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00:00:00For the love of the horse, for generations to come.
00:00:28And welcome to another edition of the TDN Writer's Room.
00:00:30My name is Bill Finley.
00:00:31I'm a correspondent for the Thoroughbred Daily News.
00:00:33I'm also the co-host of the Down the Stretch Show every Saturday on Sirius with my partner,
00:00:38Dave Johnson.
00:00:39Hi, I'm Randy Moss with NBC Sports.
00:00:41I don't have Lucy, but I see Zoe has a trusted companion.
00:00:45I do.
00:00:46This is Doodle.
00:00:47Hi, Doodle.
00:00:48He's in Saratoga.
00:00:49He just wanted to say hi.
00:00:50I'm Zoe Capman with XBTV and First Racing.
00:00:53We'll let Doodle exit stage left.
00:00:55All right, guys, let's get into a busy week of news and we want to start with what I thought
00:01:00was a bombshell announcement out of the Stronach Group on Sunday that at the end of the meet
00:01:06in December, Golden Gate Fields will be no more.
00:01:10They are closing down Golden Gate Fields to consolidate racing at Santa Anita.
00:01:14Zoe Capman is not going to take part in this.
00:01:16I think that's fair.
00:01:17She works for Santa Anita and we would obviously have some issues there and she does as well.
00:01:22So Randy and I will tackle that subject and Zoe will be back as we get into other stories
00:01:28on the TDN Writer's Room podcast this week.
00:01:30The TDN Writer's Room podcast is brought to you by Keeneland and we're thankful very much
00:01:34for their support.
00:01:35Randy, I had always thought that someday there would be some sort of consolidation in California.
00:01:41I also thought it was needed because you look and see what's happening with the horse population,
00:01:47the number of foals down every year, horses running fewer and fewer times.
00:01:52This wasn't enough to go around for Santa Anita and Golden Gate, but I always thought
00:01:57what they would likely do and what I thought was the right solution was to merge Golden
00:02:02Gate with Santa Anita, Del Mar, etc. and have a circuit where maybe you'd race three months
00:02:07a year at Golden Gate and the rest of the time you would race at Del Mar, Santa Anita
00:02:11and Los Alamitos.
00:02:13This was quite a story and it obviously has huge ramifications for the future of horse
00:02:19racing.
00:02:20I have so many thoughts.
00:02:22In opinions on this, the first thing I just want to say is that before we take a deep
00:02:26dive into this, you have to feel bad for the people at Golden Gate Field.
00:02:31That's the mutual clerk who's going to lose his job, whether it's the stewards that might
00:02:35not get reassigned, whether it's the guy working at the hot dog stand, and also a lot of the
00:02:41trainers.
00:02:42I think that the smaller guy that doesn't have the kind of stock that can beat at Santa
00:02:46Anita or doesn't want to uproot his lifestyle and living in Northern California, moving
00:02:50to Southern California, I think a lot of them are going to go out of business.
00:02:53Feel really bad for those people, but then again, having said that, consolidation is
00:02:59a factor in horse racing.
00:03:02When you have fewer horses, when you have horses racing less often, the sport needs
00:03:07to contract and this is an example of that.
00:03:09Exactly, right.
00:03:10I mean, let me start by saying I don't think horse racing is a dying sport, right?
00:03:16I mean, it's very robust in a lot of different areas around the country.
00:03:20All you have to do is look at Saratoga and look at Delmar when it opens and Churchill,
00:03:24Keeneland, Oakland.
00:03:25You know, a lot of tracks still do very big business, but in general, as we all know,
00:03:33the amount of wagering of the wagering dollar bet in this country that's earmarked for horse
00:03:38racing has gotten less and less and less, and that's one of the reasons why consolidation
00:03:43is necessary and this is not the first major racetrack that's been closed.
00:03:48You can go down a list that actually sounds a little depressing when you start to tick
00:03:53off the names, right?
00:03:55I mean, Hollywood Park, Hialeah, Bay Meadows before this, Calder, Arlington, you can name
00:04:03a lot of major racetracks that have gone by the wayside over the last 25 or 30 years.
00:04:08Axe-Sarban in Omaha was going great guns at one point.
00:04:12So I agree with you, contraction is inevitable.
00:04:15This won't be the last major track.
00:04:17Aqueduct, of course, once Belmont gets remodeled, is probably also going to disappear at some
00:04:24point.
00:04:26It's unfortunate, but it's a part of the wagering landscape right now and a part of horse racing,
00:04:31and I do share your sentiment that I feel sorry for some of the smaller guys, some of
00:04:37the smaller horsemen based in the Bay Area who really can't afford to completely relocate
00:04:43and upend their lives.
00:04:45And even if their horses were good enough to compete in Southern California to make
00:04:48that transition, it's just unfortunate, it really is.
00:04:52Yeah, there's a factor in this that hasn't got a lot of attention, but we need to remember
00:04:57that California is almost the last state left and the last major racing state left where
00:05:03they get no contributions from casinos, slot machines, the historical racing machines,
00:05:08et cetera.
00:05:09And you look at their purses, they cannot compete with New York, with Arkansas, with
00:05:15Kentucky.
00:05:16I mean, Kentucky is running $130,000 allowance races and that sort of thing.
00:05:20So that's something that has been a factor in this.
00:05:24I mean, if they had slot machines, like everybody else in the world seems to this day and age,
00:05:30this would not have happened.
00:05:32It would be a totally different picture.
00:05:34But Randy, now let's look forward to this and kind of look beyond.
00:05:38So in December, Golden Gate will close.
00:05:41What's going to happen next?
00:05:43How much will this benefit Southern California racing?
00:05:46Because that's what they're looking for.
00:05:48They're looking to increase field size and they're also looking, they said, to go to
00:05:51a fourth day of racing when they've only been able to run three days.
00:05:56So you would assume there is going to be an influx of horses that will come down from
00:06:01the North.
00:06:03Maybe a lot of trainers won't.
00:06:04But I think in trying to solve that problem where you just don't have enough horses to
00:06:11go around at Sandnita to have four days of racing, to have more prizes.
00:06:16I think that this will go, will help solve that problem.
00:06:21How do you see this playing out?
00:06:22Yeah, I think this is a three part problem, really.
00:06:26The first part, the field size, you're talking about the consolidation of racing.
00:06:30I think it'll help somewhat.
00:06:32I'm not sure it'll help as much as Sandnita would like it to help, because let's face
00:06:37it, a lot of the horses that compete at Golden Gate are of the cheaper variety and there
00:06:41really aren't races for those types of horses at Sandnita.
00:06:45And I don't necessarily think they want to cheapen the Sandnita racing program.
00:06:49I think you'll see some of the major trainers, obviously, at Golden Gate that might
00:06:53relocate down to Southern California, a la Jerry Hollendorf or earlier, you know, a
00:06:58decade or so ago.
00:07:01But I don't think you're going to get a wholesale transfer of horses and horsemen
00:07:05from Golden Gate down to Sandnita.
00:07:09I think the second component of this was the deteriorating business at Golden Gate.
00:07:15It was not a very profitable racetrack, which sort of ties into the third issue, which we
00:07:21mentioned a couple of weeks ago, and that is the value of the land on which Golden
00:07:27Gate sits, especially in Southern California or even, you know, Northern California.
00:07:32Property values have just skyrocketed, especially in desirable neighborhoods.
00:07:37And Golden Gate sits on a very, very lucrative piece of property that can be much more
00:07:44beneficial financially used for purposes other than thoroughbred racing.
00:07:48It's scary because there are a lot of racetracks in America that would fall under that
00:07:52category, including Santa Anita, which I think is protected basically legislatively.
00:07:59But there are a lot of racetracks that that you could use that description for.
00:08:04So I think those three reasons are why Golden Gate is closing.
00:08:08But I don't think it's going to be as much of a boom to Santa Anita as one might
00:08:12hope. Well, when considering what kind of boom it's going to be to Santa Anita, there's
00:08:16another factor that we have to see how it plays out.
00:08:19And, you know, you look at this, what Golden Gate runs, what, nine, 10 months a year.
00:08:24The other portion of the season is the California, Northern California fairs.
00:08:29And we're hearing from them, they say, hold on, wait a minute, Golden Gate goes away.
00:08:35We're not going to take over all the dates.
00:08:37But there's talk of expansion of the fairs.
00:08:40And if the fair circuit could offer seven months of racing a year, then I think that's
00:08:46going to really put a chink in the armor of what Santa Anita is trying to accomplish
00:08:50there. You know, remember, if you close Golden Gate, that doesn't mean you've closed
00:08:54down Northern California racing altogether.
00:08:56It's a robust fair circuit, some nice little tracks, and we're going to have to see what
00:09:01happens with them. And I just want to bring up one other factor before we want to move
00:09:05on to. And there's something, you know, you see the comments out there, you know,
00:09:08people saying, well, here's what happened.
00:09:10This happened because remember we talked about on the show either last week or the week
00:09:14before the politician in Berkeley, California, trying to put through an ordinance that
00:09:19essentially would have closed down Golden Gate Fields.
00:09:22I don't think that personally had anything to do with this.
00:09:25I think this was obviously something that's been in planning stages for months.
00:09:28And I don't think that anybody should have been that fearful of that going through.
00:09:34OK, so let's shift gears now into so we're recording this on Tuesday in the TDN website
00:09:40today, a very powerful piece from Jerry Brown, the master of the thoroughgraft speed figure
00:09:45services. And this is something Jerry has been talking to me about forever.
00:09:50And he wrote about the computer assisted wagering, which we have talked about with Pat
00:09:55Cummings on the show. And Randy, he painted a pretty bleak picture.
00:09:59And when you put the numbers down on paper like Jerry did, this is not that we didn't
00:10:04know this was a problem.
00:10:06But, you know, you look at this and you've got to take a pause and wow, this is a serious
00:10:11problem. Nobody seems to have an answer for it.
00:10:14But, you know, what did you make of Jerry's op-ed in the TDN?
00:10:17I thought it was very well done.
00:10:19I strongly encourage everyone to read it at TDN.
00:10:23Jerry Brown is a smart guy.
00:10:25He and Pat Cummings are actually, I think, the two people who have advocated the hardest
00:10:31for horseplayers out there.
00:10:33And Jerry is in a unique position from which to do it because he's a pretty major
00:10:37horseplayer himself.
00:10:39He deals with a lot of big time horseplayers with his thoroughgraft company, and he also
00:10:45deals with horsemen as well.
00:10:46So he's very well rounded and he's a numbers guy.
00:10:49So he understands the numbers of this situation very well.
00:10:54I think the point that he made, and I'll be brief, that I thought was the most
00:11:00concerning is that the CAWs we know, we've talked about it, have driven some of the
00:11:07rank and file horseplayers out of the game.
00:11:09And if it continues at the pace it's at right now, then you can foresee the CAWs
00:11:17actually cutting back on their wagering because as the smaller horseplayers leave, the
00:11:22CAWs are basically betting against themselves.
00:11:25And so they're going to necessarily have to cut back their wagers to avoid cannibalizing
00:11:30themselves in the marketplace.
00:11:31And then that would lead to a spiral where purses decrease and everyone in the industry,
00:11:36not just the horseplayers, begin to feel the effects.
00:11:39That, I think, is probably the most salient point that Jerry made.
00:11:44But I encourage everybody to read that.
00:11:46It's a very well thought out, very well written letter.
00:11:49Yeah. When you have these guys, when you have the whales taking a disproportionate amount
00:11:55of money in winnings out of the pool, then what does that do to everybody else?
00:11:59I don't know where he came up with this number, but Jerry estimated because of the
00:12:02CAWs, the effective takeout for everybody else is about 30 percent.
00:12:06And that sounds about right to me.
00:12:08And, you know, horse racing with a 20 percent takeout, which is kind of the number that
00:12:13we always were accepting, that's a real tough game.
00:12:16You have 30 percent, you just, I mean, nobody can win it with a 30 percent takeout.
00:12:21So please take a look at that story from Jerry Brown and we'll continue to stay on top
00:12:26of that subject.
00:12:28We want to remind you that the TDN Writers Room is brought to you by Keeneland.
00:12:32The first TDN Rising Star of the Saratoga meeting was a Keeneland September graduate.
00:12:38Ahoy, matey.
00:12:39His name is Pirate, read by Peter Blum.
00:12:42He was actually went to the September sale with that name and was purchased by Harrell
00:12:47Ventures LLC and Starlight Racing for three hundred and fifty thousand at last year's
00:12:53September sale.
00:12:54He dominated his first start.
00:12:56Now, he got off perhaps just a little bit flat footed and really made all the running.
00:13:02He was tested every step of the way and drew off like a good horse to win while geared
00:13:07down by three lengths.
00:13:08Trainer Todd Pletcher and Starlight's Jack Wolfe indicated that the grade one hopeful
00:13:13or the grade two Saratoga special could be next.
00:13:17Keeneland is home of the world's yearling sale.
00:13:19The energy, magic and momentum of the September yearling sale returns on September the
00:13:2511th through September the 23rd.
00:13:27Learn more at the world's yearling sale dot com.
00:13:30We'll be right back after this message from Keeneland.
00:13:36If this place could talk.
00:13:41It would roar.
00:13:43It would say this is a racing, this beating heart in the heart of horse country, steady
00:13:52and strong beneath the roar.
00:13:55Reminding us why for the love of the horse, for generations to come.
00:14:04The fastest horse of the week is brought to you by the Fast Stallions at Windstar Farm.
00:14:09This week, the Windstar Spotlight is on the fastest son of Into Mischief, and that's saying
00:14:14a lot. Life is good.
00:14:16Racked up four grade one wins, including a career high 112 buyer speed figure, one of
00:14:21his nine triple digit buyers in Life is Good's exceptional first book of 192 mares this
00:14:29year. Seventy of those mares, either one graded six on the track or previously produced
00:14:34graded six winners, including 25 grade one winners.
00:14:38The Windstar future is looking very good indeed, for life is good.
00:14:45Our fastest horse of the week emerged from a Friday allowance sprint at Monmouth.
00:14:50You may remember Benevengo as the long shot who actually outran Jack Christopher to the
00:14:57lead in last year's Haskell Stakes.
00:15:00Well, after that race, he scored a very impressive seven and a half length win at the Stakes
00:15:04at Pemlico. And after five straight two turn races Friday, Benevengo was back down to the
00:15:10six for a long distance, won by five and a half lengths with the buyer speed figure of
00:15:14104 the best of the week.
00:15:17Benevengo, trained by Jesus Cruz, owned by the Wasabi Ventures Stable of venture capitalist
00:15:23Tom T.K.
00:15:25Kugler, it's Kugler's best horse to date.
00:15:27And Benevengo is fast.
00:15:30In fact, he is the fastest horse of the week.
00:15:40So opening weekend at Saratoga and a couple of stories, unfortunately, one was that the
00:15:46weather just absolutely stunk.
00:15:49And we'll get into that a little bit later.
00:15:51But the big race on Saturday, the grade one was the Diana.
00:15:54And I even though the horse was one to five, I thought in Italian, you've been one to a
00:16:00thousand in that spot.
00:16:02My goodness, Randy, towered over the field on the figures, lone speed in the race.
00:16:06How is Chad Brown possibly going to get beat?
00:16:09Well, he's going to get beat by himself, which we've seen so many times.
00:16:14Five horses in the race, four of them trained by Chad Brown, and he pulled off the mini
00:16:19upset with white beam.
00:16:21But a lot of grumbling about the fact that Chad Brown had four of the five horses in
00:16:27the field the year before he had four of six.
00:16:31And I'm not going to name the turf rider, but one turf rider came out and called the
00:16:35race an abomination.
00:16:37Oh, come on, an abomination.
00:16:40But nonetheless, you know, this is, I think, kind of like what we were talking about with
00:16:44the C.A.W. is one of those problems that there's no real answer to.
00:16:49Can't blame Chad Brown.
00:16:50I mean, he's he gets all the good horses because he's very good at what he does.
00:16:55Can't blame owners for giving him horses.
00:16:56Matter of fact, I bet you he could run seven or eight in that race if he had so desire
00:17:02to do that.
00:17:03But we are seeing with the super trainers patterns of this happening.
00:17:08Chad Brown in Philly and Mayer turf races, oftentimes going to have seventy five percent
00:17:13in the field.
00:17:14And Bob Baffert with three year old races on the dirt, perhaps for the Kentucky Derby,
00:17:18we had the same thing happening.
00:17:20The Robert B. Lewis this year, you know, four horses in the race.
00:17:24Two questions, Randy, and also for Zoe.
00:17:26Do you have a big problem with this?
00:17:28And if you do, what can be done about it?
00:17:32First quickly about the Diana itself.
00:17:36In Italian, I might not have run her very best race, but she ran close to it and just
00:17:41got outrun.
00:17:42She kicked pretty hard.
00:17:43A mile and an eighth may not be her absolute best distance, but White Beam was coming off
00:17:48a visually very impressive win at Pimlico.
00:17:51You could expect, you know, white, white beam to really take a step forward.
00:17:56And she did.
00:17:57As it turned out, it was good enough to catch in Italian and whether she could do it at
00:17:59a mile or not, I doubt it.
00:18:02A legitimate win by White Beam.
00:18:04About the super trainer thing.
00:18:06I think it hurts the game.
00:18:09When I first came around a long time ago, trainers were pretty much limited to 30 or
00:18:1640 stalls at each racetrack.
00:18:19Now we've seen the super trainers, and it's not their fault, as you point out.
00:18:23Your Todd Pletcher's, your Chad Brown's, your Brad Cox's, your Bob.
00:18:26Not so much Baffert.
00:18:27He doesn't take the numbers that some of these other guys have, but you're talking about
00:18:31trainers that have 200, 250 horses under their care.
00:18:35And that impacts field sizes, especially in Southern California.
00:18:41But even attracts with the higher horse population because trainers parcel, they ration out their
00:18:46horses so they don't run against each other.
00:18:49And if some of those horses were in the hands of other trainers, then you would see larger
00:18:52field sizes.
00:18:53And I think that's the primary problem right now with the rise of the super trainer.
00:18:58I don't see anything wrong with, even though you have training centers now, they're still
00:19:03sanctioned by racetracks, and I don't see any problem.
00:19:08I'm sure the super trainers would, but limiting trainers to, let's say, 60 horses a piece
00:19:14or 70 horses a piece or whatever, and helping other trainers out and helping the game out
00:19:19by distributing some of those horses to other qualified, talented, very good horsemen who
00:19:26right now are getting the opportunity to train some of those horses.
00:19:30I agree with you, Randy.
00:19:31And back to the Diana White Beam, I mean, at the end of the day, it was a nose loss.
00:19:37I think perhaps hindsight is 20-20.
00:19:40Maybe an Italian should have just gone on and put a little bit of separation between
00:19:45them because visually, as you mentioned, that race at Pimlico was very, very good.
00:19:51Flavian Pratt, perfect ride.
00:19:53He was drawn on the outside.
00:19:54He knew exactly where to be, didn't go head and head within Italian because that's going
00:19:59to get him fired from the Chad Brown stable.
00:20:00Nobody's that stupid.
00:20:02But he did just enough to be in the exact right spot where he had the best chance to
00:20:08overtake. So good race.
00:20:10I think we're going to see a lot more from White Beam in the upcoming summer.
00:20:15And one other thing, I believe there's a rule in Kentucky, correct me if I'm wrong, a trainer
00:20:20can only enter one horse in a race.
00:20:24So what happened in the Diana cannot happen in Kentucky.
00:20:28If you enter, I think to the exclusion of having another trainer not being able to enter
00:20:34their horse. So say if Chad could only enter one, maybe some more people would enter
00:20:40more. I'm not really sure how that would work.
00:20:42I just don't think anyone wanted to run against an Italian.
00:20:45Now, hindsight, maybe they should have.
00:20:48Maybe there should have been more rabbits in there.
00:20:50Maybe you'll get bigger fields.
00:20:51I don't know what the answer is.
00:20:53In this case, it was a nose defeat.
00:20:55Right. But it was also a six pound weight swing.
00:20:58And Italian was carrying six pounds more than White Beam.
00:21:01So really, an Italian was the best horse in the race.
00:21:04She got beat from obviously from a competitive standpoint, but that had a lot to do with it
00:21:08as well. Four different major owners for Chad Brown represented.
00:21:13And that may be his best four owners.
00:21:15You have Peter Brandt, Seth Klarman, Judd Mott and Saul Kuman all had horses in there.
00:21:21So you can't blame Chad for giving all those owners a chance to run their top horses.
00:21:25Look what happened. Yeah, I don't want to I want to move on to other subjects, but I
00:21:29would not be in favor of any restrictions on these guys.
00:21:31It's just sort of, you know, it's free enterprise.
00:21:33It strikes me a little bit as un-American.
00:21:36But again, I'm not saying that it's not a problem.
00:21:38If you're betting chalk on Saturday at Saratoga in stakes races, oh boy, an Italian
00:21:44beating at thirty five cents on the dollar.
00:21:46That's one to five on the board.
00:21:48Then in the Sanford Gold Sweep, how does he get beat?
00:21:51Well, he got beat because he had a terrible start.
00:21:53Stumbles at the start.
00:21:54He was also thirty five cents on the dollar.
00:21:57Not only a seventy one buyer, the winner in their yo-yo candy won at forty six to one
00:22:03Cassecrete. He's a cool guy, isn't he?
00:22:05He came through in the Kelso.
00:22:06So those were the big races and the big stories on Saturday.
00:22:10Zoe, Randy, what else caught your attention?
00:22:13We can at Saratoga. OK, so Gold Sweep was the overwhelming favorite in the Sanford.
00:22:18He did stumble and he did.
00:22:21But I thought maybe he should have overcome it.
00:22:24I think the main problem that he had in the running of the race was the fact he got so
00:22:28much kickback and obviously not used to it.
00:22:30Only making, you know, it's just a couple of starts already.
00:22:34So that really hindered him.
00:22:35But I thought maybe he should have been able to overcome that.
00:22:39What do you think, Randy?
00:22:41The race was run with a seventy one buyer speed figure.
00:22:44So, yeah, you can make the case that if he was, you know, as good maybe as his ninety
00:22:48one buyer speed figure in the Tremont would indicate that he might be able to win
00:22:52anyway. But your point about the kickback is well taken.
00:22:55A lot of those horses were coming back in Saratoga last week, just absolutely covered
00:23:00in kickback. And for a young two year old, that's got to be a real wake up call because
00:23:05he was last for most of the early part of the race after stumbling so badly at the
00:23:09start. He should have won the race.
00:23:12You get a lot of low speed figures actually in some of these two year old stakes races
00:23:16at Saratoga, especially early in the meet.
00:23:20So that was really no shock to me.
00:23:22Take nothing away from the trainer.
00:23:23Well done, Danny Velasquez.
00:23:25His first graded stakes at Saratoga.
00:23:27He was one pumped up guy with his cow bread standing in the winner's circle.
00:23:32The little guy from Parks takes down the giant in Steve Asmussen.
00:23:36Business stunk at Saratoga.
00:23:37As I said, the weather stunk the first four days in the meet.
00:23:40They're off twenty two point six percent after posting record handles in both twenty
00:23:45twenty two and twenty twenty one.
00:23:48We talked about that with Andy Serling last week and he warned us.
00:23:50He says we're going to look like geniuses if the weather's good and we're going to look
00:23:54like fools if the weather is bad.
00:23:56So on Friday and Sunday, other races were washed off the turf.
00:24:00Eight turf races were taken off between the two days.
00:24:03But having said all that, look, it's early.
00:24:06They get a pass for the two days where the races came off the turf.
00:24:10But on Saturday, when the races were run on the turf, you had an apples to apples
00:24:14comparison from two thousand and twenty two.
00:24:16They're still down fourteen point four percent.
00:24:20I wouldn't be if I were Naira, I wouldn't be panicking about this, but I would be a
00:24:23little bit concerned. It's definitely something to watch as the meeting progresses.
00:24:28Absolutely. I mean, obviously, when races are washed off the turf like that, it impacts
00:24:32field size, impacts the handicapping of those races.
00:24:35So a lot of people just take a pass.
00:24:38But apples to apples comparisons are certainly legit.
00:24:42And I think it's a cause for concern, but not of panic.
00:24:46There is more rain in the forecast as well, just in case anyone's not.
00:24:51How about the Skylerville and Becky's Joker?
00:24:53Gary Contessa, first time starter.
00:24:56I saw her in a paddock.
00:24:57She's huge.
00:24:59She's every bit of 16 three.
00:25:01A door to a practical joke.
00:25:02How impressive was she?
00:25:04Yeah, she was great.
00:25:05And Gary Contessa, one of the good guys in the game.
00:25:07He's could have been in and out and had big cojones running that Philly first time out in a two year old stake.
00:25:13And he certainly knew what he was doing.
00:25:15So congratulations to the whole team.
00:25:16And Gary Contessa winning the Skylerville on opening day at Saratoga.
00:25:21The TV and Writers Room is also brought to you by the PHBA, the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association.
00:25:27Speaking of Saratoga, the Pennsylvania Red Turf Sprinter extraordinaire Cara Vell worked a half mile Saturday, 48.88
00:25:35over the Oklahoma Turf Course, her next target.
00:25:37The Troy Stakes on August the 5th, won last year by Golden Powell.
00:25:41Most recently, Cara Vell, of course, won the grade one Jiper Stakes at Belmont Park, again defeating males.
00:25:47Now at the risk of jinxing her, Cara Vell hasn't lost on turf in almost a full year.
00:25:54Her last defeat on grass was July 23rd in the Caress Stakes at Saratoga.
00:26:00July 23rd, obviously 2022.
00:26:02That's six consecutive turf wins.
00:26:04Cara Vell obviously doesn't need to run against Pennsylvania breds.
00:26:08But if she did, the 29 PA bred turf stakes this year are worth over four million dollars.
00:26:16Now, here's more from the PHBA.
00:26:19The PA Horse Breeders Association presents the Pennsylvania Stallion Series.
00:26:24Six races for PA sire, PA bred two year olds at parks.
00:26:28Two $100,000 contests at five and a half furlongs.
00:26:32On August 21st, PA Day at the Races.
00:26:35September 23rd, PA Derby Day.
00:26:37As two races at six and a half furlongs, both with a $150,000 purse.
00:26:43And in December, two races going long, each worth $200,000.
00:26:47For more, go to pabred.com.
00:26:50The Saratoga Minute is brought to you by Naira Bets.
00:26:52One of the potential stars of this Saratoga meet is the undefeated three-year-old Philly
00:26:57Maple Leaf Mel, who's being pointed for the grade one test stakes on August the 5th.
00:27:03Here is TDN's Katie Petruniak with the Phillies namesake trainer, Melanie Yates.
00:27:08♪
00:27:23Maple Leaf Mel is, she's pretty special.
00:27:27You know, we always knew she was a little different since the first day we've had her in the barn.
00:27:32She's just loves what she does.
00:27:35I mean, you take her to the track and she's so excited to train.
00:27:39I think for her being a good racehorse is just the fact that she loves her job.
00:27:44Her last race was pretty impressive.
00:27:47♪
00:27:50You know, I had spoke to Jeremiah when the PPs came out and I said,
00:27:55well, I drew the toughest field, you know, to have her in my name for the first time.
00:27:59And he said, don't worry, don't worry.
00:28:01You know, he's right.
00:28:04She doesn't care who it is and horses don't read the form.
00:28:07And she went over there like every other time and put on a show.
00:28:12She came out of the race in good shape.
00:28:14You know, she's, she's feeling frisky and she's going to the test
00:28:18and it'll be the biggest race of her life.
00:28:20♪
00:28:24The Saratoga Minute is brought to you by Nyra Bets.
00:28:27Sign up now for Nyra Bets and get a matching deposit of up to $200.
00:28:31Bet any track, any time, anywhere.
00:28:34Just make a deposit within 30 days of signing up for your account.
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00:28:41and Nyra Bets will send you a wagering credit matching your first deposit.
00:28:47Sign up with promo code SPA200 to get your deposit match today.
00:28:53The TD Writer's Room brought to you by The Green Group.
00:28:57Founder Len Green has a condition book filled with ways
00:29:01to save people in the horse business money on your taxes.
00:29:06And we welcome in now The Green Group guests of the week.
00:29:09A frequent visitor here to the Thoroughbred Daily News Writer's Room.
00:29:12The CEO and president, the Horse Racing Integrity and Safety Authority,
00:29:15better known, are also known as HISA.
00:29:18Welcome in now, Lisa Lazarus.
00:29:19Lisa, welcome and thanks for joining us.
00:29:21Thank you so much, Bill.
00:29:22Very happy to be here.
00:29:23Yeah, well, certainly a lot to talk about.
00:29:26And Lisa, I think it's fair to say that there's some things that have happened
00:29:30since the rollout on May 22nd of the HIWU slash ADMC
00:29:37that have not gone maybe perfectly, perhaps rocky is another word, I don't know.
00:29:43But are there things that you guys look back on now,
00:29:46say that maybe we could have done differently or maybe have done better?
00:29:49And if so, what are they?
00:29:50So let me start by saying like this is, I'm sure you understand,
00:29:54but like an incredibly massive undertaking
00:29:58that we had to have up and running in a relatively short period of time.
00:30:03To take the anti-doping testing in every state
00:30:06and bring it under one set of national uniform rules
00:30:09was not only a huge challenge from a substantive rulemaking standpoint,
00:30:13but also from a logistical standpoint.
00:30:16So I'm a very hard marker, so there are always things to do better.
00:30:19But I have to say that overall, I'm really pleased with the rollout.
00:30:23The things that we've had to adjust are really things that for me
00:30:26are on the margins.
00:30:28And I've always said that this is such a massive undertaking and so important
00:30:34that we're going to have to adjust once we actually implement
00:30:38and look at what we didn't get right and make sure that we accommodate that.
00:30:44And I think if we look at probably the main thing that you're referring to,
00:30:47which was the intra-articular ejection workout rule, we just got it wrong.
00:30:54We just got it wrong.
00:30:55There's really nothing more I can say.
00:30:57But what I'm proud of is that we're a team that when we realize we get something wrong,
00:31:03we don't sit on ego or stand on principle and say,
00:31:05we don't care, we're going to just power through.
00:31:07We try to fix it.
00:31:08So I realize that that's going to always yield some criticism,
00:31:11and I accept that because, sure, ideally, it would be better not to have gotten it wrong.
00:31:15But I think of all of the things we've had to implement,
00:31:19it's not surprising to me that we got a few things wrong.
00:31:22Lisa, Randy, if you hold on a second,
00:31:23I just want to follow up on that.
00:31:25What specifically do you think you got wrong about that?
00:31:27The fact that these horses raced where they should have been on the suspended list,
00:31:31that, something else?
00:31:33A number of things, to be honest.
00:31:35First, I think the sanction was way too onerous,
00:31:40given if you look at the entire structure of the sanctioning system,
00:31:45it was just way too severe of a sanction to penalize a trainer for 60 days.
00:31:50When you look at a controlled medication violation like Butte,
00:31:53comes with the first offense, just with a fine, that really seems out of whack.
00:31:58To be honest, we spent so much time as a group,
00:32:01beta testing and doing all kinds of simulations around the substances
00:32:06and what penalty they should each yield for a positive test,
00:32:10that we obviously didn't look carefully enough at the medication methods.
00:32:13So one, we got the penalty wrong.
00:32:16And two, what happened was that,
00:32:19HIWU was set up, I think, extremely well to deal with,
00:32:23a laboratory comes back with a positive sample,
00:32:26we report that sample, we issue a violation notice.
00:32:29And they weren't expecting to have so many violations of the workout rule at the outset.
00:32:35And so, what also happened and what caused this sort of secondary problem
00:32:39is that the volume was so significant,
00:32:41that they just were not able to get the notices out in time
00:32:45for the individual trainers to be aware that they actually had a violation.
00:32:49And so, they might have trained or worked out during that interim period.
00:32:53So it wasn't that trainers weren't heeding the notices.
00:32:57It was that just given the short timeline,
00:32:59not all of them were going out in a timely fashion.
00:33:02We've since fixed that the ADMC committee,
00:33:05which actually is the committee that's authorized to make rules and make changes.
00:33:09They debated this rule heavily after, obviously,
00:33:13the launch and after we recognize the issues with it.
00:33:16And they reached a conclusion that the time frame
00:33:20for allowing a horse to work out after intraarticular injection should not be changed.
00:33:26They felt that the seven days was the appropriate time period.
00:33:29But they certainly agreed with me that the sanction was too onerous.
00:33:33And then instead set up a sanctioning system
00:33:36that has a fine as a first violation and then builds from there.
00:33:40So, as we all know, in the infancy of any rollout like this,
00:33:44the potential problems are always going to get magnified.
00:33:48They're going to get more attention than maybe the positives.
00:33:53But I think one of the biggest concerns that detractors had
00:33:58was that ISO wouldn't be flexible enough to make these changes.
00:34:01And it's nice to hear you say that.
00:34:03What about another complaint, and that is the provisional suspensions
00:34:09and the possible lack of due process
00:34:13for trainers who are immediately put under the provisional suspension sanction?
00:34:17What are your thoughts on that?
00:34:19So that's obviously a massive change for the horse racing industry,
00:34:23but it is a rule set in the system that's in place in every Olympic sport,
00:34:28including the equestrian Olympic disciplines,
00:34:30as well as almost all of the international racing governing bodies.
00:34:35And really, the theory behind it is that
00:34:37the rationale for the program is that it's set up to protect
00:34:41the clean trainers, the ones that are following the rules
00:34:44and the greater good of the industry.
00:34:46So the calculus is, first of all, I think everyone knows
00:34:48that we have essentially two programs.
00:34:51The controlled medication, which is the therapeutics,
00:34:54things you're allowed to use outside of the race period,
00:34:57we don't have provisional suspensions imposed for those violations.
00:35:00It's only for the banned substances that the committee is determined
00:35:04to be essentially doping substances, performance enhancing substances.
00:35:08The calculus is, and when we get a positive back,
00:35:10is the risk to the industry and the trainers that are competing cleanly
00:35:15and following the rules is too high to allow that trainer
00:35:19to continue to race horses while the case is going through the various steps.
00:35:23OK, it's not a final determination.
00:35:26As you've seen, that trainer can provide evidence or information
00:35:30immediately to HIWU, to the agency.
00:35:34They can ask for a provisional hearing very quickly, essentially within a week.
00:35:38And if there is evidence that suggests that there's a chance
00:35:41they might succeed on the merits, the suspension will be lifted.
00:35:45If you look at the Ray Handle case, that case is not over.
00:35:47I know there's a lot of misinformation about it.
00:35:49That case is still going through all of the steps
00:35:51and it will be resolved when all the proceedings are done.
00:35:55But once Mr. Handle provided evidence
00:35:59that there was actually a meaningful possibility that it could be contamination,
00:36:04HIWU reacted very quickly.
00:36:05I mean, it was like, I think it was like five days or four days
00:36:08from the imposition to the lifting.
00:36:11So ultimately, the assessment is that we really want to make sure
00:36:16that we're protecting clean trainers.
00:36:18And I guess one other example I'll give, and I really believe in the system
00:36:22because I imposed it when I was hired by the International Equestrian Federation
00:36:26in 2010 when they had a bunch of positives coming out of the Beijing Olympic Games
00:36:31and were threatened with losing their place in the Olympic program.
00:36:33And this is what, you know, in my view, really saved and solidified their place.
00:36:37But if you take a trainer, like, for example, we have a trainer in California.
00:36:40He has multiple positives for the same substance.
00:36:43I'm not going to address whether or not it's his fault.
00:36:45If it was contamination, all of that, he'll have his chance to argue in court.
00:36:49But the reality is that he has a performance-enhancing substance
00:36:52in essentially all of his horses, right?
00:36:55Is it fair to let that trainer continue to train horses
00:36:57and compete against other trainers in California or wherever
00:37:01when there's a likelihood that it's in all of his horses?
00:37:04And that's really the calculus of the program.
00:37:06Yeah, I fully understand that.
00:37:09So with the Ray Handle case, and I brought this up last year,
00:37:12his horse has left his barn for six days.
00:37:15What happens in 30 days time if he comes back and has a positive test
00:37:21for a horse that may or may not have been in his barn during those six days?
00:37:26Like, what happens there?
00:37:27It seems like it's not quite black and white.
00:37:31So first of all, one thing I want to clear up is that
00:37:35if you're provisionally suspended, not finally suspended, but just provisionally,
00:37:39you're not required to essentially either leave the premises,
00:37:44leave the barn or transfer your horses.
00:37:46You can't race them or work them.
00:37:48So ultimately, obviously, you're not going to do that for a long period of time,
00:37:51but you're allowed to care for your horses and jog them and gallop them,
00:37:55just not race or et cetera.
00:37:59Once you transfer those horses, and if they're in a new trainer's name,
00:38:03then obviously the responsibility shifts.
00:38:06But of course, because everything in our system is fact-based and we look at faults,
00:38:11if a horse tests positive for a substance
00:38:14that would likely have been in the horse a week prior,
00:38:18HIWU will obviously investigate that and take note of that
00:38:20and charge the appropriate trainer.
00:38:22Does that answer your question?
00:38:23Yes.
00:38:24I've got one more.
00:38:26It seems like it's a very expensive task to try and defend yourself.
00:38:31We heard about several trainers last week that perhaps couldn't afford the initial
00:38:37payout to hire a lawyer and get the proper representation.
00:38:41Is there going to be anything to help the smaller trainer
00:38:43or are they just going to be thrown to the wolves?
00:38:46So, I think also a little bit of, there might be some misinformation in there.
00:38:50So, I can just quickly explain how it works cost-wise.
00:38:53So, for the controlled medication violations,
00:38:57there's no cost at all to use the system.
00:38:59Of course, you want to hire a lawyer, you have to hire them,
00:39:01but that's the same as it's always been with state racing commissions, right?
00:39:06With the banned substances cases, there is no upfront fee,
00:39:10but the HIWU prosecutor, the one bringing the case on behalf of the regular,
00:39:16can ask the arbitrator to apportion some costs to the trainer.
00:39:20That will be based on the trainer's level of culpability,
00:39:23their financial situation, they'll take all that into consideration.
00:39:26But there are no upfront costs.
00:39:28The only upfront costs are the B-sample analysis,
00:39:31if you choose to have the B-sample tested.
00:39:34But you raise a very good point, and it's funny because I actually
00:39:38raised this in our staff meeting a few weeks ago,
00:39:40is I've asked one of our in-house lawyers to look at
00:39:43potentially having a sort of pro bono program,
00:39:45where maybe we work with the University of Kentucky or a different,
00:39:48or some law schools that we do have,
00:39:50and we train various lawyers in the system to be able to offer that.
00:39:54So, we don't have it right now,
00:39:56but it's actually something that I really would like to do,
00:39:58and I think you raise an important point.
00:40:00Yeah, Lisa, you mentioned when a trainer is provisionally suspended,
00:40:05even during the brief period of time when he wants to dispute it,
00:40:09they're not allowed to race a horse, which is totally understandable.
00:40:13But also not allowed to work a horse.
00:40:17Does that apply to all training of horses?
00:40:19Can they go out to gallop?
00:40:20Is it just breezes that are restricted?
00:40:22Yes, just published and reported works.
00:40:24And what's the thinking behind that?
00:40:26The thinking behind that is that that's truly engaging in the sport itself.
00:40:31And so, we limit it to racing and published works,
00:40:35but everything else they can do from a horse welfare standpoint.
00:40:38We're never going to say a horse has to stand in its box,
00:40:41you know what I mean, if you don't want to give up the horse.
00:40:43We obviously want horses to be able to move and do what they normally do,
00:40:46but we don't want that train to be able to benefit
00:40:49from the sport of racing during that time frame.
00:40:52Lisa, I want to follow up on a question Randy asked you earlier about the idea that
00:40:56why the people that are provisionally suspended for a banned substance,
00:41:00why this action is taken immediately.
00:41:02I totally understand where you're coming from this,
00:41:05and I don't think anybody would disagree with,
00:41:07hey, if these guys are really up to some, you know,
00:41:10bad stuff, something needs to be done and step in and stop them.
00:41:14But we have heard from some of the trainers and primarily from their lawyers
00:41:20that you need to rethink the banned substance list,
00:41:23that some of the things on there really aren't all that serious.
00:41:27And at the end of the day, you know,
00:41:28might be something that are deserving of 15, 20 day suspensions,
00:41:33but not the more draconian measures that are put forth.
00:41:37Is that something that maybe HISA slash HIWU will take another look at,
00:41:41that maybe we need to rethink the substances that are on the banned substance list?
00:41:45Yeah. So, I mean, to start that, that one's a little bit above my pay grade.
00:41:49I'm not the one who actually don't have, you know,
00:41:51a veterinary degree or a pharmacology degree.
00:41:53So, I'm not the one who actually determines how a substance is classified,
00:41:57but absolutely that's something that we need to look at regularly.
00:42:00And actually, we also invite members of the public to provide, you know,
00:42:03if they have a recommendation,
00:42:05particularly one that's based on science or have any sort of evidence that
00:42:08a substance is either classified wrongly,
00:42:10so it should be a controlled medication instead of a banned substance,
00:42:13or shouldn't be on the list at all,
00:42:15or that, you know, maybe we've forgotten should be added to the list.
00:42:17So, yes, we will constantly review that.
00:42:19And that's really important.
00:42:20And I fully agree.
00:42:23I can't speak to whether at this point in time,
00:42:26we've gotten any of those substances wrong,
00:42:28but it's certainly something we need to review.
00:42:30So, I know this may be pushing the ball a little too quickly down the road.
00:42:34You got to walk before you run, but on that same topic,
00:42:37I think we all know that if you go back and look over the last couple of years,
00:42:42or indefinitely really in horse racing,
00:42:44like 99.9% of all the positive tests are overages of therapeutic medications, right?
00:42:54When most people believe that the problem,
00:42:57you know, the doping problem that would exist in thoroughbred racing
00:43:00are those substances that can't be detected by regular tests.
00:43:04And that's where the investigatory arm really comes into play.
00:43:08What's the status of that right now with High Spend?
00:43:13So, I'm going to answer that question,
00:43:14but I want to just say one quick thing, if you don't mind,
00:43:17before, which is relevant to your question,
00:43:18which is that if you had to, if you asked me,
00:43:20what's your biggest surprise since launching?
00:43:23I would say the ratio between the banned substance positives and the overages.
00:43:29Because actually, we started off with way more banned substances,
00:43:33and now we're almost like at 50-50.
00:43:35It's not totally representative from what's published,
00:43:39because we published banned before we published controlled medication.
00:43:43But it's actually, I've been incredibly pleased with the low number of overages that we have,
00:43:50which suggests to me that trainers were really listening.
00:43:52To that part of the education,
00:43:54really listening to what changes that they make to their programs,
00:43:57and surprised by the number of banned substances.
00:44:00It's way higher than I expected.
00:44:02And I think that's a function of our program testing for a different menu
00:44:07than has previously been used,
00:44:08and really sort of, you know,
00:44:09covering the cost of a completely comprehensive testing menu.
00:44:14In terms of the investigations, you know,
00:44:16we have an extremely, you know, well-resourced investigations unit.
00:44:20Sean Richards, you may know, is the FBI agent
00:44:23who was the one who did all of the investigations
00:44:27into the prosecutions in New York against Mr. Navarro and Mr. Service.
00:44:31He has a lot of expertise, a lot of familiarity with horse racing.
00:44:34And they are involved in, you know,
00:44:36some pretty meaningful investigations that are outside of the positive tests.
00:44:41So I do think, you know, I got to give them time to kind of do their work.
00:44:45But I do think, you know, if I'm back on in three or six months,
00:44:49there'll be more to discuss on that front.
00:44:51I have a plan.
00:44:52I spend an awful lot of time at the horse sales,
00:44:56weanlings, yearlings, two-year-olds.
00:44:59You have a covered horses plan.
00:45:01Is there any plan to extend this to perhaps from the day they are foaled?
00:45:07Because, you know, I don't want to throw anyone under the bus,
00:45:11but there's certain things that go on in prepping yearlings,
00:45:14weanlings for horse sales that perhaps shouldn't go on.
00:45:17And people that buy these horses later on
00:45:22may feel the effects of that with all the rules in place.
00:45:25I think you're right.
00:45:26And I really hope so.
00:45:28Unfortunately, the law, as it's written, it's not actually our rules,
00:45:31it's the HISA Act itself,
00:45:33doesn't start until a horse has its first reported workout or race.
00:45:37And so we don't have authority or jurisdiction over those horses.
00:45:41But I really hope that if we can ultimately get to a place
00:45:44where the majority of the industry believes that this is working,
00:45:47that we can also sort of reach further back to the sales.
00:45:52And I got one more.
00:45:54The horse injury and fatality database
00:45:57was supposed to be transparent with HISA.
00:46:00Are we any further forward in getting this out in front of the public?
00:46:04Yeah, we are.
00:46:05I mean, we don't...
00:46:06So the equine injury database is not owned by HISA.
00:46:10That's, you know, with the Jockey Club and Tim Parkin.
00:46:13And we are allowed and permitted and required, actually,
00:46:19to essentially seek all of that data from the race chefs.
00:46:23And they're required to provide it to us,
00:46:24whereas the EID was voluntary.
00:46:28So we are in the process of collecting all of that data
00:46:31and we will make it public once we have it.
00:46:35We recently announced we have over one million
00:46:37veterinary records in our system now.
00:46:40We're getting a ton of data in
00:46:42and we're just working on ways to, you know,
00:46:44present it in a way that's understandable
00:46:46to make sure that it's well scrubbed,
00:46:48that everything is working properly.
00:46:50But once we do, we will share it.
00:46:52Lisa, I give you credit for choosing this point in time to come on
00:46:54because you probably didn't expect a lot of softball questions
00:46:58considering some of the things that have been going on with HISA.
00:47:00So I'll take my foot off the gas pedal a little bit here.
00:47:03What have you guys done well since the rollout?
00:47:05What are you proud of and where do you think HISA is working?
00:47:09So one, I'm proud of the professionalism of our teams.
00:47:13You know, we send testing, you know,
00:47:17testers, collection personnel, veterinarians
00:47:19into every single racetrack that we cover.
00:47:23So almost every racetrack in this country,
00:47:24the race is thoroughbreds.
00:47:26And as you can imagine, there's a lot of animosity,
00:47:29a lot of fear, a lot of trepidation.
00:47:31And I believe that our personnel have done an incredible job
00:47:35disarming that to the extent that they can,
00:47:37making people feel comfortable, teaching them the system,
00:47:39being transparent.
00:47:41I'm proud of the fact that, you know,
00:47:43you can go within 24 hours of a trainer being served
00:47:48with a notice that he tested positive
00:47:50or she tested positive for a bad substance
00:47:53that's publicly available on the website.
00:47:57I'm proud of the fact that we're actually finding a lot
00:48:00and, you know, whether rightly or wrongly,
00:48:02whether it was intentional or not,
00:48:04the industry is learning from what we're finding.
00:48:07And I believe that we're all going to be better off for it.
00:48:09And I'm a huge believer in the provisional suspension.
00:48:12I know it's tough and people have got to adjust to it.
00:48:15And we've got to make sure that everything is okay
00:48:18in terms of how it operates,
00:48:19but it's a game changer because otherwise you just,
00:48:22there's just so much incentive to kick things down the road.
00:48:25Do you really believe that any trainer
00:48:27would have come forward within 48 hours of a notification
00:48:30with information that was exculpatory
00:48:32if he or she was not provisionally suspended?
00:48:35We need to get these things moving more quickly.
00:48:38They lose all efficacy.
00:48:39If it's three years down the road, no one remembers.
00:48:42So I'm proud of the speed and the transparency.
00:48:44Did you realize it would be so hard?
00:48:47Like when you took this job, you're a smart woman.
00:48:49Did you know it was going to be this hard?
00:48:53You know, I didn't, to be fair.
00:48:57I'm surprised by, you know, what I was surprised,
00:48:59really truly what makes it harder than I expected
00:49:02was that I thought, you know,
00:49:03I've done sports regulation before.
00:49:05Okay, change is hard.
00:49:07I didn't expect like so much of the political animosity,
00:49:12the sort of feeling this was
00:49:13the federal government intervening
00:49:14because that's really not the case.
00:49:16It's a federal law, we're a private entity.
00:49:18I didn't expect as much pushback as we've had.
00:49:22But again, I'd sort of go back to,
00:49:24I think my team, so many of them come from racing.
00:49:27You know, you've got the Mark Guilfoyles,
00:49:29the Jennifer Durenbergers.
00:49:30They're trying every single day to explain
00:49:34and to be available to industry participants
00:49:37so that over time, I think we can build trust.
00:49:39And I think if we build trust that, you know,
00:49:42over time we'll be okay.
00:49:43But yes, definitely harder than I expected.
00:49:46Well, nobody ever said this was going to be easy, Lisa,
00:49:49but we're thankful very much
00:49:51so that you've decided to spend some time with us here
00:49:53and clear up a lot of things
00:49:55that are going on with HISA, HIWU, et cetera.
00:49:57Thanks for joining us this week
00:49:58as a Green Group Guest of the Week.
00:50:00Thank you so much for having me.
00:50:01I appreciate it.
00:50:01Have a good week.
00:50:03Green Group Guest of the Week,
00:50:04Lisa Lazarus will receive another free one hour
00:50:08tax consultation with the Green Group.
00:50:10At this rate, the government will wind up owing Lisa money.
00:50:13For more information on how the Green Group can help you,
00:50:16go to www.greenco.com.
00:50:20Are you paying too much in taxes?
00:50:22The Green Group can help.
00:50:24There's a reason the most successful owners, breeders
00:50:26and horsemen select the Green Group as their tax advisors.
00:50:29They save you money and share successful strategies.
00:50:33Over the past 40 years,
00:50:35the Green Group founder, Len Green,
00:50:37has owned and bred some of the best race horses
00:50:40in the history of the sport.
00:50:41Like Eclipse Award winning champions,
00:50:43Jaywalk and Wonder Wheel.
00:50:45His DJ stable competes at the highest level
00:50:48and has received the game's most prestigious honors.
00:50:51Len Green's in-depth, hands-on industry knowledge
00:50:54combined with cutting edge tax saving strategies
00:50:57has produced positive results for his clientele
00:50:59and has made the Green Group the top rated accounting
00:51:02and tax firm in the thoroughbred business.
00:51:04For a confidential and complimentary consultation,
00:51:07contact us at 732-634-5100
00:51:11or visit our website at www.greenco.com.
00:51:16The Green Group, proven strategies to save you taxes.
00:51:20Introducing Giftbox,
00:51:22winner of the grade one Santa Anita handicap.
00:51:25He's a three-time graded stakes winning millionaire
00:51:28with four triple digit buyers and a four ragazin to his name.
00:51:32He proved himself early as a graded stakes place two-year-old
00:51:36and now his career as a stallion is just getting started.
00:51:40From the first crop of the leading sire, Twirling Candy,
00:51:43out of a multiple graded stakes producing mare.
00:51:46Giftbox, only at Lane's End.
00:51:50The TDM Ricestroom is brought to you by Lane's End.
00:51:53The Lane's End Stallion of the Week is Twirling Candy.
00:51:57Twirling Candy was the sire of the first two-year-old winner
00:52:00at the Saratoga meeting when Sugar High cruised home
00:52:04a six length winner for Hall of Famer Bill Mott.
00:52:08It was the start of a six win week for Twirling Candy.
00:52:12Topped by Cherry Pie's win in the My Frenchman Stakes at Monmouth Park.
00:52:17So guys, some sad news last week,
00:52:19the passing of Funny Side,
00:52:21the 2003 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner.
00:52:24Was he the best horse we've seen in our lifetimes?
00:52:26No, he wasn't.
00:52:27He won 11 of 38 starts after the Triple Crown.
00:52:31He struggled a little bit though.
00:52:32He did win the 2004 Jockey Club Gold Cup.
00:52:35But boy, take us back to those days in the Kentucky Derby,
00:52:38Preakness and Belmont of 2003.
00:52:41What a cool horse he was.
00:52:42And what a cool story he was throughout all that.
00:52:46And over the last 20 years,
00:52:48the New York Times has absolutely trashed horse racing relentlessly.
00:52:52But in 2003 in an editorial,
00:52:54this is what they,
00:52:56horse racing haters,
00:52:57had to say about Funny Side.
00:52:59He says,
00:52:59he is a rare reminder that sports are supposed to be fun.
00:53:03So if he doesn't win the Belmont,
00:53:05he has already done more than his fair share to raise the spirits
00:53:09of more than a few dispirited New Yorkers.
00:53:11He got beat that day by Empire Maker,
00:53:14but 101,864 people turned out to Belmont Park
00:53:20to watch him run and try to sweep the Triple Crown.
00:53:23Randy, I already see on both your face and Zoe's,
00:53:26just thinking about this big smile on your face.
00:53:29And for good reason.
00:53:30What a horse.
00:53:31Oh, we could do the whole segment on Funny Side
00:53:33and telling Funny Side stories.
00:53:35Sacatoga Stable, the Yellow School buses,
00:53:38New York Breds weren't supposed to win the Kentucky Derby.
00:53:41Gelbings weren't supposed to win the Kentucky Derby.
00:53:43And then he comes back two weeks later
00:53:45and just demolishes the field in the Preakness
00:53:47by nine and three quarters lengths.
00:53:49The thing that I remember the most,
00:53:51there's a lot of memories,
00:53:53little Jose Santos Jr.'s, a lot of things about the horse.
00:53:56But I want to give credit to Barkley Tagg and Robin Smullin
00:54:02for always doing the right thing by the horse.
00:54:06Right.
00:54:07And Barkley's got a reputation for that, right?
00:54:11Toward the end of his career, he was on,
00:54:13he lost 15 of his last 18 races.
00:54:16And when they ran him in his final start,
00:54:18it was at Finger Lakes in July of 2007
00:54:21in a race called the Wadsworth Memorial.
00:54:24They doubled the purse in that race to $100,000
00:54:26to get him big turnout at Finger Lakes.
00:54:29The horse won.
00:54:30Jack Knowlton had been talking before the race
00:54:33about how Funny Side would never been sounder doing so well.
00:54:36They'll spot him creatively the rest of his career.
00:54:39Well, nine days after that race,
00:54:42after a conversation between Jack Knowlton and Barkley Tagg,
00:54:47the decision was made at Tagg's advice
00:54:50to retire Funny Side to let him go out a winter
00:54:54to not keep him running.
00:54:55He was seven years old at that time
00:54:57and risk anything happening to him.
00:54:59So they turned him for a year, at least, into a stable pony.
00:55:02And you could walk the backside at Belmont Park, maybe,
00:55:05and you could see him tied up outside,
00:55:08just standing there, Kentucky Derby winner, Funny Side.
00:55:11Happy as a clam, you know.
00:55:13Saratoga, he'd be tied to a telephone pole.
00:55:16And then after a year of that,
00:55:18he was starting to feel the effects physically
00:55:20of a long racing career,
00:55:22plus going out all the time on the track as a stable pony.
00:55:26And again, Tagg did the right thing by the horse
00:55:30and retired him from his stable pony duties
00:55:33and sent him to the Kentucky Horse Park
00:55:34where he lived happily ever after.
00:55:36Great story.
00:55:37And I can remember watching and having to look up
00:55:39about this New York-bred gelding
00:55:42and having no clue who he was at the beginning of his career
00:55:45and then being a fan.
00:55:47The Yellow School Bus goes down
00:55:49as one of the most memorable things
00:55:52I have ever seen during racing.
00:55:54It's just such a cool story.
00:55:57I'm not sure if you saw on Twitter the other day,
00:55:59somebody put a vase of roses in Jack Knowlton's box,
00:56:04Saratoga Stable's box,
00:56:06on the day that we all heard that he had died.
00:56:09And it was just a lovely thought.
00:56:11They went to their box for the races that day
00:56:13and there was some beautiful roses there,
00:56:15just to remind a funny side.
00:56:18Yeah, the gutsy gelding, as we like to call them.
00:56:21Okay, let's take a look at what's coming up this weekend,
00:56:24opening weekend at Del Mar.
00:56:26Saratoga, of course, will have a slate
00:56:28of very important races,
00:56:29including this Coaching Club American Oaks on Saturday
00:56:31and a big one on Sunday, the Shoe V,
00:56:34expecting the four-year-old debut
00:56:36of last year's three-year-old Philly champion, Ness.
00:56:38No layup there either.
00:56:40Clariet are also expected for that race.
00:56:42However, the focus shifts to my hometown track,
00:56:45just a couple of miles from my house,
00:56:46beautiful Monmouth Park and the Haskell.
00:56:49Now, we are recording this on Tuesday.
00:56:52We don't know yet if Mage is running.
00:56:55They still haven't said.
00:56:56I've been texting around to Gustavo Delgado
00:56:59and Romero Restopa, can't get an answer out of them.
00:57:01So we're gonna have to look at this as,
00:57:04you know, maybe with Mage, maybe without.
00:57:07But I think that the horse fit
00:57:08is really the most intriguing,
00:57:10even if Mage runs, is Arabian Knight.
00:57:14And he has, this would be his third lifetime start.
00:57:18He hasn't run since January 28th
00:57:20when he won the Southwest States.
00:57:22Would seem like big obstacles to overcome,
00:57:25but he's an immensely talented horse.
00:57:26We know that.
00:57:27And I don't think Bob Baffert would be doing this
00:57:30with this horse,
00:57:31unless he was very confident he could pull it off.
00:57:34So as much as I wanna see Mage in the race,
00:57:37that will also include some other big names
00:57:39like Tapitrice, Go Rocket Ride,
00:57:41Extra Neho, and Salute the Stars.
00:57:44I'm really curious mainly about Arabian Knight.
00:57:47Yeah, oh, fantastic race on paper, I think.
00:57:49I mean, even the horses that are gonna be
00:57:51the higher prices, Extra and Neho,
00:57:53you go back and watch this race at Ellis Park,
00:57:55you will not see a horse win any easier
00:57:57than he won in that allowance race at Ellis
00:57:59and ran pretty fast.
00:58:00Salute the Stars in the Pegasus Stakes
00:58:02had the worst trip of any horse in the race
00:58:04and still somehow managed to win anyway.
00:58:06But I agree with you.
00:58:07I think it's all about Arabian Knight.
00:58:09I think this is a very, very talented horse.
00:58:13And if all goes well,
00:58:14I think you're gonna hear a lot from Arabian Knight
00:58:17as the year progresses.
00:58:18And I wouldn't be surprised at all
00:58:20if he ends the year being the three-year-old champion.
00:58:23I know that's kind of big to say
00:58:25since he didn't compete in any of the Triple Crown races,
00:58:27but I think he's that talented.
00:58:29We're gonna be at Haskell for NBC Sports.
00:58:32We'll be doing the race from 5 to 6 p.m. Eastern.
00:58:34In a perfect world, Zoe,
00:58:36I would be at Del Mar for opening day,
00:58:39which is like one of my favorite racing days of the year.
00:58:42I've only managed to do it at one time.
00:58:44And oh my God, it was fun.
00:58:46And go from Del Mar, cross country,
00:58:48straight to the Haskell.
00:58:49But unfortunately, not unfortunately,
00:58:50I love the Jersey Shore.
00:58:52I wish I could do the Daily Double there,
00:58:54but I'll be at Haskell.
00:58:55Wait a minute, Randy.
00:58:56NBC won't get you a private jet
00:58:57from San Diego to Newark?
00:59:00I am not Mike Chirico.
00:59:02No, I won't get a private jet.
00:59:04Right.
00:59:05And you know, a couple of years ago,
00:59:07I can remember going to opening day at Del Mar
00:59:10and then being in Saratoga for opening day here.
00:59:13It was one of the best couple of weeks ever.
00:59:16I spent a full weekend at Del Mar,
00:59:18had a great weekend there
00:59:20and was here in time for opening day at Saratoga.
00:59:22Why can't we go back to that?
00:59:24That'd be way more fun.
00:59:25A little spittle to the Haskell
00:59:28would be marvelous as well.
00:59:29Arabian night for me.
00:59:31Um, well, I know Mage is doing very well coming into it
00:59:34and obviously we'll see if he runs or not,
00:59:36but Arabian night's a freak.
00:59:38Bob's very good at getting horses ready
00:59:40off the layoff.
00:59:41His works, you can check them out on XBTV,
00:59:44have been as good as you are
00:59:46ever going to see a horse work.
00:59:48And you bet your bottom dollar
00:59:50that he will be well prepared for the Haskell.
00:59:53The TDN Writer's Room is brought to you by XBTV.
00:59:57This week's XBTV Work of the Week is Forte.
01:00:00He worked a half mile at Saratoga on Friday
01:00:03and I worked in 49 and four
01:00:05over the Oklahoma training track.
01:00:08A lot of people were looking for Forte all morning
01:00:10as he was originally scheduled to work on the main track.
01:00:14Todd, being the Hall of Famer he is,
01:00:16called an audible and took him to Oklahoma at 930
01:00:20where he worked very, very nicely.
01:00:22Indeed, in company and finished that
01:00:26as well as he wanted to.
01:00:27It was his second work since his second place finish
01:00:30in the Belmont Stakes.
01:00:31He is preparing to run in Saturday's
01:00:33Jim Dandy Stakes on July the 29th.
01:00:36We'll be right back after this message from XBTV.
01:01:00All the thrills.
01:01:16Fraction of the bills.
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01:01:29and compete at the highest level of thoroughbred racing.
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01:01:35the gold standard in racing partnerships.
01:01:38Visit westpointtb.com.
01:01:41The T&E and Writer's Room is brought to you
01:01:43by West Point Thoroughbreds.
01:01:44Joining a West Point partnership
01:01:46can vault you into the world of instant camaraderie,
01:01:48not to mention sometimes the winner circle.
01:01:51West Point Thoroughbreds had two winners
01:01:52this past week on Monday.
01:01:54Don't look back at all.
01:01:55Won an allowance at Parks.
01:01:57But I want to focus on last Thursday's
01:01:59allowance win at Horseshoe Indianapolis
01:02:01by Stone Silent in a five-foot-long turf sprint.
01:02:04This is a three-year-old trained by Steve Asmussen
01:02:07who demolished older horses.
01:02:10This horse can run.
01:02:12Go back and watch that race yourself.
01:02:14Stone Silent will be a fun horse to follow.
01:02:18Meanwhile, West Point's 2023 Del Mar Challenge
01:02:21offers a free ownership experience to the winner
01:02:24and entries are still open and will be
01:02:27until the first race on Friday on Del Mar's opening day.
01:02:31You can sign up for the Del Mar Challenge
01:02:34for free at www.westpointtb.com
01:02:38or you can also keep up with the standings
01:02:40for the West Point Challenges
01:02:42at both Del Mar and Saratoga.
01:02:46That's a wrap on this week's show.
01:02:48Covered a lot of ground
01:02:49and we're going to look forward
01:02:50to a great weekend of racing
01:02:51which we'll talk to you about next week
01:02:53including the Haskell.
01:02:54I want to thank my cohorts,
01:02:55Brandi Moss and Zoe Cabman.
01:02:57Our producers, Katie Petrunia, Anthony LaRocca.
01:03:00Our editors, Leah LaRocca, Nathan Wilkinson
01:03:03and our dual duo of mascots this week,
01:03:07Lucy and Doodle.
01:03:08Thanks everybody.
01:03:09Talk to you next week.