Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00:00For the love of the horse, for generations to come.
00:00:28Welcome to another edition of the TDN Writer's Room.
00:00:30My name is Bill Finley.
00:00:31I'm a correspondent for Thoroughbred Daily News, and on Saturdays, I co-host the Down
00:00:36This Rich Radio Show with Dave Johnson on Sirius XM Radio.
00:00:40Good morning, guys.
00:00:41I'm Randy Moss with NBC Sports and the Bayer Speed Figure team.
00:00:47Zoe Cabman here with First Racing and Santa Anita, and I am now an expert on everything
00:00:52Taylor Swift.
00:00:53After getting drugged to the movie, there was a concert the other day with three people
00:00:59sitting next to me telling me all about Taylor Swift.
00:01:01So Randy, I know that you're a big Taylor Swift fan.
00:01:04Anything you want to know as a fellow Swifty, you just ask me on this podcast.
00:01:09Zoe, I went to the movie also two nights ago with my wife.
00:01:15How about that?
00:01:16I enjoyed it.
00:01:17It's pretty phenomenal how talented she is.
00:01:21That's amazing.
00:01:22You're left out now, Bill.
00:01:24I have not seen it, will not see it.
00:01:28Don't care.
00:01:29Travis, Kelsey, who cares?
00:01:30Come on.
00:01:31Enough of this is enough.
00:01:32I want to remind you that this is brought to you by Keeneland, and we're very happy
00:01:36to have them as a sponsorship.
00:01:39Some huge off-the-track news this week, and I can't say it to me, a total surprise.
00:01:43Frankie Dettori is back.
00:01:45Yes, he announced that he is not going to retire at the end of the year, and as a matter
00:01:50of fact, he's going to start riding again at Santa Anita, the Winter Meet, starting
00:01:53on December 26th.
00:01:55So far as his plans afterwards, he really left that open.
00:01:59He doesn't look like he's in any hurry to retire.
00:02:02He wants to ride in the Kentucky Derby.
00:02:04He talked about riding in the U.S. maybe throughout the year.
00:02:07Great news for the United States racing, great news for racing in particular.
00:02:11I guess my thought about this is, why not?
00:02:15In 2023, he had a really good year.
00:02:18He's 52 years old, but he was third in the jockey standings at Santa Anita with 26 wins.
00:02:24He won at an 18% rate, won four stakes races.
00:02:28One of his goals is to get a derby horse.
00:02:29Bob Baffert is certainly the guy he's going to try to align himself to do that.
00:02:34And you know what?
00:02:35It's so cool to have Frankie Dettori back, especially if the bulk of the year he's going
00:02:40to be riding in the United States, Randy.
00:02:43I think he was kind of blown away by the reception that he got from horsemen at Santa Anita.
00:02:50I think he told us this basically when we interviewed him earlier when he was a Green
00:02:55Group guest of the week.
00:02:57He expected to go out there and maybe ride some big stakes races and pick up a few mounts
00:03:01and hopefully get him out for the Kentucky Derby.
00:03:03Heck, I mean, he was killing it out there.
00:03:06So if you can be that successful, you can live in Southern California this year or next
00:03:12year.
00:03:13He can spend the summer at Del Mar.
00:03:15Maybe you can come up with the Kentucky Derby horse.
00:03:18We pointed out when he was riding at Santa Anita, he looked as good or better on a horse
00:03:24than the younger guys that were 20, 25 years younger than him.
00:03:28If you're making money, if you're living in a great spot, if you're having fun, why not?
00:03:35And he's planning on going out in a blaze of glory on Champions Day this weekend.
00:03:40Looks like he'll have King of Steel in Spiral, Kinross.
00:03:44It's going to be a fantastic day of racing, a Champions Day, but the bookies have made
00:03:49him eight to one to return to England for Royal Ascot.
00:03:53He says this weekend will be his last week racing in England, but that's not the case.
00:03:58If Wesley Ward's sending a horse to Royal Ascot, if Todd Pledger, if anyone is George
00:04:03Weaver, they're going to want Frankie and he'll go over to Ascot to ride at Royal Ascot.
00:04:08I'll take that eight to one all day long and twice on Sunday.
00:04:12He had a fantastic winter out here.
00:04:14It was great for California racing.
00:04:17And I think one of the key parts was his wife, Catherine, absolutely loved the lifestyle.
00:04:24He raced three days a week.
00:04:25Perhaps one day we'll get back to four.
00:04:27I'm not really quite sure when that will happen.
00:04:30But Frankie came out in the morning and worked horses and he was winning on 12.5 claim as
00:04:35non-winners of two lifetime and jumping off horses just like every other day.
00:04:40I'm surprised his knees actually took it.
00:04:43America's been good to Frankie DeTore.
00:04:46I looked up, he's won 72 mounts from 506 lifetime starts for $37 million.
00:04:54Now, the bulk of those coming in Breeders' Cup, so the purses are way, way higher.
00:04:59That averages out to $74,000 per mount each time he gets aboard a horse.
00:05:06So that's a lot to think about.
00:05:07Does Frankie really need the money?
00:05:09No, but he likes the accolades.
00:05:11He likes the spotlight and he likes to have a good time.
00:05:15And especially out here in America, we like to have a good time.
00:05:19And I think it's fantastic to have him over.
00:05:21He said he's got nothing left to prove in England.
00:05:23What's he won?
00:05:24He's won the Derby twice, 1,000, 2,000 guineas, four times each.
00:05:29He wants to win the Kentucky Derby.
00:05:32That is his number one goal.
00:05:34So yeah, good for him.
00:05:35I mean, he might've peed off a few people that paid money to go on some of his whirlwind tours in Europe
00:05:42and especially the dinner that they're set to have.
00:05:45Why are we, he's not retiring, but I think it's great.
00:05:49When he did say he was going to retire, one of the things he pointed to, he says,
00:05:53I don't want to go out like Cristiano, this shows my knowledge of soccer players,
00:05:57Cristiano Ronaldo, who I guess was some big shot soccer player who towards the end of his career was on.
00:06:05Is it that bad?
00:06:07I don't know.
00:06:07Really?
00:06:08No,
00:06:12Ronaldo's pretty big, Bill.
00:06:14He's pretty big.
00:06:15I know.
00:06:15I don't know who Messi is, but but anyways, OK, so we didn't want to go out like this very famous guy named
00:06:22Ronaldo, who towards the end of his career.
00:06:24And I think he was afraid that he was going to get to that point in his career where he was going to have to ride a bunch of forty to one shots or something like that.
00:06:32And it turned out to be the exact opposite.
00:06:34Now, I'm going to make a further prediction here.
00:06:36I think he's going to stick around for not just two thousand and twenty four.
00:06:40I think he might stick around for another two or three years.
00:06:43Again, back to the why not factor.
00:06:46Randy, you were the one who brought this up, that he looks as good, if not better than anyone on a horse in Southern California.
00:06:52He's getting the mounts.
00:06:53He's having a great time.
00:06:55He's fifty two now.
00:06:57That used to be an age where it was almost mandatory that a jockey would retire.
00:07:02We now see Mike Smith and others riding into their late fifties and doing well.
00:07:07I think especially if he doesn't win the Derby, if he gets that taste in his mouth and gets close, I don't think Frankie's going anywhere for quite
00:07:15some time. I do want to remind you that the TDN Writers Room is brought to you by Keeneland.
00:07:22Racing at Keeneland continues Wednesdays through Sundays until October the 28th at the Keeneland
00:07:28Fall Meeting. You can plan your day at the races and it's a good one by visiting Keeneland.com.
00:07:35The 2023 edition of the November breeding stock sale begins on Wednesday, November the 8th.
00:07:41The sale which catalogs broodmares, broodmare prospects, along them Puka, the Dam of Mage,
00:07:47Caraval, Herdam ZZ Zoom, as well as Weanlings, Horses of Racing Age, Stallions and Stallion
00:07:54Prospects and shares. Keeneland is the world's most important auction in terms of total sales
00:08:02and average. Some of the global industry's top broodmares and broodmare prospects have been sold
00:08:09at the sale. This weekend's racing continues. This weekend's racing at Keeneland produced more
00:08:15black type updates to the catalog. Check them out at november.keeneland.com. We'll be right back
00:08:22after this message from Keeneland. At Keeneland, a horse will always be measured in hands.
00:08:32Hands that see, that sense, that speak. Hands that hold our sport to a higher standard.
00:08:47Not for our sake, but for theirs. For the love of the horse, for generations to come.
00:08:55Well, a horse we're all looking forward to running in the Breeders' Cup. Echo Zulu,
00:08:59by some accounts, the fastest horse in the sport, broke down last week at Santa Anita. That's the
00:09:06bad news. The good news is that she had successful surgery the next day to repair broken sesamoids in
00:09:12her left front legs. Looks like she's going to be okay. Looks like she can go on to be a broodmare.
00:09:18And Zoe, I know that you have more to say about Echo Zulu. Well, in this week's edition of First
00:09:24Things First, I actually caught up with The Connection's Scott Blasi and renowned veterinarian
00:09:29Dr. Ryan Carpenter to talk about Echo Zulu and just see how she's getting on. I'll tell you one
00:09:35thing, boys. She loves her carrots. Dr. Ryan Carpenter did the surgery. He's one of the best
00:09:47in the land. You know, Dr. Carpenter and I have had a relationship for a long time.
00:09:53He actually came to Kentucky to speak on this topic. Very thankful and fortunate that we had him
00:10:03with a phone call away. Was here immediately. Did everything, the stabilizers that we could
00:10:10possibly do. Santa Anita veterinarians and staff from the people on the horse and blood,
00:10:17everybody did such a fantastic job. They were, you know, right there immediately. And,
00:10:23you know, we can't thank everybody for everything that they've put into it.
00:10:29So Ryan, how did the surgery go and give us a prognosis on Echo Zulu? Yeah, so the surgery
00:10:34went very well. We did a fetlock arthrodesis and we used a new plate called the distal femoral
00:10:40plate, which is an application from the human orthopedic world to incorporate the pastern joint
00:10:46in our repair because we're really worried about the integrity of the pastern joint. And our
00:10:51biggest fear with these kind of cases is that they subluxate their pastern in the weeks following
00:10:56surgery. And then that usually results in support limb laminitis. So we're very proactive to address
00:11:02that problem in order to help kind of hedge our bets down the line. But we still have a long road
00:11:08ahead of us. As I said before, these horses really aren't out of the woods for the next four to six
00:11:13weeks. There's a lot that can go wrong, but we take each day by day. And so far she's done really
00:11:19well. She looks great, bearing equal weight, using her casted leg well. So we're very encouraged
00:11:25initially on how things look. And so we'll keep our fingers crossed that we continue to have
00:11:30positive days and every good day is one day closer to a successful outcome. In your opinion,
00:11:35knowing the kind of champion she is, what kind of patient is she? She's been awesome. One of the
00:11:41things that I look for, honestly, right out of the gate is do they lay down? And she spent a lot of
00:11:47time laying down initially. And she's even spent a lot of time laying down after surgery. She's up
00:11:52using her leg a lot more, so she's a lot more comfortable, but she still lays down and sleeps
00:11:56at night, takes care of herself. And really when you're talking about these horses that are
00:12:01developed laminitis, the best thing for a surgeon is a horse that lays down because they just unload
00:12:07their legs, they take the weight off, they let the blood flow get to their feet. And that's just a
00:12:11real positive thing for us. So hopefully she continues to do that in the coming weeks and that'll
00:12:16bode well for us in the end. A lot of people may have a heart attack when they're here laying down
00:12:20because we hear horror stories about horses having accidents getting up. Yeah, so the accidents they
00:12:28have getting up are usually related to general anesthesia. And so you got to remember these
00:12:32horses are asleep. They're often uncoordinated when they get up. But if you look at a horse that
00:12:39stands up in a stall, it's actually a very slow methodical process. They do it all the time. I
00:12:45mean, horses lay down most of the time every day and they get up really well. And you watch them
00:12:50and a lot of times they'll protect their casted leg. You know, they'll do stuff to help protect
00:12:55themselves. And so the laying down in the stall in the barn is a good thing. She looks pretty
00:13:02comfortable. We're on day three. She's very comfortable. She's getting around the stall well.
00:13:08She's getting up and down. She's got a very good appetite. Loving some carrots. She's pretty smart.
00:13:16So she's been laying down, which is a good thing, right? Yeah, which is what we want. You know,
00:13:19she sleeps well at night and, you know, it's just a day by day thing. We'll change her cast in
00:13:26five days and hopefully after that we'll, you know, get from one week to the next.
00:13:35Unlimited carrots, I take it. All she wants. All she wants and she deserves it.
00:13:40It's really great to hear from those connections with some good updates on Echo Zulu. I do want to
00:13:51remind you that Santa Anita does continue this weekend. First post 12.30 Friday, 12.30 Saturday
00:13:57and 12.30 Sunday. There are still tickets left to the Breeders' Cup. You can collect them at
00:14:02www.breederscup.com. Randy, your take on the Echo Zulu situation?
00:14:08Well, hopefully it'll have a happy ending. She's definitely not out of the woods, as the
00:14:15veterinarians say. It's four to six weeks typically before you can, you know, really be super confident
00:14:21that everything's going to be okay. We've seen these things that can, you know, can turn around
00:14:26in an instant with laminitis or something like that. So fingers crossed that Echo Zulu
00:14:32comes out of this okay and is able to be what Steve Asmussen said, a good mama.
00:14:38So she deserves to have a chance to be a mom. What's really troubling, I think,
00:14:45is what we've seen this summer and now with Echo Zulu. Three of the fastest sprinters in America.
00:14:51Echo Zulu, probably the fastest. And then also New York Thunder and Maple Leaf Mel.
00:14:58Hopefully it's just a coincidence, but it is disconcerting to say the least that,
00:15:05you know, these horses that run so fast are having trouble right now staying sound.
00:15:13And you hit the nail on the head there. Fast horses, fast times, it's dangerous. There are
00:15:19no ifs, ands, or buts. And we've seen it all summer long. It's just very, very unfortunate
00:15:27and really nobody's fault. I want to turn our attention to another story, something I wrote
00:15:33about earlier this week in the Thoroughbred Daily News. Carrie Breon. If you're not familiar with her
00:15:37name, she is the former assistant to Jonathan Shepard, took over in 2021 when Shepard retired.
00:15:44Like Shepard has some steeplechase horses, has some flat horses. She was the latest person to
00:15:49land on the naughty list, the HIWU, Horse Racing Integrity and Welfare Unit, list of trainers
00:15:54provisionally suspended, alleging that a horse she ran at Presque Isle Downs tested positive
00:16:01for cocaine. And right now they're waiting for the split sample to come back. But if at the end of
00:16:07the day she is not exonerated, she will face a suspension of up to two years. And as I look at
00:16:14the story of someone like this and some of the other people that HIWU has gotten, my take is
00:16:20that they're catching a lot of people, but they're not catching the bad guys. Now I don't know Carrie
00:16:25Breon that well. I've talked to her a few times, but if she's cheating, then no. Let's put it this
00:16:32way. This is the type of trainer you just have to use some common sense. She's a good trainer.
00:16:38She wins about 13% of her starts. She came up under Jonathan Shepard, somebody who when it
00:16:43comes to integrity is the best there was, among the best there was in business. Gets a cocaine
00:16:50positive, you have to worry about environmental contamination. And when a Carrie Breon of the
00:16:56world is facing two years off of her career, I don't know what the answer is here, but something
00:17:03isn't right. And there's just so many people on this list that are people that you look at the
00:17:11records, you look at the reputations, they just don't show any outward signs of being people that
00:17:16are quote unquote cheaters. And then when it comes to the guys that, you know, win 28%, and then they
00:17:22win 40% off the claim, and I'm not going to name any names, but just about everybody knows who I'm
00:17:26talking about. You could, you know, pick out a list of eight, nine trainers. They're not catching
00:17:32them. Something's not right here. And at the end of the day, I hope that Carrie Breon, can I be
00:17:39sure that she didn't cheat? No. But you got to use some common sense here. And that's what's not part
00:17:45of the equation. And I think HIWU slash HISA is getting a lot of people that really don't,
00:17:52haven't done anything to warrant the kind of penalties that they're facing.
00:17:55Well, look, I think you know where I'm going with this. You know, there is an investigative
00:18:02wing of HIWU and of HISA that hopefully when it really gets rolling, we'll catch some of the guys
00:18:09that you're talking about that may be cheating with substances that connected by testing. But
00:18:16when HISA and HIWU first got going, one of the primary complaints in horse racing was that the
00:18:22current testing protocols were inadequate. They were just not doing what they were supposed to do.
00:18:31And so the rules were made, they were set in stone. If, you know, permissive therapeutic
00:18:40medications come up with an overage, this is what the penalty is going to be. This is what the
00:18:45procedure is going to be. If other more serious drugs come up with overages, this is what the
00:18:50penalties are going to be. This is what the procedures are going to be. There have been
00:18:56some tweaks made by HISA and HIWU regarding provisional suspensions to make it a little
00:19:04less expensive for trainers to expedite the situation with trainers. But look, this is not
00:19:12butazolidin or a Lasix overage. This is a positive test for cocaine, for crying out loud,
00:19:20right? If this were, for example, if this were Rick Dutrow, that had a positive test for cocaine,
00:19:27what do you think would be going on right now? What do you think we'd be talking about right now?
00:19:32No, I don't think she cheated. Nobody's going to cheat purposely with cocaine. I mean, that's
00:19:38something that is going to be tested for, you know, 100 times out of 100. But she will get if
00:19:44the split sample comes up positive as well. She and her attorneys will get the opportunity to
00:19:50prove contamination, which certainly seems like it's what it would be. And hopefully, you know,
00:19:57this will have an ending that works out okay. I don't think she was cheating. I know you don't.
00:20:04I'm sure Zoe doesn't. But a cocaine positive is not a small, little insignificant thing.
00:20:12Well, Randy, let me counter with a couple different things I want to bring up. I mean,
00:20:15you, like everybody else, admit that there's just almost no chance Keri Brion really did anything
00:20:23wrong here. And if that's the case, how could it be that she's facing perhaps a two year suspension?
00:20:30I know, you know, the train of responsibility rules and all that sort of thing. And it is a
00:20:35violation. But you know, to think that she doped a horse with cocaine to try to win a race. I mean,
00:20:41nobody in their right mind thinks that happened. Here's the other thing that I want to bring up.
00:20:45And I did a little bit of Randy Moss going down the rabbit hole on this one. You know, the
00:20:51punishment needs to fit the crime. And I think a lot of these serious suspensions that HIWU is
00:20:58handing out, you know, are suspensions or violations that merit a two year penalty.
00:21:04So I checked with the ARCI. And the last time this happened in Pennsylvania,
00:21:10the last time a horse tested positive for cocaine in Pennsylvania was in 2008. So it
00:21:16hasn't happened in 15 years. And now what Keri Brion is facing a two possible two year suspension.
00:21:23The trainer, I didn't get a name of that. There was no suspension,
00:21:26no loss of purse, and the person was fined $750. So that's how the system treated this offense
00:21:35pre HISA. Now compared to the way HISA slash HIWU is throwing the book at the person.
00:21:42But that's the kind of stuff that we didn't like. Right? I mean, there weren't the there weren't
00:21:48enough. There wasn't enough of a deterrent at these places around the country for positive
00:21:54tests. I mean, if we want a system that is consistent to everybody, then and we want a
00:22:04system that treats a cocaine positive as a fairly serious thing, then it's got to be the same
00:22:11across the board, we can't let that much wiggle room come into the system or else you're going
00:22:16to have jurisdictions that say or say, Oh, yeah, this guy, he's a you know, he's a leading trainer,
00:22:23we really don't need to be suspending him. So let's kind of take it easy on him.
00:22:27It the penalties got to be the same for everybody. The chance to prove that it's
00:22:32contamination and that you're innocent has to be the same for everybody. It has to be expedited.
00:22:37I think they've done that. And hopefully, Carrie Breon, if she's innocent, and we think she is,
00:22:44we'll be able to, to make that work. Maybe you've got a different opinion for me.
00:22:50Let me just jump in one more thing before let's go. No, I totally agree. So in an offense like
00:22:55this, whether it's it's Todd Fletcher, or the lowest trainer on the rung at Finger Lakes,
00:23:01I think something along the lines of a seven day suspension would be perfectly appropriate
00:23:05for something like this, not two years. So you can help me out here.
00:23:10I'm not sure a seven day suspension for a positive of cocaine would be warranted.
00:23:17At some point, you have to draw a line. What is contamination? What is not now we're talking
00:23:22picograms. A picogram is one trillionth of a gram for those of you that have been hiding under a
00:23:29rock. Now when they test horses, it is a picogram in a milliliter of blood. Now say your horse test
00:23:38positive for seven picograms. So that's seven picograms per one millimeter. There are 50,000
00:23:48millimeters of blood in a horse. So seven times 50,000, I can't do the math sitting right here,
00:23:54but you can do the math. That would be a whole body of a horse. So we have to figure out the
00:24:01measuring and the picograms and say when enough is enough. You have to draw a line at some point.
00:24:07And I think this is going to be a whole learning process. But seven days for a cocaine violation
00:24:14is not going to cut it. That's not the look that we're trying to send forward.
00:24:19And I know it's possibly contamination and she will get a chance to prove that.
00:24:25Boy, I hope I'm never in a case where you two are on the train.
00:24:31Stay away from that cocaine, Bill.
00:24:34Yeah, actually, that's not a problem here. So anyways, all right. So we'll keep you up to
00:24:39breast on the Carrie Breon situation and see how this works out. And we'll watch as the see if
00:24:46justice is blind or not. As Hywoo gets Carrie Breon to top their list now of someone else suspended
00:24:54for something they probably don't deserve to be that suspended for. But that's OK. All right.
00:25:00The TV and Writer's Room is brought to you by the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association.
00:25:04A couple of big Pennsylvania bred results this past weekend. First of all,
00:25:08Witte Pennsylvania bred owned, trained by Liz Merriman was the winner of the Maryland
00:25:14Million Turf Sprint. That was on Saturday. Witte is a four year old. He's a half brother to Caravelle
00:25:20and he's now earned just under a half million dollars. And speaking of Caravelle,
00:25:23we'll talk about her a little bit later, but she just missed in the Franklin Stakes
00:25:28on Sunday on Keeneland. She was trying to go back to back in that race. She finished second
00:25:31as the three to five favorite. So big sister got beat, but little brother managed to win both
00:25:38Caravelle and her damn ZZ Zoom Zoom scheduled to be sold at the Keeneland November sale.
00:25:43And don't forget the last leg of that two year old one million dollar Pennsylvania
00:25:47Pennsylvania bred stallion series will be December the 27th. Two year old colts,
00:25:53two year old fillies. The distance is now up to a mile and 70 yards for both races.
00:25:57And the purses are up to $200,000. Check the pabred.com website to make sure your
00:26:03two year old is nominated. If not contact the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association.
00:26:08That's an email of info at pabred.com. The PA Horse Breeders Association presents
00:26:16the Pennsylvania stallion series, six races for PA sire, PA bred, two year olds at parks
00:26:22to $100,000 contest at five and a half for lunch on August 21st PA day at the races,
00:26:29September 23rd, PA Derby day as two races at six and a half for lunch, both with a $150,000 purse.
00:26:37And in December, two races going long each worth $200,000. For more, go to pabred.com.
00:26:43The TD writers room brought to you by the fast sires at windstar farm,
00:26:47the sponsors every week of our fastest horse of the week segment. This week's spotlighted stallion
00:26:54at windstar will be constitution. And what a year he's had with his two year olds. He had
00:27:00another two year old stakes winner this past weekend. Triple Lena beat the boys in the display
00:27:05stakes at woodbine. She's now two for two. She was also entered against the females in the glorious
00:27:12song stakes scratched out of that one to run against the boys. We've seen that as a prevailing
00:27:17theme at woodbine this year, the summer and fall where the Phillies, the two year old Phillies are
00:27:23faster than the two year old Colts and triple Lena proved that again this past weekend.
00:27:29Constitution now has 22 year old winners this year, 12 of them first time starter winners.
00:27:35He has more juvenile winners than any sire in North America. Now fastest horse of the week.
00:27:42If you watch the Dixie Anna queen Elizabeth two on Sunday at Keeneland, you saw Maj trained by
00:27:50our friends, Saeed Ben-Soror go wire to wire in the QE two for the good often stable Maj earned
00:27:57a buyer speed figure of 99. She reportedly now is being considered for the breeders cup mile
00:28:06against the boys. So Maj at 99 buyer speed figures are fastest horse of the week.
00:28:18Meanwhile, the green group is a tax consulting and advisory firm specializing in the thoroughbred
00:28:24industry, specializing in saving you money on your taxes. The green group also the sponsor,
00:28:30of course, of our green group guest of the week segment. So enjoy.
00:28:34Well, we're very pleased in this week's edition of the TDN writers room to have a
00:28:38very special guest for our green group guest of the week. He needs no introduction. It's Pat
00:28:43Day, the Hall of Fame writer, and thought it would be a good time to bring on Pat for two things.
00:28:48First of all, with the breeders cup coming up, he can tell us a lot of his breeders cup memories,
00:28:53walk us down memory lane, but also a milestone birthday last Friday on Friday, the 13th of all
00:29:00things, Pat Day turned 70 years old, Pat. So I'm sure all our viewers and listeners want to know
00:29:06since you retired in 2008, bring us up to speed to present. What are you doing?
00:29:11What's keeping you busy? How much you fall in horse racing?
00:29:14Well, actually, I retired in 2005, Bill. And, you know, I was very involved with the ministry
00:29:22on and off the racetrack previously to that, you know, since 1984, when I made a commitment to
00:29:28Jesus Christ, invited him into my heart to be my Lord and Savior. I told people what I was doing
00:29:34after I retired was not unlike what I'd done before I retired, except I was doing it without
00:29:39the added distraction of a full time career and was very involved and have continued to be very
00:29:45involved with the chaplaincy on the racetrack. And then I've been very privileged to have
00:29:49opportunities to speak at area churches and youth groups, fellowship, Christian athletes
00:29:54and other events. I'll just share my testimony about the joy of having a relationship with the
00:29:59Lord. And then, unfortunately, in 2021, my wife had a stroke. And so she's recovering from that.
00:30:10And I've had the distinct privilege and honor of being her caregiver. And so that has taken up
00:30:15a bulk of my time, though I still have the opportunity to do some guest speaking, as long
00:30:20as it's, you know, in close proximity to the house. And in answer to your question, have I
00:30:26followed the races? I'm not real closely, Bill. Obviously, I watched the Triple Crown. I watched
00:30:33some of the prep races coming up, you know, up to the Derby Preakness Belmont. And then, of course,
00:30:39coming up to the Breeders' Cup next week, been watching the races a bit. Always an exciting time
00:30:43of the year. And of course, the Breeders' Cup is just, that's the second only to the Derby,
00:30:49in my opinion, although the money is significantly greater. I think if you talk to anybody that's
00:30:55won a Breeders' Cup and hasn't won the Derby, they'll tell you they want to win the Derby.
00:30:59Right. Absolutely. Well, Pat, I'm delighted to have you here. It's been a long time since
00:31:04I actually saw you, but I want to ask you, how was that 70th birthday? I believe,
00:31:10was it a bit of a surprise with a theme? How did they manage to surprise you?
00:31:16My wife and daughter, my wife, Sheila, and my daughter, Irene, and obviously everybody that
00:31:21was involved, done an excellent job of keeping a lid on it. My daughter duped me into believing
00:31:27because they held it at the local VFW here in Middletown. And my daughter had me believing that
00:31:34in some way or another, she was getting a certificate to go to VFW or something. They
00:31:42were honoring her that evening. And so we were going to meet there to experience that,
00:31:48watch her get that, and then go to dinner at 630. And when I walked in, everybody was there. And it
00:31:53was overwhelming, to say the least. When I opened the door and my daughter was like,
00:31:59yeah, surprise. And I was just captivated by the look on her face and didn't see any of the others.
00:32:08They were just kind of blurred in the background at the moment. But then as I looked around and I
00:32:13seen who all was there, some great fellow riders were there. My wrestling coach from high school
00:32:20was there, him and his wife, friends from near and far, family from near and far. And it was
00:32:28just an extraordinary evening. I got to tell you this, 70 is pretty special.
00:32:35Was it a 70s theme as well? People dressed in 70s garb?
00:32:39Yes, it was. Yes, it was. A 70s theme with a 70th birthday. So it was a great way to rock
00:32:46in number 70, I'll tell you what. It was exciting and overwhelming, to say the least.
00:32:52That's terrific that your loved ones went to such great lengths to give you a very special day.
00:32:57All right, Pat, let's talk Breeders' Cup. And 1984, wild again, Pat Day wins the inaugural
00:33:04Breeders' Cup Classic. And if you look at your record, you were doing well up to 1984,
00:33:11but you didn't yet become the superstar rider that you became in later years. How much did
00:33:18that win mean to you? How much did it mean to your career? And did you know at the time,
00:33:22because it was only the first Breeders' Cup, just what a big deal this was?
00:33:26No, no, I could not have ever guessed that. First of all, I remember when I first started
00:33:31talking about the Breeders' Cup, $10 million, seven races, one day I'm going, not in my lifetime.
00:33:37And then it came to pass, and I was very fortunate to get to mount on wild again. And
00:33:42he ran the race of his life, in my opinion, and subsequently won that first race.
00:33:47What that meant for my career was monumental. And I believe that it came to, first of all,
00:33:54in January of 1984 was when I came to Christ. And as you might know, I was a stoned alcoholic
00:34:01drug addict and was being highly successful in the midst of that. On January 27th of 1984,
00:34:09I accepted Christ into my life and got set free from that addictive lifestyle,
00:34:13recognized that God had blessed me with tremendous talent and ability and opportunities,
00:34:18and started treating it with the respect that it deserved. Subsequently, had an incredible year
00:34:24capped by the victory on wild again in the inaugural Breeders' Cup.
00:34:29And that secured my first of, I think, four Eclipse Awards. I don't know that you could
00:34:37put a price on just what it had done for my career. It was tremendous. And it catapulted
00:34:43me to the next level. I started getting opportunities after that to participate
00:34:47in the major races all over the country and not just participate, but participate on the choice.
00:34:54I was getting on the stock. I was getting the opportunities. And by the grace of God,
00:34:57I was taking advantage of those opportunities and had a wonderful run for the next 20 years.
00:35:06Well, have you been surprised with how far Breeders' Cup has come from that very first one,
00:35:12which in of itself was a novelty right off the bat, but it's just seemingly gone from strength
00:35:17to strength? No, it's not surprising. The way the first one was received,
00:35:26let me back up. Of course, it's caught us by surprise. I don't believe that anybody
00:35:31in 1984 could have anticipated or envisioned that it would be what it is today. Two days of racing,
00:35:37what are they giving away, $27 or $28 million now? I don't know the number.
00:35:41Thirty-one, I think. Thirty-one.
00:35:43Hello. I better get back in the loop. I wonder if I can still get into my britches.
00:35:49Maybe I need to get back in the game. No, I don't think that anybody could have anticipated
00:35:54that it would grow and expand into what it is today. It's a tremendous two days of racing,
00:36:00international racing. People from all over the world, every racing locale comes and participates,
00:36:08given the fact that if they have the horses to compete. Tremendous, tremendous two days of racing.
00:36:16So, Pat, I asked you about Wild again, one of your foremost high moments in the Breeders' Cup.
00:36:23How about the other side of this? Easygoer Sunday silence, is that the one that hurts the most? Is
00:36:28that the one that still kind of gnaws at you a little bit? No, you know it. You know it.
00:36:34I believe that Easygoer was the better of the two. The record doesn't bear that out.
00:36:39Easygoer was a phenomenal racehorse. He had his problems, and Shug McGahee did an excellent job
00:36:46in prepping his horses for his races. After the Jockey Club Gold Cup, I think he tailed off a
00:36:53little bit. He didn't really want to be in the game that day. If you go back and watch the race,
00:36:58he came out of the chute in the one hole. When he got to the end of the hedge, if you might recall
00:37:03there at Gulfstream, when he got to the end of the hedge, he made a left-hand turn. I mean,
00:37:07he didn't duck, but he leaned to the left like, I want to go home, and was just jumping straight
00:37:13up and down and not running at all. He got into the race when we turned up the backside. When he
00:37:18changed over to his right lead, ran right up on Sunday silence, and if he'd have been given the
00:37:24hold of his position at that point, I think we'd have beat him handily, much like we did in
00:37:31the Belmont. As it was, Sunday silence, changed leads, dropped into the turn, accelerated.
00:37:38Easygoer changed leads and spit the mitt. I went to work on him, getting very little response.
00:37:45When he came off the turn, he was slow changing leads. He finally did. When he did, he caught on
00:37:50and accelerated, but obviously too little too late. There was just so much hanging in the balance.
00:37:57Three-year-old of the year, horse of the year, there were some tremendous accolades that
00:38:01hung in the balance. The Breeders' Cup and the second hardest pill to swallow with him
00:38:10would have been the prankness. I think I wrote a horrible race. I think that I cost him the race
00:38:17in the prankness. Woulda, coulda, shoulda, didn't. He was a great horse, the best I ever wrote.
00:38:29Pat, you're a world-class rider. You're a Hall of Famer. We see how easy it is nowadays for young
00:38:36jocks to get their licenses. It's not like the old days where they actually had to work for a trainer.
00:38:42It seems like nowadays a lot of these young jocks are putting feed pots on their heads and
00:38:47then all of a sudden they're a jockey. What would you like to see change as far as young apprentices
00:38:53moving up through the ranks? Just to give them a bit more experience and a bit more knowledge of
00:38:59the horses. I think the horsemanship seems to be lost nowadays. It does for the riders in
00:39:07this country. I think the riders coming in from other countries, Puerto Rico and South America,
00:39:14we've got some great riders coming into this country and we've got some good young riders
00:39:18here. I commend Chris McCarran for the North American Riding Academy. It's the only place
00:39:26in the country where a young person can go and get some sort of an education, some experience,
00:39:34before they put the helmet on their head and walk on the track and say they're a jockey.
00:39:40I don't know what's necessary, but I would like to see them get a little more experience under
00:39:45their belt before they go out there and start participating. I think it would be better for them
00:39:52in the long run. I think when they go out there and then make some colossal mistakes
00:39:59and possibly cause some accidents or not, but not performing at their best
00:40:06because of a lack of experience, a lack of knowledge, it short circuits their career.
00:40:13Pat, there's been a lot of talk in the last couple years about how the modern riders
00:40:17are rougher, across the line, sometimes try to intimidate their rivals. The name
00:40:24Irata Ortiz Jr. comes up a lot when there's that subject. Do you see that? Were jockeys more
00:40:32cognizant or more gentlemanly back in your day or more likely to look out for one another
00:40:39rather than maybe try to cross a line if crossing that line could mean winning a race?
00:40:46I think the top riders have always ridden close, ridden tight, not cutting anybody any slack
00:40:52unnecessarily, but riding to the degree that Say I Rad has. I'm sorry, here's a young man
00:40:59with tremendous talent, always well-placed, horses running well for him, finishing strong.
00:41:06Totally unnecessary some of the stuff that he's doing out there and in my opinion, totally
00:41:10unacceptable. I think that they've given him a pass on too many accounts on too many occasions
00:41:17and has led him to believe that he can continue to do that. I don't see the need for that.
00:41:27But be that as it may, I don't know that it's decidedly rougher today. I think that maybe
00:41:33the lack of experience when they go to ride tight, they cross the line, just
00:41:38whether on purpose or lack of control. I think the riders such as my generation,
00:41:46nobody was cutting anybody any slack. I assure you that. But at the same time, they weren't
00:41:51putting you in a precarious position either. They were just holding their position. They
00:41:55were holding their place. If you run up in a bad spot, you was in a bad spot. But again,
00:42:01and if you had trouble, if they could look over and see that you was in trouble,
00:42:06come on, they're not going to drop you. They were going to cut you some slack at that point.
00:42:12I think I rode with the best of the best and I think it was the best time to be in the great
00:42:17sport of horse racing. Who was the most competitive rider you ever rode against?
00:42:22Like when you got up beside them and you were like looking them in the eye, who was the guy
00:42:27you're like, oh God, that guy again? Like who for you was your fiercest competitor? Well,
00:42:33whoever was on the best horse was always to be feared. But yeah, you talk about that angel's
00:42:40name always comes up. We laughingly say he could ride two or three horses in a race.
00:42:46Angel, I love you, man. But he was an astute handicapper. And if he handicapped the race
00:42:53and he felt that you was the horse to beat, he was going to beat you. He felt like if he beat
00:42:58you, he win the race. And so he was eligible to do some of those things and very competitive.
00:43:05I think day in and day out, the smartest, strongest rider I rode against on a regular basis
00:43:13was Jerry Bailey. He'd draw up a game plan and he was able to implement that game plan.
00:43:19Myself, on the other hand, I was an intuitive rider. I rode the way they felt. I mean,
00:43:26I looked at the racing form, obviously I had an idea how I thought it would unfold.
00:43:30But when the doors open, you got to ride the race the way it comes up. And I was
00:43:34never able to process the racing form and say, OK, this is what's going to happen and this is
00:43:40where I want to be. This is what I want to do. And, you know, I look back now and probably the
00:43:46last major race, one of them that I rode that I won, I was the bluegrass at Keeneland on a horse
00:43:52called Menifee. And I had ridden him three or four times previous to the bluegrass. That afternoon,
00:43:59he broke. He was third going around the first turn. Good position up the backside in the bridle,
00:44:04half mile pull, spit the bit. Well, Jerry was right behind me. And when Menifee dropped a bit,
00:44:12I just shook him up one time, kind of rattled the reins at him and got no response.
00:44:16And for whatever reason, I was content to just sit there. OK, if you don't want to pick him up,
00:44:20you know, well, we'll let you. Well, I was content to let him go ahead and drop back.
00:44:26Jerry was right behind me. He's seen me do that. And he said, well, he's done.
00:44:30Got no response. Tank's on empty or something. And so he pulled out and went past me. So now
00:44:36instead of third, I'm fourth. Now we're getting into the turn, three-eighths pull. And so I'm
00:44:43two or three off the fence. Well, I just angled down towards the fence. When we got closer to
00:44:48the fence, he went to picking up the bridle. So come to the five-sixteenths pull, he gets back
00:44:51into the bridle, cuts the corner, looks like a marvelous smart ride, cut the corner, run up
00:44:56behind the two leaders that I'd been on the outside of earlier, run up behind them, ease out,
00:45:01went down the racetrack and won. And I come back in the room and Jerry looked at me and just shook
00:45:06his head. He said, I thought she was out of horse. I go, I thought it was too, Jerry. I was an
00:45:12intuitive rider. Horses wanted to do what I wanted them to do. And when they didn't respond immediately,
00:45:19I was content to let them drop back. And then I don't know, I was, I was a good passenger, I believe.
00:45:25You know, and, and horses wanted to do, like I said, they wanted to do what I wanted them to do
00:45:29when I wanted them to do it. And I had an intuitiveness of knowing when to ask them
00:45:36for their best to subsequently be in front of the wire. Pat, a little bit of a trick question here,
00:45:42but do you know where you were on February 24th of 2001 at 3.52 Central Time?
00:45:53AM or PM? That would be PM. I hope, I hope AM you were sound asleep. Okay. What was, what was the
00:46:02year again? 2001, February 24th, 2001, 3.52 PM Central Time. Oh, I don't have a clue. All right.
00:46:12I didn't think you did, but I, I wanted to find out mano a mano how you fared against Zoe Cadman
00:46:20in your career. And this is the only race I could find. And there might be some more,
00:46:27but the two of you competed against one another that day in the eighth race at the fairgrounds
00:46:32as an allowance horse. You were in to ride a stakes race. And how about this? Zoe beat you.
00:46:38She was next to last and you were last. So Zoe's got, as far as I can tell,
00:46:47I spent a little time researching this. So Zoe is up one on you so far as we can tell Pat.
00:46:57That's awesome, Bill. You made my day. I beat Pat day. You beat Pat day, even though you were next
00:47:04to last. You beat Pat day. How about that? And I would guess that we probably come off the turn
00:47:10neck and neck and she put the hammer down, was determined to do that too.
00:47:16Yes. Yes. So Zoe can go brag to everybody that she got the best of Pat day in what may have been
00:47:24their only meeting on the racetrack. So congratulations, Zoe. Thank you very much.
00:47:29All right. Well, Pat, you've been a great guest. It's so much fun to catch up with you.
00:47:33You're doing great. Happy birthday and enjoyed going down memory lane with you on the Breeders'
00:47:39Cup. Thanks for being this week's Green Group Guest of the Week on the TDN Writer's Room podcast.
00:47:44Absolutely. My pleasure. Great to be on with you, too. And y'all have a blessed day. Let's all have
00:47:49a safe and happy and wonderful Breeders' Cup week and weekend and all the best always. God bless.
00:47:56Thank you so much, Pat. As this week's Green Group Guest of the Week,
00:48:00Pat Day will receive a free one hour tax consultation from Lynn Green and the Green
00:48:06Group. For more information on how the Green Group might be able to help you,
00:48:09just like they'll help Pat Day, you can log on to www.greenco.com.
00:48:16It was another exceptional week for Kentucky breads in Europe after Justify's City of Troy
00:48:22took home the group one Jew has a new market. They are already speaking of him in superlatives,
00:48:29pun intended. He did win that race as well. Listen to this. The horse just does not get tired.
00:48:35The best since Frankel. Or is he? On ground that Aiden O'Brien described as needing tractor tires
00:48:43to plow through, he ran six consecutive sub 12 quarters. It's no wonder they're already talking
00:48:50about next year's English Triple Crown. Personally, I'd like to see him come over here for
00:48:54the Breeders' Cup Juvenile. Anyway, that was just one of four exciting Kentucky bread winners over
00:49:00the weekend in England and Ireland, including two other maiden winners for Justify and one
00:49:06for Quality Road. Randy, Bill, City of Troy, pretty damn amazing. He just travels so easily
00:49:16and so quickly over the ground. He's not anything terribly exciting to look at. He's like an
00:49:22unassuming kind of horse to see if you watched him like pre-race. But boy, does he get over the
00:49:28ground easily. Yeah, when they start bringing up comparisons to Frankel, that's when you have to
00:49:33start paying attention to this horse. Aiden O'Brien says it's the fastest two year old that he's ever
00:49:38trained. Yeah, Aiden will throw out the superlatives now and then, but he's, you know, obviously really,
00:49:45really high on City of Troy. I think the quote that I enjoyed the most from him, and there were
00:49:49a lot of them, was something along the lines of, we push out all our horses to the limit,
00:49:57and we haven't been able to find the limit yet on City of Troy. I thought that was a pretty
00:50:02interesting quote. And Ryan Moore said that it's the best two year old performances that he has
00:50:09seen since Frankel. He said it's kind of silly right now to compare him to Frankel, but he'll
00:50:16certainly get an opportunity to prove himself further as a three-year-old, and he certainly
00:50:21looks like he's an exciting type. He got a 1.25 time form and Frankel got a 1.26 when he won the
00:50:28Dewhurst, which is fairly similar, but at the end of the day, Frankel is still the highest rated
00:50:34horse. Like he got a 1.47 and Flightline was a 1.40, so we'll have to see what next year holds
00:50:39for him, but he's pretty amazing. And Justify, oh my goodness, he's a stallion of the ages,
00:50:46is he not? Isn't that something? You breed Justify to a dirt mare and you get these fabulous
00:50:52dirt runners. You breed Justify to a grass mare, in this case it was a Galileo mare,
00:50:58and you get horses that are fantastic grass horses. He's really, really turning out
00:51:04to be a very impressive stallion. Did you think Bob Raffert, after winning the Triple Crown with
00:51:09those two, ever thought they'd be preeminent turf sires? Because he said that turfs, you know,
00:51:15for the slower horses, or at least he used to, but now these two are going to be like champion
00:51:20turf sires, Pharaoh and Justify. It's amazing. All right, so we mentioned Marge winning the
00:51:28Dixiana Queen Elizabeth the Second stakes. One thing that I was surprised, this was Saeed
00:51:33Bensoura's first win in the United States since 2011. I didn't realize it'd been nearly that long.
00:51:41We got Randy's thoughts on this horse. Zoe, what's your take on her? Is she good enough to win a
00:51:45Breeders' Cup race? She's good enough to win the Breeders' Cup mile. That's where she's going,
00:51:50according to Saeed Bensoura this morning. She's a half to Modern Games. We all saw what he did
00:51:55in the Breeders' Cup. So she's bred up, down, and sideways to be a miler. He did say she was about
00:52:0090% fit for that race, so he feels that she will move on. She's going to love the top of the
00:52:06ground, which is exactly what she's going to get out here. And she's quick. When is the last time
00:52:11that you saw a European almost get run down? I mean, Brendan's horse ran absolutely huge. What
00:52:17was her name? I got it here somewhere. Lindy. Lindy ran a bang-up race to be second to her,
00:52:23and she was faltering perhaps a little bit late, and she'd been off for quite some time. And Saeed
00:52:29simply saying that she needed the run. She'll stay at Keelum for a while and then ship over
00:52:34here. Also his 500th group win, group grade one win, lifetime. So that was probably just needed.
00:52:43And like Randy said last week, how can you not root for Saeed? It looks like they'll have two
00:52:49in the mile as well with Master of the Seas for Appleby. It's going to be Appleby against Saeed.
00:52:55Which one are you taking? Well, I would probably take Appleby right now. But to Bill's point,
00:53:02the reason why it's been so long between drinks for Saeed bin Sarour in America is because of
00:53:07Charlie Appleby. All the top good dolphin horses now wind up in Newmarket with Appleby. But it's
00:53:12nice to see Saeed is still in Sheikh Mohammed's good graces to be able to have a horse like this.
00:53:19But what a great weekend for good dolphin as well. You had Bold Act
00:53:23winning the Sycamore with Spencer and Appleby and then going the next day to New York with
00:53:27Eternal Hope taking down the Sands Point. So it was good dolphin all the time last weekend.
00:53:33Isn't it always good dolphin whenever they ship over to the United States of America?
00:53:37OK, one other race to talk about on Sunday at Keeneland, the Franklin Stakes Caravelle
00:53:42of the Pennsylvania Bread, who won the Breeders' Cup turf sprint last year,
00:53:47lost for the second straight time as she was beaten in the Franklin Stakes.
00:53:51Two straight losses. Trainer Brad Cox said he's going on still to the Breeders' Cup.
00:53:56But, you know, I'm not saying she couldn't win, but she's not coming into the race
00:54:01the way she did last year. She's not coming in on a positive trajectory. She's coming in off of
00:54:06two defeats. So we'll see if she can repeat in the Breeders' Cup. But right now off her last race,
00:54:13you know, her odds are going to be, I would think, what, about the eight,
00:54:17nine to one range, Randy, or is that too high? Well, she was a long shot last year,
00:54:22and she came into last year's Breeders' Cup turf sprint off a 92 buyer speed figure. What did she
00:54:29get in the Franklin on Sunday? A 92 buyer speed figure. Also, I don't think that she is at her
00:54:38best on a turf course that has given it. She ran well at Keeneland in an earlier turf sprint.
00:54:46I think it was this spring on a good rated turf course, which is what the turf course
00:54:51was rated on Sunday. But still, I think she's better on really firm turf. And I also don't
00:54:57think she really wants to be two or three lengths off the pace like she was. It was an extremely
00:55:03fast pace in the Franklin. They went just a tick over 21 seconds flat for the first quarter mile.
00:55:09So I agree, Bill, that she's maybe not, I mean, she's lost twice in rows and odds on favorite.
00:55:15So it's not exactly how you want to see a horse come in to the Breeders' Cup. But I don't think
00:55:22you can draw a line through her quite yet. Not at all. I don't really believe she lost
00:55:28anything in defeat. You could tell she was laboring over that ground. And surprisingly,
00:55:32Tony Anne and Phil D'Amato, she absolutely loved it. And Phil was surprised. He said he got a
00:55:37masterful ride by Pratt, who followed the leader the whole way and just kind of just got up there
00:55:44in time on Tony Anne. So we'll see what happens. But she lost nothing in defeat. She will love to
00:55:51hear her feet rattle out here in Southern California. It'll be a swan song. She doesn't
00:55:55have to win. She's done enough. She has definitely done enough and she will have earned a retirement.
00:56:02The TDN Writers' Room is brought to you by XBTV. This week's XBTV Work of the Week is again
00:56:09Arcangelo. Well, last week we talked about his first work over the surface in one or two and
00:56:14change whether he looked good or whether he didn't. I think he looks about the same. Take a look for
00:56:19yourself. As you can see, Arcangelo going much, much quicker this week, finishing up in a minute
00:56:25flat for Jenna Antonucci. That's her regular rider, Robert, aboard her. And I got a chance
00:56:31to speak to Jenna this morning, guys, and asked her what she thought about the work. And she
00:56:37thought it was great. She thought she loved the way he spun out of the turn. She said it's the
00:56:42first time that she's seen him turn, come around the turn with such energy, switch leads and finish
00:56:49up. Now, we did agree that perhaps this horse doesn't work quite as well for Robert as he does
00:56:54for Javier Castellano. I looked back through all his works and actually found one with Robert
00:56:59aboard, which is going back exactly a year. And I put them side by side on my computer this
00:57:06morning. And you know what? He looks exactly the same. So that to me is a good thing. He galloped
00:57:13out very nicely indeed. I asked Jenna because I thought maybe he looked a little bit lighter in
00:57:18my eye. And she said he's actually put on weight here at Santa Anita, which is a very good thing
00:57:23indeed. And we'll probably play it by ear. He generally works every 10 days, may have just one
00:57:30little blowout before the breeders come. Yeah. One of the problems with handicapping by workouts
00:57:36is that there are many problems. But one, good horses always look good. That's why they're good
00:57:42horses, right? I mean, they always give you that look in the morning like, wow, and they're eager
00:57:47and everything. Secondly, unless you have something to compare it with and you watch a
00:57:56horse's whole series of workouts, it's tough to cherry pick one workout and say, well, I don't
00:58:01think this horse looked very good. It may be the way he looks all the time when he's not being
00:58:05asked or when he's in his next to last or third to last workout before a race. It could be a trainer
00:58:10pattern, right? And thirdly, you can't go by what trainers say about workouts because they never
00:58:16tell the truth. They always say, oh, the horse was great. Horse looked fantastic. I'm pleased.
00:58:21I couldn't be more pleased with the way he's coming up to the race. And then they walk around
00:58:24the corner. Damn, I wish the horses were better, you know. So, but in this case, you know, what I
00:58:31have to do is I just have to trust the trainer. And Jenna Antonucci has shown that she is very
00:58:38much in tune with Arcangelo. She's handled this horse impeccably leading up to the Belmont,
00:58:44leading up to the Travers. She's been second guest all along the way. You know, was it right
00:58:50to run from the Belmont to the Travers without a prep race in between? She said, I know my horse.
00:58:55I know what he likes. I know the way he's training. He's going to be just fine.
00:59:00And now nothing between the Travers and the Breeders' Cup Classic. At some point,
00:59:04you just have to trust that the trainer knows what they're doing. And that's the way I feel
00:59:09about Arcangelo. On the flip side, I'll just bring this up really quickly. I can remember
00:59:14all those years ago when California Chrome got to Churchill Downs and I was still in Southern
00:59:20California, but we'd been going over to La Salle and filming him and watching him and, you know,
00:59:25not the best workhorse in the world, kind of only looked better when he was going fast. And three
00:59:30people called me the morning he got to Kentucky and was like, oh my God, Zoe, that California Chrome
00:59:36looks awful. Does he always look like that? And I was like, I'm not going to say he looks awful,
00:59:42but yeah, he's not the smoothest. He gets better the further he goes. And plus it was the first
00:59:47time he'd ever been on a muddy track. You know, back then we never got any mud out here in
00:59:51Southern California. So it was just interesting because like you said, people had not seen him
00:59:57every day. And I'm like, don't worry about it. He's fine. He's going to be just fine. Don't
01:00:01worry about him. Watch him when he goes fast. It's all good. And I'm sure Art Sherman said
01:00:05afterward, he's never worked better, right? Well, when you talk about trainers and workouts,
01:00:10I can understand. I mean, Bill and I have been, you know, two of the guys holding notepads and
01:00:17tape recorders and part of a scrum talking to a big time trainer after a workout. And if the
01:00:23trainer is disappointed in the way the horse works, the last thing he's going to do, really,
01:00:29almost every trainer is stand there in front of a group of reporters and TV cameras and say,
01:00:35I just didn't like the way he worked. All of a sudden headlines. Then he's going to be asked
01:00:40about it every minute, every morning. And then God forbid, if something happens to the horse in
01:00:47the running of the race, oh, you didn't like the horse in the workout. Why did you run it?
01:00:51It's just a whole litany of bad things that can happen. If trainers are honest about how they
01:00:58feel, if they're disappointed in a workout, so I can totally, I can totally understand that.
01:01:02That's just why I ignore it.
01:01:28All the thrills. Fraction of the bills.
01:01:45Experience the power of the partnership.
01:01:51Change your life, make new friends and compete at the highest level of Thoroughbred Racing.
01:01:58West Point Thoroughbreds, the gold standard in racing partnerships. Visit westpointtv.com.
01:02:05The TD and Riders Room brought to you by West Point Thoroughbreds. Let's look back and then
01:02:11let's look forward. First of all, let's look back to this past weekend. Stretch Ride won a race at
01:02:17Keeneland. It was an allowance race. He's a two-year-old. He won by five and three quarters
01:02:22lengths. Stretch Ride is now two for two, right? Now, horses can get to points in various different
01:02:29ways. They have various different backgrounds. Talk about you're off the beaten path. Stretch
01:02:33Ride was a $5,000 yearling purchase at Fasig-Tipton in October last fall. His then-owners
01:02:40decided to pinhook him. They took him to France, to Deauville, to the Arcana May Breeze-Up sale.
01:02:46That's where he caught the attention of West Point Thoroughbreds and American Bloodstock
01:02:50agent Kip Elser. They bid a hundred thousand euros to acquire Stretch Ride. That's a heck of
01:02:55a pinhook. And now look what you got. An undefeated two-year-old with a world of promise, 86 buyer
01:03:01speed figure for trainer Dale Romans. Now looking ahead, Vava. Remember her? She won the Charlestown
01:03:06Oaks, grade three last time out. She will run in the Raven Run on Saturday at Keeneland, going for
01:03:11her second consecutive graded stakes win. To learn more, visit westpointtb.com.
01:03:20And that's a wrap on this week's show. I want to thank Randy Moss, Zoe Cadman,
01:03:25my partners in crime. Even if they, once again, did beat up on me again this week,
01:03:29when they had promised they were going to go a little bit lighter on me. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
01:03:34I still can't believe that Randy went to go and see Taylor Swift. That has just made my day.
01:03:42Hey, she was good. Hey, there's a friend of mine in the, on the buyer speed figure team.
01:03:50He's about, I'm not going to, he's not Andy. He's about 75 years old or so. Mark Hopkins,
01:03:54I'll just say his name. A lot of people know who Mark Hopkins is. Mark calls me,
01:03:58and I hope I'm not violating anything, Mark. If I am, I'm sorry. He calls me about a month
01:04:03and a half ago. And Mark says, Randy, I have a confession to make. I said, what's that?
01:04:08He said, I am the world's oldest Swifty. He took his grandkids to see Taylor Swift,
01:04:14and he loved her so much. He's taking him to Frankfurt next spring to see her again
01:04:21on a European tour. Hey, Taylor Swift, Bill. There you go. I've got to join. I got to jump
01:04:29on the bandwagon. I guess I'm the last one. I'm raising Randy by one really quickly.
01:04:34John White. We all know John White. He now does the headline at Santa Anita.
01:04:38Front row seats to Kelly Clarkson.
01:04:43There you go. Now I've seen Kelly Clarkson in concert. There you go. That I have. Okay. All
01:04:48right. So let's do this all over again. This is a wrap on this week's show. I want to thank my
01:04:53partners, Randy Moss and Zoe Cabman, our Green Group Guests of the Week, Pat Day, our co-producers,
01:04:59Katie Petruniak, Anthony LaRocca, our editors, Aaliyah LaRocca and Nathan Wilkinson,
01:05:03and any dogs today. No, no, no mascots to thank. Oh, there she is. Hi, Lucy.
01:05:10Yeah, she has discovered her dog bed instead of a people bed. There she is.
01:05:15All right. As active as ever, Lucy is enjoying the day and getting a little nap in. All right.
01:05:21So thanks for joining us. Thanks for watching. We'll be back next week on the TDN Writer's Room
01:05:26Podcast.