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00:00:00For the love of the horse, for generations to come.
00:00:28And welcome to another edition of the TDN Writer's Room.
00:00:31My name is Bill Finley.
00:00:32I'm a correspondent for the TDN and I also co-host the Down the Stretch radio show on
00:00:36Sirius XM.
00:00:37I hope you all are having a good week and hope you all enjoyed the Belmont Stakes at
00:00:42Saratoga.
00:00:43I'm Randy Moss with NBC Sports.
00:00:47Zoe Cabman with First Racing here in sunny California.
00:00:50Bill, I know that Randy is sponsored by Dude Wipes.
00:00:54Are you sponsored by Target?
00:00:56Yeah, that's right.
00:00:57Target.
00:00:58It's two bucks Target is paying me to wear this t-shirt.
00:01:00Yes.
00:01:01It's actually, if you could see it, it's for the, Randy should know this, Target Field
00:01:05in Minneapolis.
00:01:06It's from the stadium when I went to the ball game there.
00:01:09So, but yeah, I'll have to get my attorney to let them know and hopefully the check will
00:01:14be in the mail.
00:01:15So there you go.
00:01:16Yes.
00:01:17I tried Dude Wipes, but they just weren't interested.
00:01:19And by the way, I am, true confessions, I am now a proud owner of a pack of Dude Wipes.
00:01:26Wow.
00:01:27Wow.
00:01:28And what did you say?
00:01:29I saw them the other day at the store and thought, what the heck?
00:01:33That was a Target.
00:01:34Ironically, I was at Target and there they were.
00:01:37So I said, I had to do it since they support horse racing.
00:01:40I figured I would support Dude Wipes.
00:01:42Are they soft to the touch?
00:01:44I'm not going there, Zoe.
00:01:48They are scented though.
00:01:50Oh, very nice.
00:01:54How did we go off in this direction?
00:01:57Okay, team, let's get our act together and talk about, hey, horse racing.
00:02:03How about that?
00:02:04The Belmont Stakes on Saturday, you know, with racing, having so many problems lately,
00:02:10isn't it great to just have everything basically be perfect?
00:02:14Danny Gargan, a good guy, believed in his horse and doorknock.
00:02:18He ran the race of his life in a very exciting race.
00:02:21Apparently I wasn't there, but apparently the atmosphere was just super charged.
00:02:26Everybody talked about what a great day it was and how it was so cool to see this race
00:02:31being run at Saratoga, the history of that.
00:02:35Mindframe, a horse that a lot of us thought wouldn't quite be ready for this assignment.
00:02:39Well, that was probably the case because he ran great, but he was green in the stretch.
00:02:44He might eventually be the best three-year-old out there now that he's gotten more experience.
00:02:50So, you know, all positive.
00:02:53Nobody was crying.
00:02:54PETA wasn't at anybody's throats, anything like that.
00:02:58I thought that June 8th was one of the best days of horse racing that we've seen in this
00:03:02game in a long, long time, Randy.
00:03:04It was also the, I hope I get this wording correct, it was the highest all-sources Belmont
00:03:14Stakes Day handle ever for a non-Triple Crown possibility.
00:03:20In other words, you know, when you get to the Belmont Stakes and you don't have the
00:03:24possibility of a Triple Crown sweep, it was the highest handle ever in that particular
00:03:29circumstance.
00:03:30So, you know, congratulations to the New York Racing Association.
00:03:34Saratoga proved to be an unbelievable host for the Belmont Stakes.
00:03:38Of course, it'll go back to Belmont Park where it belongs when the new Belmont Park is ready.
00:03:43But yeah, a fabulous weekend of racing, not just on Saturday.
00:03:48A lot of great performances and as usual on Belmont Stakes Week, a lot of fantastic
00:03:53racing.
00:03:55And really congratulations to the town of Saratoga for hosting it because it was packed
00:04:01to the gills.
00:04:02Some of the pictures, I had friends that went up there, the street parties they had.
00:04:07From morning, noon and night, you lived, ate and breathed horses.
00:04:12It was just a fantastic sight to see and I think a lot of people will be looking forward
00:04:19to next year at Saratoga as well, to be perfectly honest.
00:04:22I think people are already booking their hotel rooms for next year.
00:04:26It was such a success.
00:04:27And the weather, I mean, yes, they had a couple of downpours, but initially it was looking
00:04:31like it was going to be terrible and it turned out to be quite nice, at least on Friday and
00:04:36Saturday.
00:04:38Yeah, and the mile and a quarter worked out perfectly.
00:04:42That was not a factor at all in the race.
00:04:44In fact, I think it probably made it an even better race than if it was run at a mile.
00:04:48All right.
00:04:49All right.
00:04:50Wise guy.
00:04:51Shaking your head.
00:04:52What's up?
00:04:53No, it should be a mile and a half.
00:04:55That's all.
00:04:56It should be a mile and a half at Belmont Park.
00:04:59It's not going to be a mile and a half at, I'm not saying change it when they go back
00:05:02to Belmont.
00:05:03No, I would never do that.
00:05:04So other stories out of the race are horses that really didn't run very well.
00:05:09Sierra Leone was third as the heavy favorite, but he was just, I mean, he got too far behind.
00:05:15He had too much pace to make up.
00:05:17Looks like he was up to his old annex.
00:05:19He was lugging in a little bit in the stretch.
00:05:22I was very disappointed with him.
00:05:23I thought he was cinched to win this race.
00:05:26Then the two horses that won the Triple Crown races, Seize the Gray was seventh.
00:05:31Mystic Dan was eighth.
00:05:33Looks like the Triple Crown grind in the three races might've got the better of him.
00:05:37But Zoe, did you find any excuses for any of those horses or what did you think about
00:05:41the horses that didn't run their best races?
00:05:44I mean, Mystic Dan looked like he'd had enough going in and kudos to McPeak.
00:05:49Honestly, horses fool you all the time.
00:05:51You never know until you put them into the starting gate.
00:05:54So Mystic Dan will resurface a little bit later in the summertime.
00:05:59Seize the Gray, I didn't really like going in.
00:06:01I think he had his days to shine in the Preakness.
00:06:04And Sierra Leone lost all chance.
00:06:07He stumbled coming out of the gate.
00:06:08The track was playing extremely kind to inside speed all day long.
00:06:13You had to be close.
00:06:15He made up an incredible amount of ground.
00:06:18I thought he wasn't going to go anywhere.
00:06:20He was going backwards.
00:06:21Flavien Pratt, suddenly about the three-eighths pole, just gave him a few slaps down the shoulder
00:06:28and he just started picking up horses.
00:06:30He didn't stay straight going down the lane and he got beat fair and square.
00:06:35So the best horse did win, in my opinion.
00:06:38Yeah, just a few points I'd like to make.
00:06:41First of all, about Mystic Dan and Seize the Gray, and we made this point last week.
00:06:45The record is now, in the last 20 years, 40 out of the last 46 horses who ran in the Preakness
00:06:52stakes and then came back three weeks later and ran in the Belmont stakes had a worse
00:06:56finish position in the Belmont than they did in the Preakness.
00:07:01This is a perfect example.
00:07:02Both of these horses also ran on Kentucky Derby Day, right?
00:07:07Seize the Gray and the Bad Day Mile, Mystic Dan and the Kentucky Derby.
00:07:10So they were running for the third time in five weeks and I think it just caught up with
00:07:13them.
00:07:14Sierra Leone, at one point, you kind of start to run out of excuses for him, right?
00:07:19Yeah, he stumbled at the start and then he got bumped and all that, but the way I see
00:07:24it, he's a deep closer anyway, and I know the track wasn't really necessarily playing
00:07:30to his strength, but the pace was also pretty darn quick.
00:07:34It should have been quick enough, I think, for Sierra Leone to do his thing, and yet
00:07:39now we saw something different from Sierra Leone.
00:07:41It looked like, like Zoe said, it looked like he was going to run last or next to last at
00:07:46about the three-eighths pole.
00:07:48He was going nowhere.
00:07:49I mean, I turned to the person I was watching the race with and I said, oh my God, he's
00:07:55a complete no-show in this race.
00:07:57And then suddenly, here he comes.
00:07:59He was also carried out pretty badly at the top of the stretch and bumped by Protective.
00:08:04And oh, by the way, who was riding Protective?
00:08:07Tyler Gafleon, who had been taken off of Sierra Leone.
00:08:13But he's lugging in again, though, as they come down the stretch, even with the cage
00:08:17bit.
00:08:18So he's just, he makes a lot of mistakes.
00:08:20He really does, and hopefully maturity will solve some of that.
00:08:25And as far as Dornick goes, a fantastic advertisement for betting on the horses, okay?
00:08:33Because if you were a Dornick fan to begin with, and if you believed what Danny Gargan,
00:08:41who we'll have on the podcast a little bit later, was saying after the Fountain of Youth,
00:08:46hey, he was only 75, 80% fit.
00:08:49I didn't have him ready.
00:08:51I didn't like the way he looked in the Fountain of Youth, but Gargan said, forget it.
00:08:54He said he needs a target.
00:08:56He's going to have a target in the bluegrass.
00:08:58He was off the pace in the bluegrass, got beat six and a half lengths.
00:09:01Sierra Leone flew by him.
00:09:03Danny said, that's okay.
00:09:04Turns out he doesn't want a target.
00:09:06He wants to be in front.
00:09:07We're going to send him into the lead in the Kentucky Derby.
00:09:09They tried.
00:09:10They couldn't get there.
00:09:11He got beat 18 lengths.
00:09:13If you believed in the horse and you believed the excuses and you were willing to give him
00:09:19another chance, yeah, you thought maybe he couldn't beat Sierra Leone, maybe, but you
00:09:24also got 10 times the price that Sierra Leone was, 8 to 5 compared to almost 18 to 1.
00:09:31So we talk about value.
00:09:33If you were a believer in Dornick, I mean, that's a huge price on a horse like that who
00:09:38was regarded as one of the top three or four three-year-olds in the country just as recently
00:09:43as late March.
00:09:44And he showed why.
00:09:45Randy, I definitely agree with you.
00:09:47One thing I'm going to see, I picked Sierra Leone in both the Derby and the Belmont.
00:09:50He's going to win one of these things before the year is over.
00:09:54Maybe the Travers, but yeah, I don't want to give him any more excuses.
00:09:57He's just, he's a very good horse, but did not get the job done on either one of them.
00:10:02Now let's play this game.
00:10:04Who's the best three-year-old in the country?
00:10:07Because it's you, three different triple crown winners.
00:10:10It's wide open.
00:10:11It'll obviously be settled coming up in the summer races and in the Breeders' Cup Classic.
00:10:16But this really surprised me, the three-year-old poll that the NTRA puts out, not only was
00:10:23Torpedo Anna, and we're going to talk about the Acorn later, Torpedo Anna, the top horse
00:10:28in the three-year-old poll, she was easily the top horse in the three-year-old poll with
00:10:33Mystic Dan second and Dornack third.
00:10:35So the voters, and there's no real criteria to that, you just, you know, whatever way
00:10:41you believe you should vote or whatnot.
00:10:43But Torpedo Anna, that tells you a lot that it's so wide open that the voters think the
00:10:48Philly might be the best three-year-old in the country.
00:10:50And they may be right.
00:10:51I mean, we'll talk about the Acorn a little bit later.
00:10:54I guarantee you, Kenny McPeak is kicking himself for not running her as well as Mystic Dan
00:10:58in the Belmont Stakes because she very well might have won it the way she ran in the Acorn.
00:11:05She would have won.
00:11:06Yeah, there is no question in my mind that she wouldn't have won.
00:11:10She was fantastic.
00:11:13The TDN Writers' Room is brought to you by Keeneland.
00:11:16It was an exciting Belmont Stakes day for Keeneland's September grads.
00:11:21Dornack, purchased for a bargain now $325,000, led home a one-two finish over September graduate
00:11:29Mindframe.
00:11:30Elsewhere on the card, it was Randomized, who was absolutely brilliant.
00:11:35Also sold at Keeneland September, she took down the grade one Ogden Phipps, and September
00:11:39grad Kroopy took down the grade two Suburban.
00:11:43Make plans to attend this fall's Keeneland September sale starting on September the 9th.
00:11:48I'll be there.
00:11:49Will you?
00:11:50We'll be right back after this message from Keeneland.
00:11:54At Keeneland, a horse will always be measured in hands.
00:12:04Hands that see, that sense, that speak.
00:12:12Hands that hold our sport to a higher standard.
00:12:16Not for our sake, but for theirs.
00:12:19For the love of the horse, for generations to come.
00:12:26The fastest horse of the week is brought to you by Global Campaign, one of those fast
00:12:30sires at Windstar Farm who just hit his first winner on Saturday.
00:12:34The two-year-old global legend, just like his sire, won convincingly at first asking
00:12:40in a maiden special weight race at Gulfstream Park.
00:12:45Global Campaign, a son of Curlin, won the grade one Woodward stakes as a four-year-old
00:12:48with a buyer speed figure of 104, then was third in the Breeders' Cup Classic behind
00:12:52Authentic and Improbable.
00:12:54Global Campaign won six times in ten starts for Windstar Farm and Sagamore Farm, and now
00:12:59he stands at Windstar for $12,500.
00:13:04This week, we have co-fastest horses of the week who ran the second fastest buyer speed
00:13:09figures of 2024.
00:13:12On Friday, it was Arthur's Ride, a four-year-old son of Tappet, who stormed to a front-running
00:13:1712-3 quarters link wire-to-wire win at Saratoga, going a mile and a quarter and a second-level
00:13:22allowance.
00:13:23He is owned by Carla and Kathy Glassman of St. Paul, Minnesota, trained by Bill Mott.
00:13:28And Saturday, Cogburn and the Jiper stakes at 5.5 furlongs on the turf, romped by 3.5
00:13:34links.
00:13:35He's now won five times on turf in six starts since trainer Steve Asmussen switched him
00:13:40over from the dirt.
00:13:41He is a five-year-old son of not-this-time co-owner by Clark Brewster and Bill and Corrine
00:13:46Heiligbrough.
00:13:47Both those horses, Arthur's Ride and Cogburn, ran buyer speed figures of 1.11, second this
00:13:54year only to that 1.13 run by the turf sprinting filly sensation, Overcharged.
00:14:04Our weekly TD & Riders Room podcast guest, brought to you as always by The Green Group,
00:14:09a tax consulting firm specializing in the thoroughbred industry and offering the intimacy
00:14:13and personal service of a small boutique firm with the expertise and breadth of services
00:14:19of a large firm.
00:14:21And welcome in now, The Green Group guests of the week.
00:14:23No surprise we have on this week, Danny Gargan, the winning trainer of the Belmont Stakes
00:14:27with Dornach.
00:14:29And just for the icing on the top of the cake, the next day he wins the Matt Winn with Society
00:14:33Dan at Churchill Downs.
00:14:35Danny, welcome and thanks for joining us.
00:14:37Your horse was fourth in the Bluegrass and tenth in the Derby, but you never gave up
00:14:42on him.
00:14:43You were as confident going into the Belmont as if you had won the Kentucky Derby.
00:14:48Why was that?
00:14:49What gave you so much confidence in him?
00:14:50I mean, he came up here and he was training unbelievable.
00:14:54And you know, when you get the one hoe, 100 yards into the race, Brian Hernandez rode
00:14:57a masterful race.
00:14:59I think he, I mean, his ride Derby day was tremendous because 100 yards in, he came over
00:15:03and took us right out of the race.
00:15:06And he just, he rode perfect that day and we got unfortunate and got stuck in behind
00:15:11a wall and just kept checking the whole way around.
00:15:14At one point we had two horses beat and that's not our running style.
00:15:17And I just drew a line in it and Louie got off of him that day and said, we're going
00:15:21to win the Belmont, Danny.
00:15:23I never got to let him run.
00:15:25So if he can only give me 15 links, not getting a run, and if he could ever break and get
00:15:29his position, I knew he'd be really tough and he loves this track.
00:15:34What were your instructions to Louie on Saturday?
00:15:37Keep his face clean.
00:15:42It worked.
00:15:43Yeah.
00:15:44I mean, he said he doesn't, he's not the world's fastest out of the gate when he broke as good
00:15:49as he did.
00:15:50And Louie had so much horse, I mean, the first hundred yards, he just drug him right there.
00:15:54And down the backside, I could see he had a lot of horse.
00:15:57If you watch, you really watch it up close.
00:15:59He's just loaded with horse all the way around there.
00:16:03Louie just blessed that he showed up and ran the race.
00:16:05We always knew he had in him.
00:16:08Because of your comments, I went back this morning and I had already watched it probably
00:16:12a half dozen times, but I went back and looked at the Kentucky Derby again.
00:16:17And I think that was part of the problem was that his first jump out of the gate in from
00:16:23the one hole in Louisville wasn't as fast, not nearly as fast as Mystic Dan.
00:16:29Mystic Dan almost beat the gate in the Kentucky Derby.
00:16:31He was a length in front after 20 or 30 yards.
00:16:34Right.
00:16:35He broke so good.
00:16:36And like I said, Brian wrote a phenomenal race and I'm not taking anything away from Louie
00:16:40or anybody else.
00:16:41You know, I actually was Brian's agent at one time and I couldn't be more proud of the
00:16:45ride he put together on Derby day and what he's doing right now.
00:16:49He's a great guy, but he wrote a winning race and deserved to win the race.
00:16:53But the plan in the Derby was also for Louie to keep the horse's face clean.
00:17:00And Brian took care of that right away.
00:17:02But, you know, that's horse racing.
00:17:04You got to dust it off and move on to the next leg of the Triple Crown and hope you
00:17:08get one of them.
00:17:09Danny, much like the Remsen, your horse has showed his tenacity when he gets past.
00:17:16And you've said this time and time again, and, you know, we've all knocked Dornach.
00:17:21You originally said he's the best horse you've ever trained.
00:17:23Well, you've been vindicated right now, but you've also said he likes a fight.
00:17:29When you saw him get past in the lane and he got past, were you thinking, oh, God, or
00:17:35oh, it's on?
00:17:37Oh, I tell you this time, I was just I said, you know, he ran up to him and Randy said,
00:17:43oh, we're going to be second.
00:17:44I said, no, he's going to dig back in.
00:17:46And we started screaming and it's almost like he lifts you up.
00:17:50It was crazy.
00:17:51But how many horses you've seen in these caliber races?
00:17:54I've seen it once in a while or I've never seen a grade one winner get past twice in
00:17:58big races and come back on and win the race.
00:18:01And I know Todd's horse run a little green was getting out of this.
00:18:04But, you know, you watch the gallop out.
00:18:06Nobody was in front of him until the pony caught him.
00:18:09Yeah, Danny, was this race a little bit more special for you?
00:18:14Your first grade one, your first classic and your father was a jock and he rode in the
00:18:19Belmont Stakes.
00:18:20I mean, it seems like it all came full circle.
00:18:24I mean, you know, I'm just blessed to be here.
00:18:26I mean, it's special to win it.
00:18:28You know, if you'd have told me I'd win a Triple Crown race, I'd have laughed at you.
00:18:33You know, it's one of these things that you work all your life and you don't you don't
00:18:36sit around and think about it until you have the opportunity to have a horse like him.
00:18:40And I said, I'm just blessed to be here.
00:18:42And my father was blessed to, you know, he won big races.
00:18:45And I'm just proud I could do half of what he did.
00:18:49Has it sunk in?
00:18:50Yeah, yesterday, it really sunk in.
00:18:54You know, and then, you know, I was hard to think in on Saturday because, you know, we
00:18:57had a big day Saturday with the other, you know, a society man running a big race and
00:19:01a Matt Winn.
00:19:02So yesterday I just stayed around the house and it was, you know, it was a nice day.
00:19:07Joey, you brought that up, it's also one of my favorite trivia questions.
00:19:11What jockey in the 1973 Belmont Stakes did not get into the Hall of Fame?
00:19:18And is Danny's father Dan Gargan?
00:19:20So that was a vintage crop of jockeys back then.
00:19:23Danny, I've asked you this before, but I'd like to go back to this subject.
00:19:27You know, the breeding and the good magic puka is this has just been incredible.
00:19:32What they've pulled off winning the Kentucky Derby last year with Mage and winning the
00:19:36Belmont this year with Dornach.
00:19:39But you told me that there's there's very few similarities between the two horses.
00:19:43No, they're totally opposites.
00:19:46I'd say Mage is more like good magic and he's a smaller, stocky chestnut like society
00:19:52man and a lot of the good magics look like that.
00:19:56They're not really big, robust bay horses.
00:19:59They're medium sized chestnuts.
00:20:00Most of them.
00:20:01And, you know, WNL won the Rimsom with him.
00:20:05They all look like Mage.
00:20:07Dornach is a spitting image of puka in the head and the shoulder.
00:20:11He looks so much like the mare.
00:20:14It's unbelievable.
00:20:15If you ever, you know, I've been blessed and Jon Stewart sends me pictures of her and the
00:20:19new foe is a chestnut, but it's a big, tall, long legged horse like Dornach.
00:20:24So there's no telling what it could be.
00:20:27What a great buy that she was.
00:20:28So to buy puka for 2.9 million, that was probably the best buy in horse racing.
00:20:35And Danny, originally after the race, you said that you're definitely going to target
00:20:38the Travers.
00:20:39But is there any chance you'll go in either the Jim Dandy or Haskell beforehand?
00:20:43Well, you know, you know, you always sit around and keep everything on the radar, you know,
00:20:49until, you know, see how he come out of the race.
00:20:51He's running.
00:20:52He's actually acting tremendous right now.
00:20:55He's, you know, walking around like a bulldog.
00:20:59Act like he didn't run.
00:21:02You know, Monmouth is always in the picture, but, you know, it gets really hot down there.
00:21:06It's a tough place.
00:21:07I'm not a big fan of how hot it might be there, but it is a great one.
00:21:11The Jim Dandy's right here and we can walk him right out of his stall.
00:21:15You know, I love to win at Saratoga.
00:21:17Everybody knows it's my favorite racetrack.
00:21:19So that's why the Belmont's so special this year to me, too.
00:21:22I bring all my horses here and train them from May to October every year.
00:21:27So, you know, I don't know for sure what we're going to do right this minute, but I wouldn't
00:21:31be shocked if he shows up here.
00:21:34The more I think about it with the weather.
00:21:38As is becoming increasingly common, as you know, in thoroughbred racing, it was a very
00:21:42crowded winter circle you had.
00:21:44You mentioned Randy Hill, West Paces, Belmar.
00:21:48But a lot of attention went to 2.8 racing and Jason Worth just getting involved now
00:21:54in racehorse ownership.
00:21:56Tell us a little bit about what he's kind of brought to the table in terms of not only
00:22:01notoriety, but also enthusiasm.
00:22:04I'd say he's a wonderful person to be around.
00:22:06He's such a big, gentle giant.
00:22:09The way he handles himself is just, you couldn't be more proud of someone that just got in
00:22:14the game and respects the game at all levels.
00:22:16I mean, he treats the help amazing.
00:22:19He treats everybody with respect.
00:22:21He feels so blessed.
00:22:23He genuinely loves horse racing.
00:22:25You know, like I've told everybody in the past, when he comes to the barn, his favorite
00:22:28horse in the barn, besides Doorknock, is the barn pony.
00:22:32So no, he loves him.
00:22:34His name's Thanos and he loves him.
00:22:37So I mean, he's just not there because he has a good horse.
00:22:40He's in horse racing because he loves the game and this is just the icing on the cake
00:22:44for him.
00:22:45Now, Danny, the last time we had you on this podcast, you promised me Jason Worth.
00:22:51You know, I like to climb trees.
00:22:53He's a big, tall, good looking man.
00:22:55I promised you you could meet him, Zoe.
00:22:57He's easy on the eyes.
00:22:59Like where is he?
00:23:00I want to meet him.
00:23:01I'm coming to Saratoga.
00:23:02Well, he'll be back.
00:23:04I mean, he was here, you know, just that day got a little hectic and wild, but he was at
00:23:09the barn all week, four days in a row, Zoe.
00:23:12I can't, you know, Zoe was partying a lot that week.
00:23:14She wasn't out there much.
00:23:19We were in Trotter's Sunday night till about 12, 1 o'clock.
00:23:24Yeah.
00:23:25So let me steer this away from Zoe's obsession with Jason Worth here for a second and kind
00:23:32of get down to the brass tacks here, Danny.
00:23:35Dornick paid $37.40 to win the trifecta with Mindframe and Sierra Leone right behind him,
00:23:44paid almost $1,000 for a $2 bet.
00:23:47If you like Dornick, that's huge.
00:23:49Please tell us that you invested in some of that.
00:23:53You know, I'm not going to lie to you.
00:23:54I didn't bet a penny.
00:23:56You know, there's a lot going on that day.
00:23:59Jason and Jason Bett and Randy, they gamble big.
00:24:03I just, you know, it meant so much to me if he could win that, you know, this is life
00:24:08changing for Randy.
00:24:09If he, you know, he's going to be a stallion one day and things like that.
00:24:13And, you know, him winning means way more than me making a bet.
00:24:16I'm just thrilled those guys, I don't want to tell you, one of them made big, big money
00:24:21and it's shocking how much he made, but, you know, they do, I let them do the betting that
00:24:28day and I'll just, I'm enjoying the ride that we're on and just what a crazy fun thing
00:24:33to be a part of.
00:24:34See, you could have had both, you could have enjoyed the ride and you could have had the
00:24:37money at the windows.
00:24:38I bet the one the next day.
00:24:41Oh, okay, okay.
00:24:44Danny, it seems like you have the keys to good magic at WNL, Society Man, Dornock.
00:24:52What is it about the progeny of good magic and are you just going to have all good magic
00:24:58in your barn from now on?
00:24:59Well, the sad thing about that is, Zoe, I only have one coming this year and it's a
00:25:03filly.
00:25:04So far?
00:25:05Yeah, so far.
00:25:06I mean, Barbara stopped by the other day, I don't think she has any, but we'll see.
00:25:10Hopefully someone sends a few, but, you know, we've been blessed.
00:25:13We've had three coats, all three of them are graded stake winners now, all three of them,
00:25:18you know, two of them ran in a derby.
00:25:20WNL was on the derby trail, he just didn't quite make it there.
00:25:25I've learned some lessons with him that probably help the other horses in the future, why they're
00:25:28so good this year.
00:25:30And you know, it's a learning curve, but good magic was a great racehorse and he's obviously
00:25:34turned into a great stallion and I was a big fan of his progeny and, you know, spent a
00:25:40lot of money trying to get a few that we could, but I'm pleased with everything we've had
00:25:45with him.
00:25:46And like I said, I've got a filly this year named Snow White.
00:25:48I really like her and hopefully she'll be an Oaks horse next year.
00:25:52And Danny, the weekend you had, again, not only with the Belmont, but also winning the
00:25:57Met win, what do you think this might do for your career?
00:26:01You obviously, you know, were competing against the very, very best and you won not only one
00:26:07graded stakes race, but two, one of which is the Belmont stakes.
00:26:11Is the phone ringing a little bit more now?
00:26:13You know, how do you think this might change things for you?
00:26:16Well, I'm just hoping that when it comes time for the sales, you know, sales season, you
00:26:20know, we can get, you know, try to work things out.
00:26:22We have a partnership to go there and try to buy seven or eight coats and try to repeat
00:26:27this year where we're on the triple crown.
00:26:30And I think the guys that I have are going to support that.
00:26:32And hopefully we can all work together and get, get through everything and try to get
00:26:37back here again next year with a couple of live horses.
00:26:41And if you need somebody to work closely with Jason Worth at the sales, Zoe will volunteer.
00:26:46Oh, God, the thing about him is he'll enjoy Zoe.
00:26:59Yeah, she's fine.
00:27:02She's fine.
00:27:03Don't you have a boyfriend, Zoe?
00:27:06Like what's the deal here?
00:27:07No, no, no.
00:27:08I'm now single.
00:27:09Just, you know, just going into Saratoga is perfect timing.
00:27:14He just hasn't told the boyfriend yet.
00:27:17He'll have to tune in to catch up.
00:27:22Yeah.
00:27:23All right.
00:27:24We want to thank Danny Gargan so much, the Green Group guest of the week.
00:27:29What a tremendous weekend he had.
00:27:31And the confidence he showed in Dornach was amazing.
00:27:34And he's been proven right every single time.
00:27:36He says it's the best horse he ever trained before he ever ran.
00:27:38He was right about that.
00:27:39He said he's going to be very dangerous in the Belmont.
00:27:41He was certainly right about that.
00:27:43So, Danny, congratulations on all your success and keep it up.
00:27:47Thanks guys for having me and thanks for everything you guys do for horse racing.
00:27:51Thanks, Danny.
00:27:52Thanks, Danny.
00:27:53See you soon.
00:27:55As the Green Group guest of the week, Danny Gargan will receive a free one hour text consultation
00:28:00with the Green Group.
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00:29:26So guys, of course, there was more than just the Belmont Stakes at Saratoga.
00:29:29Just a great couple of days of racing, so let's go over some of the major races.
00:29:34We already talked about the acorn with Torpedo Anna.
00:29:37She absolutely put on a show.
00:29:39One by five and a half lengths.
00:29:41And Zoe, I want to ask you this, Kenny McPeak said afterwards that she lost a shoe.
00:29:47How relevant is that?
00:29:48How much could that have affected her performance?
00:29:51How much more impressive does it make it?
00:29:53A lot.
00:29:54I mean, it flew off in the first turn, correct?
00:29:57Was that where it flew off?
00:29:59Yeah.
00:30:00I mean, imagine you losing a shoe and running three miles, Bill.
00:30:04How would that feel?
00:30:06Well, because I can't run three feet, it would not feel very good.
00:30:10Yeah.
00:30:11You're not getting the same traction that you're getting.
00:30:13I mean, that is why they wear the shoes.
00:30:15I mean, horses can train in bare feet, but if you're running against other horses in
00:30:20metal shoes, they're just getting a bit more traction.
00:30:22There's less slipping and sliding.
00:30:24So to lose a front shoe, yeah, that's huge.
00:30:28Absolutely huge.
00:30:29I thought she was tremendous.
00:30:31Best performance.
00:30:33Absolutely mind-blowing.
00:30:35She should have been in the Belmont.
00:30:38And to me, here's what makes the performance so mind-blowing, right?
00:30:44For a mile and an eighth at Saratoga, which can be a pretty demanding racetrack surface
00:30:50at that distance, the pace of the Acorn Stakes was hot.
00:30:55For three-year-old fillies, it was red hot, right?
00:30:59And just FYI, was hustled pretty hard to get to the lead.
00:31:02And Torpedo Anna was basically right on her hip.
00:31:06She was right on her flank, just a length, length and a quarter behind, okay?
00:31:11When you look at some of the other horses that were up there on the pace, first of all,
00:31:14just FYI, was essentially eased in the stretch.
00:31:19She went her last quarter in 29.97 seconds.
00:31:23Gunsong was right there behind Torpedo Anna, sitting in third.
00:31:28Gunsong finished her last quarter in 29.63 seconds.
00:31:34Almost every other horse in the race collapsed in the last part of it, right?
00:31:39When you look at the final closing fractions, Torpedo Anna was right there, just to the
00:31:45outside of just FYI, and still ran the fastest finishing quarter mile of any horse in the
00:31:52Acorn Field, drawing away to win by five and a half lengths, despite blowing a shoe on
00:31:57the first turn.
00:31:59It was just a sensational performance by Torpedo Anna.
00:32:04And looking at that, she probably should have been in the Belmont Stakes Field.
00:32:11Mile and a quarter wouldn't have been a problem for her, no.
00:32:13The question now is, Ken McPeak is one trainer not afraid to push the envelope.
00:32:19Does he now find a spot for her?
00:32:22He says, no way I'll ever run her against Mystic Dan, but there's a lot of big races
00:32:25coming up.
00:32:27Knowing Ken and the way he likes big challenges, I can see her running in the Haspel or something
00:32:33like that, and that would be fantastic.
00:32:36I mean, he said no initially, but he also said no to the Preakness, so it's Kenny McPeak.
00:32:44And just a quick note on just FYI, Junior Alvarado obviously listened to my instructions
00:32:48last week when I told him to send, because she had every opportunity.
00:32:56I'm not sure that everything's okay with her, to be perfectly honest, because she folded
00:33:00like a cheap suit and she was completely done, and I believe she's better than that.
00:33:06So we'll have to see where she surfaces.
00:33:08But yeah, they all tried to beat her and nobody was beating her.
00:33:12She earned it and she won it.
00:33:14She was tremendous.
00:33:15Why was she not fastest horse of the week?
00:33:20Buyer speed figure 99, so it wasn't really even close to fastest horse of the week.
00:33:26I don't know, but it's a three-year-old Philly race.
00:33:27It was an extremely aggressively paced race.
00:33:30We'll talk about the Met Mile and how those fractions can impact final times when we talk
00:33:36about national treasure.
00:33:37All right, so let's move on to the Ogden Phipps now, and the big story was Idiomatic getting
00:33:42beat.
00:33:43She had won nine of her last 10 starts.
00:33:45I liked her so much last year, I became very close to voting for her for Horse of the Year.
00:33:50Changed my mind at the last minute.
00:33:52We know Randomized is a good horse, trained by Chad Brown, but Idiomatic did beat her
00:33:57last year in the Breeders' Cup fifth staff, so she turned the tables on her.
00:34:01I don't think Idiomatic had any excuses whatsoever.
00:34:04She ran a good race.
00:34:06Randomized just ran better.
00:34:08She did get to the lead, but Idiomatic had every chance to catch her.
00:34:12And I was a little bit disappointed by this.
00:34:14There's nothing wrong with Randomized, but I hate to see really good horses get beat.
00:34:19They start to get a following, they start to get a winning streak going, and it's a
00:34:23little bit of a downer to see her lose here, but take nothing away from Randomized, trained
00:34:27by Chad Brown.
00:34:28She ran a hell of a race, and she had to to beat Idiomatic.
00:34:32I think Idiomatic did have a legitimate excuse, right?
00:34:35I mean, Randomized is a really good horse.
00:34:40She's one of the fastest breaking horses in major stakes competition that you're going
00:34:45to find anywhere.
00:34:46She's got a tremendous first 16th of a mile when they want to use it, and they usually
00:34:50do to try to get her to the lead.
00:34:52She was obviously very well prepared, clicking on all cylinders.
00:34:57She was just a half length behind Idiomatic, as you pointed out in the Breeders' Cup.
00:35:02You can't go four wide on both turns and hope to outrun a horse like that.
00:35:09I know she was a heavy, heavy favorite, and deservedly so, but that's just too much ground
00:35:14to give up to a really good filly like Randomized.
00:35:19Depending on what conversion you use in your handicapping for wide trips, I think Randomized
00:35:26was in the two path on both turns.
00:35:29That's four lengths difference, right?
00:35:32So to me, and Idiomatic was getting to her at the end and was going to beat her probably
00:35:39if the race was a 16th of a mile longer.
00:35:41I don't think, in my opinion, Idiomatic loses anything in stature, at least not in my eyes.
00:35:49She got beat ahead, so a big head, but she got beat ahead.
00:35:53I don't believe she lost anything, but I don't think they're going past Randomized if they
00:35:58go round again, Randy.
00:36:00Did you see the confidence that Joelle Rosario displayed?
00:36:04Never hit her, never uncocked his stick.
00:36:07Now, I don't know if she doesn't like to be hit.
00:36:09I don't like to be hit, so I don't blame her if she doesn't, but he hand rode her the
00:36:14whole way down the lane, maybe tapped her a couple of times down the shoulder.
00:36:18The confidence he had in her was enough to get him to the winning line in front.
00:36:24And I firmly believe even if they'd gone an eighth of a mile around again, they're not
00:36:28getting by Randomized.
00:36:31She was good.
00:36:32And she was six to one, and I bet, so thank you.
00:36:34For you, Zoe.
00:36:35All right, so we all know, listeners of this show, viewers of the show know that Randy
00:36:41has 17 favorite horses, 17 of them, led by two fills and a bunch of others.
00:36:47I have one.
00:36:48I only got one.
00:36:49It's my man, Bookham Danno.
00:36:51The jersey bred, and he came through in the Woody Stevens.
00:36:55He got a really good trip.
00:36:56They had those two long shots out there that just went this hellacious pace.
00:37:00He sat about six, seven lengths behind them, took control, then had enough left to draw
00:37:04off.
00:37:05And the reason why I do this, I'm a resident of New Jersey.
00:37:08Monmouth Park is my favorite track, and the poor New Jersey bred program has just been
00:37:11in terrible shape over the last many years because there's so little racing in New Jersey,
00:37:17no slots.
00:37:18You basically have just Monmouth Park, so people don't want to breed in the state.
00:37:22But this horse was bred in New Jersey and is obviously a lot better than your typical
00:37:27Jersey bred.
00:37:28And I talked to Derek Ryan afterwards, and he said, I know this horse has never run against
00:37:35the two-turn horses running the derby or anything, but I'm going to make an argument.
00:37:38He's the best three-year-old in the country.
00:37:40If you just take by raw talent and accomplishments, he might have a point there.
00:37:45He's not going to go into the Haskell or Traverse or try to prove anything like that.
00:37:48He's going to go next in the Alan Jerkins, but he's my man.
00:37:52Go get him, Danno.
00:37:55It was very cool.
00:37:57Really cool to watch.
00:37:58I know you didn't see the race live, Bill, because you were sitting in, apparently, a
00:38:02f-ing 300-degree airplane on a runway somewhere.
00:38:08Well, I'll tell you this story.
00:38:09I was trying to get to Golden Gate.
00:38:11I was in the middle of the day.
00:38:13I was on a plane that was supposed to leave at 3 o'clock.
00:38:16The air conditioner and all the power broke down.
00:38:18It was about 300 degrees in the plane.
00:38:20Eventually, they let us off.
00:38:22I said to hell with it.
00:38:23I came home.
00:38:24The plane took off four and a half hours late.
00:38:29The plane is that late, they actually have to give you your money back now.
00:38:34I missed you, Zoe.
00:38:35I was really looking forward to coming to Golden Gate.
00:38:39That was brutal.
00:38:40It was like sitting in a sweatshop for an hour and a half.
00:38:44I got to watch him live.
00:38:45He was terrific.
00:38:46He ran against the bias.
00:38:47He got a really, really good trip.
00:38:50He got a perfect ride by a guy who was just putting on performances race after race.
00:38:59He went great.
00:39:00Prince of Monaco, too far back.
00:39:01I don't know why he happened to be so far back.
00:39:04He was closing late, but too late.
00:39:07Bill, do you have any noise canceling headphones you can put on right now?
00:39:13I don't want you to hear this.
00:39:18Prince of Monaco was probably three lengths the best horse.
00:39:22He was so far back because he got wiped out at the start, completely, completely wiped
00:39:28out at the start, and yet was flying at the end and just got beat a half length by Bookham
00:39:33Dano.
00:39:34I think Bookham Dano is an outstanding horse.
00:39:39He's earned all the accolades he gets.
00:39:42Good for him for winning.
00:39:44I love the fact that he's a New Jersey bred.
00:39:45I love the fact that he's Bill's favorite horse, and he only has one, but Prince of
00:39:51Monaco was the best horse in the Woody Stevens.
00:39:54I can see that point, but they don't pay off at the windows for who was best.
00:39:58Well, we've been arguing on the show and debating who's the best three-year-old.
00:40:02Is Bookham Dano the best three-year-old sprinter?
00:40:04Should he have won that race?
00:40:06Well, who was the best horse in the country right now?
00:40:10I think that question was answered on Saturday as well as National Treasure put on another
00:40:15show for Bob Baffert in the Met Mile.
00:40:18The other story is White Abario didn't run any good at all, and the owners, boy, they're
00:40:24a little fickle.
00:40:25They took the horse away from Saffy Joseph.
00:40:28Rick Dutrow only wins the Breeders' Cup Classic for him, but what have you done for me lately?
00:40:33Nothing.
00:40:34Goodbye, Rick.
00:40:35You're fired.
00:40:36The horse goes back to Saffy Joseph.
00:40:38That's not much in the loyalty department, but anyways, you can't take anything away
00:40:41from National Treasure.
00:40:43He is, I think, clearly the best horse in the country right now.
00:40:47At a mile, I would agree with you completely, and maybe a little bit longer as well.
00:40:52I don't really think he's going to be as good, for example, in the Breeders' Cup Classic
00:40:57if they choose to go that route, and I kind of don't think Bob will.
00:41:00I think he's going to mainly focus on some of the shorter races, but this is how good
00:41:05National Treasure is right now, and Bob doesn't mess around when he gets a horse like this
00:41:10that has the speed that National Treasure has when he gets in these one-mile races like
00:41:14we saw in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile when he ran against Cody's Wish.
00:41:19Just blast off away from there.
00:41:20Don't try to get cute.
00:41:22Just go for the lead, right?
00:41:23There have been—this is my rabbit hole, Zoe—there have been now, since they created
00:41:30the Wilson Chute at Saratoga, there have been 107 races run at the newly constructed one-mile
00:41:38distance at Saratoga.
00:41:40Of those 107 races, National Treasure has the fastest quarter, the fastest half, and
00:41:48the fastest three-quarters of a mile, and not just by a small margin.
00:41:53His three-quarter mile in the Met Mile was 109.34.
00:41:59That's one and a fifth seconds faster than the previous record six furlong fraction at
00:42:06that distance.
00:42:07His half mile was almost a full second faster than any other race that had been run at that
00:42:12distance in Saratoga, and yet he kept running, right?
00:42:16His buyer speed figure was only, I think, a 102, and some people might be disappointed
00:42:20by that because he ran a 107, I think, earlier, and maybe even a 106 as well, but you don't
00:42:27run that fast early and then keep running late unless you're flight line, right?
00:42:36So it was an amazing race for National Treasure, just given how fast he ran in the first part
00:42:43of the race and then kicked clear at the end.
00:42:45The competition wasn't really Met Mile worthy, but he was certainly worthy of the way he
00:42:55ran.
00:42:56You know, we need to sponsor this segment, Randy's Rabbit Hole, each week, and maybe
00:43:00your friends at Dude Wipes would sponsor it.
00:43:03I mean, we're all looking for new sponsors to come aboard here, but Randy's Rabbit Hole,
00:43:07brought to you by Dude Wipes.
00:43:10Not only am I in charge of the Rabbit Hole, but I'm a proud Dude Wipes customer.
00:43:15Yeah, National Treasure.
00:43:18You know, it's one thing, guys, putting out those kind of fractions when you're alone
00:43:23on the front end and finishing, because we know that lone speed, no matter how fast or
00:43:28how slow you're going, is very, very dominant and very dangerous.
00:43:32But when you are headed and you're dueling for the lead, Hoist the Gold ran a terrific
00:43:37race and he was right on him every single jump of the way.
00:43:43So the fact that he fought through those fractions and then prevailed and drew off,
00:43:48it's making the Pegasus World Cup look a really, really good race, but he was absolutely brilliant
00:43:54National Treasure.
00:43:55And, you know, it was a pretty good Saturday or weekend for Bob as well, because he released
00:44:00another monster, Parenting took down the Affirmed at Santa Anita and he drew off and won by
00:44:06as many lengths as he pleased.
00:44:08So Bob's looking pretty good right now.
00:44:11So I'll ask both of you, any theories on why the burial?
00:44:15I know I go ahead, Zoe.
00:44:18No, I just think that he maybe he's a horse who relishes change.
00:44:23Some horses do.
00:44:24He got to Rick's barn and all of a sudden he came alive and was like, this is great.
00:44:29Everything's wonderful.
00:44:30And then he kind of plateaued.
00:44:32So that's really the the only theory that I can have for him.
00:44:37Everyone said he's kind of a one turn horse.
00:44:39Maybe that's his best.
00:44:40He won the Breeders' Cup Classic.
00:44:42Oh, he's a one turn horse.
00:44:43I don't know.
00:44:44Safi knows him.
00:44:45He's gone back to them.
00:44:46Maybe he's just had enough.
00:44:49I think he's better at a mile and an eighth and a mile and a quarter than he is around
00:44:54a one turn mile.
00:44:55I said that last week.
00:44:56That's why I didn't like him in here, because I thought a mile, given the way this race
00:45:00was going to be run with National Treasure, just blasting off away from there.
00:45:04I think the pace was going to be a little too hot for White Abario.
00:45:07And he's also clearly, for whatever reason, not in the same place that he was when he
00:45:14won the Breeders' Cup Classic.
00:45:15And maybe that's what the owners are thinking when they transferred him.
00:45:20This just in from the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association.
00:45:23If you own a two year old, you bought that two year old either privately or at a sale.
00:45:29And that two year old is Pennsylvania sired, Pennsylvania bred.
00:45:33You have until the end of June to nominate for the PA sired series at a price of $1,000.
00:45:39That makes your horse eligible for those three sets of $100,000 sticks races for PA sired,
00:45:44PA breds this year and early next year.
00:45:47Here's the procedure.
00:45:48First, go to pabred.com, check out the featured section on the homepage to double check if
00:45:53perhaps your two year old is already nominated.
00:45:55If he or she is not nominated, print the nomination form, send it in with your $1,000 fee
00:46:01postmarket by June the 30th.
00:46:04If you have any questions, you can contact the PA bred office.
00:46:07That number, as you see, 610-444-1050.
00:46:13The state of Pennsylvania has the best breeders program in the entire United States.
00:46:18When you buy a yearling, it's a little bit like buying a lottery ticket.
00:46:21And we are trying to provide a lottery ticket that the likelihood is to hit the jackpot.
00:46:26Angel of Empire wins the Arkansas Derby and wins it clear.
00:46:30Uncle Heavy late, it's a photo finish.
00:46:34Pennsylvania and the PHPA have the best state bred program in the country bar none.
00:46:39The winner, Uncle Heavy.
00:46:40He's a three year old bred in Pennsylvania.
00:46:43Well, Sunday was a sad day, not just for horse racing in the Bay Area, but for horse racing
00:46:49in general, as we lost another racetrack, Golden Gate Fields.
00:46:52The last major track left in San Francisco Bay Meadows closed down several years ago.
00:46:57Called it a quits at the end of the day.
00:47:00Last Sunday was the last day ever.
00:47:02Zoe, I know you were there and I think the atmosphere from I was watching you doing the
00:47:06simulcast. You did a great job, by the way.
00:47:09I think it was kind of a bittersweet afternoon.
00:47:12People seemed to be really glad they were there to say goodbye.
00:47:15But at the same time, you're saying goodbye to an old friend.
00:47:19Absolutely. And guys, that leads us to this week's edition of First Things First.
00:47:24I made the trip up to Golden Gate Fields driving in there.
00:47:28There was a sign off of the freeway saying racetrack traffic, which is something that I
00:47:33don't think I've ever seen at Golden Gate Fields.
00:47:36They were queued up from the freeway to get into Golden Gate.
00:47:41I've been up there a lot of times and I have never seen that many people.
00:47:45A lot of people coming in to celebrate Golden Gate Fields, like a celebration of life, so
00:47:51to speak, and not so much a funeral.
00:47:53They were lying 10 deep around the paddock.
00:47:56They ran out of beer.
00:47:57If you bet a race and you were trying to cash a ticket, good luck.
00:48:00That line went around the grandstand.
00:48:02But generally, the feeling was just a feeling of celebration.
00:48:07People came far from a long way away.
00:48:10I interviewed some people that came in from Vegas that had actually never even been to
00:48:14Golden Gate and just thought it was closing weekend and they wanted to come in.
00:48:18I did check out the bathrooms because the men's bathroom.
00:48:22Sorry, guys. I went in there and snapped a picture.
00:48:24There was no one in there.
00:48:25Just want to let you know.
00:48:26But the best view of the Bay Bridge is from the men's bathroom in the turf club.
00:48:32We did have an eight race card and it was a true, a really cruel twist of fate that a
00:48:38Southern California shipper trained by Phil D'Amato won the last and final race ever
00:48:43held at Golden Gate Fields.
00:48:45But all in all, it was a great day at Golden Gate Fields.
00:48:50I'm glad I was there.
00:48:51We know that the great late Sam Spear was looking down on Golden Gate from the sky and
00:48:55it really was a great day to celebrate Golden Gate Fields.
00:49:00Meanwhile, racing goes on at Santa Anita.
00:49:03We will start a Thursday through Sunday card for closing weekend.
00:49:08We do have a pick six carryover expected to exceed over five hundred thousand dollars
00:49:14on Thursday. So come and play at Santa Anita.
00:49:17Sunday is Father's Day, guys.
00:49:18What a better day to bring your dads out to Santa Anita where we have a special
00:49:23Father's Day brunch there in the San Juan Capistrano.
00:49:26So a lot of things going on at Santa Anita.
00:49:29But Bill, I know you were saddened that you couldn't come to Golden Gate.
00:49:33Have you ever been? I was there for simulcasting once.
00:49:37I've never been for live racing.
00:49:39So, yeah, I missed out on that.
00:49:41And that was one of the many reasons why I wanted to be there.
00:49:44I wanted to add one more thing to the conversation, though.
00:49:46And, you know, people are pointing fingers at blame and whose fault this is and that
00:49:52happens. But this is the tale of modern horse racing in twenty twenty four.
00:49:58You have a track that sits on very valuable land that has no form of revenue outside of
00:50:04the handle, no slot machine money, no casino money coming in.
00:50:09It's we've gotten to a point in the sport where running trying to run a racetrack like
00:50:14that is not economically viable.
00:50:16People want to blame first racing.
00:50:18But any person that owned a place like that that was losing money with no end in sight,
00:50:25it's not like you could say, oh, we're going to get slots in twenty twenty six.
00:50:28We'll just hang in there.
00:50:29You know, it was it was unfortunate, but at the same time, it's a prudent business
00:50:34decision. And we're going to see, unfortunately, more of this as you know, that we
00:50:39kept chipping away.
00:50:40And the tracks that don't have casino money are all in big trouble.
00:50:45And unfortunately, Zoe, we worry about Santa Anita as well.
00:50:48Yeah, I mean, it's a it's a big concern.
00:50:51And part of the closure of Golden Gate Fields was hoping to bring some horses down to
00:50:56Santa Anita. Now, some of them have come, but honestly, a lot of them don't fit.
00:51:01So they were hoping to go back to a four day racing week that that's not happening, at
00:51:06least for now.
00:51:08We're all crossing our fingers down there that it does.
00:51:11But as far as Golden Gate, no one really knows what's going to happen.
00:51:15To the land, I'm not sure there's a whole lot that they can build on it, to be
00:51:19perfectly honest. It was built on basically reclaimed land to begin with.
00:51:25So I don't know what the future of it is right now, unless Randy knows something.
00:51:30No, it's really well said, guys, about all the things that have gone into the closing of
00:51:36Golden Gate. And it's one thing to talk about the economic realities that it's
00:51:41exactly what they are, their realities right now.
00:51:44But when you see these racetracks close, even small racetracks elsewhere around the
00:51:49country, one thing that really hits home are the people that made their living there
00:51:54and that grew up there.
00:51:56And not just the horsemen, but also, you know, the fans that have been coming there for
00:52:03so, so long and how emotional it is for them and how it can be a complete upheaval for
00:52:08some of the horsemen that have been accustomed to being there for so long.
00:52:12If I was in management at Golden Gate, the first thing that would've been going through my
00:52:15mind is where have all these people been?
00:52:19Yeah, right.
00:52:20I mean, what did we do wrong?
00:52:23If these people are willing to come to the horse races, you know, what should we have
00:52:31done? What could we have done differently to try to get more of these people to come out
00:52:36on even a semi-regular basis?
00:52:38And unfortunately, I don't think there's a good answer for that.
00:52:42And there may be nothing that they could have done.
00:52:43It may be just people coming out again, like you said, to celebrate and to just be a part
00:52:50of the ending of an era.
00:52:52And, you know, it was the same thing at Hollywood Park.
00:52:54You know, I was there on closing day.
00:52:56And where did all the people come from?
00:52:59It was packed. And, you know, it's like people like a good party, a good funeral at a
00:53:06party. So I don't know, but it was packed and there were a lot of people that came.
00:53:12It was a good day.
00:53:13And I'm glad I went.
00:53:14I really am. But you got to feel for the trainers and the local guys.
00:53:18A lot of them are just packing up and going to retire.
00:53:23Now, the younger guys aren't, obviously, but the older guys, they're done.
00:53:28Yeah, quite a shame there.
00:53:30So the other big story off track during the week was this fiasco in Louisiana, where it
00:53:37started out with basically the Louisiana Racing Commission was going to get away from all
00:53:43that's not. HISA is not in effect in Louisiana, but they were following the Racing
00:53:49Commissioners International, their set of rules, which are very prudent and wise and
00:53:54well thought out. They ripped it up, they threw it away in the trash and came up with
00:53:58their own rules, which basically was anything goes, including especially they were
00:54:05going to allow Clumb Buterol to be given to horses within three days of their racing.
00:54:10And this was such a bad idea that the backlash was from everyone.
00:54:17Sue Finley and the TDN did a very good story talking to the trainers that normally go to
00:54:23the fairgrounds in the winter and then leave and how this was going to create a huge
00:54:27problem for them, because if they use these drugs, when they show up at Churchill Downs
00:54:32or whatnot, those horses would test positive.
00:54:35So they couldn't do all this.
00:54:36So then the first thing they said was, OK, some of the rules are bad, but not all of
00:54:41them. So we'll change the rule on Clumb Buterol and Depamedrol, whatever heck that
00:54:46drug is. And then that still wasn't any good.
00:54:49Churchill Downs stepped up and said, no, this is not good enough.
00:54:52You don't do something about this.
00:54:54You can forget about the Louisiana Derby.
00:54:56They'll take it away from you from their own racetrack.
00:54:59Hyzer put in something where anybody who shipped out of Louisiana had to go on the
00:55:05vets list at their new track.
00:55:06So, you know, the industry came together to to force them to go back to what was
00:55:13common sense, logical.
00:55:15But what were they thinking?
00:55:17I mean, this was talk about like one of the worst ideas we've ever heard in a sport
00:55:22where unfortunately there have been a lot of bad ideas over the years.
00:55:25This one takes the cake.
00:55:26Oh, look, when Hyzer was first proposed, the supporters of Hyzer pointed out that
00:55:31horse racing has had decades of opportunities to clean its own house and that the
00:55:36state by state regulatory framework when it came to medication was, you know, had
00:55:41proven to be woefully inadequate.
00:55:43Those who were against Hyzer tended to argue that the states were capable of
00:55:48policing themselves and you didn't need any government interference.
00:55:53Look, this Louisiana situation points out about as conclusively as anything could,
00:55:58that state racing commissions cannot be trusted to safeguard the future of the
00:56:05sport. Right.
00:56:06The Louisiana Racing Commission reversed course only because of pressure that was
00:56:12brought to bear by Hyzer and by Churchill Downs Incorporated.
00:56:15And if if Hyzer had not been in existence, this might have caused some controversy,
00:56:20but very possibly the regulations might have gone into effect to the detriment of
00:56:24the horses and the detriment of the sport.
00:56:26I mean, three cheers to Hyzer, three cheers to Churchill Downs Incorporated for
00:56:31creating the pressure that that basically caused the the LRC to reverse course.
00:56:38And that's why we can't have nice things, because we can't please ourselves.
00:56:42Honestly, I mean, it just it just goes to show you.
00:56:46And I've got to say this, you know, more often than not, we are bashing Churchill
00:56:50Downs on this podcast, but a big tip of the hat to Churchill for stepping in and
00:56:55saying, hey, listen, we're going to take away our graded stakes.
00:56:58You're not going to have this.
00:56:59You're not going to have the Risen Star.
00:57:00You're not going to have the Louisiana Derby.
00:57:02You better buck up and switch things up.
00:57:04I think I said it last week.
00:57:06This week, we're going to be talking about how they rescinded everything and they have.
00:57:10So it's good.
00:57:12But God, from someone looking from the outside, looking in, we just must look like
00:57:18a complete bunch of morons, to be perfectly honest, just a bunch of idiots.
00:57:23Like, look at these guys.
00:57:25They're saying that they can please themselves.
00:57:27Well, they obviously can't.
00:57:28These guys are a bunch of morons.
00:57:29Why do I want to join them in that free ring circus?
00:57:34And Bill Karstenschen and CDI really stepped up in a big way with the threats
00:57:39that they that they brought to the table that that really turned the tables on this
00:57:43whole thing. Yeah, and I hope Louisiana Racing Commission is embarrassed because they
00:57:48embarrassed themselves.
00:57:49And but at the end of the day, it did work out.
00:57:53We're going back to some sensible rules from the ARCI, depending on what happens in
00:57:58the courts, perhaps Louisiana will or will not become a Heiser state.
00:58:03But we'll keep an eye on that.
00:58:04But I guess at the end of the day, it's always right.
00:58:07You know, it's I think she made a very good point there that, you know, we try to tell
00:58:12the world that, you know, we really got our act together here and, you know, a lot of
00:58:15respects. We're doing so much better.
00:58:17And then something like this happens.
00:58:19Imagine if the breakdown rate in Louisiana started to go up after these rules went
00:58:25in. What on earth would PETA have had to say about this?
00:58:28And, you know, and if that were to be the case, I couldn't necessarily disagree with
00:58:33people that said, you know, that at least in Louisiana, they didn't do right by the
00:58:37horses. So thank goodness this thing worked out in the end.
00:58:40I mean, CDI did the right thing.
00:58:42Great for them. And it was a really good week for Heiser, because not only did you have
00:58:47this situation, but they also temporarily suspended any of the suspensions involving
00:58:53Metformin, which we talked about before a lot on this podcast.
00:58:57And I think that's the right thing to do right now as well.
00:59:00But not Jonathan Wong.
00:59:03The XBTV Work of the Week is Arabian Night.
00:59:05More Bob Baffert all the time here.
00:59:08Arabian Night has been off the grid since finishing fourth in the Breeders' Cup
00:59:12Classic as the 72 choice last November.
00:59:15He returned to the work tab in April.
00:59:18This is now his 10th work back since that time.
00:59:21Trainer Bob Baffert said that Amir Zedan's $2.3 million OBS April two-year-old was
00:59:27pointing toward the San Diego handicap July the 27th at Del Mar.
00:59:34And he certainly could not be working any better right now, just stretching those long
00:59:39legs, coming down the stretch at Santa Anita.
00:59:41That is him on the outside.
00:59:43Arabian Night.
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01:00:46The TD and Writers Room also brought to you by West Point Thoroughbreds.
01:00:49How about the West Point owned Ohana Honor, who was aggressive early, then came
01:00:53charging late to dead heat for third in the Manhattan at Saratoga with a career high buyer
01:00:58of one hundred in the process.
01:01:00Ohana Honor, trained by Shug McGahee, was ridden by Kendrick Karmush.
01:01:04Also on Saturday at Horseshoe, Indianapolis, three-year-old Philly's Sense of Pearl took a
01:01:10maiden special weight race at five furlongs on the turf for West Point.
01:01:13Trainer Steve Asmussen and Jackie Marcelino-Pedroza.
01:01:16And remember a couple of weeks ago we talked about the West Point owned Atomic Blonde, the
01:01:21German import who won the Kirtana stakes at Churchill Downs.
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01:01:41To learn more, visit West Point TV dot com.
01:01:44Well, that's a wrap on this week's show.
01:01:51I want to thank my partners, Randy Moss and Zoe Cabin, our Green Group Guest of the Week,
01:01:55Danny Gargan and the people who work so hard behind the scenes, Katie Petruniak, Anthony
01:02:00LaRocca, Malia Raqqa, our producers.
01:02:02Thanks so much for listening.
01:02:04Thanks so much for tuning us in.
01:02:05Hope you guys had a great Belmont Stakes Day and we'll catch up with you next week.