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00:00On this week's edition of First Things First, I caught up with Phil D'Amato, who had literally
00:06just got back to Santa Anita.
00:08Phil, you got back quick from Churchill, when did you get back?
00:17Yeah, like about 12.30.
00:19I was able to hop on an owner's private plane, which always helps, and just catch an Uber
00:25right off the plane.
00:26Awesome.
00:27Tell me a little bit about your experience, stronghold, how he came out, and what the
00:31plans are now.
00:32Yeah, I'm very happy.
00:33He came out of the race 100% perfect.
00:38Considering that kind of race, it's a really good thing.
00:41I talked to the owners, we're probably just going to give him a little freshening in-house,
00:46and then point for some nice, all these nice three-year-old steaks throughout the country.
00:51Do you have any in mind?
00:53I made a long list of them, and we're just going to kind of play it by ear, see how he
00:58trains.
00:59The good thing is, there's a lot of them throughout the country, and I'm sure we'll find a couple
01:04good spots.
01:05Was it fun?
01:06Oh, it was awesome.
01:08To experience that with my family, it was just kind of an electric feeling, walking
01:12over with the horse with them.
01:14It was cool.
01:15It's definitely, any trainer that gets that itch, they'll definitely want to come back
01:20every year and do it again.
01:21All right, well, you were gone.
01:22You won a good race here at Santa Anita with Gold Phoenix, taking down the Charlie Whittingham.
01:27A winner you're in for the Grade 1, Group 1 Coral Eclipse in England.
01:32Tell us about Gold Phoenix, and do you need a rider for England, because I am available.
01:36Yeah, I mean, he ran a sensational race.
01:41He didn't really show up the race prior.
01:44Kyle Frey had ridden him before for me, and it's breezed him a lot.
01:49He knows him like the back of his hand, so I just thought, let's change things up a little
01:53bit, put Kyle back on him, and he just gave him a nice, more aggressive ride, put him
01:58in the race, and he battled through the stretch and got the job done.
02:02Are we going to All Blighty?
02:05We'll talk to the owners.
02:06I just think with this kind of horse pointing for the Breeders' Cup, going over there and
02:11coming back, you might take too much out of him to have that chance to do that, and we
02:18want to focus on the Del Mar races where he really loves Del Mar.
02:22I mean, that's where he's won his winning you're ins, and we're going to try to do it again.
02:27Maybe next time.
02:28Maybe next time.
02:34Many thanks there to Phil.
02:36Looks like I won't be going to Sandown any time soon, but perhaps next year he'll have
02:41a shot.
02:42All right, let's talk about Santa Anita.
02:44This weekend, we will resume racing on Friday, and there is a massive pick-six carryover
02:50for that eight-race card on Friday.
02:52We'll start with race number three, a carryover of over $100,000, expected to exceed $500,000.
03:00And for all you fathers out there, and husbands, don't forget, it is Mother's Day on Sunday.
03:07You can bring your wife, or your mother, or your sister, or just bring the whole family.
03:11Bring them out to Santa Anita for a Mother's Day brunch on Sunday.
03:15You can go to santaanita.com for more details on that.