Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00:00For the love of the horse, for generations to come.
00:00:28It's Tuesday, April 25th at 2.38 p.m. here on the East Coast.
00:00:33Welcome to another edition of the TDN Writer's Room Podcast.
00:00:35My name is Bill Finley.
00:00:36I'm a correspondent for the TDN.
00:00:39Also co-host of Down the Stretch Show every Saturday with Dave Johnson on Sirius XM Radio.
00:00:44I'm Randy Moss with NBC Sports.
00:00:48Just as last week, surrounded by reams of paperwork as we're getting ready for not only
00:00:54the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks, but, you know, a dozen undercard races on Friday
00:01:00and Saturday, which are going to be sensational in their own right, some of them.
00:01:04Zoe Cavan with First Racing, Santa Anita and XBTV.
00:01:08I'm currently down here at the OBS sales at Nile Brennan's farm, or should we call it
00:01:14the kennel, because there will be eight dogs running around here.
00:01:18So if you hear some barking and it's all quiet right now, but I think there's just one here.
00:01:25Rachel, come here.
00:01:26We got Rachel here.
00:01:27This is Rachel Alexander.
00:01:28I'm not sure you can see her very well.
00:01:31So Rachel's here and she's actually Marrette Farrell's dog.
00:01:35Hi, Rachel.
00:01:36And she's very excited to be here.
00:01:38Well, hi, Rachel, and welcome to the show.
00:01:41Well, guys, it is the Tuesday.
00:01:44So what do we have?
00:01:45Do my math.
00:01:4612 days to the Kentucky Derby.
00:01:48Is that right?
00:01:49Oh, my goodness.
00:01:50I can't believe I can't figure that out.
00:01:51But anyways, it's a quiet time.
00:01:53Horses are working.
00:01:55People are getting the last, you know, dotting the I's, crossing the T's, et cetera.
00:02:00Not a lot of news, but let's catch up on some of the things that are going on.
00:02:03And remember, this is on Tuesday, the time you see this and it's out for viewing.
00:02:08Some of these stories may have changed, but there is one defection.
00:02:12And Chad Brown has done it again.
00:02:15He is blazing sevens, has the points to run in the Kentucky Derby.
00:02:19And just as he did with early voting and cloud computing, he said, thanks, but no,
00:02:24thanks.
00:02:25I'm going to point for the Preakness.
00:02:26And it worked great with early voting and cloud computing.
00:02:28They both won.
00:02:29So he's won the Preakness.
00:02:31So he's one trainer who doesn't necessarily have that Derby fever.
00:02:35I've got the points.
00:02:36I'm going to run.
00:02:37I have to do that.
00:02:38That means that Jace's road gets into the race.
00:02:41Randy, were you surprised that Blazing Sevens came out?
00:02:46Not really.
00:02:47Just for the reasons you pointed out.
00:02:48I mean, they've had success going the alternate route.
00:02:52Blazing Sevens was going to be 40 to one.
00:02:54So really what we're doing here, we're just trading one 40 to one shot for the other.
00:02:58Jace's road gets in.
00:02:59Blazing Sevens won't run.
00:03:01Where it might have an impact, some impact possibly, is Jace's road has a little more
00:03:08early speed than Blazing Sevens does.
00:03:12When he won the gun runner earlier in the year at the fairgrounds, he won it in wire
00:03:16to wire fashion.
00:03:17He's not really what you would call a speed ball, but he does have tactical speed.
00:03:21So that might introduce just a touch more early pace than you would have had with Blazing
00:03:27Sevens.
00:03:28Yeah.
00:03:29I don't think it's going to make much difference whatsoever.
00:03:31We're going to have a full field and hopefully that's going to be the only defection because
00:03:36half the battle of anything Derby related is getting to the Derby.
00:03:40And we all know the days leading up to it, horses still have to have their final works,
00:03:46get over the hurdles.
00:03:47The weather changes in Kentucky, horses can cough, they can get a temperature, they can
00:03:52get a bruised foot.
00:03:53Anything can happen.
00:03:54A lot of them will be changing surfaces and going to Churchill Downs.
00:03:58We all know it usually likes to rain on Derby week, if not on Derby day.
00:04:02So many things can happen.
00:04:04The battle now for these trainers and owners whose dream it is to even just run in the
00:04:08Derby is to get there in 12 days time.
00:04:13A couple of news and notes among the jockeys, it was reported last week that Javier Castellano
00:04:18is going to ride Ray's Cane and all of a sudden, lo and behold, it broke yesterday that in
00:04:22fact he's going to ride Mage.
00:04:24I totally get that, Mage will be much lower in the odds than Ray's Cane.
00:04:29So with that change, again, this could change rapidly.
00:04:33We still have two horses that do not have jockeys, Ray's Cane.
00:04:37I checked with Ben Colbrook today, on Tuesday, he does not have a jockey yet.
00:04:42And the odd one to me is Kingsbarns, Todd Pletcher has not named a jockey.
00:04:47And I, you know, not to second guess Todd Pletcher, but I think there's an obvious choice
00:04:52here.
00:04:53Jose Ortiz is available.
00:04:54Why wouldn't you go there with him, an East Coast guy that Pletcher is familiar with,
00:04:59unless Todd maybe thinks someone's coming out and he's going to pick up that jockey at the
00:05:03last minute, but a little late in the game to still have two jockeys assignments up in
00:05:10the air.
00:05:11Yeah.
00:05:12And you know, you know what I think about that.
00:05:13If you've watched any of our NBC shows and the banter between me and Jerry Bailey, I
00:05:17think that matters zero when you come into the Kentucky Derby.
00:05:21Look, the difference between the top level riders in America is so small, and it can
00:05:27change from race to race based on circumstance and Ted, there's no way to, you know, I don't
00:05:33think it's going to make any difference at all.
00:05:35Whatever top level rider rides Kingsbarns or, you know, or Ray's Cane.
00:05:41And I was texting with Ben Colbrook this morning.
00:05:42I think he had the right idea.
00:05:44You know, their first choice, Joel Rosario rode the horse in the bluegrass, right?
00:05:49And Rosario is now committed to disarm.
00:05:53Jose Lascano rode him in his Gotham win.
00:05:56Jose Lascano's injured.
00:05:57He was hurt on Wood Memorial Day.
00:05:59That would have been their first choice now.
00:06:01So I asked him, well, so what are you going to do now?
00:06:03And Colbrook said, I'm just going to wait it out.
00:06:05So there'll be plenty of jockeys sitting in the jocks room with him out.
00:06:08And his exact quote was, I would be more worried if they had only 19 riders.
00:06:13I love that attitude.
00:06:16So I don't think you're going to get, judging from that comment, you may not get a jockey
00:06:20resolution on Ray's Cane in the next 24, 48 hours.
00:06:25All right, gang.
00:06:26I know it's early, but let's let's do it.
00:06:29I'm going to pin you down.
00:06:31You have the right to change your mind.
00:06:32You can change.
00:06:33I'm going to change my mind probably five or six times.
00:06:36My pick on the Derby on a Wednesday changes to a Thursday to changes to a Friday.
00:06:40But I want to say at this point in time, who is your pick and who is the horse among the
00:06:44top contenders?
00:06:46Don't give me a 50 to one shot that you're not really that high on.
00:06:49You don't think is going to run well.
00:06:51My pick is Tappett Trice.
00:06:53I've done a complete 180 on him after his Tampa Bay Derby, which I didn't like.
00:06:56I loved his bluegrass.
00:06:58I always look for a horse coming into the Kentucky Derby who's heading in the right
00:07:01direction and is improving.
00:07:04And I think that he fits that bill perfectly.
00:07:08My horse I don't like will be from the same stable and that's Kings Barnes.
00:07:13He stole the Louisiana Derby fractions of 49.60, 114.69, got loose under Flabian Pratt,
00:07:22a gifted horse.
00:07:24He's not getting that trip in the Kentucky Derby.
00:07:26And based off a race where he had everything go his own way, I'll look to eliminate him
00:07:33from my bets on Derby Day.
00:07:34Okay, I'm going to pin you down, Randy.
00:07:36What do you like?
00:07:37With the same caveats that you just gave out, you know, what's going to happen between now
00:07:44and then, I don't want to OD on the importance of post position because I think that tends
00:07:50to be overrated.
00:07:51Right?
00:07:52I mean, after all, three of the last four Kentucky Derby winners were saddle-tailed
00:07:55numbers 20, 18, and 21.
00:07:58But right now, to me, I'm trying not to overthink this.
00:08:04Based on what we saw in the Santa Anita Derby, I think the horse to beat is the Japanese
00:08:07horse Dermis Otagaki.
00:08:10I know, you know, you've got the travel to be concerned about, but look, you can take
00:08:13the top five, six horses in the Derby or more, and you can pick at every one of them.
00:08:18You can find legitimate reasons to like them and legitimate reasons not to like them.
00:08:24You've got to be extremely critical.
00:08:27You've got to look at these things with the handicapper's eye.
00:08:30And Dermis Otagaki is one of those types.
00:08:32I can find reasons not to like him, but he ran the fastest prep race.
00:08:37There's not a ton of early speed in this Kentucky Derby, at least not on paper the way it looks
00:08:41right now.
00:08:42I'm concerned about some things, but I think he may be the fastest horse in the race going
00:08:47in.
00:08:48Oh, don't I like?
00:08:49Well, I would make a stand against Tappet Trice.
00:08:55I think he is arguably the most talented horse in the race, but I am concerned with his lack
00:09:03of acceleration, his gears mid-race.
00:09:09And if he gets caught in traffic in a 20-horse field, I think that might not work to his
00:09:13advantage given the fact that he's not the type of horse that's handy, that can stop
00:09:17and go and hit holes when they develop.
00:09:20I've got concerns about kickback with him after what we saw in the bluegrass.
00:09:25And to keep him from having to stop and go, I think he's going to be six or seven wide.
00:09:30And I think even if he's the best horse, that might be difficult for Tappet Trice to pull
00:09:35off.
00:09:36So that's why I'm taking a stand against him, but Bill will probably be right and I'll probably
00:09:40be right.
00:09:41Randy, $1 side bet as you do with Jerry Bailey, horse for horse, you can owe me a dollar after
00:09:45the Kentucky Derby.
00:09:46How about that?
00:09:47Okay.
00:09:48Yes.
00:09:49So this is road getting in.
00:09:50That's four starters that Brad Cox has in the field, including Verifying, who Zoe just
00:09:55talked about.
00:09:56Okay.
00:09:57So let's segue to another subject.
00:09:58And just today, the winners of the horses, riders, trainers, et cetera, the nominees
00:10:06for the Hall of Fame are in, the people that are going to be inducted.
00:10:11And this was as strong a class as I can remember in a long time.
00:10:16Corey Nakatani gets in, Arrogate, California Chrome, Songbird.
00:10:21And then those were the four that got in from the traditional voting.
00:10:26And then some others got in through various committees, historical committees.
00:10:31The big name there was Fernando Toro got in.
00:10:35I came fairly close on my ballot.
00:10:39I voted for Arrogate, California Chrome, and Songbird.
00:10:42I did not vote for Corey Nakatani though.
00:10:44I'm not going to tell you he doesn't deserve it.
00:10:47I'm a little surprised he got in because he seems to be on the ballot years, going back
00:10:52maybe 10 years or so.
00:10:53I don't know specifically.
00:10:54So I don't know what changed this time.
00:10:57I have been beating the drum for John Sadler to get into the Hall of Fame.
00:11:00And I don't know why nobody's listening to me.
00:11:03I think that he was a Hall of Famer before he had the great year last year and did so
00:11:12many remarkable things.
00:11:14I don't get it.
00:11:16I don't see that.
00:11:17I think maybe it's because he has generally has no presence with the Kentucky Derby Triple
00:11:23Crown horses.
00:11:24And that's the sexiest category that everybody gravitates towards.
00:11:28So I was surprised by that.
00:11:30But congratulations to the crew and especially those three horses, Arrogate, California Chrome
00:11:34and Songbird.
00:11:35That is a mighty, mighty group that gets into the Hall of Fame.
00:11:39Yeah.
00:11:40I think we all three have votes for the Hall of Fame.
00:11:44I tend to be kind of hardcore about who gets in the Hall of Fame and who doesn't.
00:11:47I'm probably more discriminating than I should be because I don't want it to be the Hall
00:11:52of Very Good.
00:11:53I want it to be the Hall of Fame.
00:11:56I had all kinds of trouble.
00:11:57Oh, my gosh.
00:11:58I mean, you talk about guys and horses that were deserving.
00:12:04Apart from Arrogate and California Chrome, get Kona Gold.
00:12:07I mean, my gosh, what does a horse have to do to be in the Hall of Fame?
00:12:11I know he's a sprinter.
00:12:12But you look at his body of work lifetime and it's just unreal.
00:12:16Lady Eli, Blind Luck, Racks to Riches, Hybrid to Grace, Game on Dude, The Trainers, none
00:12:22of whom made it in, Christophe Clement, Graham Motion, Doug O'Neill, Sadler, John Sheriffs
00:12:28of Zenyatta fame.
00:12:30I mean, my gosh, I think what helped Corey Nakatani, and I'm not going to sit here and
00:12:35say he shouldn't be in the Hall of Fame, he was the only jockey that was on the ballot.
00:12:42You're not required to pick a jockey and a trainer and a horse.
00:12:46But I think those people who are inclined to want to vote for a jockey had one choice,
00:12:52whereas you had five choices among trainers and nine choices among horses.
00:12:58And I think those kind of maybe some of the votes got split up in the other categories.
00:13:03But congratulations to those that made it.
00:13:06I thought it's really cool to get both Arrogate and California Chrome in the Hall of Fame
00:13:10in the same year.
00:13:11Yeah, and Sadler's work with Flightline this year was tremendous, even though he only had
00:13:15the three starts.
00:13:17Maybe he'll get in next year.
00:13:18I think Flightline is a shoo-in to get into the Hall of Fame.
00:13:21So let's see if who goes in first, John Sadler or Flightline.
00:13:25Well, first of all, you'll be seeing a little less of Zoe Kadman on this week's TVN Writer's
00:13:29Room podcast than you normally would.
00:13:31There's been some technical problems, we're trying to put it together.
00:13:34She'll appear later on in the show, and we'll have it straightened out for next week.
00:13:37And we'll welcome Zoe Kadman back in full.
00:13:40Want a reminder that the April Selected Horses of Race and Age sale is this Sunday, April
00:13:4430th at 4 p.m. in Keeneland.
00:13:46Take part in the sales event to kick off Kentucky Derby Week in the Bluegrass.
00:13:49View the catalog at catalog.keeneland.com.
00:13:57If this place could talk, it would roar, it would say, this is racing, this beating heart
00:14:09in the heart of horse country, steady and strong beneath the roar, reminding us why
00:14:18for the love of the horse for generations to come.
00:14:24The best two-year-old by legendary sire, Quality Road.
00:14:28In the back, a million five.
00:14:30Very, very impressive debut.
00:14:32Cantering home could not have been more impressive.
00:14:35Coast to coast to the American pharaoh.
00:14:37He's the real deal.
00:14:39Undefeated and unchallenged at two.
00:14:42He's just too good.
00:14:43He wins the Breeders' Cup Double!
00:14:46Cornish!
00:14:49Cornish, the newest champion to Coolmore America.
00:14:54The TDN Writer's Room is brought to you by Coolmore.
00:14:57Practical Joke kept his name in the news this week when his party favor, a $520,000 yearly
00:15:04purchase for Windstar Farm and Sienna Farm, got her career off to a perfect start on Friday
00:15:08in a Gulfstream Park Maiden's Special Eight, winning the sixth-for-all event by six and
00:15:12one-quarter lengths.
00:15:14Practical Joke is now the sire of 46 winners in 2023, including five-stakes winners and
00:15:19eight-stakes performers.
00:15:21Group is led by Grade One winner and Kentucky Derby hopeful, Rapid Blue.
00:15:25Well, there's some troubling news at Laurel this week, and I think people that are watching
00:15:29the podcast now know all about it.
00:15:30But just to rehash things, according to the Horseman's Group, five horses have broken
00:15:34down and had to be euthanized this month at Laurel, including two last Thursday on the
00:15:39same day.
00:15:41They have not raced since then.
00:15:43And the track issues at Laurel have been kind of an on-again, off-again issue for a couple
00:15:47of years now.
00:15:49It's an ugly story.
00:15:51It's the last thing that racing needs.
00:15:53But today, there was a racing commission meeting, today being Tuesday, and I wanted to read
00:15:58a quote from Michael Algeo.
00:16:01I hope I'm pronouncing that right.
00:16:03He's the chairman of the Maryland Racing Commission.
00:16:05And I thought he summed this up perfectly.
00:16:08He said, equine safety and welfare is the single most important thing at the track.
00:16:12The commission isn't making any judgments as to who is at fault.
00:16:16We cannot afford to get this wrong.
00:16:18We have to get it right.
00:16:19And absolutely, we have to get it right, because already, it's starting to turn into a little
00:16:25bit of what happened at Santa Anita in 2019 with all the problems there.
00:16:30Mainstream media is following this.
00:16:33The TV stations are talking about it.
00:16:35The Baltimore Sun is writing about it.
00:16:37This was particularly troubling.
00:16:39WMAR Television Channel 2 in Baltimore had a poll online.
00:16:46And the question was, should Maryland ban horse racing?
00:16:5076% of the people said yes.
00:16:53So this is something that needs to be fixed.
00:16:56I have confidence in the Stornet Group, first racing to get it done right.
00:17:01And I think we're going to weather the storm here.
00:17:04But right now, Randy, this is a troubling story.
00:17:07Oh, yeah.
00:17:08You know, when Santa Anita had that problem a few years ago, you were hearing similar outcries.
00:17:11You know, I think there were people at racetracks around the country elsewhere that just kind
00:17:16of thought, well, that's a Santa Anita problem.
00:17:19That's their problem.
00:17:20It's everyone's problem, everyone in horse racing.
00:17:23And I think this just points that out.
00:17:25No racetrack is immune from situations like that, no matter whether they're in a big metropolis
00:17:31or whether they're in a smaller town.
00:17:33You can still get this sort of bad publicity.
00:17:36It's so complicated, racetrack maintenance.
00:17:40It really is.
00:17:42You know, I've been involved in it once upon a time, way back in the day.
00:17:45And I mean, you've got dirt racing surfaces primarily.
00:17:49It's so hard to get them right.
00:17:51They've got to have enough cushion, but then they have to have bounce.
00:17:55You want some clay, but not too much clay.
00:17:58You want sand, but you don't want coarse sand.
00:18:01You know, you've got to have the right amount of moisture.
00:18:03You don't want it too dry.
00:18:05All these different variables.
00:18:07And then, of course, there's the horse element.
00:18:08How sound are the horses?
00:18:10How thorough are the veterinary examinations?
00:18:15And, you know, how are the trainers handling that?
00:18:20Are they maybe pushing horses a little too much?
00:18:23So there's a lot of elements involved there.
00:18:25And hopefully, Laurel can get it right, because it's a mixture that if it's not
00:18:30in the right proportions and if it's not done properly, then, as we've seen,
00:18:36very bad things can happen.
00:18:38Yeah, and at the outset of this, the horsemen and management,
00:18:42the Maryland Jockey Club, they were really at an impasse.
00:18:45And the horsemen have asked that the Maryland Jockey Club Stronach Group
00:18:49allow John Passero in to inspect the track.
00:18:52He was the former track superintendent there back when the DeFrancis,
00:18:57Frank and then Joe DeFrancis, owned the track.
00:18:59And today, they agreed to let him do that.
00:19:01He is going to...
00:19:03They say they're not going to go forward with racing there until
00:19:06Passero goes over the track and gives it thumbs up
00:19:09and says that it's OK to race over.
00:19:12One of the things that I'd like to say about this,
00:19:14and I understand there's a lot of anger and, you know,
00:19:17that's understandable, a lot of finger pointing.
00:19:19But I think people have been a little bit unfair to the Stronach Group.
00:19:24You know, things you see on Twitter and things that normally
00:19:28you shouldn't pay any attention to, but have kind of cast them as uncaring
00:19:31or are kind of botching this up.
00:19:32This is the same company that took the Santa Anita situation
00:19:37and did 180 degree reversal.
00:19:40They got how important it was, and they took what was the most
00:19:44dangerous track in the country.
00:19:46And lo and behold, these years later,
00:19:48I've turned it into what might be the safest track in the country.
00:19:51They care. They know what they're doing.
00:19:54Had there been some missteps along the way, perhaps,
00:19:57you know, the horsemen say Stronach are trying to pin this on the horsemen.
00:20:01I don't know if that's true or not.
00:20:04But I don't think it's fair to say that Stronach and First Racing
00:20:09are the villains here.
00:20:11They, again, have a history of being able to deal with these problems.
00:20:15And again, you know, they understand perhaps better than any entity
00:20:20in racing, after what they went through at Santa Anita,
00:20:23how important it is not to have an online poll on a TV station
00:20:27of 76% of people saying horse racing should be banned.
00:20:29Another big story that broke this week was broken by David Grennan
00:20:33in the Daily Racing Forum, Jimmy Jerkins,
00:20:35son of Hall of Fame trainer Alan Jerkins,
00:20:37who in his own right has had a terrific career.
00:20:40Matter of fact, people that follow New York Racing
00:20:43considered him for years to be one of the very best trainers out there.
00:20:47A horseman's horseman, learned from his dad.
00:20:50You know, his father was a genius, winning grade one races left and right,
00:20:54but got so bad for him that he won all four races last year.
00:20:59He's down to about 10 horses in his barn and said,
00:21:03as you would imagine, that not only am I not making money,
00:21:06I'm actually losing money doing this, training horses,
00:21:10and this is not sustainable.
00:21:12He got a job with a Saudi prince.
00:21:14He's going to go over next month to train horses in Saudi Arabia.
00:21:18Good for him.
00:21:20I hope that this turns out to be something that saves his career.
00:21:24But to me, the story is, how is it that a guy that is this talented
00:21:28and this good a trainer, and believe me, he is really good,
00:21:32could be in this position in the first place.
00:21:35And again, there's a lot of reasons why,
00:21:38and he admitted that he's bad when it comes to self-promoting.
00:21:42He didn't go to the sales.
00:21:44He didn't wine and dine rich owners, that sort of thing.
00:21:46It's sort of my fault a little bit,
00:21:48because I wasn't doing the things that I needed to do.
00:21:51And I just thought the owners would come to me.
00:21:53But I also think it has a lot to do with the super trainers.
00:21:55You know, everybody wants the same guys.
00:21:58And you go to the sales and you pay a million dollars for a horse.
00:22:01You're going to give them to Bob Baffert,
00:22:03you're going to give them to Brad Cox,
00:22:05you're going to give them to Todd Pletcher.
00:22:07And even a Jimmy Jerkins, who's a terrific trainer,
00:22:10falls through the cracks.
00:22:12There's no easy solution to that, but that shouldn't be.
00:22:15He's too good to have ever been put in this position.
00:22:17We talked about this a couple of weeks ago.
00:22:20It's kind of puzzling how in a profession in which
00:22:24knowledge and experience is everything,
00:22:27it somehow doesn't seem to be valued as much when a trainer gets older.
00:22:32Wayne Lucas is, what, 87 years old?
00:22:34He says he's still learning about things as his career progresses.
00:22:40You know, Jimmy Jerkins is like anybody who's been around him
00:22:44and has been around his father, he's a clone.
00:22:47He's an absolute clone of his father.
00:22:49And the way he put it is his father and him
00:22:52were always under the impression that you didn't need to toot your own horn.
00:22:57You didn't need social media.
00:22:59What you needed to do was take care of the horses
00:23:02and their performance on the racetrack would speak for you.
00:23:06But unfortunately, that's not what the situation is right now in 2023,
00:23:11as you guys pointed out.
00:23:13I think another element to this is that so many owners now
00:23:18are looking for Kentucky Derby horses.
00:23:21And that's really their primary, sometimes sole focus.
00:23:25And Alan Jerkins wasn't that way and Jimmy Jerkins isn't that way.
00:23:30They're not going to rush a horse, a young horse, into the Triple Crown
00:23:34if they think the horse would benefit from more time and from a slower approach.
00:23:39And I think that also might be just a little bit out of place
00:23:43with the times right now.
00:23:45The TDN is brought to you by the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association,
00:23:48which means our weekly update of the Pennsylvania-bred Angel of Empire,
00:23:53one of the top choices for the Kentucky Derby after his win
00:23:56in the Arkansas Derby this past Friday.
00:23:58He worked six furlongs in 113.40.
00:24:02He was in company with the newest Kentucky Derby starter,
00:24:05at least the horse that just got in, Jace's Road.
00:24:07They're both owned by the All Boss Stable, trained by Brad Cox.
00:24:10That is, in the photo, that is Angel of Empire on the outside.
00:24:14He comes into the Derby third on the point standings
00:24:17and with earnings of just over $1 million.
00:24:20Again, Angel of Empire bred and raised in Pennsylvania
00:24:23by the Forgotten Land Investment and Black Diamond Equine.
00:24:47He has two races at six and a half furlongs, both with a $150,000 purse.
00:24:52And in December, two races going long, each worth $200,000.
00:24:56For more, go to pabred.com.
00:25:00The fastest horse of the week is brought to you by the fast stallions
00:25:03of Windstar Farms, such as the stallion whose progeny
00:25:06has been breaking watches at the upcoming OBS Spring Sale.
00:25:10We will explain, but first, this week, we're going to talk about Proxy,
00:25:15who just ran a 1.03 buyer speed figure, the tops of the week
00:25:19in his dramatic Oakland handicap victory that we will recap shortly.
00:25:23That was just shy of Proxy's career best buyer, the 1.04
00:25:27that he earned last July in the Stephen Foster at Churchill Downs
00:25:30for finishing third in that race behind Olympiad and American Revolution.
00:25:34This summer, Stephen Foster, by the way, has been penciled in
00:25:37as the likely next start for Proxy and his new cheek pieces.
00:25:40The 2023 Foster is scheduled to be run Saturday, July the 1st.
00:25:45Now, Windstar's veteran stallion, Spicedown, is the sire of two fillies
00:25:49scheduled to be sold this week at the OBS Spring Sale
00:25:52where they've been making headlines.
00:25:54Hip number 1012 worked a furlong in 9.35 seconds,
00:25:58tied for the fastest time of the sale.
00:26:00She's out of the mare, Spooky Woods, and has been signed
00:26:03by the Scanlon Training and Sales.
00:26:05And hip number 618 blazed a quarter in 20.15 seconds
00:26:10the fastest quarter recorded at the sale.
00:26:13She's being sold by All Dreams Equine and is out of the mare, Last Dance.
00:26:17Last Dance is a half-sister to Spiceder,
00:26:20so Spicedown blood has already worked well with that female family.
00:26:23Spicedown has sired 24 Green One winners,
00:26:26plus the ultra-fast Nashville, who is also standing stud at Windstar.
00:26:34The Green Group specializes in the thoroughbred industry.
00:26:37They have over 500 clients in the horse business.
00:26:40They're an accounting and tax consulting advisory firm
00:26:43that has proven strategies to save you taxes.
00:26:46And you can learn more at www.greenco.com.
00:26:50And welcome in now this week's Green Group guests,
00:26:53guests of the week, two for the price of one today
00:26:57on the Thoroughbred Daily News Writer's Room podcast.
00:27:00We have Leslie and Pierre Amistoy, the co-owners of Practical Move,
00:27:04the Santa Anita Derby winner who's going to be one of the favorites
00:27:07in the Kentucky Derby coming up.
00:27:09Welcome to the show. Thanks for joining us.
00:27:11My first question about this horse is,
00:27:13you buy him at the sales and you've got a choice
00:27:16of dozens of different trainers.
00:27:18Everybody gravitates, it seems these days,
00:27:21towards the same old, same old.
00:27:23Todd Pletcher, Steve Asmussen, Bob Baffert, of course.
00:27:26Why'd you guys pick Tim Yateen,
00:27:28who obviously a good choice because he's done a great job?
00:27:31So we had talked to Tim the year before
00:27:35about taking an intermissive colt that we had
00:27:37to Santa Anita.
00:27:39And I have some friends that have raced out there before.
00:27:42One of my old racing partners, Mike Abraham, knew Tim.
00:27:46And then another friend of mine, Jaime Gomez from Los Alamitos,
00:27:49knew Tim.
00:27:51So they both asked us, or I asked them,
00:27:54I said, I want to go to a nice barn,
00:27:56but I don't want to be with 300 or 400 horses.
00:27:58I want something with a little more care,
00:28:00a little more on-hands trainer.
00:28:02They both recommended Tim.
00:28:04We called him, we talked to him.
00:28:06He's been polite and nice in every conversation we have with him.
00:28:09So unfortunately, the intermissive colt didn't make it.
00:28:12We worked him a couple of times and he got hurt.
00:28:14So we didn't get to go.
00:28:16So we kind of lost track of Tim for a year.
00:28:18And then last year, I called him back and said,
00:28:20Tim, I'm going to go get you a couple of horses.
00:28:22So we went out to Florida and we bought Practical Move
00:28:24and Bless Touch.
00:28:26We bought him two horses and a horse named Neiman,
00:28:28a money's colt we bought.
00:28:30So we sent all three out to Tim and we didn't meet him
00:28:32until the Del Mar meet when Practical Move
00:28:34was running its first race.
00:28:36It was the first time we got to meet him.
00:28:38And he was just as nice as could be.
00:28:40And we could see the operation, the barn.
00:28:42And, you know, Leslie trained for 10 or 15 years.
00:28:44So we knew what we wanted.
00:28:46And Tim was what we wanted.
00:28:48He had a great setup and a good operation.
00:28:50Well, tell us the story about the actual purchase
00:28:52of Practical Move, the bidding, the budget,
00:28:54how all that went down.
00:28:56It's a good little story.
00:28:58We went to Florida.
00:29:00My partner on the horse, Roger Beasley,
00:29:02also was a partner on Practical Move.
00:29:04Well, he and I have some nice quarter horses together.
00:29:06And he just called me like in February last year
00:29:09and said, Pierre, let's go get a couple of good thoroughbreds.
00:29:11I mean, you can pick them.
00:29:13Let's go get something.
00:29:15I said, all right.
00:29:17And so Leslie looked it up and said,
00:29:19Pierre, OBS April's coming up.
00:29:21So she made us reservations.
00:29:23We bolted out there and we stayed a week
00:29:25and we saw hundreds of horses.
00:29:27Well, the very first day we got there,
00:29:29we started looking at horses.
00:29:31We found Practical Move and Leslie really picked
00:29:33We went through the whole process.
00:29:35We did his x-rays.
00:29:37We did the scope.
00:29:39We did the confirmation approvals.
00:29:41We did everything and we just liked it.
00:29:43And we were looking through many, many horses.
00:29:45We kept coming back.
00:29:47Every day we'd come back to that stall
00:29:49and make sure he didn't have any bad habits.
00:29:51He wasn't a cribber or a walker.
00:29:53He was mean or he was ugly.
00:29:55Everything was perfect.
00:29:57He was kind.
00:29:59He was calm.
00:30:01He never turned a hair.
00:30:03And when we got to work,
00:30:05we were like, whoa, look at this.
00:30:07Big 16 and a half, 17 hand horse
00:30:09working in 10-1.
00:30:11And he looked like he was galloping.
00:30:13But he caught that time that fast.
00:30:15This is a good one.
00:30:17This is a good colt.
00:30:19So, of course, we went after the work,
00:30:21checked him again, make sure his legs were good.
00:30:23He fit every box we checked we wanted.
00:30:25He had the scope and the size,
00:30:27the foot.
00:30:29He had everything.
00:30:31The only concern we had was his April 30th birthday.
00:30:33What do you think, right?
00:30:35Well, we said, that's not enough.
00:30:37He's big enough.
00:30:39He's mature enough.
00:30:41The birthday, we said, we're going to go for it.
00:30:43So he was in first day.
00:30:45So, you know, we're getting nervous.
00:30:47He's our first pick of the whole sale.
00:30:49That's the horse we want.
00:30:51So we walk up to the ring.
00:30:53And unless he's getting nervous,
00:30:55he's trying to hang on to me.
00:30:57And she's getting nervous.
00:30:59I'm getting nervous because we want him.
00:31:01And so he gets up there and our budget
00:31:03he's got some nice horses.
00:31:05He had one grade, one winner.
00:31:07Most of his runners were in Chile.
00:31:09I said, we'll get this horse.
00:31:11And he had 175,000 in 15 seconds.
00:31:13Yeah.
00:31:15Oh, my God.
00:31:17And so unless he goes, oh, we're not going to get him.
00:31:19So she walks off.
00:31:21She goes back to the table and she's upset.
00:31:23So I hung around and hung around.
00:31:25I bid again.
00:31:27And then another guy bids and I bid again.
00:31:29And I look across the ring.
00:31:31I see the guy that's bidding against me.
00:31:33He's moving his book.
00:31:35He's moving his hat.
00:31:37He's wandering off.
00:31:39And he got to 215,000.
00:31:41And I said, I'm going to go.
00:31:43I just looked up and told the spotter, 230,000.
00:31:45And he goes, 230,000.
00:31:47And he walked off.
00:31:49He walked away and I got him for 230,000.
00:31:51We got him.
00:31:53So he was over our budget.
00:31:55But what the hell?
00:31:57He was our number one pick, which we never get
00:31:59when we go to sales.
00:32:01Yeah.
00:32:02Well, he had the ticket hidden in the book.
00:32:04And I was like, when he got back, I was like,
00:32:06we should have got more people together.
00:32:08We should have done something.
00:32:10We should try to get him, you know.
00:32:12And he just opened his book and dropped it on the table.
00:32:14Oh, you got him.
00:32:16We were like, so happy.
00:32:18We had no buyer's remorse ever with him.
00:32:20We loved him from the start.
00:32:22So she says, here, was that the right move?
00:32:24Yeah.
00:32:25And we think we look at each other.
00:32:27She goes, that's his name.
00:32:29Practical move.
00:32:31She named him right there when we bought him.
00:32:33Was that the right move?
00:32:35I said, I don't know, but that's his name.
00:32:37It's a practical move.
00:32:39So that's how that went down that day.
00:32:41That's an amazing story.
00:32:43You're a competitive bunch.
00:32:45But it's not just like you were two novice horse people
00:32:49coming to OBS to look for horses to buy.
00:32:53Tell us a little bit about your training career.
00:32:55You trained a ton of winners, Leslie.
00:32:57And I heard a little birdie say maybe
00:33:01that you were a chucks agent.
00:33:04Yes, I trained for about 10 or 12 years at Santa Fe
00:33:09and Turf Paradise and in this area around here.
00:33:13And then when I decided to have our family,
00:33:17I stopped training.
00:33:19But we met at the racetrack in Turf Paradise.
00:33:23We were actually born and raised in the same neighborhood
00:33:26and didn't know each other.
00:33:28But when we met at Turf Paradise,
00:33:29we were coming home for Christmas
00:33:31and there we were in the same plane.
00:33:33We're like, are you from there?
00:33:35We're like, we're from the same neighborhood.
00:33:37And that was, we went on from there, you know.
00:33:40And so it was, that's how we met.
00:33:43He was a jockey agent at first at Santa Fe Downs,
00:33:47but I didn't know him.
00:33:49I had just started training then.
00:33:51I was one of the first women trainers in the nation.
00:33:53I was only 20 years old when I started.
00:33:55It was like in 79.
00:33:57So I trained most in the 80s.
00:33:59And I met him there and he was a jock agent
00:34:03to some friends of his that he went onto the track with.
00:34:07And that's kind of how we met,
00:34:09but we got to know each other better in Phoenix.
00:34:11So when I was a jock agent,
00:34:13my dad had a construction company
00:34:15and he sold it in 1975.
00:34:19And he went down to Los Lunas, little South Albuquerque.
00:34:22He bought a couple of feed stores.
00:34:24He grew them and then he sold them.
00:34:25And then he had a few horses.
00:34:27So him and my brothers really liked the horses.
00:34:29So they built a training center
00:34:31down in Belen, New Mexico.
00:34:33And they broke a lot of codes
00:34:35for a lot of trainers in this whole region.
00:34:37They got to know some people from Santa Fe Downs
00:34:39and in particular, a couple of jockeys.
00:34:41And those jockeys, and I wasn't out of work
00:34:43since he sold the company.
00:34:45So they asked me to be their agent.
00:34:47I said, I'll go.
00:34:48I said, I don't know anything about it.
00:34:50I don't know.
00:34:52I said, well, you'll learn.
00:34:53And they told me they were good jockeys.
00:34:55They were well-received.
00:34:57Everybody liked them.
00:34:59And I picked up pretty quick on it.
00:35:01And I started going good.
00:35:03Well, hell, I had for the next 12 years,
00:35:05I probably had a leading rider
00:35:07eight or nine of those years of the 12 years.
00:35:09We did really good, won a lot of for charities here.
00:35:11In New Mexico, most of our big races
00:35:13are for charities, two-year-old races.
00:35:15So we won a lot of for charities.
00:35:17Leslie won some for charities.
00:35:19She's kind of modest.
00:35:21She won a lot of races.
00:35:23She went back to buy horses for her clients.
00:35:25So we started going together
00:35:27to go back there and buy.
00:35:29And we started, we just learned.
00:35:30We learned how to read the book.
00:35:32We just learned confirmation.
00:35:34And we just weren't through it all and we learned.
00:35:36And so we pinhooked for ourselves
00:35:38for about four or five years.
00:35:40And we made enough money in four or five years
00:35:42that we bought a farm in Kentucky,
00:35:44Cache in Paris, Kentucky,
00:35:46called Lobo Farm.
00:35:48And we owned that farm for 12 years.
00:35:50And we did great at it.
00:35:51We raised a lot and sold a lot of good earrings.
00:35:53One year in January, we topped the sale
00:35:55with a mare.
00:35:57We had a mare and foaled a storm cat.
00:35:59We foaled the colt out,
00:36:01bred her back to go sapper,
00:36:03and we sold her for $2.7 million.
00:36:05So her name was Iris Cherry.
00:36:07So she was a big, big hit for us.
00:36:09We did good.
00:36:11And then right after that,
00:36:13the economy went bad in 2007 and 8.
00:36:15If you all remember, the markets kind of went bad.
00:36:17So we sold the farm and came back to New Mexico.
00:36:19And then New Mexico got casinos
00:36:21and racetracks.
00:36:23So the purses got really good here.
00:36:25So we've been racing mainly in New Mexico
00:36:27and have done real well,
00:36:29won a lot of quarter horse races,
00:36:31a lot of third-bed races,
00:36:33a lot of fraternities.
00:36:35We've been leading our many times here.
00:36:37We have our own little broodmare band
00:36:39where we raise our New Mexico breds.
00:36:41And they do well here.
00:36:43We love our babies.
00:36:45So we were staying here.
00:36:47And then when Roger asked us to go find us
00:36:49a couple of good horses,
00:36:51and we have this wonderful horse,
00:36:53Practical Move,
00:36:55who is just a dream for us.
00:36:57Knock on wood.
00:36:59And the filly we bought,
00:37:01she stakes place.
00:37:03Her name is Blessed Touch.
00:37:05She's a nice filly.
00:37:07Tim has her out there.
00:37:09So it's kind of a full circle for us
00:37:11for the last 25 years or so.
00:37:13And look, we made it to the derby.
00:37:15Unbelievable.
00:37:17Now, you guys have talked about
00:37:19success you had in quarter horses.
00:37:21Why did you make the transition
00:37:23to thoroughbreds?
00:37:25Well, we were always thoroughbreds.
00:37:27It was funny.
00:37:29We would go to Sutherland Park
00:37:31to watch the races,
00:37:33and we run a bunch of thoroughbreds.
00:37:35Well, in those days,
00:37:37they used to run the first four or five races
00:37:39were quarter horse races.
00:37:41So we'd be sitting there watching four races.
00:37:43We didn't have any shot of doing any good.
00:37:45And I said, Leslie, we know this.
00:37:47Let's just go buy quarter horses.
00:37:49So we started buying quarter horses.
00:37:51And we went and we bought it.
00:37:53We've been in the All-American three times.
00:37:55We had a horse we bought.
00:37:57His name was First to Flash.
00:37:59We bought him in Redoso.
00:38:01And he was winning the Rainbow for Charity.
00:38:05And he was champion two-year-old that year.
00:38:07And then we stood him at stud.
00:38:10He had an accident and died.
00:38:12We got one crop.
00:38:14And out of that one crop,
00:38:16we went back to Redoso about four years later
00:38:18and Leslie found First Moon Flash,
00:38:19a son of his.
00:38:21And First Moon Flash
00:38:23had seven grade one wins.
00:38:25He had all the world records
00:38:27by himself at one time.
00:38:29He had four world records,
00:38:31300, 400, 350, 400, 440.
00:38:33He won it twice.
00:38:35And he was champion racing stallion in 2009.
00:38:38And then we stood him for about 10 or 11 years.
00:38:41And we just lost him year before last.
00:38:43But he was a champion racehorse,
00:38:45a champion sire.
00:38:47And so he was our biggest horse.
00:38:49Probably
00:38:5110 or 15 for Charities.
00:38:53You know, a bunch of big races here in New Mexico.
00:38:56So we were always in third res.
00:38:58We just decided to use both breeds
00:39:00because there were so many races here for quarterhorses.
00:39:02And when I first started,
00:39:04I worked for one of the best quarterhorse trainers here,
00:39:06Don Ferris.
00:39:08He's not there anymore,
00:39:10but I worked for him for a long time when I was younger
00:39:12and learned a lot about quarterhorses.
00:39:14It's about caretaking anyway when it's,
00:39:16you know, third res or quarterhorse.
00:39:17It's about caretaking, right?
00:39:19So both breeds,
00:39:21you know, it's all about confirmation
00:39:23and caretaking and,
00:39:25you know, trusting your trainer
00:39:27and getting in the right races.
00:39:29You know, that's a big thing.
00:39:31You know, some people can't read that book.
00:39:33But yeah, it's been a big,
00:39:35a long journey for us.
00:39:37And we've had a lot of fun.
00:39:39Really helpful with our marriage, too.
00:39:41You got to imagine we have something to speak about at night,
00:39:43you know, instead of just looking at each other.
00:39:44So,
00:39:46we had our 35th wedding anniversary
00:39:48last month,
00:39:50but we've been together around 45 years.
00:39:52So.
00:39:54No, that's fantastic.
00:39:56So now, lo and behold, the journey takes you to Churchill Downs
00:39:58on the first Saturday night.
00:40:00Knock on wood.
00:40:02The only horse in the derby field
00:40:04that's had back-to-back triple-digit buyer speed figures,
00:40:06seems to be going in the right direction,
00:40:08has tactical speed,
00:40:10has everything seemingly you would want.
00:40:12You guys are both knowledgeable.
00:40:14Pierre, you are a jockey's agent.
00:40:16You're probably both good handicappers.
00:40:18So, a handicapped practical move
00:40:20in the Kentucky Derby.
00:40:22What do you really like about him going in?
00:40:24And what are you, if anything,
00:40:26are you still maybe just a little bit concerned about?
00:40:30Well, like you said,
00:40:32I think he's tactical enough.
00:40:34Ramone can put him, I think, where he wants him.
00:40:36And what we're hoping to do,
00:40:38and I hope we can get a good enough break,
00:40:40that we hit the first turn
00:40:42and we have two-thirds of them behind us.
00:40:44We want to be up in the first tier
00:40:46or right behind the first tier of horses.
00:40:48And this horse has a really good,
00:40:50really good, strong,
00:40:52high cruising speed.
00:40:54So, if we can get a good spot
00:40:56and just cruise down that backside
00:40:58and set ourselves up,
00:41:00he's got a good turn of foot, too.
00:41:02You know, in the Santa Ana Derby,
00:41:04we're not going to criticize Ramone,
00:41:06but we think he waited just a little bit too long
00:41:08before he turned him loose.
00:41:10And those other horses had momentum on us.
00:41:12And they were up on him before we turned for home.
00:41:14He showed a lot of guts, I thought, that day.
00:41:16Never running that far
00:41:18and to hold off those good horses,
00:41:20I thought he did great.
00:41:22So, if we get our trip,
00:41:24I think coming out of the turn,
00:41:26we're going to be close to the lead
00:41:28or hitting the lead,
00:41:30and they're going to have to come get us, I think.
00:41:32If this horse switches leads like it's supposed to,
00:41:34you know, I think he'll finish strong.
00:41:36And that's what we're hoping for, of course, right?
00:41:38But I think this horse,
00:41:40he's been bumped and he's been backed before
00:41:42in some of his earlier races.
00:41:44And he's run with good, good horses.
00:41:47So, I think we've got a good enough horse
00:41:50that he's smart enough
00:41:52and he's cool enough
00:41:54and he just doesn't make any mistakes.
00:41:57Then I think that's what gives us our best chance
00:41:59to win the race is his class.
00:42:02Yeah, and you know,
00:42:04when we go this far, which is a long ways,
00:42:06we've got to rely on Ramone.
00:42:08You know, he's got to make the decisions
00:42:10when it's time and he's got to know
00:42:12where he's at in the race.
00:42:14Those guys are going to be coming.
00:42:16Those guys are going to be coming, you know.
00:42:18So, we've got to try to get a jump
00:42:20and go get to the wire.
00:42:22Yeah, and the one thing about Practical Move
00:42:24is that he is cool under fire
00:42:26seemingly in any situation.
00:42:28His work before the Santa Anita Derby
00:42:30was terrific,
00:42:32surrounded by five horses
00:42:34that gave poor Tim Yaktin
00:42:36an almost heart attack
00:42:38as his final prep for the race.
00:42:40It looks like he has the mentality
00:42:42to come in and be cool under fire.
00:42:44What's your mentality?
00:42:46Do you have massive derby fever?
00:42:48I mean, how are you feeling going in?
00:42:50Is winning a grade one thoroughbred race
00:42:53better than winning a grade one
00:42:55futurity race?
00:42:57And how big is your derby fever?
00:42:59It's big. It's big.
00:43:01We're really excited.
00:43:03I mean, we've got a lot of family coming,
00:43:05a lot of friends coming.
00:43:07I was just showing up all of our boxes today
00:43:09this morning, you know, for Churchill.
00:43:11So, I'm excited.
00:43:12It's in the city, but it's not that big.
00:43:14So, a lot of our friends know.
00:43:16They're calling, they're texting.
00:43:18So, we're very excited.
00:43:20We're really excited.
00:43:22And then, Churchill's been really nice to us.
00:43:24He called us, let us know,
00:43:26what do you need, what do you want?
00:43:28They were really nice to us.
00:43:30We appreciate that.
00:43:32We're very nervous about it.
00:43:34We're just hoping everything goes right.
00:43:36If there's a way to be confident
00:43:38and nervous at the same time,
00:43:40we're confident,
00:43:42we've got to get the trip, we know it.
00:43:44We've been in a long time, we know it.
00:43:46You know, 20 horses.
00:43:48So, when people go to the sales,
00:43:50obviously, a lot of them are looking
00:43:52for that Kentucky Derby horse, right?
00:43:55And if Practical Move were by Tappet
00:43:57or by Kerland,
00:43:59he probably would have gone for a lot more
00:44:01than $230,000.
00:44:03But there were horsemen,
00:44:05there are horsemen,
00:44:07who are skeptical about the Sire Practical joke
00:44:10and a mile and a quarter distance.
00:44:12Since he was primarily
00:44:14a one-turn type horse.
00:44:16But I understand you guys
00:44:18are not really that concerned
00:44:20about the pedigree.
00:44:22Tell us why.
00:44:24Well, Practical Joke himself,
00:44:26was a great seven-foot-long mile horse.
00:44:28But his sire, Into Mischief,
00:44:30who is the leading sire in the country
00:44:32right now, he's had some
00:44:34Kentucky Derby winners, right?
00:44:36And Practical Joke's bottom side
00:44:38is distorted humor, and he's had
00:44:40horses go to the routed ground.
00:44:42And at that time,
00:44:44we were looking for a horse
00:44:46that had a speed sire,
00:44:48and we were trying to get
00:44:50the distance from the dam side.
00:44:52So we thought we have a good mix
00:44:54with A-Fleet Alex Mayer,
00:44:56the second dams in general meeting,
00:44:58which is Seattle Slew Horse,
00:45:00and then I think Learfan.
00:45:02So we had the distance
00:45:04on the bottom side, we thought,
00:45:06to carry him around the ground.
00:45:08So we had the speed,
00:45:10and I think it's shown up that way
00:45:12and we'll see next Saturday, right?
00:45:14But he's got enough pedigree,
00:45:16I think, beyond
00:45:18Practical Joke himself
00:45:20to hopefully catch that distance.
00:45:22And maybe that's why we got him
00:45:24for $230,000. You're right.
00:45:26He might have brought $730,000
00:45:28if he was a Tappet or one of those horses.
00:45:30Because he's an individual.
00:45:32That's the other thing.
00:45:34He's an absolute individual.
00:45:36He's big, he's strong, he's classy.
00:45:38If he'd have been a Tappet,
00:45:40he'd have brought big money.
00:45:42He looks like a sprinter.
00:45:44He looks like a router.
00:45:46He's big, he's long, his neck is long.
00:45:48He's stretched.
00:45:50He's got a hip, long hip.
00:45:52He looks like a router,
00:45:54even though he might be bred by a speed sire,
00:45:56he looks like he can ride the round.
00:45:58And it was so funny when Tim
00:46:00entered him in the Los Alamitos for charity,
00:46:02we'd run him just a couple of short races,
00:46:04a six furlongs, a six and a half,
00:46:06and he ran third in a seven furlong race.
00:46:08Had a bad trip and still ran third in a stake.
00:46:10And Tim, that day we were signing the grants,
00:46:12he ran out of ground.
00:46:14And he killed him.
00:46:16He sat there and ran right behind
00:46:18an Arabian lion and smashed it.
00:46:22You could see at the half mile pole,
00:46:24Ramon was just waiting,
00:46:26just sitting there with a full horse.
00:46:28They made that turn and he just opened up.
00:46:30Long lane, long lane there.
00:46:32And so after the race,
00:46:34Tim said, I think he answered the question today.
00:46:36I think we can go around the ground.
00:46:38He was confident then.
00:46:40So I think now he's really confident in the horse.
00:46:42He's confident in our horse.
00:46:44Well, Leslie and Pierre Amistoy,
00:46:46thanks so much for joining us here
00:46:48on the TDN Writers Room Podcast.
00:46:50Best of luck with Practical Move
00:46:52and the Kentucky Derby.
00:46:54Thank you very much.
00:46:56Thank you much.
00:46:58As this week's guests,
00:47:00plural of the week,
00:47:02Pierre and Leslie Amistoy will receive
00:47:04a free one hour text consultation
00:47:06from the Green Group.
00:47:08And they're still buying yearlings,
00:47:10so that might come in handy.
00:47:12Are you paying too much in taxes?
00:47:14The Green Group can help.
00:47:16There's a reason the most successful
00:47:18owners, breeders, and horsemen
00:47:20select the Green Group as their tax advisors.
00:47:22They save you money
00:47:24and share successful strategies.
00:47:26Over the past 40 years,
00:47:28the Green Group founder, Len Green,
00:47:30has owned and bred some of the best
00:47:32racehorses in the history of the sport.
00:47:34Like Eclipse Award winning champions
00:47:36Jay Walk and Wonder Wheel.
00:47:38His DJ stable competes at the highest level
00:47:40and has received the game's
00:47:42highest award.
00:47:44Len Green's in-depth,
00:47:46hands-on industry knowledge
00:47:48combined with cutting edge
00:47:50tax saving strategies
00:47:52has produced positive results
00:47:54for his clientele
00:47:56and has made the Green Group
00:47:58the top rated accounting and tax firm
00:48:00in the thoroughbred business.
00:48:02For a confidential and complimentary
00:48:04consultation,
00:48:06contact us at 732-634-5100
00:48:08or visit our website
00:48:10at www.greenco.com
00:48:12Honor Code,
00:48:14a multiple Grade 1 winner
00:48:16from the final crop
00:48:18of the legendary AP Indy.
00:48:20Never off the board in 11 starts,
00:48:22he was crowned Champion Older Horse
00:48:24before retiring.
00:48:26Now, he is living up to the promise
00:48:28of his pedigree.
00:48:30With progeny like Grade 1 winners
00:48:32Honor AP,
00:48:34Max Player,
00:48:36and Maracuja,
00:48:38and multiple six-figure yearling sales,
00:48:40Honor Code stands to continue
00:48:42the Lane's End Stallion of the Week.
00:48:44Drumroll, please.
00:48:46Honor Code.
00:48:48Honor Code, the son of AP Indy,
00:48:50has had two three-year-old stakes winners
00:48:52in the last month.
00:48:54Rarified flair in the rush-away stakes
00:48:56of Turfway and cats in the timber
00:48:58in the Weber City Mist at Laurel.
00:49:00Honor Code stands for $20,000
00:49:02this year at Lane's End Farm.
00:49:04Well, I hope all our viewers
00:49:06who are horse players
00:49:08will start betting on Hawthorn.
00:49:10Why Hawthorn?
00:49:12Well, they had this break
00:49:14in horse racing today
00:49:16lowering their win place and show
00:49:18takeout to 12%.
00:49:20And Zoe wrote a lot of winners
00:49:22at Hawthorn over the years,
00:49:24so I know it's a track she's very fond of.
00:49:26But it's a track that has
00:49:28him having trouble finding a niche.
00:49:30And they wanted to do something
00:49:32different, so they lowered the takeout.
00:49:34And to me, when tracks do this,
00:49:36bettors need to gravitate towards it
00:49:38to support them.
00:49:40And this is exactly what is happening there.
00:49:42There's been a lot of debate about that.
00:49:44There's never really been a definitive answer.
00:49:46But through the first 13 days
00:49:48of the meet, win place and show
00:49:50betting is up 33.72%.
00:49:54Good news right there.
00:49:56And Jim Miller, who is Mr. Everything,
00:49:58wears a bunch of different hats
00:50:00at Hawthorn.
00:50:01I talked to him and he said also
00:50:03that right now the average handle
00:50:05is $1.6 million.
00:50:07This doesn't sound like a lot,
00:50:09but he said last year it was $1.2 million.
00:50:10And he thinks what is happening
00:50:12is the bettors are coming to Hawthorn
00:50:14to take a look for the low takeout
00:50:16and the win place and show.
00:50:18And then they're also betting
00:50:20in the other pools,
00:50:22exact as pick fours, pick threes or whatnot.
00:50:24So, you know, it's good news
00:50:26for the horse player.
00:50:28I hope other tracks will pay attention to this.
00:50:30And, you know, I've always thought
00:50:32and I've been talking about for 25 years
00:50:34horse racing's biggest problem
00:50:36selling itself as a gambling game
00:50:38is the takeout is too high,
00:50:40compared to everything else out there
00:50:42like slot machines, sports betting,
00:50:44whatnot.
00:50:46It's not a good value
00:50:48and horse racing needs to do something about it.
00:50:50So congratulations to Hawthorn and Randy.
00:50:52I hope these numbers hold up
00:50:54and I hope a couple other tracks
00:50:56will take a look at this.
00:50:58Oh, yeah, it's not exactly a novel idea
00:51:00if you're a business that's struggling
00:51:02do something that your customers
00:51:04will really like,
00:51:06like dropping the takeout.
00:51:08And I think this is so huge
00:51:10because it's very easy
00:51:12for racetrack owners
00:51:14to be skeptical, right?
00:51:16I mean, their bills are going up as well.
00:51:18Their utility costs are going up.
00:51:20Their maintenance costs are going up.
00:51:22Their payroll costs are going up.
00:51:24And in lowering the takeout,
00:51:26you're telling racetracks
00:51:28or you're asking racetracks
00:51:30to take less money
00:51:32at a time when they're having to spend more money.
00:51:34And I think racetrack owners also,
00:51:36I know that racetrack owners
00:51:38have been somewhat skeptical
00:51:40because racetrack owners got a choice
00:51:42between track A and track B
00:51:44and they know a lot about track A,
00:51:46but track B is lowering their takeout.
00:51:48They're not really sure
00:51:50that it matters so much
00:51:52to a horse player
00:51:54that he'll shift his allegiances
00:51:56from one track to another.
00:51:58And I think what we're seeing right now
00:52:00at Hawthorn may be
00:52:02a really good case study
00:52:04for some of these racetracks
00:52:06that might be on the fence.
00:52:08Now we're seeing more and more now
00:52:10that they've got takeout
00:52:12and starting to trim their takeout,
00:52:14but Hawthorn has gone one step further
00:52:16and maybe this will be a trend
00:52:18that will continue.
00:52:20Lower the takeout,
00:52:22the betters will come.
00:52:24And good for Hawthorn
00:52:26because this is a particularly tough time
00:52:28for them because they don't have
00:52:30a circuit anymore.
00:52:32It used to be an Arlington Park Hawthorn circuit
00:52:34for the most part
00:52:36that would take the horseman
00:52:38throughout the year.
00:52:40But now with the support itself,
00:52:42the horseman can't stable there year-round
00:52:44because the standard bred racing
00:52:46comes in there and they have to get out.
00:52:48The track changes.
00:52:50So Hawthorn for Chicago,
00:52:52for Illinois racing,
00:52:54is a standalone track.
00:52:56So that's hard enough
00:52:58in of itself.
00:53:00So the fact that they're lowering
00:53:02the takeout as well
00:53:04at the very crucial time
00:53:06that they really, really needed,
00:53:08I would applaud people
00:53:10for helping you give them a helping hand too.
00:53:12I think why the landscape
00:53:14is changing a little bit
00:53:16in regards to takeout
00:53:18is because more and more
00:53:20and more money at every racetrack
00:53:22is being bet off track
00:53:24as opposed to being bet on track.
00:53:26And the simulcast arena
00:53:28has gotten so hyper competitive
00:53:30among racetracks
00:53:32that if you're a mid-major racetrack
00:53:34like Hawthorn is right now,
00:53:36it's a tough road to go.
00:53:38It's tough to compete
00:53:40in the Churchills and the Delmars
00:53:42and all those other signals that are out there.
00:53:44So what better way to differentiate
00:53:46your signal from some of the others
00:53:48than being able to advertise
00:53:50bet with us
00:53:52and we'll give you more money back.
00:53:54So I do think
00:53:56that we're going to see more and more
00:53:58of this going forward.
00:54:00Randy, it's interesting you brought up that point
00:54:02because the other change is
00:54:04they're not running on Saturdays.
00:54:06And you say, what?
00:54:07A racetrack's not going to run on Saturdays?
00:54:08Everybody's paying attention
00:54:10to Gulfstream, to Keeneland,
00:54:12to Santa Anita, to Aqueduct.
00:54:14Who's going to pay attention
00:54:16to Hawthorn on a Saturday?
00:54:18So they switch their Saturday cards
00:54:20to Thursdays.
00:54:22Now, they are going to Saturdays
00:54:24a little bit later in the week,
00:54:26but they think that's been a big help as well.
00:54:28Not a lot going on on the racetrack last weekend.
00:54:30It's kind of that quiet time,
00:54:32but one huge race,
00:54:34the Opal on Handicap won by Proxy.
00:54:36Randy, you talked a lot about this horse
00:54:38going backwards.
00:54:40Track announcer Jim Pyres even said,
00:54:42Proxy not responding much.
00:54:44And no sooner did Jim get that
00:54:46word out of his mouth that he did respond.
00:54:48But he wins by a head over
00:54:51last Samurai,
00:54:53a nose back to Stiletto Boy.
00:54:55Here's my take on this division.
00:54:57It's not very good.
00:54:59Everybody retired last year that mattered.
00:55:01And there are some good solid horses.
00:55:03Proxy, Art Collector,
00:55:05West Willpower, last Samurai,
00:55:06Stiletto Boy, defunded.
00:55:08They're just going to take turns
00:55:10beating each other throughout the year.
00:55:12But congratulations to Proxy.
00:55:14He moved up to second
00:55:16on the NTRA Top Ten Poll.
00:55:18Leap Power is still first.
00:55:20Randy, has this guy finally figured it out?
00:55:22Well, you know, Bill,
00:55:24I didn't pick Proxy.
00:55:26I thought he'd be a fast-closing second
00:55:28like he always is.
00:55:30But I know who did pick Proxy.
00:55:32Yeah.
00:55:34So what did you think about it?
00:55:36I called Mike's assistant,
00:55:38Hillary Pridham,
00:55:40and asked about Proxy
00:55:42because they'd all decided
00:55:44that he would like that racetrack.
00:55:46And he gets Joel Rosario back on him.
00:55:48And he's always a little bit closer
00:55:50with Joel.
00:55:52And they'd worked him in cheek pieces.
00:55:54Now, this is the one thing
00:55:56that I've yet to figure out
00:55:58about the DRF.
00:56:00And, you know, if you take blinkers on
00:56:02or take them off,
00:56:04you have to have it in the form.
00:56:06Cheek pieces.
00:56:08Cheek pieces in the U.S.,
00:56:10you do not have to notate it.
00:56:12You can take them on and put them off.
00:56:14I think it should be notated.
00:56:16I write it down in my DRF formulator
00:56:18when I'm watching races.
00:56:20Who's got cheek pieces?
00:56:22Who hasn't?
00:56:23Because that's the only way you know.
00:56:25Anyway, he worked in cheek pieces.
00:56:27Hillary said it was much better.
00:56:29They were hoping he would be closer.
00:56:31Of course he wasn't.
00:56:33Broke well, took himself back,
00:56:34all was lost.
00:56:36And then all of a sudden,
00:56:38he did come flying in the last 50 yards
00:56:40and got his nose down just in time
00:56:42for the win.
00:56:44So I think maybe they made a little bit
00:56:46of difference in the last 50 yards.
00:56:48I don't know.
00:56:49It was a good win.
00:56:51It was a good race.
00:56:53It was a very, very good race indeed.
00:56:55And as far as the horse that ran second,
00:56:57Wayne Lucas's horse,
00:56:59he got into a little bit of a bump
00:57:01with Stiletto Boy when they turned for home
00:57:02before Christian Torres in there.
00:57:04He got in there.
00:57:06And a lot of people think maybe he should have won.
00:57:08I don't think so.
00:57:09I think the best horse won on the day.
00:57:11The TDM Racer's Room is brought to you
00:57:13by XSPEED TV.
00:57:15The XSPEED TV Workout of the Week
00:57:17is the Kentucky Derby favorite, Forte.
00:57:19He had his first workout
00:57:21at Churchill Downs on Friday
00:57:23with his old pal,
00:57:25Bright Future, seen working here.
00:57:27This is exactly what I wanted to see
00:57:29from Forte.
00:57:30He's got Pep in his step.
00:57:32It's been a lot cooler there
00:57:34at Churchill Downs of late.
00:57:36I think he's glad to get out of Florida.
00:57:38And if you're worried that the Florida Derby
00:57:40knocked him sideways, don't be.
00:57:42This is a good work.
00:57:44You can watch it only on XSPEED TV.
00:58:00All the thrills.
00:58:03Fraction of the bills.
00:58:07Experience the power
00:58:09of the partnership.
00:58:12The XSPEED TV Workout of the Week
00:58:14is the Kentucky Derby favorite,
00:58:16Forte.
00:58:18He had his first workout
00:58:20at Churchill Downs of late.
00:58:22This is exactly what I wanted to see
00:58:24from Forte.
00:58:26He had his first workout
00:58:28at Churchill Downs of late.
00:58:31Change your life,
00:58:33make new friends,
00:58:35and compete at the highest level
00:58:37of Thoroughbred racing.
00:58:39Westpoint Thoroughbreds,
00:58:41the gold standard in racing partnerships.
00:58:43Visit westpointtv.com
00:58:46The TDN Writers Room is brought to you
00:58:48by Westpoint Thoroughbreds.
00:58:50Joining a Westpoint Thoroughbreds group
00:58:52can literally launch you
00:58:54right into the winner's circle.
00:58:56They are currently shopping
00:58:58at OBS Sales.
00:59:00westpointtb.com. Got some more info? With the connections of Blazing Sevens announcing they
00:59:07will wait for the Preakness, West Point-owned Jace's Road has made it into the main derby field.
00:59:13Among the West Point partners on Jace's Road are NFL Network insider Ian Rappaport, Fox Sports
00:59:21reporter Lindsey Zaniak, and Fox Sports talk show host Joy Taylor. Jace's Road is trained by Brad
00:59:28Cox and owned in partnership with the Albaugh family. West Point is, of course, looking for
00:59:33their second derby win after taking the 2017 running with Always Dreaming. You can learn more
00:59:40at westpointtb.com. Well, that's a wrap for this week's show. I want to thank Randy Moss and Zoe
00:59:46Kamen who join us each week at this time, our green group guests plural of the week, Pierre and
00:59:52Leslie Amistoy, our producer Patty Wolf, our associate producer Katie Petruniak, our editors
00:59:58Anthony LaRocca, Alita LaRocca, and Nathan Wilkinson, and shout out once again to our mascot Lucy
01:00:04over Randy's right shoulder. Thanks for joining us this week. Coming up next week,
01:00:09lots more to talk about Kentucky Derby right around the corner. See you next week.