:50Here in Pennsylvania, we're proud of our breeding program, the best in North America.
00:27:55But we're also proud to be leaders in this industry.
00:27:57The PA Horse Breeders Association is funding cutting edge research at PenVet to
00:28:02detect gene doping in thoroughbreds, and we endorsed the SAFE Act to help protect the
00:28:07most vulnerable horses.
00:28:09Plus, we're pleased to support the aftercare programs set up by our horseman's groups.
00:28:13Just a few of the reasons why you should join us in Pennsylvania, the premier place to
00:28:18breed and race.
00:28:20The Green Group guest of the week is sponsored, of course, by the Green Group, an
00:28:25accounting and tax consulting advisory firm specializing in the thoroughbred industry.
00:28:29Over 500 clients in the horse business they have with proven strategies to help save
00:28:35you taxes.
00:28:36Learn more about how they can help you at www.greenco.com.
00:28:41Welcome in now the Green Group guest of the week, the president of Oaklawn Park, Louis
00:28:45Sulla. With the meet underway, great time to touch base with Louis on what's going on in
00:28:49Hot Springs. And Louis, since you took over, one of the major changes is the longer
00:28:54meets. This year you're going from December 9th to May 6th.
00:28:58So you start in early December.
00:28:59You're going past Arkansas Derby right up to the Kentucky Derby Day.
00:29:03Two part question.
00:29:04How is that working out?
00:29:05And have you hit the sweet spot now or can we expect maybe further expansion somewhere down
00:29:10the road? Well, it's a work in progress.
00:29:13We don't know yet how just great this is.
00:29:17It is working.
00:29:20More importantly, our horsemen seem to love it.
00:29:22It fills in a gap.
00:29:25Equally important, the city of Hot Springs and our community love it because it's a
00:29:30lull time for us in Hot Springs.
00:29:34Our staffing, we're still having staffing issues, but assuming that will become
00:29:40normalized sometime in the near future, certainly next year.
00:29:45Right now, it seems to be working quite well.
00:29:47So, Louis, as you probably already know, I specialize in softball questions.
00:29:52So I'm going to I'm going to I'm going to tee you up here with softball answers.
00:29:57This is one of the greatest softball questions of all time.
00:29:59Right. I know for maybe going back 30 years, Oakland pursued some sort of casino style
00:30:08games. There were some swings and misses initially.
00:30:13Now it's a it's a full blown casino.
00:30:16How important is the addition of the casino wagering been to Oakland Park?
00:30:23Well, it's it's it's a softball question and here's a softball answer only in this
00:30:30regard. Racing today will not survive without it.
00:30:35Plain and simple. If you do not have that alternative revenue source from whatever
00:30:41means, racing will not survive.
00:30:44You'll either do a little bit OK or you can do a whole lot better.
00:30:49If you don't have it, you're going to close.
00:30:51So the importance to Oakland, starting with our if you really want to go back in time,
00:30:56starting with interstate simulcasting, which had not been done before until my father, Mr.
00:31:03Dutchess of Arlington Park, had a handshake to start that then from instant racing to
00:31:10electronic electronic games of skill to what we have today, we've always had that
00:31:16alternative revenue source to help our purses increase and be maintained and be
00:31:21competitive. If you don't have that, you're not going to survive.
00:31:25So plain and simple. So how important it's vital.
00:31:29And tell me a little bit about what's new at Oakland this year, because you've really
00:31:34invested into the hotel the past couple of years.
00:31:37Is there a new sports bar there and some new things?
00:31:40It's been a while since I was at Oakland.
00:31:42I mean, I would love to come back.
00:31:45Maybe I'll come with Randy for the Rebel, but it is one of my favorite places to race
00:31:49because people love the racing in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
00:31:53So what's new? What can we look forward to this week?
00:31:56Well, thank you. We always say we're not going to do much and we end up doing a whole lot
00:32:01in the summer. This summer is no different.
00:32:05We moved our racing office from downstairs up to the paddock area.
00:32:10We relocated the entire state licensing office to the reserve seats office.
00:32:17We've renovated the entire press box down to the studs.
00:32:21So it's brand new. In addition to all of that, we did create a new sports bar and I
00:32:27should not diminish it by calling it a sports bar.
00:32:30It's probably the largest, most exciting sports bar in the region.
00:32:36And I'm talking about going down to Dallas and up to Chicago.
00:32:39It's about 12,000 square feet.
00:32:42We have three Topgolf simulators.
00:32:45We have axe throwing.
00:32:46We have shuffleboard.
00:32:48We have sports betting.
00:32:49We've got parimutuel betting and we have an entire menu with food and beverage and sit
00:32:55down dining. And that's in the middle of the grandstand.
00:32:58And that's quite unique to racing today.
00:33:01And so we're very excited about that.
00:33:05In addition to all of those things, we always do things behind the scenes.
00:33:10We're always repairing and replacing and doing things that other tracks really don't do.
00:33:15For instance, every year we pick up our track surface in its entirety.
00:33:21We bring it to the backstretch.
00:33:23We're able to then remix it.
00:33:25But more importantly, go to our base and analyze that and see where we are with that and
00:33:30then remix it and put it back down on the track.
00:33:33It starts from May until October.
00:33:35And we need every single day to do that before horses.
00:33:38So we're always moving and changing.
00:33:40But to your question, yes, we have a new sports bar called Mainline Sports.
00:33:45It's right in the middle of the grandstand.
00:33:48We've only had it open now for a weekend.
00:33:51But I think our fans love it.
00:33:53And it's very exciting.
00:33:54It's something fun for modern racing.
00:33:58You have all this activity in an old racetrack, an old grandstand with modern
00:34:05amenities. And that's what's kind of fun about it.
00:34:08Hold on, hold on. Axe throwing.
00:34:10You mentioned axe throwing.
00:34:12Can you elaborate on the axe throwing part of this?
00:34:15Because I am super intrigued.
00:34:17Well, as Randy knows, our counsel Skip Ebel's really not happy with us, but it is axe
00:34:25throwing. You sign about 38 pages of waivers, but then we give you an axe.
00:34:31And it's a real thing.
00:34:33I mean, believe it or not, it's a real thing.
00:34:36We always think darts, but with axes.
00:34:41Wow. OK, answer my question.
00:34:44Lewis, if you don't mind, I'm going to pass on the axe throwing.
00:34:49But picking up on what Randy asked you about the importance of the casino.
00:34:54But Oaklawn is one of several dozen tracks in the country that has a casino and derives
00:35:01very needed revenue from it.
00:35:03But unfortunately, in horse racing, most of those other tracks, it's clear where their
00:35:08number one emphasis is.
00:35:09It's casino and horse racing is second and maybe not even a close second.
00:35:14But Oaklawn, it seems different that horse racing really does still matter very much
00:35:19that it comes first. Could you, first of all, just explain Oaklawn's philosophy vis-a-vis
00:35:25the marriage of sports, excuse me, not sports, but you have that, too, as well.
00:35:30But the casino and horse racing and how you've made it work to get these astronomical
00:35:35purses yet still emphasize horse racing to a point where it's obviously very important
00:35:40to the Sella family.
00:35:41Well, we first off, I think what you just said is most important at all is the Sella
00:35:46family. We do have a focus and multi-generational focus on the sport of horse
00:35:52racing that's been embedded in our family.
00:35:56At the last turn of the last century, in the late 1800s, 1900s, legal bookmaking was
00:36:02important. So when you think about that, we've always been involved with horse racing,
00:36:08going from state to state and permitting that.
00:36:11Fast forward to today, we truly have the best racing gaming model we think in America.
00:36:20We follow it quite closely.
00:36:22We talk to our horsemen.
00:36:24The bottom line is we get along with our horsemen.
00:36:27Most jurisdictions can't say that.
00:36:29We get along with our racing commission, our regulators.
00:36:32So many states cannot say that.
00:36:35If we have issues, we get in the room, we solve the issues.
00:36:40Most jurisdictions cannot do that.
00:36:42And it's not just because they don't see eye to eye.
00:36:45They're handcuffed. They have restrictions that we don't have.
00:36:48And we acknowledge that.
00:36:49And our success, frankly, is because we are able to be flexible and frankly, to sit in
00:36:56with our Arkansas HPPA and solve those problems and then together go to the racing
00:37:02commission and say, look, we've solved the problem.
00:37:05Let's move forward because it's all about racing.
00:37:08There's plenty of money to go around for everyone.
00:37:11We put it's amazing.
00:37:15At the end of the day, when you look at all the money, we average about twelve million
00:37:21dollars that we put back into the plant every year.
00:37:24No track does that.
00:37:25If you're a corporate owned track, you're certainly not going to do that.
00:37:30And we do that every single year.
00:37:32And the fans really don't see a lot of that.
00:37:35In addition to that, we take those monies allocated a purse plus a little extra because
00:37:41we understand the importance of if you have a high purse structure, you're going to get
00:37:45the very best horses.
00:37:47If you get the best horses, guess what?
00:37:48You've got the best fans in the country.
00:37:50They're going to show up to look at it.
00:37:52So, Lewis, when Oaklawn really, really took off nationally to become a nationally
00:38:00prominent racetrack early 1970s, I guess it coincided with your late father, Charles,
00:38:07taking over the reins at Oaklawn.
00:38:09And obviously, you know, Charles was widely celebrated for his contributions to
00:38:14thoroughbred racing. His managerial style seems to me to have been very conservative,
00:38:23tradition based, very careful to change.
00:38:28Let's walk before we run.
00:38:30So far, looking at it from a distance, it seems to me like your style, since you've taken
00:38:35over, has been characterized by bold moves, aggressive moves, the hotel, the expansion
00:38:42and racing dates, all the huge improvements suddenly to the grandstand.
00:38:48What's your philosophy in that regard?
00:38:51Well, I think, first off, you're correct.
00:38:55Dad was conservative.
00:38:56It was more traditional.
00:38:57And I think the era of racing in the 70s, when he first started in the 80s, required
00:39:03that. You did not need someone to really push the envelope on so many things that we're
00:39:09able to do today.
00:39:11Today, I am very proactive in some of the things that we can do because I think the era
00:39:20requires it.
00:39:21If we continue to retrench, as my father did in the 70s and 80s, just offer a great
00:39:27product of horse racing and not these other things, I don't think our future would be
00:39:33very bright. Whereas if we're given the tools like we do have with casino wagering, when
00:39:39we're given the tools to offer with instant racing or EGS and where we are today to
00:39:44actually create a resort, and that's what I've done, is to create a full time resort
00:39:50where you don't have to leave the property.
00:39:52That, in our view, is how modern racing is going to survive.
00:39:58There's so many fans, patrons out there that we're trying to sell horse racing, but
00:40:04you've got to get them in the door.
00:40:05You've got to give them axe throwing to get them in the door and then say, you know
00:40:10what, look on the other side of that wall because it's something really cool going on
00:40:14called horse racing.
00:40:15We believe in the sport and we did it with instant racing.
00:40:19We've always pushed it.
00:40:20We've always pushed horse racing, but it's so much more than just horse racing at the
00:40:25track and the track experience.
00:40:27It's all of those things.
00:40:28And we're very fortunate to be able to have the tools to do that.
00:40:31What else might you be looking at?
00:40:33What else could be on the wish list that you're thinking?
00:40:37Well, I know I get asked all the time, when are you going to put in a turf course?
00:40:42We are not going to put in a turf course.
00:40:45The time of year we run, call it December to April to May, we might have the month of
00:40:51April where we have some nice turf to run on.
00:40:55It's just not conductive for us.
00:40:57And quite honestly, and we see this in racing, unfortunately, too much.
00:41:02We're partners in racing.
00:41:04We have colleagues in racing.
00:41:06We're in the same sandbox.
00:41:08We don't want to upset the Churchills or the Keenelands.
00:41:12They have their meat, their boutique meat.
00:41:14They have their programs.
00:41:15We don't want to compete with that.
00:41:17We have a good thing going when our horses and horsemen come to Oakland, then they go
00:41:22to Churchill, then they go to Keeneland, then they go to Saratoga.
00:41:25We're not going to interfere with that because it's a good thing for horsemen to have
00:41:29the circuit. It's good for our patrons to have the circuit, to see those horses go from
00:41:34jurisdiction to jurisdiction to jurisdiction.
00:41:37That's what it's all about.
00:41:38And we believe in that and we believe in seasonality, though we've expanded from late
00:41:45April, pardon me, January to late April to now December to May.
00:41:50The number of days is still 68 versus 57.
00:41:54We raised 68.
00:41:55I think it was in 85, 86, 1985, 1986, somewhere around there.
00:42:01And so we haven't really expanded the days so much as the scheduling has been a little
00:42:06changed. But we know where our focus is.
00:42:10We know what our lane is.
00:42:11It's really good racing and a fun entertainment facility resort, a great town in Hot
00:42:18Springs from December to May.
00:42:21We're just going to stay there.
00:42:24Lewis, what has it meant over the years to have perhaps some of the biggest names in
00:42:28horse racing come to Oakland Park?
00:42:30Because some of the biggest horses, at least in my lifetime, basically have been Zip
00:42:35and American Pharoah.
00:42:37And that's glaringly obvious when you walk in the front gates and you see that beautiful,
00:42:41beautiful statue of American Pharoah.
00:42:44What has that meant to Hot Springs, Arkansas, to have horses of that magnitude come to
00:42:50this this little bitty town that I'd never heard of until I went there?
00:42:54And I was like, what is this place?
00:42:56This place is amazing.
00:42:58Well, it is and it has some great folks that are born and raised in Hot Springs, and I
00:43:05won't even go down and name all those people that cut their teeth.
00:43:10But what's fun about it is it's a testament to our focus on horse racing and in
00:43:18particular, three-year-old horse racing.
00:43:20American Pharoah came, we had Smarty Jones and frankly, really kicked it off with our
00:43:26100th anniversary in our fan base, our patron base.
00:43:32Very similar to Saratoga, New York, Saratoga Springs, they're quite knowledgeable.
00:43:39They love the sport of horse racing.
00:43:42They love the quirkiness of the town.
00:43:45It truly is fun to see and talk to the Wayne Lucases of the world who will come to Hot
00:43:52Springs. Everyone knows Wayne.
00:43:55Everyone knows the horses Wayne's training.
00:43:58He's the celebrity.
00:44:01And you go on to the Asmussen's and the Cox's and the Ron Moquette's, you go to the
00:44:07jockeys, they'll walk around town.
00:44:09People stop and can I have your autograph?
00:44:11They know who they are.
00:44:13Outside of Saratoga and Hot Springs, I'm not so sure there are a whole lot of other
00:44:18towns that understand the importance of those people.
00:44:22And Lewis, sort of touching on what you were just saying.
00:44:24Another thing that sets Oaklawn apart in this day and age, even at major racetracks
00:44:30outside of Saratoga, Delmar, maybe Keeneland and yourself, there's no on track
00:44:35business. Oaklawn, traditionally, the people just come through, roar through the
00:44:41turnstiles. You have very big crowds.
00:44:43What is the reason why the on track experience at Oaklawn is still so popular?
00:44:49Well, because we don't charge twelve dollars for a beer.
00:44:54We just gave away six tons of corned beef, two sandwiches and a Coke for a dollar last
00:45:00Saturday. To put that in perspective, we had thunderstorms, rolling electric blackouts
00:45:09all day Saturday.
00:45:11Yet we had close to 15,000 people giving away six tons of corned beef because that's
00:45:16their expectation. That's what they want to do.
00:45:18It's all a part. It's part of fun.
00:45:20It's part of the excitement of what we offer.
00:45:23We continually focus on affordability and the two dollar better.
00:45:32And more importantly, family.
00:45:35If you don't have your family and the kids to come there and enjoy and learn the sport
00:45:40of horse racing early, you've got to cultivate that group or there's going to be
00:45:45gone. It's so much fun to talk to everyone who grew up or is associated with with
00:45:51Oaklawn. They all have an Oaklawn story when they were as a kid.
00:45:55They either had to sneak in because they weren't 16 years old.
00:45:59They had to skip school because there was a party.
00:46:02They all had to get gussied up for the Southwest or Rebel Steaks.
00:46:06They all have fun, fun stories about coming to Oaklawn because that's what we promote.
00:46:11We promote fun and entertainment.
00:46:13That's the name of our game.
00:46:15So throughout the history of horse racing, we've seen these these major racing
00:46:20stables that are famous with the famous old silks and stuff, and they're sort of not
00:46:26around anymore because the younger generation wasn't interested in carrying on the
00:46:32legacy. So they just vanished.
00:46:34Now, your family, the Sella family, has been involved with Oaklawn Park since it
00:46:38started back in 1904.
00:46:41I don't know if a lot of people realize, even in the late 1800s, you touched on it.
00:46:45Your family owned dozens of racetracks all around the country.
00:46:48What does it feel like as a member of the younger generation now to be carrying on that
00:46:55legacy? Well, it's with great pride, and it's fun when I go to other racetracks and
00:47:07see patrons who might recognize me and they'll say, oh, you're with Oaklawn.
00:47:10Gosh, we need to have Oaklawn down here.
00:47:12We wish we could do Oaklawn down here.
00:47:14And I always turn around and say, you can, you know, you can do that.
00:47:19But you have to have a will to do that.
00:47:22It's an honor for me to be a fourth generation guy at the helm to, even though I
00:47:30wasn't around with my grandfather or his father, there are a lot of stories written.
00:47:37There's a lot of things to read about and to see the history behind that.
00:47:41And I was fortunate enough at an early age to be just around with Dad when you couldn't
00:47:50get in unless you were 14.
00:47:52And Dad would say, hey, come here and kind of hide me under his tailcoat.
00:47:54And we'd go in and I thought I actually was hiding from someone.
00:47:57It's fun to be around that and to see where we've come.
00:48:01But it gives you a healthy dose of what we need to do to change.
00:48:06That era when you had limitations on age when you came in, that's not going to make it
00:48:11today. So you're going to have to change when you only had win, play, show, daily
00:48:16double in today's environment.
00:48:19That's not going to change.
00:48:20So we're going to have to have the exotics come in.
00:48:23Dad hated the exotics.
00:48:24But that's just the way of life that we had to do and to evolve.
00:48:28Dad, it was his dad.
00:48:30They evolved. Dad evolved a little bit reluctantly.
00:48:33He was not a fan of instant racing.
00:48:35He was not a fan with EGS, but he understood the importance to horse racing with that.
00:48:40And then in my generation, moving forward, we understand the importance of giving a modern
00:48:45racing look for our younger patrons, because if you don't have that, you're not going to
00:48:50show up. You've got to make it exciting for them to show up.
00:48:55Lewis, you're full of new ideas, nine new stakes this weekend, this whole meet at
00:49:01Oaklawn, including some two-year-old stakes.
00:49:03What went into the thought to have two-year-old races at Oaklawn in December and then
00:49:08moving on to May?
00:49:10Well, interestingly, Oaklawn had two-year-old racing until the end of the year.
00:49:17Interestingly, Oaklawn had two-year-old racing until we did away with it, probably in the
00:49:23early 70s, because of the time of year we ran, it was not conducive to that.
00:49:29When we flipped the calendar into December, well, gosh, we now have two-year-old racing
00:49:35and they're mature and it's the end of their two-year-old.
00:49:37So now we can really have fun with that racing schedule.
00:49:40We worked with our racing office and Pat Pope to space the schedules so if your two-year-old
00:49:48is ready to run, we have a stakes for you.
00:49:51If your three-year-old is ready to run early, we have the Smarty Jones on January 1.
00:49:56But if not quite ready, needs a little bit more time, guess what?
00:49:59We have the Southwest and those two are point races in the end of the month.
00:50:03So it's fun to look at the calendar.
00:50:06It's fun to work with our racing office.
00:50:08And because we're in December, it gave us that whole new brand of racing called two-year-old
00:50:15racing at an appropriate time to have two-year-old racing.
00:50:19Oh, could you just elaborate on your stay until May program that you have going on?
00:50:24Yeah, it started before really we moved back in December.
00:50:31Stay until May, we started our season at the end of January.
00:50:39And we ended sort of three weeks before the Kentucky Derby.
00:50:44Frankly, our weather in Arkansas, Hot Springs in particular, it's great in April.
00:50:50It's fantastic.
00:50:52Yet we tend to find ourselves closing mid-April.
00:50:56So the genesis behind that is our horses that are competitive in the Triple Crown,
00:51:01they're going to be gone anyway.
00:51:04So let's really focus on our horse population.
00:51:09Where are they going to go?
00:51:10And can we fill the races?
00:51:12And really for our fans, and that's what it was about.
00:51:15The stay until May was about our fans to truly enjoy Oakland as a resort, as an outdoor with
00:51:22our infield and in a beautiful landscaped area.
00:51:26That was the genesis behind it.
00:51:28And then when we get into December, it's now a nice little bookend meet that we're very
00:51:35excited about.
00:51:36Well, we want to thank you very much, Louis Sella.
00:51:38Great information on Oakland.
00:51:39Keep up the good work.
00:51:40It's such a wonderful meet and seems to be getting bigger and better every year.
00:51:44Thanks for joining us here on the TDN Writer's Room podcast.
00:51:47Thank you so much.
00:51:48That was the Green Group Guest of the Week, sponsored by the Green Group,
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00:53:17The TDN Writers Room is brought to you by XPTV. XPTV.com is your number one source for
00:53:24works all over the country. The Work of the Week this week is Spun Intender. Seen working here
00:53:29under hall-of-famer Mike Smith, goes in 47 and change for Mark Glatt, he was $100,000
00:53:36Keeneland September graduate and Spun Intended really, really looks good coming down the lane.
00:53:42xptv.com, your source for all the works, every day, all the time.
00:53:48Well, it's obviously kind of a quiet time in horse racing after the Breeders' Cup and before
00:53:52we get into the big three-year-old races at Gulfstream, Santa Anita, Fairgrounds, Oakland,
00:53:56etc. There was a great one over the weekend and the Starlet Stakes. And boy, about the surest
00:54:02thing in horse racing right now is that Bob Baffert will win the two-year-old stakes races
00:54:06at Los Alamitos. We're going to talk about the Los Alamitos Futurity in a moment, but
00:54:11he just dominates the Starlet Stakes. He's won it nine times and six straight times now. And he got
00:54:18it done with the favorite, Fayza, in there. She was a TDN Rising Star, a daughter of Gerben,
00:54:24after breaking her maiden very impressively. She was good. She got the job done, but she didn't
00:54:30take my breath away. It was kind of a hard-fought win as a big favorite. And a matter of fact,
00:54:38the horse that ran second to her, which was Pride of the Nile, stumbled badly at the start,
00:54:44and you can make a case, may have been best. But it's a deep crop of two-year-old fillies.
00:54:49Obviously, Bob Baffert being able to handle this horse, somebody you're going to have to deal with
00:54:54come next year, and the big preps for the Kentucky Oaks. But I think probably her fans
00:55:00were expecting a little bit more impressive performance. Yeah, she got a buyer speed figure,
00:55:05Bill, of 77. It was only a mile in the 16th race of the day. It may be, in hindsight,
00:55:13could be a little higher. It may or may not have to be adjusted going forward. But right now on
00:55:17paper, that looks like a pretty representative number for the way those horses ran. Fayza looked
00:55:23good. You know, she was three wide around the turns, stalking the pace up close. It looked like
00:55:29the kind of day where most jockeys, as is often the case of Los Alamitos, want to stay off the
00:55:35rail as much as possible. But I agree with you that the runner-up, Pride of the Nile, arguably
00:55:41was the best horse in there. It was the first time Pride of the Nile had ever run on dirt,
00:55:48had originally been trained by Doug O'Neill. So during his suspension right now, his assistant,
00:55:52Leandro Mora, put the saddle on Pride of the Nile. And she stumbled about as badly as a horse
00:55:59can stumble coming out of the starting gate and still keep the rider aboard, J.J. Hernandez in
00:56:05this case. Also raced on the inside around both turns. If you're a believer that the inside part
00:56:11of the track was not the best place to be at Los Al on Saturday, and certainly it didn't appear to
00:56:16be, then she also had that disadvantage and then squeezed through a narrow opening at the top of
00:56:22the stretch and created a little bit of havoc there. There was a steward's inquiry, her number
00:56:26wasn't taken down. But after all that, Feza beats Pride of the Nile only by a head. And it was a
00:56:32diminishing head, a hard-fought head. So good effort by Feza, one to two favorite, came through
00:56:38Zoe. But you can make a case that Feza might not even have been the best horse on Saturday.
00:56:44No question, the best horse did not win the grade one starlet, in my opinion, Pride of the Nile.
00:56:50And to echo what you said, Randy, how on earth J.J. Hernandez did not fall off? I have no idea.
00:56:58She got left. She was taken out of her game. She traveled down the backside. Once she got
00:57:05her feet underneath herself, she traveled actually rather well. There was a lengthy
00:57:08steward's inquiry. And I think she caused a problem, but she also took the brunt of it.
00:57:14She bumped into the horse, having a meltdown, I do believe, that was right next to her and just
00:57:19completely knocked herself sideways and was still game enough to come back to fight off Feza by a
00:57:26scant head. Terrific riding by both the Jarts, Flavian Pratt, who won the race, and J.J. Hernandez,
00:57:33probably two of the leading riders we have here in Southern California, Bob Baffert winning his
00:57:39sixth consecutive starlet. Now, there was a great article in the Daily Racing Forum by Steve Anderson
00:57:45simply saying that not really a good prep for the three-year-old season as the last five winners
00:57:51have struggled to win grade one races in their three-year-old season. And they are Dreamtree,
00:57:58Chasing Yesterday, Bast, Vada, and Ida. None of those fillies went on to do great things in their
00:58:05three-year-old year. And judging by the looks of it, maybe Feza is going to be one of those as well.
00:58:10Now, you've got to give her a pass, first time going two turns, but history does have a habit
00:58:16of repeating itself with fillies that have run in the grade one starlet. A couple of interesting
00:58:22races coming up in the days ahead for two-year-olds, soon to be three-year-olds. We'll talk about the
00:58:26Los Alamitos Futurity in just a second, but a race that has gotten up pretty strong this year, Zoe.
00:58:31Tell us what you know about the Springboard Mile at Remington Park.
00:58:34Well, it's a great prep, actually. And it does involve points towards the Kentucky Derby,
00:58:4010-4-3-2-1. If I can count backwards, that seems to be hard for me at the moment. And I think we're
00:58:47going to see a very good horse. Of course, Brad Cox's horse rarely fly under the radar. It looks
00:58:53like Giant Mischief is going forward there now. He's a perfect two-for-two, a son of Intermischief.
00:58:59He beat Arabian Lion, who will be the likely favorite in the grade two Los Alamitos Futurity.
00:59:04Echo again for Steve Asperson. Looks like that horse is going in there. And Randy,
00:59:08it's a full field of two-year-old colts that a lot of those Midwestern trainers use time and time
00:59:16again. It seems to be a race that perhaps is forgotten about by most people, other than the
00:59:21conditioners that kind of sneak their horses under the radar. Every year, Zoe, it seems like the
00:59:26Springboard Mile field gets a little bit better and a little bit better. And the winners are a
00:59:31little bit more consequential when it comes time for these Triple Crown prep races in the spring.
00:59:36A lot of these horses from the Springboard Mile wind up at Oaklawn Park. Some others will go down
00:59:40to the fairgrounds. They'll usually stay in that part of the country. But it's turned out to be a
00:59:45really nice race. And this might be, on paper, the best running that we've seen yet.
00:59:51Yeah, it should be an interesting race. Okay, so the Los Alamitos Futurity, now a grade two.
00:59:55Bob Baffert has won it 13 times. Just an amazing record in that. Now, keep in mind, please,
01:00:03one disclaimer. We are doing this segment before the entries are out. So if we talk about somebody
01:00:08who was in the race and they're not, that's why. We apologize for that. Matter of fact,
01:00:14trying to, you know, reading the trade publications, not a whole lot of information
01:00:18about who is going to run in this. But first of all, Arabian Knight, who many people think is
01:00:22Baffert's best two-year-old at this point, after he broke his maiden at Keeneland during the
01:00:27Breeders' Cup meet, is not in there. But Baffert has three that he's looking at running. Fort Bragg,
01:00:32Arabian Lion, and Carmel Road. Of the three, Arabian Lion, who's by Justify, who we were
01:00:39talking about what a great sire he's turned out to be for Coolmore so far, was second in the
01:00:43Keeneland allowance race last time out, would likely be the favorite. Fort Bragg is coming
01:00:47is a son of Tappet, broke his maiden last time out. Another horse in there is Practical Move,
01:00:52who was third in the Bob Hope. Well, I don't know who's going to win it other than to say,
01:00:56I guess Bob Baffert's going to win for the 14th time. Well, Arabian Lion will probably be even
01:01:01money by the time they open the gates. I mean, this horse was three to five when he broke his
01:01:06maiden at Santa Anita, and he did it impressively with a 92 buyer speed figure. Then he came back
01:01:12at Keeneland. Zoe pointed out that he was beaten at Keeneland narrowly by Giant Mischief, who's
01:01:17running in that springboard mile. Arabian Lion was three to five that day, and even though he lost,
01:01:22he got a 93 buyer speed figure there. And also, Giant Mischief and Arabian Lion in a 10-horse
01:01:30field at Keeneland finished 17.5 lengths ahead of the third place finisher. On paper, these other
01:01:37horses, Carmel Road and other Baffert horses, might be running at an excuse, I guess you could
01:01:42say, in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Post 14. Didn't run very well at all, so they're giving him another
01:01:48chance. But this horse, Arabian Lion, certainly looks like a solid, solid favorite. It looks like
01:01:54it's going to be Bob all the time. I can only find four horses running in the Los Alfaturity,
01:01:59and three of those are trained by Bob Baffert. Now, bear in mind that Messier was beaten last year
01:02:05by the Doug O'Neill Slow Down Andy. So Bob has won, I think, six, seven of the last eight
01:02:12runnings, but was beaten last year. So perhaps there is a chance, but it looks like it's Bob's
01:02:17race to lose, at least for now. And I don't know if we're going to get any surprise entries in there.
01:02:22Well, more news made off track this week was a very surprising decision by the New York Gaming
01:02:27Commission. A clocker by the name of Richie Gazer, a guy's been around the New York racetracks
01:02:31forever, has a great reputation, doesn't play games or anything like that. He changed the
01:02:38distance of a workout on a horse. And here's why. A horse, if they run very poorly, they get put on
01:02:45something the equivalent of a steward's list. And in order to get off the steward's list,
01:02:50they need to have a workout of half mile. It just says a half mile. And if they work
01:02:56satisfactorily, they're off the list and they can race again. This particular horse,
01:03:00they gave the workout five furlongs. Now you would think if a half mile workout would suffice,
01:03:06why wouldn't a five furlong workout? Isn't five longer and a better gauge of a horse's
01:03:11fitness than even four, but that's not the rules. So Gazer just trying to, you know,
01:03:15make some common sense out of this, put in the workout officially at four furlongs so that the
01:03:21horse could get off the steward's list and be able to run. The New York Gaming Commission came in,
01:03:27led by Chief Steward Braulio Baeza Jr. and just went after this guy for something fiercely.
01:03:37They fined him $2,500 and suspended him for 30 days. Now, lo and behold, Gazer, to his credit,
01:03:43said, this is ridiculous. And he appealed. A hearing officer went over the case, and that's
01:03:49how the due process works with racing commissions, and voted to throw everything out. The New York
01:03:56Gaming Commission then turned around and ignored what the hearing officer said, and went after this
01:04:03guy again. And it is an absolute fiasco, is an absolute joke. He did nothing wrong other than
01:04:11to apply some common sense. There's no difference between if the horse worked five furlongs, he also
01:04:17worked four. And in New York, you have a gaming commission that is out of control. They've been
01:04:24fining people for things left and right. We're all in favor of them being tough and not slapping
01:04:31people on the wrist. But you don't go after people just trying to do their jobs, did absolutely
01:04:35nothing wrong, and suspended and fined this guy for what is, again, just, did he technically violate
01:04:42a rule? I suppose. But A, it's a very dumb rule. And B, you just use a modicum of common sense here.
01:04:48There was nothing nefarious involved. He wasn't trying to cheat. He wasn't changing the time of
01:04:53the workout. Good Lord, let the poor guy go back to work. I mean, Gazer was quoted as saying this
01:05:00is a joke. I think you added the right word to it, Bill. This is an absolute joke. I mean, this is
01:05:05the kind of thing that causes the undermining of confidence that people have in the sport of horse
01:05:12racing and in the people that are administering the rules in the sport of horse racing. This is
01:05:16just absolutely ridiculous. I've been around clocker stands a lot. I used to help. I used to
01:05:23grab a stopwatch in the mornings and help clockers clock horses. And it's very commonplace when a
01:05:29trainer, and Zoe will tell you this, when a trainer works a horse in the morning, he might call the
01:05:33clockers and say, okay, we're going to go. He might tell the gap attendant, all right, we're going to
01:05:36work a five-eighths of a mile from the half-mile pole past the finish out to the seven-eighths pole.
01:05:42Or we may work three-quarters of a mile from the half-mile pole to the three-quarter pole because
01:05:48they want their horses to gallop out past the wire. So the time of the workout continues on past the
01:05:53finish. In this particular case, apparently the trainer didn't communicate beforehand with the
01:06:00clockers. The horse broke off at the half-mile pole, went a half in 51.33, then went on out
01:06:07five-eighths of a mile in 104.60. The trainer calls up, says, did you get so-and-so going
01:06:15happy on ice, was the name of the horse, going five-eighths of a mile. And they said, yeah,
01:06:20we got him going five-eighths of a mile, galloping out five-eighths of a mile in 104.60. And that's
01:06:26the time that was put down. The trainer then called later. And it wasn't actually Gazer that
01:06:33had put the stopwatch on the horse. It was another one of the clockers. But the trainer
01:06:37called back and said, I wasn't aware of this rule that says that it has to specifically be a half
01:06:44mile in 53 seconds or better. So when I said he galloped out five-eighths of a mile, he worked
01:06:50five-eighths. Can we just give him that half-mile time that you guys had instead? Makes all the
01:06:55sense in the world. I mean, the horse could have worked six furlongs in a minute 10, and it
01:06:59wouldn't have been good enough, according to the stupid rules that the New York Racing Association
01:07:03has about this. And to suspend a clocker for giving the horse the half-mile time that he
01:07:09got at the finish and altering the workout in this particular case is just a travesty.
01:07:17Randy, just one thing. I just want to clarify something. You said the New York Racing
01:07:21Association. It was the New York Gaming Commission. The New York, Naira had nothing
01:07:25to do with this. This is the New York Gaming Commission that is playing Keystone Cops here.
01:07:31And I know Richie. Richie's a good friend of mine. XBTV is up there each and every summer,
01:07:36and the clockers help us greatly figuring out horses' names. And basically, what Randy said
01:07:43is exactly what happened. The horse actually worked on the Oklahoma training track. Richie
01:07:47was on the main track. He's the head clocker. The horse was timed the half-mile from the pole
01:07:54to the wire. They wanted a five-eighths time. They reduced it to half a mile. And it was just
01:07:59simply ridiculous. Richie is one of the most respected clockers. He's been in the game over
01:08:0640 years. And it's an atrocity. It really is. And it doesn't look like it's going to get righted.
01:08:13It's just a shame for a guy that's been around for as long as he has, 40 years on, to have this
01:08:19on his record. I don't even know Richie, and reading this pissed me off.
01:08:25Yeah. And the other point, too, is if you're going to have a hearing officer
01:08:31go into this, and they throw the case out, and then you ignore what the hearing officer said,
01:08:37what's the point of even doing this? Again, I'm shaking my head just like Randy is. It is a joke.
01:08:45And it's too bad, because I've known Richie Gazer for a long, long time. And Zoe, you're right.
01:08:49He's a guy who goes about his business, has all the integrity in the world, and would never, ever
01:08:53fool around or alter workouts, playing games and whatnot. But that's what they've charged him with.
01:08:59And I don't know if there's another round he can take it to the courts or something like that.
01:09:04But for now, he came out the loser this week with the New York Gaming Commission, which just
01:09:11sometimes you need to use a little bit of common sense. And if they had used some common sense here,
01:09:16they would have made the right decision, but they refused to do that. So that's the case.
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01:10:46Backstreet workers are the backbone of the thoroughbred racing industry. Without them,
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01:11:15love. And this week's Remy Block cartoon is in. It'll appear in Friday's edition of the
01:11:20Thoroughbred Daily News. And he takes a look at a racing stable as if it were a hotel.
01:11:24And he calls it the Happy Hoofer Racing Stable. And they got a sign out about, you know, there's
01:11:29vacancy, how much a room is everything. A very clever from Remy Block. Well, I want to thank
01:11:34you once again for tuning in and watching and listening to the Thoroughbred Daily News podcast.
01:11:39I want to thank this week's guest of the week, the Green Group Guest of the Week,
01:11:42Louis Sella. I want to thank Randy Moss and Zoe Cabman. And well, as your adorable dog,
01:11:46Zoe, just so sweet and cute. Anyways. And hi, Lucy. How's she doing back there? Everybody's
01:11:52catching up on her beauty sleep, girl. As always. All right. So Randy Moss,
01:11:58want to thank him. Want to thank Zoe Cabman, their dogs, etc. Want to thank our producer,
01:12:03Patty Wolf, our associate producer, Katie Petroniak, our editors, Anthony LaRocca,
01:12:08Leah LaRocca, Nathan Wilkinson. Thanks for listening.