Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
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, a post-breeders competition.
00:00:32I'm Bill Findlay.
00:00:33I'm a correspondent for the Thoroughbred Daily News, also co-host down the stretch show on
00:00:37Sirius XM with Dave Johnson.
00:00:40Randy Moss with NBC Sports back home after our fun week on the road.
00:00:47I saw Zoe as well.
00:00:48Zoe Cabin here with First Racing.
00:00:52Delighted to be on today.
00:00:54We're taping this on Monday, so I can kick on out to the desert, but great show, Randy,
00:00:59and a terrific Breeders' Cup that we're going to dissect right now.
00:01:03Yeah, it really was a good Breeders' Cup with a lot of great performances.
00:01:06We got a ton to talk about, particularly in the races.
00:01:09But guys, let's start off with the, frankly, heartbreaking news that we all woke up to
00:01:14this morning.
00:01:15Again, we're recording this on Monday.
00:01:17And Cody's Wish and Cody Dorman had been such a great story for horse racing.
00:01:22And it was just something that, you know, put joy in your heart every single time you
00:01:26heard the story.
00:01:27Cody's Wish wins the Breeders' Cup dirt mile for the second straight year.
00:01:31We wake up this morning and learn that Cody Dorman passed away on Sunday en route from
00:01:37Los Angeles and the Santa Anita to his home in Lexington, Kentucky.
00:01:43And guys, this is truly, it's a cliche, but this is truly one of these things where there
00:01:46are no words.
00:01:47I mean, I don't know what to say beyond the news.
00:01:50It's something that hits home.
00:01:52It is so sad.
00:01:53But thank you, Cody, for all the great memories.
00:01:56And I know, Randy, NBC was all over the story, including at last year's Breeders' Cup.
00:02:01And I remember even watching the show last year, how emotional you were.
00:02:05So I'm sure like the rest of us, this really was a punch cut to the stomach for you.
00:02:11Oh, I mean, last year at the dirt mile at the Breeders' Cup, when the horse hit the
00:02:16finish line in front, I got choked up and I thought to myself, my God, I'm glad I don't
00:02:22have to talk.
00:02:23And I looked over at Jerry and Jerry was misty eyed.
00:02:26And then I looked at Ahmed Fareed, who was our host.
00:02:28He had tears running down his, you know, and we just, it was, everybody felt the same way.
00:02:36He touched, his story touched so many different people.
00:02:40And it is truly heartbreaking what happened.
00:02:42But then you think about it as well, how much his life was enriched over the last couple
00:02:49of years by this horse.
00:02:50And his dad, Kelly Dorman would tell that to everybody.
00:02:54I mean, he sent a text to the NBC people after, I think it was after a little shoot we did
00:03:02with him right before the Breeders' Cup.
00:03:04And he said that, you know, you all, meaning everyone in the horse business and a special
00:03:09horse have most likely saved Cody's life.
00:03:14If you remember Kelly Dorman talking about Cody last year, he was in kind of a downward
00:03:21spiral and they really didn't think he was going to last much longer.
00:03:25He had seemingly lost the will to live.
00:03:29And then the Cody's wish story came along and the horse came along and suddenly it seemed
00:03:34to rejuvenate him.
00:03:36So, you know, so yeah, it's so sad, but it's also in a way, it's a good feeling that that
00:03:46Cody had a chance to experience what he experienced at the Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita as a last
00:03:53memory.
00:03:54I mean, what a terrific story to, I hate to say it.
00:03:58I mean, there's going to be a movie made about it that's already in the works, but to go
00:04:03out like that and big thanks to the Make-A-Wish Foundation who facilitated all of this from
00:04:10the get-go because they're the ones that picked him out.
00:04:14He went when this fall was just a weanling and that's when this all started.
00:04:19I mean, it's just a beautiful story that you can't, you can't make this stuff up.
00:04:24I mean, it's a true, beautiful story about a boy that falls in love with a horse and
00:04:30the bond that horses have with humans.
00:04:34It's just absolutely fabulous.
00:04:35And having finally met Cody and his family and listening to Kelly talk about how he'd
00:04:42never even been on an airplane, but flew out to the Breeders' Cup, like you can't make
00:04:47this stuff up.
00:04:48And this is why horse racing is more than just the horses.
00:04:52It's the stories that it encompasses.
00:04:54And that is one of, probably one of the best stories that we'll ever have in horse racing.
00:05:00Big heartfelt thanks to the Make-A-Wish, to Godolphin and I mean, the family to bring
00:05:07him out and go out like that.
00:05:09It's tear jerking.
00:05:10It's emotional.
00:05:11I mean, the first thing I checked, honestly, and I hate to say this, I'm like, well, is
00:05:15Cody's wish okay as well?
00:05:17Because they seem to have such a bond.
00:05:19I know Cody's wish got on an airplane Sunday morning as well, him and Elite Power left
00:05:24right away.
00:05:25There was a flight out of here and they just had such a bond.
00:05:28It's a fascinating story.
00:05:30And you could not have had a better, for lack of a better word, front man than Kelly Dorman,
00:05:36the father.
00:05:37Absolutely.
00:05:38Right.
00:05:39I mean, he had no experience in public speaking of any kind.
00:05:42And yet he was just so articulate.
00:05:45He would speak from the heart and he just always found the right words to say at the
00:05:51right time that just really brought the whole thing even more front and center.
00:05:57So, you know, condolences to all of them.
00:06:01Best wishes to the whole family, the little sister who was so wonderful the whole time.
00:06:08Very, very sad to wake up to.
00:06:12And this is what the Dorman family had to say in the press release that they released
00:06:16just a few hours ago.
00:06:17And again, like you said, Randy, how they notice, always say, put it in such a great
00:06:23terms and how well spoken they are.
00:06:25In many ways, he, meaning, of course, Cody, taught us all how to live, always keeping
00:06:29a positive attitude and being more concerned about those around him than himself.
00:06:33So he was 17 years old, about a month, I understand, shy of his 18th birthday.
00:06:39And you know, what a wonderful story, what a heartbreaking ending.
00:06:43But let's remember the good because there was a lot more good here than there was just
00:06:47today's bad story.
00:06:49So we want to thank the Dorman family for all they did for horse racing.
00:06:54And I'm sure that they feel a great amount of gratitude for what horse racing did for
00:06:58them as well.
00:06:59OK, now, boy, it seems funny to just move on from there to what happened on the racetrack.
00:07:03But that's our job here.
00:07:04So let's move on to the Friday Breeders' Cup.
00:07:06And we start off with the juvenile fillies, which, of course, the big favorite in there
00:07:10was Tamara, the daughter of Beholder.
00:07:14And she didn't run particularly well.
00:07:16The pace was somewhat fast, 22-3, 46-3, a little bit fast, but she finished, where did
00:07:23she finish?
00:07:24Oh, boy, seven.
00:07:25OK, that's in my notes.
00:07:26We did find out today another piece of news, though.
00:07:30Dick Mandela revealed that she has a small fracture in the splint bone in her left hind
00:07:34leg, will not require surgery.
00:07:37So I suppose that is a reason why she probably didn't run as well as we would have expected.
00:07:43But at the same time, what a great performance from Just FYI, who set the stage for a beautiful
00:07:50Breeders' Cup for Belmont.
00:07:51As a matter of fact, for all the East Coast, the East Coast and the European guys cleaned
00:07:56up a tough Breeders' Cup for the Europeans.
00:07:59But it started off with, you know, and it was a really good Breeders' Cup, but it started
00:08:04off with a meh, because everybody, you wanted Tamara to win as a fan because of how exciting
00:08:11a filly she was.
00:08:12I was a little bit disappointed by that, but there's nothing disappointing about Just FYI.
00:08:17Three for three in her career, trained by Belmont.
00:08:19We'll see her next year on the road to the Kentucky Oaks, Randy.
00:08:23Yeah, you know, it was it was surprising that I mean, she was three to five, let's face
00:08:31it.
00:08:32I mean, you know, most people expected Tamara to to clean up in there.
00:08:36And she was on a pretty aggressive early pace.
00:08:40But Just FYI was too.
00:08:42She was right behind her, like a length and a half behind her.
00:08:45So you can't really you can't use the fractions as an excuse.
00:08:49We'll see next year when she comes back, fingers crossed, whether she is a two turn type or
00:08:55a one turn type.
00:08:56That's another possible explanation.
00:08:58She'd never been around two turns before.
00:09:00But as far as the outcome of the race, Just FYI, it was the kickoff to what was one of
00:09:07the more surprising details of the two days of the Breeders' Cup for me.
00:09:12And that is that at Santa Anita on dirt, historically, the West Coast horses have a built in advantage
00:09:20over the East Coast horses, especially the New York shippers.
00:09:24We went through two days of the Breeders' Cup.
00:09:27Not only did not a single California horse win, there were 32 starters at the Breeders'
00:09:33Cup, dirt and turf, that had made their last starts at either Santa Anita or Del Mar.
00:09:40Only two of them finished in the money.
00:09:43And those were the two Bafferts, right, a mooth and national treasure.
00:09:49So of, you know, a Breeders' Cup in which especially on dirt, the New York and the Kentucky
00:09:56based horses just absolutely dominated.
00:09:59Just FYI, Zoe had been training exceptionally well and ran like she'd been training.
00:10:04Absolutely.
00:10:05I'm going to beat my tiny little drum right about now because I loved her from the get
00:10:09go.
00:10:10I've loved her since she broke her maiden.
00:10:12Tamara, yes, she came out of it with a tiny little fracture and she'll get some time off.
00:10:17Hopefully she just grows up a little bit and fills out a little bit more.
00:10:21We'll get to see her next year.
00:10:23But just FYI for me was the story.
00:10:25She's going to have a little bit of time off now, according to George Gregorian and
00:10:29Bill Mott, just to fill out into that beautiful big frame that she has.
00:10:35So she was terrific.
00:10:36They didn't run the fastest in the world, 144.58 when you consider the fierceness we'll
00:10:42talk about in a minute, ran 141.90.
00:10:46So she did go a little bit slower.
00:10:49She was looked like she was going to get run down.
00:10:51I'm pretty sure if they went round twice more, Jodie's pride wasn't going to get by
00:10:55her.
00:10:56But I will give Flavian Pratt a shout out right now because he asked me about Jodie's
00:11:01pride.
00:11:02He said, what do you think of my filly?
00:11:03Like, I wish she was running on turf.
00:11:04He's like, Zoe, everybody says that.
00:11:07He goes, I was on her for her last work.
00:11:10She's good.
00:11:11So a big shout out to him because she was 17 to one and she ran a monster race for Jorge
00:11:16Ebru.
00:11:17Much the best at the wire on the day was just FYI.
00:11:21And I thought we might be able to play the drinking game, but all I have is a Perrier
00:11:25for the amount of times that we're going to say justify and curling on today's show.
00:11:29So I'll have a sip of my Perrier right now.
00:11:32Yeah, I think we'd all be drunk by the time we get to the Breeders' Cup dirt mile if we
00:11:36did that.
00:11:37Brandy, again, you're right.
00:11:38The numbers, New York trainers won seven races, Europeans five, Midwest guys two, California
00:11:45shut out.
00:11:47Now to the juvenile, we're going to skip over the juvenile turf races because we have obviously
00:11:52a lot to talk about.
00:11:53I got to give Todd Pletcher a ton of credit.
00:11:56When Fierceness got beat 20 and one quarter lengths in the Champagne, I thought, OK, he's
00:12:02done for the year.
00:12:03They're going to have to regroup.
00:12:04We'll see him in Florida and maybe we'll find out what kind of horse he is, an allowance
00:12:08race in February or something at Gulfstream.
00:12:11Never in a million years imagined off that race he would run him back in the Breeders'
00:12:15Cup.
00:12:16He obviously knew something that I didn't know, that that last race was a complete throwout.
00:12:21He ran back to his first effort, which was a fantastic start, got a TDN rising star out
00:12:26of that.
00:12:27And he obviously goes into the next season as the one to look for and the one to beat
00:12:33in the three-year-old.
00:12:34Perhaps I assume that he would start off at Gulfstream and something like maybe the Fountain
00:12:37of Youth.
00:12:38Also, what's interesting to me, Mike Rapaldi goes and spends a zillion dollars at the sales
00:12:43every year and his best two-year-old is a homebred.
00:12:46How about that, Zoe?
00:12:49Yeah, it really is.
00:12:51And kudos to trainer Todd Pletcher, who obviously knows his horses better than we all do.
00:12:57He ran back exactly like you said, back to his maiden race.
00:13:01It's actually the first time he's actually run on a fast main track.
00:13:05So maybe he's better on a fast main track than he's ever been on a sloppy track.
00:13:10There's a reason he was favored in his debut because he'd been working sensationally in
00:13:14Saratoga over fast main tracks.
00:13:17So sky's the limit.
00:13:19I know that the people that stand City of Light have to be delighted because people
00:13:23had tossed him a couple of years ago.
00:13:25They were giving away City of Light to 40,000 and now he's got, I think, four grade one
00:13:31winners to his credit.
00:13:33So they just needed the time.
00:13:35I think people needed to know how to train the sons of this quality road sire, City of
00:13:41Light. They just need a little bit of time.
00:13:44They're not going to be early two-year-olds.
00:13:46So kudos to Linzen for having a good stallion on their hands.
00:13:50It wasn't really like any kind of a revelation on Todd Pletcher's part, Mike Rapoli's part
00:13:57to run in the Breeders' Cup, but they really didn't have much more of an idea than we did
00:14:04about exactly how fierce this was going to run.
00:14:08What Todd said, and he told us this before the race, is that they were so puzzled by the
00:14:13way he ran in the Champagne, sloppy track aside, that they did all the things the trainers
00:14:18do to try to come up with an excuse from scoping to everything you can think of.
00:14:24And the horse came tested completely clean, absolutely nothing wrong with him.
00:14:29So Pletcher and Rapoli talked and said, well, let's train him as we were training him and
00:14:35see what he shows us.
00:14:36And he looked exactly like the fierceness before the Champagne, before his debut in
00:14:40Saratoga, looked exactly the same, training sensationally.
00:14:44So Todd says, well, yeah, we got a choice.
00:14:46We can run him in the Nashua, skip the Breeders' Cup, kind of regroup a little bit, run him
00:14:51in the Nashua. And if he wins the Nashua, no one will know.
00:14:55It will be almost invisible, or we can, you know, give him the benefit of the doubt and
00:15:03send him out to Santa Anita, see how he trains out, you know.
00:15:06And that's exactly what they did.
00:15:08And that's what they got. They got the same fierceness that broke his maiden in Saratoga
00:15:11that looked like a derby horse.
00:15:13What I don't understand, Irad Ortiz has a choice between fierceness and noted, and they
00:15:23took fierceness.
00:15:24I mean, they took noted instead of fierceness.
00:15:27That to me, before the race, was a puzzle.
00:15:32I don't know what I was more surprised about.
00:15:34The fact that fierceness paid $35, knowing that he had talent, that if he could get back
00:15:39to that, you know, he would have a chance to win.
00:15:42And Ortiz wrote noted instead of fierceness when he could have been on the winner.
00:15:48I do want to remind you that the TDN Writers Room is brought to you by Keeneland.
00:15:53Now, as we speak, the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale is underway.
00:15:59And guys, it's 70 degrees in Lexington, Kentucky.
00:16:02Who'd have thought? It runs through November the 16th, followed by the standalone Horses
00:16:07of Racing Age Sale on November the 17th.
00:16:10The catalog offers 3,569 weanlings, broodmares and racing or broodmare prospects with
00:16:18standouts like grade one winners Caravelle, Delica and classic producer Puka.
00:16:24Check out the updates on november.keeneland.com.
00:16:28We'll be right back after this message from Keeneland.
00:16:34At Keeneland, a horse will always be measured in hands.
00:16:41Hands that see, that sense, that speak.
00:16:48Hands that hold our sport to a higher standard, not for our sake, but for theirs.
00:16:57For the love of the horse for generations to come.
00:17:01In this week's edition of First Things First, I scoured the backside.
00:17:05I was looking for Bill Mott to talk about his three Breeders' Cup winners.
00:17:10Bill had already gone, Elite Power, Cody's Wish had already gone.
00:17:13But I'll tell you who I caught up with.
00:17:15It was George Krikorian with his homebred, Just FYI.
00:17:26Do you like your carrots cut?
00:17:28Yeah.
00:17:29He's got the carrots.
00:17:31Let's see how we're going to eat.
00:17:40So this is the day after.
00:17:42She made us all the money.
00:17:43She made you the winner of homebred to win the Breeders' Cup.
00:17:47How was that for you?
00:17:49Oh, it was fantastic.
00:17:53It's wonderful.
00:17:54She came out of the race feeling so good and happy.
00:17:59So we're grateful and looking forward to taking a break now for a few months.
00:18:05And then we'll be looking forward to what happens in the springtime.
00:18:08Have you got ahead of yourself and thought about a three-year-old on the
00:18:12road to the Kentucky Oaks?
00:18:14Because you know, everyone's thinking about it already.
00:18:16No, I'm not thinking about any specific races right now.
00:18:19Although, of course, those are very special races that will be coming up.
00:18:23But, you know, I guess she'll be telling us where she wants to go in the
00:18:27springtime.
00:18:31They'll have a massive day with three wins and a huge day.
00:18:35The boys already left to go off to their new stud career.
00:18:39But what about Molly Douglas?
00:18:41What's the plan with her now?
00:18:44She came out of the race really good.
00:18:46Unfortunately, she had a very bad post position.
00:18:48And she just didn't get a good shot yesterday.
00:18:53But she came out feeling fantastic.
00:18:56So, you know, we'll talk to Bill and see what he recommends moving forward.
00:19:01Will she give him a greeting chat or are you going to meet me?
00:19:04What's the plan?
00:19:05We'll get the number of sessions in May as well.
00:19:07All right, great.
00:19:16Really great to hear from George, guys.
00:19:18And just FYI, she only likes her carrots in little, small increments.
00:19:23But she's going to be a champion.
00:19:25So why not?
00:19:26All right, let's move along now to the Saturday Breeders' Cup races, starting off with the Dirt Mile.
00:19:31We've already talked about we all know Cody's Wish wins this by a nose over National Treasure.
00:19:36I tried to beat this horse.
00:19:37I still don't think he's at his best around two turns, even though he's won two two-term Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile races now.
00:19:45But he just won it on class, if you ask me.
00:19:47He's just a very good horse.
00:19:49And I think that's what prevailed in the end.
00:19:52National Treasure, who I didn't like one bit, I didn't give him a prayer, ran a huge race for Bob Baffert, the Preakness winner, who hadn't done much of anything.
00:20:03And then how about this?
00:20:04There's an inquiry.
00:20:05Are the stewards going to be the Grinches that stole the great story of Cody's Wish?
00:20:12Well, not only did they not take him down, there was no question that the horse shouldn't have come down.
00:20:17It was, if anything, I think National Treasure caused more of the problems than Cody's Wish.
00:20:23I want to talk a little bit later on the show about the horse in the year picture and the older Dirt Mile champion, which Cody's Wish is obviously part of the equation.
00:20:31But, Randy, a game race, one of many very exciting races.
00:20:36But Cody's Wish, like I said, he's just all class.
00:20:39Two nose victories now in the Dirt Mile.
00:20:41Yeah, look, the stars may have been aligned for Cody's Wish because of the Cody's Wish story.
00:20:46The data, I thought, was all against him.
00:20:50I agree with you that he was the kind of horse just on paper from a handicapping perspective that you probably had to try to take a shot against.
00:20:59He was coming off two disappointing performances, even though he did win in his most recent start.
00:21:04It was still, by everybody's knowledge, a disappointing effort.
00:21:09He's better around one turn than he is around two turns.
00:21:13There was a lack of pace in the race on paper.
00:21:15It didn't turn out that way because National Treasure exploded out of the starting gate and set a realistic pace.
00:21:21And also, this was the coup de grace for me before the race, the fact that it was run in Southern California and how Southern California horses usually benefit on dirt more than East Coast horses.
00:21:32Now we know, after watching all the dirt races at the Breeders' Cup, that the East Coast horses actually, if they didn't have the advantage, they certainly didn't have a disadvantage at the Breeders' Cup.
00:21:43Now, whether it's because they added cushion to the track because of safety considerations that made Santa Anita play a little bit more like an Eastern racetrack,
00:21:55or maybe the California horses just aren't, you know, the quality of racing is just not as good as we're accustomed to seeing it.
00:22:02But for whatever reason, East Coast horses did great.
00:22:06And Cody Swish did his thing.
00:22:09You know, I mean, I guess the big question was, if not Cody Swish, then who?
00:22:15I really liked Practical Move before he met an untimely demise.
00:22:19But, you know, there wasn't much else in there.
00:22:22National Treasure ran huge, Zoe, but Cody Swish again pulled it out.
00:22:28Let's face it, he was supposed to win that race.
00:22:31Whether you loved him or didn't like him, his class and all his races before towered over the rest of the field.
00:22:38National Treasure stepped up to the mark and ran a very big race indeed.
00:22:42And I think the whole grandstand would have booed National Treasure into the winner's circle if the Breeders' had indeed taken Cody Swish down.
00:22:50I saw Bill Mott walking down to the winner's circle down the stairs like he did, followed by NBC.
00:22:55And Bill looked at me because he wasn't quite sure initially.
00:22:58And he's like, right, right.
00:23:00He like puts his hands up like like a foot, like we got it right.
00:23:03And I'm like, yeah, yeah, you got it.
00:23:05And then when he gets to the bottom of the stairs, they hang the inquiry sign.
00:23:09And I'm like, oh, my God, what are they looking at?
00:23:11They're not taking him down.
00:23:13And then I managed to run into Bill again.
00:23:15And I kept running into him that day, going down the elevator for the next race.
00:23:20And I'm like, Phil, they were never taking your horse down.
00:23:22He goes, God, could you imagine if they took us down?
00:23:26He said, Cody's a big horse.
00:23:27When that horse came out and bumped him, National Treasure, he leaned back into him.
00:23:31And that's what he did.
00:23:33They had an argy bargy leaning race.
00:23:35I don't think he was ever coming down, but it sure did make you wonder
00:23:39because the inquiry sign was hung for it was probably seven minutes, wasn't it?
00:23:44It was a long, long time.
00:23:46So he wins the race.
00:23:48National Treasure runs a very big race to be second.
00:23:50Skippy Longstockings ran a big race to be third.
00:23:54But it was always, always going to be Cody's wish for sure.
00:24:00Cody's wish for the second straight year wins the Breeders' Cup dirt mile.
00:24:03Next up on the card, the Philly and Mayer turf.
00:24:06On paper, it looked like this was going to be between the two European stars,
00:24:10Inspirl and Warm Heart.
00:24:12Inspirl going from a mile to the mile and a quarter.
00:24:15She had never gone this far.
00:24:16Warm Heart turning back from the mile and a half to a mile and a quarter.
00:24:20So both, neither one were perfect fits for the distance.
00:24:25But it didn't matter at the end as both of them ran exceptional races.
00:24:28Inspirl gets the job done by a neck over Warm Heart.
00:24:31And Frankie DeTore gets his Breeders' Cup win.
00:24:34But a couple of things, what a turn of foot we saw from Inspirl.
00:24:39We saw from a bunch of European horses.
00:24:41That just ability in the last 16th of a mile to just explode.
00:24:46And I'm not so sure we really see that from the American turf horses.
00:24:49But and how about John Gosden?
00:24:52He won a race at the first ever Breeders' Cup back in 1984.
00:24:58Thirty nine years later, he wins again with a European shipper
00:25:04and a horse that had a tremendous campaign.
00:25:07But the longevity of Gosden and what he's accomplished, Zoe, is just,
00:25:12I think, tremendous.
00:25:14When he said he was going to bring Inspirl over,
00:25:18there was nobody more excited than me to see her in the flesh
00:25:23because she was fantastic.
00:25:25I laugh with Frankie.
00:25:26I said, and she looks great.
00:25:28It's like you think because her coat's long, her mane is long.
00:25:32He goes, she's a little witchy out on the track.
00:25:34He goes, but yeah, I love her. I love her.
00:25:36She looked great all week long for Gosden.
00:25:39No question about the turn up in distance for her.
00:25:42Like I said, you could ride a bicycle down that hill and never have to pedal
00:25:45and you'd still get to the eighth pole.
00:25:47So the distance was not going to be a problem.
00:25:49She came home in twenty two point six eight,
00:25:52the final quarter of a mile.
00:25:54She was rocking.
00:25:55She was ninth by one length at the eighth pole.
00:25:59She has got a turn of foot like no others.
00:26:02Looks like she's going to stay in training.
00:26:04Thanks for that, Mr.
00:26:05Randy Moss, and we'll get to see her next year.
00:26:08But she truly was terrific.
00:26:10She gave Frankel his very first Breeders' Cup winner.
00:26:13Now, there's only been five progeny of Frankel to ever run in the Breeders' Cup,
00:26:18but she did get one out for Frankel.
00:26:20And I thought she was good.
00:26:22Moira ran a huge race and Warmheart ran a big race as well.
00:26:26So if you were trying to make any money on that race,
00:26:29maybe if you teamed up with Moira as well and had the one, two, three.
00:26:33But it was always going to be in Spiral and Warmheart.
00:26:36Frankie DeTore's fifteenth Breeders' Cup win.
00:26:39In Spiral, I've had ten straight races at the one mile distance.
00:26:42Now, next year, she may be more of a mile and a quarter horse
00:26:44than she is a mile horse the way she ran at Santa Anita.
00:26:47Look, the concerns for in Spiral were that she'd never run a mile
00:26:50and a quarter before.
00:26:51John Gosden said, don't be concerned.
00:26:54She'll handle a mile and a quarter just fine.
00:26:56The concerns with Warmheart was that she was dropping
00:26:59from a mile and a half down to a mile and a quarter.
00:27:02Aiden O'Brien said, she's got tactical speed.
00:27:05We're going to get the jump on in Spiral.
00:27:06We're going to ride her forward.
00:27:08And if anybody beats us at the wire, it's going to be a horse
00:27:11that just gets the mile and a quarter better than we do.
00:27:13And those are the two horses it came down to.
00:27:15It played out just exactly like that.
00:27:17And in Spiral was just the better of the two.
00:27:20And one of these European matchups that sometimes happen at the Breeders' Cup
00:27:25that that really is what makes the Breeders' Cup so special.
00:27:28Philly and Mayor Sprint was next up on the card.
00:27:30When Echo Zulu got hurt, that really took a lot of starch out of this race.
00:27:34And Goodnight Olive was going to win this,
00:27:37unless Society freaked out again, like she seems to do every so often.
00:27:43But as we had talked about on the show last week, you know,
00:27:45from a class standpoint, Goodnight Olive, you know, just steady grade one competitor.
00:27:51You know, there really wasn't much in the way of competition.
00:27:53I don't have a whole lot to say about this.
00:27:54She was a very logical pick, I thought.
00:27:57She wins for the New York contingent again for Chad Brown
00:28:00fairly easily by two and three quarter lengths
00:28:03and another back to back Breeders' Cup winner.
00:28:06Yeah, I mean, the only dicey moment for for her was at the post position draw
00:28:10when she got an inside post after what happened to her at Churchill Lounge
00:28:14on Derby Week in the Derby City Distaff when she got trapped in behind horses
00:28:18and couldn't get out.
00:28:19That was about the only way she was going to lose the race.
00:28:21Right. But once Irad Ortiz managed to work his way, it was a flabby and Pratt.
00:28:25Zoe, who wrote her?
00:28:27Irad. OK, that's what I thought.
00:28:29Once I read, I have to ask other people about jockeys.
00:28:33Once Irad got her off the rail and got her into clear sailing, it was over.
00:28:39It was absolutely over at that point.
00:28:41She'll just like some of the other horses we've seen, just like Cody's Wish
00:28:46and some more we'll talk about.
00:28:48She'll now be retired, sold and retired.
00:28:51But it's nice to see a back to back winner like that deliver.
00:28:56Yeah, she was absolutely terrific and no surprise that she won the race.
00:29:00Chad Brown won two Breeders' Cup races.
00:29:02She was much, much the best and that that's all you can say.
00:29:05It didn't she could have been breaking from the 20 hole.
00:29:08It really wasn't going to matter with Echo Zulu being taken out of the equation.
00:29:14She was just much the best.
00:29:15She towered over the rest.
00:29:17All right. We come up next on the Breeders' Cup mile.
00:29:20And this if there's any competition or voting for the most exciting
00:29:24Breeders' Cup race of the two days, this one wins easily.
00:29:28And boy, Godolphin, you got to give these guys credit.
00:29:32They bring these horses over and they run.
00:29:34The we had the interesting it was Godolphin versus Godolphin,
00:29:37but different trainers, Charlie Appleby with Master of the Seas
00:29:41and Saeed Bensour with Maj.
00:29:43Both of them look great on paper.
00:29:45Maj looked like she was going to get home for Saeed Bensour.
00:29:48But you're talking about that turn of foot that some of these horses have.
00:29:52Master of the Seasons, the chart was 11th
00:29:56out of 13 horses with an eighth of a mile to go.
00:30:00She had two horses beat with an eighth of a mile go.
00:30:02She ran down her stablemate for if Godolphin won two exacted to win
00:30:08in the closest race of the day.
00:30:10And, you know, we thought going into the well, originally she drew
00:30:14he drew 14, turned out to be 13.
00:30:17But that wasn't a big deal.
00:30:19He was not wide on the first turn, was was wide on the second turn.
00:30:22Had a tougher trip than Maj.
00:30:24But a beautiful ride by William Buick and Godolphin.
00:30:28Obviously, Zoe, when they come to the Breeders' Cup, they mean business.
00:30:32Oh, yeah. I mean, I have to say a tiny.
00:30:36Well, actually, most of me was rooting for Saeed.
00:30:38Sorry. Sorry, Charlie.
00:30:40But you get plenty of chances.
00:30:41I would have loved to have seen Saeed win it with Maj.
00:30:46But not meant to be.
00:30:48Master of the Seasons got a terrific ride by Buick.
00:30:50It just shows why he is the number one rider for Godolphin.
00:30:53He just weaved his way through there and just rode him absolutely brilliantly.
00:30:58But my heart was going out to Saeed, who was one of the first ones
00:31:02to arrive here at Santa Anita.
00:31:04So I'm driving around on the golf court.
00:31:06I really I didn't honestly I didn't really like Maj going into the race.
00:31:10I was just rooting for Saeed.
00:31:13She ran a terrific race.
00:31:14I questioned the seven eights work on the dirt because she did not look that great.
00:31:18But he knows his horse.
00:31:19She came back and trained very nicely over the turf course.
00:31:23But yeah, my heart goes out to Saeed.
00:31:26But hey, what a terrific run by Casa Creed as well.
00:31:29Bill Mott's horses ran lights out all weekend.
00:31:35Casa Creed running third there, the seven year old.
00:31:39You know, he came up against two monsters.
00:31:41Yeah, there is a rivalry within the Godolphin Empire
00:31:46between the Charlie Appleby camp and the Saeed Bin Sarour camp.
00:31:50It's not as much from the Appleby side
00:31:53because they're getting all the good horses as it is from the other side.
00:31:58Because Saeed, as we know, used to get all the 18 for Godolphin,
00:32:01and now he's kind of left just to make do with whatever he gets.
00:32:05So it would have meant a lot more, I think, to Saeed to win the race.
00:32:08And it did for Appleby.
00:32:09Appleby was totally classy after the race about the whole thing.
00:32:13But can you imagine a one two finish like that about the ride?
00:32:18It was one of the thing I want to mention about this that, you know,
00:32:21from the 13 post position out of 13.
00:32:25OK, it really I mean, we talk about this all the time.
00:32:27We see it all the time.
00:32:29But Buick, if he had just set on Master,
00:32:33the seas coming out of the gate and not gone forward or not taken back,
00:32:38then he probably finds himself in the middle of the pack
00:32:40where most of the horses are.
00:32:42And he gets caught five wide around the first turn.
00:32:44And he has absolutely no chance at that juncture.
00:32:48So the options were to go forward or to take way back.
00:32:52If they went forward.
00:32:54Master of the Seas is not the kind of horse that you can
00:32:58you can turn on and then turn off.
00:33:01He's he can get extremely keen when he's given his cue.
00:33:05So Buick knew that he couldn't go forward.
00:33:07The only choice at that point was to grab him coming out of the gate
00:33:11and take him way back and hope to heck that there was enough pace in the race
00:33:16to be able to make that strategy work.
00:33:18And he was next to last early because of the post position draw.
00:33:23And fortunately for Master of the Seas,
00:33:26there was a horse in the race called Wynn Carnelian from Japan.
00:33:30Whether the horse was doing it for the other Japanese or Songline,
00:33:33who knows? We don't speak Japanese.
00:33:36But it the pace ended up being exceptionally fast.
00:33:41Six furlongs 109.12.
00:33:44And that helped set up Master of the Seas late kick,
00:33:47which, by the way, was a final quarter mile.
00:33:50In just a touch under 22 and one
00:33:54and a final furlong in 10 and four,
00:33:58that horse was absolutely flying
00:34:01the last eighth of a mile to get up and win in the last jump.
00:34:04Now, as far as who had the best trip, you can make a case
00:34:08that Master of the Seas, given the pace scenario,
00:34:12actually had a better trip than Maj.
00:34:14Because Maj was a length and a half to two lengths behind 109.12.
00:34:20Whereas Master of the Seas was back benefiting from the fast pace
00:34:24back in the pack. Yes, he had a little bit of a wider trip.
00:34:26But for Maj to hang in as toughly as she did
00:34:30after attending the pace that she did,
00:34:33credit to both horses for running exceptional races.
00:34:37Reader's Cup, Distaff, Idiomatic.
00:34:40What a warrior this horse is.
00:34:42This is a Bill Finley kind of horse.
00:34:44She runs and she runs and she shows up every time.
00:34:48None of these four starts a year crap for her.
00:34:51She's run nine times this year, has won eight of them.
00:34:55This wasn't was
00:34:57nowhere near her most impressive performance of the year.
00:35:00She just kind of was grinding.
00:35:03But a very smart ride by Florent Giroux.
00:35:05We had all talked about, you know, there's going to be this big pace
00:35:08meltdown here.
00:35:10And he was really patient.
00:35:12He let randomized go to the front.
00:35:14He stood right behind her a length back length and a half back.
00:35:19You know, she proved that she doesn't have to have the lead.
00:35:22She got the job done a blanket finish.
00:35:26But, you know, again, this is a type of horse that, you know, you got to admire
00:35:30for the way she just shows up every single time for us.
00:35:33Five straight wins now, three straight grade ones.
00:35:37And I think a legitimate horse of the year contender.
00:35:40So I mean, we'll have your top three and we'll get to those a little bit later.
00:35:44I mean, already, Brad Cox has given her a big old shot for horse of the year.
00:35:48There's no question she's a win machine.
00:35:51But until really the last couple of races,
00:35:53she's been running against much inferior quality.
00:35:56I mentioned that she had last week a head only a mother could love.
00:35:59Well, she used that.
00:36:00She won by half a length and a head.
00:36:02She got a terrific ride under under Florent Giroux,
00:36:07who, you know, won this race once more.
00:36:09But she was just the best.
00:36:11She's a grinder. She is a grinder.
00:36:13That's what she does.
00:36:14A mile and a quarter is her distance.
00:36:16She just gallops along.
00:36:17She makes now her sire Curlin the all time winning sire
00:36:21for Breeders' Cup runners with eight.
00:36:24He had three last year on the twenty twenty two Breeders' Cup card,
00:36:28and he had three this year as well.
00:36:30So we were drinking to Curlin and justify.
00:36:32I'll have another sip of my Perrier right now.
00:36:34But it was oh, it was a terrific Breeders' Cup for her.
00:36:40And she was the best of the rest.
00:36:43I mean, idiomatic, randomized
00:36:46La Devita outrun her odds.
00:36:49There was really no one.
00:36:50I mean, maybe a damn man.
00:36:52I was disappointing in search results.
00:36:54I know Chad Brown was very, very high on search results,
00:36:57but Bob had to be disappointed in a damn man.
00:37:00Did she have any major excuses?
00:37:03Not that I saw.
00:37:04I saw either.
00:37:05She just didn't get the same kind of trip that she'd been getting.
00:37:07And that was the concern going in for idiomatic as well.
00:37:11It was Brad Cox's concern.
00:37:12I mean, we had talked about it, about how she'd been getting these soft,
00:37:16sanitary early leads.
00:37:17And now you had Hoosier Philly with blinkers in the rail
00:37:20and they were going to blast off.
00:37:21He had randomized with all that speed.
00:37:23You had a dare manner with all that speed
00:37:25that it was going to be a completely different world for idiomatic.
00:37:28And she was compromised by the pace.
00:37:32She only ran a 96 buyer speed figure as opposed to the triple digit
00:37:36buyer speed figures than she usually did.
00:37:38So she was vulnerable.
00:37:40Actually, the way the race turned out, she was vulnerable,
00:37:44given the way the pace scenario developed.
00:37:47It's just that the horses that we expected
00:37:50that could capitalize on that didn't show up.
00:37:53Search results didn't run nearly as well as she had been running.
00:37:58And as Chad Brown thought she would run.
00:38:00And Clary Eyre, who you would have expected on her best races
00:38:05to really come rolling and turn in one of those triple digit buyer
00:38:09speed figures, just looks like she's probably not as good now
00:38:14at the end of her career as she was earlier this year.
00:38:17So that left idiomatic fighting as she always does to the wire
00:38:21and being a getting a hard earned but well-deserved win.
00:38:25OK, the next race on the card was a turf and then the classic.
00:38:28We're going to wait to get back to those
00:38:30because I want to save those for the last segment.
00:38:33So the next race that came up was the Breeders' Cup turf sprint.
00:38:37No balls. And yes, the NBC crew, you were like naughty little boys
00:38:41with that that segment about making fun of that name.
00:38:45It's actually kind of cute, Randy. I liked it.
00:38:48But let's go then to the final race, the sprint.
00:38:50And I have to tell you, I don't know how you guys felt being at the track.
00:38:53But as a TV viewer, I found the last two races
00:38:57incredibly anticlimactic after the classic.
00:39:01I mean, you just saw the classic and it's OK.
00:39:04This has been a great Breeders' Cup day.
00:39:06And, you know, we saw championship performances.
00:39:09You know, all these good horses showed up.
00:39:10There was, you know, thankfully no incidents on the track,
00:39:14no injuries or anything like that.
00:39:15You know, Zoe, I was ready to start drinking then.
00:39:19But there's two races left.
00:39:20Now, I understand.
00:39:22I understand the college football rules today.
00:39:24I understand that NBC
00:39:27had obligations to the Big Ten, but, you know, to turn
00:39:30and have to turn to Peacock to watch Randy and the team.
00:39:32It was it was just I don't know.
00:39:33Like I said, it just it made the last two races kind of blah to me.
00:39:37You know, when we get back to the East Coast,
00:39:41I'm sure we'll have the same thing next year when we get back to the East Coast.
00:39:44I assume Keeneland will be the next time.
00:39:45There'll be one in the eastern time zone.
00:39:47Maybe we can get back to having the classic as the last race.
00:39:52Lee Power, boy, is he a good horse?
00:39:55It's funny. I wrote the column in the TDN.
00:39:57I listed five horses as candidates for horse of the year,
00:40:00and I didn't include him.
00:40:02And somebody wrote me says, how can you not include this horse?
00:40:04Look at the year he had, you know, all the accomplishments
00:40:08in this rivalry with Gunite.
00:40:10You know, they ran four times against one another.
00:40:12He shows up every time he's got the best of the horses running.
00:40:17I think we're going to talk a little bit later about him
00:40:19being the fastest horse of the week out of the Breeders' Cup.
00:40:22But to me, the reason why nothing against this horse,
00:40:25but the reason why I don't consider him horse of the year candidate
00:40:27is because voters don't vote for sprinters.
00:40:29There has never been a true sprinter in the history of horse of the year
00:40:32when the Eclipse Award started in 1971, who won horse of the year title.
00:40:36Forgo got it a couple of times.
00:40:38He did sprint, but he did a lot more than that.
00:40:40So I don't want to take anything away from Elite Power,
00:40:42but a huge Breeders' Cup for Judd Mott winning with Idiomatic and Elite Power.
00:40:48Now, Elite Power goes off to Judd Mott, where I'm sure he will be highly regarded
00:40:52as a sire candidate, Zoe.
00:40:54By Carolyn, right? Drink.
00:41:00Yeah, he was great.
00:41:01And I was I was against him going in there.
00:41:04He just proved what an absolute champion he is and why Bill Mott
00:41:08is one of the best, if not the best, of keeping his horses
00:41:13at the top of their game, along with him and Steve Asmussen.
00:41:17He does a great job with that as well to keep these horses good
00:41:20for as long as they have been good.
00:41:23I mean, these are horses that we know off by heart.
00:41:27We know their form because they've been around for a few years,
00:41:29which is just never happens anymore.
00:41:31So a big applause.
00:41:33We need more Bill Mott in this game to keep these horses going like he keeps them
00:41:37going. And Elite Power once more.
00:41:39All heart. Terrific race by him.
00:41:42No balls was a tough act to follow.
00:41:44But Elite Power ended the Breeders' Cup on a on a very high note.
00:41:50I was against him, too, until I saw the way the track was playing
00:41:56in and that East Coast horses could run just as well as California horses.
00:42:00On paper, it looked like there wasn't a lot of early pace in there
00:42:04and at least by Breeders' Cup sprint standards.
00:42:07And there wasn't. They went the first quarter in twenty one point nine nine
00:42:11by Breeders' Cup sprint standards.
00:42:12That's very slow.
00:42:14And I thought Speedboat Beach being on the lead, California Speed,
00:42:19California Track, you know, he would play to his advantage.
00:42:22But when you saw that California horses had zero advantage,
00:42:27then it became Elite Power as definitely the horse to beat.
00:42:30Elite Power versus Gunite, part four.
00:42:33And it turned out the way three of them have.
00:42:36Elite Power is just a better horse.
00:42:38And he got back to that same form that he showed in Saudi Arabia,
00:42:41really, when he blew away Gunite.
00:42:44Frankie DeTorre was on him that day and just raved about him.
00:42:47And this is just a really, really top notch horse.
00:42:51But horse of the year?
00:42:53No, I agree.
00:42:56Katie and Ryder's Room brought to you by the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association.
00:43:00Disappointment in the turf sprint with the two Pennsylvania
00:43:04breds, Roses for Debra, who I really liked, and the defending champion Caravelle.
00:43:09Neither one of them ran up to their usual standards,
00:43:12but Caravelle is now set to star on a different stage.
00:43:16She will sell in book one of Keeneland November this week,
00:43:20along with her dam ZZZoomZoom, who is in foal to justify.
00:43:25And another reminder, I tell you this every week, but it's important.
00:43:28Don't forget to justify. There you go, Zoey.
00:43:31Don't forget the last leg of the one million dollar two year old P.A.
00:43:34sired P.A. bred stallion series.
00:43:36It's December twenty seventh to two hundred thousand dollar races
00:43:40at a mile and 70 yards.
00:43:41P.A. bred dot com is the website to check to see if your two year old is nominated
00:43:46or you can email info at P.A.
00:43:53P.A. bred, I think we've built a brand at this point.
00:43:57The state of Pennsylvania has the best breeders program
00:44:00in the entire United States.
00:44:02Angel of Empire wins the Arkansas Derby and wins it clear.
00:44:06Caravelle in the Breeders' Cup turf sprint.
00:44:10Pennsylvania and the P.A.
00:44:11have the best state bred program in the country, bar none.
00:44:15The best breeders awards and stallion awards in the country.
00:44:19Deedee and Ryder's room also brought to you by the fast sires at Windstar Farm.
00:44:24Before we get into the fastest course of the week, the sire at Windstar
00:44:28we're going to talk about this week.
00:44:30Life is good.
00:44:31Whose first info mares will sell this week at Fasig-Tipton
00:44:35November and at Keeneland November.
00:44:37Life is good, of course, is the fastest son so far of Into Mischief.
00:44:41And with one hundred ninety two mares bred in his first book,
00:44:4570 of those were graded stakes winners or graded stakes producers.
00:44:48Twenty five grade one winners or producers.
00:44:51What a book of mares he got.
00:44:53So it's safe to say that after the sales, we and Windstar Farm
00:44:56will be saying life is indeed good.
00:44:59Fastest source of the week.
00:45:00We just talked about it.
00:45:02Elite Power got a career best one.
00:45:04Eleven buyer speed for that win over rival Gunite.
00:45:09And now he can strut all the way to the breeding shed.
00:45:13That's where Elite Power is headed.
00:45:15Fastest source of the week.
00:45:17Fastest source we've seen this year.
00:45:19Elite Power.
00:45:26The Green Group is a tax consulting and advisory firm,
00:45:34as Lynn Green will tell you, that specializes in the thoroughbred
00:45:38industry and specializes in saving you money on taxes.
00:45:43They're also the sponsor of our weekly Green Group
00:45:45Guest of the Week segment.
00:45:46For more information on the Green Group, you can go to www.greenco.com.
00:45:53And we welcome in now the Green Group Guest of the Week.
00:45:56And we got a special one for you this week.
00:45:58It's Mark Cornett.
00:45:59He's the one half of C2 Racing, along with his brother, Clint.
00:46:03And they, of course, are the part owners of White Aberio,
00:46:06the winner of the Breeders' Cup Classic.
00:46:08And Mark, thanks so much for joining us.
00:46:11After the races, Rick Dutrow had talked about a campaign for next year.
00:46:16I've seen you guys say on Twitter, just hold on, slow down a little bit.
00:46:20We're not exactly sure where we're going.
00:46:22So can we get the latest on what the plans are for White Aberio in 2024?
00:46:28Sure. Well, we're definitely keeping them in training.
00:46:31The main goal is going to definitely be the Saudi Cup.
00:46:34You know, like I've said, told many people, you know, if we were designed
00:46:38to race for this horse one turn at a mile and an eighth,
00:46:41put the 20 million behind it, you'll probably find White Aberio in that race.
00:46:46And, you know, that race, timing wise is a question mark.
00:46:50It's about four months, roughly.
00:46:52And, you know, the only thing we really got to figure out
00:46:55is how to get him there at a peak.
00:46:57Do we run him in between?
00:46:58Do we send him over there to acclimate?
00:47:01You know, and that's something Rick and I got to talk about and discuss.
00:47:04But what's the best way to win that race?
00:47:07So, Mark, it looks like you guys had a great time out at the Breeders' Cup,
00:47:10which is to be expected.
00:47:12You win a six million dollar race.
00:47:13What was the experience like?
00:47:14Well, it was great.
00:47:15I mean, you know, the the key thing for us was the culmination
00:47:20of basically a year and a half after we bought this horse
00:47:23out of the Maiden Special Weight Race and seeing what we saw on the horse,
00:47:28the game plan we mapped out for the horse,
00:47:31everything basically culminating in the win in the Breeders' Cup.
00:47:34Very satisfying.
00:47:36You know, that's a big part of this business, not only the bottom line
00:47:40P&L, but it's also your opinion,
00:47:43getting the horse to the races you believe in the horse and and and,
00:47:48you know, win in the races you think you should win with a with a horse.
00:47:51So we were lucky enough to get the right trip in the Breeders' Cup Classic.
00:47:55And obviously the whole team involved should be celebrated.
00:48:01And Mark, and during the middle of the year, your stable had to change course.
00:48:05As we all know, Safi Joseph ran into some problems around the Kentucky Derby time,
00:48:10and it wasn't clear whether or not he was going to be able to run horses
00:48:13in New York where you were pointing him way to bury out to the Met Mile.
00:48:17Take us through the decision to hire Rick Dutrow.
00:48:20Did you consider anyone else at the end of the day? Why Rick?
00:48:25Well, I had Rick on my mind all along.
00:48:27I've known him for a long time.
00:48:28OK, and Paul Pomp and I were really good friends.
00:48:32I've put numerous horses in Rick's barn
00:48:35and some partnerships with Paul had a lot of success.
00:48:38I was lucky enough to own the barn with Rick
00:48:41even back when Michelle was galloping for him that long ago.
00:48:44And, you know, I know what a good horseman he is.
00:48:48OK, he's one of the best and top five in the world, in my opinion.
00:48:53And he's trying to rebuild his stable at the time.
00:48:55And we're going through what we are going through with
00:48:59basically being forced by Churchill and Niren to make it a trainer switch.
00:49:04You know, it's hard enough to manage these horses,
00:49:08you know, into races without having politics
00:49:11and racetracks and vets, state vets and everybody else
00:49:16try to step in and make you do things you don't want to do.
00:49:19And really, in reality, what's not best for the horse.
00:49:22So, you know, we took what we thought was the right move.
00:49:26It was a bold move.
00:49:27I don't know too many people that would have done what we did, if any.
00:49:31Nobody else has done it up to this point.
00:49:34And, you know, we have all the confidence in the world
00:49:38and Rick and his abilities.
00:49:40And and, you know, it all worked out.
00:49:42So we had a very short list, two people.
00:49:46And I talked to Rick and we mapped out a game plan.
00:49:49I told him exactly what I wanted to accomplish with this horse.
00:49:52And he was fully on board, told him what I thought the strengths
00:49:55and weaknesses of the horse were, which lined up with his,
00:49:59you know, what he does best.
00:50:00And the rest is history.
00:50:02I believe Chad Brown was the other choice.
00:50:05I was thinking about Chad,
00:50:08but he's got Zan in at the barn at the time. Right.
00:50:13And, you know, that was a that was a factor that we considered.
00:50:18You know, we want somebody that that
00:50:22I don't want to use the word hungry, but that would pay
00:50:25a lot closer, closer attention to the horse every day.
00:50:29Hands on. I'm a big believer in that.
00:50:32And that that's that's why we chose Rick,
00:50:35not only because of his horsemanship skills,
00:50:39but because, you know, his situation he was in.
00:50:43Now, you talked about his situation.
00:50:45Obviously, you were aware at the time that picking him
00:50:48was somewhat of a controversial move on your part.
00:50:50Did that concern you at all?
00:50:52No, I don't care what other people think.
00:50:54I know what he is.
00:50:58You know, I know exactly what kind of trainer he is.
00:51:00I know what kind of person he is.
00:51:02You know, I've spent
00:51:04hundreds of hours, months with him, OK, inside the barn.
00:51:08So I don't care what other people's opinions that don't know anything are.
00:51:12So he comes to New York for the Met Mile and he runs OK,
00:51:15but he wasn't the same way to burial that showed up in the Whitney,
00:51:19who was so good.
00:51:20And of course, the same way to burial who won the Breeders' Cup Classic.
00:51:23What happened in that transition?
00:51:25How did he go from a boy to a man
00:51:28in within a few short weeks and go from,
00:51:31you know, sort of a horse that a lot of people, you know,
00:51:34wouldn't have had on any of their top ten list to a horse
00:51:37that wins the Breeders' Cup Classic?
00:51:39Well, I mean, if you really go back and look at this horse, his transition
00:51:42started roughly in May of his four year old year.
00:51:49I went down to Churchill and so on, and that's when we were going to run
00:51:52on the Churchill Downs Handicap against Cody's Wish.
00:51:54And that's when Churchill scratches out of the race.
00:51:57And this horse, I hadn't seen him in 45 days, 60 days before that.
00:52:02And I couldn't believe my eyes on the physical maturity of this horse,
00:52:06his shoulder.
00:52:08He probably gained 200 pounds, his hip.
00:52:10And that's when he was with Safi.
00:52:12So there was a physical transformation into a from a boy to a man,
00:52:17really during the middle of his four year old year, which is what you want to see.
00:52:21You know, people nowadays, they don't get to see that too much
00:52:24because these horses get retired as three year olds.
00:52:27And, you know, this horse here,
00:52:31we're going to keep him in training so you can hopefully see
00:52:34some more maturity along the way.
00:52:35But he just seemed to blossom in May and he's always had the mind.
00:52:40So that was never an issue.
00:52:42Physically, he matured at the right time.
00:52:46And, you know, the Pegasus race that he ran is still a mystery to us.
00:52:50Why he ran that bad.
00:52:51Sometimes in this business, you just don't know.
00:52:54And that's when I decided to cut him back.
00:52:56Let's just go back to some basics here and cut him back to the seven eights.
00:53:00Let him get his feet under him.
00:53:01Let him get some confidence.
00:53:03Let's get a powerful race in him.
00:53:05You know, we knew he would like one turn.
00:53:07And and he did that.
00:53:09They ran one hundred and three buyer number with Safi at Gulfstream.
00:53:13And that's when everything started to happen that we had to make the switch.
00:53:18So, you know, you go back to the mile,
00:53:22which was the first race Rick had.
00:53:24I mean, he only had him three and a half weeks, basically.
00:53:27And, you know, we thought the outcome of that race
00:53:30could have been a little different with a little different ride, too.
00:53:32I mean, you know, he got he kind of got broke, sharp,
00:53:37stumbled out of the gate and and kind of got covered up behind horses.
00:53:42And he didn't really get to run.
00:53:44You know, his biggest assets is high cruising speed.
00:53:46And he likes to be in the clear and be able to run when we need him to run.
00:53:51So, you know, it's been a gradual progression.
00:53:54And also, if you go back, you know, he ran a ninety six, a ninety nine,
00:53:57a one oh three, a one oh six and a hundred and ten buyer.
00:54:01Those are incremental steps in the development of a horse.
00:54:05It's not like this horse was running eighty five, ninety buyers.
00:54:09And then all of a sudden, Rick Detro got the horse and he's running.
00:54:12And that's not what happened.
00:54:14If you really go back and handicap his running lines, you can see
00:54:17not only in the buyers, but the rag, the thorough graph numbers.
00:54:21These are small incremental improvements,
00:54:24which is what you like to see in a racehorse.
00:54:28And Mark, you guys still have a lot of horses with Saffie.
00:54:31And as you mentioned, this decision was forced upon you
00:54:34by the powers that be in New York and Churchill.
00:54:38So I imagine, you know, there's got to be a part of you that feels for Saffie.
00:54:43You know, it's a very as good a good break.
00:54:45This was for Rick Detro.
00:54:47So it's a tough break for a trainer that you've, you know,
00:54:50had a pretty strong and good relationship with.
00:54:53Yeah. And we still do.
00:54:54Like we got about 16 horses with them.
00:54:56We just gave him a very nice two year old.
00:54:58We paid a lot of money for it.
00:54:59Nike was cold. We're looking forward to running a Gulfstream,
00:55:02hopefully going through the same series of races.
00:55:04Holy Bull Florida Derby with them.
00:55:06It's a little premature, but we're hoping for that.
00:55:09But as far as Saffie goes, you know,
00:55:12sometimes sometimes in this business, you just don't know anything really in life.
00:55:16You don't know why things happen.
00:55:19And we got caught up in something that happened for a reason.
00:55:22I don't know if it's the Rick Detro reason.
00:55:24I don't know if it's a wide a barrio reason.
00:55:26But, you know, Saffie's handled this strictly professional.
00:55:29He's very professional.
00:55:32He understood the situation now because he understands the management of a horse.
00:55:37He understands the corner we were backed into.
00:55:40And he wants what's best for the horse himself.
00:55:43He wants to see the horse succeed and be managed correctly.
00:55:47So, you know, it was never anything negative,
00:55:51anything with Saffie other than him rooting for us and the horse.
00:55:57And he handled it as good and classy as anybody could possibly handle it.
00:56:02So Rick takes him out to Santa Anita extra early to acclimate,
00:56:06which obviously turned out to be a winning move.
00:56:09But once he got out there, we were hearing all sorts of things
00:56:13about his foot problems.
00:56:14And there was a day or maybe once or even two occasions
00:56:17where he didn't work on the scheduled day.
00:56:20How bad was that?
00:56:21How worried about that were you were you guys?
00:56:24I wasn't worried about it at all.
00:56:26Rick wasn't worried about it.
00:56:27The Ian wasn't worried about it.
00:56:30The people that worried about it were
00:56:34the situation was out of our control.
00:56:36When you have, you know,
00:56:40that state vets, track vets, breeders, cut vets.
00:56:45There was probably I counted at one time 12 different veterinarians.
00:56:52Going around looking at the horse,
00:56:54we'd have six vets come one day, four vets, different vets come another day.
00:57:00And, you know, what's that was what's concerning to me.
00:57:05And that was completely out of our control.
00:57:07If it was up to us, we wouldn't have missed a work.
00:57:10OK, good enough.
00:57:12OK, the our own vet, Dr.
00:57:15Ryan Carpenter said our horse was fine.
00:57:18Rick Dutchrose said our horse was fine.
00:57:20Our exercise writer said the horse was fine.
00:57:23So, you know, there's a difference between a horse being 100 percent perfect,
00:57:30which a racehorse you're not going to find rarely.
00:57:34Then a horse being racing sound and being able to go out there and work and perform.
00:57:39You saw how he performed.
00:57:41So the concern I had was, are they changing the threshold
00:57:47of of what a sound racehorse is for the Breeders' Cup?
00:57:52That was the concern.
00:57:53The concern was never the condition of the horse ever.
00:57:57So, Mark, you win the race, a culmination of everything.
00:58:01Four times out of five, the winner of the Breeders' Cup Classic is horse of the year.
00:58:07I don't think you are going to get it.
00:58:09I think Cody's wish will beat you for that.
00:58:11And then also, if that's the case, he'll also be named older male champion.
00:58:15If that's the case, are you OK with that?
00:58:18Absolutely. I'm not a voter.
00:58:21And whatever the voters decide is fine.
00:58:24You know, we're going to be around next year so we can take another shot at it
00:58:28next year. And maybe, you know, maybe it's meant to be, like I just said before,
00:58:32for Cody's wish this year for obvious reasons.
00:58:35And maybe ours is next year.
00:58:38All right. Well, Mark, thanks so much for joining us.
00:58:40Congratulations on the Breeders' Cup win.
00:58:43I'll get back. Any chance we see him in the Pegasus World Cup before Saudi?
00:58:47Is that within the realm of possibility?
00:58:49It's it's possible I map out, you know, a series of races for him.
00:58:55And that that's on the list, on the short list.
00:59:00Again, you know, we're going to do what's best for the horse to try to win the cup.
00:59:04So, as you know, all his fans would love to see him race once in the U.S.
00:59:08And they sure love Saudi Arabia.
00:59:10Gulf Stream in Florida. They love this horse.
00:59:12Absolutely. Well, the Florida Derby and Holy Bowl winner, Mark Cornett,
00:59:15congratulations to you and your brother Clint on a job well done.
00:59:19Thanks so much for joining us here on the TDN Writers' Room podcast.
00:59:22And we'll get you again in twenty twenty four.
00:59:25Sure be plenty more to talk about.
00:59:27So good to see a horse of the winner, a winner of the Breeders' Cup Classic
00:59:30actually come back and race the next year.
00:59:32That's something we don't see too often in racing.
00:59:34So it's going to be great to have him back.
00:59:35Thanks so much, Mark. OK, thank you, Bill.
00:59:37Thank you. As the Green Group guest of the week, Mark Cornett
00:59:40will receive a free one hour tax consultation with the Green Group.
00:59:44For more information on how the Green Group can save you taxes, visit
00:59:48www.greenco.com.
00:59:51Be right back after this message from the Green Group.
01:00:19His DJ stable competes at the highest level
01:00:21and has received the game's most prestigious honors.
01:00:24Len Green's in-depth, hands on industry knowledge
01:00:27combined with cutting edge tax saving strategies
01:00:30has produced positive results for his clientele and has made the Green Group
01:00:34the top rated accounting and tax firm in the thoroughbred business.
01:00:38For a confidential and complimentary consultation,
01:00:41contact us at 732-634-5100
01:00:45or visit our website at www.greenco.com.
01:00:50The Green Group, proven strategies to save you taxes.
01:00:54Game winner first got started and ran a very, very impressive maiden race
01:00:58to Del Mar, came back in the Del Mar Futurity
01:01:01and again, won very impressively at 7'4 long and then just continued
01:01:06that unbelievable two year old year, went on to win the American
01:01:09Pharaoh stakes at Santa Anita and then the Breeders' Cup Juvenile
01:01:13and then was obviously crowned two year old champion.
01:01:16Got the precocity to do that, plus the stamina and everything
01:01:21that that his whole family indicates.
01:01:24Do want to remind you that the TDN Writer's Room is, of course,
01:01:28brought to you by Lane's End as well.
01:01:30The Lane's End Stallion of the Week is also a newer stallion up to the mark
01:01:35who concluded his racing career with a very, very game
01:01:40win to the European superstar August Rodin in the Breeders' Cup Turf.
01:01:45Up to the mark retires with three grade one wins, one in the Coolmore Mile
01:01:49at Keeneland, the Manhattan Stakes at Belmont and the Turf Classic Stakes
01:01:53at Churchill.
01:01:54The son of Top Sire, not this time.
01:01:57Up to the mark was on the board in nine of 12 starts
01:02:01and retires with career earnings of just over 2.5 million.
01:02:07So speaking of up to the mark, boy,
01:02:09what a show he and August Rodin put on and others in the turf.
01:02:14This is again, these Breeders' Cup races lived up to the hype one after another.
01:02:19We love this race coming in because you had these all these big European stars,
01:02:23I think, led by August Rodin.
01:02:25And how could our up to the mark, our American horse fare against them?
01:02:29I think most people and listening to you guys on the show, Randy,
01:02:32just believe that, hey, the European horses are better than our horses on the grass.
01:02:36So we're going to get trounced in here.
01:02:38And up to the mark is not going to be able to get it done.
01:02:41OK, so how does the race play out on paper?
01:02:43Up to the mark in reference to no balls.
01:02:48He had balls because he ran really well.
01:02:51But the person that really had balls was how about Ryan Moore's ride on August Rodin?
01:02:57You know, we'll be playing this back 50 years from now when the 90th Breeders' Cup.
01:03:01We talk about the greatest rides in Breeders' Cup history.
01:03:04I mean, this was an insanely good ride the way he cut every inch of ground.
01:03:09There wasn't a hole to go through on the inside.
01:03:12And he just went there, says, damn it, this is going to open up or else it did.
01:03:16Horse got off the rail.
01:03:18So up to the mark, ran a terrific race.
01:03:21So did August Rodin.
01:03:22I think up to the mark was a little bit unlucky not to win.
01:03:25And that that loss probably cost them horse of the year.
01:03:28But the ride also cost Ryan Moore.
01:03:31How about this, $20,800, his fine for in the world of Hisa going one stripe over the strike limit.
01:03:40He hit the horse seven times, only allowed six.
01:03:43But he still takes home about $180,000 for the ride.
01:03:47So I think Ryan can afford the $20,000 fine.
01:03:51But again, a race that lived up to his hype.
01:03:54Two good horses.
01:03:55And here's another thing, too.
01:03:57If you're listening to your Eclipse Award voter, if you vote for August Rodin over up to the mark for for the turf championship, I want your vote taken away from you because I people do this every year.
01:04:08It drives me crazy.
01:04:09Oh, they won the Breeders' Cup.
01:04:10They come in from Europe.
01:04:11They won the Breeders' Cup.
01:04:12It's not about just the one day.
01:04:14It's about the whole year.
01:04:16And what August Rodin did in Europe doesn't matter, even though he beat up to the mark, up to the mark, had the best year.
01:04:24He was the best American turf horse since Bricks and Mortar.
01:04:27So I will please don't vote against him or vote for someone else for the turf championship.
01:04:33Up to the mark deserves all the credit in the world for a terrific performance, Zoe.
01:04:38Absolutely.
01:04:39And I'm delighted to have obviously Bricks and Mortar was a gelding, right?
01:04:43He was a gelding.
01:04:44No, he's not.
01:04:45He's a stallion.
01:04:45He stands in Japan.
01:04:47Oh, OK.
01:04:48But I'm delighted to have him go into Lane's End because we need a good turf horse like him, a quality turf horse that's probably going to take over from Kitten's Joy, who we lost.
01:04:59So I'm excited about up to the mark, August Rodin.
01:05:03I was worried about him going in because he had good races, bad races.
01:05:06But at the end of the day, his class came out.
01:05:09He's a Derby winner.
01:05:10He's now a Breeders' Cup winner.
01:05:12Ryan Moore truly showed why he is the best rider in Europe.
01:05:17I mean, I have to feel sorry for Donna Barton Brothers, who has to interview him post race because he's not the most gregarious person on camera.
01:05:27You've got to really know Ryan, too.
01:05:28He's got a wicked sense of humor, but you have to know him to be able to get that out of him.
01:05:34So he just showed once more how absolutely terrific he is.
01:05:39And yeah, it was the best race.
01:05:40Disappointing effort from Mastodon, disappointing effort from King of Steel.
01:05:45I know perhaps the connections, but I spoke to like the traveling head laughed afterwards.
01:05:50And he said that Frankie rode him great until he pulled him out and he was so wide turning for home.
01:05:54But what are you going to do?
01:05:56He's a giant juggernaut of a horse.
01:05:57You don't want to get stopped.
01:06:00But the best horse in the race just happened to be August Rodin.
01:06:03Yeah. First of all, I agree with you, Bill, that he shouldn't be the turf champion on the basis of one race.
01:06:12He did have a better year than up to the mark winning the Epsom Derby and the Irish Derby, etc.
01:06:18But he did it over there mostly.
01:06:20I've always felt there should be a rule for Eclipse Award voting that a horse has to have at least two races in North America before he can be considered as an Eclipse Award winner in this country.
01:06:29But whatever on that, it's amazing to think back about five or so years ago.
01:06:36And the scuttlebutt from Ireland was that the lads from Coolmore were not entirely pleased with Ryan Moore and they were looking for his replacement as their number one rider.
01:06:49And now fast forward, he is riding better now than he's ever ridden in his life over the past few years.
01:06:55He's just been absolutely sensational.
01:06:58This is just one of many great rides that Ryan Moore has turned in, even at the Breeders' Cup.
01:07:03It's easy to look at this race.
01:07:05And I did initially and say, you know, what a golden trip August Rodin got right up to the mark and unlucky loser.
01:07:14August Rodin gets through every step of the way, just a brilliant, beautiful trip.
01:07:18And you say that to Ryan Moore and Ryan Moore says, no, no, no, no, no.
01:07:24He said it was not a good trip.
01:07:26So I did not want to be that far back.
01:07:29Early in the race, there was a lot of traffic.
01:07:31A lot of horses were getting bounced around a little bit.
01:07:33August Rodin was one of those.
01:07:35He was forced to race farther back than he wanted to.
01:07:40Ryan Moore thought he was in trouble when he was asked if going to the rail was his was plan A.
01:07:47He said it wasn't even plan F.
01:07:49He had to go to the rail at that point because he was so far behind.
01:07:53He felt that he needed some sort of an edge to try to get back into it.
01:07:56He couldn't just circle horses at that point and still hope to win.
01:08:00So great ride, great effort from August Rodin, and he is a little enigmatic.
01:08:08Good race, bad race, as Zoe pointed out.
01:08:10But what a day he picked for what Aiden O'Brien said he felt was the best race of his career.
01:08:15And he's going to be in training next year, apparently.
01:08:19It's not set in stone, but it sounds as if the boys at Coolmore, as Aiden O'Brien calls them,
01:08:26are seriously considering bringing him back.
01:08:29And M.V. Magner even mentioned the Breeders' Cup Classic as a fantasy goal for this horse next year
01:08:36since he's by Deep Impact, who is by Sunday Silence.
01:08:40Yeah, on the show, Aiden O'Brien also talked about the possibility of that, said how well he had trained over the dirt at San Anita.
01:08:47OK, so the Breeders' Cup and NBC may not have concluded with a classic, but here on the TDN Writer's Room,
01:08:53we're going to conclude with the race you should conclude with, the Breeders' Cup Classic.
01:08:58Randy, you in particular were kind of tough on this race last week.
01:09:02And, you know, it was a watered down field.
01:09:05There were so many defections of so many good horses, including Archangelo.
01:09:10So was this the best Breeders' Cup Classic?
01:09:13Far from it.
01:09:14As a matter of fact, I think it's fair to say that it was one of the weaker Breeders' Cup Classics we've seen in a long time.
01:09:19But I got a feeling that White Oberio was going to win no matter what.
01:09:23This was just his day.
01:09:25It was a great training job by Rick Dutrow.
01:09:27He ran back to that huge race he ran in the Whitney.
01:09:31Could a healthy Forte, could a healthy Archangelo, could a healthy Mage have beaten him?
01:09:37I don't think so.
01:09:38I really don't. I mean, that's all hypothetical.
01:09:40We don't know. The other big story, of course, was the Rick Dutrow saga.
01:09:45After coming back 10 years of suspension, this time a year ago, he was out of the game.
01:09:52Didn't even have any, was not able to train a horse.
01:09:54And then lo and behold, he wins the Breeders' Cup Classic just a few months after he comes back.
01:10:01And he's got a lot of fans out there.
01:10:04There's a lot of people that pull for him.
01:10:05I'm sure there's some people that aren't aren't big fans of his.
01:10:08But, you know, it was he was very emotional and you can understand why.
01:10:13And yes, we've got a Breeders' Cup Classic winner that's actually coming back to race next year as they've talked about heading to Saudi Arabia for the Saudi Cup.
01:10:21Which makes perfect sense to me.
01:10:23But Randy, your take on the classic?
01:10:26It was a great training job to have him overcome the various foot problems that the horse has been bothered by since, according to Dutrow, since all the way back in the summer, the Metropolitan Mile.
01:10:37They've been they've been working on them and making sure he says he's been up like 95 percent, not 100 percent.
01:10:45But the decision to bring him out to Santa Anita early and train at Santa Anita and avoid all the rain on the East Coast turned out to be a fortuitous decision.
01:10:52And I'll say, look, he was the best horse.
01:10:54He was the best horse.
01:10:55Nothing untoward happened to him during the race.
01:10:58He got a great ride from Irad Ortiz or an uneventful ride, which turns out to be a great ride when you're on the best horse.
01:11:05And that's just that's just what happened.
01:11:09He was he was best on the day.
01:11:10And I thought he was best on paper.
01:11:12And who was second best?
01:11:15Dermis Sotogaki.
01:11:18Knowing why some of us picked him in the Kentucky Derby, I felt very vindicated by Dermis Sotogaki coming back and running well and not even having had any prep race at all since the Kentucky Derby way back the first Saturday of May.
01:11:34You know, Randy, speaking of that, with Dermis Sotogaki have not having run since the Derby and with White Barrel not having run since the Whitney.
01:11:42Forget about anybody ever again running in those fall prep races.
01:11:47Look, you know, I hate it.
01:11:48But if it works, it works.
01:11:50And, you know, especially with Dermis Sotogaki, he hadn't run since the Derby.
01:11:53But Rick Dutrow knew what he was doing.
01:11:56And that worked out well.
01:11:57But yeah, the days of seeing horses run in those fall prep races for the Breeders' Cup, I think are going to be few and far between, which is not the best thing for the sport.
01:12:07But nonetheless, the goal is, of course, to win on Breeders' Cup day.
01:12:11And they pulled it off.
01:12:11So, yeah, they really did.
01:12:13And I couldn't be happier for trainer Rick Dutrow.
01:12:17Whatever you think of trainer Rick Dutrow, he has served his time.
01:12:22Ten years is an awful long time to be away from the sport and to come back in pretty much his first year and take down the Breeders' Cup classic.
01:12:31Babe, that's a great outcome, whichever way you look at it.
01:12:35I do have to say one thing, though.
01:12:37You do have to feel for trainer Safi Joseph, who had this horse taken away from him through the issues he was going through in the spring.
01:12:44So you got to feel for Safi.
01:12:47But kudos to Rick Dutrow for pulling it off.
01:12:51This horse was most definitely the best horse in the race.
01:12:55And I'm looking forward to seeing him train next year.
01:12:57I really, really am.
01:12:58It's just a $40,000 purchase.
01:13:00It just goes to show you why we love this game of horse racing, doesn't it?
01:13:04I mean, anything can happen.
01:13:06This this is going to be a movie.
01:13:07Rick Dutrow away for 10 years with a $40,000 horse and takes down the Breeders' Cup classic.
01:13:13Like how good is that?
01:13:14You'll be very chagrined to know if you don't know already that if if the plans hold,
01:13:21he will not run again until the Saudi Cup and then he will go to the Dubai World Cup.
01:13:26Then he will not run again until the Whitney.
01:13:29And then he will not run again until the Breeders' Cup classic next year at Del Mar.
01:13:33I believe Mark Cornett tweeted out that whatever you read about where he's going,
01:13:39nothing is set in stone because that was reported by the DRF.
01:13:42And he came right back with, well, we're not we're not sure.
01:13:44Nothing is set in stone just yet regarding Saudi and Dubai.
01:13:48So we'll just have to wait and see.
01:13:50And in 2024, that would be an Iron Horse campaign.
01:13:55Remember, we're coming off the air with Flightline only ran three times course of the year and Breeders' Cup Classic winner.
01:14:01OK, guys, I got up and ranted about the Turf Eclipse Award, but let's get now to Horse of the Year.
01:14:09And, you know, in nine years out of 10, there's no drama whatsoever.
01:14:14You know, the minute the Breeders' Cup is over, we know exactly who Horse of the Year is, you know, Flightline last year, etc.
01:14:21I like this a lot better because this is as wide open a Horse of the Year race as I have that I can ever recall.
01:14:29Now, I'm in print today in the Thoroughbred Daily News saying that I was going to vote for Idiomatic for, you know, my full career things.
01:14:39But you know what, guys, and I don't know what is the right way to feel about this.
01:14:43And I'll appreciate your opinions.
01:14:46I think I'm going to change Cody's wish because of what happened today with Cody Norman.
01:14:53And it's sometimes Horse of the Year.
01:14:57I think it's OK to look at things beyond what happened on the racetrack.
01:15:04I don't think Cody's wish was, I think, Idiomatic and maybe even Wida Berio have better credentials to be Horse of the Year.
01:15:14But, you know, he was such this was such a story and so emotional.
01:15:19I think when you add that on to what he did on the racetrack, yeah, I think that that, you know, I'm thinking outside the box here a little bit, but it reminds me a little bit of Zenyatta and Blame.
01:15:32I voted when Blame beat Zenyatta.
01:15:35I thought, OK, this is obvious.
01:15:36Blame is Horse of the Year.
01:15:38And what the voters did and what I didn't understand was Zenyatta was rewarded for what she meant to the sport and how much she deserved to be Horse of the Year.
01:15:48After losing the previous year to Rachel Alexander when both those fillies had just sensational years.
01:15:55I got to think about this.
01:15:56And it's not normally the way I look at Horse of the Year.
01:16:01But, Randy, I think it's fair to take that story into account when deciding.
01:16:08I don't think you're outside the box.
01:16:10I think you're standing right in the middle of a box.
01:16:12Cody's Wish was four to five in the dirt mile for the reasons you just mentioned.
01:16:20I'd make him two to five to be Horse of the Year.
01:16:22I think it's an absolute slam dunk that Cody's Wish is going to be Horse of the Year.
01:16:26I'm right with you. Absolutely.
01:16:28And I mean, you could vote for Waida Barrio, but then you've got to think that Cody's Wish beat him in the mile.
01:16:34Now, at some point, we have to decide when us as people that vote for Horse of the Year and part of the Turf Riders group that does all the voting.
01:16:45Do you vote with the facts or do you vote with your heart?
01:16:47Like, which is it going to be?
01:16:49That's the problem with the human equation in this whole voting process, that you can't seem to stop voting with your heart.
01:16:56I'm going to vote with Cody's Wish because I think he's the most deserving.
01:17:00He beat the other horse that's probably going to be second.
01:17:03And that's Waida Barrio, beat him on the square in the mile.
01:17:05So not only am I putting the facts first there, I'll throw in a little bit of my heart as well for the whole Cody's Wish story.
01:17:12As far as Idiomatic is concerned, she's won eight of nine this year.
01:17:17But no one had really she hadn't really jumped on the page till her second to last grade one win because of where she'd been running and who she'd been beating.
01:17:25So, yes, you can make a case.
01:17:27She will be one of the finalists.
01:17:29But nobody in their right mind is not going to vote for Cody's Wish.
01:17:33Hey, Bill, how about Auguste Rodin for Horse of the Year?
01:17:37Someone will, you know that.
01:17:39Yeah, there'll be some knucklehead out there.
01:17:41No, they will.
01:17:42They always do.
01:17:42You want three votes to be rescinded.
01:17:46In England and Europe.
01:17:47Europe doesn't count.
01:17:48It's the American Eclipse Awards.
01:17:50God damn it.
01:17:51I hate that.
01:17:52I just, it's so stupid, you know, if they want to make it the World Eclipse Awards.
01:17:57Yeah, Auguste Rodin.
01:17:58But that's where I live to play for over there.
01:18:05All right. You know what?
01:18:05Very both of you.
01:18:06Very well said on Cody's Wish.
01:18:08And yeah, I think it is.
01:18:12Oh, you said that you think he deserves it when you take the just for both reasons, for me, you vote with your heart and with your head.
01:18:20I don't necessarily completely agree, but I'm going to vote with my heart and I'm going to put that into the equation.
01:18:26And what I wrote in Space Thoroughbred Daily News.
01:18:29Never mind.
01:18:30OK, so the TDN Writers Room is brought to you by XBTV.
01:18:35This week's XBTV Workout of the Week belongs to the six year old Calbrett Gelding Brickyard Ride, who on Sunday at Santa Anita sped a half mile in 46 and four fifths seconds.
01:18:47That was the fastest of 58 works at that particular distance.
01:18:52On Sunday morning, Brickyard Ride's last start, a little disappointing.
01:18:56He finished fourth in the California flag handicap, but he would be considered a potential starter for the Cary Grant Stakes.
01:19:04That's coming up at Del Mar on November the 15th, a $100,000 stakes race for Calbrett three year olds and up at 7 Furlong.
01:19:26All the thrills.
01:19:50Fraction of the bills.
01:19:51Experience the power of the partnership.
01:19:57Change your life, make new friends and compete at the highest level of thoroughbred racing.
01:20:04West Point Thoroughbreds, the gold standard in racing partnerships.
01:20:08Visit WestPointTV.com.
01:20:11The TDN Writers Room is brought to you by West Point Thoroughbreds.
01:20:15The TDN Writers Room is brought to you by West Point Thoroughbreds.
01:20:18West Point won its 75th race of the year last week with final boss scoring out at Santa Anita.
01:20:25That runs up the score on what has been a record season for the stable and reaching the winner's circle.
01:20:31The two year olds now will be in focus over the next few weeks with scheduled runners coming up on the Stars of Tomorrow Day program at Churchill Downs.
01:20:39That's always good to watch.
01:20:41That's November the 25th and included in those starters, Stretch Ride, who is two for two and scheduled to go next in the grade two Kentucky Jockey Club.
01:20:52Well, guys, that was a terrific Breeders' Cup wrap up show.
01:20:56What a really good Breeders' Cup, Randy.
01:21:00You know, so many good performances, so many good races and so many memorable races.
01:21:06And you didn't have that crazy 50 to one winner win that we seem to get every single year.
01:21:11Very formful.
01:21:12We've got some exciting horses in the fierceness and just FYI to look forward to next year.
01:21:19We've got the Breeders' Cup Classic winner coming back for another year, which you almost never see.
01:21:24So I give an A plus to the whole team and thought it was one of the better Breeders' Cups that we've seen a long time.
01:21:31And I especially love the coverage, Randy, when you show your pile of papers there.
01:21:36You know, how do you not like get a hernia bringing all that stuff from Minnesota?
01:21:44What are we, Monday?
01:21:46Bill, I have hernia surgery on Wednesday.
01:21:51Oh, no.
01:21:52I can't believe you asked me that.
01:21:55But yes, I do.
01:21:57Really? Do you really?
01:21:59Oh, my goodness.
01:22:00Wow.
01:22:01Well, best of luck in getting through that.
01:22:03We know where you got it from.
01:22:05You know, around 500 pounds of papers all over the country.
01:22:08But in all honesty, that's why you're so good, because the work you put into it.
01:22:13So as a viewer, I appreciate it.
01:22:16And I think the whole NBC team is just outstanding.
01:22:28Well, let's wrap up the show on that note.
01:22:29I want to thank, again, my partners, Zoe Cabin and Randy Moss, our co-producers, Katie Petruniak
01:22:35and Anthony LaRocca, our editors, Aaliyah Rocca and Nathan Wilkinson.
01:22:39We'll be back next week.
01:22:40No more Breeders' Cup, but we'll find something to talk about, I'm sure.
01:22:43Thanks for viewing us.
01:22:44Thanks for listening.
01:22:45We'll see you next week on the TDN Writers' Room podcast.