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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 the TDN.
00:00:33I also co-host the Down the Stretch radio show on Sirius XM Radio.
00:00:38I am Randy Moss with NBC Sports, currently ensconced in the corner of a hotel room lobby
00:00:44bar in Houston, Texas.
00:00:47So hopefully John Legend in the background won't be too loud for us here.
00:00:52John Legend in the background?
00:00:54What are you doing in Houston?
00:00:55It looks like you're in jail, by the way.
00:00:59I am in Houston for what is supposedly one of the country's biggest rodeos.
00:01:05My first rodeo, believe it or not.
00:01:07Yeah.
00:01:08All right.
00:01:09Well, this is the game we play every week.
00:01:10Where are we?
00:01:11We know where Bill is.
00:01:12I'm at the Whiteface Lodge in Lake Placid, and it is absolutely gorgeous.
00:01:17I was hoping it might be snowing, but it's not snowing.
00:01:19And I have a mimosa, so I apologize for my behavior in advance.
00:01:25And that's your hotel room?
00:01:27That's the most unbelievable part.
00:01:28Oh, yeah.
00:01:29It's bougie.
00:01:30Oh.
00:01:31Oh, yeah.
00:01:32Got a fire going.
00:01:33Got a balcony.
00:01:34I'm looking out.
00:01:35Yeah.
00:01:36There you go.
00:01:37There's snow out there.
00:01:38I don't know if you can see it.
00:01:39Balcony.
00:01:40Oh, yeah.
00:01:41Doing it right.
00:01:42Good stuff, Snowy.
00:01:43So, Randy, well, first of all, I want to remind you that this week and every week we're brought
00:01:49to you by our good friends at Keeneland.
00:01:50Randy, you didn't correctly identify yourself in the segment we just did.
00:01:55Oh, OK.
00:01:56You just said, hi, I'm Randy Moss, Senior Buscador's biggest supporter.
00:02:01We've been talking about Senior Buscador off and on now for how long, since the middle
00:02:06of last summer?
00:02:07Yes.
00:02:08And you were always stuck by him.
00:02:10So congratulations, because, of course, he wins the Saudi Cup and runs a terrific race.
00:02:17We're going to have the trainer, Todd Fincher, on a little bit later in the Green Group Guest
00:02:21of the Week.
00:02:22But, you know, I think a lot of people, including you, were happy to see this horse win.
00:02:28Hey.
00:02:29He's just a hard trying horse.
00:02:31You know, he's out there in all these big races.
00:02:33He always runs well.
00:02:34But that big win had sort of eluded him.
00:02:37And boy, did he pick a good time to put in a career best race, 20 million dollar Saudi
00:02:42Cup.
00:02:43And congratulations to the whole team.
00:02:46But Randy, did you have a big smile on your face on Saturday?
00:02:50I bet you did.
00:02:51Yeah, he's such an easy horse to root for, right?
00:02:54He's come so close so often.
00:02:56Things always seem to go wrong.
00:02:58His connections are salt to the earth, people.
00:03:00We'll talk to Todd Fincher a little bit later, Joey Peacock, the owner.
00:03:04Same way.
00:03:05And it was like a perfect storm for this horse in the Saudi Cup.
00:03:09I'm sure Todd will talk about this, but Todd had told me way earlier that the horse, in
00:03:15his opinion, and it's his opinion, gets intimidated when other horses are to his immediate outside.
00:03:21And that's why early in the race, sometimes he takes himself back so far, even when the
00:03:26pace isn't fast.
00:03:27It's to clear himself from all the horses to his outside.
00:03:30Well, in the Saudi Cup, the pace was so fast that the field essentially just ran away from
00:03:36Senor Buscador and Ushpa Tesoro.
00:03:39And then the second part of it is that he's always caught so wide around the turns because
00:03:44the rider has instructions, don't let horses be right up on your outside.
00:03:48In this case, he was only like two or three paths off the rail around the turn, turning
00:03:53for home all by himself back there.
00:03:56And then on top of it all, he's a horse that does his best running down the stretch.
00:04:01And you won't find many stretches longer than at King Abdul Aziz Racecourse in Saudi Arabia.
00:04:07So the pace as well, it all combined for the perfect setup for our man, Senor Buscador.
00:04:15And honestly, I don't think there's any single person across the world that was not happy
00:04:21with the outcome, perhaps Ushpa Tesoro connections, because he came a long way and ran a terrific
00:04:27race just to get like mugged right on the wire.
00:04:31But it's a feel good story and a feel good story that racing desperately needs for Toph
00:04:36Fincher, a guy that not a lot of people have heard of.
00:04:39He's won over 1,500 races, if you include some of his quarter horse wins as well.
00:04:44Just a true story.
00:04:45And let's just not forget, how good did Saudi crown run?
00:04:50Because all evening long, that track was favoring deep closes, like nobody went gate to wire.
00:04:57And they have practically a standing start there in Saudi.
00:05:01So to go 23 and 4, 46 and 1, and still be around at the end, honestly, he might have
00:05:07run the best race of all the horses, because he was up there the whole way and just got
00:05:13mugged in the shadow of the wire.
00:05:15It might be just a little bit further for him than he wants to go and looks like that
00:05:18perhaps he'll head over to Dubai as well.
00:05:21In fact, I think they're all there already just testing the water.
00:05:24So a truly terrific race.
00:05:26New course record, besting Mischief's record, 9 tenths, 9 hundredths of a second off of
00:05:33that 149.50, the new stakes record there, but a truly marvelous performance.
00:05:40Yeah, it's also nice to see an American horse win after several years.
00:05:45And this is one who will not be embroiled in some big scandal, maximum security.
00:05:51No worries about that.
00:05:52So congratulations to the whole team.
00:05:54Randy, it wasn't a perfect day for you because your second favorite horse, Dermis Sotokaki,
00:06:01ran fifth.
00:06:02He ran OK.
00:06:03But comment about him and then also both you guys.
00:06:06I mean, there was one huge disappointment in the race.
00:06:10White Aberio just didn't run.
00:06:12I mean, that was not the horse that won the Breeders' Cup Classic.
00:06:15He was 10th.
00:06:16I couldn't see any apparent excuses.
00:06:21Probably the long layoff for him from the Breeders' Cup to this, in hindsight, wasn't
00:06:25the right thing for this particular horse.
00:06:28But he was a huge disappointment.
00:06:30He's coming back to the States now.
00:06:31He's not going to run in Dubai.
00:06:33And now they've got to regroup.
00:06:34Yeah, I mean, look, I thought, yeah, I agree, Saudi Crown ran a gigantic race.
00:06:40Senor Buscador ran OK.
00:06:42He got beat two and a half lengths.
00:06:44He got a pretty good trip.
00:06:46So not much of an excuse for him.
00:06:47How about National Treasure?
00:06:48Ran a pretty big race as well to be right up on the pace with Saudi Crown like that
00:06:53and still only be beaten, what, like a length and three quarters or something like that
00:06:56at the wire.
00:06:58No show by Aberio.
00:06:59I can't make any excuse for him, really.
00:07:02He had what I thought was a reasonably good trip and just came up completely empty.
00:07:07And to listen to Rick Dutrow in the lead up to the race on the world feed, I mean, Rick
00:07:12was very confident that the horse was training exceptionally well and doing well.
00:07:17So back to the drawing board for that one.
00:07:19Many big races on the Saudi card, but the other one that has implications for U.S. racing
00:07:25was the Saudi Derby.
00:07:26And there's kind of two stories out of that.
00:07:29The winner was forever young, a Japanese horse.
00:07:32He's four for four, ran a really kind of odd race a little bit and in mid stretch, it looked
00:07:38like he was going nowhere.
00:07:39Matter of fact, the announcer even said called the horse flat.
00:07:43And all of a sudden he took off within the last 16th of a mile and caught my favorite
00:07:48horse, Bookum Dano, who ran terrific.
00:07:50So forever young is, you know, we keep waiting for a Japanese horse to win the Kentucky Derby.
00:07:55I think we all think it's going to happen sooner or later.
00:07:58Maybe this is the one.
00:07:59He looks like a pretty good horse.
00:08:01And old Bookum Dano, gotta give him credit.
00:08:03He'd lost by a nose.
00:08:04He ran terrific.
00:08:05He's going in the Pat Day mile next time out.
00:08:08The connections have no interest in the Kentucky Derby.
00:08:10They just don't think he's a mile and a quarter horse.
00:08:14But Zoe, forever young, pretty impressive race.
00:08:17I could see him being the starting gate into Churchill Downs and being a contender.
00:08:21I mean, he's going to have to figure things out a little bit more than he did.
00:08:24He was so, so far back and really only does his best, best running late, which again was
00:08:31aided by the track that day in Saudi and aided by the long stretch, which really helped him.
00:08:38He needs to learn how to switch leads because the only time he ever takes off is once he
00:08:43finally gets to that right lead.
00:08:45He wasn't really asked for the lead change and he's going to have to grow up a little
00:08:49bit and figure things out a little bit more.
00:08:51Lest us not forget, these are the connections of Lanny.
00:08:54He also looked a little bit portly going into that race.
00:08:57I believe he needed that race.
00:08:59And I think he's just got to get a little bit more rounded all around and we'll get
00:09:04to perhaps everybody's favorite in just a moment with Timberlake, but I thought it was
00:09:08a good race.
00:09:09I felt dreadful for Bookham Dano's connections.
00:09:14He ran so big.
00:09:15I was thinking of you the whole time, Bill, because he is your favorite horse in New Jersey
00:09:19bred.
00:09:20Me too.
00:09:21Oh, just gut wrenching.
00:09:22Like that is the epitome of the word mugged on the wire.
00:09:26And he was absolutely mugged.
00:09:28He's like some little old woman getting to the wire and some big guy coming up behind
00:09:32her and just like smashing him down on the floor.
00:09:34He was mugged right at the wire.
00:09:37I have to really feel for Derek Ryan.
00:09:39I did really feel for him because they went to him straight for an interview after he
00:09:43got beaten a zap and he was very gracious and you could tell how much that really hurt.
00:09:50This race was a real paradox, I think, because it's very easy to look at the race and the
00:09:55way it was run and watch Forever Young struggling on his left lead all the way down the stretch
00:10:01and be disappointed in the way he ran, even though he got up to win.
00:10:06But let me give you another take on this that I haven't really read anywhere or heard anywhere
00:10:10else.
00:10:11OK, the running time of the Saudi Derby was one minute thirty six point one seven seconds.
00:10:17One turn mile.
00:10:18The running time of the Saudi Cup one forty nine point five oh mile in an eight one turn
00:10:25mile.
00:10:26Anyone that does speed figures, buyer speed figures, thorough graph, ragazine, you name
00:10:30it as parallel time charts.
00:10:32Those two times are almost identical in terms of speed figures.
00:10:38That's how fast the Saudi Derby was.
00:10:42In hindsight, you look at the race and one of the keys to figuring out exactly how good
00:10:48this race was, I think, is Ben Tornato, who was the third place finisher in the race.
00:10:53OK, Ben Tornato had been undefeated around one turn going into that race.
00:10:58He'd had very consistent buyer speed figures around one turn, 87, 88, 90.
00:11:04He seemed to run his race.
00:11:06In fact, he had the lead at the three eights pole and he finished his third, beating six
00:11:10lengths, five lengths ahead of the rest of the field behind him.
00:11:14If you figure, OK, Ben Tornato probably ran his race.
00:11:18He ran somewhere in that eighty seven, eighty eight range.
00:11:21Then that makes forever young and Bookham Dano up near 100 in the speed figure realm
00:11:26talking about the buyer speed figure scale, Bookham Dano coming off that twelve and a
00:11:31half length win in the Pasco at Tampa Bay, despite going four or five wide on the turn
00:11:37that day, he ran a gigantic race and forever young, despite breaking slowly, despite getting
00:11:44shuffled back, despite racing four to five wide around the turn, despite not changing
00:11:48leads, still ran him down and won in very fast time.
00:11:55It's going to be interesting to see how forever young does now going forward in the UAE Derby.
00:11:59And if he wins the UAE Derby and he looks as good as Dermis Sotokake did, then we're
00:12:04all going to have to figure out what does it mean when a horse goes from Japan to Saudi,
00:12:10from Saudi to Dubai, then from Dubai to Kentucky?
00:12:13That's going to be the big question with this horse.
00:12:15But it was a much better race than it looked visually.
00:12:18Yes, I would definitely agree with that.
00:12:21OK, so stateside, the big action this weekend was at Oaklawn Park, where the Rebel Stakes
00:12:26was on tap, one point two five million dollar purse.
00:12:30Timberlake wins the race.
00:12:32I don't think anybody should be surprised.
00:12:35He was the only graded stakes winner in the field.
00:12:39And you know, he's he's a grade one winner from last year, trained by Bradcock, got a
00:12:44lot going for him, but it didn't beat anybody.
00:12:48Now, that doesn't mean that he can't step up next time out in the Arkansas Derby, which
00:12:52presumably will be a tougher field if that, in fact, is where they're going.
00:12:56You know, he can only run against who they put in the starting gate against them.
00:13:01But Randy, we had talked about this a little bit before the race.
00:13:05We were previewing the race.
00:13:07You know, I don't understand.
00:13:08Oaklawn puts up one point two five million and they don't get any kind of field, I guess.
00:13:14But, you know, look, is Timberlake a bum?
00:13:16No. Is he going to win the Kentucky Derby?
00:13:18We'll see. But, you know, I'm not going to get real excited about him just yet.
00:13:23Yeah, it was the kind of race I thought that wouldn't blow blow your socks off.
00:13:27You know, you wouldn't watch that race and say, wow, there is my Kentucky Derby horse.
00:13:32But I'm not sure that's the kind of effort they wanted out of Timberlake in the very
00:13:36first start of his three year old season.
00:13:38Right. He did what he needed to do.
00:13:40What I like the most about it is that he he was in a crowd of horses early on.
00:13:46And as opposed to the way he would run sometimes as a two year old, he didn't get overly keen.
00:13:52He didn't pull a whole lot.
00:13:54He relaxed. He went three to four wide around the turn, got a little lost in mid stretch
00:13:59there, tried to drift out a little, but he got his bearings back again.
00:14:02And he went on and he went on and went about his business and won.
00:14:05He didn't beat a whole lot. You're right.
00:14:07The runner up common defense got an absolutely dream run up the rail and Northern Flame who
00:14:12finished third. Those two are both trained by Ken McPeak was up on the lead and held
00:14:16on pretty well, but he's probably not going to be a mile and a quarter horse.
00:14:19But Zoe, I want to I want to hear your opinion about this.
00:14:21And then I have a rabbit hole I want to go down when you're done about this.
00:14:26OK, let's have it. Oh, all right.
00:14:30Well, go ahead. You go first.
00:14:31I'm not sure we saw the Derby winner.
00:14:33He was the best horse in the day.
00:14:35Christian Torres was subbing for Florent Giroux, who was picking up two million for
00:14:40running third in the Saudi Derby.
00:14:42My guess is he'll get back on the horse.
00:14:44Looked like perhaps Christian forgot to steer him very well down the lane because he popped
00:14:49him a couple of times left handed and he drifted out a lot before he was corrected and
00:14:55came back in. He won the race.
00:14:59You know, if you look at his pedigree, it's an all turf pedigree.
00:15:02He's buying into mischief, which is helping him run on the dirt.
00:15:05But distance isn't going to be a problem.
00:15:07He's out of a full sister to yesterday.
00:15:10So he's got some very, very good turf influences there in his pedigree.
00:15:15But he runs well on the dirt.
00:15:17So sky's the limit for him as far as I'm concerned with distance and stamina.
00:15:21And we've seen time and time again.
00:15:23Don't forget, Churchill Downs is very kind to turf horses like a lot of turf horses
00:15:28unusually run so well over that strip at Churchill Downs.
00:15:33So I think that is only going to help him.
00:15:34But yeah, it was a good run.
00:15:36Was it amazing?
00:15:37No. Did he get the job done?
00:15:39Yes. In his first start of the year, which I think is key.
00:15:43Did you give us a buyer speed figure?
00:15:45Because you keep going in and out.
00:15:47What did he run? Do you know?
00:15:49He ran a ninety three, a ninety three buyer speed figure, which is right in line with
00:15:53what he had been running as a two year old.
00:15:55So he didn't show any big step forward.
00:15:58But, you know, again, he looked like he kind of did things the right way.
00:16:02So. Right.
00:16:03Well, the other story at Oaklawn Park, which was the honeybee states, which was
00:16:08we need the rabbit hole.
00:16:09But that's right. Oh, my goodness.
00:16:10Oh, yeah. Rabbit hole.
00:16:13Are you ready? Rabbit hole alert.
00:16:15I've got your tail, so you don't go too deep.
00:16:19Every show, rabbit hole alert, right?
00:16:21We need to have like a graphic. Bing, bing, bing, bing, bing.
00:16:24All right. So this is not really about Timberlake.
00:16:26It's more about Northern Flame, really the third place finisher.
00:16:29We probably remember because we go back that far.
00:16:32A mayor by the name of Beautiful Pleasure.
00:16:35They won the Breeders Club Distaff in 1999.
00:16:38She was owned by John Oxley, who had owned who would own Monarchos
00:16:41a couple of years later to win the Derby.
00:16:42She was the champion older dirt mayor that year, 1999.
00:16:47A couple of years later, John Oxley, the owner, gave his wife
00:16:50an anniversary gift, a yearling filly who he named Darling My Darling.
00:16:56OK, darling, my darling was a nice horse herself.
00:16:58She won a couple of stakes races.
00:17:00She beat Surfside in a stakes race at Keeneland
00:17:04in the name of Debbie Oxley, John Oxley's wife, the owner of record.
00:17:09When she retired, Debbie held on to her.
00:17:11Darling, my darling had 11 foals, a nice mixture of fillies and colts,
00:17:16a couple of stakes winners.
00:17:18You know, she wasn't a fantastic producer, but she was a solid producer.
00:17:22Right. Right now, on the Kentucky Derby Trail.
00:17:26Forever Young is out of a mayor named Forever Darling.
00:17:30Out of Darling My Darling.
00:17:32Sierra Leone is out of a mayor named Heavenly Love.
00:17:35Out of Darling My Darling.
00:17:38And Northern Flame is out of a mayor named Darling's Darling.
00:17:42Out of Darling My Darling.
00:17:44It's amazing that Darling My Darling would be connected
00:17:47to three horses right now, that if the derby were run today, well.
00:17:52Forever Young doesn't have enough points right now, doesn't have any points,
00:17:55but the other two would be in the starting lineup
00:17:57for the Kentucky Derby right now.
00:17:59That's my rabbit hole of the day, guys.
00:18:01Yeah, you know what we need to do?
00:18:03We need to get a sponsor for this segment.
00:18:05You know, we have sponsors for everything else.
00:18:07And this week,
00:18:09our Manny Moss's rabbit hole brought to you by So-and-so Farms.
00:18:13And, you know, there we go.
00:18:15So our our behind the scenes executive producers need to look into that
00:18:19to get the totally brand
00:18:23Randy's forays down the rabbit hole.
00:18:26OK, so now let's talk about the honey bee steaks.
00:18:30I actually interviewed Wayne Lucas before the race for my radio show.
00:18:36And, you know, basically I didn't put it this way
00:18:40because I'm going to be not I'm not going to be rude to him.
00:18:43But what the heck are you doing?
00:18:45Running a horse that's had five lifetime starts, still a maiden,
00:18:49has never run beyond six furlongs, and you're throwing her into a grade
00:18:53three mile on a 16 state.
00:18:55And he gave me all sorts of reasons why this horse is going to run huge.
00:18:59He's going to fool people.
00:19:00She's going to fool people.
00:19:01And I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, Wayne. Yeah, sure.
00:19:03And there you go. He got the job done.
00:19:07And you know what?
00:19:08You know, the thing about Lucas is he'll take chances.
00:19:13He's 88 years old. He's been around. He's seen it all.
00:19:16There's not many trainers that would have put this horse in this race.
00:19:20They would have been, you know, trainers tend to be so cautious
00:19:23and conservative these days.
00:19:24And he put this horse in there.
00:19:27And by the way, Keith Asmussen, Steve's son was the jockey.
00:19:31His first ever graded stakes win.
00:19:33Now Lucas has a horse on the road to the Kentucky Oaks.
00:19:36That was a less than perfect day for him because just steal
00:19:39his main contender in the rebel was seven.
00:19:41But he also had two winners on the day.
00:19:43It was second in the carousel stakes.
00:19:45So old D. Wayne Lucas, man, he's still clever and crafty and getting it done.
00:19:50And I mean that if this horse was trained by anybody else,
00:19:52he never would have won this race.
00:19:54She never won this race.
00:19:56What a cool outcome.
00:19:58I mean, such a cool outcome.
00:20:00And it was a fantastic weekend for the young stallion collected as well
00:20:05as he picked up another graded stakes when I also had one in Dubai.
00:20:09But Lemon Muffin, a maiden going in there.
00:20:11Great story with Keith Asmussen.
00:20:14But I'm going to take you back.
00:20:15I have a funny story about Lemon Muffin from the two year old sales.
00:20:19Now she was sold by Story Atkinson's Atchison's Dark Star Thoroughbred.
00:20:25We went and looked at her.
00:20:26She worked ten flat and she's kind of an unassuming,
00:20:30dappled, dark steel, gray daughter of collected.
00:20:34A little bit of a rounded shoulder and kind of a plain bag.
00:20:39When you looked at her standing still, her work was terrific.
00:20:42And when you saw her walk, she really strided out.
00:20:45So we really liked her.
00:20:46And we went and spoke to Story.
00:20:48And I'm like, hey, what about that collected filly?
00:20:50She paid 20,000 for her.
00:20:51Well, like she's she's really nice.
00:20:53Bruno Debert wound up paying 140,000 for her out of the sale.
00:20:58So we looked at her and Story was like, I have a funny, funny story.
00:21:02He goes, she's like, you know, more often than not, you hear about it
00:21:05and it happens an awful lot of the sales, but they brush it under the rug.
00:21:09She bought the wrong horse at the Keeneland Yearling sale.
00:21:12So she said she was in the back ring and she saw this Monning's filly,
00:21:16this chestnut filly walking around the back ring.
00:21:20And she's like, wow, Monning's this far back in the sale.
00:21:23She's looking at her because she thinks the Monning's filly's gone in
00:21:27and she hears the auctioneer, auctioneer like 10,000, 15,000.
00:21:32She's like, I've got to buy it.
00:21:3320,000. And she bid 20,000.
00:21:36Hammer comes down, filly gets back to the barn.
00:21:39Her assistant calls her and she's like, well, what do you think about the Monning's
00:21:43filly I just bought, the chestnut filly?
00:21:45And she's like, that's not a chestnut.
00:21:48It's a gray.
00:21:49So she's looking through the catalog and she's like, oh, I bought the one before.
00:21:54It was a collective filly.
00:21:55She bought the wrong filly for 20,000 and was like, what am I going to do?
00:22:00So she cut a deal with her exercise
00:22:02rider who breezes her horses at the sale, kind of gave her to him.
00:22:06And at the sale, she's like, what have I done?
00:22:08This is the best one I'm selling.
00:22:11And and there you have it.
00:22:12She breezed 10 flat, did everything perfectly.
00:22:15She's like, that's that's the one I bought.
00:22:17I bought the wrong horse.
00:22:18So I hope she goes on and does amazing things with that story.
00:22:22That is a great story.
00:22:25Yeah.
00:22:26Yeah, that'll take a lot to top that.
00:22:29So it's terrific.
00:22:30Well done, Bruno, to you as well.
00:22:33We've all seen Lucas make these make these bold, aggressive,
00:22:37sometimes overaggressive moves before in his career.
00:22:40I think it's kind of fitting that this one took place in 2024
00:22:44and it took place at Oaklawn Park because it's the 40th anniversary
00:22:48of one of his all time aggressive moves, which also took place at Oaklawn Park.
00:22:53That year, he had a Philly named Althea
00:22:55that he ran in the fantasy stakes against one of Las Barreras
00:22:59really good Phillies named My Darling One.
00:23:01Althea had been the two year old Philly champion.
00:23:04She just won the Las Virginas and defeated My Darling One.
00:23:07My Darling One went on to win the Fairgrounds Oaks.
00:23:09They met up in the fantasy at Oaklawn Park.
00:23:12My Darling One defeated Althea by a half length.
00:23:16There was 10 lengths back to the rest of the field.
00:23:18To this day, 40 years later, it remains
00:23:21the best performance I have ever seen a racehorse give in defeat.
00:23:27Althea went to her nose at the start, rushed up on the rail,
00:23:315.8 pole, got stopped cold, back to last, circled the field,
00:23:35hooked up with My Darling One at the top of the stretch.
00:23:37And they went like this all the way to the wire
00:23:40in a figure that today would have been a buyer of about a 104, 105.
00:23:45Unbelievable race.
00:23:46So I go to Wayne Lucas's barn after the race the next morning.
00:23:50And knowing Wayne, even then, 40 years ago, I say, Wayne,
00:23:55the Arkansas Derby is coming up next Saturday.
00:23:57Is there a chance that you would run Althea back in seven days off a race like that?
00:24:02And he said, no, no way.
00:24:03No, I'm pointing her for the Kentucky Oaks.
00:24:06So what happens on Thursday?
00:24:07He enters her in the Arkansas Derby, runs her in the Arkansas Derby.
00:24:12She wins by seven.
00:24:14She ties the track record 146 and four for a mile and an eighth,
00:24:17set the day before by Wilde again,
00:24:20who went on to win the Breeders' Cup Classic later that same year.
00:24:23And behind Althea, Pine Circle was second,
00:24:27Gate Dancer was third, and at the threshold was fourth.
00:24:30Pine Circle finished second to Swale in the Belmont.
00:24:32Gate Dancer won the Preakness at the threshold, was third to Swale
00:24:35in the Kentucky Derby.
00:24:37The unbelievable stroke of aggressiveness by Wayne
00:24:40to bring that filly back in seven days to win a race like now.
00:24:45He took it maybe a little too far.
00:24:47Two weeks later, he ran her in the Kentucky Derby,
00:24:50and she was one of the favorites, and that didn't end so well.
00:24:52But Wayne has been aggressive like this for a long, long time.
00:24:56And he's still in her barn.
00:24:58I think the barn that he's in at Oak Lawn is named Althea
00:25:02because they name all the barns after Arkansas Derby winners.
00:25:06I do want to remind you that the TDN Writers' Room is brought to you by Keeneland.
00:25:10It was a big weekend for Keeneland grads with another top notch
00:25:13Kentucky Derby prospect on the trail in Timberlake.
00:25:17We mentioned him already.
00:25:18Timberlake, a $350,000 Keeneland September yearling, was the winner
00:25:23of the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes in his 2024 debut in impressive fashion,
00:25:28earning 50 points on the road to the Kentucky Derby for trainer Brad Cox.
00:25:32Also on Saturday, we mentioned her as well, the daughter of Collected,
00:25:37Lemon Muffin, a $20,000 September yearling, won the Grade 3 Honeybee.
00:25:42And Keeneland grads Zytlos won Oak Lawn's Carousel, run Classic,
00:25:47won the Gulfstream Park Sprint, and Saudi Kran picked up a cool
00:25:51$2 million, finishing third in the Saudi Cup.
00:25:55Your next chance to shop at Keeneland is the April 26th Horses of Racing Age Sale.
00:26:00We'll be right back after this message from Keeneland.
00:26:07At Keeneland, a horse will always be measured in hands.
00:26:13Hands that see, that sense, that speak.
00:26:22Hands that hold our sport to a higher standard, not for our sake,
00:26:28but for theirs, for the love of the horse, for generations to come.
00:26:35This week's Fastest Horse of the Week segment is brought to you
00:26:37by Improbable, one of the fast sires at Windstar Farm.
00:26:42Improbable's highly anticipated two-year-olds, some of them in the barn
00:26:45right now, getting ready to launch their careers later this year.
00:26:49His first yearling sold for up to $650,000 in 2023.
00:26:54And why not?
00:26:55In 2021, Improbable was bred to over 100 mares.
00:26:59The CPI 3.80.
00:27:03That was the best group of mares of any first crop stallion that year.
00:27:08And of course, he went on his racing career to become champion
00:27:11older male, winning three consecutive grade ones at age four.
00:27:15He was an undefeated grade one winning two-year-old.
00:27:17A lot to like about Improbable, who stands at Windstar Farm.
00:27:22Now, the Fastest Horse of the Week ran on Saturday at Santa Anita
00:27:27in an undercard race at one mile, an allowance race.
00:27:30His name, Judge Miller.
00:27:33He won that allowance race, his first two-turn start at a flat mile.
00:27:36Not a flat mile, a two-turn mile by 11 lengths.
00:27:40And what makes it so cool?
00:27:41Judge Miller gets his buyer speed figure of 105,
00:27:44and he'd run pretty darn well in his two previous starts with the 94 and the 92.
00:27:48But he stepped into a new dimension in this race.
00:27:51And he happens to be a full brother
00:27:53to Clairier by curling out of cavorting.
00:27:57Owned by the Muirhut Stables, trained by Mark Gladd, was ridden by Frankie
00:28:01DeTore on that day.
00:28:02Flavien Pratt rode him before.
00:28:04So Judge Miller, a lot to look forward to for this horse
00:28:07as he continues his career.
00:28:08And this week is our Fastest Horse of the Week.
00:28:11And Randy, I honestly firmly believe he was running in the wrong race.
00:28:16He should have been running in next week's big cap
00:28:19because the way he finished down the lane, he's got this huge stride.
00:28:24He was absolutely amazing.
00:28:30Well, I was working on a story this week for the Thoroughbred Daily News
00:28:33that involved trainer Jeffrey Engelhardt.
00:28:36I think we talked about this on a prior podcast.
00:28:39He got a charge of a clumb butyrol positive
00:28:43from the Horse Racing Integrity and Welfare Unit,
00:28:46which is a very serious matter.
00:28:48He could be suspended for as much as two years.
00:28:51He came to me and said that he didn't do it
00:28:54and that the course was for clumb butyrol
00:28:57and that the clumb butyrol was in the horse's system
00:29:00when he bought it at a two year old sale at Ocala in June.
00:29:05It turns out that he was right.
00:29:07He played this really smart.
00:29:09He got a good lawyer, Alan Pincus, and, you know, they sent
00:29:13they insisted on getting what is called a segmented a hair test,
00:29:17a segmented hair test.
00:29:18I don't want to go into all the,
00:29:21you know, deep dive into what that means.
00:29:24But you can use that kind of
00:29:27test to show when a drug was administered.
00:29:30So lo and behold, he proved through this test
00:29:35that the drug was given to the horse before he bought it at the sale.
00:29:39And therefore, he could not have been the one that gave him the drug.
00:29:43Now, Randy, you had predicted when we first talked about this
00:29:47that that that common sense would prevail and the charges were dropped.
00:29:51And you were absolutely right.
00:29:52I mean, you know, sometimes I think Haiza shoots first and ask questions later
00:29:57and they're getting better about that.
00:29:59But one thing I will give them credit for is, you know, when they can see
00:30:03and somebody can make a case that they've been treated wrongly.
00:30:06And, you know, there's been several of these people that have had
00:30:09similar situations.
00:30:11Haiza will step in and do the right thing.
00:30:13They did the right thing here.
00:30:14Engelhardt went through hell for a couple of weeks,
00:30:16but they did the right thing in the end.
00:30:18Look, regardless of which side you come down on on Haiza,
00:30:22I think everyone would agree that Haiza is the most administratively
00:30:27ambitious undertaking in the history of American thoroughbred racing.
00:30:32I mean, to try to tackle everything they're tackling that that tangled
00:30:36web of medication, as well as the horse safety aspects of it.
00:30:40And we all thought I won't say everybody thought,
00:30:43but I think a majority of us believe that the medication rules
00:30:47in American thoroughbred racing needed to be stricter.
00:30:50They needed to have more teeth.
00:30:52And the only way to do that is to write rules that are tough.
00:30:56The problem is that when you write rules that are tough
00:31:00and we talked about this as well months ago,
00:31:02you would wind up at some point
00:31:05ensnaring a trainer, a horseman
00:31:09that was well-intentioned, that perhaps accidentally violated rules
00:31:13or had some other problems that led to it that was unfair.
00:31:17And the acid test for Haiza, I think, was going to be all along
00:31:21how it would walk that tightrope, right?
00:31:24How it would handle those kinds of situations,
00:31:28how it would handle the appeals, how it would handle tweaking the rules,
00:31:31maybe rewriting the rules if necessary, because the rules are made by humans
00:31:35and humans make mistakes.
00:31:36How willing would they be to correct things? OK.
00:31:40And I think and at the same time, why it's a tightrope
00:31:44is that you don't want to water down the rules to the point
00:31:47that you're diminishing the deterrent factor
00:31:51that Haiza has with some of these horsemen that we've always thought
00:31:54was so important.
00:31:55And I think what we saw, you alluded to it, what we saw with with Englehart
00:31:59and what we've seen with some other trainers, horsemen
00:32:01that we've talked about over the past months,
00:32:04that part of Haiza appears to be working pretty well.
00:32:08Now, there's still complaints, obviously, about the costs of Haiza
00:32:11and things like that.
00:32:12But I think they are listening in situations like this
00:32:15and they are letting common sense prevail, I believe.
00:32:19So let's go to Zoe now, because she is our sales expert
00:32:23and especially at two year old sales.
00:32:26Englehart's charge that he said 70 to 80 percent
00:32:31of all the horses that go through a two year old sale would be on Clem Buterol.
00:32:34I mean, out of the faintest idea, that's true.
00:32:37I mean, it sounds like a lot.
00:32:39But I came back with a follow up story about Haiza.
00:32:43Now, remember, Haiza has no control over a horse
00:32:48until it has its first published workout.
00:32:50So therefore, Haiza is not involved in policing two year old sales
00:32:53or any or weanling or yearling sales either.
00:32:58And, you know, my kind of point was Haiza shouldn't care about the integrity
00:33:03in just some of racing.
00:33:05It should care about integrity in all of racing.
00:33:07And the sales are a huge part of the sport.
00:33:11Matter of fact, it's the most successful and booming part of the sport as well.
00:33:16So I said, look, it's time for Haiza to try to change its rules
00:33:19and to take steps to have horses be covered horses earlier
00:33:24so that they could come in and police some of these sales.
00:33:26So, Zoe, I threw a lot at you there.
00:33:28But first of all, I mean, what,
00:33:32you know, does it happen a million times at a sale?
00:33:35No, but it happens, we think, at this Ocala sale.
00:33:40Is this a problem with people, you know, just like they do on the racetrack,
00:33:45taking the ledges here and there?
00:33:47Well, here's the problem with Haiza and the clenbuterol problem.
00:33:53If you're going to test and it can go back two years,
00:33:56clenbuterol is a therapeutic drug mainly used to treat airways.
00:34:01OK, so say you have a foal that has pneumonia.
00:34:06The foal goes to the clinic.
00:34:07They're going to give that foal clenbuterol.
00:34:09Now, there's no record because covered horses aren't covered under Haiza
00:34:14until they have their first workout.
00:34:16So say you bought this horse as a weanling.
00:34:20It got clenbuterol.
00:34:21Say the foal got sick as a yearling.
00:34:23It got clenbuterol.
00:34:25There should be somewhere where you can register this and say,
00:34:29I gave this horse clenbuterol.
00:34:31I mean, the easiest thing to do would be to buy one out of the two year old sale
00:34:35and say, hey, my horse got sick.
00:34:37I gave it clenbuterol after its first recorded workout.
00:34:40It's here.
00:34:41And then I don't know if that would cover you or not.
00:34:44As far as the clenbuterol being rampant in two year old sales.
00:34:49I mean, people do try and take an edge,
00:34:52but they really are the most regulated sale that you're going to buy a horse from.
00:34:57They jump through all kinds of hoops.
00:34:59There's random testing that you would think would nullify it,
00:35:02because, you know, when I was a jockey, there's random drug testing.
00:35:06I'm not going to go in a room when someone's smoking weed
00:35:10just in case that happens, because it's random.
00:35:13So for the general public, kind of the sensible people,
00:35:17you're not you're not going to do it.
00:35:19And it's buyer beware.
00:35:21And it's not rampant, but there are bad eggs in every basket,
00:35:25whether you're a wheeling consigner, a yearling consigner, a two year old consigner,
00:35:30whether you're a trainer, there is always going to be a bad egg somewhere.
00:35:34It is not just in the two year old sales.
00:35:36But I am in agreement that if Heiser is going to enforce
00:35:40these kinds of penalties for commute role that will rule a trainer off for two years,
00:35:45they need to start at the beginning and go all the way back.
00:35:48Now, be careful what you wish for. Right.
00:35:51But we've just seen case in point that that happened.
00:35:55He exonerated himself because he's got a bit of money.
00:35:58He got a good lawyer.
00:35:59Now, the average Joe is not going to be able to afford that,
00:36:03afford that segmented hair testing.
00:36:05That's expensive to go back month by month by month.
00:36:09And he paid for that himself because he had to.
00:36:13TDN Riders are brought to you by the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association.
00:36:17The PHBA will run 23 races of one hundred thousand dollars of value
00:36:23stakes races at Pennsylvania tracks throughout 2024 for Pennsylvania
00:36:26breads, including five for PA sired PA bread runners.
00:36:30Two year olds will have added opportunities as the PA sired PA
00:36:34bread stallion series returns for its third season with four stakes
00:36:37worth a total of four hundred thousand dollars.
00:36:40The twenty twenty four series goes over into twenty twenty five
00:36:43with a couple of races for three year olds.
00:36:45A fifty thousand dollar breeders bonus as well paid out to the top
00:36:48three point earners after the third leg.
00:36:51The first of those twenty three stakes races
00:36:55with purses of one hundred thousand dollars or more will be run
00:36:57April the twenty second at Parks Racing, the unique Bella for Phillies
00:37:01and Mares in a Page McKinney handicap.
00:37:03Each seven furlongs for older horses.
00:37:05For more information about the PA bread program.
00:37:08And we know you want to know about it.
00:37:09Go to PA bread dot com or just call them on the phone.
00:37:13The old fashioned way.
00:37:14Six one zero four four four ten fifty.
00:37:18That's six one zero four four four ten fifty.
00:37:23The state of Pennsylvania has the best breeders program
00:37:25in the entire United States.
00:37:28When you buy a yearling, it's a little bit like buying a lottery ticket.
00:37:31And we are trying to provide a lottery ticket that the likelihood is
00:37:34to hit the jackpot.
00:37:36Angel of Empire wins the Arkansas Derby and wins it clear.
00:37:40Uncle Heavy late. It's a photo finish.
00:37:44Pennsylvania and the PHBA have the best state
00:37:46bread program in the country, bar none.
00:37:49The winner, Uncle Heavy.
00:37:50He's a three year old bred in Pennsylvania.
00:37:52Well, it's it's it's really nice when you get to look at horses as yearlings
00:38:05and then you come across one that gives you that feeling
00:38:08and has everything you're looking for really quick.
00:38:11Then you get home and he is the horse.
00:38:14That's the fun part about it.
00:38:16When it hits you in the beginning and you get to like him better
00:38:19and better and better as they train.
00:38:21That's a good feeling.
00:38:22That's a really good feeling.
00:38:24Boy, they've been fun to train.
00:38:26Really forward, sharp on the track.
00:38:28They've they've got sharp minds.
00:38:30They want to work.
00:38:31They all move well.
00:38:33And we've been excited about them.
00:38:35So far, the Colts done everything right.
00:38:37Good mind on them.
00:38:38Real good looking, like strong forward type of horse.
00:38:41Looks quick.
00:38:41Looked like he could be early.
00:38:42And I saw quite a few tizzalos.
00:38:44I thought the same thing about.
00:38:45But pretty excited about showcasing them off the OBS March here coming up.
00:38:49They're just smart about their training.
00:38:51They make it really easy on us.
00:38:53They're they're right there when you ask them to do something.
00:38:57They're forward.
00:38:58They're strong and they move well.
00:39:00He's real push button, this horse.
00:39:02So when you ask him, he keeps that in his little computer in his head.
00:39:07Next time you go out, he's waiting for you to push the button to ask.
00:39:10He's a rocket ship, actually.
00:39:12You know, I feel like he actually does it pretty easy.
00:39:14It all came to him pretty naturally from day one.
00:39:16He's kind of bowed his head, took a hold of the bit,
00:39:18galloped out there, nice and professional like an old horse.
00:39:21But I will say the more I've done with them, the more he's progressed
00:39:23and the finished product is coming out pretty good right now.
00:39:26But I don't think that's going to be the end.
00:39:27You know, he's going to keep on going and getting better.
00:39:30Tizzaloy hit the top boxes for us.
00:39:33What we check off.
00:39:34Big, strong horse, big bone.
00:39:35The races he won and how he won them convincingly.
00:39:39Grade ones that were the toughest grade ones.
00:39:41That's what we're looking for.
00:39:42There's real grade one winners with good female families.
00:39:47Those are the signs that make it.
00:39:49Now, our favorite part of the program, as always, the TV and writers are brought
00:39:57to you by the Green Group, a tax accounting and advisory firm specializing
00:40:01in the thoroughbred industry and especially specializing that redundant
00:40:06in saving you money on your taxes.
00:40:09And we welcome in now the Green Group guest of the week.
00:40:11It's none other than Todd Fincher.
00:40:13Had a pretty good weekend, you might say.
00:40:16He went off to Saudi Arabia with Senior Buscador and comes home with the first
00:40:20prize check of ten million dollars for a horse that ran the race of a lifetime
00:40:26and provided a lot of thrills, not just for the connections, but as we talked
00:40:30about earlier in the show, how is everybody seems to root for this horse?
00:40:36But Todd, let me ask you, this was his first grade one win and this
00:40:39was your first grade one win.
00:40:41Do you ever imagine that would come in a 20 million dollar horse race?
00:40:47No, people have asked me that question before, but Saudi Arabia and Dubai
00:40:52really never crossed my mind.
00:40:56It's always been the Breeders' Cup and Pegasus and big races in the United States.
00:41:03I never really thought about it much until after the Breeders' Cup and Cigar
00:41:08Miles, when that kind of come on our radar.
00:41:11Well, when the race was over, Todd, and we all got finished beating our legs,
00:41:16rooting for the horse as he was as he was coming down the stretch, I thought one of
00:41:19the funniest moments was when you were interviewed right after the race by some,
00:41:24it was a British guy, I think.
00:41:26And he said, so Todd, how confident were you that Senior Buscador would win?
00:41:29And you kind of looked at him like he had three eyes and said, was I
00:41:33confident that he would win?
00:41:35No.
00:41:36But I mean, this horse has overcome so much, so many times.
00:41:42And finally, now he gets it done.
00:41:44I mean, what had to happen on Saturday for this fairy tale ending to take place?
00:41:50Well, just a little less bad luck is all that really needed to happen because
00:41:55every time he puts himself in a terrible position and in this race, if you watch
00:42:00it and we watch, I've watched a few times, the Japanese jockey really did a good job.
00:42:05He had me in a bad position for a long time and Buscador didn't have anywhere to
00:42:10go.
00:42:11And the Japanese jockey made a late, you know, he turned his horse loose late down
00:42:16the stretch and we had to let him clear us before we come around.
00:42:20So we had a late run at him and it was amazing that he can make up that much
00:42:26ground in that short of a time.
00:42:29Now you've said in the past, you told me that your theory was that Buscador
00:42:34didn't like another horse right on his outside, but he seemed to handle that
00:42:38okay in Saudi.
00:42:40Well, we're going down the backside and I'm standing right by Mr.
00:42:43Peacock and I told him, I don't like this.
00:42:45This horse is right on top of, you know, one horse back there and he's got the
00:42:49leverage on us.
00:42:50He's on the outside and we had to wait.
00:42:52He had us, he had us in a bad spot and we had to wait down the stretch when that
00:42:57horse finally cleared us that we can move out and make our run.
00:43:01And Junior timed it perfectly.
00:43:04I mean, that's why all the emotion because he never thought he was going to win until
00:43:08the last second and we still didn't know if he won.
00:43:10So the emotion was just automatic, just instantaneously.
00:43:16Can you describe, describe exactly how you felt when that horse was coming down the
00:43:23lane and you were like, is he going to get there?
00:43:25Is he going to get there?
00:43:26Did you know he got his nose down?
00:43:29Well, in the paddock, I told Junior, I said, I've watched a couple of races.
00:43:32I says, this lane is long.
00:43:34I mean, it's, this thing is very long and my instructions were wait as long as you
00:43:39can to make your run, which he did, but he really didn't have a choice because the
00:43:45Japanese horse did a great job just keeping leverage on us.
00:43:49But, uh, down the lane and I watched a few races and I still couldn't get used to how
00:43:54long the lane was.
00:43:55I'm like, dang, he's going to get, get up for fourth or third.
00:43:57That's pretty good.
00:43:58You know, it looks like the wire's coming right now.
00:44:00Then they hit a next meter deal and oh shoot, we got more time.
00:44:04And then when they hit the wire, I thought, I thought he won, but, and Junior waved his
00:44:09stick, but I've been nosed out many times before when I thought I won.
00:44:13So I kept it until somebody came up to me and said, it's official.
00:44:17You won.
00:44:18And then we let out all the emotion and it was awesome.
00:44:23Todd, the, um, race was a mile and eighth around one turn and that, uh, I don't think
00:44:28would be the optimal, uh, distance and configuration for your horse considering his
00:44:34running style.
00:44:35Now you're going to Dubai where the race is longer and around two turns.
00:44:40So, you know, you said you weren't real confident he would win in Saudi Arabia and
00:44:44you know, you're going to face another very tough task in Dubai, but should the Dubai
00:44:48race in some respects be, uh, a better fit for him and therefore easier for him to win
00:44:53even than Saudi Arabia?
00:44:55Uh, their grade ones are never easy to win, but, uh, the shorter the race, the faster
00:45:00the pace period.
00:45:01So the further you go, the pace is going to be slower and he needs us.
00:45:05He needs some kind of setup because I don't know why he does it, but he sucks himself
00:45:10back right out of the gate.
00:45:11If you watch the Pegasus, he outbroke national treasure and in three jumps, he's four
00:45:16lengths behind him.
00:45:17So he does that to himself and he's not going to change that style and we can't change
00:45:22it.
00:45:23So, uh, you still going to need a pace, uh, because he's not, he's not going to get up
00:45:29there mid pack and hang around.
00:45:30So he needs a, he needs an honest pace, you know, and he does it to himself.
00:45:36Uh, he's, he puts himself behind the eight ball every single time, you know, it's not
00:45:41always a negative to come off the pace.
00:45:44I'm not saying that because a lot of times you got, you have a good pace, but, but, uh,
00:45:50when you don't have a pace and you come from behind, you're always having to pass 10,
00:45:5411, 12 horses.
00:45:56You're going to have to, you have obstacles in front of you.
00:45:58You've got to weave in and out, usually have to go wide.
00:46:01Uh, it's, it's not advantageous most of the time, but, uh, but he is good enough to
00:46:08overcome a lot.
00:46:09And he, he got a great trip except for how good, I'm telling you that Japanese jockey
00:46:14did a great job keeping us in a bad spot and just very proud of the horse that, and, and
00:46:19amazed that he can make up that much ground in a short amount of time on that grade of a
00:46:24horse.
00:46:25So your owner, Joey Peacock has mentioned this a lot.
00:46:28You've mentioned a lot about all the things Senor Buscador has overcome during the course
00:46:33of his career.
00:46:34Uh, Joey gave you a lot of credit for your patience and the way you handled this horse.
00:46:38I know you've got to have a patient owner as well, but what are some of the things that
00:46:42you've had to deal with throughout Senor Buscador's career, uh, before he gets to this
00:46:47point?
00:46:49Yeah.
00:46:49I mean, just terrible, bad luck, a stall incident where he had a major hawk infection
00:46:55that a horse is lucky to be alive, let alone racing again.
00:46:59His hawk was huge and all the vets said it'll, it'll never come down all the way and just,
00:47:05uh, hope that, you know, he'll have a life after this and, and just a lot, a lot of
00:47:12therapy and a lot of patients and, uh, and the owners were, were great, you know,
00:47:18he takes bad news as good as any owner I've ever had.
00:47:21So, uh, just to see it culminate in this is just awesome because we've known since he's
00:47:26a two year old, he was a monster.
00:47:28So it's just awesome that it's all worked out.
00:47:32And people always say, you know, well, the knock on him is he doesn't have any speed.
00:47:36Well, that's, you know, they, they don't know the horse like I do.
00:47:39I work them with slammed at Churchill and, uh, slams won the grade two jockey club of
00:47:46America at Keeneland by six links.
00:47:49She's super fast.
00:47:51And he corralled her and a half a mile and they smoked around the racetrack.
00:47:55And then you can go back and watch his first race at Remington
00:47:58going five and a half furlongs.
00:48:00He walked out of the gates was gawking around and he packed, they went one Oh
00:48:04three and one, which is super fast on that track.
00:48:06And he blew them away.
00:48:07I mean, he is super fast.
00:48:10His running style is what he decided to do.
00:48:13We didn't, we didn't keep him to do that.
00:48:16He is super fast.
00:48:17He is super speedy, but he just doesn't show it on race day until the end.
00:48:23What's it like to be around?
00:48:24Because I remember watching him at Santa Anita.
00:48:27He seems pretty straightforward, but he's almost like a throwback course.
00:48:31He's danced every dance.
00:48:33He carries tremendous weight.
00:48:36Is he easy to handle and be around?
00:48:39He's a great eater.
00:48:40He's a great doer.
00:48:40He loves them cookies.
00:48:42And then they got him addicted to carrots now, so he loves them too.
00:48:46But yeah, he cleans his bucket every night.
00:48:49He's a six year old, you know, us guys get a little older.
00:48:52We get a little belly on us and he carries quite a bit of weight.
00:48:58He he's a, you know, he's a clown.
00:49:01He's got a great personality, but you lead him up to the track.
00:49:05He likes to stand and look.
00:49:06He'll stand and look for 10, 15 minutes if you let him.
00:49:08And, uh, but he goes out there and trains great.
00:49:11He's not a good workhorse.
00:49:13You put put a target in front of him.
00:49:15He's a great workhorse.
00:49:16But you go out there to work on by himself.
00:49:18He might go five eights and one oh three.
00:49:19You know, he's just he likes the competition.
00:49:23And other than that, he's been very easy to train.
00:49:27Todd, your personal record is very good.
00:49:29You're extremely consistent.
00:49:31You won 24 percent of your starts for your career
00:49:35and you come in with those numbers virtually every year.
00:49:38You are the man in New Mexico.
00:49:41Have you ever thought about trying a tougher circuit like Kentucky,
00:49:46for instance, where, you know, a good trainer with your statistics
00:49:51could obviously make a lot more in purse money.
00:49:53But and if not, what keeps you in New Mexico?
00:49:56There's several factors.
00:49:58First of all, you have to have the horses and I just don't have them.
00:50:02I have a ton of local horses, New Mexico bred horses.
00:50:08Like last year, for example, you know, we break all our own horses.
00:50:12I got a guy that's worked for me for many years and he's got it.
00:50:16We have a good crew and we break our own horses.
00:50:18We start them from the ground up and.
00:50:21We break usually 30 to 50 horses a year and 95 percent of our New Mexico
00:50:26breads like last year, we broke two Kentucky breads and one Louisiana bread
00:50:31and the rest for New Mexico bread.
00:50:32So it's not like I have enough horses to do it.
00:50:35But this year we actually broke 15 Kentucky breads or a couple of Louisiana
00:50:42breads, and then we have a few more coming.
00:50:44So we might have an opportunity to take a stable somewhere, but you can't go
00:50:49somewhere with two or three horses and and set up a stable and think people
00:50:54are going to bring your horses and just, you know, you'll die.
00:50:56You'll die a slow death.
00:50:58So so that the biggest thing is the horses.
00:51:00You know, I have family here.
00:51:02I have a wife with a couple of stepdaughters.
00:51:04I have a couple of sons that they're all between the ages of 10 or 12.
00:51:08You know, it's hard to even get to see them now with when you're traveling a lot.
00:51:12So if you move away, you're never going to see him.
00:51:15So that plays a part in it as well.
00:51:17So I definitely am considering open up another stable and I'm not sure I'll take
00:51:23them. We always go to Del Mar with a handful or so with really top notch horses
00:51:30that we have. And I think this year I got a few more and we might make a
00:51:34permanent move somewhere.
00:51:37Let's talk about some of those you might have in particular.
00:51:40Right. One thing you do have going for you in terms of horse flesh is a mare by
00:51:44the name of Roses Desert, who is obviously the dam of Senor Buscador.
00:51:49She's, you know, the pride and joy of the Peacock family going way back to Joey
00:51:55Peacock, a senior who passed away, but I guess maybe four years ago, almost now,
00:52:00three and a half, three years ago, something like that.
00:52:02Anyway, who's next in the Roses Desert pipeline?
00:52:06Well, I have a three year old filly now, Candy Ride out of Roses Desert, and she
00:52:12was kind of a late bloomer.
00:52:14I ran her once, really short distance, not her deal, but we set her off the pace
00:52:19and she circled around and won.
00:52:21But she had a sore shin, so I kicked her out.
00:52:24She's turned out right now.
00:52:25And like I said, Mr.
00:52:27Peacock, you just we play the long game is what he says.
00:52:30We want to race them and take care of them.
00:52:32So we'll get her back up and train them pretty soon.
00:52:34Hopefully have her ready for Del Mar this summer.
00:52:37And then as a two year old, they have a hard spun filly named
00:52:40Rose and she's coming along fine.
00:52:44We usually put five, six, seven works in Roses Desert babies, and then we turn
00:52:49them out two to three months and just let them grow up and then get them
00:52:52back and have them ready for the fall.
00:52:56That's worked good so far.
00:52:57Yeah.
00:52:59The only one out of Roses Desert that we continued on with was Runaway Ghost.
00:53:04He was pretty precocious and showed a lot of run early.
00:53:07And I sent him to, had him ready to run.
00:53:09I sent him to Mike Malkowski in California and he had some success with
00:53:14them and then they brought him back here to Sunland for the three races
00:53:18that led up to the Sunland Derby.
00:53:19And he actually won that and qualified to the Kentucky Derby, but he ended up
00:53:24with an injury and we didn't run them in the Kentucky Derby.
00:53:27And I can attest that Todd is a great guy to send a horse to because
00:53:31I owned a piece of Kelly Leak.
00:53:32I showed you his picture last week and when we had Kelly Leak, we sent him to Todd.
00:53:37So this is all going full circle back to Sunland.
00:53:42You've got like the whole family.
00:53:44I'm a good friend of Courtney Schneider, who runs Shoham Place where Roses
00:53:49Desert is and all the family.
00:53:50And we were, we were trying to hunt you down and she gave me Joey Peacock's
00:53:54number and she was like, yeah, Todd hates interviews.
00:53:57He won't even want to talk to you guys.
00:53:59So it must be the pull of Randy that got you to talk to us.
00:54:05She bet me that you wouldn't talk to us.
00:54:09Well, I don't ever recall turning down an interview.
00:54:12So, uh, I mean, it's whatever I can, any way I can help for promoting
00:54:17and helping the sport, I'm, I'm not going to duck an interview.
00:54:21Right.
00:54:22So, um, Todd, the horse is six years old.
00:54:25He's a stallion.
00:54:27And, um, I mean, it's pretty clear why he hasn't gone off the stud yet.
00:54:30He didn't have that.
00:54:31He's got by mine shaft, so it's okay breeding, but it's not into mischief
00:54:35or gun runner or anything like that.
00:54:37And he hadn't won a grade one race.
00:54:39Um, I would imagine things have changed now.
00:54:42Maybe it's too early, but no.
00:54:43Are any farms out there now saying, Hey, yeah, we want to take a look at this
00:54:48horse and very well could be a stallion standing in Kentucky.
00:54:53Uh, I haven't heard anything yet.
00:54:55Uh, you know, I think, I think, uh, they don't give him the credit he
00:54:59deserves because his mom is a new Mexico bred and everybody's going
00:55:03to turn their nose down to that.
00:55:05Uh, she was an exceptional race horse.
00:55:07I could have took her anywhere and she would have won or placed
00:55:10in greatest stakes races.
00:55:11There's no doubt in my mind about that.
00:55:14Uh, she's produced nothing but winners, nothing but stake winners.
00:55:19Uh, graded stake winners, uh, plural.
00:55:23And, uh, no, they just, they just, the blue bloods don't really
00:55:27care to see a new Mexico bred.
00:55:28So, so, uh, yeah, the market value with the mine shaft isn't like you
00:55:33said, in a gun runner and a mischief, but all she does is win and all she
00:55:39does is produce winners and stakes winners.
00:55:41So, uh, if you look at the family and look at the horses, if you look at the
00:55:45mare, she's gorgeous, big, strong mare.
00:55:48Uh, she has a, a daughter named Iris Rose who had really, uh, not the best feet.
00:55:57And I honestly did not manage her perfectly.
00:55:59I made a few mistakes with her.
00:56:01She did win a stake race at, uh, at Lone Star over, uh, Brad Cox in the
00:56:06Mississippi that was a monster and she beat her, but I, I probably
00:56:11made a few mistakes with her.
00:56:13Uh, John Sakur of Hillandale did a full share with Mr.
00:56:17Peacock and they have a curling colt on the ground.
00:56:20And I don't think you'll be disappointed when that horse hits the track.
00:56:24So Todd, I can't think of a more substantial culture change than going
00:56:29from Sunland park, New Mexico to redis Saudi Arabia and King Abdul Aziz racetrack.
00:56:35You gotta have some stories about what Saudi Arabia was like.
00:56:38Tell us a little bit about that.
00:56:40Well, we're pretty sandy over here too in Sunland park.
00:56:46But, uh, uh, yeah, we got lots of stories.
00:56:48It was a completely different culture.
00:56:50Everybody walks or we were walking around like with on eggshells, you know, we just
00:56:54didn't know what we can and can't do.
00:56:56And, uh, they treated us great.
00:56:58We didn't have any problem with that.
00:56:59It's just a completely different culture.
00:57:03What was the most unusual thing for you to get your head around?
00:57:07I'll tell you something that was really weird.
00:57:09Uh, we're watching the races early on and the horses would be coming down the
00:57:13stretch and be getting close to the wire and it's dead silent, not like any racetrack
00:57:18I've ever been to everybody yelling and screaming and you know, they're drinking
00:57:22and gambling and they're rooting, rooting their betting interest on.
00:57:26And, but not over there.
00:57:27It's just dead quiet.
00:57:28They just watched the races.
00:57:30It was, it was a completely different feeling I've ever seen.
00:57:35Well, Todd Fincher, thanks so much.
00:57:36And congratulations on your success.
00:57:38We've seen your Booska door, a very popular horse and a popular winner of the
00:57:42Saudi, uh, world cup and good luck in Dubai in a couple of weeks.
00:57:46Thanks again, Todd, for joining us.
00:57:48My pleasure.
00:57:50The good news just keeps pouring in for Todd Fincher.
00:57:53Not only does he get a seven figure windfall as the winning trainer of the Saudi
00:57:57cup, but as this week's green group guest of the week, he gets a free one hour tax
00:58:02consultation from Lynn green and the green group for more information on how Lynn and
00:58:06company can help you with your taxes.
00:58:08Go to www.greenco.com.
00:58:13Are you paying too much in taxes?
00:58:15The green group can help.
00:58:17There's a reason the most successful owners, breeders, and horsemen select the
00:58:20green group as their tax advisors.
00:58:22They save you money and share successful strategies over the past 40 years.
00:58:28The green group founder, Len green has owned and bred some of the best race
00:58:32horses in the history of the sport.
00:58:34Like eclipse award-winning champions, Jay walk and wonder wheel.
00:58:38His DJ stable competes at the highest level and has received the
00:58:41game's most prestigious honors.
00:58:43Len green's in-depth hands-on industry knowledge combined with cutting edge tax
00:58:48saving strategies has produced positive results for his clientele and has made
00:58:53the green group, the top rated accounting and tax firm in the thoroughbred business
00:58:57for a confidential and complimentary consultation.
00:59:00Contact us at 7 3 2 6 3 4 5, 100, or visit our website at www.greenco.com.
00:59:09The green group proven strategies to save you taxes with some of the fullest fields
00:59:15in the country and quality racing year round, there's never been a better time
00:59:20to reap the rewards of breeding and racing in Kentucky purse money.
00:59:26Kentucky is at an all-time high as his average purse per race outpacing
00:59:30California, Florida, and New York.
00:59:34Kentucky breads, breed them, raise them, race them.
00:59:39We all win.
00:59:43The TD and writer's room is also brought to you by, and this covers
00:59:46a wide berth by Kentucky breads.
00:59:49Guess who is a Kentucky bread?
00:59:51Senior Buscador, our Saudi cup winner.
00:59:55That new stakes record time at King Abdul Aziz race course 149.50.
01:00:01Congratulations again to senior Buscador and all of his connections.
01:00:04All told Kentucky breads won $14.2 million of the Saudi cups, $20 million purse.
01:00:12How about that?
01:00:13Find your Kentucky bread at the upcoming OBS March sale.
01:00:17That's March 12th through the 14th.
01:00:19Breed them, race them, raise them.
01:00:22We all win.
01:00:23Zoe?
01:00:25We rewrite the tape, Randy, and go back in time this week
01:00:27by popular demand to the Corgi races.
01:00:30This is the Winter Nationals.
01:00:33And just watch these guys go.
01:00:40It's the moment many of us on track have been waiting for.
01:00:43It's the Corgi Nationals.
01:00:45Here's Giorgio.
01:00:46Thanks so much, Frank.
01:00:47We are here for the Winter Corgi Nationals and two exciting heats
01:00:51to see who goes to the finals.
01:00:52These are the semifinals.
01:00:55They're all set.
01:00:56On your mark, get set, go.
01:00:59Then they're up.
01:01:00Emmitt, there goes Arlo.
01:01:02Emmitt's in the mid-lead and Emmitt blows him away.
01:01:05A convincing win for Emmitt.
01:01:08Arlo does get second.
01:01:10We're here with Emmitt.
01:01:10Emmitt's won four of the last five and he wins again.
01:01:13What is the key for Emmitt to keep winning?
01:01:16Today, it's these Codskins.
01:01:18He's really interested in these Codskins.
01:01:20Codskins, I can smell them from here.
01:01:21That is the key.
01:01:22You've got to have Cod.
01:01:23We'll see you in the final.
01:01:25Best of luck.
01:01:25Thank you so much.
01:01:27Emmitt.
01:01:28Roy is in.
01:01:29They're all set.
01:01:31On your mark, get set, go.
01:01:33And they're up.
01:01:34And it looks like Cosmo goes right to the lead.
01:01:36In the middle of the track, it is number five, Ali, and number three, Oliver.
01:01:41We're here with Cosmo.
01:01:42Cosmo's taking down the semifinals here.
01:01:46I'll ask the same question.
01:01:47What's the key to make him run fast?
01:01:49He loves his fetch.
01:01:50Look at this.
01:01:51You want this?
01:01:52All in the gate.
01:01:53On your mark, get set, go.
01:01:57There they go.
01:01:58Right to the lead.
01:01:59It is Ilo.
01:02:00Here comes Emmitt.
01:02:01It's going to be close.
01:02:02It's going to be Ilo.
01:02:04How do you keep it going?
01:02:06He looked like he was pumped and ready.
01:02:08He looked a lot fitter than last year.
01:02:10Exactly. I mean, he gets better every year.
01:02:11He knows he wants to win.
01:02:13And so he's training to get ready to prepare.
01:02:16How old is Ilo?
01:02:17Eight years old.
01:02:18Eight years old.
01:02:20So we've got a senior Ilo winning the championship here.
01:02:23Congratulations.
01:02:24And thanks for joining us here at Santa Anita.
01:02:26Let's hear it for Ilo.
01:02:36And yes, Emmitt was knocked off of his pedestal.
01:02:40He'd won it four of the last five years and gets knocked off by a young upstart.
01:02:45All right, guys.
01:02:46Well, we'll be back racing at Santa Anita this Friday for a 12.30 post.
01:02:50But do not forget a super Saturday as the first Saturday tour continues
01:02:56with great races at Goldstream and Santa Anita.
01:02:58We have everyone's favorite in the big cap.
01:03:00We have the Kilro Mile as well as the San Felipe.
01:03:04Special opening time of 12 p.m.
01:03:08for perhaps 11 or 12 races.
01:03:11We haven't taken entries yet, but it's going to be a huge day of racing
01:03:14at Santa Anita on Saturday, 12 o'clock post for as many races
01:03:18till the sun goes down, guys.
01:03:20Queen Elizabeth would have loved that Corgi segment, by the way.
01:03:23Oh, she loved it.
01:03:25She'd love she'd probably won.
01:03:27All right, guys.
01:03:27A huge weekend of racing with derby preps galore.
01:03:31We had the Fountain of Youth at Goldstream Park.
01:03:34We had the San Felipe at Santa Anita, the Gotham at Aqueduct.
01:03:37And to add to that, several other big, big races like the Devona Dale
01:03:43at Goldstream Park, the big cap at Santa Anita, the Kilro at Santa Anita, et cetera.
01:03:47Going to be a very busy weekend.
01:03:49And we'll probably learn more about the three year olds
01:03:52this weekend than in any other one
01:03:56that we've seen previously.
01:03:57So we're recording this on Tuesday.
01:04:00We only have the past performances for Goldstream Park.
01:04:02We'll do the best we can with the races from New York and from Santa Anita.
01:04:09And one of the stories that still hasn't been answered yet is Speakeasy,
01:04:14who broke his maiden for Todd Pletcher and got a 100 buyer figure.
01:04:19Randy, that would be the fastest figure for any two year old this year.
01:04:22Yeah. And it's been verified by a couple of horses that finished behind Speakeasy
01:04:26that came back and ran subsequently.
01:04:27So it's a big number.
01:04:29So he is both entered in a Friday allowance race
01:04:32at Goldstream Park and the Fountain of Youth.
01:04:35I texted Todd Pletcher this morning.
01:04:36He says not only is he not made up his mind,
01:04:38he will not make up his mind until Friday morning of the race.
01:04:43So the complexion of the Fountain of Youth will change quite a bit
01:04:47if that horse goes in.
01:04:49And Pletcher says certainly not tipping anybody off
01:04:53about what his intentions are.
01:04:55But with or without Speakeasy, this is a very nice race.
01:05:00And you have two horses in here that are among, you know,
01:05:02virtually everybody's top five or top six in the their ratings
01:05:06in the Kentucky Derby in Dornach, who won the Remsen and beat Sierra Leone,
01:05:10who, of course, we know came back and won the Risen Star.
01:05:13He's the full brother to Mage.
01:05:16And geez, Randy,
01:05:19maybe you haven't had a chance to go down this rabbit hole yet.
01:05:22But there can't be anything precedent like this.
01:05:24And, you know, full brothers running in back to back derbies
01:05:26or even half brothers in back to back derbies.
01:05:28You mean there's a rabbit hole?
01:05:29I haven't been down. Are you kidding me?
01:05:31Well, how did I possibly miss that rabbit hole laying right there?
01:05:35Just saying, calling my name, I'll have to I'll have to come back next week
01:05:38and we'll talk about that one.
01:05:39All right. We'll get that out.
01:05:41Yeah, it looks like a two horse race on paper.
01:05:43I mean, Dornach, you know, Danny Gargan, the trainer, has been touting him
01:05:47forever as the best horse he's ever trained.
01:05:48And he says everything's been going well.
01:05:50Gave him a few weeks off after the Remsen.
01:05:53And he should be all systems go.
01:05:54Locke has had a little bit more issues.
01:05:57He had a fever that knocked him out of the Samuel Davis stakes at Tampa Bay.
01:06:01But he came back and worked well after that.
01:06:03So no problem there.
01:06:04It was just a minor little setback.
01:06:06So those two horses look like on paper, especially if Speakeasy doesn't go.
01:06:09It looks definitely like a two horse race.
01:06:13If he does go, then it makes it a little bit more interesting.
01:06:16But Zoe, it's a good lineup.
01:06:19It's a very good lineup, indeed.
01:06:20And you mentioned Speakeasy and Dornach.
01:06:23They're definitely the two to beat.
01:06:25I'll be really interested to see Dornach because he always had this big,
01:06:29huge, massive frame that he needed to grow into, much like just FYI,
01:06:33who we'll talk about in just a moment.
01:06:35But he can only get better as a three-year-old.
01:06:38You know, time and time again, we see horses making their three-year-old debut.
01:06:42And we're disappointed.
01:06:44I think sky's the limit for Dornach.
01:06:45He's only going to get better with racing and with a bit more time.
01:06:49So I'm really looking forward to seeing him running.
01:06:52And his Remsen was obviously flattered by Sierra Leone, who came back and won
01:06:56the Risen Star coming out of the Remsen.
01:06:58So yeah, good race.
01:07:00And the third-place finisher in the Remsen drumroll,
01:07:03Please, also came back to win in his next start.
01:07:07So fascinating Fountain of Youth, which will be made even more so fascinating
01:07:11if Speakeasy goes in here.
01:07:14Guys, want to take a guess?
01:07:15What do you think Todd will do?
01:07:18I think he'll run in the allowance race, personally.
01:07:20But it's a mile and an eighth, first of all.
01:07:23So it's a little bit more of a test for him than the mile and a sixteenth
01:07:28of the Fountain of Youth.
01:07:29Whether that's going to be an advantage or a disadvantage in Todd's eyes,
01:07:32I'm not sure.
01:07:33But I think there's a reason why they entered in the allowance race.
01:07:36And so my guess is that that's what he'll do.
01:07:41Now, the Devona Dale, this race will go a long way
01:07:44towards determining what happens on the road to the Kentucky Oaks.
01:07:47And we got the return of the champion, just FYI.
01:07:51Of course, the two-year-old Philly champion last year
01:07:53after her win in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Phillies.
01:07:56Randy, I'm going to start with you on this because to me,
01:08:00looking at this race, this is a dilemma that all handicappers have.
01:08:05How important are speed figures?
01:08:07How important is class and proven form?
01:08:10So just FYI, is not particularly fast.
01:08:14She's never run more than a 79, which was her number in the Breeders' Cup
01:08:18Juvenile Phillies.
01:08:19On the bio numbers, Leslie Rose, trained by Todd Platcher, is faster, 88 and 87.
01:08:26However, you got one horse that's a champion and a two-time grade one
01:08:30winner versus a horse that's just won an allowance race and a maiden.
01:08:36I believe in your figures, Andy Byron, you guys.
01:08:39But I can't take Leslie's Rose over just FYI.
01:08:45She's just not as accomplished enough.
01:08:47I'm not saying she can't win, but I'm going to go with the champ.
01:08:51You're blowing my mind here.
01:08:52First, you tell me there's a rabbit hole that I haven't gone down yet.
01:08:56And now you're asking me how important speed figures are.
01:08:59Me, you're asking me that, right?
01:09:02Look, the last I checked, the definition of a race is the amount of time it takes
01:09:09for a person, a horse, a dog, a corgi, to go from point A to point B.
01:09:15So time, ergo speed figures, are the most important component of that.
01:09:20And Leslie's Rose, in her two lifetime starts, not much of a body of work,
01:09:24her slowest race is a couple of lengths faster than the fastest race
01:09:29that just FYI has run in her, what is it, three lifetime starts, OK?
01:09:34So look, I know just FYI had to overcome a lot in the Breeders' Cup
01:09:38Juvenile Phillies.
01:09:39She overcame a number 12 post position.
01:09:41She overcame a pretty fast pace, right?
01:09:44She survived all that, and she gets extra credit.
01:09:46But there's a reason why she got a slow figure.
01:09:49She ran her last 16th of a mile in that race in 7.01 seconds.
01:09:54That's walking.
01:09:56That's crawling for a top-stakes contender.
01:09:59So to me, the jury is still out in a big way on how good just FYI really is.
01:10:06And I'll take the numbers, and I'll take Leslie's Lady, Leslie's Rose,
01:10:10especially since the horse she beat in that allowance race last time
01:10:14at Gulfstream, a horse called Gunsong, a Lee Lewis-Mark Enigphilly,
01:10:18came back and won an allowance race and verified
01:10:20that speed figure for Leslie's Rose.
01:10:22So I'm taking the Todd Fletcher allowance filly.
01:10:25All right, Zoe, do you go for the class horse or the fast horse?
01:10:28I don't know who she's going for.
01:10:29She's going for just FYI.
01:10:33Listen, speed figures don't lie, and you're right.
01:10:36But is it not true that faster speed figures are generally in sprint races?
01:10:42Is that correct?
01:10:43No, no.
01:10:45Speed figures are just as accurate at a mile and a half
01:10:51or a mile and three quarters as they are at four and a half furlongs.
01:10:55It's all taken into consideration.
01:10:57OK, but two-year-old speed figures are generally lower, right?
01:11:01Definitely lower in most cases, unless you're
01:11:04talking about a generational talent.
01:11:09OK, so we've got her speed figures from a two-year-old.
01:11:12And yes, Leslie's Rose from this year and last year as a two-year-old,
01:11:16they're still higher.
01:11:17I'm not going to argue with you on speed figures
01:11:19because they are the predominant factor to handicapping.
01:11:23The higher the number, the lower the number, the better the horse.
01:11:26It's just as simple as that.
01:11:27But sometimes you have to look at the horse physically.
01:11:30And I'm going to argue, like I argued last week,
01:11:33that just FYI should not have done the things
01:11:36that she did as a two-year-old sprinting, going six furlongs,
01:11:40just because she was like a big, giant, gangly baby Huey.
01:11:44And hopefully this year, she has grown into herself.
01:11:47And it was just purely sheer ability that got
01:11:50her to overcome those daddy long legs legs.
01:11:53So I'm sticking with just FYI.
01:11:55But I'm right with your speed figures.
01:11:58But your point is absolutely right on that some horses, not all of them,
01:12:02but some horses make a step forward physically, mentally,
01:12:06and speed figures from their two-year-old season
01:12:09to their three-year-old season.
01:12:10So if that's the case with just FYI, yes, absolutely.
01:12:15There will be nobody more disappointed than me
01:12:18if she does not park or win, at least win the Devonerdale.
01:12:23Nobody more disappointed than me.
01:12:25I'm just throwing it out there.
01:12:27All right.
01:12:28Stay tuned, and we'll find out about that.
01:12:30We don't have, again, the PPs out.
01:12:32Zoe, I know you've been touching base with the racing secretary's
01:12:36office at Santa Anita to give us some sort of feel
01:12:39about the San Felipe, Big Cap, and Kilro.
01:12:41What can you tell us?
01:12:43Well, the Kilro looks like it's going to be Argy's, Dandy Man's Shines,
01:12:47Dijon, Bob Buffett with his turf horse.
01:12:50Isto's a very, very good horse, Phil D'Amato, and Goliad,
01:12:54and perhaps first-piece Irideo.
01:12:56That's going to be good.
01:12:57We'll see what happens in the Big Cap.
01:13:02And with the San Felipe, it's probably going
01:13:04to be a little bit on the shorter field with two of Bob's running.
01:13:08Bob just doesn't know which two as of yet.
01:13:12Maybe Cornell, why me up, Coach Prime.
01:13:14We don't know if Moot's going to run.
01:13:17Island Cruiser, and we'll see what else happens.
01:13:23But there is going to be an awful lot of racing at Santa Anita on Saturday.
01:13:27And the Big Cap looks like we're probably going to have O'Connor shipping
01:13:31in for Safi Joseph and running in there as well as New Grains,
01:13:36aka Shamu, who is one of my favorite horses here on the grounds at Santa
01:13:41Anita.
01:13:42He's aptly named for trainer Phil D'Amato.
01:13:44He looks like a big, giant whale.
01:13:46Hence, he's called Shamu.
01:13:49Well, the horse that I'm looking forward to of the ones
01:13:51that you mentioned running is the D'Amato-trained Easter,
01:13:55who's won three races in a row.
01:13:56And the reason I look forward to watching Easter run
01:14:00is that it stresses to me yet again how thankful
01:14:04I am that I'm too big to be a jockey.
01:14:08Because this horse is the toughest horse in America to ride.
01:14:11He's got to be.
01:14:13I mean, not only does he break slowly from the gate every single time,
01:14:16then he tries to run off with the riders, no matter who's on him.
01:14:20They're back there trying to steer him.
01:14:22And he wants to run over horses in front of him.
01:14:24And you think, this horse has no chance at this point.
01:14:26And yet, he still comes from behind to win.
01:14:29So that's why I'm looking forward to watching Easter run,
01:14:31to see what kind of escapades he can get himself into this time.
01:14:36It'll be a good race.
01:14:37That'll be the killer.
01:14:38A very good race, indeed.
01:14:41So the feature at Aqueduct on Saturday will be the Gotham.
01:14:45And it's well known that the New York route to the Kentucky Derby
01:14:48has been very unproductive over the last many years.
01:14:52Randy, this will be an easy rabbit hole question for you.
01:14:55Give me the last Gotham winner who won the Kentucky Derby.
01:15:00The last Gotham winner who won the Kentucky Derby.
01:15:06I'll give you the favorite.
01:15:07It was Scratch.
01:15:08The Secretariat won the Gotham and won the Kentucky Derby.
01:15:10I don't know.
01:15:11I don't know that.
01:15:12All my revenge was Scratch.
01:15:13Secretariat.
01:15:13Nobody since then.
01:15:15Nobody since.
01:15:15In 51 years, nobody has won that race.
01:15:19There's been a couple of nice horses that have come out of it.
01:15:22Brad Cox is going to run as many as four horses in there.
01:15:26And frankly, without the past performances,
01:15:27because a lot of these horses are not really household names.
01:15:31I don't have a whole lot to report.
01:15:33Anybody know anything or like any horses in the Gotham?
01:15:36Well, just to touch is the Justify Colt
01:15:39that broke his maiden very impressively
01:15:41on January the 27th at the fairgrounds.
01:15:44Won it by four lengths.
01:15:45And visually, it was one of those wow maiden races.
01:15:49And, you know, it begged a stakes race for his next start.
01:15:53And so Brad is loaded down in New Orleans and at Oak Lawn and all that.
01:15:58So we decided to send this horse up to the Gotham.
01:16:00I'll be interested in seeing him run.
01:16:01He definitely looks like the best of the Cox horses.
01:16:03Bergen comes off a win in the Jimmy Winkfield and looked pretty good.
01:16:07The other two he's thinking about running don't look like much on paper.
01:16:10I'll give you a couple.
01:16:11Todd's running a couple that look like they're long shots.
01:16:14I know that the Christophe Clement barn is very high on a couple of three year olds
01:16:20that they think against all odds can get the Clement clan back to the Kentucky Derby.
01:16:26OK, one of these horses is deterministic and the other one is capital idea.
01:16:32And to me, deterministic looks the better of the two.
01:16:34I believe that's what I'm thinking of.
01:16:37And they are both on the list of probable slash possibles for the Gotham.
01:16:44I love deterministic.
01:16:47I remember his maiden race like yesterday at Saratoga, going five and a half,
01:16:52should never have won, ate all the dirt, got up in time, did it the right way
01:16:56and has been on the shelf ever since.
01:16:58And he looked like a three year old then.
01:17:00I am looking forward to seeing what he looks like.
01:17:03Big, beautiful looking colt.
01:17:06That's him for the Gotham.
01:17:07Let's not forget about Jody's Prize, who's going up there to run in the Busher.
01:17:12Now, she gave just FYI all she could handle in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies.
01:17:18And Jorge Abreu has opted to ship her up for the Busher to basically not run into just FYI.
01:17:25Looks like Jose Lozcano will pick up the mount because Flavian Pratt is busy in Kentucky.
01:17:30And I didn't really like Jody's Pride going into the Juvenile Fillies dirt
01:17:35because I always thought she was better on the grass.
01:17:38Flavian Pratt flew back there before the Juvenile Fillies
01:17:42and said he'd worked her on the dirt and said, trust me, Zoe, she is better on the dirt.
01:17:46So I'm looking forward to seeing what Jody's Pride has to say.
01:17:50I expect a big race from her.
01:17:52The TDN Writer's Room is brought to you by XBTV.
01:17:55We mentioned it earlier how well Dornach has been training down there at Palm Meadows.
01:18:01Well, he is the work of the week.
01:18:03It's Dornach working on the inside here,
01:18:05they work four furlongs in company for trainer Danny Gargan at Palm Meadows.
01:18:10With his stable mate Neek Trick on the outside, Priscilla was aboard Dornach
01:18:14who absolutely pulled her the whole way around there in 47 and 4,
01:18:19could not have gone any better.
01:18:20Now we last saw him taking down November's Remson Stakes at Aqueduct
01:18:25and he is scheduled to make his very first start of the year
01:18:28in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth at Goldstream on Saturday.
01:18:31I'm not sure you'll see a horse work much better than that with Priscilla aboard him.
01:18:35He looked really, really good.
01:19:05All the thrills.
01:19:15Fraction of the bills.
01:19:20Experience the power of the partnership.
01:19:25Change your life, make new friends and compete at the highest level of Thoroughbred Racing.
01:19:33West Point Thoroughbreds, the gold standard in racing partnerships.
01:19:37Visit westpointtb.com.
01:19:40The TD and Riders Room also brought to you by West Point Thoroughbreds,
01:19:44another huge weekend ahead for West Point and partners.
01:19:48Listen to these horses they've got running.
01:19:49All right, first of all, in maiden races, OK,
01:19:53on Saturday on the Fountain of Youth undercard at Goldstream Park,
01:19:57a filly by the name of Sedona will make her career debut.
01:20:00Sedona was a $2 million yearling.
01:20:03She's a full sister to multiple graded six when her first captain.
01:20:06At Santa Anita, a $2.5 million yearling by the name of Metro
01:20:12will run in a maiden race at Santa Anita as well.
01:20:15Then on a graded six front, Slider will ship from California to run in the Gotham at Aqueduct.
01:20:20When we talked about the Gotham, we didn't talk about him.
01:20:22He's in there as a leading contender.
01:20:24Then you'll remember he was third in the San Vicente last time.
01:20:27Also, Sadler will run, scatify West Point in the San Felipe at Santa Anita.
01:20:32Probably they're pointing him for the for that race against the Baffert clan.
01:20:37And then down at Gulfstream, Cherie Devaux will run Northern Invader
01:20:41in the Canadian turf also on the Fountain of Youth undercard.
01:20:45A lot to watch for West Point this weekend.
01:20:47If you're interested in vaulting into the world of instant camaraderie
01:20:50and joining a West Point partnership, you can go to www.westpointtb.com.
01:20:57Randy, I'm going to out rabbit hole you again on this show.
01:21:07Why?
01:21:09Tell me why Slider is named Slider.
01:21:12No clue.
01:21:14OK, because one of the co-owners in the West Point partnership is Rob Murphy,
01:21:20the former major league pitcher.
01:21:22M-375.
01:21:24Yes. Rob Murphy, a good friend of mine,
01:21:27former pitcher for the Boston Red Sox and a bunch of other teams.
01:21:31And, you know, they put the baseball theme on them.
01:21:34And it's all in honor of Rob, who in his day was a terrific pitcher
01:21:39and had a hell of a slider.
01:21:40So there you go.
01:21:42Well, well, since you're friends, I know you know this.
01:21:44How did Rob get the M-375 stable name?
01:21:47It's slew spelled upside down.
01:21:50Exactly.
01:21:52All right.
01:21:53I'm I'm leaving.
01:21:55I'm out of here.
01:21:59All right.
01:21:59That's a wrap on this week's show.
01:22:01I want to thank my partners, Randy Moss and Zoe Kavman,
01:22:03the Green Group guest of the week, Todd Fincher, as well as our co-producers,
01:22:07Katie Petruniak and Anthony LaRocca and their editors, Leo LaRocca and Nathan Wilkinson.
01:22:12So no, no Lucy sightings because you're not at home, right?
01:22:16No, no, no.
01:22:17There's the hotel.
01:22:19There's the hotel bar.
01:22:21Sorry, no Lucy.
01:22:22Next week.
01:22:23All right.
01:22:25Tell Lucy when you get home.
01:22:26We missed her this week.
01:22:27All right, everybody.
01:22:28Thanks for watching.
01:22:29See you next week.
01:22:30Cheers.