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00:00:00For the love of the horse, for generations to come.
00:00:28Good morning.
00:00:29It's February 1st at 1035 a.m. in the East Coast.
00:00:32This is this week's edition of the TDN Writer's Room podcast, brought to you by our friends
00:00:37at Keeneland.
00:00:38I'm Bill Finley.
00:00:39I'm a correspondent for the Thoroughbred Daily News and the co-host of the Down the
00:00:41Stretch radio show on Sirius XM Radio, every Saturday at 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
00:00:46Eastern, Channel 85.
00:00:47And I'm Randy Moss with NBC Sports, fresh off our telecast of the Pegasus World Cup.
00:00:54Zoe Kalman here with Santa Anita, First Racing and XBTV, and woo-hoo, January is over, guys.
00:01:00This is just, you know.
00:01:03Is this get sloshed February, Zoe?
00:01:05Monsoon February, at least for the first week.
00:01:09Don't tell the buses that.
00:01:11Yeah.
00:01:12All right.
00:01:13I know, guys, we get sick of the talk about hyzer, and sometimes it is just like, you
00:01:17know, driving a nail into your skull because it's, you know, it can be tedious.
00:01:22It's complicated.
00:01:24It's frustrating, et cetera.
00:01:25But there was another big development in the hyzer saga on what today is Wednesday.
00:01:30So that would have been yesterday, Tuesday.
00:01:32And back in court.
00:01:33So here's the background.
00:01:34If you remember, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals said it was unconstitutional because
00:01:39the Federal Trade Commission did not have enough authority and hyzer had all the authority.
00:01:43The hyzer folks went back, got the laws changed and the wording in the law changed around
00:01:48to make it as if, well, not as if, but to give the Federal Trade Commission more authority
00:01:52and less authority to hyzer.
00:01:54The reason why is because the court had ruled that as it was, it was unconstitutional.
00:01:59Lo and behold, the court came back yesterday and said, too bad about this new language.
00:02:04It's not good enough.
00:02:05It's still unconstitutional.
00:02:07We have ruled and hyzer is unconstitutional.
00:02:10Again, you know, not digging too deep in the weeds.
00:02:13We'll leave that to our friend Dan Ross from the Thoroughbred Daily News.
00:02:16I don't know how he does it with some of these stories that he writes on hyzer and all the
00:02:20details.
00:02:21But Randy, you know, I'm not a lawyer.
00:02:23There's a lot of these things that I don't understand here.
00:02:26But it looks to me like this might be a death now.
00:02:29I'm not a lawyer.
00:02:30I don't even play one on TV.
00:02:31I have no idea how this is going to end up.
00:02:33But it's obviously not good for the pro hyzer people because their attorneys, as I was told,
00:02:41were confident that the changing of the language would alleviate the concerns that the Court
00:02:48of Appeals had and that hyzer, they thought, could then be given the green light.
00:02:55And instead, it's pretty much an emphatic red light.
00:03:00The HBPA has clearly had hyzer in its crosshairs and they've used for one reason or another
00:03:07and they've used the constitutionality of hyzer, their view of that as the primary mode
00:03:15right now to attack hyzer in court.
00:03:18If it wasn't the constitutionality of it, they would have found something else to try
00:03:22to pick against it.
00:03:24They do not want hyzer implemented again for one reason or another.
00:03:28And it'll be interesting to see how this plays out.
00:03:31Maybe the HBPA will get its wish.
00:03:34Yeah, I honestly am at a loss for words.
00:03:38I don't know what to say.
00:03:39I'm sick of it.
00:03:40Imagine someone from another sport, another business looking in on horse racing, you know,
00:03:47the little round oval with everybody in it.
00:03:49Imagine them looking in.
00:03:50It's laughable.
00:03:51It's a laughingstock.
00:03:53We're trying to please ourselves.
00:03:54We can't even do that.
00:03:56I mean, it's frustrating.
00:03:57It's annoying.
00:03:59I don't know where we go from here.
00:04:01I'm sick of it, honestly.
00:04:03Yeah.
00:04:04I mean, Zoe, succinctly, I think you kind of summed up the way a lot of us feel now.
00:04:08There's more legal things to happen.
00:04:09There's another court, the Sixth Circuit.
00:04:11This ruling yesterday was from the Fifth Circuit that is also dealing with this case.
00:04:15If they rule in favor of hyzer, then you would have two different courts with exact opposite
00:04:21rulings.
00:04:22Then there's some sentiment that the Supreme Court would then take up the case.
00:04:26But that's an awful lot of ifs.
00:04:28And you know, at the end of the day, I'm a pro hyzer fan.
00:04:31I still, for the life of me, don't have never really understood just the serious and almost
00:04:36vitriolic movement by the national HBPA, their feelings toward this.
00:04:43I mean, that this is some sort of, you know, bugaboo that this is just going to the sport
00:04:47has to, you know, they have to eradicate.
00:04:50I don't quite get it.
00:04:51I mean, I think they've been using the constitutionality.
00:04:53I don't think I know they've been using the constitutionality aspect of it as a as an
00:04:58argument, because they know they can use that argument to win in court.
00:05:01I don't think a bunch of trainers are sitting around around the shed row in the morning
00:05:04and really arguing about the merits of whether or not this is constitutional or not.
00:05:08But, you know, at the end of the day, you're right, Zoe.
00:05:10I mean, you know, we're going to be right back to where we started.
00:05:13And, you know, we kind of look like the gang that couldn't shoot straight.
00:05:16You know, that that horse racing couldn't come together and move forward on something
00:05:20that not everybody, but an awful lot of people thought was really very necessary for the
00:05:26future of the sport.
00:05:27I mean, going back decades, there have been arguments that the sport needed some kind
00:05:33of internal policing such as HISA would provide.
00:05:36And the HBPA and some others within the industry have always preached the same mantra.
00:05:41No, we can do it ourselves.
00:05:44We don't need government involvement.
00:05:46Horse racing can take care of it itself.
00:05:48And it never has.
00:05:50The Navarro service incident just pointed out glaringly the lack of oversight that the
00:05:57thoroughbred racing industry has has enabled of itself.
00:06:02And I mean, I'm pro-HISA as well, but I understand that, you know, some of the arguments
00:06:09against it, but all in all, I thought HISA was a good thing.
00:06:13And we'll just see what happens.
00:06:14It's going to be it's going to be interesting and very impactful, I think, to the future
00:06:20of the business. I'd like to see their plan.
00:06:22If the HBPA have indeed killed HISA, I want to see their plans moving forward for a better
00:06:29option. Well, Zoe, I think their plan is no plan.
00:06:33I think their plan is the status quo.
00:06:34And, you know, that's the one thing I and I do agree with you.
00:06:38You know, if you're so against this, come up with a come up with a solution, because I
00:06:42think if they're saying there's no if you don't have a solution, then you must be saying
00:06:45there's no problem. Well, there is a problem.
00:06:48I mean, that that is obvious and we need some sort of solution there.
00:06:51But I tell you what, enough of that for now.
00:06:53Let's get on to something that it's a little bit more fun.
00:06:55The Eclipse Awards and Flightline, of course, was named Horse of the Year.
00:06:59It was an interesting night.
00:07:00I mean, there were a couple divisions that you went into it beforehand.
00:07:04You weren't entirely sure who was going to win.
00:07:07You were kind of, you know, thought and that's more fun than you just have.
00:07:10OK, you know, so and so wins the so and so division with one hundred and seventy two
00:07:16votes and some horse got one.
00:07:18You know, all those no brainers.
00:07:19I thought all along we talk about this.
00:07:21The most interesting division was the three year old male division.
00:07:24And no surprise, I didn't vote for epicenter.
00:07:26I voted for Teba. I'm not the least bit surprised.
00:07:28Epicenter won one fifty five to Teba.
00:07:31Sixty six. So that Malibu apparently.
00:07:34Where'd Zoe go? Apparently that Malibu win didn't do.
00:07:38Oh, there you go. OK, I like that.
00:07:42What? All right.
00:07:44So now we know why you voted for epicenter.
00:07:46They bribed you with a free jacket, right?
00:07:49I went to Cornwall yesterday, I flew to Kentucky and I visited Lane's End and saw
00:07:53a flight line and I went to Cornwall and yeah, saw a bunch of the stallions and and
00:07:59picked up some swag. So I voted for epicenter.
00:08:02So I'm very happy.
00:08:05All right. Randy, are you very happy about the outcome of that division?
00:08:09Well, I mean, I look, I could could have gone either way.
00:08:13I thought you could make a compelling case for Teba as well.
00:08:16I mean, in the end, I thought epicenter deserved to be the three year old champion.
00:08:20I didn't I didn't really see any surprises at all in the eclipse.
00:08:23So I think I voted for every one of the winners except Apprentice Jockey.
00:08:27That was the only one that that had a different outcome than I would have wanted.
00:08:32I thought the three year old and champion trainer were the two most contentious
00:08:37categories. I thought it was almost a coin flip between Todd Pletcher and Chad Brown.
00:08:42In the end, I thought Pletcher probably deserved it because of his one two finish in
00:08:48the Belmont Stakes and because he won more Breeders' Cup races than Chad did.
00:08:52But I thought it was a very formful night at the Breakers in Palm Beach.
00:08:59I thought maybe the steeplechase was a bit of a surprise to me.
00:09:03And this is the power of social media.
00:09:06Shark Handlin has been very popular on social media.
00:09:10He's a big personality, a big figure.
00:09:12And a lot of people that don't know a whole lot about the steeplechase racing in this
00:09:16country, I think just got on the shark bandwagon.
00:09:19I'm not saying he's not deserving.
00:09:21He was incredible when he won over here, but he had one start.
00:09:25I mean, one start.
00:09:26I just don't see the fairness in that.
00:09:29Zoe, I couldn't agree more.
00:09:30That was the one and it's the least important division.
00:09:35I mean, there was 27 abstentions in the voting, but the voters got that wrong.
00:09:39I mean, the step decision was a horse that raced all year long, even ran third in a
00:09:43flat stakes race. I don't know if you should count that in the steeplechase voting, but
00:09:47he should have won that one.
00:09:49And, you know, maybe all the people that say that they don't know anything about
00:09:51steeplechase racing, so therefore don't vote.
00:09:54Maybe they have they have a point because they voted for the wrong horse there in the
00:10:00trainer race. I agree.
00:10:01That was a flip of a coin.
00:10:02I also voted for Todd Pletcher and it was 108 to 95.
00:10:08Do you think anybody penalized Chad Brown for his off the track problems this year?
00:10:13It's entirely possible. I think it would be a shame if it was the case, because I think
00:10:17things like that, just like with Bob Baffert and Medina Spirit, I know a lot of people
00:10:20didn't vote for Medina Spirit last year for champion three year old because of of
00:10:24Baffert's medication transgressions.
00:10:27It would be a shame if that happened.
00:10:29I think it should be based totally on on track performance, but it wouldn't surprise me
00:10:34if it if it had some role in it.
00:10:37The Eclipse Award swayed me.
00:10:38I mean, Todd Pletcher's Eclipse Award ballot certainly swayed me.
00:10:43But other than that, I mean, you can make a case for either either.
00:10:46And this is where human voting gets in with Shaq Hanlon, with Chad Brown.
00:10:52I mean, these are human emotions that nobody can control or foresee.
00:10:56And a lot of that has something to do.
00:10:58It's not purely on facts and figures.
00:11:01Yeah, I mean, I don't know if it cost Chad Brown the Eclipse Award or not, but I would
00:11:04agree with you, Randy. It shouldn't have.
00:11:05It shouldn't have. It's not something anybody should have weighed into the voting.
00:11:09I don't think it should matter what the guy did as a horse trainer this year.
00:11:12And he had an absolutely excellent year.
00:11:14But having said that, I voted for Pletcher because many of the same reasons that you
00:11:17said, I mean, the three Eclipse Award winners, the one, two and the Belmont Stakes, you
00:11:20know, a really special year.
00:11:22Then I was interested, too.
00:11:23We knew there was going to be some backlash against Flightline.
00:11:26And there was there were seven votes that were either for an other horse, for Horse
00:11:31of the Year or Abstentions.
00:11:32I mean, someone voted for Country Grammar for Horse of the Year, which is just silly.
00:11:36I honestly thought there might be a little bit more of a backlash that, you know, there
00:11:40might be twenty five no votes for Flightline.
00:11:44So by and large, you know, everybody seemed to be OK with the three race season that he
00:11:50had. We all wish it were, you know, six, seven, eight races.
00:11:54It is what it is. But I mean, he was the Horse of the Year.
00:11:58There was no doubt about it. And again, you know, I'm not going to scream at the people
00:12:01who decided not to vote for him or everybody to take their votes away and that kind of
00:12:04stuff. Now, you know, people, a couple of people made us try to make a statement.
00:12:08But it's only a couple.
00:12:09At the end of the day, Flightline was as dominant as you would have expected.
00:12:13Yeah, I mean, I put that in the same category with what I said about Baffert and what I
00:12:17said about Chad Brown. I mean, for someone not to vote for Flightline, as brilliant as
00:12:22he was for Horse of the Year, because they have an ax to grind with the ownership
00:12:27retiring him, what they consider to be prematurely, I think it's not fair and it
00:12:33shouldn't be factored in.
00:12:35But clearly with six people, I suppose it was.
00:12:40The TDN Writers Room is brought to you by Keeneland.
00:12:43And as we just discussed, guys, all 10 horses recognized as flat racing champions at
00:12:49the Eclipse Awards have a connection to Keeneland, either through the auctions or the
00:12:53races. Listen to this.
00:12:55Seven champions were graduates of the Keeneland sales, including six alumni of the
00:13:00September sale.
00:13:01Horse of the Year and Older Dirt Male Flightline won the Breeders' Cup Classic at
00:13:06Keeneland. And two days later at Keeneland's November sale, a 2.5 ownership interest
00:13:11sold for 4.6 million.
00:13:14So if you want to get to the Eclipse Awards, I think you better start shopping at
00:13:18Keeneland. We'll be right back after these messages from Keeneland.
00:13:25If this place could talk.
00:13:30It would roar. It would say, this is a racing, this beating heart in the heart of horse
00:13:39country. Steady and strong beneath the roar.
00:13:44Reminding us why.
00:13:46For the love of the horse.
00:13:49For generations to come.
00:13:53Spicetown.
00:13:56Bunning.
00:14:00Echotown.
00:14:03It's Echotown for Joe Palomo and Echotown breaks the wave and Echotown is drawing away
00:14:10in the stretch. Echotown wins the Alan Turkin Stakes.
00:14:14A sire line so prolific it repeats itself.
00:14:18Echotown.
00:14:23The TDN Writers Room is brought to you by Coolmore.
00:14:26Now, if I look a bit bleary eyed, I just got back from Kentucky and I did get a chance to
00:14:31visit Coolmore, picked up some nice Epicenter swag.
00:14:36And according to the guys, they've never seen a horse come to them straight from the races
00:14:41as good as Epicenter looked.
00:14:43He arrived there in fine fettle.
00:14:45Obviously, he got hurt in the Breeders' Cup Classic, but he's going to go on to a stellar
00:14:50stud career.
00:14:52I also got a chance to visit Corniche, my old favorite.
00:14:55I haven't seen him since last summer and he's filled out into a big, beautiful, gorgeous
00:15:02son of Quality Road and seeing Quality Road and then taking a look at Corniche, he's just
00:15:08going to look just like his daddy.
00:15:09I also got a chance to see Jack Christopher.
00:15:12I haven't seen him since Saratoga as well.
00:15:15Beautiful looking son of Munnings, got that lovely big swaggery walk.
00:15:20And then Golden Pal is everything is advertised as well.
00:15:23If you want to take a look at a good looking horse who doesn't look like a sprinter, go to
00:15:28Coolmore and check out Golden Pal.
00:15:31Lots of good sires at Coolmore, especially that freshman class that they're bringing in.
00:15:34Hey, guys, let's go look now at last week's Pegasus World Cup.
00:15:37Coming up after this segment, we'll hear from Bruce Lunsford, the owner of Art Collector.
00:15:43You know, I thought the race was pretty much what we might have expected.
00:15:46It was a wide open affair.
00:15:48You know, it didn't it had it was, quote unquote, proverbial great betting race, did not really
00:15:53have any superstars in the lineup.
00:15:55But, you know, and Art Collector was as a handicapper to me, was very hard to come up
00:15:59with. But, you know, coming up with a winner in that race was pretty much impossible.
00:16:03I mean, I think, you know, the best thing you could have done is put the program page up and
00:16:06just thrown darts at it.
00:16:07But hey, take nothing away from Art Collector.
00:16:09He ran, no doubt, the best race of his life.
00:16:12He won by four and a half lengths over defunded Bob Baffert's horse that came in from the
00:16:17West Coast. And, you know, it was a good race.
00:16:19It was a great day of racing.
00:16:21The betting, I want to get into that a little bit later, was just through the roof.
00:16:25And I'm sure the people at First Racing were very satisfied with the day.
00:16:28And Art Collector was, at the end of it, the star, Randy.
00:16:32Oh, clearly the best horse.
00:16:35You know, if you had known that Art Collector was going to be, you know, back in peak form
00:16:40like the form that he had when he won the Woodward or some of those Charlestown races or
00:16:45the Bluegrass as a three-year-old, the Ellis Park race right after that.
00:16:49I mean, he had some really good races back on his form.
00:16:52But his most recent race in the Lucas Classic, he really laid an egg.
00:16:56I mean, that was a race that was not a particularly strong race the way it finished.
00:17:02By the clock, it was a very disappointing sort of race where Hot Rod Charlie beat Rich
00:17:07Strike. And Art Collector set a nice, reasonable pace in that race and then just basically
00:17:13fell apart the last quarter of a mile.
00:17:14It was hard to like Art Collector, even knowing Bill Mott does so well with horses coming
00:17:19off layoffs off of that Lucas Classic.
00:17:22And I think Karen McLaughlin, a smart guy, the jockey agent of Luis Saez, thought the
00:17:29same thing. I mean, he had a choice between putting Saez on Art Collector or putting him
00:17:35on Get Your Number, who was on Get Her Number, who was another long shot in there.
00:17:40And he ultimately chose Get Her Number instead.
00:17:43And I think a lot of us kind of felt the same way that Art Collector might not be quite
00:17:47the same horse that he had been earlier.
00:17:49Congratulations.
00:17:51Kudos, I guess I should say, to Bill Mott.
00:17:54You know, Hall of Fame trainers like that can have an impact not just in preparation of
00:17:59the horse, but in strategy.
00:18:02When we were doing the race for NBC, we tried to talk to all the trainers, some of the
00:18:06owners, all the riders beforehand doing our research.
00:18:09Jerry Bailey had a chance to talk to Bill Mott.
00:18:11And Mott told Jerry a couple of days before the race, look, with Defunded in there, with
00:18:15Stiletto Boy in there, I'm going to try to change things up until Junior Alvarado to
00:18:20ease Art Collector back off the pace.
00:18:23And we'll try that tactic and see if it works.
00:18:26And I think that was key to the outcome of that race.
00:18:30Maybe he would have been good enough to win anyway because he was dominant, but he
00:18:34certainly, that change in tactics worked well for him, Zoe.
00:18:37Well, if I had been watching your telecast, I would have known that because I did not
00:18:41know the tactics going forward.
00:18:43And with Saez jumping ship, he's always been a very good horse.
00:18:48But to me, always maybe a cut below this year's crop.
00:18:53And boy, did he prove everyone wrong that day.
00:18:56And I think the happiest person there in the winner's circle was Irma Lee Scott, who
00:19:01when, who was the big mare he had?
00:19:04When Alate left Bill's Barn, I can remember her dragging me into the shed row two years
00:19:09ago in 21 and saying, hey, Miss Zoe, Miss Zoe, I got a new horse.
00:19:13You want to come see my baby?
00:19:15And I'm like, who's your new baby?
00:19:16You just got, you know, Alate just went to the breeding shed.
00:19:19She's like, it's this little horse called Art Collector.
00:19:21And she led me over to Art Collector's stall and he literally just got there.
00:19:26And he wasn't much to look at.
00:19:28And I'm like, oh, OK, yeah, I remember him.
00:19:31And over the course of that summer and the months, he filled out into this big,
00:19:36beautiful looking horse.
00:19:38And Irma Lee Scott, that is her baby.
00:19:40She has one baby in Bill's Barn every couple of years.
00:19:44And Art Collector is one of them.
00:19:45And I was glad to see her in the winner's circle.
00:19:47I really was.
00:19:49Yeah, and from a business standpoint, first racing, the Stronach Group has really
00:19:54succeeded. They wanted to take this day and turn it into an event, a party, just,
00:19:59you know, something that goes well beyond just a horse race.
00:20:02And, you know, that might not be for everybody.
00:20:04A lot of curmudgeons out there.
00:20:05And it should be about horse racing, not about some, you know, musical act I never
00:20:09heard of because I'm too old and not cool and everything like that.
00:20:12But look at the handle.
00:20:14They handled forty three million dollars on this.
00:20:18And the last time this day was run as something other than the Pegasus World Cup
00:20:23was in 2016 was still the Don Handicap.
00:20:26And they handled nineteen million dollars.
00:20:27So they've more than doubled the handle on this race over that period of time, over
00:20:33seven years. And a lot of that is, you know, that whole flood.
00:20:36We talked with Aiden Butler about it when he was a Green Group guest of the week last
00:20:40week about, you know, the importance of getting people to the racetrack, because
00:20:44that's the way you're going to turn them into racing fans.
00:20:47Nobody's going to go on their ADW and bet on the fourth race at, you know, crumb
00:20:52nuts downs or whatever and become a fan of horse racing that way.
00:20:56You have to become somebody who loves the game and sees the horses.
00:21:00So they really hit it on the head.
00:21:01They're also interesting.
00:21:02Afterwards, there was a report that they think that they're going to not they think
00:21:05they said, and they were not a lot of specifics, but they're going to have Pegasus
00:21:09races next year at Santa Anita.
00:21:12Now, I don't know if that means they're not going to take things away from Gulfstream.
00:21:15So I don't know if that means there'll be two Pegasus World Cups, maybe one in March.
00:21:20Maybe they'll turn the big cap into the Pegasus World Cup West or something like that.
00:21:24But Randy, the business was booming.
00:21:26Interesting thoughts about running this, bringing this concept to the West Coast next
00:21:31year. So a lot of lots to talk about there.
00:21:34Yeah, I mean, I was there firsthand.
00:21:35A lot of NBC's telecasts now are done in the studio up in Connecticut.
00:21:39But Belinda Stronach, one at NBC on site at Gulfstream Park, largely to promote the
00:21:45sort of party aspect that you're talking about and show people exactly what's going
00:21:50on down there. I'm older and I'm uncool.
00:21:53And I'm not a big fan of One Republic or Kygo or Joe Jonas, you know, but I was there
00:22:00at the party afterward with my college age daughter and her roommate and my wife, who
00:22:07was in the fashion industry.
00:22:09And I'm telling you, it was elbow to elbow as all of our little NBC group pushed our
00:22:15way up to the front of the stage.
00:22:17It was it was extremely, extremely successful event.
00:22:23And my wife commented, she goes to the Kentucky Derby with me every year.
00:22:27And she said this from a fashion and a lifestyle standpoint, the Pegasus World Cup is
00:22:34like a mini Kentucky Derby.
00:22:36They've done a really good job with that.
00:22:38And if they do choose to take it to the West Coast, I don't see why that concept would be
00:22:42any less successful in suburban Los Angeles than it is in suburban Miami.
00:22:48It'll be a maxi, it'll be a maxi Pegasus party.
00:22:52There is so much more room here at Santa Anita.
00:22:56Just imagine bringing all that West.
00:22:59Now, you know, we were talking about there is another Pegasus statue.
00:23:02Perhaps they'll finally get the rights to erect it here at Santa Anita because that was
00:23:06the longtime dream.
00:23:07But I can't imagine bringing it West because it's going to be absolutely huge.
00:23:13Now, I wasn't down there this past time.
00:23:15I think I was there for the first three or four and it was big enough back then.
00:23:19Now, to make it even bigger and bring it West, I think it's going to be fantastic.
00:23:24And First Racing is visionary.
00:23:26They're moving forward.
00:23:28We'll talk in a little bit about the first Saturday series that they're going to have
00:23:32encompassing the first racing tracks this weekend.
00:23:34It'll be Santa Anita and Goldstream Park.
00:23:37So I think they're just trying to move forward.
00:23:39And whether you like it or not, they're going to shove this right in your face.
00:23:43And Randy, OneRepublic's old.
00:23:46Have you not?
00:23:46Do you know OneRepublic?
00:23:48I wouldn't know.
00:23:48You should know OneRepublic.
00:23:50They're old.
00:23:51I mean, we're always talking about how important it is to introduce younger people to
00:23:55the races, right?
00:23:56Well, standing in front of that stage, and it was like this.
00:23:58It was elbow to elbow.
00:24:00It was like a fraternity party in college.
00:24:02I looked around and I was definitely the old guy among all the people that were around
00:24:09me, just a sea of young people who were having a fantastic time.
00:24:13Now, how much of that is going to cross over?
00:24:16You know, will you turn those people into horse racing fans who bet on the races?
00:24:20I don't know.
00:24:21But in terms of bringing young people to the racetrack and showing them a fantastic
00:24:26time, it was a huge success.
00:24:30And the Lane's End Stallion of the Week is the newly minted horse of the year,
00:24:34Flightline.
00:24:35The TDN has been conducting a mating plans series where we talk to breeders about
00:24:39their plans for 2023.
00:24:41Last week, it was Peter Brandt, which was fascinating.
00:24:44A few mares featured in this series that we know are going to Flightline include
00:24:48grade one winner Dreamtree to Layla, full sister to Express Train.
00:24:52Sixth winner Byroness, Miss Hot Legs, the half sister to champion Swiss Skydiver.
00:24:57And I was told this past week at Gulfstream that just retired grade one winner
00:25:02Delica, strongly being considered for Flightline as well.
00:25:06Flightline stands for $200,000 this year at Lane's End.
00:25:10And now we'll be right back after this message from Lane's End.
00:25:14Flightline is in full flight.
00:25:17Flightline turns it on at the top of the stretch and he's in cruise control.
00:25:23And Flightline takes off.
00:25:25Take a good look at this, because you're not going to see this too often.
00:25:29Maybe never again.
00:25:31Flightline, 20 lengths clear.
00:25:33World class racehorse, world class performance at a world championship event.
00:25:46Today on the TDN Riders Room, we debut a new segment,
00:25:49the fastest horse of the week brought to you by the fast stallions at Windstar Farm.
00:25:54Typically, it will be the horse with the highest buyer speed figure of the previous week.
00:25:58But before we reveal who last week's winner was,
00:26:02let's hear from one of the fast sires at Windstar.
00:26:06Which Windstar stallion won the grade one Woodward as a four-year-old,
00:26:09just like his sire Curlin, going wire to wire and earning a 104 buyer?
00:26:14He won the Peter Pan stakes and won 46.71,
00:26:17the second fastest nine furlong Peter Pan ever.
00:26:21Won six of 10 stakes, including three graded stakes, earning four triple digit buyers.
00:26:26Well, it's Bolt Dorough's half brother, Global Campaign.
00:26:31That's an awful lot of fast for just $10,000 at Windstar.
00:26:37And now the fastest horse of the week.
00:26:39Yes, Art Collector earned a buyer of 107 in the Pegasus World Cup,
00:26:44but a little more than two hours and before that and 1,200 miles north of Gulfstream.
00:26:50Five-year-old gelding Repo Rocks turned in the week's fastest performance by the numbers,
00:26:56earning a 111 buyer speed figure for his eight and a half length victory
00:27:01in the seven furlong grade three Toboggan stakes at Aqueduct.
00:27:05It was a fantastic performance for Repo Rocks,
00:27:08who is now three for three since owner Stephen Fox
00:27:12transferred him last November to Parks Racing's leading trainer, Jamie Ness.
00:27:17The Toboggan was not only Repo Rocks' fastest race by far,
00:27:21the Toboggan was his first stakes win in the 32nd race of his career.
00:27:27It was also the first graded win for jockey Andrew Wolfson,
00:27:31who has now transferred his stack from Penn National to Parks Racing.
00:27:35And that 111 buyer for Repo Rocks is the fastest earned by any horse thus far in 2023.
00:27:43The Green Group is an accounting and tax consulting advisory firm specializing in
00:27:48the thoroughbred industry with over 500 clients in the horse business.
00:27:52It has proven strategies to save you taxes.
00:27:54You can learn more at www.greenco.com.
00:27:58And now for the Green Group guest of the week.
00:28:01And we welcome in this week's Green Group guest of the week, Bruce Lunsford,
00:28:04the owner of Art Collector, the winner of the Pegasus World Cup Invitational.
00:28:09Bruce, let's break some news here on our podcast.
00:28:11There was some talk after the race that maybe he'd be retired, set off to stud.
00:28:15He is a stallion.
00:28:16He is six years old.
00:28:18What are the plans for 2023?
00:28:19Well, you know, I had, I had, I haven't had much time to talk to many people,
00:28:24but I did get to talk to my, one of my three top advisors in Seth Hancock yesterday.
00:28:30And I wanted to make sure he was comfortable.
00:28:33I think he's, he really loved the race.
00:28:36He loved everything about it.
00:28:37You know, he and I've had such, I mean, the history of this horse goes all the way back
00:28:41to buying money and that's been 30 years ago or whatever.
00:28:44Bunning had Visionverse, Bunning had, you know, two or three other pretty decent horses
00:28:49and then had this filly that's distorted legacy that we, that they always get better as they get
00:28:54older, they all got better as they got older.
00:28:57And that's another reason why I felt, you know, we had a lot of issues with his, with his heel,
00:29:03you know, the front heel that causes a lot of delays and Bill and Tommy, everybody that had him,
00:29:10you'd work at it, you work on it, you work on it.
00:29:12But this time we gave the horse plenty of time and Bill, you know, Bill's a magician, you know,
00:29:18he's, he's almost a veterinary and he finally figured out how to get it.
00:29:21And he, he made a point of showing me the other day,
00:29:24how it's there and he push it and do all that stuff.
00:29:27And I think it made a big difference.
00:29:28Well, it's great news, Bruce.
00:29:30Congratulations, by the way, it's great news that fans will get a chance to see more of our
00:29:34collector before we came on the air here for the podcast, we were talking about your philosophy
00:29:40about running horses and giving fans a chance to see the horses.
00:29:45Tell us a little bit about that.
00:29:46Well, you know, part of, part of what's helped me in the business is,
00:29:49you know, I've been in the business for a long time,
00:29:51and I've been in the business for a long time, and I've been in the business for a long time.
00:29:54Tell us a little bit about that.
00:29:56Well, you know, part of, part of what's helped me in the business is having,
00:29:59having good mentors and, you know, WT Young was a really close friend to me,
00:30:04did a lot of nice things for me.
00:30:05He gave me a couple of, you know, seasons in Stormcat early.
00:30:10One was, one was with Vision Inverse and another one that did okay.
00:30:16But I learned from him, you know, you give and then you get to get back.
00:30:20And what I, what I feel like is what's one year in your life,
00:30:24if you keep them one more year on the track or, you know, what does it mean if you,
00:30:28if you make your price, your stallion shares at a reasonable price to get more people involved.
00:30:34And I think you'd find you get rewarded in many ways.
00:30:37And I felt like in this case, it's pretty well made the decision
00:30:42if he didn't get blistered in the race that we would run it.
00:30:46And, you know, and I'll have, you know, have more information with Seth and all that.
00:30:51But, you know, Bill's, Bill's been told by me that if he, if he does well, we'll continue.
00:30:58And I think that was a pretty good race the other day.
00:31:01Gives us a chance to take that shot.
00:31:03And, you know, I remember the old days.
00:31:05I mean, I remember the old days when they made Secretary of the Horse
00:31:09because of what they did with Penny and all that.
00:31:11I remember what Paul Hancock, when he was engaged in the game
00:31:15and the way Travers became such a big race and then the upsets at Saratoga.
00:31:20All these things that people actually got engaged in.
00:31:23We're in a society of doing this all the time.
00:31:26And I think those of us in the horse business who like the horse business want to enjoy it.
00:31:31And it wasn't meant to be your main source of living for everybody.
00:31:35It was meant to be, you know, something like on a baseball team or a football team or something.
00:31:41And I think, I think we need some owners that have the capability, you know,
00:31:46Judd model race them for a while.
00:31:48Some of these other guys will.
00:31:49And certainly, you know, even the guy that owns Rich Strike, you know,
00:31:54this is an experience of a lifetime.
00:31:56He's going to keep that horse on as long as we stand, I think.
00:31:58And I just I feel like we need more of that in the game.
00:32:02You know, they if you watch the Super Bowl playoffs and all that,
00:32:06you see you see how much it takes out of people, how many get hurt, how many things happen.
00:32:11But they still show up every day and they still get to the field.
00:32:14And, you know, I love I love excitement.
00:32:18That was terrific excitement.
00:32:20Makes your blood pumped and and your friends.
00:32:22I mean, I know you don't know all these guys, but we watched it in the in the in the paddock,
00:32:29you know, where you got the big TVs and that.
00:32:32And I had two close friends there, Greg Hudson, Jim Navolio and David York.
00:32:36And when he when he when he passed the finish line, I had one hit me from the back.
00:32:42One hit me from the front.
00:32:43One hit me from the side.
00:32:44I thought it was about out of my breath, but we made it.
00:32:47We made it out there.
00:32:48OK.
00:32:50Bruce, is is the Saudi in the Dubai World Cup?
00:32:53Are they possibilities then?
00:32:55Well, I went over last year with him in the or two years ago in the in the Saudi race.
00:33:00He didn't like the track, you know, nothing against the people in Saudi Arabia,
00:33:05but I'm not a big fan of Saudi Arabia.
00:33:07I actually stayed in Dubai and flew over to Saudi and then flew back to Dubai because
00:33:12Dubai is a pretty good place.
00:33:14I've been there before.
00:33:16And if I if I had the right horse, I would consider Dubai at some point.
00:33:21But I think I've had enough with this horse.
00:33:24We'll figure it out later.
00:33:25I think he's going to get good shots.
00:33:27I talked to Seth about this yesterday and I've talked to Bill about it,
00:33:31but not in picketing any spot.
00:33:33We're going to let the horse tell us.
00:33:35There's all I could give you a list of 10 races that would fit him this year.
00:33:39But I want to make sure we do what we did here.
00:33:41We took our time and we got to the right spot because he's really he's really a lovable horse.
00:33:48I mean, he he works hard.
00:33:49He's got a great caretaker.
00:33:51And, you know, after the race, he was full of himself.
00:33:55You know, I let him in, but he was he was just he was like my dog.
00:33:59I got a big dog, weighs about one hundred and five pounds,
00:34:01and she does the same thing the horse was doing.
00:34:04I think that's a part of the sport people need to see.
00:34:07You know, if you if you take the whiskey industry in Louisville
00:34:11and what they've done to make it a major industry in the last five to 10 years,
00:34:16it's unbelievable.
00:34:17I think we've got to rethink that.
00:34:19And, you know, we may not be a whole United States sport.
00:34:23We may be more like NASCAR.
00:34:26I mean, California is hanging on by the fingernails
00:34:29because it's just hard to get horses in races.
00:34:32I mean, you know, if you look at the races this week for the derby,
00:34:36pre derby races, you got four and one and five and another.
00:34:40I don't think that attracts fans like a big field.
00:34:43I mean, we had we had we had 12 or we had, you know,
00:34:4710 horses or whatever we had in the race the other day.
00:34:49And we had two on the also eligible list.
00:34:52That's what makes that's what better want to see.
00:34:55You know, you want to be a guy who picked out of out of 12 horses.
00:34:58I know you feel that way, Randy, because you've been doing this stuff a long time.
00:35:02And I think that's going to be the secret.
00:35:05You know, I know we got Hissa and all these other things of debate.
00:35:08But the real debate is if you think about the horse first and the industry second,
00:35:13we'll get there.
00:35:14You just got to get the right players doing it.
00:35:17So one of the issues that he had in the Saudi Cup last year was that he was
00:35:20totally rushed off his feet to try to get to the early lead in what turned out to be
00:35:24a very fast paced race.
00:35:26Conversely, in the Pegasus, one of the keys to winning, I thought,
00:35:29was the change in tactics where he was reserved a little bit off the pace.
00:35:34How did that conversation go race between you and Bill Mott and maybe Junior Alvarado?
00:35:41Well, you know, Junior's his guy.
00:35:43And and, you know, Louis, Louis, great speed rider.
00:35:48I'd put him over anybody.
00:35:49He and he and I ran are probably the two that can ride like that on a regular basis.
00:35:54But but the the issue happened.
00:35:57We also had a race in the Churchill, by the way, which all the races I've won all the
00:36:03one in Churchill doubts and I've raced more there than anywhere.
00:36:08But, you know, he got the lead fairly easily in there.
00:36:11But, you know, hot rod, Charlie stayed on him the whole way and he quit.
00:36:15And and that's when I thought about, well, maybe this is it.
00:36:18And then we just kind of I said, Bill, take him home.
00:36:21We'll just think about it and watch what happens, how he progresses.
00:36:24And, you know, we thought about going to a couple of other races.
00:36:27But in the end, I trust Bill ability to get a horse ready for a big race better than anybody
00:36:34I know.
00:36:35And if we got in a race to get to the Derby, I'd tell him to take six weeks off and let's go.
00:36:42I don't care.
00:36:43You do what you want to do.
00:36:44And for him and you've seen him do this for years.
00:36:47I know you guys have where he gets a horse all of us six weeks, eight weeks, 10 weeks,
00:36:5212 weeks.
00:36:53It brings them to the race and they run through the wind.
00:36:56And he did it again.
00:36:58This was a great masterpiece on his part.
00:37:01And I do think personally, I think he's the best trainer in the business.
00:37:04Well, speaking of Bill Mott, let's not forget that Tom Drury was the original trainer.
00:37:08Did a nice job.
00:37:09But midway through 2021, you made the decision to go to Mott.
00:37:13Could you talk about why you made that decision?
00:37:15And the horse is six for eight since you've done that.
00:37:17So obviously it worked out well.
00:37:19And then, you know, just what a difference Mott has made.
00:37:22Well, there are a couple of things that happened earlier.
00:37:24First of all, I gave him to Joe Sharp.
00:37:27And then Sharp had his stuff with when they took a race for me and others.
00:37:32And I like Joe and I still like Joe.
00:37:34But I just don't want to have that environment around me with my horses.
00:37:38I don't want to have controversy in that.
00:37:41You have enough in business and everything else.
00:37:43And so I just brought him home.
00:37:46Tommy's been a home trainer for me for a long time.
00:37:48He took care of Madcap, brought her off.
00:37:50He takes care of Delica for Alstall.
00:37:53And we have we have an incredibly close relationship.
00:37:56And but but when we had the last race at Churchill Downs,
00:38:00I just sat back and I went in and talked to Tommy.
00:38:03And I know it was it was a punch in the gut for him.
00:38:05But I said, I said, I want to go to New York because there are the races
00:38:09that get ready for the other races.
00:38:12You've got good, great jockeys, not good jockeys, great jockeys.
00:38:16You've got a lot of things in the favor.
00:38:18And Bill Mott has you know, we go way back to Vision Inverse and other horses.
00:38:22And when I got through with talking to him about it,
00:38:25staying in touch with him and letting him deal with my other horses,
00:38:28we're probably closer now than we've ever been.
00:38:31You know, he's he's a partner in the horse because I want him to be.
00:38:35And and we've we've really we've we've kept a great relationship.
00:38:39You know, my wife loves his daughter.
00:38:41I mean, we just have a lot of a lot of times with them.
00:38:44And so I think I made the decision on the right terms, took a little heat for it
00:38:48and just, you know, kept my mouth shut and let it happen.
00:38:51And when we got ready, won the Alador the first year off of that long layoff.
00:38:56I thought it was impressive.
00:38:58I thought it did everything I wanted to get done.
00:39:00And then the next race, of course, was our favorite, the Charlestown Classic.
00:39:06I think it's a great race.
00:39:08It's like old school.
00:39:09I don't know if any of you guys have ever been there, but it's like old school there.
00:39:13And and everybody loves Art Collector there.
00:39:15They all got trophies and pictures and stuff of him in that.
00:39:18But, you know, sometimes you got to do those things.
00:39:21So you mentioned the Horse Racing Integrity and Safety Act, HISSUP, the politics of racing
00:39:26right now and kind of colliding with other politics as far as HISSUP goes.
00:39:30Now, most people in the sport know Bruce Lundford as the owner of Art Collector and Vision Inverse
00:39:36and Madcap Escapade and First Samurai and all these other great horses you've had.
00:39:41A lot of the people in Kentucky know you as the guy who in 2008 gave Mitch McConnell the
00:39:46scare of his political career when you ran for his Senate seat and very nearly beat him.
00:39:52Well, if he hadn't gotten so much money at the end, I would have beat him, but it kept
00:39:56coming in in droves.
00:39:58He gave all his staff time off, you know, to come in here and campaign against me, walking
00:40:02beside me everywhere I went.
00:40:03But you're right.
00:40:05It was a great experience, but it taught me a lot.
00:40:08Twenty million, apparently, is what Mitch McConnell spent to have to to have to beat
00:40:12you in that 2008 race.
00:40:13So now McConnell was his extra.
00:40:15That was his extra money.
00:40:16He really spent over 30.
00:40:18I mean, but it was it was, you know, that's that's what life's about.
00:40:22I mean, I'm in it to play.
00:40:24You know, there's the old, you know, the old the country.
00:40:26I like the words in country songs where the guy says, you know, if you have a dream, chase
00:40:31it because the dream won't chase you back.
00:40:34I like that song.
00:40:35That's a good word.
00:40:36That's a way to look at it.
00:40:37I've had a lot of dreams.
00:40:38Some of them come true.
00:40:39Some of them don't.
00:40:40This is a case where actually one came through pretty well.
00:40:44It wasn't the Derby, but it's a pretty close experience.
00:40:47So you're I mean, you're very involved in politics.
00:40:50You're very involved in horse racing.
00:40:51McConnell's behind Heisenau.
00:40:52It seems to be a bipartisan push.
00:40:54What's your opinion about that particular piece of legislation?
00:40:58Well, I think some form of it's got to pass.
00:41:01I wish that we would.
00:41:03Let's go back to personal interests again.
00:41:05You go back to personal interests.
00:41:08I don't think guys that retire horses are thinking about what they're doing to the people
00:41:14that watch the horse, love the horse and everything else.
00:41:16I think they're thinking about how they keep the farm alive.
00:41:19How do we make all these expenses?
00:41:20Now, some of them don't need that.
00:41:22But the other side of the coin is that a lot of people like let's take the union or the
00:41:29guild or whatever it is that takes care of all the people other than the rich players
00:41:34in the game.
00:41:35They're battling it because it limits them some.
00:41:38And they're being pumped to battle it because there are people in their best interest are
00:41:44not to have his around in my my my thought process.
00:41:48I think it should be around and I think it should have strict rules.
00:41:52But Randy, the one thing about the industry that they haven't done, we don't give much
00:41:58penalty.
00:42:00We don't get the vets involved very often.
00:42:02We don't do it to clean house.
00:42:05And I think you got to do that.
00:42:06I mean, look, the only two players that have really suffered.
00:42:11One was was Rick Dutrow, and he maybe got he maybe was overkill him because he was a
00:42:17good trainer.
00:42:19And the others in Churchill basically took it on their own back to penalize Bob because
00:42:25he'd had two years in a row of damaging the Oaks in the Derby.
00:42:29And I think it's what you got to do.
00:42:31If you're afraid you'll go to jail, if you're afraid that you'll be kicked out of your
00:42:37livelihood or whatever else, you'll do a little differently.
00:42:40I mean, I could name all kinds of players who I thought were gone forever and came back
00:42:44to one of the circles.
00:42:46You know, good industries don't do that.
00:42:49They don't let that happen.
00:42:50We're also not well known enough publicly.
00:42:53It's not like being a football player or baseball player or big sport with big interests
00:42:58or soccer even.
00:43:00We don't have that kind of audience.
00:43:02We may be better with a tighter audience.
00:43:04That's why I said earlier about about, you know, then then the car racing and look at
00:43:09what a job they've they've done over the years.
00:43:12Formula One is one of the great events I know.
00:43:16It's not my event, but it's pretty interesting.
00:43:18It's pretty interesting when you watch it.
00:43:21We got to continue to do that.
00:43:23And I do I do compliment what NBC is trying to do.
00:43:26They're trying to make it more interesting.
00:43:28And, you know, so is Fox.
00:43:30I mean, we got people that are trying.
00:43:32All we got to do is not not handcuff them, take them, take them, put them out there and
00:43:37let them spend their money promoting us the way they have others.
00:43:40Nike's the all time example how to market.
00:43:43Well, Bruce Lunster, we want to thank you so much for your time being the Green Group
00:43:47guest of the week.
00:43:47Great to know that Art Collector is coming back and you're determined to race them as
00:43:51often as possible.
00:43:52That's a breath of fresh air in a game where we don't get too many owners to do that.
00:43:55Bruce, thanks again for your time and good luck with Art Collector.
00:43:58OK, well, just remember, Bill makes the decisions on that, not me.
00:44:02OK, I'm not about to take on that risk by myself.
00:44:05All right.
00:44:06OK, take care, fellas.
00:44:07The Green Group guest of the week, Bruce Lunsford, will receive a free one hour tax
00:44:12consultation.
00:44:13You can learn more about the Green Group, an accounting and tax consulting advisory
00:44:17firm specializing in the thoroughbred business at www.greenco.com.
00:44:23Why do the most successful owners, breeders and horsemen select the Green Group as their
00:44:26tax advisor?
00:44:27We simply save them money and know how to make them more successful.
00:44:30Over the past 40 years, founder Leonard Green has owned and bred some of the best race
00:44:34horses in the history of the sport.
00:44:36His in-depth, hands-on industry knowledge, combined with cutting edge tax saving
00:44:39strategies, has produced positive results for his clientele and has made the Green
00:44:43Group the top rated accounting and tax firm in the business.
00:44:46For a confidential and complimentary consultation, contact us at 732-634-5100 or
00:44:52visit our website at www.greenco.com.
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00:44:58Here in Pennsylvania, we're proud of our breeding program, the best in North America,
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00:45:32Nominations for the two-year-old Pennsylvania Sired Pennsylvania Bred Stallion Series
00:45:36open now.
00:45:36The nomination fee, $500 if paid by March 31st.
00:45:40A reminder of the series being expanded in 2023.
00:45:44The first two races will run at the end of August on the annual Pennsylvania Day at the
00:45:49races, followed by the second leg on September 23rd, Pennsylvania Derby Day, and the last
00:45:54leg at the end of December.
00:45:56Well, this part of the podcast each week, we like to do our three-year-old watch.
00:46:00There were a couple races over the weekend.
00:46:02You had the San Vicente at Santa Anita, but the big story is clearly Arabian Night and
00:46:06the Southwest Stakes.
00:46:07And, you know, you look at this horse and you want to reserve yourself a little bit.
00:46:11Should we really be going overboard about a horse that's only raced twice?
00:46:16And this was his first stakes performance in a grade three.
00:46:19I think it's okay to go overboard.
00:46:21The $2.3 million two-year-old purchase has looked phenomenal for Bob Baffert, breaking
00:46:27his maiden at Keeneland and coming back in the Southwest.
00:46:30I granted he kind of had everything his own way, but this is a very, very talented race
00:46:36horse.
00:46:36TD Thornton in the TDN's top 10 for, excuse me, I do think he does a top 12 for the Kentucky
00:46:42Derby, had Arabian Night number one coming into this race.
00:46:46You know, we got to see more, you know, I don't, again, I don't want to get too carried
00:46:50away.
00:46:51But on the other hand, Randy, it's pretty hard not to get very excited about this horse.
00:46:56Even with all Forte has accomplished and the Breeders' Cup winner and Eclipse Award winner,
00:47:00I think this is the best three-year-old.
00:47:02Oh, and, you know, I mean, we watch him on our computers or watch him on TV or so maybe,
00:47:08you know, watch the workouts.
00:47:09Zoe's seen him firsthand out there.
00:47:11Zoe, I remember last week you were talking about what an amazing looking specimen he
00:47:15is.
00:47:16I'm pretty sure I said I'd like to date him, you know, if he was a man.
00:47:19I mean, he's hubba hubba gorgeous.
00:47:21And he ran to his looks.
00:47:23He really did.
00:47:24And I think maybe one of you two were talking about maybe rating him.
00:47:29Velasquez.
00:47:31Yeah.
00:47:32Sloppy racetrack.
00:47:34Bob's not conceding to anybody.
00:47:35They just went, never look back.
00:47:37Never looked like a loser at any point.
00:47:40He's bred to love the wet track.
00:47:41And I think if you look back the history of all of the Triple Crown preps at Oak Lawn,
00:47:47it's always raining.
00:47:48I've been there for enough of them.
00:47:50You pack wellies and a raincoat, even if it says it's going to be 70 and sunny, because
00:47:54it will rain even if it's right before the start of the race.
00:47:58You will get wet if you're going for a Triple Crown prep.
00:48:01He was fantastic.
00:48:02He's come back in good order.
00:48:04And it'll be interesting to see what happens next.
00:48:07He was squarely much the best in that race.
00:48:10I thought he was going to, in all fairness, I thought he was going to have to be rated
00:48:14out of necessity, because Corona Bolt on the inside had speed, had sprint speed.
00:48:19And having talked to Brad Cox, who was out at Gulfstream Park, I mean, the strategy was
00:48:24to go to the lead with Corona Bolt and force Arabian Night to rate a little bit off of
00:48:29him.
00:48:29But Corona Bolt was a complete no-show.
00:48:31I mean, he was down on the inside, first time on a sloppy track, first time around two turns,
00:48:35although it was also the first two-turn race for Arabian Night.
00:48:38And Corona Bolt just was never a factor at any point early in the race.
00:48:42And Arabian Night did his thing, as you said he would, and looked extremely impressive.
00:48:47To me, I mean, Baffert's got all these options.
00:48:49He's got all these three-year-olds.
00:48:51But to me, now it looks like at least partially the Oaklawn route to the Triple Crown would
00:48:59seem to be in play, although I wonder if they want to ship him twice more from Santa Anita
00:49:05to Oaklawn before the Kentucky Derby.
00:49:08But he's certainly a very nice horse.
00:49:11Randy, Bob said after the race that he really wants to space this horse's races out.
00:49:15And it would be pretty unconventional, but I wouldn't be surprised if we don't see him
00:49:18again based on that comment until the Arkansas Derby.
00:49:21And Baffert, who doesn't like to travel, he had defunded in the Pegasus World Cup.
00:49:25He had Faiza in the Las Virginas, and he had Arabian Night at Oaklawn Park.
00:49:29He showed up at Oaklawn Park.
00:49:30Actually, I really think that shows you what he was thinking of his contingent that day
00:49:35and how special this horse was.
00:49:37Faiza won, of course, defunded second in a $3 million race.
00:49:41The other prep over the weekend was somewhat of a prep to San Vicente.
00:49:44Baffert won with having a meltdown.
00:49:46He said afterwards that he thinks this horse is just a sprinter.
00:49:49Maybe the horse that ran second, also, of course, trained by Baffert Fouston,
00:49:54will be someone to be heard from down the line.
00:49:56And I know this is a little bit of a sore subject,
00:49:59but we've got to tackle it in some regard here.
00:50:04Even with Baffert, we've never seen anything like this.
00:50:071-2-3 in the shamstakes, 1-2-3 in the San Vicente, Arabian Night, as good as he is.
00:50:12Honestly, right now in the West Coast, Randy, I can't think of off the top of my head
00:50:19any three-year-old who is a serious derby contender not trained by Bob Baffert.
00:50:24We're going to see the Robert Lewis stakes this Saturday.
00:50:27Again, a race, four horses, all of them trained by Baffert.
00:50:31To me, it is what it is.
00:50:34You can't blame Baffert.
00:50:35You can't blame his owners.
00:50:38But it looks at this point now that there's almost literally no competition for him.
00:50:44Look, for all those people who thought that the two-year ban that Churchill Downs imposed
00:50:49on Baffert would be a serious problem to his racing stable, I don't think it's ever been
00:50:56stronger.
00:50:57I have never seen one trainer as dominant in a major circuit as Bob Baffert is right
00:51:05now at Santa Anita.
00:51:08For the Robert B. Lewis, which we'll be doing on NBC this Saturday, there were 16 horses
00:51:13that were nominated for the Lewis.
00:51:15He had 14 of the 16 nominees.
00:51:18He's got all four of the horses that are actually in the race.
00:51:22He's got the best filly in Feza.
00:51:24He's got the two best older horses in Teba and Country Grammar.
00:51:29He's got some good older fillies and mares as well.
00:51:31I mean, his stable is just more dominant, I think, than it's ever been.
00:51:36I was putting together a list of past performances for some of the top three-year-olds, which
00:51:41I try to update every week.
00:51:43And just looking at the Baffert horses, I did past performances on Arabian Knight, Reincarnate,
00:51:49who is a really good horse, the winner of the sham, Newgate, Arabian Lion, Hijazi,
00:51:54Faustin, National Treasure, Having a Meltdown, Speedboat Beach, Gilmore, Mr. Fisk.
00:52:01He's got a whole barn full of them.
00:52:03It's amazing.
00:52:04Yeah.
00:52:04So maybe we'll see 10 Bafferts in the Derby, nine Brad Coxes, and Forte from Todd Pletcher.
00:52:09It's kind of looking like that at this point.
00:52:11OK, so let's talk about the Robert B. Lewis, the four Baffert runners in here.
00:52:16You know, again, and with a lot of these races, he's throwing out the junior varsity and still
00:52:20dominating these races.
00:52:22He's got Arabian Lion, Newgate, Worcester, and hard to figure.
00:52:25A hard to figure would be the real long shot among those four.
00:52:30I think it's probably comes down to Newgate or Worcester, even though Worcester is still
00:52:34a maiden after two lifetime starts.
00:52:36He ran a good second last time out, got a 94 buyer.
00:52:39And to show that this isn't just in stakes races.
00:52:42Worcester has run twice in maiden races and both times was beaten by Bob Baffert horses
00:52:48in maiden races.
00:52:49So this extends beyond just the stakes company.
00:52:53But, you know, you're not going to get another Arabian Knight out of this race, Randy.
00:52:57But, you know, early on, who do you think is the winner of this thing?
00:53:00Well, I think Newgate will probably be the favorite, although I think in the sham stakes,
00:53:07he trailed early.
00:53:08It was a five horse field and he was only like maybe four lengths off the pace.
00:53:11But I thought that was a perfect trip for him in that race because he was an exceptionally
00:53:15fast pace in the sham that should have played right to Newgate's strengths.
00:53:19And he rolled up to reincarnate at the top of the stretch like he was going to blow by
00:53:23him and reincarnate just would not let him by or Newgate wouldn't go by.
00:53:28I don't know which was which, the chicken or the egg there.
00:53:31But it was a good race numbers wise for Newgate, regardless, even though he was beaten in a
00:53:36photo Arabian Lion.
00:53:37I don't know what happened to him in the Los Alamitos.
00:53:41He was two to five in that race.
00:53:43He got a pretty decent trip and he came up completely empty for the final quarter mile.
00:53:49He's come back and trained exceptionally well since then.
00:53:53I'll be talking to Bob this week in preparation for our telecast.
00:53:57I'm curious to see what he's got to say about that.
00:53:59You would almost think it would have to be something amiss, an illness or some explanation
00:54:07for that race for him to come up so empty.
00:54:10And Worcester, he's a maiden, but he had a really good number last time.
00:54:15Worcester and Newgate are both owned by the Avengers.
00:54:19I don't think Santa Anita would have allowed the race to go with a three horse field.
00:54:23I'm almost positive they wouldn't.
00:54:25I'm wondering if perhaps because he's a maiden, even though he's a nice horse, Worcester was
00:54:30entered in Robert B. Lewis to make sure that the race went with a four horse field.
00:54:37But regardless, he's a nice horse and he's got a chance in there.
00:54:42Yeah, he's a very nice horse.
00:54:43But Arabian Lion, I think he's going to be back to tip top form.
00:54:46I've seen him train.
00:54:47I've seen him in person of late.
00:54:50I don't think anyone really knows quite what happened to him over at La Salle.
00:54:54And sometimes what happens at La Salle stays at La Salle.
00:54:58He's worked formidably well.
00:55:0058 and 4 the last time.
00:55:02He had another gate work, 59 and 3.
00:55:05He's a beautiful looking son of Justify out of the distorted human mare, unbound.
00:55:10And he'll definitely be the one to beat here.
00:55:13I think Johnny V will just send him from the get go.
00:55:15He's drawn in the one hole.
00:55:17I think it's going to be all over for Arabian Lion.
00:55:20But I just want to toss in another three-year-old.
00:55:23I don't know if you guys are watching the races on Sunday.
00:55:27There was a three-year-old that won very, very nicely, beating a Bob Baffert trained
00:55:33three-year-old.
00:55:34This one was trained by Dick Mandela, owned now by Pinnock Stud, the first horse
00:55:40Bernard's bought.
00:55:41And his name is Go Rocket Ride.
00:55:45And he is a beautiful looking horse.
00:55:49And he won like a good thing.
00:55:50So don't be surprised to see Dick Mandela throwing his hat in against Bob Baffert pretty
00:55:55soon.
00:55:56And I think he got a 91 prior speed figure, yeah, in that race as well.
00:55:59So he ran fast.
00:56:00He's a good horse.
00:56:01He's a really good horse.
00:56:02You guys can probably have some competition.
00:56:04All right, so let's head back to Florida for the Gulfstream Park 12th race on Saturday,
00:56:08the Holy Bull.
00:56:10This is a case the big boys have not come out yet.
00:56:12You know, the top talent, including Forte, who's pointing for the Fountain of Youth,
00:56:16are clearly not in this race.
00:56:18Got a couple interesting horses.
00:56:19Cyclone Mischief ran a big race last time out for Dale Romans, jumped up and ran a career
00:56:24best 90 buyer, was first time.
00:56:26Lasix has to take Lasix off for this race.
00:56:29Legacy Isle crossed the wire first in the Mucho Macho Man stakes for trainer Rohan Crichton,
00:56:34but was disqualified.
00:56:36Randy, I don't think we have a Kentucky Derby winner in this field, but could be wrong.
00:56:41I mean, the big boys aren't out yet, but Dale Romans thinks he's got a big boy in Cyclone
00:56:45Mischief.
00:56:46He's well bred.
00:56:46He's buy-in to Mischief.
00:56:48Yeah, he looked really good in that one mile allowance win with that 90 buyer speed figure.
00:56:54Before that, he ran in the Kentucky Jockey Club.
00:56:57Instant Coffee beat him, and he was up on a pace that was very slow that you'd think would
00:57:02be advantageous to a horse.
00:57:04It was just a half length off the early pace, but he faded, was beating two and three quarters.
00:57:09Yeah, that kind of leads me to believe that he's not going to be an A-list Kentucky Derby
00:57:12horse.
00:57:12But hey, I mean, we'll find out in the Holy Bull exactly what Dale Romans and Tammy Fox
00:57:18have in the barn.
00:57:20I like Rocket Can on the outside, and I'm a massive Dale Romans fan.
00:57:24This is a horse I've watched all summer long train, and I think he's kind of maybe not
00:57:29the smartest tool in the shed, and he's just getting it all together.
00:57:33And I think he's finally just about got it all together.
00:57:37I'm going with the Louis Saez Off Alvarado On Factor for Hall of Fame of Bill Mott.
00:57:42It'll be Rocket Can on the outside for me.
00:57:45The only other horse in there, Bill, that I could see, sorry to interrupt there, would
00:57:49be for your wagering purposes and your trifectas and things like that, maybe even exactus,
00:57:54would be the one horse Lord Miles.
00:57:57He's had two lifetime starts, even when he broke his maiden in November at Gulfstream
00:58:03by five and three quarters lengths.
00:58:05He was very green during the running of that race.
00:58:08Well, with the kickback, and he looked like he was stopping around the turn, and he was
00:58:14going to drop back and run toward the back of the pack.
00:58:17And then he comes again and winds up winning impressively.
00:58:20And then he gets beaten in the mucho macho man.
00:58:22And again, he was very green and running in spots.
00:58:25So they're putting, Safi Joseph is putting the blinkers on Lord Miles.
00:58:30Sometimes it can really improve a horse that's got that sort of greenness to him.
00:58:36So I wouldn't be surprised to see Lord Miles run a better race.
00:58:39I don't know if it's going to be good enough to beat Cyclone Mischief, but he should improve.
00:58:42And he gets Ayraud Ortiz, which is certainly a major factor in there.
00:58:46At Aqueduct, we're supposed to be very cold this weekend in New York.
00:58:49They have the Withers.
00:58:50Looks like a small field at this point.
00:58:52Arctic Arrogance, second in the Jerome and second in the Remsen, will likely be the favorite
00:58:57in that spot.
00:58:58So we'll see a little movement on the road to the Kentucky Derby this weekend with the
00:59:02Holy Bull, the Robert B. Lewis, and the Withers.
00:59:06The TDN Writer's Room is brought to you by XBTV.
00:59:09XBTV is one of the best tools in the game.
00:59:13And I most certainly can attest to that.
00:59:15Let's take a look at two Jonathan Thomas trainees.
00:59:19That is Baystorm on the outside and Experience on the inside.
00:59:23They worked at Palmettos on January the 27th, not just at Santa Anita.
00:59:27We're all the way across the country with XBTV.
00:59:30Now, Baystorm will run in the grade three megahertz at Santa Anita Park this weekend,
00:59:35and Experience will run on Friday at Goldstream.
00:59:38So we're already giving you a leg up on your handicapping.
00:59:40We'll be right back after this message from XBTV.
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01:01:00You can learn more at westpointtb.com.
01:01:03West Point has a horse right now on the Oaks Trail.
01:01:06Vava ran third in the Untappable in December.
01:01:08She'll be running in the Rachel Alexandra in a couple of weeks at the Fairgrounds.
01:01:12And speaking of horse of the year, Flightline, part owned by West Point.
01:01:16Zoe, you had a chance to get up close and personal with Flightline this past week.
01:01:20Yeah, I can tell you he settled in really, really nicely at Lane's End Farm.
01:01:25Gets turned out, runs around.
01:01:28As soon as they got into the farm, they could have turned him out in their biggest paddock
01:01:32and he did not bat an eyelid.
01:01:34Just pure class, settled in very nicely and looks terrific.
01:01:38You can just see he's just going to blossom into this horse that people are just going
01:01:42to be climbing over each other to breed to.
01:01:45He's a beautiful horse.
01:01:47And the Remy cartoon of the week is in.
01:01:50And apropos to what's going on, we started the podcast with Hyza.
01:01:53He's got Hyza, one horse and another.
01:01:55They're in court and they're saying, oh, OK, and trying to settle all these matters
01:01:59and solve all these headaches.
01:02:01So Remy Belak takes his take on Hyza.
01:02:04Well, that's it for another week's edition of the TDN Writers Room podcast.
01:02:08I want to thank our Green Group guest of the week, Bruce Lunsford, our producer, Patty
01:02:12Wolf, our associate producer, Katie Petruniak, my co-host, Randy Moss and Zoe Cabin, as well
01:02:18as our editors, Anthony LaRocca, Dalila LaRocca and Nathan Wilkinson.
01:02:23Thanks for listening.