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00:00:00For the love of the horse, for generations to come.
00:00:28And welcome to another edition of the TDN Writer's Room.
00:00:30My name is Bill Finley.
00:00:31I'm a correspondent for the Thoroughbred Daily News, Bookham Dano's biggest fan.
00:00:36And I also do a horse racing radio show every Saturday on Sirius XM with the legendary Dave
00:00:41Johnson.
00:00:42And you've got to be proud of Bookham Dano.
00:00:43He ran a really good race in defeat the other day.
00:00:46We'll talk about that one.
00:00:47I'm Randy Moss with NBC Sports.
00:00:50Just me and you, Bill.
00:00:52Zoe's, I guess, celebrating a milestone of some kind.
00:00:55Zoe is celebrating her birthday.
00:00:58So he gave her the day off and she'll be back next week.
00:01:01And her age?
00:01:04Not going there.
00:01:05It's a top secret.
00:01:06Somewhere between 29 and 79.
00:01:07Is that what we came up with?
00:01:09That would just about cover it.
00:01:11Okay.
00:01:12All right.
00:01:13She should be okay with that.
00:01:14Anyways.
00:01:15So, Randy, so rarely do these races live up to the hype.
00:01:17I mean, you looked at the Travers coming in and it looked like it was going to be a fantastic
00:01:22race.
00:01:23You had almost all the major three-year-old males who are healthy and ready to go.
00:01:27See as the gray dropped out, he's probably going to go to the Pennsylvania Derby.
00:01:31But other than that, you had everyone that you wanted to be in the race, plus the Philly,
00:01:37plus Torpedo Anna, which spiced up the race to a degree that I can't remember in Travers
00:01:43in the last seven, eight, nine, 10 years.
00:01:46And then when they get out on the racetrack, it's a terrific race with fierceness.
00:01:50I remember him beating Torpedo Anna by a slim margin.
00:01:57And it was, again, the type of race where you felt as good about it going in as you
00:02:03did going out.
00:02:05And I think Torpedo Anna lost absolutely nothing in defeat.
00:02:09Matter of fact, I would say she probably enhanced her reputation by running second to a very
00:02:14fast fierceness.
00:02:16It was one of those races where Mike Rapole and Kenny McPeak in the winner's circle were
00:02:20both laughing and smiling and slapping each other on the back.
00:02:24It was one of those races that everybody could feel good about.
00:02:27Even Sierra Leone, the third place finisher, ran a heck of a race, ran the best race of
00:02:31his career in defeat.
00:02:33I thought fierceness ran the very best race he's ever run.
00:02:37And that's saying a lot because his Florida Derby was absolutely dominating.
00:02:42But I thought he showed a new dimension in the Travers Stakes.
00:02:46If you had told me that going around the clubhouse turn, fierceness would be fourth
00:02:51and he'd be three lengths off the pace, I probably would have lined up to bet against
00:02:55him.
00:02:56I would have thought that he would have preferred to be a little bit more in the mix.
00:03:00But Johnny Velasquez learned something about him in the Jim Dandy that he could sit just
00:03:05a little bit off the pace.
00:03:06As long as he wasn't being hustled, he relaxed beautifully and was a little bit, I think
00:03:12maybe three horses wide on both turns and still ran a 1.11 Byers speed figure that kind
00:03:19of says it all because his narrow win meant that Torpedo Anna also ran a 1.11 Byers speed
00:03:28figure.
00:03:29We talked last week about how the speed figures of Torpedo Anna, you weren't really indicative
00:03:36of her ability just because of how dominant she had been and how quick some of those
00:03:42internal moves had been against three-year-old Phillies.
00:03:45And we've been waiting for so long for Sierra Leone to live up to his potential, to finally
00:03:50run a straight line, to finally put it all together.
00:03:53He got his mile and a quarter.
00:03:54He didn't get that much of a pace, but he ran fairly straight, ran a lot more mature,
00:03:59a lot more professionally down the lane, and he runs a 1.09 Byer finishing third.
00:04:05That was a killer trio coming down to the wire in the Travers and I agree with you.
00:04:10It's not all that often that a race that hyped lives up to its potential that dramatically,
00:04:18but I thought the Travers really did.
00:04:21A couple observations.
00:04:23The betting public kind of gave up on fierceness.
00:04:25He was 390 to one and watching the Fox show, you almost didn't, and this isn't a knock
00:04:31on Fox.
00:04:32I don't want to go there, but you almost didn't even know he was in the race.
00:04:35It was all about Torpedo Anna.
00:04:37Of course.
00:04:39I'm sure if NBC did the race, they would do the same thing because that was the big story,
00:04:45but she so overshadowed everyone, including fierceness, so we know as erratic as he is,
00:04:50is capable of putting in a performance like the one he did.
00:04:54Now, this is a question I probably should not ask until after the Breeders' Cup, but
00:04:58Randy, if they ended the year today, who's worse of the year?
00:05:03That's tough.
00:05:04That's tough.
00:05:06I would probably go Torpedo Anna, honestly.
00:05:11Right now, the plan is to keep her against females the rest of the year, to run her in
00:05:15the cotillion at parks for three-year-old fillies, and then to run her in the Breeders'
00:05:20Cup Distaff.
00:05:21If she wins both of those races and something different other than fierceness, let's say,
00:05:28happens in the Breeders' Cup Classic, then I think Torpedo Anna would be a really solid
00:05:34choice.
00:05:35That's the way I'm looking at it now for horse of the year.
00:05:39Another thing about the Travers that I thought kind of flew under the radar a little bit,
00:05:45Johnny Velasquez mentioned just sort of casually in the post-race interview about how he moved
00:05:52fierceness a little earlier than he wanted to, okay, at about the half-mile pole is when
00:05:59he very first started to make a little bit of a move with fierceness.
00:06:03The reason he did that was to lock Torpedo Anna down on the inside behind the speed and
00:06:11not let her swing out and get the jump on it, right?
00:06:16It was a strategy that worked to perfection because Brian Hernandez had to sit patiently,
00:06:21had to wait for fierceness to make his move first, go past three wide, take the lead,
00:06:27and swing out, follow fierceness into the stretch, and hope that she could run him down.
00:06:34You know, nine times out of ten, when a three-year-old filly can run a buyer's speed figure of 1.11,
00:06:41she's going to run down whoever is in front of her, but fierceness just ran exceptionally
00:06:47and made that strategy pay off.
00:06:48How about Doorknock?
00:06:49Did he see any excuses for him or did he just get outrun?
00:06:52Oh, he ran his race.
00:06:53Yeah, okay.
00:06:54Numbers-wise, he ran the same he'd been running.
00:06:58I know Danny Gargan says he felt he was a little flat and that maybe some of those tough
00:07:03wins that we had seen him have in the Belmont and the Haskell might have taken a little
00:07:07bit of wind out of his sails, but I thought he ran his race and they just got a lot faster
00:07:15in front of him, in my opinion.
00:07:17One other story that came out about this, and I'm saying this as I'm an anti-whip guy,
00:07:22and I've been for a long time, but then we see that Brian Hernandez aboard Torpedo Anna
00:07:27was given a one-day suspension and a $1,250 fine for excessive whipping of the horse.
00:07:33That is, he went over the maximum of six.
00:07:36He went seven, so that's why the suspension is only one day and the fine is fairly moderate.
00:07:43This is one of my complaints about this whole system that they've come up with.
00:07:47You're riding for a million and a half dollars.
00:07:50In the biggest race, one of the biggest races of your life, and you're three jumps from
00:07:54the wire, you're really going to start thinking, did I hit the horse six times or seven times?
00:07:58I better be careful.
00:07:59No, you're going to use the crop.
00:08:02I understand why they would do that.
00:08:06I don't have no idea what the solution is to this, but it would be ridiculous for the
00:08:11guy to put his stick away if he thought that could cost him the race.
00:08:16Fine him $10,000.
00:08:17Fine him $20,000.
00:08:18He wouldn't care.
00:08:19He just wanted to win that race, and he wanted to get the big payday for himself as a jockey.
00:08:24Who could blame him?
00:08:25I read Ortiz, I think, also got a one-day suspension, not in that particular race, but
00:08:30I think for another race this past week for going over the six-stroke limit with the whip.
00:08:37You got to set a limit somewhere, but I agree with you that if you're talking about a race
00:08:43like the Travers and you're coming down on the wire and you think that it might help
00:08:46you win, you'll take your day, you'll take your fine, and you'll just go on with it.
00:08:53Yeah, you might not do that for the fourth at Finger Lakes, but for the Travers, I couldn't
00:08:58blame them for doing that.
00:08:59Randy, I think we're now talking about a pretty good group of three-year-olds.
00:09:04Now that they've all sort of sorted themselves out with fierceness now, I mean, we won't
00:09:08forget all the erratic races and his erratic nature, but he's run two straight very good
00:09:16races and you said that the Travers was the best race of his life.
00:09:20I would think maybe this running good one day, bad the next, might be behind him now.
00:09:26Maybe just maturity or maybe Pletcher's figured something out, but he put away the knock against
00:09:34him that he couldn't run two good races in a row.
00:09:37You all said on the podcast many times that's silly.
00:09:41There's no reason why a horse wouldn't be able to run two good races in a row.
00:09:44It has to be something else.
00:09:46Can we get past that now?
00:09:49I think we can, and I'm sure Mike Rapoli will talk about that when we have him on as the
00:09:53guest of the week here shortly.
00:09:55John Velasquez has an interesting theory about, and I think we might have talked about this
00:09:59earlier, I don't remember if we did or not, about why fierceness threw in a couple of
00:10:05those head-scratching races.
00:10:09The only thing that Johnny could figure out that was a similarity between the two is that
00:10:15not only was he just a little bit compromised at the start, not a lot, but a little bit,
00:10:20but Johnny hustled him at that point to try to get him back up into the race.
00:10:27He believes that the horse doesn't want to be hustled.
00:10:30He wants to be left alone.
00:10:32He wants to be allowed just to do his thing.
00:10:35Don't tell me what to do.
00:10:36Don't tell me where to go or how to do it.
00:10:40That's exactly the way Johnny rode him in the Traverse.
00:10:44He just put his hands down.
00:10:45He let the horse get into the stride he wanted.
00:10:47He was fourth by three lengths.
00:10:49That's what the horse wanted to do.
00:10:50Fine with Johnny.
00:10:52And he showed that, I don't know if that's the answer.
00:10:56Don't know if that's why he ran some of those races.
00:10:59But I think, my opinion, I think we can put that behind us.
00:11:05Now the pace was also pretty slow in the Traverse, and that probably worked against a horse like
00:11:11Sierra Leone.
00:11:13So I know what Chad Brown is hoping is, as he trains up to the Breeders' Cup Classic,
00:11:18along with Fierceness and along with Dornach, that he'll get a lot more pace at Delmar
00:11:24in the Classic, and that might maybe help Sierra Leone turn the tables.
00:11:29We shall see.
00:11:30He's the same horse every time, where he runs very good, but just not quite good enough.
00:11:35The TDN Writers Room is brought to you by Keeneland.
00:11:38Keeneland is currently holding a flash sale offering the Dam and Half-Sister to Black
00:11:41Forza, the recent winner of the Group 2 Richmond Stakes at Goodwood.
00:11:45Black Forza is heading next to the $1 million Kentucky Downs Juvenile Sprint on September
00:11:501.
00:11:51Sale is currently open for bids at www.keeneland.com slash augustflash.
00:11:57Sale concludes this Thursday, August 29th at 3pm.
00:12:01We'll be right back after this message from Keeneland.
00:12:04At Keeneland, a horse will always be measured in hands.
00:12:14Hands that see, that sense, that speak.
00:12:22Hands that hold our sport to a higher standard.
00:12:26Not for our sake, but for theirs.
00:12:29For the love of the horse, for generations to come.
00:12:56We are very proud to say that the TDN Writers Room is brought to you by Stone Street, bred
00:13:10and raised.
00:13:12Stone Street is offering 14 horses at Keeneland's September's Book One.
00:13:17Let's take a look at a few of these that we've specially selected just for you.
00:13:21This is HIP 318 of Philly by Curlin out of Authenticity.
00:13:26Now, if Authenticity sounds familiar, she was a multiple graded stakes winner who also
00:13:31produced Charlatan.
00:13:34Multiple grade one stakes winner himself and now a stallion at Hill and Dale.
00:13:38This is HIP 278, a colt by Tappet out of Valadorna, a graded stakes winner and a grade one stakes
00:13:46place horse on the racetrack.
00:13:48Valadorna also happens to be a half sister to Complexity, the leading first crop sire.
00:13:54And how about this one?
00:13:55HIP 345, a colt by Into Mischief out of Catch the Moon, who has produced, among other black
00:14:02type runners, Girvan, the Haskell winner and also Midnight Bourbon, stakes winner and multiple
00:14:09grade one stakes placed runner.
00:14:12That's some beautiful speed indeed from Stone Street, bred and raised.
00:14:18And now it's time for the fastest horse of the week, brought to you this week by Independence
00:14:23Hall, one of those fast sires at Windstar Farm.
00:14:26Independence Hall, the fastest two-year-old of this particular crop.
00:14:30He ran a 101 buyer in a stake record-setting win in the Nashua Stakes.
00:14:36That's a grade three.
00:14:37That was the best of any two-year-old that season.
00:14:40He was a gate-to-wire winner of the Fayette Stakes at Keeneland, won that by seven with
00:14:44a 105 buyer.
00:14:46And not only that, in retirement, his first yearlings are hot.
00:14:51They're averaging over 10 times his stud fee.
00:14:54In fact, you can see 56 of Independence Hall's first yearlings at Keeneland September, beginning
00:15:00on September 9th.
00:15:02Now the fastest horse of the week, we've already talked about him in detail, no surprise, Fierceness
00:15:07with his 111 in the Traverse Stakes to go along with the 110 that he ran earlier this
00:15:13year when he romped home in the Florida Derby.
00:15:20As always, our Guest of the Week segment on the TDN Writer's Room is brought to you by
00:15:23The Green Group, a tax consulting and advisory firm that specializes in the thoroughbred
00:15:29industry.
00:15:30Welcome in now our Green Group Guest of the Week, and you know this fellow because he
00:15:33wins an awful lot of races and is found in the winner's circle an awful lot of times.
00:15:38That's Mike Rapolli, the owner of, among others, Fierceness, who won the Traverse Stakes.
00:15:42Mike, welcome to the show and thanks for joining us.
00:15:45You have had so much success in your career in racing, but 96, 97% of those horses were
00:15:53horses you bought at sales.
00:15:55How did it feel different that a homebred won, and instead then, are you a little bit
00:15:59more proud of this accomplishment than maybe the one that wins that you went out and spent
00:16:03a million bucks for at Keeneland?
00:16:05Well, Bill, I hope you're okay if I say hello to Randy first because he's also on.
00:16:09Randy, how you doing?
00:16:10Bill, how are you?
00:16:12So, yeah, I mean, you know, Bill, it's, you know, first of all, you know, winning the
00:16:21Traverse is probably top five race for anybody that is in this racing game and, you know,
00:16:27I've done it in 2011 with Stay Thirsty and now again this weekend, you know, I'm still
00:16:32on cloud nine.
00:16:34As far as it being a homebred versus a yearling purchase or a two-year-old purchase, you know,
00:16:40there was a lot of reflection prior to the race and a little reflection post-race.
00:16:46You know, Nonna Mia was a horse that I bought, one of my first horses I bought in a sale
00:16:52in 2000, I think seven for like $200,000.
00:16:56She's named after my grandmother, my grandmother in Italian.
00:17:01And I bred her, you know, I bred Nonna Mia to Stay Thirsty and I got this filly called
00:17:05Nonna Bella and what's, beautiful grandmother.
00:17:09So, you're talking about the first stage being 2007, Stay Thirsty was in 2008, Nonna Bella
00:17:16probably was in 2014 and now to come here and breed Nonna Bella to City of Light, which
00:17:23I have a 10% stake, I mean, this is, you know, 17, 18 years in the creation or making of
00:17:30Fierceness.
00:17:31So, when you start to think about starting the game when it first starts in 2004, 2005,
00:17:37I didn't win a race till 2006 and now you fast forward 20 years and there's, you know,
00:17:43not only do you own the mare, you own the grand mare and you race them both and Stay
00:17:49Thirsty when you're her first Traverse and he's the grand sire, you know, kind of big
00:17:54reflection of, you know, being in my early 30s to now mid 50s and my grandmother being
00:17:59around for the races and, you know, I told my daughter, Joya, she asked me if I, you
00:18:04know, on Friday, Dad, did we ever win the Traverse?
00:18:07And I said, no, I won the Traverse in 2011, but you weren't here, so you haven't won the
00:18:11Traverse.
00:18:12So, I got two, she's got one and it feels great.
00:18:16I mean, it really does have a lot more meaning, you know, over the last week, Bill and Randy,
00:18:21than I kind of really thought about it, you know, say six months ago.
00:18:26So given that emotional involvement, more so with this particular horse, how difficult
00:18:32was it for you, all the slings and arrows that fierceness took after the Kentucky Derby
00:18:38and even the skepticism, I mean, he was, you know, he was almost, well, he was seven to
00:18:43two or something like that in the Traverse, the skepticism that he'd be able to put two
00:18:47races together back to back the way he did.
00:18:51How tough was that for you to listen to all that?
00:18:53You know, Randy, listen, as far as tough, very tough, but, you know, I pride myself
00:18:58on, I bought a sneaker company, apparel company called Noble, you know what that stands for.
00:19:03And it's about mental toughness and a tough mentality.
00:19:07So, you know, listen, life is about adversity and life is about ups and downs.
00:19:12I mean, I scratched two Derby favorites.
00:19:15I don't know what can be tougher than Uncle Mo or Forte, you know, winning and losing
00:19:18a race.
00:19:19I mean, that happens every single day.
00:19:21But this horse probably was more baffling for Todd.
00:19:25You know, Todd has never had a horse this talented one race.
00:19:29And then all of a sudden you go from a 110 buyer to an 80 buyer and it's an every other
00:19:34start thing.
00:19:35So, you know, listen, I mean, you and Bill have been around this game a long time and
00:19:41we know there's a lot more lows than there are highs.
00:19:44So anytime you're having a high in this game, you know, it's hard to feel bad about having
00:19:48lows.
00:19:49You know, I really feel great for Todd, who really put a lot of effort into every horse
00:19:55and he's been around for over 25 years.
00:19:57But this horse in particular, you know, I mean, you know, I joked with him the other
00:20:02day, he's going to go down in history as the trainer who got fierceness beat three times.
00:20:06That's going to be his legacy.
00:20:08So I mean, you did an amazing job and the horse ran super.
00:20:12I was a little worried about you after the race when the Fox camera showed the box and
00:20:15I didn't see you.
00:20:16You were like collapsed back into a chair.
00:20:20You know what?
00:20:21At the quarter pole, I thought we were going to win by three.
00:20:25At the eighth pole, I thought we were going to win by two and a half at the 16th pole.
00:20:30I thought we're going to win by one and a half at the 132nd pole.
00:20:34I thought we're going to lose by a length.
00:20:36So it seems like once I mean, you know, to Peter Adler, you know, let's just give her
00:20:41all the praise out there.
00:20:43I mean, Philly against boys, this was Zinyatta, Blaine.
00:20:46When Uncle Mo, when it's one of his two-year-old juvenile, that was the Blaine Zinyatta year
00:20:52and to watch Blaine and Zinyatta, Blaine, Zinyatta, it gave me a little bit of a feeling
00:20:57of 2010 with these two, what a great Philly, three-year-old Colt, three-year-old Philly
00:21:02champions.
00:21:03It was a, it was an unbelievable race, but honestly, there was a time I really thought
00:21:09Torpedo Anna had him.
00:21:11And I think fierceness dug in just a little bit more right before the wire and said, you're
00:21:16not going to get by me.
00:21:17And it was, you know, for a race to have all the hype that this has had, and people were
00:21:23talking, you know, it really is why we love the sport so much.
00:21:26I mean, it was up to the hype, man.
00:21:29It was special.
00:21:30Oh, Mike, and I'm glad you brought that up about Torpedo Anna, because I know you love
00:21:35the history of the game and you're a sportsman.
00:21:38You know, she almost beat you on a day where your horse ran the race of his life.
00:21:43And I saw you and Kenny McPeak were all, both of you were all smiles after the race.
00:21:48I can't blame Kenny for being happy with a loss because she ran so well.
00:21:54You know, what did you say to one another and what impressions did you come away with
00:21:59her?
00:22:00You know, I, I, I've been in that position and to, to be as, you know, to take a loss
00:22:09like that, as well as Kenny and team Torpedo Anna took it, I was, I just, I congratulated
00:22:15them.
00:22:16But in a way it's, I feel it's uncomfortable to say, you know, Hey, we won congratulations
00:22:20and Hey, you ran a great race.
00:22:23And, you know, I mean, the one, the biggest compliment I could, I could give him, I said
00:22:26to him, I said, please keep this Philly with the girls.
00:22:30I don't want to do this again.
00:22:31Like, I mean, that's the biggest compliment I can give him.
00:22:34It was like, I don't want to face her anymore.
00:22:36I mean, she is, she ran an amazing race.
00:22:40I mean, I've tried nest in the Belmont ran second to Maldonado that, that, that second,
00:22:46I didn't take too hard because I also own more dog, you know?
00:22:49So it wasn't that bad, but I've watched hard with rags and rags to riches before this.
00:22:54You know, I mean, it's, it's done once in a while and applaud the connections for taking
00:23:00a chance and she did nothing, but, you know, I mean, she could have won the Alabama by
00:23:04seven and, you know, she was second by a head to two-year-old champ and possibly three-year-old
00:23:11champ.
00:23:12And now it's, if all goes well, it's in Todd, you trust to map out a plan going forward.
00:23:18And I guess that plan is to train him up to the Breeders' Cup Classic.
00:23:23Is that kind of set in stone?
00:23:24Yeah.
00:23:25I mean, you know, Randy, if you would ask this after the Jim Dandy, we were telling
00:23:29you that he won't race until the Pennsylvania Derby.
00:23:31So that lasted for 12 hours, but, uh, but this one, um, we're sure, I mean, he's probably
00:23:37not going to work for like, you know, probably six weeks before the classic, he'll get some
00:23:42time off, came out of the race.
00:23:44Great.
00:23:45You know, that was a big surprise for Todd.
00:23:48Fierceness took the Derby, uh, probably lost 75 to 100 pounds, um, wasn't himself for about
00:23:54two or three weeks, just needed to, you know, have that mid-year, you know, rest.
00:24:01And I think, you know, everybody knows me as only aggressive.
00:24:04I mean, I have a term out there, patiently aggressive and, you know, I knew we couldn't
00:24:09run him in the Preakness and not even the Belmont.
00:24:11So we gave him time and Todd and, you know, did what he had to do.
00:24:16And Fierceness just responded.
00:24:18And, you know, I, I, I really believe we have a horse that's, um, you know, I really believe
00:24:24this is the best race he's ever run in his career.
00:24:26And I really believe there's a chance that his next one might be even better.
00:24:30Uh, uh, Mike, you, um, if we're talking about this race next year at this time, maybe we're
00:24:36talking about Menti winning the Travers.
00:24:39That of course is the full brother to Fierceness ran the one time at Saratoga and we haven't
00:24:43seen him since.
00:24:44What's the update on him?
00:24:46Um, he's, he's worked the last two weeks incredibly, um, he had a fever and, um, and when he got
00:24:53his fever, it was from a puncture wound and it wound up that he, he Todd caught this early.
00:25:02He had acute laminitis and whoa, he was, he was in, uh, he was away for about 10 days
00:25:10and, uh, you know, Todd did, um, thank God Todd and the doctors got him there quickly.
00:25:17Uh, Danielle Bricker, who's on my team, um, she went to visit him three times a day and
00:25:23it got a little nerve wracking and, um, that this horse rebounded really incredibly well
00:25:31to come back and work three times.
00:25:34I mean, this is the behind the scenes story that a lot of people don't see.
00:25:39And you know, you know, they say, Oh, you know, sometimes you're going to retire a horse
00:25:43too early or come on, just do it for the fans.
00:25:46But they don't understand the stress and anxiety that Todd Pletcher or my team, or even I wake
00:25:54up to every day with, all right.
00:25:56You know, I mean, you know, I got, I would ask Todd, I'd wake up and ask Todd how Fierceness
00:26:01was before I would check on Joyer and Maria and no disrespect to my wife, Maria, they'd
00:26:06be sleeping.
00:26:07So they were okay being Fierceness weren't.
00:26:09So there is a lot of that stress that goes in between.
00:26:12And you know, when you care as much as we do, and most owners and trainers do about
00:26:16the horses, their family, and you know, there's this, this, you feel the pressure for them,
00:26:23you know, to perform, you know, like, so, you know, like this happens, like, this is
00:26:28a tough part of the game that people don't see or don't understand.
00:26:33And, and you know what, we're lucky he's alive, because this was could have went one way or
00:26:37the other.
00:26:38That's what Lemonize does.
00:26:39And for him to rebound like this, like, you know, I mean, we feel great.
00:26:44And he was up at Saratoga, spent 10 days in the clinic, got back, galloped for two weeks
00:26:51and, you know, and shout out to Danielle, who is amazing, and she slept with the horse
00:26:56for in his store for a couple, a couple weeks.
00:26:59So maybe that helped a little bit, getting him back to, you know, where he is today.
00:27:05Maybe this will be another Lady Eli story.
00:27:07That's really, that's really something.
00:27:10So the last time we had you on the podcast, we not only talked about fierceness and about
00:27:14your horses, we talked about your new initiative, the National Thoroughbred Association.
00:27:18Give us an update.
00:27:20What's the we haven't read much about it lately.
00:27:22What's what's percolating with you?
00:27:24You know, it's probably nine months in right now, maybe 10.
00:27:27Pat Cummings is in Japan right now for an event out there.
00:27:33And, you know, I've learned a lot, Bill and Randy, about this game.
00:27:37I've dug in as deep as I can on, you know, not only the ownership side, but the, you
00:27:43know, the track side, the the ABC committees that we have out there, stallions, the sales
00:27:51Thoroughbred aftercare, the two year old sales.
00:27:55And, you know, I mean, Bill and I speak once in a while, just like me and you, Randy.
00:28:00And, you know, although I asked Bill, honestly, what he thought, you know, he was rooting for
00:28:06me, but he thought there's a low percent chance that I can make a difference.
00:28:10And he said it was nothing against me.
00:28:11It's just the way the industry is, you know, is formed and shaped.
00:28:15But I think we're making a lot more progress than people think.
00:28:20First of all, there's more talk over the last 10 months than there's ever been.
00:28:25You know, many people agree with what I'm saying.
00:28:30The only negative feedback I get is they don't like the style.
00:28:34And you know what?
00:28:37Other styles haven't worked for 40 years.
00:28:40If you can show me a style that works where you just come in and you hold hands and you
00:28:45sing Kumbaya and I'll do it.
00:28:48That was my first option.
00:28:50But this is a game where 90 percent of the people want changes, but not the 10 percent
00:28:55that they do.
00:28:56Please, let's start with the other 90 percent.
00:28:58And it's become pretty selfish.
00:29:01And I have to look myself in the mirror.
00:29:05You know, if I want to be in this game three years, five years, 10 years, 25 years from
00:29:10now, I have to feel good about the sport that I'm in.
00:29:13And right now, I don't feel good about things like horse aftercare.
00:29:19I don't feel good about two year old sales.
00:29:21I don't feel good about how the sport is undermined by people inside our industry.
00:29:28I don't feel good about the committees that are making the calls.
00:29:32And I don't feel good about the selfishness.
00:29:35So listen, as much as I love winning races, I've been in the game for 20 years.
00:29:42To me, it's more important over the next five years that I have a lead role in helping change
00:29:50the game for the better, for not the next five months, but the next five to 25 years.
00:29:56And I really believe that's my I'd rather do that than win a third drivers.
00:30:00And the first initiative that Pat and I are taking on, which you would have thought was
00:30:06a simple one to conquer was horse aftercare.
00:30:08Oh, come on, everyone loves aftercare.
00:30:11Of course, when I dig in and see that the TAA, it's been around for 10 years,
00:30:16only raises 3.5 million a year.
00:30:19And that most of these agencies and horse rescue and aftercare facilities
00:30:25have to beg and plead, you know, for money.
00:30:28Like, like, like, you know, and all these millions are being traded back and forth at the sales
00:30:34races, $10 million race, $6 million race, $20 million race Dubai.
00:30:39And we can't, the day that horse is born, you know, doesn't matter if it changes hands
00:30:45once or 20 times in its career.
00:30:48We have to know that that horse is taken care of for the next 25 years of its life.
00:30:52And until somebody puts a system and process in place, and honestly, the things that I'm
00:30:58asking for Bill and Randy are really about little breakage, you know, 0.0025%.
00:31:05If you buy or sell a horse at an auction, which would raise $9 million.
00:31:12Okay.
00:31:13So if you buy a horse for a hundred thousand, you pay $250.
00:31:17If you sell a horse for a hundred thousand, you pay $250.
00:31:22And then the sales center chips in 0.001, which is a hundred dollars.
00:31:27So you're talking about 600,000 on every hundred thousand transaction on a million
00:31:33dollar transaction.
00:31:35It's $6,000.
00:31:37And I still haven't had FASIC sign on.
00:31:40I still don't have Keeneland sign on, and I still don't have OBS.
00:31:44I'm not saying that Boyd and Shannon are not going to do this because I'm initiating this
00:31:48on January 1st.
00:31:49You know, I'm going to say this, and this is where people don't like me at times with
00:31:53or without them.
00:31:54I'm going to, this is going to happen.
00:31:55You know, the stallion farms, you know, Uncle Mo gets spread 200 times.
00:32:01We have to donate one breeding of Uncle Mo a year for over a hundred breedings.
00:32:05So that's $150,000.
00:32:07Justify $300,000.
00:32:08Into Mischief $250,000.
00:32:10You know, stallion farm, that would come out to another $4 million.
00:32:15That's $10 million.
00:32:17Justin's stallion fees, one out of 200.
00:32:20Randy, let's do the math.
00:32:21200 times $150,000, that's $30 million.
00:32:25I don't, I think, I think $150,000 is okay.
00:32:28Right?
00:32:29You know, so we can't do this anymore and that nobody, and this is where I've been brutally
00:32:35tough and deserving on the Jockey Club.
00:32:38You're here to make the game better and move it forward.
00:32:42These are simple initiatives.
00:32:43If we can't do it after care, you know what, then this game has no chance.
00:32:48And you know what, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's unfortunate, but I feel like I have to
00:32:55almost force change.
00:32:56And I hope that doesn't sound arrogant or cocky, but, but listen, if we care about this
00:33:02game five to 25 years from now, someone's going to have to be the bad guy or the disruptor.
00:33:08And you know what, if, if someone has to be the asshole, sign me up.
00:33:13I'm actually pretty good at it.
00:33:15I can actually play very well and I'll enjoy doing it, you know, so that's it.
00:33:20And I feel that's my, that's my focus right now for 18 to 40 year old.
00:33:25I'm 55.
00:33:26I fell in love with this game when I was 13, 14 years old, you know, like, is it going
00:33:31to be around for the 15 year old?
00:33:32Is it going to be around for the 25 year old, the 35 year old?
00:33:35I got a lot of concerns.
00:33:36So that's what I'm doing right now.
00:33:39Well, Mike, we wish you well with that because it's a very important project.
00:33:41I actually want to go back to one more fierceness question before I turn it back over to Randy.
00:33:46But this goes back into some of the things you've said about the sport and what's good
00:33:50for the game.
00:33:51Are you going to any chance you're going to buck the trend and run them as a four year
00:33:54old?
00:33:55I would love to run him as a four year old.
00:33:57Love, love.
00:33:59So we all know it's about, let's see what he does in the Breeders' Cup.
00:34:03Let's see what he does in the Pegasus.
00:34:05But I can tell you right now that if he performs the way I think he's going to perform in the
00:34:10Breeders' Cup and things go well, you just heard what happened with Menti and, and things
00:34:15do happen.
00:34:16Um, I would love to bring him back at four.
00:34:19I mean, I've never been afraid, you know, I mean, you know, I mean, Forte had some
00:34:25issues.
00:34:25I mean, you know, he was a derby scratch after the Travis.
00:34:29We had a, you know, there were reasons for that, you know, but, you know, I mean, Forte
00:34:35had a full two year old season and basically a full three year old season.
00:34:38Um, and he was champion two year old, um, fierceness has done the same thing.
00:34:43His break was a little bit different.
00:34:44It was more about loss of weight.
00:34:46He just needed to grow up a little bit mature.
00:34:49Uh, I tried to bring Ness back instead of breeding her in January.
00:34:54I didn't breed her.
00:34:54I didn't breed until May because I tried to bring her back.
00:34:58Like, like I bought bright future back at five, you know, he won the jockey gold cup
00:35:02grade one.
00:35:03You know, I, I'm trying like if all, you know, in a game where obviously, you know, and Bill
00:35:09and Randy, you know, this, if, if these horses aren't 100% sound, you know, a, no, one's
00:35:16going to take a chance and run them and they shouldn't or high school or the vets are going
00:35:19to stop running them, which we totally understand.
00:35:22But that's also a reason why you have to think about, Hey, you know what?
00:35:28We, we, we can't race this horse.
00:35:30He, he needs 60 days off, 60 days to Gallop, 60 days to train.
00:35:34And all of a sudden it's six months, you know?
00:35:36So those are the things that we have to watch.
00:35:39And, you know, I want to grow the game.
00:35:41I want to grow the sport.
00:35:42The other thing is let's start thinking of a program where the older horse division races
00:35:49are, you know, let's make the Whitney $3 million.
00:35:52Let's make, let's make the, the, the, the classic, let's make that $10 million.
00:35:56Let's make the other, let's make the Pegasus $5 million.
00:36:00Let's make these older horse divisions, bigger purses, because it will give us an incentive
00:36:07to come back and run.
00:36:08The, the, the other thing is very important is that, um, is the, the, the insurance to
00:36:20keep a horse running that's worth 10, 20, or $30 million is three to 4%.
00:36:26If you guys want to do 4% of 20 million, you can, you know, it's a million bucks.
00:36:31I mean, it's, it's, it's a lot of money.
00:36:33And then all of a sudden you're running for purses or 500,000, like it doesn't make sense.
00:36:38So just the insurance and the other side is you saw what happened to Saratoga the last
00:36:44two years, you know, to have a horse like this, this is your child out there running,
00:36:49you know, you have your, your, your heart and your mouth and you're like, so nervous
00:36:53and you just want to see him get by the wire.
00:36:55Like there's this, there's that aspect of it.
00:36:58Like every time you put them out there, you never know.
00:37:01And that's scary.
00:37:02So there's a lot of emotions, you know, there's not just that financial emotion, you know,
00:37:07there's that emotional component, that worry part, that anxiety, that stress that a lot
00:37:12of people don't see.
00:37:14Um, so I want, when I try to fix this game, it's got to make mental sense, emotional sense,
00:37:20physical strength, and financial sense.
00:37:23Like someone has to sit there and say, make these four year olds and five year olds want
00:37:27to come back to the track, make it where it makes sense.
00:37:31Well, we want to thank Mike Rapoli so much for joining us here as a green group guest
00:37:35of the week on the Thoroughbred Daily News Writer's Room podcast.
00:37:38Congratulations, Mark, on a brilliant win by fierceness.
00:37:41And what is absolutely the race of the year so far?
00:37:44Well done.
00:37:44And we'll see fierceness in the Breeders Club.
00:37:47Thank you guys.
00:37:48As a green group guest of the week, Mike Rapoli will receive a free one hour tax consultation
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00:39:59Well, it just wasn't the Travers on Saturday at Saratoga.
00:40:02There were four other grade one races on a spectacular card.
00:40:05Why don't we go through them briefly?
00:40:07The Sword Dancer was the first of the four and my head wanted to explode,
00:40:12but I should be used to this at this point.
00:40:15Farbridge, if I told you beforehand that Farbridge was going to win this race wire to wire,
00:40:21you would have called for the men in the white coats.
00:40:27That's impossible.
00:40:28Horse had never been anywhere near the lead in any time in his life.
00:40:32The two Charlie Appleby horses were the only two horses that had any early speed in the race.
00:40:37It was just a matter of what William Buick and Flavian Pratt were going to do,
00:40:41who was going to try to get the lead over the other one.
00:40:43They both fell asleep.
00:40:45The fractions 24 and 4, 50 and 4, 1, 17 and 1, a brilliant ride by Rosario, got the job done.
00:40:54You see this so many times in New York and they just can't figure it out.
00:40:59You're talking about William Buick and Flavian Pratt,
00:41:01you're probably talking about two of maybe the five best jockeys in the world.
00:41:05And they both get an F for me for their ride in the Sword Dancer.
00:41:10Me too, me too.
00:41:12I cannot figure it out.
00:41:14A couple of horses that are very capable and did run three quarters of a mile,
00:41:21the first three quarters of a mile in their recent races in 1, 11 and change.
00:41:26And now they're sitting off the pace in 1, 17 and 1,
00:41:30and allowing Farbridge just to literally lope along and expend zero energy.
00:41:37The only thing I can figure out, Bill, is just overconfidence on the part of both riders.
00:41:43Those two horses look like they were absolute standouts.
00:41:47Farbridge hadn't been able to run at that level against those types of horses before.
00:41:53And I think they felt like it was going to be a match race between those two.
00:41:57And Silver Knot would be closer, Measure Time would be right behind him.
00:42:01When they turn for home, the race would be on.
00:42:03We'll see who's the best.
00:42:05And I think for lack of a better term, I think they got a little cocky.
00:42:10Yeah, that's one way of putting it for sure.
00:42:13Another factor in the race, only five horses in the Sword Dancer.
00:42:17750,000 grade one race.
00:42:19And Zoe has talked about this.
00:42:21I think she talked about this some last week.
00:42:23We're really starting to see now how much Kentucky Downs is affecting
00:42:28other races that surround it.
00:42:31As much as $750,000 is a lot of money,
00:42:34that would be for what they run Maiden Claimers for, it would seem at Kentucky Downs.
00:42:39They have a $2 million race going a mile and a half for the exact same horses.
00:42:44I'm sure they'll get 14 horses in there.
00:42:46If that race didn't exist,
00:42:47I think the Sword Dancer probably would have had eight or nine horses instead of five.
00:42:53No one to point the finger or blame at.
00:42:55Kentucky Downs is doing a great job.
00:42:57They got the money, they're going to spend it.
00:42:58But when even the New York Racing Association can't compete with Kentucky Downs for horses,
00:43:05that tells you...
00:43:06New York Racing Association in Saratoga cannot compete for horses.
00:43:10That tells you the strength of the program
00:43:13at Kentucky Downs and what's going on there now.
00:43:15Totally agree.
00:43:16Totally agree.
00:43:17And one more quick note on the Sword Dancer.
00:43:19Let's give a little credit to Farbridge.
00:43:21He's a nice horse, right?
00:43:23Yeah, he was beaten two and a quarter lengths by measured time in the Manhattan from off the pace.
00:43:28So if you give him that kind of a pace advantage,
00:43:30he's a nice enough horse to be able to capitalize on it.
00:43:35And he did.
00:43:36So he's a horse that you and I would love dearly to own.
00:43:42Congratulations to Farbridge.
00:43:43A deserving winner, given the way the race was run.
00:43:45Yeah, I totally agree with you on that.
00:43:47All right.
00:43:47The ballerina for older fillies and they are sprinting.
00:43:51Society had been a little bit like fierceness.
00:43:55Very erratic horse.
00:43:57Sometimes she shows up and just runs a terrific race.
00:44:01Sometimes she shows up and barely runs at all.
00:44:03She hadn't won a grade one since the 2022 cotillion at Parks.
00:44:08And that was some fabulous effort.
00:44:10Randy, she got a figure off the charts for that race, didn't she?
00:44:13Do you remember off the top of your head?
00:44:14Yeah, I was like, oh, boy, she has, you know, society has run going into the ballerina had run
00:44:21four triple digit buyer speed figures.
00:44:24Okay.
00:44:25But they were all against.
00:44:28Yes, the cotillion was a grade one.
00:44:30But you look at who she beat and it wasn't, you know, your normal grade one lineup.
00:44:35So it's very easy to say that society was one of these types of mares that beats up
00:44:40on inferior competition.
00:44:42And then when she gets in the Breeders' Cup, Philly Mare Sprint or the La Troian or the
00:44:46Madison or the Breeders' Cup Distaff or, you know, a long list of grade one type races in
00:44:52which she's failed in, she just can't cut it.
00:44:55This was a triumph of speed figures over class handicapping.
00:45:00Because I thought that society respected her, but I didn't think she could beat Baba.
00:45:06I didn't think she was good enough to be Baba.
00:45:08And she ran back to those triple digit buyers with a 102 in the ballerina.
00:45:15And she did it against top level competition.
00:45:18Another grade one stakes race Saturday at Saratoga was the Forgo.
00:45:22Really didn't come up a very tough race, especially for a grade one.
00:45:25It was won by Mulliken.
00:45:27Is it Mulliken?
00:45:27Maybe that's how you pronounce it.
00:45:29He's been very good this year.
00:45:30Four straight wins in a division that really doesn't have a clear leader, especially with
00:45:34the Chosen Vron getting beat out in California over the weekend.
00:45:38You know, maybe he is going to be the one to step up.
00:45:41And it was a milestone, Randy, for the trainer too, right?
00:45:44Yeah.
00:45:45Rudy Brissett is very first grade one win.
00:45:48So congratulations to Rudy.
00:45:49And this horse, obviously Mulliken is on the short list of leading contenders for the Breeders' Cup
00:45:55Sprint.
00:45:55But if there's one thing we've learned over the decades in the Breeders' Cup, it's that a lot
00:46:01of times you have to take the results of grade one, seven furlong stakes races in New York
00:46:11a little bit less seriously when you go to California.
00:46:15And now you're competing against Southern California, six furlong speed.
00:46:20That's been the undoing of a lot of top New York horses going out there and having to
00:46:25butt heads with speedsters like that.
00:46:27So that's the one caution that I would give about Mulliken and his
00:46:34very impressive win streak right now.
00:46:36Another race that lived up to the hype was the H.
00:46:38Allen Jerkins Memorial for three-year-old sprinters.
00:46:41A very good race.
00:46:42Comes down to the wire.
00:46:44Domestic product wins over Prince of Monaco.
00:46:46My guy, Bocadano, ran a terrific race to finish third.
00:46:49Wish he could have won, but he certainly didn't lose anything in defeat.
00:46:55You know what's interesting?
00:46:58Being able to watch Chad Brown after the race, I have never seen him so happy after winning a race,
00:47:04even like winning the Preakness or Breeders' Cup race.
00:47:07There was something, I guess, that he took a lot of pride in this horse,
00:47:11probably because he won domestic products sire, practical joke, also won the race in 2017.
00:47:18And then domestic product comes out and tries to make him into a derby horse,
00:47:22runs in the Tampa Bay Derby, does no good in the Kentucky Derby.
00:47:25Now that they found out what he wants to do, he wants to sprint.
00:47:28And even though he's a three-year-old, that shouldn't keep him back from
00:47:31having a good run in the Breeders' Cup sprint.
00:47:33And if people didn't see it, go back and watch Flavie and Pratt's reaction
00:47:37when he crossed the finish line.
00:47:38You thought he just swept the Triple Crown because he was vindicated.
00:47:43I mean, he had his choice, I think, of four different horses in this race,
00:47:47including Prince of Monaco, the runner-up who he had been riding.
00:47:51And he chose domestic product, who was nine to two.
00:47:54He wasn't even the favorite.
00:47:55And domestic product gets up to win.
00:47:58Everything we said about the Travers to a lesser extent,
00:48:02but very similarly would apply to the Allen Jerkins.
00:48:07Three-year-old race, big number.
00:48:09Domestic product gets a career-best 106 buyer.
00:48:13Prince of Monaco runs the best race of his career,
00:48:16gets off to a better start this time and just loses by a neck.
00:48:19And Book of Dano runs the race of his life, just like Sierra Leone,
00:48:24and finishes third.
00:48:25What a race the Allen Jerkins turned out to be as well.
00:48:29The big race in California, as I mentioned earlier, was the Pat O'Brien.
00:48:32And it was a neat race on paper.
00:48:34Warner-Randy's favorite horse, the Senior Buscador, was coming back.
00:48:37And this horse that everybody loves, the Chosen Brawn, was the favorite.
00:48:41Senior Buscador, the trainer, Todd Fincher, made it clear before the race
00:48:44that this was his stepping stone to get the horse ready for the California Classic.
00:48:48The old Awesome Again stakes, and then for the Breeders' Cup Classic.
00:48:52But the Chosen Brawn, his sixth race winning streak,
00:48:55was snapped by a three-year-old raging torrent.
00:48:59No excuses for Chosen Brawn.
00:49:00He actually got in front of this horse at the top of the stretch.
00:49:03And the Doug O'Neill horse dug back in.
00:49:06So here's another horse throwing the mix in a very wide-open sprint division.
00:49:10But I was kind of sad to see Chosen Brawn get beat.
00:49:17He's such a cool horse.
00:49:18But he'll bounce back.
00:49:19And I'm sure he will account well for himself in the Breeders' Cup.
00:49:22Yeah.
00:49:23And they can hold their head up high.
00:49:24Because in defeat, he still ran one hell of a race.
00:49:28In the aftermath of that amazing three-horse photo finish in the Kentucky Derby,
00:49:35a lot of people weren't paying attention to, I believe, it was the very next race.
00:49:40If it wasn't, it was two races later, when Raging Torrent won an allowance race,
00:49:46a seven-furlong allowance race at Churchill Downs by eight lengths with a buyer figure of 104.
00:49:52And one of the horses he beat in their finishing third was Jefferson Street,
00:49:56who came back to run really well.
00:49:58Then he comes back in his next start at Churchill.
00:50:00He beats a horse named World Record,
00:50:02who came back later and won a stakes race at Saratoga.
00:50:05So Raging Torrent had a lot of ones by recent ones by his name and a lot of big numbers.
00:50:12And he lived up to his speed figures with another 104 in the pedal brand.
00:50:17The TD and Rider's Room brought to you by our friends at the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders
00:50:21Association, the PHBA.
00:50:23We've been talking about it for a while.
00:50:25This past Monday was the annual PA Bread Day at the races,
00:50:30a full day of racing for Pennsylvania breads with total purses worth $1 million.
00:50:36The day showcased four $100,000 stakes races for
00:50:40PA Bread horses, along with an elite undercard of other PA breads.
00:50:45And speaking of a million dollars, Morning Matcha became racing's newest millionaire
00:50:49when she won the $100,000 Mrs. Penny stakes.
00:50:53Congratulations to all the winners at Pennsylvania's day at the races.
00:50:58And earlier this week, PA Bread Lake Frost won the Shine Again stakes at Timonium to bring
00:51:03her earnings to just under $350,000.
00:51:08We'll be right back after this message from the PHBA.
00:51:12The PA Horse Breeders Association presents the new and improved Pennsylvania Stallion
00:51:18Series.
00:51:19Six $100,000 stakes for PA-sired PA breads and barks.
00:51:23Two six-furlong contests on PA Derby Day.
00:51:27The two-year-olds then go seven furlongs on December 30th.
00:51:30The last two races are in August 2025 for three-year-olds.
00:51:34Then 50,000 in breeder bonuses go to the top three horses in the series.
00:51:38For more, go to pabread.com.
00:51:42With some of the fullest fields in the country and quality racing year-round,
00:51:48there's never been a better time to reap the rewards of breeding and racing in Kentucky.
00:51:54Purse money in Kentucky is at an all-time high, as is average purse per race,
00:51:59outpacing California, Florida, and New York.
00:52:03Kentucky breads.
00:52:04Breed them.
00:52:05Raise them.
00:52:07Race them.
00:52:08We all win.
00:52:13The TD at Riders' Room is brought to you by Kentucky breads.
00:52:16And boy, there's a lot to choose from there.
00:52:19How about this one?
00:52:20City of Troy.
00:52:22Yes, he is a Kentucky bread.
00:52:23That shouldn't shock anybody.
00:52:25And he just won emphatically in York's Judd Mott International this past week,
00:52:30going wire to wire.
00:52:32You don't see that all that often in those major European stakes races.
00:52:36That's a win-in-your-in race also for the Breeders' Cup Classic.
00:52:40And in that race, City of Troy established a course record.
00:52:43Also last week, the Kentucky breads continued their success at Saratoga,
00:52:48when all six great-won races last weekend at Saratoga were won by Kentucky breads,
00:52:54including, of course, the Travers Stakes.
00:52:57You can find your next Kentucky bread star at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale,
00:53:01running September 9th through the 21st.
00:53:05Breed them.
00:53:05Raise them.
00:53:06Race them.
00:53:07We all win.
00:53:09Well, let's talk about what's going on this weekend.
00:53:11And it's going to be a very interesting week of racing.
00:53:13Matter of fact, now, we always have to say this.
00:53:16The Saratoga entries are already out.
00:53:17So are the Kentucky Downs entries are out.
00:53:19But the entries for the Pacific Classic are not out yet.
00:53:22And I'm sorry, the Jockey Club Gold Cup will be run Sunday at Saratoga.
00:53:26Those entries aren't out yet either.
00:53:28So it's a little bit of a guessing game, which we always feel uncomfortable with it.
00:53:31But I think the TDN tomorrow is going to have a story that a lot of people are going to be
00:53:35glad to read.
00:53:36Bob Baffert is going to run, probably, probably going to run Adair Manor in the Pacific Classic.
00:53:42And boy, does that spice that race up.
00:53:44Otherwise, on paper, it didn't look like much of a race.
00:53:47The same with the Jockey Club Gold Cup.
00:53:49It shows you how weak the older male division is.
00:53:51That Adair Manor will be a solid favorite in the Pacific Classic if she indeed goes.
00:53:57And yeah, I guess somebody was joking with him.
00:53:59He thinks he's turning into Kenny McPeak now, Bob Baffert.
00:54:03But it's a great move on his part because she's going to be six to five for a million bucks.
00:54:08Why not?
00:54:10And the prestige factor, the purse factor, et cetera, and also the sportsmanship factor.
00:54:17I really hope that he follows through on that.
00:54:20Otherwise, you have a couple of horses in there that really aren't anything all that special.
00:54:25Full Serrano is coming in.
00:54:27It's an Argentinian bred horse.
00:54:29John Sadler has.
00:54:30And the one-two finishers from the San Diego, Dr. Venkman and Katona are supposed to be in the race.
00:54:36Baffert, apparently, is going to run Reincarnate as well.
00:54:39But all eyes will be on Adair Manor if she runs, Randy.
00:54:43Yeah, I think, look, on paper, I think she deserves to be the favorite.
00:54:47Numbers-wise, she's the only horse in the race that's run a triple-digit buyer.
00:54:53And she's done it twice.
00:54:55Now, there's quite a few horses in there that are very consistent.
00:54:5899s like Dr. Venkman, like Il Miracolo, 98s, whatever.
00:55:04But she looks like, on paper, that as long as the pace doesn't do her in,
00:55:11then I think she's probably the horse to beat.
00:55:13Adair Manor has always seemingly run her best races when she's been able to control
00:55:19the early pace.
00:55:20And there is other speed in here.
00:55:22You just pointed out Full Serrano, who comes off of a one-mile race at Del Mar,
00:55:27in which he went fractions of 21-2 and 44-4 and held on to win wire-to-wire.
00:55:34So the thought that Adair Manor is going to be able to control the pace
00:55:39is probably not going to happen.
00:55:41To her credit, though, in her last start,
00:55:43she showed a little bit of a different approach in the Clement Hirsch.
00:55:48She set a little off the pace.
00:55:49She was outside on both turns.
00:55:51And she was able, for the first time, to really fire big when she didn't control the pace.
00:55:57So maybe that's the same scenario she'll get on Sunday.
00:56:00The Kentucky Downs phenomenon.
00:56:02We're ready for another round of that.
00:56:04Thursday's entries are out.
00:56:05148 horses entered in 11 races.
00:56:08Saturday, 165 horses entered in 11 races.
00:56:13You've heard the numbers before, but they're worth repeating.
00:56:15$37 million will be given away if that were to be.
00:56:20It gets complicated because the non-Kentucky breads run for less money.
00:56:24But let's just pretend that everybody's a Kentucky bread,
00:56:26because 95% of them will be.
00:56:28$37 million.
00:56:3015 stakes races at the meet are worth $1 million or more.
00:56:35And then the Nashville Derby is coming up this Saturday at a mile and five sixteenths.
00:56:40They upped the purse of this thing to $3.1 million.
00:56:44And I'm thinking that .1 is not a coincidence,
00:56:49because that surpasses the Pegasus World Cup.
00:56:53And it makes it the richest race run in America,
00:56:56other than Breeders' Cup or Triple Crown races.
00:56:58So it is the buy 100,000 more.
00:57:01I mean, who comes up with a $3.1 million race?
00:57:04Why wouldn't it just be $3 million?
00:57:05So I think that's a little bit for bragging rights.
00:57:07But I mean, this place, I don't know how they do it.
00:57:11We talked to Ted Nicholson, because every year you think,
00:57:14well, what are they giving away?
00:57:16$37 million.
00:57:17How can they top that?
00:57:18And they're giving away $2 million in this race and $2 million in that race.
00:57:21And every single year, they seem to get bigger and better.
00:57:24And it's one of the great success stories in American racing.
00:57:27I love it as a handicapper.
00:57:28I love it as a gambler.
00:57:29And I love it as a racing fan.
00:57:31The racing is just terrific.
00:57:33And we've talked about how it's a European-style course.
00:57:36It's a unicorn, really, as far as the United States racing is concerned.
00:57:40And it's drawing the attention of Europeans.
00:57:43I mean, the Nashville Derby has got a horse trained by Joseph O'Brien,
00:57:47a horse called Stromberg.
00:57:48It's got a horse trained by Andrew Balding,
00:57:50who has shipped a horse over from the UK as well.
00:57:54So how about this for a pick three?
00:57:58You've got the Nashville Derby at $3.1 million.
00:58:02Very next race, you've got the Ladies Turf Sprint, six and a half furlongs, only $1.5 million.
00:58:09And then you have the Kentucky Downs Ladies Turf Stakes, also $1.5 million.
00:58:15A pick three, $6.1 million in total purses.
00:58:20It's crazy money.
00:58:22Crazy money.
00:58:23Absolutely.
00:58:24This weekend is closing weekend at Saratoga.
00:58:27The Spinaway will be the feature on Saturday.
00:58:29The main race over the weekend will be Sunday's Jockey Club Gold Cup.
00:58:33And again, this speaks to the lack of talent in this division,
00:58:38because everybody and their brother retired last year as three-year-olds.
00:58:42But Arthur's ride, I would think, would definitely be the horse to beat.
00:58:45Not only did he win the Whitney, but we were told on the podcast by the owner that
00:58:50Bill Mott had said he was using the Whitney as a prep for the Jockey Club Gold Cup.
00:58:54Who uses a grade one race as a prep?
00:58:57But that's why Bill Mott's in the Hall of Fame.
00:58:59He got the job done in there.
00:59:00And I would assume that Arthur's ride would be one of the main contenders in there.
00:59:04Another horse that is interesting to me is Tappet Trice, a horse who never quite lived
00:59:09up to his potential.
00:59:11But he's coming in off a good effort last time out, trained by Todd Pletcher.
00:59:15And he might show up and do something in there.
00:59:18And Mike Rapoli has bright future, the winner of last year's Jockey Club Gold Cup,
00:59:23coming back in there.
00:59:23So it's a New Yorker who's been following East Coast New York racing since, like you,
00:59:31Randy, since I was seven, eight years old, just like you did.
00:59:35It's sad to me to see races like the Jockey Club Gold Cup really fall on hard times.
00:59:40And Naira's not doing anything wrong.
00:59:43They're doing the best they can.
00:59:44They moved the race to Saratoga for that very reason.
00:59:47They thought they'd get a better race.
00:59:50And if they still ran it at the Belmont or Belmont-Adaqua meet a little bit later.
00:59:53But Arthur's ride's a cool horse, and he's awful good.
00:59:56So let's see what he does.
00:59:57Yeah.
00:59:58I mean, in my weekly voting for the, you probably do too, for the Breeders' Cup Classic poll,
01:00:05I've got fierceness number one, Arthur's ride number two.
01:00:07And I think I have Tappet Trice number 10.
01:00:10So yeah, I'll be very interested in the outcome of the Jockey Club Gold Cup and see if Arthur's
01:00:14ride can keep it going, because he looked awfully good in the Whitney.
01:00:19Yeah, he sure did.
01:00:20Maybe you'll need to put Adair Manor in that top 10 next week.
01:00:23How about that?
01:00:26I think it's going to be a one and done for Bob, even if she wins the Pacific Classic.
01:00:31I think he'll probably wind up running her in the Distaff at Del Mar.
01:00:35That's just my opinion.
01:00:37I'm going off track here, but I just thought of this.
01:00:40Adair Manor versus Torpedo Anna in the Distaff?
01:00:43How about that?
01:00:44How about that?
01:00:44Wow.
01:00:45That's a wow moment.
01:00:48And I think Torpedo Anna would probably beat her.
01:00:51But we'll see if that comes to fruition on the racetrack.
01:00:55It's time for the XBTV Work of the Week.
01:00:58And this week, that work is from Ways and Means.
01:01:01Ways and Means was the winner of the Grade 1 Test Stakes August 3rd at Saratoga.
01:01:05This was her second work back after that effort.
01:01:07She worked a half mile on 48.88 over the Oklahoma training track at Saratoga.
01:01:12Chad Brown says he has not yet, as yet, selected a race for her.
01:01:16We'll be right back after this message from XBTV.
01:01:46With XBTV.
01:01:52All the thrills.
01:01:56Fraction of the bills.
01:02:00Experience the power of the partnership.
01:02:06Change your life, make new friends, and compete at the highest level of thoroughbred racing.
01:02:11West Point Thoroughbreds, the gold standard in racing partnerships.
01:02:16Visit westpointtv.com.
01:02:19The TDN Writer's Room is brought to you by our friends at West Point Thoroughbreds.
01:02:23West Point Thoroughbreds has a prominent trio for the opening Saturday car to Kentucky Downs
01:02:27this weekend with Carson's Run and Cogino, both in line for the $3.1 million Nashville Derby,
01:02:33and don't look back at all bidding for her fourth straight win in the Grade 2 Ladies Turf.
01:02:38West Point wraps up the Saratoga meet with the process, making his stakes debut in Friday's
01:02:42Grade 3 Saranac, while Parnack will defend her title in the Grade 2 Flower Bowl Stakes on
01:02:47Saturday. To learn more, visit westpointthoroughbreds at westpointtv.com.
01:02:54All right, so that's a wrap on this week's show. I want to thank Randy Moss.
01:02:57Zoe, we'll miss you. Come back next week, okay? I also want to thank Mike Rapuglia,
01:03:02our Green Group Guest of the Week, and our producers Katie Petruniak, Anthony LaRocca,
01:03:06and Aliyah LaRocca. Thanks for joining us on the TDN Writers Room Podcast. We'll see you next week.