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00:00:00For the love of the horse, for generations to come.
00:00:28It's Wednesday, March 29th at 12.04 p.m. here on the East Coast.
00:00:32And welcome to another edition of the TDN Writer's Room.
00:00:35My name is Bill Finley.
00:00:36I'm a correspondent with Thoroughbred Daily News and also a co-host down at the Stretch
00:00:40Show every Saturday morning on Sirius XM Radio.
00:00:42How's it going, guys?
00:00:43I'm Randy Moss with NBC Sports, just back from our telecast of the, what was it, Louisiana
00:00:49Derby and Jeff Ruby, and getting ready now for the Florida Derby.
00:00:53Zoe Kavman here with First Racing and XBTV, as well as Santa Anita.
00:00:57I'm back from OBS sales, and lo and behold, I'm right next to Santa Anita, and it's raining.
00:01:04Go figure.
00:01:05It's still raining in Southern California.
00:01:08I mean, drought be damned.
00:01:11I don't want to hear the word drought or fire for probably at least six months.
00:01:16Yeah, this needs to stop.
00:01:19It's getting ridiculous.
00:01:20You pour people out in Southern California.
00:01:21All right, plenty to talk about on this week's show.
00:01:24Let's take a look back first at the big races of the last weekend.
00:01:28We'll start with the Louisiana Derby, and we have Todd Pletcher coming up a little bit
00:01:32later on the show as the guest of the week, the Wing Group guest of the week, and he's
00:01:35going to talk about Kings Barnes, the winner.
00:01:39Looked good winning by three and a half lengths.
00:01:41I guess the knock on him, Randy, is that everything went his own way.
00:01:45He got to the lead 24-3, 49-3, won 14-3.
00:01:50It was a smart move by Flavien Pratt and Todd Pletcher.
00:01:54As we talked about in the show last week, there was very little speed in the race.
00:01:58On paper, it looked like somebody could steal the race.
00:02:01I think you predicted he wouldn't go to the lead.
00:02:02Well done on that.
00:02:04So he's able to draw off and win by three and a half lengths.
00:02:07Certainly moves forward now and is going to be a factor in the Kentucky Derby.
00:02:10I'm just not quite sure what to make of the race because of the drought.
00:02:14I don't think anybody's quite sure what to make of the race, Bill.
00:02:17It's one of those really odd dirt routes among three-year-old preps where the final
00:02:24half mile was run faster than the first half mile.
00:02:27You almost never see that in American racing going two turns on dirt, especially among
00:02:32three-year-olds in these prep races.
00:02:35He was visually impressive, as you pointed out.
00:02:38He's only had three lifetime starts.
00:02:41It's not that he's a horse that's a need-the-lead type because he's proven that he's not.
00:02:47So you can't completely discount him in the Kentucky Derby in projecting that he'll be
00:02:52sitting a little bit off the pace.
00:02:55But he's just one of these horses that, from a betting standpoint, you take a stand against
00:03:01when he goes to the Kentucky Derby because his signature win is a race in which he had
00:03:06everything his own way.
00:03:09A lot of the UK guys on the Dubai World Cup telecast were raving about the ride of Christophe
00:03:15Lamar on that Japanese freak that won the Dubai Shima.
00:03:22Flavien Pratt's ride was a heck of a lot better than Christophe Lamar's because he put Kings
00:03:27Barnes on the lead by riding him aggressively the first part of the race.
00:03:33And talking to Steve Asmussen before the Louisiana Derby, I know that the plan was for Shopper's
00:03:40Revenge to go for the lead from postposition number one.
00:03:44And I was a little puzzled in the way Ricardo Santana, who I'm a fan of, just literally
00:03:49broke the horse's jaw going into the first turn to wrestle him back off of Kings Barnes,
00:03:54which enabled Kings Barnes to pretty much walk uncontested on the front end.
00:03:59So it did turn out to be even a slower pace than I think we had expected.
00:04:04He's not without a chance.
00:04:05He's improving, but it's very difficult, as you pointed out, Bill, to know what to make
00:04:11of him.
00:04:12Zoe, what'd you think?
00:04:14Really impressive.
00:04:15I mean, if you're not going by numbers or times, the horse looked phenomenal.
00:04:18Now, if he'd have broke the track record doing it like that, we'd have been like, oh my God,
00:04:23this is the next coming.
00:04:24But he didn't.
00:04:25I mean, it was, what do they say, like the fourth slowest running or something?
00:04:31It was very slow.
00:04:32Flavien did his job.
00:04:33It's not his fault that no one wanted the lead.
00:04:36He walked the dog on the front end like he's been allowed to do many times before.
00:04:41And the horse showed a really nice finishing kick down the lane.
00:04:45And I love the fact that the last half was run quicker than the first half, just shows
00:04:50you what an excellent ride Flavien gave that horse.
00:04:54I mean, the runner up, this arm, pretty nice horse.
00:04:57But I mean, what do you do with the horses below that?
00:04:59Jace's road, all these guys are going to make it into the field should they want to go.
00:05:04But I did like Kings Barnes.
00:05:06I liked what Todd Pletcher had to say about him, the fact that he thought his best race
00:05:11was his first ever race.
00:05:13We'll listen to that a little bit later, but I think there's more in the tank, which is
00:05:16what I like.
00:05:17And that's exactly what I'm going to take moving forward.
00:05:21You brought up disarm.
00:05:22I'm glad you did.
00:05:24Given the way the pace scenario was laid out there, I thought he ran an exceptional race
00:05:32to finish second, especially given what Asmussen had told me the day before the Louisiana Derby.
00:05:40Steve said that when Disarm ran his first race back off of the layoff at Oaklawn in
00:05:45an allowance race, that he was nowhere near 100% fit.
00:05:50He said he's a big, heavy horse.
00:05:52And if they had any chance to get him in the Kentucky Derby, they had to make one of these
00:05:56100 point prep races.
00:05:58And to do that, they had to run him in that allowance spot on that day.
00:06:03And he thought he ran really well to finish second, given his fitness level.
00:06:07But then interestingly, he said the horse is still not going to be 100% for the Louisiana
00:06:12Derby.
00:06:13And if somehow he can manage to finish first or second, he said, I'll tell you what, he's
00:06:18going to be a legitimate horse when we get to Louisville.
00:06:22And he did just that, ran really well, given the pace scenario.
00:06:26He didn't have a rail trip, but ran really well to finish second.
00:06:29A couple other notes and newsworthy items from the day.
00:06:33The disappointment, obviously, in the Louisiana Derby was instant coffee, finished sixth.
00:06:37Brad Cox said, how could you make up ground into that pace?
00:06:41He's got a good point there, but the horse just didn't fire it, if you ask me.
00:06:44Then the Fairgrounds Oaks was won by South Lawn.
00:06:47So we may have a father versus son battle in the Kentucky Oaks with Wonder Wheel for
00:06:52Mark Cassie against South Lawn and Norm Cassie.
00:06:56And Hoosier Philly again, boy, I just, I shake my head.
00:07:00What has happened to this Philly?
00:07:01She's even worse this time than she was in the Rachel Alexander.
00:07:05She was fourth, beaten 15 and a quarter lengths as a six to five favorite.
00:07:09And boy, she just hasn't developed or shown a thing this year.
00:07:13Can we go back to the running time for a second of the Louisiana Derby that Zoe mentioned?
00:07:17It's kind of controversial among horse players when speed figure purveyors do this sort of thing,
00:07:24but it's really necessary.
00:07:28The pace was so slow, so slow as to make the final time of the Louisiana Derby basically
00:07:35irrelevant because when you get to a certain point and the pace is that slow, there's no way
00:07:40horses like that can go fast enough to make up the difference in the last part of the race
00:07:45and have a decent time.
00:07:47So what speed figure guys and all speed figure makers do this, what we have to do
00:07:51is just treat that race as an aberration and essentially manufacture a speed figure for that
00:08:00one race that's completely independent of the track variant for the other races.
00:08:05I came up with a 95 buyer speed figure for Kings Barnes based only on the performances
00:08:12of the horses behind him, what they'd been running, what kind of trips they got.
00:08:17You know, and a lot of people think that we shouldn't do that, that no speed figure maker
00:08:21should do that, that the time is the time, fast pace or slow pace.
00:08:25But it, you know, I think and most of us think that it's just a necessity.
00:08:31Otherwise, the figs in these slow pace races would be unusually slow and it would be confusing
00:08:37to horse players.
00:08:39So let's turn our attention now to Turfway Park where the big race of the day was the
00:08:43Jeff Ruby Stakes won by two fills.
00:08:45Got a 101 buyer in there.
00:08:48And again, he looked really good.
00:08:50Obviously, the competition of that race is not the best when it comes to derby preps.
00:08:55But just as I posed some questions about Kings Barn, my question about two fills was how
00:09:01much of that performance maybe have to do with he liked the synthetic track.
00:09:05I mean, he was running well before this, but never showed this kind of ability.
00:09:12His previous best buyer was an 88 coming in.
00:09:15He was second in a couple of races.
00:09:17He was right there.
00:09:18But, you know, didn't show that kind of dominance.
00:09:21So I think it could be one of two things.
00:09:23Three year olds this time of year develop very rapidly and some make these quantum leaps.
00:09:29It could be that or it could be that he just loved the synthetic surface.
00:09:33We don't know.
00:09:34We'll find out in the Kentucky Derby Day.
00:09:35Larry Rivelli is an interesting story.
00:09:37He wins a zillion races on the Chicago circuit, but hasn't had a lot of chances with high
00:09:42caliber horses.
00:09:43And you got to love the blue collar angle.
00:09:45He's going to train.
00:09:46He's training for the Kentucky Derby at Hawthorne.
00:09:49It doesn't get more blue collar than that.
00:09:51He's always smiles if she's won a zillion races at Hawthorne as a jockey in her career.
00:09:57I think it's really cool and it's refreshing.
00:10:01I love this angle.
00:10:02First, two fills is a good horse.
00:10:04And I can say that wholeheartedly because I know that Randy has talked about two fills
00:10:08before, so I'm not alone here.
00:10:11He's run eight times.
00:10:12How many horses on the derby train have already run eight times?
00:10:15He's won four of eight.
00:10:17So that's refreshing.
00:10:18A horse who likes to win races, who's not been mollycoddled.
00:10:21He's been led to every dance.
00:10:23Larry Rivelli simply said, if he gets beat, he'll blame himself.
00:10:27He was sure he would like the poly track and he most certainly did.
00:10:31And to see Larry Rivelli get to the Kentucky Derby would be awesome, especially for someone
00:10:37like me who, I'm not going to say I watched Larry grow up because God knows that
00:10:42would be aging myself.
00:10:43And I don't want to do that.
00:10:45But I can remember when Larry first came to the track at Arlington Park.
00:10:51He is Jimmy DeVito's nephew.
00:10:53And he showed up and he had white socks on and black sandals and a pair of shorts.
00:10:58And he was sitting outside Jimmy's office.
00:11:00I went over there to work a horse.
00:11:01I'm like, who's this guy with the slick black hair?
00:11:04He's like, oh, that's my nephew, Larry.
00:11:05He wants to be a trainer.
00:11:06He's like the leading car salesman in the whole of Illinois.
00:11:10And I'm like, oh, yeah, OK, good luck with that.
00:11:12And lo and behold, I mean, that was in probably 2000.
00:11:16And lo and behold, here we are.
00:11:18I think it's a great story.
00:11:20Larry's a great guy and he'll bring a little bit of zest.
00:11:24And at the end of the day, it's all about the stories.
00:11:26And this will be a great story to follow because he's got a tale to tell.
00:11:30Yeah, I mean, analytically, as Bill pointed out, it's either A or B.
00:11:34It's either the three-year-old improvement or it's synthetic.
00:11:37And we don't know.
00:11:38And Larry Rivelli doesn't know.
00:11:39And Jareth Loveberry doesn't know.
00:11:41Nobody knows exactly what it is.
00:11:43And we won't know until we get to about the quarter pole of the Kentucky Derby.
00:11:47I think he's a hell of a trainer.
00:11:49He just hasn't had the opportunity with a horse like this before.
00:11:52And I thought it was an inspired choice to go from the fairgrounds to Turfway Park
00:11:58for a couple of reasons.
00:11:59First of all, in those races at the fairgrounds, he was running really well.
00:12:04But he would make a big move.
00:12:06He would get to the lead like he did.
00:12:07I believe it was in Le Comte.
00:12:09Get to the lead at the eighth pole.
00:12:10And then he just wasn't finishing up that strongly the last eighth of a mile,
00:12:14the last sixteenth of a mile over one of the longest stretch runs in American dirt racing,
00:12:21the second longest at the fairgrounds.
00:12:24You got the impression watching him that maybe a mile and an eighth was just a little bit
00:12:29beyond his preferred distance.
00:12:32So what does Rivelli do?
00:12:33He goes to a racetrack with a shorter stretch run in Turfway Park.
00:12:38And he goes to a track with a synthetic surface where horses get better traction,
00:12:43a little similar to turf, we've talked about that before,
00:12:46in which horses contend occasionally because they get better traction
00:12:50and they're not slogging through sand to outrun their distance capabilities just a bit.
00:12:56And I think that's what we saw with two fills.
00:13:00He's by hard spun, who won this race when it was on synthetic in 2007,
00:13:05the second running on synthetic.
00:13:06His maternal grandsire is General Quarters, who won the Bluegrass when it was run on synthetic.
00:13:12So the horse had some synthetic breeding.
00:13:15I loved his race, loved the fig.
00:13:18But you can't like every horse in the Kentucky Derby.
00:13:20You got to take a stand.
00:13:21I think he's going to run well in the Kentucky Derby.
00:13:23I think he'll make his presence felt.
00:13:26But I just think that when it gets to the last eighth of a mile
00:13:29and a mile and a quarter race on dirt,
00:13:32that he's going to be found just a little bit wanting stamina-wise.
00:13:37So one of the themes of this segment is three-year-old winners,
00:13:40but what do you make of them?
00:13:42And here's the other one, the UAE Derby, German Sotagaki.
00:13:46The Japanese, my goodness, what don't they win?
00:13:49The way they are just taking the world of horse racing by storm.
00:13:54He looked really good winning the UAE Derby by five and a half lengths.
00:13:58I know you can't really compare this.
00:14:00It's not exactly apples to apples.
00:14:02His time was 1.55.81 for the mile on 3.16.
00:14:06The Louisiana Derby was 1.57.33.
00:14:10So I think what they tell you, it was a legitimate fast race.
00:14:14He looks good.
00:14:15The Japanese are winning everything in sight.
00:14:18But, and here's the but on this horse,
00:14:20the UAE Derby has produced nothing but duds over the year
00:14:24coming into the Kentucky Derby.
00:14:26Brad Free, I believe it was.
00:14:27I'm getting these numbers from him, but it was from the Daily Racing Forum.
00:14:3018 Dubai shippers have run in the Derby.
00:14:32Not a single one has hit the board.
00:14:35Randy, you know all these stats.
00:14:36You could probably confirm that.
00:14:38And we look at Mendelssohn, who everybody thought was a very strong horse.
00:14:42He was a very good horse.
00:14:43Turned out to be a good sire.
00:14:44He won in 2018.
00:14:45He finished last.
00:14:47Last year, Crown Pride won the UAE Derby for Japan.
00:14:51Came into the Kentucky Derby and finished 13th.
00:14:54So again, I'm just sort of scratching my head.
00:14:57Did this horse really look good?
00:14:59On this one, I wouldn't be surprised if he actually won the Kentucky Derby.
00:15:02That's how good he looks.
00:15:04Can we do a half hour on this race alone?
00:15:08There's so freaking much to talk about, about this horse in this race.
00:15:12First of all, let's go to the Milam 316s.
00:15:14You're right.
00:15:14Apples.
00:15:15It's apples to oranges to compare the running time in Maidan
00:15:20with the running time in the Louisiana Derby,
00:15:23especially given the pace of Louisiana Derby.
00:15:25But what you can compare is the running time of the UAE Derby
00:15:30to the running time of the Dubai World Cup on the same card.
00:15:34As any speed handicapper knows,
00:15:36there's a such thing as a parallel time chart
00:15:39that is the basis for all speed handicapping,
00:15:42whether it's buyer speed figures,
00:15:43thoroughgraft, ragazine, you name it.
00:15:46And it enables you to accurately compare running times at different distances.
00:15:50And in this case, there's only a 16th of a mile difference
00:15:53between the UAE Derby and the Dubai World Cup.
00:15:55Now, you can go back a dozen years on Dubai World Cup day at Maidan.
00:16:02And in every one of those years,
00:16:05the raw figure for the Dubai World Cup is faster
00:16:08than the raw figure for the UAE Derby,
00:16:10usually by a factor of 15 to 20 points faster.
00:16:16Our estimate, and this is an estimate for buyer speed figures, right?
00:16:19We don't make buyer speed figures for the Dubai World Cup day,
00:16:23but we can kind of guesstimate
00:16:25based on the performance of American horses.
00:16:28Normally, the Dubai World Cup would be 105 to 110 estimated number.
00:16:33Normally, the UAE Derby anywhere from 90 to 95.
00:16:37Even when Mendelssohn won by 18 and a half lengths in 2018,
00:16:45the thundersnow figure for the Dubai World Cup is five points faster.
00:16:50Okay?
00:16:51In this case, in this case, Derma Sotagake,
00:16:54who's the first horse in the last 15 years,
00:16:57to run faster than the Dubai World Cup,
00:17:00five full points faster on the buyer scale.
00:17:04Now, what does that mean?
00:17:06We don't know how fast the horses in the Dubai World Cup ran
00:17:09because we don't know those Japanese horses.
00:17:11We don't know, you know,
00:17:12we don't have any background on their numbers or anything like that.
00:17:15But even if you low ball the Dubai World Cup and you say,
00:17:19okay, it was run in 99, all right,
00:17:22that's still a 104 estimated buyer speed figure for Derma Sotagake,
00:17:26which blows away anything we've seen so far from the Colts.
00:17:30Now, what does this mean when you're trying to translate UAE Derby form to,
00:17:34you know, to the Kentucky Derby?
00:17:36Yeah, it's 0 for 18 with no horses running first, second, third, or even fourth.
00:17:42The fact that no UAE Derby winner has won or horse has won the Kentucky Derby
00:17:49is not that surprising given their odds.
00:17:52When you look at their odds and you do the mathematics,
00:17:54there's only about a 62% chance to get even one winner out of those 18.
00:17:59But the fact that none of them have even run in the top four is pretty alarming.
00:18:04We can talk about, you know,
00:18:06Master Fencer who came from Japan a few years ago
00:18:09and actually ran really well in the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness.
00:18:14He was only beating two and three quarters lengths in the Preakness
00:18:16and he wasn't even one of Japan's better three-year-olds.
00:18:19This horse ran a hell of a race.
00:18:23I don't know what to make of him in the Kentucky Derby,
00:18:25but I wouldn't be surprised either if he runs exceptionally well.
00:18:28Yeah, he was pretty awesome.
00:18:31Is he the one that's by Mind Your Biscuits?
00:18:34Yes.
00:18:34And I mean, what a story that is too.
00:18:36I mean, you've got the two-time Dubai Golden Shaheen
00:18:39who's got one of the best crosses in history to the Sunday Silence line over there.
00:18:43There's a great article by Emma Barry in today's TDN.
00:18:47And I don't think we're going to be able to touch the Japanese.
00:18:50I mean, they had three wins on the night.
00:18:52They had three in Saudi.
00:18:54They're just coming in droves with the world's best bred horses.
00:18:58And every November, they take another lorry load of horses from the U.S.
00:19:04back to Japan after the Fazeg and the Keener November sales.
00:19:09So, I mean, these guys are going to be a force to be reckoned with
00:19:11when you look at Yusabur Tesoro, who won the Dubai World Cup.
00:19:16And then Equinox.
00:19:16I mean, I'm sorry, we have to mention Equinox,
00:19:19who was to me the most stunning winner of the night.
00:19:23And guys, I'm not sure if you've seen the GoPro video
00:19:26of him blowing out a few days prior.
00:19:28It was phenomenal.
00:19:30And I'm urging Paddy to find it and show it
00:19:32because you can just see this horse drop down and finish so quickly.
00:19:36He, that's probably the best performance I've seen of the year
00:19:39by any horse anywhere.
00:19:41It was Equinox.
00:19:43And the fact that they're not going to the Ark,
00:19:45they're pointing to the Breeders' Cup, is even more amazing.
00:19:49Yeah, look, you know what one of my biggest concerns is
00:19:52about Dermot Sotogaki in the Derby?
00:19:54And I know he's a great rider.
00:19:56Christophe Lemaire.
00:19:59When you look at Crown Pride last year in the Kentucky Derby,
00:20:03and we see this with Ryan Moore a lot of times, too.
00:20:06When some of these foreign jockeys come to the United States
00:20:08and ride on dirt, and especially in the Kentucky Derby,
00:20:11you can tell in their minds, it's like,
00:20:14oh my gosh, speed, speed, speed.
00:20:16I got to go.
00:20:17I got to go.
00:20:18And Christophe Lemaire rode the hair off of Crown Pride
00:20:23in the first quarter of a mile of the Kentucky Derby
00:20:26into one of the fastest Kentucky Derby paces in history.
00:20:29It's amazing the horse ran as well as he did,
00:20:32given the way he was ridden.
00:20:33And now here you get Dermot Sotogaki coming off
00:20:36of a wire-to-wire win, which he had never done before
00:20:40in the UAE Derby.
00:20:41And coming into Kentucky, I can just
00:20:42see Lemaire in the first quarter of a mile,
00:20:45riding like Jackie Martin in a quarter horse race
00:20:48going into the first turn.
00:20:50That's one of my biggest concerns,
00:20:51actually, about Dermot Sotogaki.
00:20:53Sorry to pile on a jockey there, Zoe.
00:20:56Oh, no, no.
00:20:56That's fine.
00:20:57But perhaps he learned.
00:20:59Or perhaps he might have learned something.
00:21:01I want to give a quick shout out,
00:21:04Jerry O'Dwyer and Sebelius, and an excellent ride
00:21:06by Ryan Moore in the Dubai Golden Shaheen,
00:21:09bringing one back to the US.
00:21:11And then what about Lord North?
00:21:13Three Dubai Turfs.
00:21:16Three.
00:21:17I mean, that's simply amazing.
00:21:19So it really was a fantastic day of racing,
00:21:22or evening, or morning, wherever you are in the world.
00:21:25Yeah, an important weekend of racing,
00:21:27in both the US and in the UAE.
00:21:31The TDM Writer's Room is brought to you by Keeneland.
00:21:34Mark your calendars for the April selected
00:21:36Horses of Racing Age sale on Sunday, April 30th.
00:21:40That'll be kicking off Derby Week in the Bluegrass.
00:21:43Entry deadline for the print catalog is April the 3rd.
00:21:46Approved supplements will be accepted right up until sale day.
00:21:50We'll be right back after these messages from Keeneland.
00:21:56If this place could talk,
00:22:01it would roar.
00:22:02It would say,
00:22:04this is racing.
00:22:06This beating heart in the heart of horse country.
00:22:10Steady and strong beneath the roar.
00:22:14Reminding us why.
00:22:16For the love of the horse.
00:22:19For generations to come.
00:22:23It was just put together like a machine,
00:22:25and he had a great mind.
00:22:26Everything about him was what you'd want.
00:22:28Here's the love!
00:22:29Pops the cork in the shed!
00:22:32Tis the law!
00:22:33Is gonna win the first leg of the Triple Crown!
00:22:36I've never seen him get tired.
00:22:38Respect the law!
00:22:39Tis the law!
00:22:40His structure is just perfect.
00:22:42His bone is perfect.
00:22:44He's left the others behind!
00:22:46He's gonna win the Run Happy Travers!
00:22:48He's everything you would look for in a horse.
00:22:54The TDM Writer's Room is brought to you by Coolmore.
00:22:57Last week, we talked about how hot
00:22:59the Coolmore Sire Munnings was.
00:23:02And that hot streak continued this week
00:23:04when Money's Gold romped to a 17 and a quarter length victory
00:23:08in the sophomore filly stakes at Tampa.
00:23:10Money's Gold is undefeated in three lifetime starts,
00:23:13which she won by a combined 38 lengths.
00:23:17106 by a speed figure was the fastest
00:23:20by any three-year-old male or female this year.
00:23:24And Uncle Mo continues to make noise
00:23:26with his three-year-olds.
00:23:28Kings Barnes is derby bound after his win
00:23:30in the grade two Louisiana Derby on Saturday.
00:23:33Kings Barnes is the third Coolmore connected horse
00:23:37in the last four years to win the Louisiana Derby
00:23:40alongside Epicenter, who's now standing at Coolmore,
00:23:44as well as looking at Lucky's winning Wells Bayou.
00:23:49Well, conspicuously absent last week,
00:23:52and boy did we miss you, Zoe.
00:23:53It's just not the same without you.
00:23:55But Randy and I, we did the heavy lifting.
00:23:57We got it done.
00:23:58But you weren't here for the podcast last week
00:24:00because you were going back and forth
00:24:01to the Ocala sale, the Ocala March sale.
00:24:04And it's always an exciting time
00:24:06because it's the first sale of two-year-olds for the year.
00:24:08It's the first major sale on the calendar.
00:24:11And you find out who are the hot sires,
00:24:13who are gonna be the hot freshman sires.
00:24:15No surprise, Amr Zidane did it again.
00:24:18He paid $2 million for Good Magic Colt,
00:24:20who perhaps we'll be talking about this time next year
00:24:23under trainer Bob Baffert
00:24:24as a possible contender for the Kentucky Derby.
00:24:27But Zoe, excuse me, Zoe,
00:24:28what were some of your takeaways from the sale?
00:24:30Well, the Good Magic Colt was awesome.
00:24:32He worked nine and three.
00:24:33And I mean, the takeaways were,
00:24:34they had a new track there,
00:24:35which is Michael Dickinson's to Peter racetrack,
00:24:38which I can fully attest is probably
00:24:40one of the best, safest racetracks in the world
00:24:43because we all know how anal Michael is
00:24:46and he wants everything to be absolutely perfect.
00:24:49So he had his man, Miguel, on hand
00:24:52to kind of tinker with the track
00:24:54along with a couple of other people.
00:24:55There were a few complaints on the second day
00:24:58because it was supposed to be really cold
00:25:00and they dug the harrows in a bit.
00:25:02I thought it was a great track.
00:25:03I thought it was a fair track.
00:25:05We did have to deal with some headwinds.
00:25:07It seemed like a lot of the horses
00:25:09came out of the works well,
00:25:10even though we did see a nine and three
00:25:12by the Good Magic, several nine and fours
00:25:15and a lot of 10 flats.
00:25:18That horse will be going to Bob Baffert,
00:25:19the Good Magic Colt.
00:25:21Who would have thought?
00:25:22Basically two blank dams
00:25:23and you're paying $2 million for a horse.
00:25:26It's almost insane when you delve into that pedigree,
00:25:29but he was an outstanding individual.
00:25:32Sold once more by top line.
00:25:34One of the takeouts I took was no surprise.
00:25:37The Mottoli's worked well and sold well.
00:25:40They are quick.
00:25:42They are agile.
00:25:43And we actually bought one.
00:25:45I help a good friend of mine, Maret Farrell,
00:25:47and we bought a Mottoli filly
00:25:48that'll come out here to Peter Ayrton
00:25:50off of Nick Demerick.
00:25:52So we got one of those.
00:25:53The Vino Rossos actually was surprisingly precocious,
00:25:57coming in all shapes and sizes.
00:25:59Obviously the Uncle Moe's,
00:26:03the stallions that have been around for a long time,
00:26:05the Curlins all sold very, very well indeed.
00:26:07So on the whole, it was a good sale.
00:26:10They sold 490 horses.
00:26:12I think the median stayed the same at 75,000,
00:26:14which is always good to see,
00:26:16but it was tough to buy on the top end.
00:26:18It was really hard to buy.
00:26:20Again, everyone's on the same horses time and time again,
00:26:23and a few will fall through the cracks.
00:26:25So I mean, there were spaces,
00:26:26and we look forward to going back in April
00:26:28and doing it all again.
00:26:30All right, well, maybe those Ocala horses
00:26:32will be in next year's Arkansas Derby.
00:26:35Another big weekend of racing
00:26:36as we get this time of year with the Derby preps.
00:26:39And we're gonna talk next about
00:26:40Oaklawn and the Arkansas Derby.
00:26:42And then of course, the other one
00:26:43is the Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park.
00:26:46The Arkansas Derby is a deep race.
00:26:49It's got some nice horses.
00:26:51I don't think there's any stars in here.
00:26:54You know, will the winner of the Kentucky Derby
00:26:56come out of this?
00:26:56Well, that's something we can't really answer
00:26:59until after Saturday.
00:27:00But there's some, you know,
00:27:01basically some good, solid horses.
00:27:03And your Angel of Empire will be ridden by Flavien Pratt,
00:27:06who rode Kings Barnes last week in the Louisiana Derby.
00:27:09Angel of Empire won the Risen Star for Brad Cox.
00:27:12He comes back in there.
00:27:13I like Rocket Can.
00:27:15I still like this Holy Bull,
00:27:16even though he didn't get much of the figure
00:27:18because he was wide the whole way around.
00:27:20And hey, he was second best behind Forte
00:27:22in the Fountain of Youth.
00:27:23What's wrong with that?
00:27:25Reincarnate is the other one
00:27:26that's gonna take some money, no doubt.
00:27:28He was third, beaten two and a half lengths
00:27:30in the Rebel behind Confidence Game and Red Root One.
00:27:33Will also comes back in this race,
00:27:35but he had a bad trip.
00:27:35He had a lot of traffic problems in the stretch.
00:27:37I don't think it cost him the victory,
00:27:39but he probably would have been closer.
00:27:42Randy, what's your thoughts?
00:27:44What are your thoughts about the Arkansas Derby?
00:27:46Well, among the big four in this race,
00:27:48Angel of Empire already has enough points
00:27:50to make it into the Kentucky Derby
00:27:52by virtue of his Risen Star win.
00:27:53He's got 54 points right now.
00:27:55Rocket Can already has enough points,
00:27:57almost certainly off of his Holy Bull win.
00:28:00He's got 40 points and his runner-up finish
00:28:03in the Fountain of Youth.
00:28:04Red Root One probably already has enough points.
00:28:07He has 33, although he may need a few more.
00:28:10We'll see.
00:28:11But I think if you just look at their most recent races,
00:28:16to me, Reincarnate kind of jumps off the page,
00:28:20given all the trouble that he had
00:28:23in the sloppy Rebel six at Oaklawn Park last time out.
00:28:26He was a horse that was expected to be up near the lead.
00:28:30It's a head scratcher.
00:28:32Why he was as far back as he was,
00:28:34I don't think even Johnny Velasquez really
00:28:37completely understands it.
00:28:38He thought he was shuffled back just a little bit,
00:28:40but the horse seemed to break okay.
00:28:42It just didn't show any speed for whatever reason.
00:28:45Yet he had all kinds of traffic trouble,
00:28:47took all kinds of mud in his face,
00:28:48and still arguably might have been the best horse in there,
00:28:54all things considered.
00:28:56So I'm expecting him to show speed again.
00:28:58We'll see.
00:28:59But just based on that race only,
00:29:01I think Reincarnate is definitely the worst to beat.
00:29:04I mean, I share your opinion about Rocket Can.
00:29:07I kind of wonder if...
00:29:09The owner's from Arkansas,
00:29:10so that's why he's running at Oaklawn.
00:29:12But I kind of wonder if,
00:29:15after seeing the post position draw on the Florida Derby
00:29:17with Forte getting post number 11,
00:29:19if maybe Frank Fletcher and Bill Mott
00:29:21might be second guessing their decision
00:29:24to run in Arkansas instead of trying Forte once again.
00:29:29But yeah, I think it's a good race.
00:29:32Red Root One is interesting to me that
00:29:35he's going to obviously relish added distance
00:29:38from a mile and a 16th to a mile and an eighth
00:29:40with his running style.
00:29:41And Steve Asmussen is putting blinkers on him here.
00:29:46The goal clearly is to get him a little bit more
00:29:50into the race early without taking away
00:29:54any of his stretch kick.
00:29:55It's kind of a fine line they're walking there.
00:29:57But Zoe, he's been taking himself so far back
00:30:01in the early part of his races.
00:30:03And finishing up so well that even keeping him
00:30:06a little bit closer is going to be a help.
00:30:08I mean, you'd think it would help.
00:30:10I actually just checked the weather report
00:30:12because it's a Saturday on the road to the Derby.
00:30:14So I'm just assuming it's going to be pissing down with rain.
00:30:18That's apparently the Friday,
00:30:2080% chance of showers and thunderstorms on Friday.
00:30:23Saturday, it's supposed to be sunny,
00:30:25which means it will rain and Red Root Run,
00:30:28Red Root One loves the slop.
00:30:30Loves the slop.
00:30:31So we'll see what happens with him.
00:30:33Obviously, they want him to be further forward.
00:30:36You've got Gafleon, who is very much
00:30:39an in the bridle upfront rider
00:30:41with the blinkers on for Red Root One.
00:30:44I think the Reincarnate's gonna be the wise guy horse
00:30:47and take a lot of money if he doesn't go off the favorite.
00:30:51And then Rocket Can, you mentioned him.
00:30:54There's one more horse I wanted to mention.
00:30:55He's Gelding.
00:30:57And visually, he ran very, very well
00:31:00in an allowance race on the 19th of February.
00:31:02His name is Two Eagles River,
00:31:04a three-year-old Gelding by Cloud Computing.
00:31:06I think there's a lot of upside in this horse
00:31:09and they got nothing to lose and everything to gain.
00:31:11I think it's going to be a pretty hot pace up front
00:31:15and he's going to be right on it.
00:31:16I don't think he's going to have distance limitations either.
00:31:19Saturday, Carter Oakland also includes the Fantasy Stakes,
00:31:23a prep for the Kentucky Oaks Wet Paint
00:31:25from the Brad Cox barn.
00:31:26Looks like the likely favorite in there.
00:31:28Now, our weekly segment, First Things First with Zoe Catton.
00:31:37As Antonisa was celebrating 40 years of the TRF,
00:31:41I'm going to go and find some ladies to tell me all about it.
00:31:48We currently have over 425 retired thoroughbred race horses
00:31:52in our care at 15 farms in eight states across the country.
00:31:57Eight of those facilities feature our flagship program,
00:32:01Second Chances, where incarcerated individuals
00:32:04get to care and take for these thoroughbreds every single day.
00:32:08You look like you love doing this.
00:32:10I love doing this.
00:32:11I love off-track thoroughbreds so much
00:32:14and it's wonderful getting to share how wonderful they are
00:32:17and how valuable they are
00:32:18and how they deserve a second chance
00:32:20after they're retired from racing.
00:32:22So you work at the prison.
00:32:23Tell me about it.
00:32:24The inmates actually take a college course
00:32:26to learn how to take care of the horses
00:32:29and by doing this, they're actually learning a skill
00:32:31so when they parole, they are able to work in the horse industry.
00:32:34That's so cool.
00:32:38I was kind of skeptical because it's inmates
00:32:41and I've been in law enforcement,
00:32:42but when I saw the connection between the horses
00:32:44and the inmates, it was amazing.
00:32:46And then I did a trip to Pleasant Valley State Prison,
00:32:49same thing, and I'm like, I got to do this.
00:32:51I mean, I can see where these horses can save these men or women.
00:32:55And this is a picture that one of them has done
00:32:58that's being auctioned off today at Santa Anita?
00:33:00Yes.
00:33:01That's beautiful.
00:33:07Hi, Nate.
00:33:08Can you just expand a little bit
00:33:10on the relationship with Santa Anita and the TRF?
00:33:13Well, first of all, I think just want to thank them
00:33:15for all their hard work in thoroughbred aftercare
00:33:17and then also say congratulations on 40 years.
00:33:20That's pretty amazing that they've been around 40 years
00:33:22doing great work, not only with horses that come from Santa Anita,
00:33:25but all over the country.
00:33:32Join us this weekend at Santa Anita
00:33:34as we continue the FIRST Racing Tour.
00:33:36We do have post time at 1pm
00:33:38as well as the Santa Anita Carnival this weekend.
00:33:43Plus next weekend, we have the Grade One Santa Anita Derby
00:33:46and the Grade One 5K.
00:33:49Get your running shoes on, guys.
00:33:51This week's Lane's End Stallion of the Week is Connect,
00:33:56and he is rolling in 2023.
00:33:58His black type winners include three-year-old Philly
00:34:01the Alice Look, who will run next in the Kentucky Oaks,
00:34:04and three-year-old Colt Hayes Strike.
00:34:06You can look for him next weekend
00:34:08in the Bluegrass Stakes, Keeneland.
00:34:10And just last weekend, Connect had another new stakes winner,
00:34:13No Silver Spoon here,
00:34:15who took the Chantel Lanery Memorial Stakes
00:34:17at the fairgrounds this week.
00:34:19Connect is now the number two third crop sire
00:34:22by year-to-date stakes winners.
00:34:24He's one of the best sons of leading sire Curlin,
00:34:27and Connect stands for $25,000 at Lane's End Farm.
00:34:32And Randy, how about that race?
00:34:34The Chantel Lanery Memorial Stakes.
00:34:36She passed from breast cancer about five years ago now.
00:34:41The last race on the last day of the fairgrounds meet
00:34:45was won by No Silver Spoon here,
00:34:47ridden by her husband, Corey Lanery.
00:34:50Beautiful way to end the fairgrounds meet.
00:34:53Connect, the next in line to carry on Lane's End's
00:34:56tried and true stallion tradition.
00:34:58A grade one winning millionaire's son of Curlin,
00:35:01physically impressive and dominant on the track.
00:35:04Winner of the grade one Cigar Mile
00:35:06and the grade two Pennsylvania Derby,
00:35:08where he defeated Gunrunner, Nyquist, and Exaggerator
00:35:12with multiple six-figure yearlings in his first crop
00:35:15up to $360,000.
00:35:18Connect, a proven winner on the track,
00:35:20a proven stallion in the making.
00:35:25What makes Woodford special is the attention to detail.
00:35:30Everyone on the team is doing their job.
00:35:32They're well-qualified.
00:35:34They show up to work and they work hard
00:35:36and they care about the horse.
00:35:37And I think that's a reflection on John Gleason's program.
00:35:43He gives me good information.
00:35:44He always, he has a very good understanding
00:35:47of the horse's wellbeing,
00:35:49where they're at physically and mentally.
00:35:53In equine nutrition, there's a triangle,
00:35:55management, genetics, and nutrition.
00:35:58And John's criteria to accomplish that
00:36:01is at the highest pinnacle.
00:36:03I started breaking quarter horses for people when I was 15.
00:36:06You know, people would send me quarter horses to break.
00:36:08That's all I've done.
00:36:09You know, I don't hunt, I don't fish.
00:36:11I focus on training the horse.
00:36:12I think about training the horse.
00:36:13It's on eating dinner, laying in bed before you go to sleep.
00:36:17And if you roll over in the middle of the night,
00:36:18I think about a horse and it's, you know,
00:36:20it's all consuming.
00:36:21I think to be successful, it has to be.
00:36:26The TDN Rights' Room is brought to you
00:36:28by Woodford Thoroughbreds.
00:36:30A thousand acre world-class facility in Reddick, Florida,
00:36:34breeding and selling their own stock,
00:36:35as well as offering breaking and training services
00:36:38to outside clients.
00:36:40Discover the Woodford Edge.
00:36:42It was a big weekend on the worldwide stage
00:36:45for Woodford Thoroughbreds when Isolate
00:36:47provided one of the few bright spots for Americans
00:36:50in the Dubai World Cup card.
00:36:52Bred by Woodford and sold as a short yearling,
00:36:55Isolate won the $1 million grade two
00:36:58to earn his first group stakes race,
00:37:01giving Woodford their first graded stakes race of the year.
00:37:05And on Saturday, the Woodford bred Rocket Can,
00:37:08winner of the Holy Bull Stakes,
00:37:09was most recently second to Forte
00:37:12in the grade two Fountain of Youth.
00:37:14He will make his next start towards the Kentucky Derby
00:37:17with a start in the grade one Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn.
00:37:20Rocket Can is currently listed at number nine
00:37:23on TD Thornton's Kentucky Derby.
00:37:26And now it's time for the fastest horse of the week,
00:37:28brought to you by the fast stallions at Windstar Farm.
00:37:31This week spotlighted Sire.
00:37:32Had his first yearlings this year
00:37:35and bred 329 mares in his first two seasons.
00:37:38More on that stallion later.
00:37:41First, the fastest horse of the week.
00:37:43Last week saw seven races equal or top 100
00:37:45on the buyer speed figure scale, including Money's Gold.
00:37:48He ran a 106.
00:37:50The fastest horse of the week,
00:37:51Sire, was the fastest horse of the week.
00:37:54106, the fastest pig by a three-year-old of either sex
00:37:58so far this year.
00:37:59But topping the list is West Willpower
00:38:01and his 109 buyer for winning the Fairgrounds Classic
00:38:04by four and three quarters lengths
00:38:06over Pegasus World Cup winning art collector.
00:38:10West Willpower is a son of Bernardini,
00:38:12owned and bred by Gary and Mary West,
00:38:14trained by Brad Cox.
00:38:15And with that win,
00:38:16he is now over $1 million in career earnings.
00:38:20Now for that fast Sire at Windstar.
00:38:24Improbable as it all.
00:38:26He was precocious three for three as a two-year-old,
00:38:28including wins in the Street Sense
00:38:30and the Grade One Cash Call Futurity
00:38:32by a combined 12 and a quarter lengths.
00:38:34As a three-year-old,
00:38:35he was second in the Rebel in the Arkansas Derby,
00:38:37beating just three lengths in the Kentucky Derby
00:38:40and the Preakness.
00:38:41And of course, as a four-year-old,
00:38:42second in the Breeders' Cup Classic
00:38:44and the Eclipse Award winning champion older male,
00:38:48finishing his career with buyer speed figures,
00:38:50by the way, of 108, 108, 106, and 105.
00:38:54And Improbable stands at Windstar
00:38:56for a bargain fee of $25,000.
00:39:03The Green Group is an accounting
00:39:05and tax consulting advisory firm
00:39:07specializing in the thoroughbred industry
00:39:08with over 500 clients in the horse business
00:39:11and proven strategies to save you taxes.
00:39:13You can learn more at www.greenco.com.
00:39:17And we welcome in now the Green Group guest of the week,
00:39:19Hall of Fame trainer, Todd Pletcher,
00:39:21off a big weekend where he won the Louisiana Derby
00:39:24with Kingsbarns.
00:39:25Todd, we brought you on primarily
00:39:27to talk about your three-year-old Colts,
00:39:28but I wanna start off the conversation
00:39:31with the buzz horse of the week.
00:39:33Money's Gold was fantastic Sunday at Tampa Bay Downs,
00:39:37took everybody's breath away,
00:39:38won by 17 lengths and change,
00:39:40106 buyer figure and broke the track record.
00:39:43Tell us a little bit more about her talent.
00:39:45And also I'm curious why you're developing her
00:39:48as a sprinter and didn't make any attempt
00:39:50or didn't appear to make any attempt
00:39:52to get her ready for the Kentucky Oaks.
00:39:54Well, she had that spectacular debut at Monmouth
00:39:57where I think it was a 101 buyer figure and super fast.
00:40:00She's got a ton of natural speed.
00:40:05We came down here with the intention actually
00:40:07of running in the old hat,
00:40:08which was a race that did not fill.
00:40:10So we ended up going into a Florida bred allowance race,
00:40:14which she ran very well in.
00:40:16And then we planned it on running back
00:40:19in the Indian limit stakes at Gulf Stream,
00:40:21which didn't fill.
00:40:22So that's why we ended up at Tampa.
00:40:27The reason we haven't tried stretching her out
00:40:29is she's a pretty headstrong filly.
00:40:32She's that way in the morning.
00:40:34She's overly willing,
00:40:37I guess would be a kind way to say it.
00:40:39So we've been just trying to work on
00:40:41getting her to calm down,
00:40:42getting her to relax and kind of ration out the speed.
00:40:46And we thought that she did a pretty good job of that
00:40:48in the race at Tampa,
00:40:50even though they were going right along
00:40:5321 and change, 44 and change.
00:40:55She at least kind of let worse outside of her
00:40:57put ahead in front and maintain her composure.
00:41:00And so we're just working on that.
00:41:01I think she's a filly with enormous talent
00:41:04if we can just kind of get her to ration it out
00:41:08as we go along.
00:41:09So we felt like we were a little behind schedule
00:41:12to try to get her stretched out
00:41:14to a mile and eight for the Oaks
00:41:15in the first Friday in May.
00:41:17So we're just kind of hopefully steadily developing her
00:41:21and as she learns to settle a little more,
00:41:25hopefully she'll be able to carry that speed
00:41:27even a little further.
00:41:29Well, that 106 buyer speed figure
00:41:31is the fastest by a three-year-old of either sex
00:41:33so far this year.
00:41:34But before we spin ahead
00:41:36and get to the touchy subject of post position
00:41:39in the Florida Derby,
00:41:41let's go back and talk about the Louisiana Derby
00:41:43and Kings Barns.
00:41:44The way Flavian Pratt rode him out of the gate,
00:41:49I think we know the answer to this question,
00:41:51but what were the instructions to Flavian
00:41:53going into that race?
00:41:55And what are your thoughts on his performance
00:41:57in just the third lifetime start?
00:42:00Well, we were delighted with the performance
00:42:01to do that in his third lifetime start
00:42:05was a significant accomplishment.
00:42:08Flavian and I spoke about the race,
00:42:11wanted to make sure we were kind of seeing
00:42:12the pace scenario the same way.
00:42:14We both agreed,
00:42:15didn't appear to be a lot of pace on paper.
00:42:18We felt like we would come out running,
00:42:20try to establish some position
00:42:22and we felt like the horse was versatile enough
00:42:24that if he made the lead the right way,
00:42:27we were fine with that.
00:42:28And if someone else was ambitious
00:42:30and wanted to take it,
00:42:31then we could put ourselves
00:42:32in a good stocking position.
00:42:34I thought going to the first turn,
00:42:36it looked like for a moment there
00:42:37that Florencio might take the initiative
00:42:40to go ahead and go
00:42:41and then kind of hit the elbow of the turn
00:42:44and we were linked in front
00:42:45and it was pretty much all good from there.
00:42:48Yeah, Todd, he was super, super impressive.
00:42:50In fact, I actually ran into Flavian
00:42:53and his wife last night in a restaurant
00:42:55and I said, hey, what about that Kingsbarns?
00:42:57And he was super excited
00:42:59and basically was just explaining
00:43:01what kind of gears he had.
00:43:02He said, I just pressed on the pedal
00:43:05and he just took off.
00:43:06Did that surprise you,
00:43:07the gears that he did have?
00:43:09No, you know what?
00:43:10I was really impressed with his debut
00:43:11and I know it wasn't maybe
00:43:12a real flashy figure
00:43:14and time didn't blow everyone away,
00:43:16but if you look back at that race,
00:43:18first of all, it's difficult to win
00:43:20debuting at a mile.
00:43:23And the way he did it,
00:43:24sitting behind horses
00:43:26and sort of waiting for a seam
00:43:28and finally getting a little opening
00:43:30at the top of the stretch
00:43:31and kind of having to push
00:43:32his way through there.
00:43:34For a horse making his first start,
00:43:36I thought he was very, very professional
00:43:38and kind of wise
00:43:40beyond his experience for that.
00:43:43So I was impressed with that.
00:43:45The Tampa race was kind of
00:43:46an oddly run race,
00:43:47but we were just looking to get
00:43:48some two turn experience
00:43:49and get another race into him.
00:43:51And I think that that helped out.
00:43:54But yeah, like Flavian said,
00:43:56I felt like he was traveling really well
00:43:58all the way down the backside.
00:44:00Then you can see when he went
00:44:01to his left lead in the far turn,
00:44:04far turn, he kind of surged again.
00:44:05And that's when I started to get excited
00:44:08that he had plenty of horse left.
00:44:10Does he get to keep them out?
00:44:12I mean, you've got various horses
00:44:13and various jockeys, it seems like.
00:44:16You know, I mean,
00:44:17I never want to assume anything, Todd.
00:44:20No, I would hope so.
00:44:21I mean, I guess the question is,
00:44:23is he going to win on someone else
00:44:25and still want to ride him?
00:44:26So yeah, but no, Flavian
00:44:30rode him terrifically
00:44:31and we know he's a world class rider.
00:44:34So we're happy to have him.
00:44:36Todd, now he didn't debut until January 14th.
00:44:39So you haven't had a long time
00:44:41to get him ready to push him
00:44:42into a race like Louisiana Derby
00:44:44and then the Kentucky Derby.
00:44:45Why was he a little bit late
00:44:47and has it been a little bit
00:44:48difficult playing catch up?
00:44:49So everything has gone seamlessly
00:44:52since we got him in,
00:44:53but we didn't get him in until late.
00:44:55I know that Spinthroop purchased him
00:44:56out of the Gulfstream two year old training.
00:44:59So I think he had like a quarter mile breeze
00:45:01in 20 and three and showed
00:45:03a lot of talent there.
00:45:06And Ned Toffee and the Spinthroop guys
00:45:08got him back to the farm.
00:45:09And just like a lot of the horses
00:45:12that go through the two year old sales,
00:45:14they just sometimes need some time off.
00:45:16So I don't think he had any specific issues
00:45:19other than just the wear and tear
00:45:21from going through a two year old training
00:45:24sale and the preparation for that.
00:45:26So they did the right thing,
00:45:27kind of freshen him up.
00:45:28And since he came into us,
00:45:30he's been a very straightforward horse,
00:45:32very professional.
00:45:34And, you know,
00:45:35he's caught on to everything without issue.
00:45:38So looking ahead now to this weekend,
00:45:41you've obviously got the heavy favored Forte,
00:45:44the leading three year old in America
00:45:46by anyone's standards
00:45:48headed to the Florida Derby.
00:45:50And then comes the post position draw
00:45:52at Gulfstream Park with the short run
00:45:53into the first turn.
00:45:55And you get post 11 in what was
00:45:57a surprisingly large 12 horse field.
00:45:59We've heard Danny Gargan,
00:46:01who has W and L in there outside of you,
00:46:04be extremely vocal and direct
00:46:08in his comments about so many horses
00:46:10entering in the race that seemingly
00:46:11had no chance.
00:46:13What I think I know what the answer
00:46:15to this is going to be,
00:46:15but I have to ask it.
00:46:16I mean, even with such a heavy favorite,
00:46:18how concerned are you
00:46:21about that post position draw?
00:46:24Yeah, I mean, there's no bones about it.
00:46:26I don't I don't like it.
00:46:27It wasn't wouldn't have been
00:46:28one of my first five choices,
00:46:31you know, but look,
00:46:33I know I think I read the other day
00:46:35that since 2006 post 11 is two for 48
00:46:40at Gulfstream going a mile and eight.
00:46:42And, you know, the one thing I will say,
00:46:44you'd have to go back and look at
00:46:46all 48 horses who broke from that
00:46:49from that post.
00:46:50But I would doubt that too many of them
00:46:52have the credentials that Forte does.
00:46:55Is this a stressful time of year for you,
00:46:57Todd? Every morning when you wake up,
00:46:59do you pray you're going to go to the barn
00:47:01and everything is OK?
00:47:03I mean, is this possibly
00:47:04the worst time of year for you
00:47:05or is it the best time of year?
00:47:07Are you thriving on this?
00:47:09It's it's both.
00:47:10You know, you feel very blessed
00:47:12to be in that position
00:47:13and you hold your breath
00:47:15every second of every moment of every day.
00:47:18And every morning when you come in,
00:47:20you hope everything is the way it was
00:47:23when you left there in the afternoon,
00:47:26the day before.
00:47:26So, yeah, especially
00:47:30when you have horses doing as well
00:47:32as Forte and Tapitrice and Kingsbarns
00:47:35are right now.
00:47:37You wish you wish the Kentucky Derby
00:47:39was was this Saturday,
00:47:40not the Florida Derby.
00:47:42Are they easy horses to train?
00:47:45Those three?
00:47:46I mean, would they be
00:47:47just your regular run of the mill
00:47:49or do any of them have
00:47:50any particular tendencies
00:47:52that need a little bit more attention?
00:47:54No, I tell you what,
00:47:56it's a it's a really,
00:47:58really good group to train.
00:47:59Very straightforward.
00:48:01They're they're willing
00:48:02without being overzealous.
00:48:04And, you know, all three
00:48:06have really good dispositions,
00:48:08good minds.
00:48:09And, you know, we've been working on
00:48:12focusing on hopefully getting Tapitrice
00:48:14to come out of the gate a little better.
00:48:15And, you know, but at the same time,
00:48:19understanding his running style
00:48:20and not trying to
00:48:22not trying to reinvent the wheel either.
00:48:25Todd, with any of your three year olds,
00:48:26be it Forte or Kingsbarns,
00:48:29you have two objectives.
00:48:30You want to win the Fountain of Youth.
00:48:32You want to win the Florida Derby.
00:48:33You want a Louisiana Derby,
00:48:35but you don't want to
00:48:36leave their best race behind them.
00:48:37You want them to peak
00:48:39in the Kentucky Derby.
00:48:40Can you take us through
00:48:41how you handle that?
00:48:42And what's the perfect progression
00:48:43for a horse this time of year
00:48:44from the preps to the Derby?
00:48:46Well, you know, so much of it's
00:48:47about the spacing, really.
00:48:49And when we looked at
00:48:51coming back in the Fountain of Youth,
00:48:52we felt like that was
00:48:54sort of perfect timing to see
00:48:57if he took that race well,
00:48:59we had the option of coming back
00:49:00in the grade one Florida Derby
00:49:02and getting five weeks
00:49:03on the other end to the Kentucky Derby.
00:49:05Or if we felt like
00:49:06we needed an extra week,
00:49:08then Keeneland, Bluegrass,
00:49:10also grade one was also,
00:49:12you know, a good alternative.
00:49:13We felt like we needed
00:49:15the extra week on this side.
00:49:18But the horse,
00:49:19Forte took the Fountain of Youth so well.
00:49:21I thought it was the perfect comeback.
00:49:23He ran fast enough
00:49:25to show you that he's developed,
00:49:26but didn't have to run too fast.
00:49:31So it was really the perfect prep.
00:49:33And we've had two really nice
00:49:34works since then.
00:49:36So knock on wood,
00:49:37everything is seriously gone
00:49:40exactly like we had hoped it would
00:49:43when we laid out the game plan.
00:49:46So back to the Florida Derby,
00:49:48you mentioned the brutal
00:49:49post position stats.
00:49:52Gulfstream sort of made its own bed
00:49:54almost 20 years ago
00:49:55when Frank Stronach chose
00:49:57to make the track,
00:49:59the dirt track,
00:50:00a mile and an eighth
00:50:00in circumference
00:50:02instead of the original one mile.
00:50:04And also their desire
00:50:05to keep the Florida Derby
00:50:06at the mile and one eighth distance
00:50:08that creates a very short run
00:50:11into the first turn,
00:50:11even with the length and run up.
00:50:14The only things I can see
00:50:15that they could do differently
00:50:16would be either to lengthen
00:50:18the Florida Derby to a mile
00:50:20and three sixteenths,
00:50:22or maybe to limit
00:50:23the Florida Derby field
00:50:24to say 10 starters.
00:50:26Would you be in favor
00:50:27of either of those things?
00:50:28Or is this just one
00:50:28of those situations where,
00:50:30you know, hey, it's horse racing.
00:50:31You just take your lumps
00:50:33when it happens.
00:50:35Well, I think if you could go back
00:50:3720 years and they actually did ask me
00:50:39when they're looking
00:50:40at the blueprints on
00:50:43what do you think
00:50:44of a mile or an eighth track?
00:50:45And I said, you know,
00:50:46I don't care for it at all.
00:50:48I think it compromises
00:50:49your race
00:50:52and potentially could compromise,
00:50:54you know, anyone who draws
00:50:55an outside post.
00:50:57And I also told them
00:50:58that I didn't care
00:50:59for their paddock design.
00:51:00So I was in for two
00:51:02and both of my recommendations.
00:51:05But it's concerning,
00:51:08not just for this race,
00:51:09not just because we drew
00:51:10the 11 hole.
00:51:11I've always felt it's,
00:51:13you know, it's not really
00:51:15a fair race to everyone.
00:51:18And we go back to the first Pegasus
00:51:19when California Chrome
00:51:21drew outside.
00:51:22And, you know, so you just hate to see
00:51:25the two most significant races
00:51:27of the meats, the Pegasus
00:51:30and the Florida Derby
00:51:31potentially affected by post position.
00:51:34So that's my concern.
00:51:35And as far as extending it
00:51:38to a mile and three sixteenths,
00:51:40I think some years you might
00:51:41you might want to do that.
00:51:43And then another year
00:51:43you might be playing
00:51:44catch up with one
00:51:45and you wouldn't want to do that.
00:51:47So, you know, that's just
00:51:48from time to time.
00:51:49But I know that that's
00:51:50something they've considered.
00:51:52And I thought, you know,
00:51:54for the Pegasus,
00:51:54that would be a good option as well.
00:51:57But again,
00:51:59sometimes you're maybe
00:52:00going to have a miler
00:52:01that's going to try to stretch out
00:52:02on the Pegasus at a mile and eighth.
00:52:04And if it's a mile and three sixteenths,
00:52:05they might opt not to.
00:52:07So every year is going to be
00:52:09a little bit different
00:52:10in terms of which
00:52:11which horses you have.
00:52:13Yeah, and now and now that seemingly
00:52:16every owner with a three year old
00:52:18that has a pulse
00:52:18wants to try to get him
00:52:19into the Kentucky Derby.
00:52:20You're probably going to have
00:52:21a lot more of these situations
00:52:22with big fields and horses
00:52:24that look like on paper
00:52:25they don't belong.
00:52:28Yeah, I mean, that seems to be the trend.
00:52:30And, you know, at the same time, look,
00:52:32everyone puts up their money
00:52:33and deserves a shot.
00:52:34We're going to
00:52:35we're going to run a couple of maidens
00:52:36in the Wood Memorial
00:52:37the following week.
00:52:38So I can't I can't blame someone else
00:52:41for doing the same thing.
00:52:43Who are you running?
00:52:45We're going to run
00:52:45well, we're going to run three.
00:52:46We're going to run classic catch
00:52:48coming off an allowance
00:52:49win at Gulfstream.
00:52:50Then we're going to dream like
00:52:52he was second
00:52:53in a pretty fast main race.
00:52:54Number wise stacks up pretty well.
00:52:57And then we're going to run
00:52:58our professional maiden,
00:52:59Kruppi, who always kind of
00:53:01keeps sucking up for placing.
00:53:04He keeps good company
00:53:05in the morning.
00:53:07Perhaps it's rubbing off on him.
00:53:09Finally, I'm hoping.
00:53:12Tom, before we let you go,
00:53:13what about your fillies
00:53:14running this weekend
00:53:15in the Florida Oaks?
00:53:16You have Miracle,
00:53:17who seemed to just
00:53:19she just tries so damn hard
00:53:21every time she runs.
00:53:22And then atomically.
00:53:24Yeah, I was really pleased
00:53:25with Miracle's race
00:53:26at the fairgrounds.
00:53:27And we kind of kicked around
00:53:30the idea of going back,
00:53:31but we felt like
00:53:32with the opportunity to stay home
00:53:34and not have to ship
00:53:35to New Orleans twice
00:53:37would maybe put her
00:53:37in a better position
00:53:38if she's able to do well here.
00:53:41Very straightforward filly to train.
00:53:42Trains trains really well.
00:53:44I've been been pleased with her.
00:53:47You know, atomically
00:53:48was able to win
00:53:48Florida stallion race
00:53:50going to mile 16th at Gulfstream.
00:53:52So we're hoping
00:53:53getting her back around
00:53:54two turns at Gulfstream.
00:53:55She'll she'll take a step forward.
00:53:58Todd, also on the three
00:53:59year old male ranks,
00:54:01you had a good performance
00:54:02of major dude in the Jeff Ruby
00:54:04earned enough points
00:54:04to get into the Kentucky Derby.
00:54:06But from what I've read,
00:54:07that's not the plan.
00:54:08Tell us about
00:54:10what the future plans are for him.
00:54:12And most people,
00:54:12if they got the points, they go.
00:54:14I mean, there's
00:54:14they don't ask any questions.
00:54:16Why did you and the connections
00:54:18of Spencer decide
00:54:18that maybe that's not
00:54:19the best place for him?
00:54:20First, next start.
00:54:22I'm not 100% sure
00:54:23that we've decided that
00:54:26the horse ran well.
00:54:28He came out of it in good order.
00:54:29He's always trained
00:54:29well on all surfaces.
00:54:32They have they have a nice
00:54:34three year old turf race there
00:54:35that day of the American turf,
00:54:36same day as the Derby.
00:54:38So, you know, I think the plan
00:54:39is going to be to take him
00:54:41to Churchill and see how he trains.
00:54:43If he were to somehow,
00:54:45you know, just
00:54:46act like he loves
00:54:47the main track in Churchill,
00:54:48I think we could, you know,
00:54:49still keep that under consideration.
00:54:51But right now we're just
00:54:52kind of taking a wait
00:54:53and see approach.
00:54:56So I know you're a student of the sport
00:54:58and you're very analytical
00:55:00and I would love to get
00:55:01your opinion on this.
00:55:04Maybe you didn't have time
00:55:05to pay any attention,
00:55:06but we'll see.
00:55:10OK, as impressive as King
00:55:12as Kings Barnes was
00:55:13in the Florida Derby.
00:55:15Dermis Sotogake in the UAE Derby.
00:55:18We don't have speed figures on it,
00:55:20but he actually ran a faster number,
00:55:23whatever it is,
00:55:24than the Dubai World Cup winner.
00:55:26What are your thoughts
00:55:28on those Japanese horses
00:55:30coming over to the Kentucky Derby
00:55:32and the way Japanese horses
00:55:33in general have been performing
00:55:34on dirt around the world?
00:55:36I thought it was a
00:55:37it was a very impressive performance.
00:55:39And I think the track
00:55:41might have been a little bit speed favor.
00:55:43I didn't get to watch the whole car,
00:55:45but you know,
00:55:47he seemed to come to the wire
00:55:48with his with all four legs
00:55:51well underneath him.
00:55:52And I thought it was a,
00:55:54you know, very impressive performance.
00:55:56And like you said,
00:55:56I mean, the Japanese horses
00:55:58have just been performing
00:55:59phenomenally everywhere.
00:56:01The horse, the one that was
00:56:03the Shima Classic,
00:56:04the mile and a half turf race.
00:56:05That was, I mean,
00:56:07that was as good as you'll
00:56:08ever see any horse run.
00:56:10So, yeah, I'm concerned.
00:56:14I think, you know,
00:56:15they're certainly improving
00:56:17by leaps and bounds
00:56:18in the way that their horses
00:56:19are performing globally.
00:56:21And, you know,
00:56:22they've kind of had some horses
00:56:24come over and run
00:56:25sneaky good already.
00:56:26And it seems like
00:56:28they've gotten better since then.
00:56:30So, yeah, I was,
00:56:32I was impressed.
00:56:34Well, a lot's going to be said
00:56:35about the past record
00:56:37of the UAE Derby horses
00:56:38coming over to the Kentucky Derby
00:56:40and how dismal it's been.
00:56:42Does that matter to you
00:56:43when you're looking
00:56:45at Dermot Sotogaki
00:56:46and trying to analyze
00:56:47how he might run in Louisville?
00:56:49I hope it stays that way.
00:56:53And I know, you know,
00:56:54Mendelssohn had that
00:56:55phenomenal performance there
00:56:57and then, you know,
00:56:57didn't get away well here
00:56:59and it's kind of taken
00:57:00out of his game.
00:57:01So, look, I think,
00:57:05I think it's possible
00:57:06to use the UAE Derby
00:57:09as a successful prep.
00:57:10I think I wouldn't think
00:57:12it would happen in a scenario
00:57:14where you went from America
00:57:15to Dubai and then back.
00:57:17But, you know,
00:57:18I think someone,
00:57:19you know, kind of coming at it
00:57:20from a different angle
00:57:21could could potentially be successful.
00:57:23We thank Todd Pletcher
00:57:24for his time and insights
00:57:26on the road to the Kentucky Derby.
00:57:27A lot going on, as always,
00:57:29in the Todd Pletcher Barn
00:57:30this time of year.
00:57:31Thanks, Todd, and good luck
00:57:32on the road to the Derby.
00:57:34Our guest of the week, Todd Pletcher,
00:57:36will receive a free one hour
00:57:38tax consultation
00:57:39from The Green Group,
00:57:40that accounting and tax
00:57:41consulting advisory firm
00:57:42that specializes
00:57:43in the thoroughbred industry.
00:57:45Again, find out more
00:57:46about The Green Group
00:57:47at www.greenco.com.
00:58:06The Green Group founder, Len Green,
00:58:08has owned and bred
00:58:09some of the best racehorses
00:58:11in the history of the sport,
00:58:13like Eclipse award-winning champions
00:58:14Jaywalk and Wonderwheel.
00:58:16His DJ stable
00:58:17competes at the highest level
00:58:19and has received the game's
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00:58:51Here in Pennsylvania,
00:58:52we're proud of our breeding program,
00:58:54the best in North America,
00:58:56but we're also proud
00:58:57to be leaders in this industry.
00:58:59The PA Horse Breeders Association
00:59:01is funding cutting edge
00:59:02research at PenVet
00:59:03to detect gene doping
00:59:05in thoroughbreds
00:59:06and we endorsed the SAFE Act
00:59:08to help protect
00:59:08the most vulnerable horses.
00:59:10Plus, we're pleased to support
00:59:12the aftercare programs
00:59:13set up by our horseman's groups.
00:59:15Just a few of the reasons
00:59:16why you should join us
00:59:17in Pennsylvania,
00:59:18the premier place
00:59:20to breed and race.
00:59:22The TD and Riders Room
00:59:23is brought to you
00:59:23by the Pennsylvania
00:59:24Horse Breeders Association,
00:59:26the PHBA.
00:59:27Now we are taping this podcast
00:59:30on Wednesday, March 29th.
00:59:32It's scheduled to hit your computers
00:59:33and your mobile devices
00:59:35on Thursday, March 30th.
00:59:36So this is actually pretty timely
00:59:38because Friday is the last day
00:59:40to nominate your two-year-olds
00:59:41to the Pennsylvania Sired,
00:59:42Pennsylvania Bred,
00:59:43$1 million stallion series
00:59:47for $500.
00:59:49The nominations must be postmarked
00:59:52by March 31st.
00:59:53You can nominate after that,
00:59:55but it's just going to cost you
00:59:56a little more.
00:59:57And while we're on the topics
00:59:58of Pennsylvania Breds,
01:00:00Angel of Empire
01:00:02will run again on Saturday
01:00:04in the $1.25 million Arkansas Derby.
01:00:07Remember, Angel of Empire
01:00:08has already won this spring
01:00:10the Risen Star stakes
01:00:12at the fairgrounds.
01:00:13For more information,
01:00:14visit www.pabred.com.
01:00:18Okay, one other big,
01:00:20and I mean big,
01:00:21card to go over
01:00:22Florida Derby costume.
01:00:23Randy, now,
01:00:24this is not a trick question
01:00:26because we did this last week.
01:00:27When are you on?
01:00:31Come on, you can do this.
01:00:32You're going to ask me.
01:00:34Which of the NBC networks
01:00:36is the show on?
01:00:36I told you to learn your lesson
01:00:38last week about that.
01:00:40Or I thought I'd learned my lesson
01:00:41about coming on here
01:00:42without knowing
01:00:44exactly what network.
01:00:46We will fill in that blank
01:00:47at the end of the show.
01:00:48How about that?
01:00:49Okay, we definitely want our
01:00:52people who are watching the podcast
01:00:54to tune in to Randy Moss
01:00:56on Saturday for,
01:00:57let's see, the post time
01:00:59for the Florida Derby is 6.40.
01:01:01So I'm guessing you're on 6.00 to 7.00.
01:01:036.00 to 7.00.
01:01:04We'll come on really quickly
01:01:06with the Appleton
01:01:08at a mile on the turf
01:01:09for older horses
01:01:10and then segue right from there
01:01:12into the Florida Derby.
01:01:14So anyways,
01:01:14all we were hearing
01:01:16leading up to the Florida Derby
01:01:17was nobody wants to run against Forte.
01:01:19There's going to be four
01:01:20or five horses in the race.
01:01:22It's going to be a cakewalk.
01:01:23Is it going to be too easy a race
01:01:25because he's not going to get
01:01:26anything out of it.
01:01:27Lo and behold,
01:01:28what happened here?
01:01:3012 entered the field
01:01:32and quite frankly,
01:01:32a lot of them just don't belong.
01:01:35I'm not going to pick on anybody,
01:01:37but I wonder,
01:01:38I think this might be
01:01:39the rich strike effect.
01:01:41Just get into the Kentucky Derby,
01:01:43finish third, get in,
01:01:44be a hundred to one.
01:01:45You've got a chance in here.
01:01:46But then the story,
01:01:48the twofold number one,
01:01:49the amount of horses running in the race
01:01:52and then the post position draw.
01:01:53Forte got post 11
01:01:55and that's a lousy post.
01:01:56It's a terrible post
01:01:57that mile and a search
01:01:58right upon the turn.
01:02:00The statistic is post 11,
01:02:03mile and eight at Gulfstream,
01:02:04two for 49.
01:02:06But I do like to point out
01:02:07that Big Brown back in 2008
01:02:10won this race from post 12.
01:02:11So if you have a good horse,
01:02:12it can obviously be done.
01:02:14When, as soon as I heard the post,
01:02:16saw that he drew post 11,
01:02:18I said, well, I got to try to beat this horse.
01:02:20I mean, he's going to be a big favorite.
01:02:21He's got post 11,
01:02:22but who the heck would you pick
01:02:25to try to beat him?
01:02:26Not only are many of these horses,
01:02:29ones that I've already said,
01:02:30have no business running in this race,
01:02:32but the best horses,
01:02:34the best competitors
01:02:36probably are Fort Bragg.
01:02:38He drew post 10.
01:02:39And then WNL,
01:02:41who won the Remsen before running,
01:02:42lousy in the Sam F. Davis,
01:02:44he drew post 12.
01:02:46So on paper,
01:02:47the horses that are the main competition
01:02:50didn't draw well,
01:02:51either Cyclone Mischief's got a chance.
01:02:52He's post nine.
01:02:54So you know what?
01:02:56I'm just figuring that Erad Ortiz
01:02:58is going to figure it out.
01:02:59He's got the best horse by a mile.
01:03:02It's a very difficult post position.
01:03:04I'm not going to go bet him enthusiastically
01:03:07at three to five from post 11.
01:03:09But Randy, who the hell can beat this horse?
01:03:12That's my question.
01:03:14I like the Big Brown reference.
01:03:15How about the daily double of Big Brown
01:03:17winning the Florida Derby from post 12
01:03:18and then the Kentucky Derby from post 20.
01:03:23All the leading contenders,
01:03:25the four top contenders on paper,
01:03:28are post nine through 12.
01:03:30Cyclone Mischief in post nine,
01:03:32Fort Bragg post 10,
01:03:33Forte post 11,
01:03:34and then WNL in post 12.
01:03:37Courtesy of our friends at Equibase,
01:03:39I went back all the way to the reconfiguration
01:03:43of the Gulfstream Park track
01:03:45to a mile and an eighth in 2006.
01:03:48And horses raking from the outside
01:03:50four post positions are 14 for 290.
01:03:53That's only 4.8%.
01:03:56You're three times more likely statistically
01:03:59to win raking from post one through four
01:04:01than from post nine through 12.
01:04:03And nine, Cyclone Mischief,
01:04:05actually has the worst win percentage
01:04:07of all the post positions at just 2%.
01:04:10If you were inclined to try to beat Forte
01:04:14because of post position,
01:04:16I can understand that.
01:04:17I agree with you that he'll probably win anyway.
01:04:20But I got one word for you.
01:04:22Mage.
01:04:24Okay.
01:04:25Mage ran against Forte and the Found of Youth,
01:04:29finished fourth.
01:04:30He was beaten six and three quarters length.
01:04:32So you're saying,
01:04:33how the heck can you expect Mage
01:04:35to make up six and three quarters length?
01:04:36So if you go back and watch that race,
01:04:38if you get a chance,
01:04:38go to YouTube,
01:04:39or if you subscribe to one of the services
01:04:42where you can watch replays,
01:04:43watch the head-on replay of Mage
01:04:44coming out of the gate
01:04:45as he breaks into the side of the gate.
01:04:47He's in the back of the pack
01:04:48going into the first turn.
01:04:50It's taken to the far outside
01:04:51where he's four to five wide
01:04:54all the way around the first turn.
01:04:55I wouldn't say rushing back up into contention,
01:04:58but he definitely moves up
01:05:00aggressively into contention
01:05:02and still hanging in there
01:05:04at about the 316th pole or the eighth pole
01:05:07before he finally weakens
01:05:08in the last eighth of a mile.
01:05:10With a better trip,
01:05:12I think Mage is at least a couple of lengths
01:05:15better than he ran in the Found of Youth.
01:05:17And if you can say that Forte
01:05:20is going to be severely compromised
01:05:22by his post position,
01:05:24you can do a lot worse than Mage
01:05:26at what should be a pretty decent price.
01:05:28I mean, Cyclone, I say decent price.
01:05:30Heck of a lot better price than Forte.
01:05:33Cyclone Mischief made a clear lead,
01:05:36which was the objective in the Fountain of Youth.
01:05:39There is speed inside of him on Saturday,
01:05:43so I don't expect him to get a clear lead again.
01:05:46And I think that might
01:05:48compromise his chances somewhat.
01:05:51So, I mean, other than that, who is there?
01:05:53I think Mage has got the best chance
01:05:56to spring the upset.
01:05:57The big surprise in here, just quickly,
01:05:59that you mentioned the 12-horse field,
01:06:02Safi Joseph went in with four horses,
01:06:04including a couple of maidens, I believe,
01:06:06or at least a couple that had just
01:06:08been running six furlongs
01:06:09and never further than six furlongs
01:06:10and now running a mile and an eighth.
01:06:13Safi told us yesterday
01:06:15that in three of those four instances,
01:06:20it was the owner who pushed the envelope
01:06:22and rightfully so,
01:06:24wanting to run in the Florida Derby.
01:06:28And Safi told him that
01:06:30if the horse was training well
01:06:32and was doing well,
01:06:34that, you know, he's not going to...
01:06:37They own the horse,
01:06:38so he'll endorse it
01:06:40and go ahead and enter them
01:06:41and hope for the best.
01:06:43So that's what we've got with...
01:06:44And he intends to run all four of his entrants
01:06:47in the Florida Derby.
01:06:49It's going to be a mishmash
01:06:50in a really interesting race.
01:06:52I have no doubt whatsoever
01:06:54that Forte is the best horse in the race.
01:06:57You mentioned Big Brown
01:06:58breaking from the outside.
01:07:00I don't think they've had a horse
01:07:01as good as Forte on the outside.
01:07:04He's tactical, he's got speed,
01:07:06you know, he's not really going to get in trouble
01:07:09all the way out there
01:07:09unless W. Nell just breaks into him.
01:07:13I'm not too worried about it for Forte.
01:07:15I think he can overcome a lot
01:07:17and he most definitely is the horse to beat.
01:07:20I mean, just he's five for six.
01:07:22How did he ever get beat in the first place?
01:07:24It's what I should have asked Todd Pletcher.
01:07:26But yeah, it's his race to lose.
01:07:30One more I think that a lot of people
01:07:32will be looking at
01:07:33and we mentioned SF Bloodstock
01:07:36and Tom Ryan, Fort Bragg.
01:07:38Now Tom's been bullish on Fort Bragg
01:07:41from the get-go
01:07:42and I'm thinking,
01:07:42God, he's just a horse.
01:07:44He's just this.
01:07:44If I tap it out of March Express,
01:07:46they paid 700,000.
01:07:48Interestingly enough,
01:07:49when you go back and look at his maiden win,
01:07:52which he was disqualified from,
01:07:54who won that on the DQ?
01:07:56Practical move.
01:07:57Who's trained by Tim
01:07:58and now Tim trains Fort Bragg.
01:08:00It's just swings around about.
01:08:02Fort Bragg's a good horse,
01:08:03which is going to segue perfectly
01:08:06into the xbtv.com work of the week.
01:08:09It's Fort Bragg seen working here
01:08:12at Santa Anita and 59 and change guys.
01:08:15And if you're worried about Fort Bragg,
01:08:16take a look at this work
01:08:18and the ease at which he is doing it.
01:08:21He is absolutely cruising.
01:08:22He will run in cheek pieces,
01:08:24which do not have to be notated
01:08:27in the program.
01:08:28So that's something to note.
01:08:29You can see him working here
01:08:31with the cheek pieces on.
01:08:32They kind of simulate little cheetah blinkers
01:08:35and he looks absolutely terrific.
01:08:37Fort Bragg, xbtv.com work of the week.
01:08:45All the thrills.
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01:09:42The TDN Writer's Room is brought to you
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01:09:57West Point had another successful week
01:10:00on the track this week with Apriati,
01:10:02who was sweeping through the stretch
01:10:04for an impressive win at Turfway Park
01:10:06on Saturday in her second career start.
01:10:09The three-year-old filly by City of Light
01:10:11made a smooth transition from grass
01:10:13to the Topita track at Turfway.
01:10:15She's trained by Cherie DeVoe,
01:10:17who got her from Keeneland, September.
01:10:20It really pays to go to Keeneland.
01:10:22It really does.
01:10:24And the Remy Bullock cartoon
01:10:25is in for this week.
01:10:26And last week we had Lisa Lazarus,
01:10:29the CEO of Hyza on,
01:10:30and we talked about, boy,
01:10:32she's navigating a tightrope
01:10:33and Remy captured that really well
01:10:35in this week's cartoon.
01:10:36So please check that out.
01:10:37Well, that's a wrap on this week's show.
01:10:39I want to thank our Green Group
01:10:40guest of the week, Todd Fletcher.
01:10:42Of course, I want to thank Randy Moss
01:10:44and Zoe Catlin,
01:10:45my partners in crime on the podcast.
01:10:47Our producer, Patty Wolfe.
01:10:48Our associate producer, Katie Petruniak.
01:10:51And Randy's holding his finger up.
01:10:53CNBC.
01:10:55Okay.
01:10:57I told you I would have it
01:10:58before the end of the show.
01:10:59Straight from the producer.
01:11:00There you go.
01:11:01All right.
01:11:02So where was I?
01:11:03All right.
01:11:03CNBC from six to seven, right?
01:11:05You got it.
01:11:06Okay.
01:11:07CNBC from six to seven
01:11:09with Randy Moss.
01:11:10Okay.
01:11:10And we also want to thank
01:11:12our editors, Anthony LaRocca,
01:11:13Alia LaRocca, and Nathan Wilkinson.
01:11:15Again, that's a wrap.
01:11:16Thanks for listening in.
01:11:17Thanks for joining us.
01:11:18We'll talk to you next week
01:11:19here on the TDN Writers' Room Podcast.