• 2 days ago
Transcript
00:00:00For the love of the horse, for generations to come.
00:00:28Welcome to the TD and Riders Room, as always, brought to you by our good friends at Keeneland,
00:00:32racing as it was meant to be.
00:00:35I'm Randy Moss, probably best known, where is she?
00:00:38Lucy's back there somewhere, is the owner of Lucy.
00:00:40She probably thinks she owns me more than I own her.
00:00:44Zoe Cadman, TD Thornton.
00:00:46Zoe, it's like, where's Waldo with you every week?
00:00:48You know, where in the world is Zoe this week?
00:00:52And you've already had some adventures today.
00:00:55Tell us about what's going on with you.
00:00:56Yeah, I am actually down, oh look, there's the water.
00:00:59I am down on Crystal River.
00:01:01I came in for the O'Callaghan sail.
00:01:03The breeze show starts tomorrow.
00:01:06And we decided that we would go kayaking on the Crystal River and try and find some manatees
00:01:11this morning, which we did not succeed.
00:01:13I think I was on the world's smallest kayak and almost tipped over a couple of times.
00:01:19So we're going to stick around and see if we can find any manatees.
00:01:22Fast horses and manatees.
00:01:25Okay.
00:01:26And TD, you're getting ready to embark on a nice trip that makes Zoe and I jealous.
00:01:30Tell us about that.
00:01:31Well, right now I'm speaking to you from Boston and I'm looking out the window here.
00:01:35I see no manatees up this far north, but I'm going to be heading down to Puerto Rico next
00:01:40week for my maiden voyage to Camarero, almost said Cayamana, it's the track in Jamaica,
00:01:47to Camarero, the former El Comandante, so I'll be able to cross another racetrack off
00:01:52of my visit list.
00:01:53How about that?
00:01:54Very cool.
00:01:55Well, this past week I was in, well, I was actually in the studios in New York City where
00:02:00we were doing the Fountain of Youth and the San Felipe and the First Racing First Week
00:02:06in March series.
00:02:08Started off, we were really, really excited about the Fountain of Youth because we had
00:02:13LOCKED and we had SPEAKEASY and of course DORNOC and Victory Avenue, and we were going
00:02:18to see NYSOS in the middle of the week.
00:02:20We were excited about that in the San Felipe, and we were going to see Just FYI make her
00:02:25first start in the Devonadale as a three-year-old.
00:02:29Then one by one, horses began to drop out for various reasons.
00:02:33So when we did the Fountain of Youth, it winds up being DORNOC at odds of one to five and
00:02:37guys, he won.
00:02:41He didn't blow people away visually or by the numbers or anything like that.
00:02:45So how do you guys judge DORNOC's win in his first start as a three-year-old?
00:02:52Well, we're going to have Danny Gargan on the show in a bit, and he'll be able to explain
00:02:56a little bit more in detail about what happened.
00:02:58But the complexion of the Fountain of Youth really changed.
00:03:02We had three earlier scratches from the race, and then as the horses were warming up on
00:03:07the track, SPEAKEASY, who was vying for favoritism in the race, he was just a notch below DORNOC's
00:03:14favoritism in the bedding.
00:03:16He got loose, unseated his jockey, ran into the rail, suffered some cuts that needed some
00:03:21stitches.
00:03:22Obviously, he had to be scratched.
00:03:24That just totally changed the pace complexion of the race, and Danny Gargan had wanted to
00:03:29give DORNOC a little bit of a schooling, have horses outside of him, have him stalk, and
00:03:34he thinks he runs better with horses when he can see and engage with horses to his immediate
00:03:39flank.
00:03:41The whole pace perspective had to change because of that, and he ended up sending DORNOC to
00:03:45the lead.
00:03:46He didn't have to run all that hard to win, but I guess the flip side of that is it didn't
00:03:53really take much out of him.
00:03:54Yeah, and that's exactly what you saw.
00:03:57Louie Sires, in no way, shape, or form, wanted the lead.
00:04:00In fact, nobody wanted the lead.
00:04:01When they broke, Louie sat back on him and was just waiting for someone else to go, and
00:04:07they didn't, and he was way out there.
00:04:10He just made the lead like he does, and he's just a giant baby Huey.
00:04:15He doesn't really know.
00:04:16He's unfocused.
00:04:17He doesn't know what he's doing.
00:04:18Looks like he's got a very small head, or he needs a smaller pair of blinkers because
00:04:23those blinkers were almost over his eyes in the running of the race.
00:04:26Hey, he did what he needed to do.
00:04:29Did that look like a derby-like performance?
00:04:31No.
00:04:33Did the Remsen look like a derby-like performance?
00:04:35No.
00:04:36When you watch him work in the morning, when he's beside another horse, when he's focused,
00:04:42and he works like a good horse.
00:04:43He works like a really good horse.
00:04:45This is a horse who hasn't put it all together.
00:04:48Will he put it all together in time for the derby?
00:04:50I don't know, but there is a lot more to him than meets the eye, so I wasn't overly disappointed.
00:04:56I wasn't looking for a stunning effort.
00:04:59We'll get to deterministic in just a little bit because he blew me away, but Donald, yeah,
00:05:05he's in.
00:05:06He's on, and I'm rooting for Danny.
00:05:09I really am.
00:05:11So I agree with everything both of you guys said.
00:05:14Is it fair to say right now that with Dorn, it's more about potential than performance
00:05:19currently?
00:05:20Absolutely.
00:05:21It's more about potential, and we'll see what happens with Speakeasy coming back because
00:05:25I know when they announced the scratch and I was watching your show, Randy, no one really
00:05:29knew what was going on, but when they showed Speakeasy at the end of the shoot there at
00:05:33Gold Stream Park, my eyes were just drawn to the rail that was down, and I'm like, man,
00:05:38he must have hit that rail because that rail is usually up.
00:05:42So while he looked fine at the end of the shoot and I was watching the NBC feed because
00:05:47we weren't racing at Santa Anita, so I got to watch your pretty face all afternoon, Randy,
00:05:53and I'm like, he must have hit that rail because the rail was down, and that's obviously what
00:05:57happened.
00:05:59So I'm looking forward to seeing Speakeasy because I did like him in that race.
00:06:03But hey, Dorn got the win, he got a little bit of experience, he just needs to focus.
00:06:11And I think the potential more than performance angle applies to a lot of sophomores this
00:06:15year.
00:06:16We know that most of them within the top 12 or so are only going to be pointed on a two
00:06:22prep path to the Derby, two starts at age three.
00:06:27That's an angle that was pretty successful between about 2008 and 2016 in producing Derby
00:06:32winners.
00:06:33But you know what?
00:06:34Since 2017, those horses collectively with only two starts at age three, they've been
00:06:390 for 39.
00:06:42So it's easy to look at that race at the Fountain of Youth and say, okay, he beat LeDombro by
00:06:47a length and three quarters, he beat Frankie's Empire by not much more, by two lengths, and
00:06:51neither of those horses are going to be confused with leading Kentucky Derby contenders.
00:06:57But Dornuck definitely is going to need to improve and maybe you're right.
00:07:02Maybe the baby Huey will become a top class racehorse by the time we get to the first
00:07:07Saturday in May.
00:07:08All right, the San Felipe, the next day, we'll go back and get to the Gotham, we'll save
00:07:12the best for last for you, Zoe.
00:07:14Nysos was scratched, Bob Afford had second thoughts is what he said about entering, should
00:07:21he have entered Nysos or not?
00:07:23He did.
00:07:24He felt later that probably he shouldn't have and scratched Nysos, but it ended up being
00:07:29a Bob Baffert exact anyway, with imagination and wind me up dueling all the way down the
00:07:36stretch.
00:07:3796 buyer speed figures for both horses, which put them right up near the top of all the
00:07:44horses in the division.
00:07:46Here we go again with the Bob Baffert dominance in Southern California with three-year-olds
00:07:51that won't be in the Kentucky Derby.
00:07:55And I thought it was astounding on the same weekend.
00:07:58This was a weekend that, let's face it, you could be putting a lot of pictures of triple
00:08:02crown candidates on the sides of milk cartons, searching for where they are, because they
00:08:07didn't show up this past week, so we don't have a lot to go off of.
00:08:10But what was astounding to me was this weekend was also the Preakness Future Wager, the first
00:08:16of two installments for the second jewel of the triple crown.
00:08:20And Nysos went off at five to two for a race that's two and a half months away.
00:08:27And to my knowledge, he hasn't even been publicly declared by his connections to be aiming for
00:08:33the Preakness.
00:08:34I think there's a lot of de facto assumptions on the parts of the betting public out there
00:08:38that these Bob Baffert horses who aren't going to Louisville because of the Churchill Downs
00:08:43corporate ban on Bob Baffert's participation in the Derby.
00:08:47There seems to be this wholehearted assumption that they're all going to show up in the Preakness
00:08:52and Nysos is going to be the leader of the pack.
00:08:55We don't know that he's going to do that.
00:08:56He might run in the Santa Anita Derby and then show up in the 10 furlong Belmont stakes
00:09:02at Saratoga.
00:09:03So I thought that was one of the astounding betting developments over the weekend, seeing
00:09:09this horse go off at two and a half to one for a race that he might not even start in.
00:09:13Well, Zoe, in the San Felipe, Imagination won and things didn't exactly go perfectly
00:09:18for him during the running of the race.
00:09:20No, we'll hear from Frankie DeTore a little bit later on First Things First about his
00:09:26trip.
00:09:27But Imagination was the horse to beat in there.
00:09:31And you've really got a feel for trainer John Sadler and Scatify in here because he broke
00:09:36just a step slow and there either was or wasn't room down on the inside.
00:09:42There was an inquiry that they looked at for an awfully long time at Santa Anita as to
00:09:47whether the fact if JJ Hernandez came over on top of Scatify, I don't think there was
00:09:55room and Scatify is a front running horse, a free running horse, and just ran off onto
00:09:59heels.
00:10:00So the heels he hit were Imaginations and Imagination took off and went wide down the
00:10:05backside.
00:10:06So it was an ugly for a four horse race.
00:10:08It was an ugly first term and Scatify took the worst of it, ran down the field in that
00:10:15race and there was a big inquiry and thus he didn't garner any points.
00:10:20Bob's horses didn't garner any points, but John Sadler, who's looking to get his ownership
00:10:25group to the Derby, doesn't get any points because he was taken out in the first term.
00:10:30Bob gets the points, but he can't have the points.
00:10:33So you have to feel for some of the ownership in there, Imagination, a million dollar yearling.
00:10:39We've seen these connections time and time again.
00:10:42Get to the Derby, delighted for Frankie who really had to ride hard to get by Captain
00:10:48Juan down on the inside aboard Wind Me Up in just the final head bob basically.
00:10:56Imagination gutted it out, but Wind Me Up ran a very, very good race indeed.
00:11:00He reminds me just a little bit of Medina Spirit in the sort of determination that he
00:11:05shows.
00:11:06So in your opinions, should there be any concern about the scratch of Nysos?
00:11:13There's always a concern when a horse is scratched.
00:11:15I mean, you know, Bob says it was his gut feeling and he's going to go somewhere else
00:11:21where he goes.
00:11:22I don't know.
00:11:23I know we weren't expecting to see him in the San Felipe, so it was a little bit of
00:11:27a surprise when he was put in there.
00:11:31Maybe he was put in there because Bob had two others in there and they wanted to make
00:11:34it a five horse field.
00:11:35I don't think so.
00:11:36I think Bob had all intention of running.
00:11:39And then at the last minute was like, yeah, I don't think I'm going to.
00:11:42And that's typical Bob.
00:11:44He waits till the last minute on most things and goes with his gut.
00:11:47So maybe, yeah, I would be a little bit concerned.
00:11:51Anytime a horse is entered in a race and scratched, you have to be a little bit concerned.
00:11:58And I don't think we're through with the whole Derby points conundrum, because again, Bob's
00:12:03horses aren't allowed to earn points because of the corporate ban imposed by Churchill
00:12:08Downs.
00:12:10And what happens looking forward?
00:12:11Bob had mentioned that Nysos, he might just wait until the Santa Anita Derby.
00:12:15OK, that's that's logical.
00:12:17And last week or 10 days ago, he didn't enter Muth in the Rebel Stakes at Oak Lawn because
00:12:25he didn't like how Muth's final workout came off.
00:12:28And Muth might end up showing up in the Arkansas Derby.
00:12:33So now we have at the end of March and into early April, we have two important 100 point
00:12:38Derby prep races.
00:12:40And those horses are likely, if they show up in those spots, they're likely going to
00:12:44be favored.
00:12:45So we could see a point where those horses earn slash don't earn the points, even though
00:12:51they've won the race.
00:12:53And it could wreak havoc for people farther down the list is trying to scramble, as Zoe
00:12:57said earlier, for looking for points to get in.
00:12:59Those nine furlong races are really what put horses over the top in terms of getting into
00:13:03the Derby or not.
00:13:04And I don't think we're done with the shakeout yet.
00:13:07This is turning out to be an unfortunate year for Churchill Downs to continue its corporate
00:13:11ban of Baffert given now we're talking Nysos, we're talking imagination, we're talking wind
00:13:17me up.
00:13:18We're talking Maymuth who might wind up in the Arkansas Derby as might Nysos, we'll see
00:13:24there.
00:13:25Then you got Muth, Cornell.
00:13:26I mean, you've got all these top three-year-olds out there that Baffert or perhaps budding
00:13:31three-year-olds like Cornell that Baffert has.
00:13:34All right.
00:13:35The Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct also on Saturday, one turn mile.
00:13:39Brad Cox had the favor at the Sun of Justified, just a touch, was eight to five.
00:13:43Deterministic, Christophe Clement, second choice, seven to two.
00:13:47They ran one-two, but Deterministic gets the win.
00:13:50And Zoe, you've been following this horse for quite a while.
00:13:53Oh my God.
00:13:54He doesn't owe me any money.
00:13:56We'll just leave it at that.
00:13:57His maiden win at Saratoga was phenomenal.
00:14:02And I'd kind of forgotten about him until a couple of weeks ago where Christophe had
00:14:06announced that Deterministic was going to run in the Gotham.
00:14:09And I was like, oh my God, Deterministic, the son of Liam's Matt, they paid $625,000
00:14:14for.
00:14:15And I went back and looked at some of his works and he'd been working absolutely phenomenally.
00:14:23And he ran like it.
00:14:24And he's a horse who is not pace dependent, even though he comes from off the pace.
00:14:29He can sit handy.
00:14:30He did it in the slop.
00:14:32He took all the dirt.
00:14:33He got a terrific ride under Joel Rosario.
00:14:35He wasn't asked for his best.
00:14:37Was he a hundred percent fit?
00:14:38No, probably not.
00:14:39But he won anyway, finished in a good time over a sloppy decimated track at Aqueduct
00:14:46136.36.
00:14:47He's just fantastic.
00:14:51And he'll be my Derby pick moving forward right now off of that.
00:14:56He's a hub to actually a mare that I just clipped a few weeks ago for trainer Carla
00:15:01Gaines called New Pie Lander, who's one for 28.
00:15:06So it's not like he's got all these astonishing half siblings.
00:15:10He's just a very good horse who was a beautiful looking yearling.
00:15:14And that has just moved forward.
00:15:16And he's a big, big horse, stands over a lot of ground.
00:15:20He's the type of horse when you see in the flesh, you're like, oh, oh, yeah, that's that's
00:15:26the one for me.
00:15:27So, yeah, I thought that was very good.
00:15:31Oh, please, I could buy a manatee and part of the intrigue and interest with Deterministic
00:15:40for me moving forward is his trainer, Christoph Clement, because this is a gentleman who does
00:15:46not put horses on the Derby trail too often.
00:15:50And when he in fact, he's never had a Derby starter.
00:15:53He's won the Belmont Stakes in 2014 with Tonalist.
00:15:56But for if if if Christoph decides to go down the Derby path and he runs in say a race,
00:16:03he's bringing the colt back to Florida where he's been training.
00:16:06But if he shows up in the Florida Derby, the Wood Memorial, he's going to be a wise guy
00:16:10horse because betters will be all over the fact that, hey, Clement doesn't send these
00:16:14horses here just to take a shot, just to get into the entry box for a race like the Derby.
00:16:20If he's going to go down that path, you know, the horse has a chance and he stands behind
00:16:23the horse.
00:16:24So I think that's part of the intrigue right there.
00:16:26There's no hiding him after that.
00:16:28There's no hiding him.
00:16:29Wherever he goes, he's going to get played.
00:16:30You're not you're not hiding him.
00:16:33No way.
00:16:34He finished very, very strongly in the Gotham.
00:16:35After he breaks his maiden in Saratoga, he came up with a chip in an ankle, had to be
00:16:39surgically removed.
00:16:40So he didn't run again as a two year old.
00:16:43About a month ago, we were talking to the Clement barn prior to the first Saturday in
00:16:47February about a horse that they were running.
00:16:50And then we were talking to Miguel Clement, Christoph's son.
00:16:54And then at the end of our conversation, it was like, oh, by the way, we've got a couple
00:16:57of three year olds this year that we are very excited about.
00:17:01And the emphasis was on very deterministic was one capital idea was the other, but deterministic
00:17:06seemed to be the one that they were the most focused in on.
00:17:10So it's going to be fascinating to see how this horse develops for the Wood Memorial
00:17:14coming up next.
00:17:15All right.
00:17:16One more three year old colt prep race to talk about briefly, the Bataglia at Turfway
00:17:20Park.
00:17:22Welcome to Nobody Surprised by Brad Cox.
00:17:24Brad's kind of the new Todd Pletcher.
00:17:27He's joining Todd Pletcher in terms of being able to spot these horses in all the different
00:17:31Triple Crown prep races and successfully get horses points to get into the derby.
00:17:36This one Encino defeats even money favorite Epic Ride in that Mile on a 16th Topita prep
00:17:42at Turfway Park.
00:17:43Any thoughts on that one?
00:17:44It was four wide on both turns.
00:17:46He ran up on the heels of the favorite Epic Ride at the 316th pole.
00:17:52Once Axel Concepcion got him straightened out, he chugged on home, not a big explosive
00:17:57final furlong there, but he covered the ground and now his connections are going to have
00:18:02to decide.
00:18:03Do they stay on the Topita at Turfway and aim for the Jeff Ruby stakes on March 23rd
00:18:09or do they branch out and try him in a nine furlong traditional dirt race somewhere else
00:18:15for his next start?
00:18:16I thought he ran a good race.
00:18:18I didn't see it in person.
00:18:19I just actually watched it this morning.
00:18:22He was getting five pounds from the favorite, which certainly helped.
00:18:26Axel's book is actually handled by Brad Cox's son, Axel, a good apprentice who's riding
00:18:31on the East Coast, moved his tack to Turfway for the winter.
00:18:35So I thought he ran well.
00:18:37Did I see a future derby winner in there?
00:18:39No.
00:18:40Has it happened before?
00:18:41Yeah.
00:18:42Animal Kingdom prepped at Turfway Park.
00:18:44So you just never know.
00:18:47I'm crossing everyone off my list after Deterministic.
00:18:50I'm sorry.
00:18:51I'm all in.
00:18:52I'm all in.
00:18:53Yeah, Rich Strike prepped at Turfway Park as well before his big shocker.
00:19:00All right.
00:19:01The three-row fillies also prepped for the Oaks in the Devonadale in the Busher.
00:19:06Fiona's Magic wins the Devonadale at nine to one.
00:19:09Yet another long shot win for trainer Michael Yates, who seems to be specializing in that
00:19:13recently.
00:19:15Jody's Pride was odds on and did her thing.
00:19:17She just seems to win.
00:19:20She won the Busher by daylight.
00:19:22Any opinions on those two?
00:19:26I think in the Devonadale, it was another so-called milk carton race because just FYI,
00:19:33the two-year-old filly champ didn't show up.
00:19:34She spiked a fever and had to be scratched.
00:19:36So we're looking for her to make her sophomore debut at some point.
00:19:42Nine to one, wire to wire win for Fiona's Magic.
00:19:47Some soft splits.
00:19:49She did repulse several challenges.
00:19:51I think the one thing to note for me out of that race was that the three to ten favorite,
00:19:55Leslie's Rose, just looked like she wanted no part of being rated on the inside.
00:20:01She was kind of nudged along to come through with the rail to her inside and some fillies
00:20:05to the outside.
00:20:06She had a couple of chances, but really was not enthused about kicking on through in there.
00:20:11And in the Busher, I like what I saw from Jodi's pride.
00:20:14I saw after the race, Jose Loscano, her jockey said she took off at the quarter pole like
00:20:20she was breaking out of the gate.
00:20:22She galloped out well.
00:20:24Trainer Jorge Abreu said perhaps the nine furlong gazelle at Aqueduct is next.
00:20:30And perhaps he could parlay that into an Oaks starting at Churchill Downs on the first Friday
00:20:34in May.
00:20:35And I know Zoe was particularly disappointed in the scratch of just FYI.
00:20:40She is still my top pick for the Kentucky Oaks.
00:20:43I watched some of her works at Payson Park, and she has done what I thought she would
00:20:49do, filled out into a beautiful filly.
00:20:51She got sick.
00:20:52She was scratched.
00:20:53We didn't see her run.
00:20:54So she's still on my number one list.
00:20:57But I thought it was a good race for Fiona's Magic.
00:21:02Michael Yates obviously has the keys to this race, having won it with Darth Vader last
00:21:06year.
00:21:07Ashley Rose, the runner up on the rail.
00:21:10She wanted no part of the rail.
00:21:12I didn't think she had any excuse not to get through where she was.
00:21:16She was just maybe intimidated a little bit.
00:21:19No excuses for me.
00:21:20She just got beat on the day by a better filly in Fiona's Magic.
00:21:23We'll hear from you in a minute about her, Randi, because you were very high on her.
00:21:27And then the busher, Jodie's Pride.
00:21:29I thought she ran great on a very, very sloppy racetrack.
00:21:33Steve Westland, the owner of Parkland Thoroughbreds, has now won that race three times, Venti Valentine
00:21:39and Espresso Shop.
00:21:42Final time, not all that great, 138.49.
00:21:46She went 13 and changed for the last eighth of a mile.
00:21:48But she won it, and that was her first start back.
00:21:51So yeah, we'll move on.
00:21:54I would still like to see her on the dirt, on the turf.
00:21:57But everyone keeps telling me she's better on the dirt, so I have to go with them.
00:22:01To me, the Kentucky Oaks right now is as wide open as I can remember it in a long time.
00:22:07Well, especially since Kenza can't run, right?
00:22:10Kenza's the Bob Baffert three-year-old filly who's going to run in the Santa Isabel, I
00:22:14guess, this weekend.
00:22:17So TD, when you file your weekend review this week, not to downplay the performances that
00:22:24we saw, are the scratches really the big story of the last week?
00:22:31Unfortunately, yes.
00:22:33As a journalist, when you're writing about these things and trying to recap the week
00:22:37and review, you don't want to be focusing on horses who didn't run.
00:22:41That really is not the point of it, but it's hard to ignore that.
00:22:44It's the elephant in the room, so to speak.
00:22:47And especially with this fact that, again, we're only going to get brief glimpses of
00:22:54these horses before they hit the starting gate on the first Saturday in May.
00:22:59There's not much to go by.
00:23:01The trainers in trying to evaluate their own stock, sometimes it hurts them as well.
00:23:06But the question I'd throw back to you, Randy, having to do with the buyer speed figures,
00:23:11is what do you make of the fact that there has been so little progression this year collectively
00:23:18among horses from age two to three who are aiming for the Derby?
00:23:22We've now seen Sierra Leone.
00:23:25We've seen Dornoch.
00:23:26We've seen Fierceness and Timberlake all run buyer speed figures that have not progressed
00:23:32from age two to age three.
00:23:33In the case of the first three that I mentioned, they've actually regressed.
00:23:37And Timberlake has held his own, pairing up 93 numbers for three consecutive starts.
00:23:42Usually you like to see a little more oomph, no?
00:23:44You do.
00:23:45Oh, you totally want to see a little more oomph.
00:23:46I mean, you know, speed figures of even 93 for Timberlake, but 90 and 89 and 88 are generally
00:23:54second tier contenders for the Kentucky Derby, even in the first part of March.
00:23:59I am expecting, though, I'm expecting one or more of these prep races to really give
00:24:06us that step forward that we hoped we would see in the penultimate preps.
00:24:11But that remains to be seen.
00:24:13And it's so wide open.
00:24:14I mean, which prep is it going to be?
00:24:16And of course, Nysos has run that fast, but again, you know, he's not in the mix.
00:24:22All right, while we're recapping races, we really should mention the day at Santa Anita
00:24:28and the big cap, as well as the Kilro Mile.
00:24:31Bob Baffert winning three of the four stakes on that day, taking down the Kilro Mile with
00:24:36one of my favorite horses, DeJean, with those giant, huge throwback ears.
00:24:42He's a six-year-old gelding, got an absolutely brilliant ride by Flavian Pratt, who spoke
00:24:48to me after.
00:24:50And it's not often you really see Flavian smile after a race, you know what I mean?
00:24:54He loves horses.
00:24:55He's like, Zoey, I just love this horse.
00:24:56He's so honest.
00:24:58He's such a cool horse.
00:24:59And he was grinning from ear to ear.
00:25:01So coming off a layoff, we last saw him in the Breeders' Cup turf running.
00:25:06He was beating, what, three and a half lengths.
00:25:07So he won that one.
00:25:09Of course, he won the San Felipe and then the big cap with Frankie DeTore, who was here
00:25:15in the 80s galloping for Chris Speck at My Old Boss, who put him on his first winner
00:25:20out here.
00:25:21He was here when Ferdinand and Ali Sheba ran in the big cap.
00:25:25And for him to win it for Bob was pretty amazing.
00:25:29It was a really good day of racing at Santa Anita on Saturday.
00:25:32Sunday.
00:25:33Sorry, it was Sunday.
00:25:36This is a perfect example of how clued in Zoey is to the physical part of the race.
00:25:40T.D. and I both follow the horses a lot.
00:25:43I don't think either one of us would have noticed the ears on DuJour.
00:25:48Watch them.
00:25:49Look at those ears the next time you see them.
00:25:50That is a sign of a lovely, honest horse.
00:25:53I love a big set of ears.
00:25:55We do want to remind you that T.D. and Rice's Room is brought to you by Keeneland.
00:26:00Entries are now open, you've been waiting for this, for the 2024 April Horses of Racing
00:26:05Age Sale.
00:26:06The sale meet will be held Friday, April the 26th, after the races on closing day of the
00:26:12spring meet.
00:26:13Entry deadline for the print catalogue is April the 1st and supplements will continue
00:26:18to be considered until the sales date.
00:26:20We'll be right back after these messages from Keeneland.
00:26:24At Keeneland, a horse will always be measured in hands.
00:26:34Hands that see, that sense, that speak.
00:26:42Hands that hold our sport to a higher standard.
00:26:46Not for our sake, but for theirs, for the love of the horse, for generations to come.
00:26:55The fastest horse of the week this week is brought to you by Global Campaign, one of
00:26:58those fast sires at Windstar Farm.
00:27:00On the track, Global Campaign won six out of ten starts, including three graded stakes.
00:27:05He had the second fastest Peter Pan stakes ever, and he closed out his career by winning
00:27:09the Monmouth Cup with a 101 buyer, then winning the Woodward with a 104, and finally third
00:27:15in the Breeders' Cup with a career-high 107 buyer speed figure.
00:27:18On the pedigree page, he's a son of Kirtland, out of an AP Indy mare, and also a half-brother
00:27:23to successful young stallion Bolt Dorough.
00:27:26Fifteen two-year-olds by Global Campaign are being offered at this week's OBS March sale.
00:27:32OBS is hip 191, a beautiful colt selling with Eddie Woods, and Woodside Ranch is offering
00:27:40two Global Campaigns, a colt, hip number 153, and a filly, 692.
00:27:48You can be like Zoe and be there in person and check them out live, or you can go to
00:27:52OBSsales.com.
00:27:56The fastest horse of the week was part of that Baffert Brigade Sunday at Santa Anita.
00:28:00Zoe's already mentioned his big ears.
00:28:02DuJour, who burst through along the rail to win the Kill Row mile.
00:28:06Bob Baffert's first grade one winner on turf in nearly 15 years, and this one has the added
00:28:12benefit of being co-owned by Baffert's wife, Jill, along with Debbie Lanny.
00:28:16DuJour, a career-high 103 buyer speed figure to earn the designation as the fastest horse
00:28:22of the week.
00:28:23All right, let's get some more news nuggets out of the way here.
00:28:31First of all, the new Tepita track at Santa Anita, Zoe, is now open for business.
00:28:36It certainly is, but not fully open because the track needs a little bit of time to settle,
00:28:42and we saw this down at Goldstream Park as well.
00:28:45So right now, they're just jogging on it.
00:28:47No tow grabs are allowed because you don't need them on the Tepita racetrack.
00:28:52So they're going to jog on it for a couple of weeks, and then they'll start galloping
00:28:55and then start working, but it's a welcome addition to Santa Anita.
00:29:00It was a little bit overdue.
00:29:02It took a little bit more time due to the rain to get it put in, but it looks terrific,
00:29:07and we are really, really looking forward to using it.
00:29:10So everyone that's been on it thus far has had rave reviews, but they're still only jogging
00:29:14on it right now.
00:29:16And TD Belmont Park is going to have pretty much the same kind of setup, right, with the
00:29:21new Tepita track that's going to be installed there.
00:29:23Yeah, and I understand that in the case of the one that just opened at Santa Anita, they've
00:29:29used a differently formulated wax to handle the Southern California climate, which is
00:29:35different from where Tepita is elsewhere in the country.
00:29:39Remember, in the previous iteration of the synthetic tracks, when they were mandated
00:29:44at the large California tracks, they were very inconsistent from the morning training
00:29:49till the afternoon.
00:29:50Obviously, this track is only going to be used for training at this point, but it's
00:29:55an $8 million investment, something that might not resonate with the general public.
00:29:59We're not going to see it or deal with it on a daily basis.
00:30:02However, it is a big part in making sure everything goes well on a regular basis at Santa Anita
00:30:08for training.
00:30:10The different wax, courtesy of Joan Wakefield of Tepita, she and Michael Dickinson have
00:30:15Tepita Farm.
00:30:16I've actually been able to see their room at Tepita Farm, where they formulate all of
00:30:23the Tepita, and Michael Dickinson's been called the mad genius, while Joan Wakefield could
00:30:27be the mad scientist.
00:30:29They've got all of these different versions of Tepita on the shelves, different colors,
00:30:34different wax formulations and things like that, so they've got this one ready to go
00:30:39now at Santa Anita.
00:30:40TD, also another huge announcement this past week, again from First Racing.
00:30:45This one about not only an increased purse of the Preakness stakes, but also some very
00:30:51interesting bonus tie-ins to the California Crown and to Pegasus.
00:30:55Tell us about those.
00:30:56Yeah, and to back up just a bit, owners and trainers were clamoring for purse increases
00:31:02for the three Triple Crown races, and they got them in fairly short order within the
00:31:06span of just the past three months.
00:31:08The Derby purses increased from $3 million to $5 million, Preakness and Belmont both
00:31:13getting a bump up from $1.5 to $2 million.
00:31:17The bonus series, I'm not really sure what to make of this.
00:31:21It's a $5 million bonus package to a horse that sweeps these three races, all under the
00:31:29control of First Racing.
00:31:30The Preakness, the California Crown, which is going to be the renamed Awesome Again stakes
00:31:35coming up in September at Santa Anita, and then the Pegasus at Gulfstream Park.
00:31:40There's also going to be kind of a sister series at a lower price point, $2.5 million
00:31:45linking three grass races.
00:31:50That's a big number.
00:31:51You hear a $5 million bonus out there.
00:31:52I don't know exactly what bang for their buck they will get by dangling that big money.
00:32:00I think the intent is to drum up interest for the middle leg in that series, the Awesome
00:32:05Again.
00:32:06There's just going to be such a small pool of horses who are eligible to run for it that
00:32:11I don't know if it makes a big impact.
00:32:14I know last year, if you looked at 2023, National Treasure would have been in for the running
00:32:20there.
00:32:21He won the Preakness.
00:32:22He participated in the Awesome Again.
00:32:24He ran fourth.
00:32:25Then, of course, he won the Pegasus down at Gulfstream, but that still would not have
00:32:28been good enough to get the $5 million bonus if it was on the line then.
00:32:34We have to applaud Belinda Stronach and First Racing because this money is squarely coming
00:32:41out of First Racing's pocket.
00:32:43It's not coming out of the pool out at Santa Anita, which is already in a deficit.
00:32:48She is reaching into her Chanel purse and pulling out millions of dollars and putting
00:32:55it on the line for these races.
00:32:58She wants it to be similar to the Pegasus down at Gulfstream Park, which revenued $47
00:33:04million for their Super Saturday of racing there.
00:33:07She has really turned that into a fantastic event and all of the expenses are on her for
00:33:14that and they're going to be on her for the California crown as well.
00:33:19It's a welcome addition.
00:33:20Could some of that money be put into the day-to-day purses?
00:33:22Yes.
00:33:24But it's not coming out of our day-to-day purses, which is probably the key point here.
00:33:29It's coming out of that Chanel purse, so we need to applaud Belinda Stronach for that.
00:33:34It's three races in an eight-month period with bonuses through the yin-yang when you
00:33:39consider even if you're not looking for the bonus, you have the John Henry Turf.
00:33:45That's going to be a million dollars up from $200,000.
00:33:48The Eddie D, six and a half down the hill, that was, I think, $100,000 or $200,000.
00:33:54That's going to be $750,000.
00:33:57All of these purses are terrific and we're looking for the California crown to be the
00:34:02crown jewel of racing in California and make it an event, much like the Pegasus is an event
00:34:10in South Florida.
00:34:12I've got nothing but high praise, even though I work for the Stronach Group, but this is
00:34:16something that you can get excited for.
00:34:19I'm not getting paid extra for this, just so you know, but I'm looking forward to it.
00:34:25It's going to be like a mini Breeders' Cup, right, Randy?
00:34:28Yeah, total agreement.
00:34:30Anything that makes racing more lucrative and more interesting, I think we all should
00:34:35be applauding.
00:34:36Meanwhile, the TD and Riders' Room is also brought to you by the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders
00:34:41Association.
00:34:42We're well into breeding season and to view all the Pennsylvania stallions, go to pabred.com
00:34:47and click on that link that says 2024 Stallion and Boarding Farm Directory.
00:34:52This is really all about the dollars and cents.
00:34:54If you win a $50,000 Maiden Special weight rates at Parks, for example, you get $30,000
00:34:59to the winner.
00:35:01But if that horse is by a Pennsylvania stallion and is a registered Pennsylvania bred, that
00:35:06$30,000 winner's share becomes $58,800, almost double.
00:35:12That's about like winning a $100,000 Maiden Special race anywhere else.
00:35:17So take a look at those PA stallions, it'll be worth your while.
00:35:20And if you have any questions, please contact Brian Sanfrontello, his number, 610-444-1050.
00:35:29610-444-1050.
00:35:34The state of Pennsylvania has the best breeders program in the entire United States.
00:35:39When you buy a yearling, it's a little bit like buying a lottery ticket, and we are
00:35:42trying to provide a lottery ticket that the likelihood is to hit the jackpot.
00:35:47Angel of Empire wins the Arkansas Derby and wins it clear.
00:35:51Uncle Heavy laid it's a photo finish!
00:35:55Pennsylvania and the PHBA have the best state bred program in the country, bar none.
00:36:00The winner, Uncle Heavy, he's a three-year-old bred in Pennsylvania.
00:36:04The rumbling started early and only intensified.
00:36:09With performances that sent shockwaves across the nation.
00:36:20At the center of it all, Epicenter is at the top of the three-year-old class in the Run
00:36:26Happy Travers.
00:36:27Epicenter, three-year-old champion by not this time.
00:36:31Coolmore America, home of champions.
00:36:34This week's Coolmore Stallion of the Week is Epicenter.
00:36:40And Epicenter sells himself if we just show you some of his foals on the ground.
00:36:45This is a filly out of Seize the Market, bred by Black Ridge Stables, the breeders of three-time
00:36:50grade one winner, Bast, and also grade two winner, Mutasabek.
00:36:55Here's a colt out of Secret No More, bred by Mackmer Hall, who has brought us Tappan,
00:37:01Gina Romanica, Search Results, Gift Box, Premium Tap, all grade one winners, and more.
00:37:07Next up, this is a filly out of Joyfully.
00:37:10Joyfully is a half-sister to graded six winners, Divine Oath and Anti-Joy.
00:37:14In Joyfully's third dam is Personal Ensign.
00:37:17This filly was bred by International Equities Holding.
00:37:21This is a Winchell Thoroughbreds filly out of Adirondack Stakes winner, Just Wicked.
00:37:26This little girl is a three-quarter sister to multiple grade two winner and a million
00:37:30and a half dollar earner, Wicked Halo.
00:37:33And last but not least, here's the first born foal by Epicenter.
00:37:36This colt's dam, Mongolian Rose, is a half-sister to Schuylerville winner, Georgie's Angel,
00:37:42and Bourbon winner, Lawn Ranger.
00:37:44The breeders of this colt, Mulholland Springs and Tom Grether Farms.
00:37:49And Zoe, you'll be looking at these along with others.
00:37:54Any thoughts?
00:37:55And honestly, the one thing that struck me about the Epicenter foals is that they have
00:38:00a lot of length to them and a lot of leg.
00:38:02Now, any time you look at a foal, you rarely see an ugly looking foal.
00:38:07I think I am the only person on earth that's ever bred an ugly foal, looked like a kangaroo
00:38:11coming out.
00:38:13So the breeding game is over for me.
00:38:16But almost any foal, the jury's out until you see them a little bit later on.
00:38:21But I will say the Epicenter foals have a good bit of length and a lot of leg.
00:38:25So there is an awful lot to like about them.
00:38:28Just don't buy any foals that I've bred.
00:38:30Because they make really nice show horses about four years down the road.
00:38:34On that note, it's that time of the podcast again to remind you that the TD and Reuters
00:38:38Room is brought to you by the Green Group, a tax accounting advisory firm specializing
00:38:43in the thoroughbred industry and designed to save you taxes.
00:38:49Our Green Group guest of the week is trainer Danny Gargan, still basking in the glow of
00:38:53Dornach's win in the Fountain of Youth on Sunday at Gulfstream in his first start as
00:38:58a three year old.
00:38:59So Danny Dornach, he didn't break any watches in the Fountain of Youth.
00:39:03He didn't draw off and win by six links or eight links.
00:39:06To your credit, you said before the race that Dornach was going to be maybe 85% for the
00:39:13Fountain of Youth.
00:39:14So how do you think his win in the Fountain of Youth should be viewed?
00:39:19Well, I mean, he's out there playing around by himself.
00:39:24He's going to wait on horses.
00:39:25We all know that.
00:39:26I wanted to rate him in the race and have somebody in front of him because when he gets
00:39:31out there, he plays around and waits on other competition to get around him.
00:39:35It's not his fault nobody was fast enough to get next to him.
00:39:37If they would have, he'd have ran faster.
00:39:40Danny, one of the interesting things that I found in trying to prepare for this interview
00:39:46was that when you went to the Derby in 2019 with tax, he was a horse that you went and
00:39:51claimed for $50,000 at Keeneland and you ended up 14th in the Derby that year and tax
00:39:57ended up outrunning his peers in terms of longevity.
00:40:01He ran until early last year.
00:40:03But your path with Dornach was a little bit different.
00:40:06Your clients went to Keeneland at the yearling sale and purchased him for $325,000.
00:40:12And I'm kind of interested in knowing at that point, nobody knew who his half-brother Mage
00:40:18was.
00:40:19A few months away from his first start and then another few months away from winning
00:40:22the Kentucky Derby.
00:40:24What was it like last winter for you knowing that you had a horse that would be cycling
00:40:28into your barn at some point as a two-year-old as you watched Mage progress into the Derby
00:40:33winner that we now know he is?
00:40:34I mean, it was exciting because I actually owned a big part of him until Mage ran second
00:40:40in the Florida Derby.
00:40:42It was, you know, it's exciting to have a horse that's bred that well and, you know,
00:40:46just lucky.
00:40:47He had defunded his full sister, Ringy Dingy, who's a stakes winner also.
00:40:52So you know, anytime you're buying young horses, you kind of lean towards a little pedigree.
00:40:56But we've seen Mages at Maryland at the two-year-old training sale and he was a nice looking horse
00:41:03that I kind of liked him that day when he breezed and we knew he had talent also before
00:41:09we bought Mage or before we bought Dornach.
00:41:12We knew Mage could breeze good and showed some talent.
00:41:15So it wasn't a complete unknown brother.
00:41:18Danny, before we go back, I want to talk about the race again.
00:41:24And first off, congratulations.
00:41:26But what was going through your mind with all the scratches that went on, especially
00:41:31the scratch in the post parade?
00:41:33Like, what were you thinking?
00:41:35Because you kind of run high, you have a high energy level.
00:41:40So how was Danny Gargan during all of this time with everything that was going on?
00:41:45Well, I ran out on the track and told Louie to just go ahead and go to the lead because
00:41:50I told him to race.
00:41:51And at that stage, I went down the steps.
00:41:55It's on video.
00:41:56It's kind of funny.
00:41:57I went down the steps and told him, just go ahead and go.
00:42:00When Todd's horse got loose, ran into the rail, which was unfortunate.
00:42:03You never want to see anything happen to a beautiful horse and he cut himself up.
00:42:07But he went.
00:42:08I had to go down and just change our game plan completely because I didn't want to get
00:42:11behind one of those horses and have them get in our way.
00:42:14So we just went ahead and decided to just go to the lead.
00:42:18Anxious moments in the running of the race?
00:42:21Really?
00:42:22No.
00:42:23It was a pretty relaxed atmosphere at that stage.
00:42:29I mean, it took forever to get him in the gate.
00:42:31He handled himself real well.
00:42:32You know, they were out on the track probably 10 minutes, 15 minutes longer than they normally
00:42:36would have been.
00:42:37It was a humid day.
00:42:38He never got hot.
00:42:39Never broke out.
00:42:40No, it was pretty relaxed.
00:42:42I mean, it was really not a lot of pressures.
00:42:46I never was worried at all.
00:42:50So I got a couple of questions here.
00:42:52First of all, I'm trying to wrap my head around this visual.
00:42:56So you're up on the steps and on the track apron.
00:43:00The starting gate is just forward of the finish line.
00:43:03So it's right in front of you.
00:43:05And you see the speakeasy is scratched.
00:43:08So you have to run down to the rail as the horses are walking to the gate.
00:43:13They walk out right where the stand is where they do the interviews and they're on TV.
00:43:19I run down to the track where the horses walk on the track and Louie's right around that
00:43:23area and we had to have a conversation again.
00:43:27But he knew what we wanted at that stage.
00:43:29He's a pretty smart kid.
00:43:31Did he see you coming and move the horse over to you?
00:43:33Did you have to shout at him?
00:43:35No, he came right over and I said, you know what this means?
00:43:38He said, yes.
00:43:39Go.
00:43:40I said, OK.
00:43:42All right.
00:43:43So.
00:43:44So part part two of my question, you pointed out after the race that not only did you think
00:43:50he was 85 percent, you explain why that he had had just four breezes leading in to the
00:43:56Fountain of Youth.
00:43:57Now, we all know there are all kinds of different ways to train resources.
00:44:01It's not a science.
00:44:02It's an art.
00:44:03Why did you choose?
00:44:07Why did you choose to bring Dornach into the Fountain of Youth with that kind of schedule?
00:44:12Well, you know, I've been in a situation where I've won the Ramson before and I felt like,
00:44:18yeah, it's going to be a long year.
00:44:20We wanted to give him time off.
00:44:22We gave him some time off, some weather hit, this hit, and I didn't want to over train
00:44:27him in the race.
00:44:28And, you know, it's going to be a big year.
00:44:31We have all year to get him fit.
00:44:33We didn't expect, you know, people think you have to win every race and everybody gets
00:44:38that in their head.
00:44:39We were just hoping to get a good start in him and maybe win next time or run second
00:44:42and be in the Derby.
00:44:44Danny, we hear in the media have a tendency to want to know the second after a horse crosses
00:44:51the finish line, what his next prep race is going to be if he's on the Derby trail.
00:44:55And of course, any rational trainer wants a little time to evaluate and and think about
00:44:59what's going on.
00:45:00Now that we've given you a good 72 hours as we're taping this, we've heard Florida Derby
00:45:05mentioned, Bluegrass stakes.
00:45:08What's your preference?
00:45:09You leaning in any direction at this point?
00:45:12I mean, I said it in last December would be the Bluegrass.
00:45:16I'm leaning towards the Bluegrass, but we don't, you know, Florida Derby could come
00:45:20up a field we want to be in.
00:45:21We're not going to limit ourselves to anything.
00:45:23We're going to train like we're running in the Florida Derby.
00:45:26If we go to the Bluegrass, we go there.
00:45:28I haven't decided anything at this particular time.
00:45:32We're just going to enjoy where we're at right now.
00:45:34And lucky enough that we didn't have to run that hard to get the points.
00:45:37We're already probably in the race now that Bob won the race in California and 75 points
00:45:43off the table out there.
00:45:44It's kind of getting a situation where we can cruise in and figure out, probably know
00:45:48something later next week where we might be pointing.
00:45:51But I'm leaning towards the Bluegrass.
00:45:52Danny, do you feel a bit vindicated because I'm fortunate enough to spend all summer in
00:45:58Saratoga and this is a horse who you have been talking about since the spring.
00:46:03He's the best horse in your barn.
00:46:05He's still a giant baby Huey.
00:46:07He hasn't put it all together, but do you feel a little bit vindicated in knowing what
00:46:11kind of horse you had before he ever ran and the fact that he's done what he's done thus
00:46:16far?
00:46:17Well, yeah, I kind of put my foot, my mouth up there in the summer.
00:46:21Dave Brennan did an article and I said he's the best horse I ever trained.
00:46:24And you know, no one's arguing with that anymore.
00:46:29When you have a horse that has a stride like this, he's such a beautiful animal.
00:46:32It's pretty easy to see how talented he is.
00:46:35Watching him breeze with the other horses.
00:46:37It's fun.
00:46:38I mean, he was out working W&L like so easy.
00:46:41I mean, it was an exciting summer just having him there and it's been exciting to have him
00:46:46all year.
00:46:47Danny, for those that watch the race and they're like, eh, you know, he's just OK because he's
00:46:56on his wrong lead and he's lollygagging and he's all over the place.
00:47:00And then to watch him work next to another horse, he's two different horses.
00:47:04How can you explain that?
00:47:07We just got to get someone fast enough to get next to him.
00:47:11I mean, it's simple.
00:47:12I mean, if someone, he only has to, if someone will get next to him, you're going to see
00:47:16a fast horse.
00:47:17I mean, he does explode working, but you know, Louis was just sitting there playing around.
00:47:22He'll wait on competition because he wants to play.
00:47:26He's a big boy and wants competition, wants to play on him.
00:47:29But the big key the other day, and I told Louis, don't worry about leads, don't do anything.
00:47:34Do not be yanking him around because I don't want to get DQ'd or hit the rail.
00:47:38When the horse is up his inside, Louis took a minute to do anything because he doesn't
00:47:41want him to run into the other horse next to him because he's, you know, if you get
00:47:45to play him, he'll jump on next in his competition.
00:47:48He'll lean into him and might bounce off of him or anything.
00:47:51We just want to run straight right now.
00:47:53And if it's an 88 buyer or, you know, people, I don't really take any interest in buyers.
00:47:58You know, we call them the Roland buyer in horse race and they change every other day.
00:48:02So they're not anything that anybody pays any attention to.
00:48:05So who's out there any faster?
00:48:09CLL got an 80, a 90, and I think he's probably the horse to beat.
00:48:15So other than that, I'm not really too concerned about any numbers.
00:48:18It's just keeping him running straight and keeping him healthy is going to be the thing.
00:48:22Well since I'm one of the guys that does the buyer speed figures, I'd have to take a little
00:48:26bit of an exception to that, but that's okay.
00:48:29We've changed Dornach's maiden when you did it three different times.
00:48:32So you're used to being teased.
00:48:34So my question, we talked to you, Jerry Bailey and I, a couple of days before the race and
00:48:40you just mentioned hit the stride on Dornach and you told us an interesting story about
00:48:45how that was really the first thing that you noticed that told you that he was a good
00:48:49horse.
00:48:50Kind of share that, share that with everybody if you don't mind.
00:48:52Oh, you know, Sarah Togan, you know, work outs and we liked him.
00:48:57He's a big, pretty horse and he worked out of the gate and I've got the binoculars on
00:49:03him and did he work good?
00:49:06And they worked with the Philly Ringy Dingy and she broke lightning fast.
00:49:09She's about two jumps behind her and he made up that two jumps, I mean, instantly and they
00:49:15were 46 and one and I was like, oh my goodness, he does have a turn of foot.
00:49:20It's crazy.
00:49:22And that day I knew that we had something.
00:49:25Danny, I'm just curious to know, you've been to the Derby once with Tax.
00:49:29He was not a favorite for the race, but you obviously, it's the Derby is one of those
00:49:36things as a trainer.
00:49:37You don't learn it until you actually go through it, even if like you, you grew up
00:49:40in Louisville and you've been around the racetrack all your life.
00:49:44What did you learn from going through the Derby with Tax that you might be able to apply
00:49:48to Dornach's journey this year, especially considering they're, they're different horses
00:49:52and that Tax was not one of the favorites and Dornach figures to be one.
00:49:55Well, it's a totally different situation.
00:49:58I'm kind of leaning back to the days when I worked for Nick Zito now.
00:50:01I mean, this is a, he's a contender, he's a live, live horse in the race.
00:50:05Tax was just a fun thing to go because I'm, you know, people want to run in the Derby.
00:50:10We were just happy we were there.
00:50:13It's a totally different situation with this horse.
00:50:15You have to look back and see the things when you worked as an assistant, when you actually
00:50:18had a chance to win it.
00:50:20And I've done a lot of the things I've done with this horse that Nick did with Luiga Torres
00:50:24and Gopher Jen, you know, I gave him the time off, Tax walked him in the barn, I've done
00:50:28pretty much the same things, was going to give him his first race to set him up for
00:50:33his next race.
00:50:34So we've done things that I learned in the past, but it had, Tax was a totally different
00:50:38thing.
00:50:39He was a horse that we were just trying to get there.
00:50:40I believe we have a horse that can actually, if we get him in the gate on the first Saturday
00:50:44of May, he's had a chance to win it.
00:50:46So it's a totally different ballpark and it's a fun thing to be a part of and hopefully
00:50:50we get lucky and we're there.
00:50:52And Danny, that's a perfect segue to my next question.
00:50:55You've been around an awful long time.
00:50:57We've been friends a long time.
00:50:59Zoe's older than you all think.
00:51:04Danny, now we have a pact, just remember.
00:51:08So for people that don't know Danny Gargan, which is hard to believe at this point in
00:51:12your life, give us a brief outline of what you've done in your life because you've pretty
00:51:18much done everything.
00:51:19You've been a groom, a hot walker, an assistant, a jocks agent.
00:51:24Take us through your life story up to now real quick.
00:51:27Well, my father was a jockey and he passed away when I was a kid and I grew up right
00:51:31outside Churchill Downs on 1st Street.
00:51:33And there's a couple of trainers that grew up in that same neighborhood.
00:51:36Brad Cox grew up, I was on 1st and Evelyn, he was over on 4th and Evelyn.
00:51:40So we all grew up, you know, just going to the races, you know, in the summer everybody
00:51:45got a job because no one had any money.
00:51:47So we all worked and I was lucky enough, a few trainers took a shine to me.
00:51:52Meryl Share is like a father figure to me most of my life and I worked for Lucas as
00:51:58a kid a lot and then I, you know, just transitioned into every phase and I didn't expect to be
00:52:03a trainer.
00:52:04When I quit being an assistant, I went to be a jocks agent and I had a lot of fun doing
00:52:08that and we made a lot of money and just ended up buying some horses, tinkering around and
00:52:14flipping them and had three or four horses and stayed up in New York and it snowballed
00:52:18at one time.
00:52:19I had 50, 60 horses and here we are today.
00:52:23I don't train as many anymore, we keep it under 50 all the time.
00:52:27But it's still fun to have, you know, a stable of 40 horses and, you know, get 15, 16 year
00:52:33olds and hopefully we get lucky and can keep being on the derby trail and keep doing interviews.
00:52:38Exactly.
00:52:39And one of the things that you notice with your interviews, I know, is that this time
00:52:46of year people not only analyze these three year olds a lot, they overanalyze them really
00:52:51and people in the media are addicted to rankings.
00:52:55Give us your top ten, give us your top eight derby horses, in order.
00:52:58Like I said, I think Sierra Leone deserves to be the favorite, Timberlake, I'd say him
00:53:04and Timberlake deserve to be the favorite.
00:53:05I'm good with being third or fourth choice.
00:53:08I'm okay with being fifth.
00:53:11I'm not going to rank everybody.
00:53:13Those trainers have done more than me, they're more successful and have more horses and you
00:53:17never know who's going to end up where, but we're just happy to be a part of it, you know,
00:53:23and be in the mix where we are in that kind of situation.
00:53:25You know, like I said, we only get like 14 or 15 two year olds.
00:53:28I think I had four or five colts that were not New York bred.
00:53:33To have one of this caliber out of a small package like that, it's hard to do.
00:53:38People don't understand that aspect of the game.
00:53:40You know, these other guys have 152 year olds and they have 35, 40 colts.
00:53:46So we're just blessed that we got lucky and one of them fell through the cracks of all
00:53:50these big buyers.
00:53:52So I'm curious, so Sierra Leone won his first prep of the year in the Risen Star, Dornuck
00:53:57won his first prep of the year in the Found of Youth.
00:54:00You ran against Sierra Leone and beat him in the Rimsen.
00:54:03Why would you put Sierra Leone over Dornuck at this point?
00:54:07Well, I think the public will and it's okay with that.
00:54:12I don't want to be picked first.
00:54:13It's a little bad luck.
00:54:16I'm happy with where we are and I think we'll progress further.
00:54:21Both of us running in the bluegrass, at some stage he's going to pass me.
00:54:24So I'll be in front of him.
00:54:26So he's got to come get me and you know, you get 12 horses in the gate, sometimes it's
00:54:31hard to catch the guys in front when you got to go 12 wide because you're not going to
00:54:34come up the rail at Kingman.
00:54:35It's going to be too jammed up.
00:54:37So it'll be fun to watch these races and Brooke Smith is a really good friend of mine that
00:54:41I've known for years and I couldn't be happier for him.
00:54:43He's a great guy, such a, I mean, it's going to be a fun derby.
00:54:47There's going to be a bunch of guys from Louisville that are in the race, which is
00:54:50going to be fun.
00:54:51You know, Brad's got Timberlake, Brooke Smith has Sierra Leone in my horse.
00:54:55So it's going to be a Louisville derby this year, hopefully.
00:54:59What about the ownership group, 2.8 Racing of Thornhawk?
00:55:03What can you tell us about them, Danny?
00:55:06It's just Jason Worth and he's, and I've never, and for someone that's, you know, he hasn't
00:55:11been in horse racing that long, he's having a lot of luck.
00:55:14He loves horses as much as anybody I've ever met.
00:55:18It's funny because the other day he went to the barn that wasn't, you know, he came at
00:55:22like 12 or something, it was in the afternoon, maybe one o'clock and he's walking around
00:55:26the barn.
00:55:27I get a text.
00:55:28So what's the story with this Thanos?
00:55:32He's the pony.
00:55:33And he says, he's my favorite horse.
00:55:37So it doesn't matter if it's the pony or door knock, if he gets a shine for a horse, he's
00:55:44just going to stand there and feed him peppermints and pet on him and love on him.
00:55:46His favorite horse besides door knock is in my barn is Thanos, the pony.
00:55:51But he is a beautiful horse with big old fat jaws on him and he loves the pony, but he
00:55:56just loves being out there, petting on his horses and just hanging out.
00:55:59And then he gets, you know, he said, winning a race is like hitting a home run in a world
00:56:04series.
00:56:05He said, if you get a rush that you can't believe, and I'm not going to hit any home
00:56:09runs anywhere, but he's a great person to be around.
00:56:13He's so much fun.
00:56:14You guys should have him on the show because he'd love to do it.
00:56:16I think it's good to have guys like him involved.
00:56:19And the day he bought in, I told him that I said, look, I just bought a horse.
00:56:22I think it's going to be a really special horse.
00:56:24And we talked about doing something.
00:56:25I said, let's just get, you know, take a small piece of him and it'd be fun to have you a
00:56:28part of it.
00:56:29And he's been having a blast with the interviews and doing things.
00:56:33He had three other major league baseball players with him the other day at the races.
00:56:36So it says, you know, we need a good shine on horse racing and a good vibe.
00:56:41And he's one of those guys that we need to have involved.
00:56:44And he's kind of easy on the eyes.
00:56:46I wouldn't mind meeting him.
00:56:47Easy, though.
00:56:48You're about knee height.
00:56:49You got to watch out.
00:56:50Anything else?
00:56:51Dan, just to wrap it up, I noticed as I was preparing for the interview and looking at
00:57:00your stats on Equibase, as we're taping this on Tuesday, you are one start away and you
00:57:05have one entered on Wednesday at Gulfstream from start number 2,000, lifetime.
00:57:12If you have your crystal ball handy and it's fired up with the benefit of looking back
00:57:17on those first 2,000 starts and looking ahead, if we're doing this interview in maybe three,
00:57:22five years time, what would you like the scope of your stable to be?
00:57:25And what would you like to be, to have in terms of a size and a caliber of stable?
00:57:31Well, like I said earlier, I'm not looking to train 250 horses or anything crazy like
00:57:35that.
00:57:37We want to keep it around 50, and we'd like to have more two-year-olds every year.
00:57:4125 to 30 would be lovely, but we're happy to be where we are.
00:57:45In the past, I just claimed horses.
00:57:47I haven't claimed a horse in over a year.
00:57:49So to keep my stable at where it's at and not be claiming and doing that part of the
00:57:53game and we've transitioned into just young horses, I'm really happy where it's turned
00:57:58into in just a short period of time because we just started buying babies four years ago.
00:58:04We won the Nash, won the Remsen last year.
00:58:06This year, we've won the Remsen and the Fountain U.
00:58:09So if we can keep coming up with young horses, hopefully we'll keep getting young horses
00:58:14from people.
00:58:15And we're just blessed to be where we are.
00:58:17My team does a really good job.
00:58:18I have really good riders.
00:58:20I've had the same assistants since I started training.
00:58:24So we're just trying every day to do our best to keep getting the young horses and do our
00:58:31best to get them to where they can show their potential.
00:58:35So far, so good.
00:58:36It's been fun already in the run-up to the 150th Derby.
00:58:39We've got some more big races to come and it's always fun when you get Danny Gargan
00:58:43involved in a spot like this.
00:58:45So Danny, congratulations on the success so far and good luck in the next month or so
00:58:51with Dornoch.
00:58:52As the Green Group Guest of the Week, trainer Danny Gargan will receive a free one-hour
00:58:57tax consultation from Lynn Green et al.
00:59:00At the Green Group, for more information on how the Green Group can save you money, right
00:59:04in that pocketbook, visit www.greenco.com.
00:59:08And now this message from the Green Group.
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00:59:20as their tax advisors.
00:59:21They save you money and share successful strategies.
00:59:25Over the past 40 years, the Green Group founder, Lynn Green, has owned and bred some of the
00:59:30best racehorses in the history of the sport.
00:59:33Like Eclipse Award-winning champions, Jay Walk and Wonder Wheel.
00:59:37His DJ stable competes at the highest level and has received the game's most prestigious
00:59:42honors.
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01:00:08The Green Group, proven strategies to save you taxes.
01:00:13On this week's edition of First Things First, I was lucky enough to catch up with Frankie
01:00:18DeTore and talk about his terrific San Felipe win and then Millie Ball caught up with Bob
01:00:23Baffert to discuss, amongst other things, Game on Dude and winning the Santa Anita Handicap.
01:00:37Frankie!
01:00:38Hi!
01:00:39You had to blow a little bit there.
01:00:40Hi!
01:00:41It was a bit of a different race.
01:00:42I got into the first turn, I almost got scared, then he ran off in the back.
01:00:48I managed to keep him away and got him to relax again.
01:00:53No, you said you almost got scared.
01:00:55What are you putting in?
01:00:56Well, in the first turn, Juan behind ran into me and he kind of clipped my horse's back
01:01:00legs and my horse just got scared and he ran off in the back.
01:01:04But he didn't exactly pan out like I wanted to, but he showed great courage.
01:01:10It was a great duel with the captain and we got that in front.
01:01:13Head to head with Juan down the lane.
01:01:15Captain Juan.
01:01:16Did you think you had it?
01:01:18No.
01:01:22It's not give me, it took me across the wire.
01:01:24Trust me.
01:01:25Did you ever spot a derby fever now, Frankie?
01:01:27Yeah, of course, now everything's developing.
01:01:29This is one of the trials.
01:01:31I suspect it's going to race him in the derby against the other good one, but it's all developing
01:01:37now.
01:01:38I had fun to the view yesterday.
01:01:40Yeah, derby fever start.
01:01:42Thanks, Frank.
01:01:44Quite a day for the Bob Baffert team.
01:01:47This time winning with Newgate in the Santa Anita Handicap.
01:01:50This is your sixth Santa Anita Handicap.
01:01:53Just talk about the preparation that you put into this horse coming into this race.
01:01:58Well, we were bringing along, we always thought he's going to be a better horse as he gets
01:02:01older and we've been patient and just getting these races into him.
01:02:06And then today was supposed to be his coming out party kind of race.
01:02:11And I was worried they're turning for home.
01:02:13Looked like that horse had gotten away, but he just dug in and, you know, it's such an
01:02:18historical race.
01:02:19And then to win it for our team, but with Frankie DeTore even makes it really special.
01:02:26Going back in the history of the Santa Anita Handicap for you, Game On Dude, right?
01:02:31He is just being announced as a finalist for the Hall of Fame.
01:02:36How do you feel about that?
01:02:38Well, I'm proud of all my horses and especially him.
01:02:40He was just, when he was on, he was just unbeatable.
01:02:44He's one of the top horses I've ever had.
01:02:46And unfortunately, you know, he had the best race was probably the Breeders' Cup in Kentucky
01:02:51when it was so deep and muddy and he almost held on.
01:02:53Some long shot got him, but it's one of those things where, you know, I hope he gets in.
01:02:59You know, it's, you know, have Justify in there too, another unbelievable horse, crazy horse.
01:03:04I don't know if I have another one like him, but it just really, it makes you proud.
01:03:09And, you know, it's nice to, you know, that they're in there.
01:03:12Great chapters in your lives to hold on to.
01:03:14Yes.
01:03:15Congratulations, Bob Baffert winning his sixth Santa Anita Handicap.
01:03:21Really great to hear from Bob and Frankie.
01:03:24And what a weekend they had winning three of the four greatest stakes at Santa Anita.
01:03:28Just a reminder that we are back at Santa Anita on Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 1230 post time.
01:03:35We've got some good races coming up, including the grade one, the Hold a Mile.
01:03:40Well, we all know it's easy for horses to win or easier for them to win if things go right.
01:03:45Sometimes horses can win even if things don't go right.
01:03:47But in the case of Cinderella's Dream in the Jumeirah Guineas last week at Maidan, Zoe,
01:03:52the source was able to win when things went terribly wrong for Jocky William Buick.
01:03:56I mean, there's only one way to describe this, right?
01:04:00A bull buster.
01:04:02Basically, what happened?
01:04:04Sorry, I couldn't help myself.
01:04:08Bill Buick was a bull buster.
01:04:10OK, she was much the best.
01:04:12And she's not a bull buster.
01:04:14OK, she was much the best.
01:04:16And she's not a very big filly.
01:04:18They broke out of the gate and she pulls a little bit.
01:04:21And Bill's a big guy, right?
01:04:23William Buick is tall.
01:04:25And the saddle literally slipped forward up his neck.
01:04:27And it's happened to me.
01:04:28And it's a horrible feeling when your saddle slips forward.
01:04:31It's actually worse than when your saddle slips back.
01:04:34So somehow around the turn, William, for those of you actually watching the video of this,
01:04:39you'll be able to watch it.
01:04:41Somehow around the turn, he managed to kick his feet out of the irons.
01:04:44He got himself to the outside away from everyone, kicked his feet out.
01:04:48So by now his knees are down by the filly's legs because he's a very tall jockey.
01:04:54And wound up winning the race by, gosh, eight lengths or something.
01:04:59It was a ridiculously easy effort.
01:05:02He gave her a couple of little slaps down the neck.
01:05:04And she won going away.
01:05:06So I expect big things from her once he can actually get up in the saddle.
01:05:10But a terrific job of horsemanship by one of probably the best jockeys in Europe,
01:05:16other than Ryan Moore, in William Buick.
01:05:19You can almost read his mind as they were going around the turn.
01:05:22It was like, oh, my God, what am I going to do?
01:05:24What am I going to do?
01:05:25And then she starts drawing away.
01:05:26And he's like, oh, what the heck?
01:05:27I'll give her a couple of taps.
01:05:30And she winds up winning anyway.
01:05:32He said it was like a movie.
01:05:34Yeah, that's something.
01:05:36And just seeing his balance and not panicking in that situation.
01:05:40Zoe, I've always wondered in that situation, the filly looked like, I mean, the horse must know something feels different.
01:05:48And I imagine they can either help their own cause or try and fight it and kick on with it.
01:05:53What does the horse usually do to respond when the horse feels the legs out of the stirrups, out of the irons like that?
01:06:00She was the consummate professional.
01:06:02And you could see that she did try and slow down because he kind of eased her away from the other horses just in case he fell.
01:06:08He didn't want to be trampled.
01:06:10And it's hard enough when the saddle's up the neck.
01:06:13It takes a good degree of balance to even get your feet out of the stirrups because you are literally resting on your toes.
01:06:21So you've got to push on the horse's neck to even get your feet out.
01:06:24And you hope you get them both out at the same time and don't tip yourself off.
01:06:29So a big round of applause for William Buick, because that was amazing.
01:06:34And if you're not watching this, just Google it on YouTube and you will find the best bull busting ride you ever saw in your life.
01:06:41And the eventual outcome, obviously, it didn't hurt that she was obviously light years the best.
01:06:47Cinderella's dreams owned by Godolphin and trained by Charlie Appleby.
01:06:51So no big surprise that she would have been the best in that field.
01:06:54Looking ahead now to some of the races that we can that we'll be seeing this next weekend.
01:06:58Let's start it at Santa Anita.
01:07:01Adair Manor is being pointed, I believe, for the Beholder Mile.
01:07:06Yep, she certainly is. I knew you would be very, very excited.
01:07:10I'm going to pull up the entries.
01:07:12Jason Egan is my go to who is a terrific racing secretary at Santa Anita.
01:07:18And because we film this on Tuesdays, the entries aren't out.
01:07:23Adair Manor, Desert Dawn, Green Up, Interstate Daydream, Queen Goddess, Sweet Azteca and Windows Shopping.
01:07:30A couple of possibles, Coffee in Bed, who I like for Richard Mandela and Kirsten Bosch.
01:07:36Maybe Big Pond, but it's a little bit quick back for Big Pond for trainer Tim Yaktin.
01:07:41So those are the probables for the Beholder Mile, the grade one event at Santa Anita this weekend.
01:07:48Are you still on Adair Manor, Mr. Randy Moss?
01:07:52Yeah. Oh, yeah. You know, she was a little disappointing in the Breeders' Cup.
01:07:55But Adair Manor, I think before that she showed, especially in those races in Southern California, where she was just so dominant.
01:08:03So I'll be surprised if she doesn't win again.
01:08:06Coffee in Bed had a little intrigue for me there.
01:08:09She's going to be second time back off a November layoff for Richard Mandela.
01:08:13She was second, but only beaten a length in the La Canata.
01:08:16And she's going to be turning back into a mile, a flat mile from a mile and a 16th, which I think might be right up her alley.
01:08:22So a couple of races also in Tampa. I'll save the Tampa Bay Derby for the end here.
01:08:27The Florida Oaks, unlike many of the Oaks this time of year, this one's on the turf at a mile and a 16th.
01:08:33Looks like to me, just giving it a quick look, the favorites might be the second and third place finishers in the sweetest chant at Gulfstream Park.
01:08:41That would be Style Points and Dynamic Pricing.
01:08:44The latter, of course, you can tell by the name, is a Seth Klarman horse trained by Chad Brown.
01:08:49You guys look at that race at all?
01:08:52They had a little bit of a shine to Style Points there for Christophe Clement.
01:08:58She broke her maiden at Gulfstream back on Christmas Eve, and then she wheeled right back.
01:09:03She was second, only beaten a neck, stepping right up out of the maiden ranks into the sweetest chant.
01:09:10Behind the pretty decent Leifson Audible, and I think she's the one that jumps out for me.
01:09:16I'm more intrigued about the Tampa Bay Derby and more specifically domestic product,
01:09:22who I thought ran a very better than looked race behind Hades last time out.
01:09:30So I'm going there.
01:09:32I know no more time will be in there for Jose D'Angelo, winner of the Sam F. Davis in his last start.
01:09:39But domestic product certainly is looming large for me in the Tampa Bay Derby.
01:09:43Now, we're taping this on Tuesday.
01:09:45The entries will be drawn on Wednesday.
01:09:48So we're looking at the probables from the racing office.
01:09:51They include those two you mentioned, domestic product, no more time.
01:09:54Todd Pletcher is supposedly going to run Heartened, who has the same owners as Deterministic in the Gotham.
01:10:01Coming off a maiden win at Tampa.
01:10:03A very interesting horse, a three-year-old Colt.
01:10:06It's a big ask to go from a six-furlong maiden special weight win into the Tampa Bay Derby,
01:10:12but Drip won a very fast maiden race, a legitimately fast maiden race at Fairgrounds on Feb 17.
01:10:19And then there are a few other horses in there as well.
01:10:21Maybe Otello from Christophe Clement might wind up going in there as well.
01:10:24TD, any thoughts on Tampa Bay Derby?
01:10:27I think just some general thoughts there is Tampa to me has always been a little bit of a Twilight Zone type of track,
01:10:34as far as the racing surface is concerned.
01:10:36It's a very sandy surface with steeply banked turns.
01:10:40And back before my dad, Paul Thornton, retired from training,
01:10:44he split his stable between here in New England and Tampa Bay Downs.
01:10:48And every winter when he'd get his horses ready to go down to Tampa,
01:10:51he'd make a list and he'd get the ones ready he thought would excel down there.
01:10:55And none of them ever, the way that he planned it, never came out right.
01:10:59Other horses would cycle up and really take to that surface.
01:11:03But it was a very track-dependent type of racing surface there.
01:11:07And the quirkiness of the Tampa Strip is borne out in some of the recent race results.
01:11:12I know from 2017 to 21, some big long shots, all bigger prices than 8 to 1 won in those years.
01:11:21Last couple of years, it's been regressing back towards the mean, betting-wise,
01:11:25with Classic Causeway and Tampa Trice winning at odds on.
01:11:29And, of course, the only horse ever to parlay a win in the Tampa Derby and the Kentucky Derby
01:11:35was Street Sense back in 2007.
01:11:37Do you think that Lox might run?
01:11:42I don't believe Lox is going to be pointing for that race. That's not what I heard.
01:11:47Okay.
01:11:48All right.
01:11:49I'm interested in seeing how domestic product settles in this race.
01:11:55One thing I noticed watching all four of his races.
01:11:58In his first race, he took about 10 races worth of kickback in one of the toughest maiden races in Saratoga.
01:12:04Just Steel, BU, and Lox were 1-2-3.
01:12:07Then he wins at a mile and an eighth at Aqueduct,
01:12:10basically dragging Manny Franco out of the saddle the first part of the race.
01:12:14He comes back in the rims and he's very keen behind horses in the rims and backed up as a result.
01:12:21And then even in his second in the Holy Bull, they were going 50 and 114 on the pace in front of him.
01:12:27So it's going to make a lot of horses a little bit keen.
01:12:29But he, again, did not settle very well behind horses.
01:12:33So maybe he's a work in progress, Zoe.
01:12:36Remind me, did they take the blinkers off him in his last start?
01:12:40I'm not looking at the PP.
01:12:42Yeah, so I think he's going to be better this time.
01:12:47Work in progress.
01:12:49It might have been the pace that had him so keen sitting behind horses last time out.
01:12:53But they're probably not going to go fast or tamper either.
01:12:56All right. So what about the XBTV Work of the Week?
01:13:00Oh, let's get to it. Here we go.
01:13:02I actually have Leslie right here sitting next to me, and she is our key editor at XBTV.
01:13:09So she should probably be reading this.
01:13:11But I'll go right ahead.
01:13:13The TDN Racer's Room is brought to you by XBTV and Leslie Abbott, our fine camerawoman as well as editor.
01:13:19The Work of the Week is Hades.
01:13:21Hades bruised a half mile at Goldstream Park Sunday morning in 48.64 for trainer Joe Orsino.
01:13:28Hades was the winner of the Holy Bull Stakes in his last start and is pointing to the Florida Derby on March the 30th,
01:13:34where again he will meet up with Fierceness, who was third after getting bumped in the start in their last meeting at Holy Bull.
01:13:41Hades did work solo and worked very, very nicely for trainer Joe Orsino.
01:13:47Now, last week's Work of the Week was Doorknob.
01:13:49He came back with a win. Will it be the same for Hades?
01:14:04All the thrills.
01:14:27Fraction of the bills.
01:14:31Experience the power of the partnership.
01:14:38Change your life, make new friends, and compete at the highest level of thoroughbred racing.
01:14:45West Point Thoroughbreds, the gold standard in racing partnerships.
01:14:50Visit westpointtb.com.
01:14:53The TDN Riders' Room brought to you by West Point Thoroughbreds.
01:14:57West Point Thoroughbreds.
01:14:58It was like a sister-brother act when West Point's three-year-old Philly Sedona charged late to win a seven-furlong maiden special weight race at Gulfstream Sunday in her career debut because her full brother, first captain, did the same.
01:15:10He won his seven-furlong debut back in April 2020.
01:15:14That was at Belmont.
01:15:15He went on to win the Dwyer and the Pimlico Special.
01:15:17Both Sedona and first captain were ridden by Jose Ortiz.
01:15:21Now, West Point and partners went to $1.5 million to buy first captain at the 2019 Saratoga Summer Sale.
01:15:27He was the co-sale topper.
01:15:29And what did they spend on Sedona?
01:15:31$2 million.
01:15:32Three years later at the same Saratoga Summer Sale, Sedona topped that sale.
01:15:36Both first captain and Sedona bred by Bobby Flay out of his mare America, one of the flagship mares of Flay's breeding operation.
01:15:45If you're interested in joining a West Point partnership and being vaulted into the world of instant camaraderie, you can learn more by visiting West Point.
01:15:53We were being vaulted.
01:15:54Westpointtb.com.
01:16:00All right.
01:16:01And that's it for this first week of March.
01:16:04TDN Writer's Room podcast.
01:16:06Thanks for joining us.
01:16:07Zoe Cadman, TD Thornton.
01:16:09I'm Randy Moss.
01:16:10We will see you one week from today.
01:16:14Cheers, guys.
01:16:15Take care.

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