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00:00:00For the love of the horse, for generations to come.
00:00:28Good afternoon.
00:00:29It's 12.07 on April 12th, and this is the latest edition of the TDN Writer's Room Podcast.
00:00:35My name is Bill Finley.
00:00:36I am a correspondent for the Thoroughbred Daily News, and I also co-host the Down the
00:00:40Stretch Show on Sirius XM Radio with Dave Johnson.
00:00:42Hi, I'm Randy Moss.
00:00:44I work for NBC Sports, also I'm involved with the Buyer's Speed Figures, and right now in
00:00:48my home in Minneapolis, I am thoroughly enjoying the 80 degree temperature here.
00:00:54Wow.
00:00:55How about that?
00:00:56Wow.
00:00:57I feel like I'm next to the ocean right now.
00:01:00It's all doom and gloom outside, but I'm Zoe with First Racing.
00:01:03I actually have Doodle behind me in his cone of shame.
00:01:07We're a week into tailgate right now from him biting a hole in his tail, so it's, yeah,
00:01:13I don't recommend it.
00:01:14He'll be all right.
00:01:15Poor, poor Doodle.
00:01:16We're rooting for you, pal.
00:01:17Get out of that cone.
00:01:18Anyways, guys, a lot to talk about.
00:01:20Obviously, we're still right in the midst of the Triple Crown season, Kentucky Derby
00:01:23prep season.
00:01:25Three big races last week.
00:01:27Let's start with the Bluegrass.
00:01:29It was at Keeneland, of course, the Toyota Bluegrass, and the winner was Tapitrice.
00:01:33No surprise there.
00:01:34He's the favorite coming off a win in the Tampa Bay Derby.
00:01:37I wasn't in love with his Tampa Bay Derby.
00:01:40I really liked his Bluegrass.
00:01:43I thought he made a major move forward in a lot of respects.
00:01:46First of all, Randy, the buyer number went from an 88 in the Tampa Bay Derby to a 99
00:01:52in the Bluegrass, but more so than even that, in the Tampa Bay Derby, he just kind of ran
00:01:58to me like an immature horse, didn't really know what was going on, didn't kick in until
00:02:01maybe the final eighth of a mile.
00:02:04He was much different this week.
00:02:05He broke sharply, more sharply.
00:02:07He got himself into the race early.
00:02:10If you remember the Tampa Bay Derby, Luis Saez was riding the hair off this horse five
00:02:14furlongs out.
00:02:15He took himself into the thick of the race without much urging from Luis Saez, gets to
00:02:21the front, verify a very good horse from Brad Cox.
00:02:25He's got to battle him.
00:02:26He did.
00:02:28He wins.
00:02:29Can he win the Kentucky Derby?
00:02:30Absolutely.
00:02:31I don't think I would have said that after the Tampa Bay Derby.
00:02:35We talked last week, actually, on this podcast, and we talked on the NBC show before the Bluegrass.
00:02:42One of the more interesting things to watch would be to see if the proverbial light bulb
00:02:47went off and tapped Trice's head about taking himself up to the competition instead of being
00:02:55forced into it, as Luis Saez was having to do in the Tampa Bay Derby.
00:03:00Much more professional performance by tapping Trice, and he also got that speed figure with
00:03:06some ground loss, four wide into and then three wide the rest of the way around the
00:03:12second turn.
00:03:13He could even do a little bit better than that, and I share your opinion.
00:03:18That's mostly a big positive.
00:03:22There is one, though, negative that has flown completely under the radar for some reason.
00:03:30If you go back and you watch the Bluegrass closely, and especially if you can have access
00:03:35to the head-on replay, but you can also see it on the pan shot.
00:03:39Going into the first turn, Tappet Trice is down on the inside of horses after again breaking
00:03:44in so-so.
00:03:46He completely lost his action going into the first turn.
00:03:50He wasn't checked.
00:03:51He wasn't steadied.
00:03:52He did that on his own.
00:03:55Totally lost his action.
00:03:56Why?
00:03:57I mean, you have to be a horse psychologist.
00:04:01He's not talking.
00:04:03Only a couple of reasons really stick out as possibilities.
00:04:07One is that he sensed that the horses outside of him might drop in on him and got a little
00:04:13claustrophobic.
00:04:15The other would be he got a little kickback from the horses in front of him and reacted
00:04:20very poorly to the kickback.
00:04:23Both of those possible explanations do not necessarily bode well for the Kentucky Derby
00:04:29if Tappet Trice draws an inside post position.
00:04:33It'll be much more difficult for Luis Saez to get him to the outside away from those
00:04:38situations in the Kentucky Derby if he draws a post toward the inside as opposed to a post
00:04:44toward the outside.
00:04:45That's the only caveat I have about his race at the Bluegrass.
00:04:48I thought Verifying ran exceptionally well.
00:04:50He got a much easier trip than Tappet Trice, but he is the kind of horse that has the tactical
00:04:54speed to make his own good trips, and the Kentucky Derby is shaping up as a race that
00:05:00does not have an overabundance of early speed.
00:05:03So that will seem to help Verifying.
00:05:06Looks like we might get five horses out of the Bluegrass possibly running on with Blazing
00:05:10Seven, Sun Thunder, and Rays Kane, three, four, and five, but I only see Zoe, the top
00:05:16two really as being any sort of leading contenders in global.
00:05:20Yeah, absolutely.
00:05:21And hold on, let me pull Randy out of the rabbit hole because he's starting to burrow
00:05:26down in that rabbit hole.
00:05:27I can only think what else is yet to come, but as far as your point of him losing his
00:05:32action going into first turn, he was finally close enough to get some kickback.
00:05:36I mean, before he's been so far back, you don't feel any kickback when you're that far
00:05:40back, and I think he finally got it.
00:05:42And no, he didn't like it.
00:05:43He didn't like it at all.
00:05:46But as far as the race went on, he ran into it.
00:05:49I thought maybe he was leaning in coming down the lane if I'm really going to critique him,
00:05:54but a much better race than I was expecting from Tapitrice.
00:05:58And this is the time where you want these horses to put in a much better race.
00:06:03You don't want them going backwards.
00:06:04You want them going forward.
00:06:06So a big, big thumbs up for me, for Tapitrice, Luis Saez not having to pedal maybe as hard
00:06:11as we all thought he had to pedal.
00:06:13Verifying, I don't think he lost anything in defeat.
00:06:16I think he's going to be under the radar a little bit going into the Kentucky Derby,
00:06:22but I think he's definitely going to be on my ticket because he's a horse I've always
00:06:26liked.
00:06:27Randy, is he the second choice in the Kentucky Derby or is it Angel of Empire?
00:06:32I think it comes down to those two.
00:06:34Obviously, Forte will still be the favorite, I would imagine, but I've seen some of the
00:06:40Las Vegas guys and the offshore guys have Forte like three to one, which I think is
00:06:45probably pretty accurate.
00:06:46I don't see him being pounded down to eight to five or anything like that.
00:06:50But to me, he's the second choice in the race or should be the second choice in the race.
00:06:54I think it's going to be close.
00:06:56I think Angel of Empire will have a lot of support because even though he beat a weaker
00:06:59field in the Arkansas Derby, he did it in a much more dominating fashion than what we've
00:07:05seen from the other prep races.
00:07:07But yeah, I could totally see Tapitre second choice.
00:07:10And to continue the theme that Zoe and I are kind of talking about here, my main concern
00:07:14about the kickback is that really going into Kentucky now, there are two possibilities.
00:07:20One is that he draws an inside post and he gets all kinds of kickback that he does not
00:07:25like, which is not good.
00:07:27And two, the only way to avoid that kickback is to get into the extreme outside, in which
00:07:32case he's destined to lose a lot of ground possibly in the Kentucky Derby, because he
00:07:37didn't really do any running in the bluegrass until Saez steered him to the outside.
00:07:42I mean, it was early, right?
00:07:43So he didn't have a chance to do much running, but he steered him out on the first turn.
00:07:48When he turned into the backstretch, he was on the extreme outside and he continued without
00:07:52getting kickback and made that big run down the backstretch and on the outside all the
00:07:57way around the second turn.
00:07:58So that's, again, that's my only concern about it, but I do believe he deserves to be either
00:08:04the, you know, at least the co-second choice.
00:08:08And I think a lot is going to be made of who rides who, because as we were discussing last
00:08:12week with Pratt, obviously Go Rocket Ride is out of the equation now, but does he ride
00:08:17for Todd or does he ride for Brad?
00:08:19And I think that a lot of people will be looking at the wagering and figuring out where he
00:08:25goes, because right now nobody knows.
00:08:27He is, no, he is riding Angel of Empire.
00:08:29Well, he is.
00:08:31He is riding Angel of Empire.
00:08:32OK.
00:08:34All right.
00:08:34One more point I wanted to make about the race and the performance, and I realize it's
00:08:39not this easy.
00:08:39This is not necessarily a one plus one equals two.
00:08:43But take a look at this.
00:08:45In the Tampa Bay Derby, Classic Car Wash was second to have Trice beat him by only two
00:08:50lengths.
00:08:51Now, do Classic Car Wash run the same race in the Bluegrass?
00:08:53Probably not, but it gives you some gauge for maybe how much Tappa Trice improved.
00:08:58He beat him by 16 and a half lengths in the Bluegrass.
00:09:02So that's an improvement of 14 and a half lengths, again, for what it's worth category.
00:09:07OK.
00:09:07Plenty of other big races at Keeneland, a spectacular opening weekend is always the
00:09:12case this time of year.
00:09:13Goodnight Olive came back to look real good in the Madison.
00:09:15But let's go to the Friday race, the Ashland, the prep for the Kentucky Oaks.
00:09:19And boy, this division, I tell you, I mean.
00:09:24Boy, I want to say something nice about him.
00:09:26I can't.
00:09:26So I probably won't say anything at all.
00:09:28But, you know, Kenny McPeak, he's tough.
00:09:31You know, there were some big, big names in here.
00:09:33Punchbowl, Julia Shining, Wonder Wheel, Defining Purpose gets the job done in there for Kenny
00:09:40McPeak.
00:09:41And again, in the for what it's worth category in her previous start, she was six feet and
00:09:47five lengths by wet paint.
00:09:49So I think we already know that wet paint is the real deal.
00:09:52But I think that makes wet paint look a little bit better.
00:09:54But, you know, this whole division from the start has been more about who's been
00:10:00disappointing rather than who has stepped up and proven themselves with a few exceptions
00:10:06like wet paint.
00:10:07But, you know, Wonder Wheel last year's two-year-old Philly championship.
00:10:10She's just stubbed her toe this year.
00:10:12She couldn't win that race at Tampa Bay Downs against that 38 to one shot.
00:10:15And she was six in this race.
00:10:17It looks like she has not made that transition that a horse has to make from two to three.
00:10:22Yeah, I mean, I thought the result of the, as you pointed out, the result of the Ashland
00:10:26totally flatters wet paint, who I think is going to be a fairly solid favorite in the
00:10:31Kentucky Oaks.
00:10:33I, you know, I thought that the two, three finishers in there ran pretty well, Punchbowl
00:10:39and Julia Shining.
00:10:39They were both slowly getting to Defining Purpose at the end.
00:10:43Punchbowl didn't have the cleanest of trips, although she did save ground.
00:10:46But the interesting thing here is that right now, both Punchbowl and Julia Shining are
00:10:52definitely on the outside looking in, in terms of points.
00:10:56They're going to need some defections.
00:10:57Right now, Julia Shining is 17 and Punchbowl is 19.
00:11:01If those horses were, you know, to get into the Kentucky Oaks, they could be among the
00:11:06top five betting choices.
00:11:08And yet they might be excluded from the race.
00:11:11And Kentucky Oaks field is 14 as opposed to 20 for the Kentucky Derby.
00:11:17Yeah.
00:11:17And with regards to Punchbowl, I actually spoke to Flavian about Punchbowl and, and
00:11:23he was, he was like, I think I should have gone on with it.
00:11:27And he was kind of kicking himself.
00:11:28And I'm like, what are you going to chase the 30 to one shot?
00:11:31Like, what are you going to do?
00:11:32It's like, I don't know.
00:11:34Now I'm hindsight's 20, 20, right?
00:11:36It's like, maybe I should have gone on and tested her.
00:11:38But I'm like, you can't do that.
00:11:41Nobody was going to know the outcome of that race.
00:11:43And you were on the best horse and you rode her like it.
00:11:46So, you know, we'll see.
00:11:48But he was a bit nonplussed about that.
00:11:52The TDN Writer's Room is brought to you by Keeneland.
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00:12:13We'll be right back after these messages from Keeneland.
00:12:20If this place could talk.
00:12:24It would roar.
00:12:26It would say, this is a racing.
00:12:30This beating heart in the heart of horse country.
00:12:35Steady and strong beneath the roar.
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00:12:43For generations to come.
00:12:47Maximum Security proves he's the real deal with a gate-to-wire win in the Florida Derby.
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00:13:18The TDN Writer's Room is brought to you by Coolmore.
00:13:21It was a big day for Ashford Stallions in classic preps on Saturday,
00:13:24with American Pharaoh kicking off the party when his daughter promised her America
00:13:29won the grade three gazelle to punch her ticket to the grade one Kentucky Oaks.
00:13:34Later that same day, Practical Joke's Practical Move
00:13:38won the grade one Santa Anita Derby,
00:13:40while Justify's Verifying finished a neck second in the grade one bluegrass.
00:13:46And over on the turf, Motown got his first graded stakes winner
00:13:50when Moe Stash won the grade three Transylvania stakes at Keeneland on opening day.
00:13:55And on Tuesday, if that wasn't enough, Justify got his second European TDN Rising Star
00:14:02and his fifth overall when his two-year-old daughter,
00:14:05Ramtrell, was an easy winner in her first outing at Shanti.
00:14:11Let's head west from Keeneland and talk about the other big derby preps of the week.
00:14:15And we start off now this segment at Santa Anita.
00:14:18And boy, Practical Move, he checks a lot of boxes.
00:14:22He's consistent.
00:14:23He fights.
00:14:23He won again.
00:14:24Won the San Felipe.
00:14:25Won the Santa Anita Derby.
00:14:27Clearly on top of the three-year-old division in California.
00:14:31And he'll probably be about fourth, fifth choice, I would imagine,
00:14:36in the Kentucky Derby, something like that.
00:14:38But I thought his biggest story was the run by Mandarin Hero coming out of Japan.
00:14:43And this ongoing story of the dominance of these horses and how good they've been.
00:14:49Now, he didn't win.
00:14:51He loses by only a nose.
00:14:52And I don't profess to know much about Japanese racing.
00:14:55But we were told he's an NAR, not National Rifle Association,
00:15:00NAR circuit horse, which is the secondary circuit in Japan.
00:15:07And not up to par of the Japan Racing Association circuit.
00:15:12So if a horse from their second string tracks can come within a nose of Practical Move,
00:15:20what does that mean about their Japan Racing Association horses that are going to run
00:15:26in the Kentucky Derby?
00:15:27Primarily Derma Sotogaki.
00:15:29Randy mentioned points earlier.
00:15:31Mandarin Hero is on the outside looking in as well in the Derby with 40 points.
00:15:36It's amazing.
00:15:36Last year, Rich Strike, the last horse to get into the Kentucky Derby on the points and to win,
00:15:40had 21 points.
00:15:42This year, there are a bunch of horses with 40 that are right now are not in the main body of the race.
00:15:47So Practical Move, thumbs up.
00:15:51Mandarin Hero, thumbs up.
00:15:52Interesting race.
00:15:54And Derma Sotogaki, it looks like he's for real, Randy.
00:15:59Skidder, thumbs up.
00:16:00I mean, he ran an excellent race to finish third despite losing.
00:16:03Yeah, yeah.
00:16:04So let me hit all three horses quickly.
00:16:07Practical Move.
00:16:08There is a lot to like about Practical Move.
00:16:10Okay.
00:16:11He's tactical.
00:16:13He's got some determination.
00:16:15He's running fast.
00:16:16Two back-to-back now 100 buyer speed figures.
00:16:20But when you handicap these horses, you've got to look for the chinks in their armor as well.
00:16:25And you can definitely find them with Practical Move.
00:16:29Horses don't earn buyer speed figures in a vacuum.
00:16:33How they run in the race and the type of race they run impacts how fast the figure is.
00:16:40And in Practical Move's case, he got those back-to-back 100 buyer speed
00:16:44figures in the San Felipe and the Santa Anita Derby in effect by taking shortcuts.
00:16:50He raced on the rail all the way around the track in both races.
00:16:54The rail just opened up for him in the San Felipe.
00:16:58And again, in the Santa Anita Derby, one in Vermilion set the pace,
00:17:02came off the rail into about the two-path.
00:17:03He was right there for Practical Move.
00:17:05And he moved up into the inside and just had the absolute garden trip.
00:17:11If Practical Move draws an outside post for the Kentucky Derby and is faced with the prospect
00:17:15of losing ground, it's going to be very difficult for him unless he takes a big step forward to
00:17:20duplicate those 100 buyer speed figures.
00:17:23So that is something that would be a negative about Practical Move.
00:17:27Another thing, and I'm not quite as sold on this particular item, but he is a son of Practical
00:17:35Joke, who was better around one turn than he was around two turns, right?
00:17:40He was competitive in some two-turn races, better around one turn.
00:17:44And in the final eighth of a mile of the Santa Anita Derby,
00:17:47Practical Move was drifting a bit, which can be a sign of fatigue.
00:17:53And now that's at a mile and an eighth.
00:17:54What does that mean for Practical Move when he stretches out to a mile and a quarter?
00:17:58Now, you can make the case Mandarin Hero was the best horse in the race.
00:18:03He was impacted a little bit by some traffic.
00:18:06He had a rail trip like Practical Move did, but he had to kind of maneuver and sort of
00:18:11force his way out at one point to try to get some room.
00:18:14With a clean trip, I think he probably would have run down Practical Move.
00:18:19And yes, it seriously flatters Dermot Sotagake's chances in the Kentucky Derby.
00:18:27Seriously flattered.
00:18:29Skinner, you can make the case that Skinner could have been the best horse if you factor
00:18:34in ground loss.
00:18:35He was wide around both turns.
00:18:37But the way Victor Espinosa is riding Skinner is as if the rail is radioactive.
00:18:43Even when Skinner was last in the San Felipe all by himself, Espinosa had him three to
00:18:50four paths off the rail around the first turn, just giving up all that ground.
00:18:56If he doesn't draw in the Kentucky Derby, that's why, because he was beating a length
00:18:59per second in the San Felipe despite an unnecessarily wide trip.
00:19:05So what's going to happen in the Kentucky Derby?
00:19:07Victor Espinosa, Skinner, he's going to be wide.
00:19:10He's going to be really wide.
00:19:12So you can bump him up in the Santa Anita Derby, but you're just going to have to bump
00:19:16him back down again when you get to Louisville in a 20-horse field, Zoe.
00:19:22Well, Skinner's going to be a grinder.
00:19:24I think, you know, I mentioned, is he going to be the poor man's Giacomo?
00:19:28He's going to be there.
00:19:30I'm pretty sure he's going to get in because unfortunately, we are liable to have several
00:19:34defections over the course of the next three weeks.
00:19:37So I thought he ran very enough.
00:19:39Funnily enough, John Cherves, actually the CRK, bought the sister to Skinner at the recent
00:19:45OBS sale, and she's already here training at Santa Anita.
00:19:49So they're hoping for big things from Skinner to make the sister more valuable.
00:19:52And I'm sure we'll see her this summer, likely at Del Mar.
00:19:55So I thought he ran well.
00:19:56Of all of them, he's going to love the mile and a quarter.
00:19:59There is no question about that.
00:20:01And he's not an overly big horse.
00:20:03So if he gets stopped, it's not really a problem.
00:20:05I mean, you'd think he was 18 hands with Victor going the overland route every single time,
00:20:10but he's not.
00:20:12As far as Dermosodic, and not Dermosodic Gary, the Mandarin Hero, what a game little horse
00:20:20he is.
00:20:21I mean, I got to follow him around.
00:20:23When we taped the podcast last week, we'd shown, you know, just a 53 and change work
00:20:28from the poll that was just so-so.
00:20:32But he came back on Thursday, and they didn't really want an official time, but they had
00:20:35to have one anyway.
00:20:36They opted for 24 and change for a quarter out of the gate.
00:20:40But he worked 36 and 4 out of the gate pretty nicely and pretty handily.
00:20:45It was almost like the gate woke him up.
00:20:48And that was something that I needed to see.
00:20:50Even in the pre-race warm-ups, KK took him away from the pony.
00:20:55And I'm like, wow.
00:20:56And he whizzed by us standing at the starting gate.
00:20:58I'm like, that's actually faster than he worked the other day.
00:21:01So it started to pique my interest.
00:21:03Maybe he's just a very relaxed horse who race day does wake up.
00:21:08And he's the type of little horse that can be tactical, can be stopped, and can be maneuvered.
00:21:15And I've got no problems with Kazushi Kimura riding him in the Kentucky Derby should he
00:21:20get in, because that kid can flat out ride.
00:21:23As far as practical move, do you feel sometimes he makes the lead so easily he waits a little
00:21:28bit?
00:21:30Because that's kind of what I'm seeing.
00:21:32I can see the distance limitations.
00:21:34But he's out of a fleet Alex Meyer.
00:21:37So I mean, that's going to get him to run all day long.
00:21:40But he did make the lead way too early.
00:21:43And that was just because you could drive a Mack truck through that gap.
00:21:48But I'm wondering if he got a little bit more patient ride and made the lead at the eighth
00:21:53pole going a mile and a quarter, that that wouldn't be so much of a problem.
00:21:57Those are my thoughts on the top three in the Santa Anita Derby.
00:22:01If any horse racing fans want to join me at the bottom of the rabbit hole, you can go
00:22:08online.
00:22:09It's not easy.
00:22:10But you can go online and you can find video of the National Association of Racing Tracks
00:22:17in Japan.
00:22:18And you can go back and you can watch Mandarin Hero's races.
00:22:22And I encourage you, if you do, to go back and look at his race before last.
00:22:28Now, he was beaten in his last start by a horse that finished four lengths or I think
00:22:33it was four lengths behind Dermis Odagaki right before that.
00:22:37But anyway, go back and look at Mandarin Hero's race before last.
00:22:40He wins.
00:22:41It will be one of the worst rides you have ever seen a horse get.
00:22:45So the jockey change to Kazushi Kimura had to be a huge positive over who was riding
00:22:53Mandarin Hero in those races in Japan.
00:22:57Oh, my gosh, it was bad.
00:22:58And he still managed to win.
00:23:00The horse was under a drive with five eighths of a mile to go and still manages to win.
00:23:05And I'll say one thing, the connections.
00:23:07I finally met the trainer, Teranobu Fuchihita, and they were so happy.
00:23:13I mean, so, so happy.
00:23:15They were so thankful that they've been welcomed into Santa Anita.
00:23:19He came up and shook my hand.
00:23:20I believe his wife was with him and we took pictures.
00:23:24This was right after the second place finish.
00:23:26They were so excited and they're like, we're going to Kentucky.
00:23:29And I'm thinking, God, I hope you get in.
00:23:32But yeah, it was just really fun to watch someone be so happy to be second.
00:23:38I mean, they almost pulled it off because it was an improbable feat.
00:23:41Now, I had said earlier that the three-year-old fillies keep stubbing their toe.
00:23:44That's not necessarily true because in California, you have a real good one.
00:23:48But, and it's a big but, Faiza stayed undefeated with a six and a half length win
00:23:54in the Santa Anita Oaks.
00:23:55But as we know now, she is not nominated to the Kentucky Oaks.
00:24:00And even if she were, because she stayed in the Baffert Barn the whole time,
00:24:04she's not eligible to earn any points.
00:24:06Obviously, there's some bad blood politics.
00:24:10Maybe with the owner, maybe a little bit with Baffert.
00:24:12But we know that Churchill Downs and that team are not the best of friends at this point.
00:24:18But it's, I don't know where she's going to go next.
00:24:20You know, black-eyed Susan's not half the race.
00:24:23The Kentucky Oaks is, maybe they'll go there.
00:24:25But that's a shame because, you know, she's really good.
00:24:29And, you know, if none of this problem ever started in the first place,
00:24:36she would be the favorite in the Kentucky Oaks.
00:24:39I think so, even as good as wet paint has been.
00:24:43I mean, Faiza's been so dominant on the West Coast.
00:24:46You know, when this whole saga first started last year,
00:24:50you know, you didn't have Bob Baffert in Kentucky,
00:24:53but it didn't really negatively impact the Derby because you had the horses.
00:24:59You had Baffert's horses.
00:25:00Now, Zoe, we get a situation where arguably the best three-year-old filly in the country
00:25:07will be absent from the Kentucky Oaks because of the Baffert ban.
00:25:11Yeah, speaking to Michael Lund-Peterson after the race, he doesn't care.
00:25:15He does not care if he never goes back to Churchill Downs.
00:25:19He basically said it took the fun away from it.
00:25:22Bob Baffert is his trainer.
00:25:24And if Bob can't train his horses, then nobody's going to train his horses.
00:25:28He says he has fun with Bob.
00:25:30He was actually on hand at Santa Anita, first time seeing Faiza run.
00:25:34He's from the Baltimore area.
00:25:36So the first time he actually saw her was at the two-year-old sale when they purchased her.
00:25:41He saw her run.
00:25:42He was very excited, flew in his plane from Montana,
00:25:45flew right back afterwards back to Montana.
00:25:48And I have no doubt that we'll likely see her in the Black Eyed Susan
00:25:52because he lives in Baltimore.
00:25:54So yeah, and he's just like, I don't care.
00:25:57He goes, Bob's my trainer.
00:25:59If he can't go, we're not going.
00:26:00This is my Kentucky Oaks right here.
00:26:03Not a bother on him.
00:26:04All right, back in New York.
00:26:06You know, we picked on the Poor Wood Memorial last week.
00:26:09And you know what, I'm not sure we were wrong.
00:26:12You know, this is the race of all the Kentucky Derby preps.
00:26:14It has really fallen the most over the last few years.
00:26:18You know, the numbers, as we talked about last week,
00:26:21no horse that ran in the woods since Funnyside in 2003
00:26:26won the Kentucky Derby.
00:26:27The last wood winner to win the Kentucky Derby was 2000 Fusachi Pegasus.
00:26:32The Staten Randy Cup with the last 40 horses to come out of the Wood Memorial since 2003.
00:26:39Not a single one across the wire, one, two, three.
00:26:42I don't think that's going to change.
00:26:46You got a head scratcher, Lord Miles.
00:26:49Guess it makes Tappet Rice look good.
00:26:50He was fifth, beating five and three quarter lengths behind him in the Tampa Bay Derby.
00:26:54Sixth in the Holy Bowl.
00:26:56It was an exciting race.
00:26:57I'll say that much for it.
00:26:58But Lord Miles by a nose over Hitchoe, the Brad Cox horse,
00:27:03another head back to dreamlike, the maiden for Ripolli and Todd Fletcher.
00:27:09You know, Lord Miles has earned his way into the Kentucky Derby,
00:27:11but it's going to be 30-40 to one, and I wouldn't bet him at twice those odds, Randy.
00:27:16Yeah, I mean, I agreed with the no call of the objection through the stretch.
00:27:22It was, you could, you know, it was so much bumping and grinding going on.
00:27:27It was hard to pin the fault on any one horse or rider.
00:27:30Kind of the same thing I thought with Verifying and Tappet Rice in the Bluegrass.
00:27:34I thought that objection, you know, I thought Florent Giroux took a shot,
00:27:38but I thought it was more Verifying coming out into Tappet Rice at the end and vice versa.
00:27:42But this race was a complete mess from start to finish.
00:27:45I mean, the first turn was a complete disaster.
00:27:48Slip Mahoney, General Banker, Mr. Swagger, Uncle Jake, all were severely compromised,
00:27:55especially Slip Mahoney.
00:27:56And then you had the bumping and grinding of the three horses coming down the stretch,
00:28:00and then you had the slow time on top of it all.
00:28:04I'll be shocked if this race has any impact at all on the Kentucky Derby scene.
00:28:09You know, if you had to pick a horse, it would be Hitchco.
00:28:11I thought he was the best horse in the race,
00:28:13given that he had to go really wide around the first turn,
00:28:16couldn't really drop in, lost ground, probably was the best horse.
00:28:20So you can bump up his, you know, 93 buyer's speed figure a few points.
00:28:25But yeah, bad race.
00:28:29I concur.
00:28:30Basically, I concur.
00:28:31Hitchco for me was the best horse going in.
00:28:33We know that Arctic Arrogance is liable to run in the withers.
00:28:37I mean, in the Pat Day Mile on Derby Day, he was fourth.
00:28:42Yeah, everything Randy said and more.
00:28:45All right, what's going on out in Santa Anita?
00:28:48Here comes our weekly segment.
00:28:49First things first with Zoe Catlin.
00:28:55Cheers to a great, fun, happy, Santa Anita Derby Day.
00:29:00I've got my beer.
00:29:01I'm about to go and see the Compton Cowboys,
00:29:03but let's take a look back and see who I've been stalking today.
00:29:08His name starts with P.
00:29:09It's practical move!
00:29:17There you go.
00:29:22Good luck, Tim.
00:29:23We're rooting for you.
00:29:25I'm sorry?
00:29:26We're rooting for you.
00:29:33And they're off in the Run Happy Santa Anita Derby.
00:29:39Practical move, Mandarin Hero.
00:29:41Practical move has won the Run Happy Santa Anita Derby.
00:29:47So how does it feel to win the Santa Anita Derby, guys?
00:30:02It's a dream for us.
00:30:05We're so excited.
00:30:07Yeah, it's been a ride and a half.
00:30:09Any anxious moments?
00:30:11Yeah, the last 50 yards, I was getting worried.
00:30:13That horse was inching up on us, just getting there, you know, close.
00:30:16Watch him gallop out.
00:30:18They never pass him, though.
00:30:20Looks like you're going back to Kentucky, boys.
00:30:22Yes.
00:30:22Miss him.
00:30:24You had fun last year, didn't you?
00:30:35Sunday marked the end of the winter-spring meet here at Santa Anita.
00:30:39J.J. Hernandez took down the riding honors.
00:30:41Phil D'Amato took down leading trainer.
00:30:44And Tim Cohen's Rancho Temezcal took down a leading owner.
00:30:48We will be back on Friday, April 21st for the start of the Hollywood meet.
00:30:53Join us then.
00:30:55The Lane's End Stallion of the Week is City of Light,
00:30:58whose first runners are three-year-olds this year,
00:31:02highlighted by the UAE Oaks winner Mimi Kakushi.
00:31:06She will be flowing into Churchill Downs on April the 19th
00:31:09to make her next scheduled start in the Kentucky Oaks.
00:31:14City of Light is a leading second crop sire as a resource.
00:31:18He had four grade one wins to his credit on the track,
00:31:21which makes him the best son to date on the track by his own leading sire, Wally T. Rowe.
00:31:30City of Light, a multiple grade one winner with 5.6 million in earnings.
00:31:35Winner of the grade one Malibu, the grade one triple bend.
00:31:39The grade one Breeders' Cup dirt mile, posting a 1.10 buyer.
00:31:43And the grade one Pegasus World Cup, posting a 1.12 buyer.
00:31:48The best son to date of leading stallion Quality Road.
00:31:52City of Light stands to continue his sire's legacy at Lane's End.
00:32:00What makes Woodford special is the attention to detail.
00:32:05Everyone on the team is doing their job.
00:32:07They're well qualified.
00:32:09They show up to work and they work hard and they care about the horse.
00:32:12And I think that's a reflection on John Gleason's program.
00:32:18He gives me good information.
00:32:19He always has a very good understanding of the horse's well-being,
00:32:24where they're at physically and mentally.
00:32:28In equine nutrition, there's a triangle, management, genetics, and nutrition.
00:32:33And John's criteria to accomplish that is at the highest pinnacle.
00:32:40I started breaking quarter horses for people when I was 15.
00:32:43You know, people send me quarter horses to break.
00:32:45And that's all I've done.
00:32:46You know, I don't hunt, I don't fish.
00:32:48I focus on training the horse.
00:32:49I think about training the horse.
00:32:50It's on eating dinner, laying in bed before you go to sleep.
00:32:54And if you roll over in the middle of the night, I think about a horse.
00:32:56And it's, you know, it's all consuming.
00:32:58I think to be successful, it has to be.
00:33:04The TDN Writer's Room is brought to you by Woodford Thoroughbreds,
00:33:07a thousand-acre world-class facility in Reddick, Florida,
00:33:11breeding and selling their own stock,
00:33:13as well as offering breaking and training services to outside clients.
00:33:17Discover the Woodford edge.
00:33:20Connections have confirmed that the Woodford-bred Mimi Kakushi
00:33:23is on her way to the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks.
00:33:26Mimi Kakushi won the Grade 3 UAE Oaks
00:33:29and the listed UAE Thousand Guineas in her last two starts.
00:33:34She's due to fly to Kentucky on April the 19th.
00:33:37And will be trainer Salim Bin Ghadir's first runner in the U.S.
00:33:42The fastest horse of the week is presented by the fast stallions at Windstar Farm,
00:33:46including the Eclipse Award-winning stallion,
00:33:49whose promising first crop are 2023 yearlings.
00:33:54This time, we have the fastest horses of the week.
00:33:57Plural, we've got Practical Move.
00:33:59Of course, we've already covered his win in the Santa Anita Derby.
00:34:02But also earning a 100 buyer speed figure on Saturday
00:34:05was Turf Sprinter extraordinaire Caravelle,
00:34:08who won the Shaker Town stakes at Keeneland.
00:34:12She did it in much the same way that she had won the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint,
00:34:16also at Keeneland last fall, going straight to the lead
00:34:18and then showing determination to hold off long shot Bad Beat Brian
00:34:22and win it by a head.
00:34:25It was the first start of 2023 for Caravelle,
00:34:28who is owned by the partnership of Cutter Racing,
00:34:31Chicago businessman Mark DeTample,
00:34:32and the ever-present Saul Kuhman of Mattaket Staple,
00:34:35the six-year-old daughter of Miz and Mast,
00:34:37is trained by Brad Cox and was ridden in the Shaker Town by Tyler Gaffney-Owen.
00:34:41Caravelle's next planned start is as yet undetermined.
00:34:46That Windstar stallion is Improbable.
00:34:48Bob Effort once said that Improbable got his name
00:34:51because he was placed in the same barn stall at Santa Anita as Justify.
00:34:55And of course, it would be improbable for two Triple Crown winners
00:34:58to come out of that same stall.
00:35:01And no, Improbable didn't win the Triple Crown,
00:35:03but he was an early winner at age two,
00:35:05winning a grade one with the buyer speed figure of 96.
00:35:08At age three, he was the favorite in both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness.
00:35:12And at four, he was voted the country's champion older male with three grade one wins,
00:35:17finishing his career with buyers of 105, 106, 108,
00:35:21and then that 108 for finishing second in the Preakness Cup Classic.
00:35:24With all that talent, plus soundness, and now a top-rated Book of Mayors,
00:35:29it is highly probable that Improbable will now make a name for himself
00:35:33as a stallion at Windstar Farm.
00:35:38The Green Group specializes in the thoroughbred industry.
00:35:40In fact, they are the number one accounting
00:35:42and tax consulting advisory firm in the industry.
00:35:46And over the years, they've helped over 500 clients save money on taxes.
00:35:51Learn more about the Green Group at www.greenco.com.
00:35:56And welcome in now this week's Green Group Guest of the Week, Amy Moore.
00:36:00We're having Amy Moore on because A, she is the breeder of Forte,
00:36:04who is going to be, we think, the favorite in the Kentucky Derby,
00:36:07more so because she's got a great story to tell.
00:36:10Amy Moore was a lawyer for 30 years practicing in Washington, D.C.
00:36:15And one day she just said, the heck with this, I'd become a horse breeder.
00:36:19And lo and behold, here she is having bred the likely favorite for the Kentucky Derby.
00:36:23Amy, tell us the story.
00:36:24Why, after all these years in the legal profession,
00:36:27did you decide to make a major career shift?
00:36:31Well, I had ridden as a child and as a teenager.
00:36:35I'd had a little bit of exposure to racehorses.
00:36:40I galloped at Delaware Park for Del Carroll Sr.
00:36:46So when I was ready to retire, I wanted to live in the country.
00:36:52I thought I would buy a farm.
00:36:54And once you buy a farm, you can't mow the grass.
00:36:58You have to have animals to put on the farm.
00:37:02And since I knew a little bit about horses, I thought horses would be the right choice.
00:37:08And so you grew up riding horses.
00:37:10I mean, has this been a lifelong dream for you to quit the big job in the city
00:37:17and just say, I'm going to go buy a farm in Virginia and go and breed a Kentucky Derby horse?
00:37:22Has that been your goal?
00:37:27That was my plan right from the start.
00:37:32I did want to eventually retire and have a horse farm.
00:37:38That was the dream.
00:37:40But I didn't dare dream that I would have a Kentucky Derby contender
00:37:46as my first foal.
00:37:48That came as a surprise.
00:37:52Now, Amy, you don't waste any time.
00:37:54The very first horse you ever bought that started this whole operation
00:37:58was Queen Caroline, who now is the dame of Forte.
00:38:02But she didn't start off all that well.
00:38:04In her first two starts, she was beaten a combined 42 and three quarter lengths.
00:38:11At some point, you say, oh, my goodness, what am I doing here?
00:38:14I certainly did.
00:38:15I thought I was going to have to go to the races with a paper bag over my head for shame.
00:38:21But we switched her to turf and that turned out to be what she wanted.
00:38:26Once she was running on turf, she was very successful and was a very good racehorse
00:38:34and was a great relief to me.
00:38:35I thought I had bombed out in my initial foray into the thoroughbred business.
00:38:42So you went to Keeneland on your own to buy your first horse,
00:38:47spent one hundred and seventy thousand of your own money.
00:38:51I mean, was that daunting?
00:38:54Did you have some help?
00:38:55Did you go in or just be like, oh, yes, I love that one?
00:38:59How did the process start?
00:39:02Well, I had helped my friends, the littles, Faye and Jim Little at yearling sales.
00:39:10So the yearling sale process was not entirely foreign to me.
00:39:16And I had learned a lot about confirmation from Jim Little, who was a pinhooker.
00:39:23But before that, he was a human track coach.
00:39:27So he understood athletics as they relate both to horses and to humans.
00:39:33And he has taught me about confirmation.
00:39:37And so I felt that I could do as well as anybody else,
00:39:42picking out an athletic filly for my racing operation.
00:39:48Of course, there were details that I didn't know.
00:39:53I didn't know you had to fill out a card in order to see.
00:39:59So I went to the first consignment and said, I'd like to see so-and-so.
00:40:03And he said, well, fill out a card and we'll bring the filly out.
00:40:08But I got over those initial hiccups and thought I could do all right picking horses.
00:40:16And it's quite a process for sure.
00:40:19Yeah, it is.
00:40:20It's a much more elaborate process now than it was when I was leading out yearlings for the yearling,
00:40:28for the littles and showing them to prospective buyers.
00:40:32It's gotten a lot more efficient, I guess.
00:40:37Oh, Amy, the very first horse you race turns out to be a stakes winner, Queen Caroline.
00:40:41The very first horse that you get as a breeder is her son Forte,
00:40:47now a grade one winner of the Florida Derby, etc.
00:40:49And as we mentioned, obviously going on to the Kentucky Derby from here.
00:40:53But you had to make these decisions along the way.
00:40:55And you obviously have made a lot of smart decisions.
00:40:58Why did you bring Queen Caroline to violence?
00:41:01Well, first of all, they were a very good physical match.
00:41:05I was looking for a stallion for her first mate that was affordable.
00:41:11And Queen Caroline was, as you've already mentioned, not a good runner on dirt,
00:41:18but a very successful runner on turf.
00:41:21And yet, I was trying to breed for the commercial market, which wants
00:41:25dirt runners and wants horses that are precocious.
00:41:30Whereas Queen Caroline, as you said, was beaten 42 lengths and hurt two starts as a two-year-old.
00:41:37So I thought I needed a stallion that was a dirt stallion,
00:41:45a stallion who could produce runners on dirt,
00:41:48but also maybe had some turf credentials in his pedigree.
00:41:53And violence was by Medaglia d'Oro, who can get good runners on either surface.
00:42:00He had won a grade one race on synthetic, which is reasonably close to turf.
00:42:06He was a precocious horse.
00:42:09And he was a very good match for the mare physically.
00:42:13So that was how I chose him.
00:42:16Amy, anyone listening to this is going to think,
00:42:19wow, how easy is this?
00:42:21You know, she just walks in here.
00:42:23She goes to the sale, doesn't know how to fill out a card.
00:42:26She picks the mare.
00:42:28Her first one that she's ever bred is going to the Kentucky Derby.
00:42:33And they're listening and they're like, wow, this is an easy game.
00:42:35But we all know, I mean, I've bred some useless horses myself,
00:42:39that it's not an easy game.
00:42:42And there are extreme highs and extreme lows.
00:42:45Tell us about Queen Caroline and what's happened with her foals since.
00:42:51Well, she had a, she had forte and that was a good start, I would say.
00:42:59Her second foal was by Uncle Mo and was a very nice yearling colt,
00:43:05sold last September at the Keeneland sale.
00:43:09He was beautiful, by the way.
00:43:10Oh, thank you.
00:43:11Yeah, he was a very nice colt.
00:43:13I liked him a lot.
00:43:15And then her third foal was born dead for reasons nobody knows.
00:43:23Certainly I don't.
00:43:25And so it took a long time for her to get over that.
00:43:29He was a difficult birth for her.
00:43:33And she had an infection, which we took a while to clean up.
00:43:37And her fourth foal would have been by not this time.
00:43:43But she lost that foal, I think, as a result of not being completely over the dead foal.
00:43:53So, you know, as you say, it's highs and lows.
00:43:56You get foals that you really like and then you have problems and don't get a foal
00:44:02and have to go back to the drawing board and start over.
00:44:08Who did you breed back to?
00:44:10She is in foal to flight line and she's checked in foal at 42 days.
00:44:17So she seems to be doing fine.
00:44:20And I'm very excited about what that foal will turn out to be.
00:44:26So, Amy, your farm is in Virginia.
00:44:28That's where we're talking to you today.
00:44:30Forte, though, born in Kentucky, you soon brought him back to Virginia.
00:44:35That's where he was raised on your farm.
00:44:37I read that in the future, you're going to have your foals born on your farm as well.
00:44:40So they'll be Virginia breads, not Kentucky breads.
00:44:43Take us through that.
00:44:44I mean, you know, there's so many advantages to breeding in Kentucky.
00:44:49But that's not to say that Virginia is a bad place to breed.
00:44:51But why are you choosing Virginia sort of over Kentucky now?
00:44:56Well, I'm a Virginia farmer and Virginia has a great breeding program.
00:45:03If you have a Virginia bred foal, you're eligible for awards,
00:45:08breeders awards if the foal wins anywhere in the United States.
00:45:12It's one of the best breeding programs in the country.
00:45:17So for me as a commercial breeder, it makes a lot of sense to be breeding in Virginia.
00:45:25The problem was that when Virginia did not have racing for several years,
00:45:31we lost a lot of infrastructure.
00:45:34So it was hard to find a place that could do a good job of foaling outside mares.
00:45:41I don't want to foal my own mares, so I send them to another place to be foaled.
00:45:48But I was fortunate to find Patricia Ramey at Hunt Ridge Stables, who's been very good
00:45:56and has foaled my last two years worth of foals and done a terrific job.
00:46:04And the Virginia program is just so important basically all across the country.
00:46:09Are you president of the Virginia Thoroughbred Association?
00:46:12You are immersed.
00:46:14I am at the moment.
00:46:17Yes, I graduated from being treasurer and signing all those checks that people are getting.
00:46:23But yes, it's a great program in Virginia.
00:46:28The Virginia Equine Alliance and Virginia Thoroughbred Association
00:46:35developed the Virginia Certified Program, which brings a lot of outside horses to Virginia.
00:46:43And that has been a lifesaver for farms like mine.
00:46:46I have a bunch of yearlings who are here now as boarders to be Virginia Certified.
00:46:53So it's a state that really supports the program.
00:46:57The legislature is behind us and is running again, and we see a bright future ahead.
00:47:07Amy, what did you think of Forte's Florida Derby?
00:47:09I don't believe you were there in person, but I'm sure you're watching his every move.
00:47:12And he wins again.
00:47:14Maybe some of us on the podcast thought he's maybe a little bit more impressive
00:47:19in the Fountain of Youth than he was in the Florida Derby,
00:47:21but certainly it's another step in the right direction.
00:47:23What did you think?
00:47:24Well, I thought the Florida Derby was a heartstopper.
00:47:27I didn't think he was going to get the job done.
00:47:31At the eighth pole, I thought he might be third.
00:47:34At the 16th pole, I thought he might possibly be second,
00:47:38but I never dreamed he was going to get up and win.
00:47:41He had a really tough post position,
00:47:45and he got farther back, I think, than he's accustomed to be,
00:47:51but he finds a way to win, and that's what good horses do.
00:47:57Have you imagined in your mind, I can't even imagine breeding a winner,
00:48:02let alone a two-year-old champion.
00:48:05Have you thought in your mind what it's going to feel like if you win the Derby?
00:48:11I mean, how did it feel to win the Florida Derby?
00:48:14I mean, it's got to be like a child winning for you, isn't it?
00:48:17Oh, it's terrific, yeah.
00:48:19One of the nicest things about it, though, is that now everyone in Clark County, Virginia,
00:48:26which is the smallest county in Virginia, knows Forte.
00:48:30He's a local hero.
00:48:32So if I go to the post office or the grocery store or wherever,
00:48:36people are rooting for Forte and want to know how he's doing.
00:48:41And they're very interested in him.
00:48:43And that's a nice thing to have the community,
00:48:46a lot of people that know nothing about horse racing, behind the horse.
00:48:52That's great.
00:48:52Going back to the law, I don't...
00:48:55Well, first of all, what kind of lawyer were you?
00:48:56What was your specialty?
00:48:58My specialty was employee benefits.
00:49:01I advised large companies on their retirement and health plans, basically.
00:49:07It's mostly a tax practice, but there's a little bit of labor law and other things mixed in.
00:49:14I imagine that meant a lot of stress, maybe some 60, 70-hour weeks.
00:49:18Do you miss it at all?
00:49:20Absolutely not.
00:49:23A 70-hour week would have been a light week, frankly.
00:49:28Yeah, it was very intense, a lot of hard work.
00:49:32It was fun because you're working with extremely bright people,
00:49:36and that's always challenging and fun.
00:49:39But no, I have never looked back.
00:49:42I like being a farmer a lot better than I like being a lawyer.
00:49:48And you still need a job.
00:49:49I mean, your farm is pretty active.
00:49:51Do you have borders?
00:49:52Because you seem like you still want to make money.
00:49:55It's not like you just retired and moved to the farm and you're independently wealthy.
00:50:00Do you have a lot of income and a lot of horses on your farm right now, other than yours?
00:50:05I have a lot of horses, a lot of income I would like to have, but I have a lot of expenses.
00:50:12But no, I'm operating as a business.
00:50:16It's really two businesses.
00:50:18One is breeding and selling what I breed, and the other business is boarding other people's horses.
00:50:25And I have a lot of yearlings here.
00:50:29Right now, I have 17 that belong to other people and two that belong to me and some
00:50:36retired horses and some broodmares and some miscellaneous foxhunters and things.
00:50:44But yeah, it's a lot of work.
00:50:46I'm the bookkeeper for the farm.
00:50:48I have two very good farm workers.
00:50:51So among the three of us, we keep the operation going.
00:50:56Amy, I got one more question.
00:50:59You mentioned Flightline and the breeding to Flightline.
00:51:02How much are you hoping and praying for a filly?
00:51:04Because I think I read that you are 0 for 7.
00:51:07You just keep getting births.
00:51:09Oh, great.
00:51:09I'm now 0 for 8.
00:51:120 for 8?
00:51:13Yeah, I had a bull by not this time, born January 31st.
00:51:18He's a beautiful colt, but he's a colt.
00:51:21But he's a colt.
00:51:22So I'm still looking for my first filly.
00:51:26I would love to have a filly by Flightline out of Queen Caroline.
00:51:30That would be a dream come true.
00:51:34Well, Amy, we know it's not this easy, but somehow you are making it look easy.
00:51:38Congratulations on all your success.
00:51:40Imagine the first horse you ever breed might win the Kentucky Derby.
00:51:45What an incredible story.
00:51:46Thanks so much for joining us this week on the GDN Riders from the Podcast.
00:51:49Oh, well, thank you for having me.
00:51:51I've enjoyed it.
00:51:52Thanks, Amy.
00:51:54This week's Guest of the Week, Amy Moore, will receive a free one-hour tax consultation
00:51:59from The Green Group.
00:52:00You can learn more about how The Green Group can save you on taxes at www.greencoat.com.
00:52:08Are you paying too much in taxes?
00:52:10The Green Group can help.
00:52:12There's a reason the most successful owners, breeders, and horsemen select The Green Group
00:52:16as their tax advisors.
00:52:18They save you money.
00:52:19And share successful strategies.
00:52:22Over the past 40 years, The Green Group founder, Len Green, has owned and bred some of the
00:52:27best racehorses in the history of the sport.
00:52:30Like Eclipse Award-winning champions, Jaywalk and Wonder Wheel.
00:52:33His DJ stable competes at the highest level and has received the game's most prestigious
00:52:38honors.
00:52:39Len Green's in-depth, hands-on industry knowledge, combined with cutting-edge tax-saving
00:52:44strategies, has produced positive results for his clientele and has made The Green Group
00:52:49the top-rated accounting and tax firm in the thoroughbred business.
00:52:53For a confidential and complimentary consultation, contact us at 732-634-5100.
00:53:00Or visit our website at www.greencoat.com.
00:53:04The Green Group.
00:53:05Proven strategies to save you taxes.
00:53:08Here in Pennsylvania, we're proud of our breeding program.
00:53:12The best in North America.
00:53:13But we're also proud to be leaders in this industry.
00:53:16The PA Horse Breeders Association is funding cutting-edge research at PenVet to detect
00:53:21gene doping in thoroughbreds.
00:53:23And we endorsed the SAFE Act to help protect the most vulnerable horses.
00:53:27Plus, we're pleased to support the aftercare programs set up by our horseman's groups.
00:53:32Just a few of the reasons why you should join us in Pennsylvania, the premier place to breed
00:53:37and race.
00:53:39The TD and Riders Room is brought to you by the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association,
00:53:43the PHBA.
00:53:45We told you last week about how Pennsylvania-bred Angel of Empire rolled home in the Arkansas
00:53:51Derby.
00:53:51Well, the hits just keep on coming for Pennsylvania-breds.
00:53:55Because Caravelle last Saturday was the winner of the Shaker Town at Keeneland.
00:54:00Coming off, of course, that big win in the Breeders' Cup turf sprint.
00:54:04Caravelle was bred in Pennsylvania by Elizabeth Merriman.
00:54:08And now Caravelle has won five graded stakes.
00:54:11Don't know yet about the next start for Caravelle, but her wins just keep on coming.
00:54:16For more about breeding in Pennsylvania, visit www.pabred.com.
00:54:23Well, some big races this weekend coming up, including the Apple Blossom.
00:54:26We'll get to that first.
00:54:27But guys, I want to talk about a story that I had in the Thoroughbred Daily News this
00:54:30week.
00:54:32Trainer Ron Faucher, he had won the training title at the fairgrounds three straight years,
00:54:39is a very good trainer.
00:54:41Very successful.
00:54:43His earnings last year for his stable were $2 million.
00:54:46He had 81 winners.
00:54:47And he has left training to become a jockey agent.
00:54:50Now, we've seen this story before a couple other people, Kieran McLaughlin, etc.
00:54:55And the reason was, he says, he can't make a good living being a trainer.
00:54:59He says, this was a lot of work.
00:55:01And in all honesty, over the last several years, I wasn't making any money doing it.
00:55:06And this is a story that is becoming a bigger story seemingly all the time with, you know,
00:55:14if you see a trainer that wins five races a year, well, OK, I get it.
00:55:18You can't make a good living.
00:55:19You're going to go off and do something else.
00:55:21This guy's a leading trainer at the fairgrounds.
00:55:23And he says he can't make a decent living and would rather be a jockey agent.
00:55:28And he didn't, you know, necessarily, at least Kieran McLaughlin got Luis Saez.
00:55:31He got a mid-level jockey named Jose Luis Rodriguez on the Louisiana Circuit.
00:55:38It's a scary situation when a guy doing this good says, I can't make a living.
00:55:43And, you know, I don't know what the answers are.
00:55:45He said his day rate was not really enough to cover all his expenses.
00:55:49But that's what the day rate is for a $75 basis.
00:55:53That's pretty standard for trainers that are year round on Louisiana Circuit.
00:55:57Randy, what does this say about the difficulties trainers have?
00:56:01Well, the three of us have spent a lot of time in this business,
00:56:04and we've spent a lot of time around trainers of all different success levels,
00:56:09from the top of the top down to the guys that,
00:56:13you know, that we see all the time around the track,
00:56:15the good guys that we know struggle to make ends meet.
00:56:18And there's one thing all three of us have really learned.
00:56:22It's that it's being a horse trainer.
00:56:25You have to really love what you do,
00:56:29because there are so many inherent difficulties built in to that profession
00:56:34that it is just extremely challenging from a financial aspect.
00:56:38I mean, you've got the workers' compensation stuff that eventually,
00:56:41I think, is what drove Kerry McLaughlin out of the sport up in New York.
00:56:45You've got the challenge, you know, and finding help.
00:56:48And you live in constant fear of a medication overage
00:56:52that could completely wreck your business.
00:56:55I mean, there's so many pitfalls.
00:56:57The hours involved.
00:56:59It's tough to take vacation time.
00:57:01There's a lot of travel involved if you're not on a circuit
00:57:04where there's year-round racing.
00:57:06So, you know, you're forced to spend a lot of time away from your family.
00:57:10I can see why some of these guys like Ron get frustrated,
00:57:14especially if they're having trouble paying their bills,
00:57:17despite the fact that they're a leading trainer at a major circuit.
00:57:21I mean, look at Kieran.
00:57:22Kieran was near the top of his profession and decided to get out.
00:57:26And it just kind of drives home the point
00:57:28that if it's this tough on guys that are really successful,
00:57:33just think about how difficult it is on the little guys.
00:57:39That's a tough game.
00:57:40It's a really, really tough game.
00:57:43Now, he hasn't ruled out coming back to training.
00:57:45That's one thing he has not ruled out.
00:57:48And we do know that he was one of the trainers down in New Orleans
00:57:51that had a big beef with Hisa.
00:57:53So that was, I think, one of the reasons moving forward as well
00:57:58that he didn't want to deal with any of the regulations
00:58:01as far as Hisa is concerned.
00:58:04And this kid was riding for him.
00:58:06So he's going to take the kid's book.
00:58:08Has not ruled out coming back to training.
00:58:10Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if we saw him come back
00:58:13for the next New Orleans Fairgrounds meet.
00:58:16But for now, he wants to spend some time with his young family.
00:58:19And we all know that being a horse trainer is a 26-8 job.
00:58:25I mean, there are no days off.
00:58:27There's no time off.
00:58:29Every time you pick up the phone, something's happened.
00:58:32So I think he's taking a little bit of a time out.
00:58:34And if Rodriguez kicks off, then he'll be doing just fine.
00:58:39So Rodriguez had a decent enough meet at the fairgrounds.
00:58:43I think he was sixth.
00:58:45And the bulk of his winners came for riding for Foshay.
00:58:49So he's going to just continue that on with him.
00:58:52I wish him the best of luck.
00:58:53I really do.
00:58:54He's a nice guy.
00:58:55Yeah, well, stay tuned to that story.
00:58:57And we wish him luck as a jockey agent.
00:58:59Or if he does come back to training, which I would imagine he probably will.
00:59:03He's only 40 years old.
00:59:04And maybe he can figure out a way to make his meet a little bit better.
00:59:08Maybe raise his day rate or something like that.
00:59:10All right, this weekend's racing.
00:59:11Obviously, Keeneland again.
00:59:12We're right in the middle of this terrific meet.
00:59:14Three stakes on Saturday, including the Jenny Wiley and the Lexington stakes,
00:59:18which a handful of Derby points are available in that.
00:59:22But to me, the biggest race of the week at Keeneland will be on Friday.
00:59:25The Maker's Mark Mile.
00:59:27Boy, because how do you not love modern games?
00:59:29And it's so nice to see Charlie Appleby bring him back to the US.
00:59:32His first start this year after winning the Breeders' Cup Mile.
00:59:35He's raced three times in the US.
00:59:37And all he's done is win the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf,
00:59:39even though the betters didn't cash in that day.
00:59:42The Woodbine Mile, and then the Breeders' Cup Mile last year as well.
00:59:49And Charlie Appleby wins, what, about 87% in the US with his horse.
00:59:53So Randy, from a betting standpoint, I'm not excited about betting on him
00:59:57at three to five in the morning line.
00:59:59But as a fan, I can't wait to see him back on US soil.
01:00:02Yeah, man, I want to get a chance to look at the past performances
01:00:05to see if there's anything in there you can feel good about hooking him up
01:00:08in an X-Acto and try to capitalize on.
01:00:11This is going to be just a fun race to watch, maybe more so than bet,
01:00:15and really appreciate exactly how good of a horse Modern Games is,
01:00:20because he's really, really good.
01:00:23And it's really great for the sport, sport in the United States specifically,
01:00:29that a guy like Charlie Appleby is willing to bring Modern Games over to run here
01:00:34since he's proven in this country so often,
01:00:36not just in the fall leading up to the Breeders' Cup,
01:00:38but now even at the spring at Keeneland.
01:00:40I think that's a big step. It's nice.
01:00:44Yeah, I can't wait to see him. I will be watching.
01:00:47I could give some credence to Emmanuel in there for trainer Todd Fletcher,
01:00:51because all of a sudden he's got good.
01:00:53Yes, that's been coming in grade threes at Tampa and Goldstream Park.
01:00:57And then there's a newcomer for none other than Chad Brown in there, Dr. Zempf,
01:01:02who's six to one on the morning line.
01:01:04If you look back through his past performances over there in Europe,
01:01:07he's run against the likes of Kinross.
01:01:10He got beaten two and a half lengths to Go Bears Go,
01:01:12who was a really, really stellar two-year-old that was in the railway stake.
01:01:17So I think that Dr. Zempf will likely be bet down
01:01:20from that six to one morning line for Chad Brown and Peter Grant,
01:01:23and he'll get the services of Gaffione,
01:01:26who won on him and in the easy victory at Goldstream Park last time out.
01:01:30Just his second U.S. start, but really looking forward to seeing Modern Games.
01:01:36Bill, as far as the Lexington goes,
01:01:38I mean, we're taping this obviously on Wednesday morning.
01:01:42We don't know the entries yet for the Lexington.
01:01:44It could be potentially significant for the Derby,
01:01:47because right now a probable starter, I think, is Disarm
01:01:53from the Winchell Stable trained by Steve Asmussen,
01:01:55who was a good second, pace-compromised second,
01:01:59to Kings Barnes in the Louisiana Derby.
01:02:01Right now Disarm has 40 points, and he's on the outside looking in.
01:02:07The Lexington offers 20 for first, eight for second,
01:02:10six for third, and four for fourth.
01:02:14So if Disarm can run one, two, three,
01:02:18he can pretty much be guaranteed a spot in the Derby field.
01:02:23And maybe even with a couple of dropouts,
01:02:26a fourth-place finish could be enough for Disarm
01:02:29to get into the field and potentially knock out a horse like Jace's Roe.
01:02:34Yeah, he's definitely going to be one to bat in the next.
01:02:38Confidence game is not going for trainer Kendra Sormont.
01:02:42He said he's going straight to the Derby.
01:02:44All right, so that's the story on the Lexington Saturday.
01:02:46From a purse standpoint, grade one standpoint,
01:02:48the Apple Blossom at Oaklawn with $1 million purse headlines the action there.
01:02:54You know, two ways to look at it.
01:02:56You got two terrific horses in there in Seeker Oath and Clairier.
01:02:59You only have a four-horse field.
01:03:01And one of the horses I feel the need is coming out of starter allowance races
01:03:04and, you know, is one to 1,000 to finish last in there.
01:03:09But, you know, Randy, I think it's disappointing.
01:03:13Well, it is, I don't think.
01:03:14It is disappointing there's only four horses in such a prestigious race.
01:03:18Do you have two very good horses?
01:03:19Seeker Oath was a dominant winner over Clairier last time out
01:03:23in the Azeri, beat her by two lengths and change.
01:03:27Can she turn the tables on her in the Apple Blossom?
01:03:29We'll find out.
01:03:30And can Wayne Lucas win still another huge race on his 87-year-old season
01:03:38where he is training like he's 35 right now
01:03:41and his horses are running their eyeballs out?
01:03:44So that's the story at Oaklawn Saturday.
01:03:46Yeah, you can make the case pretty easily that the Apple Blossom
01:03:51is the number one non-breeders' cup race in America for older fillies and mares.
01:03:56If you look historically at the race, it's just sensational.
01:03:59And I don't, on paper, visually as well,
01:04:04there's really nothing you can find that would lead you to believe
01:04:09that Clairier can turn the tables on Seeker Oath at Oaklawn Park.
01:04:14Seeker Oath seems to be at her very best at Oaklawn Park.
01:04:18She was a dominant winner of the Azeri.
01:04:21They were both making their first start since the Breeders' Cup,
01:04:24so there was no recency issues there.
01:04:27You could logically assume that Steve Asmussen had Clairier ready to go
01:04:31for a race like the Azeri, just like Wayne had Seeker Oath ready to go.
01:04:35So I would expect to see Seeker Oath win again,
01:04:39although I also suspect a little bit later on in the year
01:04:43that Clairier will prove probably to be the better of the two
01:04:48when we get closer to the Breeders' Cup.
01:04:50By the way, really nice to see Stone Street bring Clairier back
01:04:55for her five-year-old season.
01:04:56It would have been really easy to retire a mare of her stature
01:05:01by Curlin out of cavorting to the broodmare band,
01:05:05and Barbara Bankey instead decided to bring her back to run.
01:05:09It's good for the sport, and three cheers for her in making that decision.
01:05:14Yeah, I'm right with you there, Randy.
01:05:16I think it's going to be a fun race to watch.
01:05:18It's going to be a jockey's race.
01:05:20Obviously, Hot and Sultry will likely be the pace setter,
01:05:23and Seeker Oath and Clairier can play cat and mouse behind her.
01:05:28I'll be watching it, for sure.
01:05:31Seeker Oath, much the best in her last over Clairier,
01:05:34and we'll see who comes out on top this time.
01:05:38The TDM Writers' Room is brought to you by XBee TV.
01:05:41The XBee TV Workout of the Week is two for the price of one.
01:05:44As we take a look at English Bee,
01:05:47she is on the outside of Sparkle Blue here for Graham Motion at Palm Meadows.
01:05:51See, we're not just out here in Southern California.
01:05:54We have people on the ground down there at Palm Meadows as well.
01:05:57It looks like English Bee actually will be headed
01:06:00to run in the Modesty at Churchill Downs,
01:06:03and Sparkle Blue will run in the Henry Clark at Laurel.
01:06:07Those two are seen working there for trainer Graham Motion.
01:06:14So,
01:06:24let's go.
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01:07:27Would you like to become a West Point partner and do some good at the same time?
01:07:33West Point has generally donated a 2% partnership in the unraced two-year-old Lady Bonheur
01:07:39to help raise money for Habitat for Humanity's Veterans Build Program.
01:07:44The program helps injured veterans stay in their own homes by making critical home repairs,
01:07:49adapting the homes to vets' needs, and maintaining them so they can live with dignity.
01:07:54Lady Bonheur is the daughter of Munnings,
01:07:56and will race on the New York and Florida circuit for trainer Christophe Clement.
01:08:01As a 2% partner, you will receive no future bills
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01:08:09Packages worth just under $4,000 and a silent auction will take place on April 29.
01:08:15To register a bid, contact suefinley at thetdn.com.
01:08:21And this week's Remy cartoon, which runs every Friday, and the TDN is in.
01:08:24And imagine if when horses breed to one another,
01:08:28they actually had to have a wedding ceremony before they were allowed to do it.
01:08:32Well, in Tap It Wedding, which is the title of Remy's cartoon this week,
01:08:37he tackles that very subject.
01:08:39So that's a wrap for this week's Thoroughbred Daily News Writer's Room podcast.
01:08:43I want to thank our Green Group Guest of the Week, Amy Moore.
01:08:46I want to thank my partners, Zoe Cabin and Randy Moss,
01:08:49along with our producer, Patty Wolfer,
01:08:52associate producer, Katie Petruniak, and our editors, Andy LaRocca,
01:08:55Aliyah LaRocca, and Nathan Wilkinson.
01:08:57See you next week.
01:08:58Thanks for tuning us in.