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00:00:00For the love of the horse, for generations to come.
00:00:28And welcome to another edition of the TDN Writer's Room.
00:00:30My name is Bill Findlay.
00:00:31I'm a correspondent for the Thoroughbred Daily News.
00:00:34Also work for Sirius XM Radio, doing the Down the Stretch radio show.
00:00:38I'm Randy Moss with NBC Sports, catching up on my sleep after Derby week and already starting
00:00:45to prepare for the Preakness.
00:00:48Terrific show, Randy.
00:00:49Well done.
00:00:50Thank you very much.
00:00:51Really enjoyed it.
00:00:52Thank you very much.
00:00:53Really, really good show.
00:00:54Lovely features.
00:00:55Loved the one on Larry DeMeritt and Wayne Lucas as well.
00:00:58So really, really good.
00:01:00I'm Zoe Cabin with First Racing, and we're here to talk about the Derby.
00:01:05And of course, Mystic Dan is the Derby winner.
00:01:08And what did our team think of him before the race?
00:01:11Well, we can't do any lies or throw you any BS because our intrepid producers have it
00:01:17on tape.
00:01:18Number three is Mystic Dan at 20 to 1 in the morning line.
00:01:22I take on him.
00:01:23He ran a 1 to 1 buyer when he won the Southwest States.
00:01:26If he can run that again, he's a contender.
00:01:29He's one of those long shots that I think, you know, might make his name, might hear
00:01:33his name coming down the stretch.
00:01:35To me, the real Mystic Dan is somewhere in between what you saw in the Southwest and
00:01:40what you saw in the Arkansas Derby, which to me is not good enough.
00:01:44I'm in agreement with Randy there.
00:01:45I mean, a good thing in his favor is that he broke his maiden by seven and a half at
00:01:49Churchill Down.
00:01:50So he's going to handle the trip.
00:01:52Is he good enough?
00:01:53I don't think so.
00:01:54Wow.
00:01:55How about that?
00:01:56I mean, the gold medal for the week, thank you.
00:02:02Did I bet on him?
00:02:03Of course not.
00:02:04But anyways, but what a great, what a just a fantastic horse race with the three horses
00:02:10on the wire.
00:02:11The story of Ken McPeak winning both the bluegrass, excuse me, but both the Kentucky Oaks and the
00:02:16Kentucky Derby.
00:02:18It was a great day for horse racing and he had so many good stories.
00:02:21Everyone got around the track safely.
00:02:23But Randy, I'll start with you.
00:02:26I think Kenny McPeak, if people didn't know who he was before, I think they sure know
00:02:31now.
00:02:32That was a Hall of Fame performance and a feat by him.
00:02:36And I think it will be his ticket into the Hall of Fame.
00:02:39Oh, yeah, I think I would agree with you.
00:02:41I mean, we'll as we're going to talk about him as our he's our Green Group guest of the
00:02:45week.
00:02:46There's been no trainer that has that has consistently done what he has done with the
00:02:54budget that he has had to work with.
00:02:57Right.
00:02:58I mean, he's bought bargain horses from day one.
00:03:01And yet he's won now the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness and the Belmont and many other
00:03:06major stakes races all week long.
00:03:09He was extremely confident about both the Oaks and the Kentucky Derby.
00:03:15And, you know, a lot of guys are confident and it doesn't pan out.
00:03:20But his confidence was certainly was certainly justified, as it turns out.
00:03:24Good job by McPeak.
00:03:26You better bring a bear because I've got a grizzly.
00:03:31His exact comments about Torpedo Anna.
00:03:35So, I mean, we all know that Kenny's never come into a race thinking he can't win it.
00:03:40I mean, he is the most glass full person that you're ever going to want to meet.
00:03:48And it works.
00:03:49I mean, you have to have confidence in your ability, confidence in your horses.
00:03:53You can't be going in thinking you've got the second, third best horse.
00:03:57You've got to go and swing for the fences.
00:03:59And we've seen time and time again.
00:04:01Yeah, he he puts big races on his calendar and he's not scared of anyone.
00:04:06So kudos to Kenny, kudos to Brian Hernandez, a terrific ride.
00:04:11Did the best horse win on the day, guys?
00:04:14Zoe, I'm glad you brought that up because the best horse didn't win the race.
00:04:18And even though I'm the guy that gave kudos to Mystic Dan beforehand and deserve a pat
00:04:23on the back, I will say that he wasn't the best horse, which is no knock on him.
00:04:28But he saved ground under a beautiful ride from Brian Hernandez and literally two jumps
00:04:36out of the gate.
00:04:37He had him glued to the rail and never got off the rail at any point in the race.
00:04:43So and then the nose finish with Sierra Leone and the Japanese horse, two noses apart.
00:04:49They both not only did they both go really wide, but you also had the bumping incident
00:04:55in the stretch that cost the Japanese horse.
00:04:58Matter of fact, I think you could make a case that if you run this race ten times, Mystic
00:05:02Dan might win it three and might not have won it ever, if not for what was just a perfect
00:05:10ride from Brian Hernandez.
00:05:11Yeah, I mean, the genesis for this, apparently, Brian Hernandez has been around a while.
00:05:18He's been riding for 20 years or whatever at Churchill Downs and in the Churchill Downs
00:05:23jockeys room, his locker was in the same corner as Calvin Burrell.
00:05:28And so he saw Calvin Burrell firsthand with his rail skimming rides right on Street Sense
00:05:35and Mind That Bird and, you know, I mean, Super Saver and Always Dreaming.
00:05:41And that sort of hatched the strategy when Mystic Dan drew an inside post position.
00:05:47He's a long shot.
00:05:48What have I got to lose?
00:05:50I'm going to try to give it to Calvin Burrell treatment.
00:05:53The shot that they had on NBC and we'll resurrect it, I'm sure, at the Preakness of him getting
00:06:00through inside Track Phantom, coming to the quarter pole is just amazing.
00:06:05Right. I mean, it was Calvin Burrell all over again because there was very, very little room there.
00:06:11And he actually bounced off Track Phantom a little bit and maybe bounced off the rail a little bit.
00:06:16But it's the age old argument when you're trying to decide who the best horse is.
00:06:19Right. Because a lot of horses get that trip or have the opportunity like that.
00:06:26And they're not good enough to take advantage of it.
00:06:28They're not good enough to capitalize on it.
00:06:30And you can say, OK, well, yeah, it was the rail trip.
00:06:32And, you know, the other horses were wide.
00:06:35But it's also the the the the tactical nature of Mystic Dan to be able to be close to the pace.
00:06:45Right. And be able to tuck inside and run inside horses just fine.
00:06:48And put himself in a position where he can capitalize on that kind of trip.
00:06:53Whereas Sierra Leone, right.
00:06:56He's at the back of the pack and he's lugging in through the stretch like he always does, making mistakes.
00:07:01And Forever Young hops at the start, breaks in the air, making a mistake.
00:07:06And Mystic Dan made no mistake whatsoever and was good enough to capitalize on that trip.
00:07:12If all three horses got the same trip, would Mystic Dan have won?
00:07:18No, obviously not.
00:07:21But, you know, he he also deserves a whole heck of a lot of credit for all the reasons I just I just mentioned.
00:07:27Well, let's throw this now to our former jockey, Zoe Cabin.
00:07:31Zoe, I want to get your take on Brian Hernandez and what he made look easy.
00:07:37I bet really isn't that easy to do.
00:07:39How about Hernandez? Do you ever ride against him?
00:07:42Was he around when you were riding? Yeah.
00:07:44So tell us more about him and really what a special ride that was.
00:07:49I mean, he's about as level headed as you're going to find.
00:07:52He doesn't have a fiery temper.
00:07:55You know, you've seen some of these Cajun jocks with fiery tempers.
00:07:58They maybe they hit the bottle or something like that.
00:08:01Brian is is just about as level as you can get.
00:08:04And he's just quietly plied his trade over the years.
00:08:07I mean, a lot of people forgot he was a Clipse Award winning jockey.
00:08:11He was champion apprentice in 2004, I think.
00:08:14Yeah, 2004. His business just slid off in 2006.
00:08:19You couldn't find him with the search warrant.
00:08:21I remember him coming out and winning the Breeders' Cup Classic on Fortland in 2014
00:08:27or something like that. But I mean, he had a good few lean years,
00:08:30but he just kept plugging away, plugging away, hooked up with McPeak
00:08:35and things just started to go right.
00:08:37I mean, is this going to change his life?
00:08:40He's planning on maybe going to Saratoga this summer,
00:08:43and he's hoping this is going to build up some momentum
00:08:46to get some better rides and get on some better horses.
00:08:49I would have no problem riding Brian Hernandez as far as his ride.
00:08:53I mean, it takes a lot of balls just to stay on the fence
00:08:57in the world's biggest race and just hope something opens up
00:09:02because you're either a genius or you're just a dumbass because you got stopped.
00:09:07And that takes balls just to sit in the pocket and not swing out
00:09:11like everyone does, because when they turn for home, we saw what Sierra Leone
00:09:16and the Japanese horse, Forever Young, Forever Young did turn for home.
00:09:23They're 15 wide turning for home and that probably cost the pair of them the win.
00:09:29So, yeah, it was a stellar race from him.
00:09:33As far as Sierra Leone is concerned.
00:09:36Yeah, he lugs it and he's got a problem.
00:09:38I'm actually a bit surprised that there wasn't some more equipment on him.
00:09:42He just had a plain old snaffle.
00:09:44He lugged in in the bluegrass.
00:09:45I mean, give Tyler Gaffione a bit of power steering.
00:09:48You know it's going to happen.
00:09:50He's a big horse.
00:09:50He runs with his head on the ground.
00:09:52I wouldn't want to ride him.
00:09:54Did you see the picture how low his head was on the ground
00:09:58coming down to the wire?
00:10:00I mean, that's really hard to ride.
00:10:02And, you know, the only thing harder to ride than a horse
00:10:05that's lugging out is a horse that's lugging in.
00:10:08That is impossible.
00:10:09At least when a horse is lugging out, you have some forward momentum.
00:10:14You can hit them right handed.
00:10:15You can try and keep them straight when a horse is lugging in.
00:10:19You've just got to hold on to your rein.
00:10:20It is almost impossible to ride one forward.
00:10:23So that's squarely cost him because he was having to lean back,
00:10:27grab a hold of that right rein.
00:10:29There wasn't any room to hit him left handed.
00:10:32And that's impossible to ride.
00:10:34Now, we'll get to the stewards in just a moment.
00:10:38But I mean, there's plenty of pictures.
00:10:40His whip touched the other horse.
00:10:42I mean, that can't be allowed.
00:10:45Can't be allowed.
00:10:46There's a picture of the whip on the other horse.
00:10:50It's in today's TDN.
00:10:52It's definitely touching the other horse forever.
00:10:54Yeah. And then, Randy, the mistake was not necessarily
00:10:58that they didn't take him down.
00:10:59The mistake was that there was no inquiry with Sierra Leone and Forever Young.
00:11:04And after going back, we were talking about who was best.
00:11:07I would actually make a case that Forever Young was best
00:11:09because both he and Sierra Leone had almost identical trips
00:11:13in the amount of ground they lost on the far turn.
00:11:17And Forever Young, on top of that, had Sierra Leone leaning all over him
00:11:21and bumping him throughout the stretch.
00:11:23But I don't think that Churchill
00:11:25stewards did themselves any favors by not posting an inquiry.
00:11:28And you can't rely on the jockey to do that.
00:11:30He's a guy from Japan. He doesn't know what's going on.
00:11:33He's not aware of the customs of of what we do in American race.
00:11:36And I think they even read somewhere that they said it's very rare for a jockey
00:11:41to lodge an injection in Japan.
00:11:43So, you know, they think it's the steward's job.
00:11:45So, yeah, not the steward's finest moment.
00:11:48Now, there's a lot of things I want to say here, and I'll be as quick as I can.
00:11:52I mean, I want to be I want to be fair, first of all.
00:11:55I mean, as far as Churchill downs in the job they did for the 150th Derby, OK?
00:12:02Yes, you can make the case that all the best horses weren't at the Derby
00:12:06because of mooth and imagination being excluded.
00:12:09But beyond that, the paddock was sensational.
00:12:13I mean, the horse safety aspect of it.
00:12:17They resurfaced the racetrack, everything.
00:12:19I mean, Churchill did a fine job, very fine job on the 150th Derby.
00:12:26In the end, this part of it, their stewards let them down.
00:12:31Big time, big time.
00:12:34The fact that there was no inquiry, you know,
00:12:38either the stewards are 100 percent incompetent
00:12:42or this is a
00:12:45a calculated move.
00:12:47And I think it's the latter.
00:12:49I think that what we saw from maximum security and what we see here,
00:12:53the failure to put up the inquiry sign.
00:12:57Is by design to avoid controversy
00:13:01as much as possible, right?
00:13:04Right now, this has been called a mini controversy.
00:13:07And the reason it's a mini controversy doesn't involve the winner.
00:13:10But also, if they put the inquiry sign up, then all of America knows,
00:13:15oh, something happened in the race.
00:13:17Oh, they're looking at it.
00:13:18And make no mistake, I don't care what they say.
00:13:21They looked at this thing over and over and over
00:13:24because it took a long time for them to declare this race official.
00:13:28There's no doubt that that's what they were doing.
00:13:31OK. And in the end, this was an elementary school disqualification.
00:13:38You don't get any more obvious than this.
00:13:41They bump four or five, six times.
00:13:43And I don't care.
00:13:45I mean, the take that it was given,
00:13:48take between the two horses is absolutely ludicrous
00:13:52because all Sakai was trying to do on Forever Young.
00:13:55He didn't veer out into Sierra Leone.
00:13:58He was just trying to hold his position as Sierra Leone kept pushing him
00:14:02and kept bumping him down from the eight path all the way down into the three path.
00:14:07The reason why Sakai didn't claim foul, we find out the next day,
00:14:11even in Japan, jockeys very seldom claim foul
00:14:16with the with the politeness of the Japanese society
00:14:19and coming to the United States and feeling like they're guests at Churchill Downs.
00:14:23He's not going to rock the boat that much.
00:14:26They said the next morning in Japan, it's the stewards
00:14:29that typically do all this with stewards inquiries and then disqualifying.
00:14:33And they don't rely on the jockeys.
00:14:35OK, it's just they just drop the ball in in so many different ways here.
00:14:41It doesn't impact the winner, obviously.
00:14:44It impacts the gamblers and the owners as much as anything else.
00:14:47But Forever Young should have been second and Sierra Leone should have been third.
00:14:50One more thing I want to say about the race before we leave it.
00:14:54One of the big question marks going into the race
00:14:57was Forever Young and the travel
00:15:01from Japan to Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia to Dubai, Dubai to the United States.
00:15:06How much that would take out of him?
00:15:08I think we got the answer to that, that it can be done.
00:15:12Yeah, he very well, Bill, I agree.
00:15:14You may be correct.
00:15:15He may have been the best horse in the race.
00:15:17The best four horses in the race.
00:15:20I've gone back and studied the replays over and over and over.
00:15:23Right. In no particular order.
00:15:25Sierra Leone, Forever Young, Mystic Dan and T.O.
00:15:30Password, the other Japanese horse who broke slowly,
00:15:34got bothered on the first turn, going into the first turn,
00:15:37just like Forever Young did.
00:15:39He's 18th, when most people expect it to be right up on the pace.
00:15:43He was the widest horse of all around the turn.
00:15:46He was even wider than Sierra Leone and Forever Young
00:15:49by about a half a path or a path.
00:15:52And yet he's a length and three quarters behind Catching Freedom
00:15:55and finishes fifth while Catching Freedom had a rail run up the inside.
00:15:58Those were the best horses in the race, and two of them were from Japan.
00:16:02So that's something to keep in mind when we look at this next year.
00:16:06Yeah, it's a scary, scary thought, the Japanese and and how well
00:16:10their horses are running over here.
00:16:12My two cents on the stewards at Churchill Downs.
00:16:15For the love of God, what were they thinking?
00:16:18Did they not learn anything from maximum security?
00:16:22Just post a damn inquiry sign.
00:16:25I mean, it should automatically be post every single year.
00:16:29The amount of bumping, jostling, taking up, clipping heels,
00:16:33everything that goes on in that race.
00:16:35They should just hang the damn sign when the horses leave the gate.
00:16:38Just take a look at it.
00:16:40I mean, for the love of God, I'm watching it and I'm like,
00:16:43what what the hell are they thinking?
00:16:45It just blew my mind.
00:16:48And I feel for Tyler Gaffione trying to ride that giant monster
00:16:54lugging in like that.
00:16:55I really feel for him because he truly believes that
00:16:59he probably could have won the race.
00:17:01I am not buying for one second that he lost his balance
00:17:05when he reached over and pushed the other horse,
00:17:09because if you look at him, he's leaning off to the right.
00:17:12So if he lost his balance, he will be leaning to the left.
00:17:16He's just got his. I'm not buying that.
00:17:17That's just BS.
00:17:18He's just trying to make himself some room.
00:17:21But I do feel for him that was a really, really tough horse to ride.
00:17:25I hope Chad Brown puts some better power steering equipment on him next time.
00:17:29Or just stay on the rail.
00:17:31If a horse lugs in, you want the rail because I'll keep him straight.
00:17:35So, yeah, maybe he'll get a rail run.
00:17:38But that's my two penalties.
00:17:39Oh, and Tio Password, the rider dropped the whip as well.
00:17:43Kazushi. No, did he really?
00:17:45Whip flying. Yeah.
00:17:47About the eight pole.
00:17:48So that didn't help.
00:17:50One other thing.
00:17:52How good is Pratt riding the derby?
00:17:54Now he's won it once by default.
00:17:56But if you look back the last few years,
00:17:59like he's always in the top four.
00:18:01Angel of Empire, Zandon, Hot Rod Charlie this year as well.
00:18:06Like he would be my derby rider going forward.
00:18:10Yeah. And he followed Mystic Dan right up, right up to the inside. Yeah.
00:18:15All right, guys, before we move on to other subjects, first of all,
00:18:18congratulations to NBC and Randy and his team.
00:18:22Largest TV audience for a Kentucky Derby since 1989.
00:18:25It's so strange that horse racing has its problems
00:18:28and is declining.
00:18:29And at the same time, the Kentucky Derby has never in its history
00:18:35been more popular.
00:18:36And Randy, damn, you were cute with those three year olds, weren't you?
00:18:41That's my demographic, Bill.
00:18:42Like I said, I used to say kids, dogs and old people.
00:18:46But now that I'm starting to creep up a little bit toward the old person's age,
00:18:50then I have to drop that from my from my comment.
00:18:52OK, it's the best TV show I've ever been involved with.
00:18:55It was it was terrific.
00:18:57And I like to say that because you're on right now.
00:18:59It was really, really good.
00:19:00Well, it had very little to do with me what I'm talking about,
00:19:03because you had the element of, you know, the NBC production and directing
00:19:06and all that they bring to the table.
00:19:09You had fantastic storylines.
00:19:11You had the history part of it, right?
00:19:13Hundred and fiftieth and all the history stories that NBC told.
00:19:16You had the beautiful paddock and two different sets that we had.
00:19:19You had Mike Tirico's unbelievable.
00:19:22And then, oh, yeah, the closest finish in the history of the Kentucky Derby.
00:19:25So it all added up.
00:19:27All right, guys. So one last thing.
00:19:30We should have got the tape back from last week
00:19:32about what everybody had to say about fierceness.
00:19:35I believe, Randy, you picked them.
00:19:37And Zoe, I think you picked them, too.
00:19:39I did not. But, you know, what a perplexing horse this is.
00:19:44He did it again and he didn't have anything.
00:19:47I mean, was it the greatest trip ever?
00:19:49No, but it wasn't like he had a bad trip or he didn't get bump
00:19:53coming out of the gate, least anything that I saw.
00:19:55This horse just is a nutcase.
00:19:57I mean, some days he runs like that.
00:19:59Seattle slew and other days he runs like a foreclaimer from Bula Park
00:20:03among a good horse.
00:20:05I can't recall seeing anybody this inconsistent in my life.
00:20:09And you know what he's going to do?
00:20:10He's going to win the Belmont by 15 likes.
00:20:12You watch.
00:20:13He's going to get out front, gallop along all by himself.
00:20:16The half's going to go in 50 and he's going to draw off
00:20:18just like he did in the Florida Derby.
00:20:20And then we'll all be saying again, oh, what a great horse.
00:20:22But not right now.
00:20:24He really put it mildly.
00:20:26He stunk up to join.
00:20:29I'm not going to say he's a nutcase.
00:20:32Yeah, it was close to a fast pace, but the winner was right there as well.
00:20:36So honestly, when after we done our podcast,
00:20:41I watched some of his gallops leading up to the race.
00:20:44I didn't like him at all.
00:20:46At all.
00:20:47I liked his work, but I did not like his gallops leading up to the race.
00:20:52So like I did a super factor.
00:20:54I still thought he'd hang in there, but I put him in fourth.
00:20:57So, yeah, I don't know if we'll even see him in the Belmont.
00:21:02And when we made our picks, OK, we had a we had a caveat.
00:21:06We're making them early.
00:21:07They're subject to change.
00:21:09And on the air, I called an audible and I picked Sierra Leone instead.
00:21:13I noticed that because I was concerned kind of about the same things.
00:21:17But yeah, it is it's a head scratcher.
00:21:20Definitely the TDN writers room is brought to you by Keeneland.
00:21:24This year's Keeneland September yearling sale begins on September the 9th.
00:21:28I will write that down because I will be there.
00:21:31And if you're wondering why you should make plans to attend,
00:21:34look no further than this past weekend at Churchill Downs.
00:21:37Listen to this.
00:21:38Vava, Winnie of the great winner of the grade one Derby City
00:21:42Distaff is a two hundred and eighty thousand dollar September yearling.
00:21:47Tricari, winner of the grade one American Turf was a Keeneland January
00:21:51weanling. Cogburn, winner of the grade two Twin Spires
00:21:55Turf Sprint was a Keeneland November weanling.
00:21:58And while Kentucky Derby winner Mystic Dam was a homebred,
00:22:02his dam, Mam, was a 2014 Keeneland September grad.
00:22:07Enough said. We'll be right back after this message from Keeneland.
00:22:18Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the management
00:22:20and staff of Keeneland,
00:22:20I would like to welcome you to the September yearling sale.
00:22:23Good to have you back with us.
00:22:24The energy at Keeneland Book One is unlike any other sale that you'll go to.
00:22:29It is the marketplace of the center of the horse universe.
00:22:32It's electric.
00:22:33You can't replicate the urgency that's at Keeneland September.
00:22:36Quality in quantity.
00:22:37Keeneland September Book One, every breeder's dream.
00:22:47Phenomenal talent.
00:22:48Brilliance had that high speed that he could carry.
00:22:52Jack Christopher to win the champagne.
00:22:55He carried this quality from two to three.
00:22:58He was top notch.
00:22:59Oh, Woody himself would appreciate this effort.
00:23:03He was the most brilliant horse all year.
00:23:05That's all I heard was Jack Christopher, Jack Christopher.
00:23:07He was obviously the one to beat.
00:23:09It is Jack Christopher.
00:23:11He showed a lot of brilliance and speed and ability on the track.
00:23:14So we hope that carries through to these foals.
00:23:17Our foal is the first foal out of a mare.
00:23:20She's got a lot of scope, a lot of quality to her.
00:23:23Very athletic.
00:23:25We're really excited about what we're seeing.
00:23:28Lots of Jack Christopher coming through, but just quality through and through
00:23:31and size, athleticism.
00:23:33Very, very pleased.
00:23:34Extremely excited about what we're seeing with his first foals.
00:23:38The blue guy in a colt.
00:23:40He's big and strong, healthy, straightforward.
00:23:44Smart, balanced.
00:23:47The My Sugar Bear foal, this filly is beautiful.
00:23:50A lot of bone, correct.
00:23:53I don't know what else you want.
00:23:55Can't say enough good things.
00:23:57I don't think size is going to be an issue with the Jack Christopher's.
00:24:00They seem to have more length of leg, which is going to lead to more size.
00:24:04I know it's very early days, but they're so easy to deal with as well.
00:24:09Those seven to eight mile type horses as stallions,
00:24:12it gives you so many options just for breeding lots of winners.
00:24:15You know, there's so many races at those distances
00:24:18and you can breed sprinters by those stallions
00:24:20and you can breed classic horses by those stallions.
00:24:23Great versatility and potentials there.
00:24:26And I think the best is yet to come for Munnings too.
00:24:28So I think we're only going to see that sire line,
00:24:31that branch of the sire line only continue to improve.
00:24:43This week's fastest horse of the week is brought to you by Audible,
00:24:47one of those fast sires at Windstar Farm.
00:24:50Audible had two black type winners over the weekend.
00:24:53Dee Regresso won the $100,000 Honey Rider stakes at Gulfstream Park.
00:24:58And MyMainSqueeze became his newest graded stakes winner
00:25:03when she scored an upset win in the $600,000 grade to eight Bells stakes.
00:25:09On Kentucky Derby weekend, Audible is the is the leading second crop sire.
00:25:14This is a nice super effective, by the way, in earnings,
00:25:17black type winners, graded stakes winners and wins.
00:25:21And Audible stands at Windstar for a fee of only $15,000.
00:25:27Now, fastest horse of the week, not surprisingly,
00:25:30came on Kentucky Derby weekend on Friday on Oaks Day in the Alley Sheba
00:25:34for older horses.
00:25:35What a great horse.
00:25:36It was First Mission who recorded a buyer's speed figure of 106
00:25:41bouncing back from a sort of a puzzling defeat in the Pegasus World Cup
00:25:45at Gulfstream Park.
00:25:47First Mission ran down yet another one of those seemingly overachieving
00:25:51Japanese horses, T.O.'s Sant Denis, who spurted away to a huge lead
00:25:56on the backstretch.
00:25:57First Mission had the tactical speed to sit right behind him and ran him down.
00:26:02For the fastest horse of the week, First Mission from the Braddock's.
00:26:11TD and Writers Room, as always, brought to you by the Green Group,
00:26:15a tax consulting and advisory firm specializing in this industry,
00:26:20in the thoroughbred industry and designing a well-designed
00:26:22and a well-founded culture for horse racing.
00:26:24This is the first T.O.
00:26:27firm specializing in this industry, in the thoroughbred
00:26:30industry, and designed to save you money right in the pocket
00:26:34mark.
00:26:35And welcome in now the green group guests of the weekend. Who
00:26:37else could it possibly be? Other than the man of the hour, Kenny
00:26:41McPeak, after his historic weekend at Churchill Downs
00:26:44winning both the Oaks and the Kentucky Derby. Kenny, welcome.
00:26:47And I realized you got a ways to go to the Preakness. And also
00:26:50we're recording this on a Tuesday. So by the time it
00:26:54appears, maybe the story has changed a little bit. But give
00:26:57us your up to the minute take on whether or not you're going to
00:27:00run this horse in the Preakness.
00:27:01Well, the colt's doing fine. We're gonna get him back to the
00:27:05track tomorrow. We've got a lot of storms coming through today.
00:27:08But he's been in the feed tub the last couple of days. I'm not
00:27:12overly worried about that. But you know, look, an old guy told
00:27:15me years ago, don't make a decision to be absolutely
00:27:18positive. We have to and you know, we just want to get him
00:27:21back out on the racetrack and make sure he's moving good and
00:27:24that he's, you know, his regular self that his energy level is
00:27:27fine. And, you know, right, right now, I can't tell you one
00:27:31way or the other Lance Gassaway and Sherilyn Gassaway, and I'll
00:27:35discuss it and, and ultimately do it, we'll do the right thing.
00:27:38But I actually told Lance before the Kentucky Derby that because
00:27:44we skipped the Rebel, that I felt pretty good that if we
00:27:47needed to, we could run back in the Preakness. And so, you know,
00:27:52I think at this stage, you know, I'm optimistic. But right
00:27:55now, like I said, we don't have to make a call yet.
00:27:58Is it fair to say though, you're leaning towards running in the
00:28:00Preakness?
00:28:01Well, who wouldn't want to? Right? I mean, who wouldn't want
00:28:04to, you know, you get these windows of opportunity and, you
00:28:09know, give him a chance to prove himself and maybe make amends on
00:28:13his loss at the Arkansas Derby, who knows, but, but we wouldn't
00:28:16run him for those reasons other than if he was well and he was
00:28:20ready, then, and we feel like we can win it, we'll go. I mean,
00:28:23so, like I said, we got, we got a few days and there's, there's
00:28:27no rush.
00:28:29Gotcha.
00:28:30So Kenny, I know you know, this, the last trainer to, to
00:28:34pull off the Derby Oaks double was playing Ben Jones 72 years
00:28:40ago, we're gonna start calling you playing Ken McPeak, if you
00:28:43don't mind.
00:28:43Yeah. What is the last what writers room? Did you have him
00:28:50on Randy?
00:28:54Jerry Bailey goes back that far, but not me. So what are the what
00:29:01have these last few days been like for you? I texted you and
00:29:03you said it hadn't sunk in yet. What's it like?
00:29:07Um, you know, having having, you know, I've had a Belmont win in
00:29:12a previous win. And that's, you know, those are fantastic rides
00:29:16too, right? So I'm not going to say been there done that. But I
00:29:19think the difference is, probably, if the iPhone changes
00:29:26everything, because so many of us, our world revolves around
00:29:30the 2000 text messages. Whoa. Oh, really? That doesn't include
00:29:37people sending me Facebook messages. I didn't, you know, I
00:29:41can't I don't even I don't even open Facebook, Twitter. Gosh,
00:29:48email. Phone messages. I've never met 2000 people. But you
00:29:56know, I think I know the nice thing about it is, is that, yes,
00:30:01I have a lot of friends, and a lot of people that I've known
00:30:05all my life, and I work really hard never to burn a bridge. You
00:30:09know, sure, I'm sure there are people that don't like me, but
00:30:12I've got a lot to do. So it's pretty cool. That's probably the
00:30:15most unique thing about it. I mean, I don't I don't want to do
00:30:20anything different. Greg and I are days not any different. You
00:30:24know, we're still worrying about the same stuff. And we've got
00:30:27we've got to get through this huge list of horses that we got
00:30:30to make sure everybody's, you know, there's a big
00:30:33responsibility. And, you know, the work continues.
00:30:38Kenny, take take me through the moment on Saturday, when you saw
00:30:43Brian cut the corner and transfer home because there's
00:30:47some video of you and you're about the most stoic person I've
00:30:50ever seen watching their horse cross the wire. Take me through
00:30:54what were you thinking? I can't even imagine.
00:30:56I told my wife Sherry before the race, it wouldn't surprise me if
00:31:00he won by four or five. I really did. I said I told her I wouldn't
00:31:05surprise me if you want easy. And it looked like he was gonna
00:31:09win easy. When he cut the corner and he's two front three in
00:31:13front. I'm like, Oh, wow, here he comes. And, you know, then I
00:31:18started getting worried when the other two started running down.
00:31:21But I was lucky because where I was located, I had a pretty good
00:31:26view of the finish. And having raced at Churchill a long time,
00:31:29I knew where the wire the wire was because it sits actually in
00:31:32front of the finish pole, the camera, the mirror does. And
00:31:37then there was a monitor to my right, that I was able to look
00:31:41over and an eyeball. And they had this slow mo. And I expected
00:31:47to win. I did. You did? Yes, I expected.
00:31:53So what gave you that confidence? Because I mean, in
00:31:56the Arkansas, look, he was awesome in the southwest. And
00:31:59then I know you skipped the rebel. And then in the Arkansas
00:32:02Derby, Muth and Just Steel were actually pulling away from him
00:32:05in the last eighth of a mile. So what gave you that much
00:32:09confidence going into the Kentucky Derby?
00:32:11Well, in the south, I mean, the Arkansas Derby got mugged in
00:32:14that turn, you can't really see it because you don't have a
00:32:17head on angle. But Brian nearly got knocked off the horse. And
00:32:21he felt like it cost him four or five lengths. And we had already
00:32:24whipped Just Steel in the southwest on our best race. And
00:32:28so we really were I don't know that we didn't want them. We
00:32:32wanted to win the Arkansas Derby. But it just didn't
00:32:35happen. We drew outside. In this case, we drew inside. And we
00:32:39already knew he'd like he'd love an inside trip. I bet more on
00:32:43him Saturday than I bet on a horse in my life, maybe. So I
00:32:48mean, I'm not a gambler. I don't gamble. But I'm here. So to your
00:32:54question, confident, okay. So maybe three weeks out, we were,
00:33:00I was a little worried about how he was eating. And we were I
00:33:08changed his feed tub scene a little bit. First thing I put in
00:33:12there kind of failed, might have backfired. And we found a good
00:33:17patch of clover out there. We started feeding or grazing him
00:33:20on clover every afternoon. He loved that started eating a
00:33:25little bit better. And he's not a big horse. So he doesn't need
00:33:28to eat a ton. He's just a modest size average size horse, but
00:33:33very efficient. But and with her she was she was like a lion in
00:33:38the feed tub all the time. And both of them on the racetrack
00:33:41were doing really well. And then, you know, we're all about
00:33:46details. Greg and I worry about details every day. And so I had
00:33:51I called Dr. all day because I had a couple other ones I needed
00:33:54him to look at. I said, Steve, you know, come down, I want you
00:33:57to, you know, poke on some horses, check the points, see
00:34:00what you come up with. And Steve looked at five horses, including
00:34:05torpedo and mystic Dan. And he says, Sorry, can't help you,
00:34:11Kenny. I can't do anything to help those horses. Those horses
00:34:14are perfect. I said, you can't find any sore spot anywhere.
00:34:18Nothing. Perfect. No, no ankles, no hocks, no backs or not.
00:34:23Perfect. He said, Kenny, good luck. You can't use me. I don't
00:34:26you don't need me. Okay. And you know, and then then I work them
00:34:31and they work 59 and two and did it easy. And I said, Brian, he
00:34:36really went faster than I wanted. And then they work 59
00:34:39and two again. Okay, well, that's great. But okay, check
00:34:43them. Nothing. Doing great. Okay. And for those out there
00:34:48that don't, you know, deal with what trainers deal with, you
00:34:52know, every day we're dealing with problems. A horse has got a
00:34:54foot issue. This one's not eating like you like, you know,
00:34:59this one's got a little back issue and has to warm up. I
00:35:02mean, it is not a straight line. I mean, to hon a run was like
00:35:06Humpty Dumpty bringing him to the Kentucky Derby. I mean, he
00:35:10had a glute muscle sore. He had feet that were bothering him. He
00:35:13had a lung infection. It was one thing after another, and he
00:35:16still ran second. And, and here we brought these two and it was
00:35:22literally like the seas parted.
00:35:24So Kenny, I've got a quick question. You had all these
00:35:28works leading up to the Derby, but you did something unorthodox
00:35:31that a lot of people wouldn't do. You actually worked your
00:35:35horse out of the gate on the Wednesday. Like a seasoned
00:35:38horse, you opted to break him out the gate and work him. And
00:35:42that by the seems of it seemed to work, right?
00:35:45Well, yes and no. I wouldn't call it a work, but it was a
00:35:51reminder. And we knew that we were going to be standing in the
00:35:55gate for a minimum of two minutes. And so went Tuesday, we
00:36:01stood him in the gate for a full two minutes, or maybe longer,
00:36:05right, Greg? I think a lot longer. He stood there and
00:36:08stood there and stood in there. And what you don't want is one
00:36:10going in there and falling asleep. Now, he is a complete
00:36:13old soul, this horse. I mean, I can literally just walk him out
00:36:17in the graze and drop the shank and he'd stand there. He doesn't
00:36:21do anything wrong ever. It's a waste of time to school him
00:36:25because he's so chill. That it's like we're schooling ourselves
00:36:30because he's not worried about anything. It's very, very, he
00:36:33has a very, very unusual personality. Just a pro he's,
00:36:38he's an old soul. I don't know. It's for me, he's like 1000
00:36:42years old, this horse. He knows everything. So anyway, so the
00:36:48gate, I told Brian, I said, Okay, we're gonna stand Brian
00:36:51got on him Tuesday. So we're gonna stand long two minutes. I
00:36:55said, but Wednesday, we're gonna stand the long two minutes. And
00:36:58we're gonna poppy. Because if you get left flat footed in the
00:37:02Kentucky Derby, you're done. Yeah. And because I knew that
00:37:07he'd only been out of the gate in the Arkansas Derby in 11
00:37:11weeks, he'd only been out once. And so he needed to, he needed a
00:37:16little refresher. And of course, when when they pop Saturday, he
00:37:20popped. And that gave Brian time to figure out where he wanted to
00:37:24be. Of course, took him there without without much effort.
00:37:28Kenny, without you committing fully to the Preakness, and we
00:37:32find out that with the exception of Wayne Lucas, virtually
00:37:35nobody from the Derby is running back in the Preakness,
00:37:39the debate is going to come up again. Is the two weeks, three
00:37:42weeks spacing of the Triple Crown something that needs to
00:37:45change? For instance, if you had four full weeks between races,
00:37:49would you be more likely to run in the Preakness? Where do you
00:37:52stand on that?
00:37:54I don't think the two weeks is a big deal. I mean, I've run
00:37:57horses back in two weeks plenty in my career. You know, I think
00:38:02the only thing that I would disagree with the two weeks
00:38:04would be, is that if more Derby horses came back in four weeks
00:38:08or five weeks, actually, if I could rearrange the Triple
00:38:11Crown, and they may be Commissioner or whatever it is,
00:38:14I would have first Saturday in May, first Saturday in June,
00:38:18first Saturday in July. But you've got to get three huge
00:38:22organizations to agree to that. But I think the uniqueness of
00:38:26the Triple Crown is the two weeks and three weeks and it
00:38:30takes that that's why it's such a test. And finally, I think
00:38:36that the fact that we've removed Lasix from the from the
00:38:39conversation, makes it even a better test. Because as the
00:38:44horse done it without Lasix yet?
00:38:47No, I don't think so. No, no, no. Okay, so so I think that's
00:38:52a good thing. Because I think horses recover quicker without
00:38:55the Lasix. I think the Lasix was a detriment. I know there are
00:38:58guys that'll scream all Lasix, I need Lasix. No, we don't need
00:39:02Lasix. Maybe there are certain horses that do. And yes, we do
00:39:06have bleeders. But they shouldn't be the ones that are
00:39:09running in the grade one, grade two, grade three levels. But the
00:39:12two weeks is easier without the Lasix. Because the Lasix would
00:39:16dehydrate a horse. And then you would have to come back in two
00:39:19weeks, you'd have to recruit that fluid. And so that that I'm
00:39:24not scared of the two weeks at all. I just want to make sure
00:39:26my horse is right.
00:39:29So Kenny, you've got a long standing and well deserved
00:39:33reputation of being probably the best trainer in the business at
00:39:37picking out horses for bargain prices, what constitutes a
00:39:41bargain price in today's economy and being phenomenally
00:39:44successful with them going all the way back to the $57,000 you
00:39:48paid for Kerlin when you picked him out who made $10 million.
00:39:52But there have been many, many including Torpedo Anna. And I
00:39:56guess you fold Mystic Dan at Magdalena. But how much more
00:40:02satisfaction does that does that give you when you win races like
00:40:08this with horses that you've been that intimately involved
00:40:11with from the start?
00:40:13Well, as a young trainer, I had, I used to go and I still do it. I
00:40:18like going to look at the good horses. And I can remember
00:40:24pretty much every horse I've ever seen. And I can recall
00:40:28their pedigrees. Usually I like looking at horses look at the
00:40:31pedigree and how they're made and how they race and their
00:40:34their their angles. I believe horses are constellations are
00:40:38like stars in the sky. And if you look at the angles, you've
00:40:42got to you've got to envision the way they're made and what
00:40:48they'll do on the racetrack. And as a young trainer, I used to be
00:40:53so frustrated because I would get all these average horses.
00:40:57And I was Oh, man, I need a horse that's fast enough to
00:41:00compete with Wayne and Todd and, you know, Nick and, you know,
00:41:06all these guys that's great horses. Well, if you can't beat
00:41:09them with a budget, you got to beat them with your brain,
00:41:12right? I mean, this is a big chess match this whole get this
00:41:15whole sport. It's a it's it's a for me, it's very cerebral in
00:41:21that you've got a plot and plan and know which how to move
00:41:25across the board. You can't throw money at it. That's
00:41:30proven. Coolmore's got plenty of money. Sheikh Mohammed got
00:41:33plenty of money, but you have to outsmart it. And, you know,
00:41:37money's definitely an advantage, but it's just a big chess match
00:41:41to me. I mean, you got to figure out a horse. It's made how
00:41:44they're made, whether they got the stamina, whether they have
00:41:46the speed, you know, the mind. I'm unbelievably thrilled to
00:41:52made the bought the mare did the mating. I've got foals. The
00:41:58video of him is a foal being foaled. I mean, crazy stuff at
00:42:04my farm. I mean, what satisfaction is that? That's
00:42:08crazy, right? I feel like I created. And you know, Lance,
00:42:13Lance to them, you know, look, they supplied, you know, but
00:42:16they they all ultra easy to deal with. And and they've enjoyed
00:42:21it. And we're having fun with it. We're going to keep having
00:42:23fun with it. But, you know, like, I'm disappointed that I
00:42:26couldn't do it for other clients, people that I really
00:42:28like working for, too.
00:42:30That's a really cool story. Aside from Mystic Dan and
00:42:35Thorpedo Anna, what are you most proud of? Like, which one of
00:42:39your purchases or which one of your horses are you most proud
00:42:43of? You could pick out one thing and be like, that's the
00:42:46defining moment.
00:42:48I don't know. Too many of them. You know, I bought Einstein in
00:42:53Brazil at a yearling sale. And he was completely overlooked
00:42:57down there. And I like doing that. I'll go to I've been
00:43:01Argentinian sales, Brazilian sales. And I bought some
00:43:05average horses in those sales, too. But but Einstein, you know,
00:43:10that one, I literally walked into the sales grounds, looked
00:43:14at all the horses, said that one, bought him for 45,000 US
00:43:19and brought him back. And, and it couldn't sell him for six
00:43:22months. Nobody wanted it. Wow. And Curlin, you know, I offered
00:43:26him to six different clients and nobody wanted it until they
00:43:30finally took him. And then I don't know, Swiss Skydiver was
00:43:34in book. I don't remember book four, back in the back, back in
00:43:39the back, and she stood out. And you have to do all that really
00:43:44quick. You got to work through those sales. I mean, you're
00:43:46literally buzzing through the barns and you're trying to
00:43:49figure you got to pluck and go. And I don't know that think
00:43:54that's a that's the ultimate challenge. It's a lot harder than
00:43:56training them is finding them.
00:43:59How long does it take you to look at a horse and decide
00:44:02whether you want him or not or her?
00:44:04Well, Jim Fitzgerald's nicknamed me Mr. Seven Seconds.
00:44:11Yeah, because I do look at him really quick and I go on my
00:44:15instinct. And because you don't have enough time to dwell. And
00:44:20so I go and you know, I use what I'll do is I'll make a first run
00:44:24through the barn area and use my instinct. And then then I go
00:44:29back through and take my time. And then I call it and squeeze
00:44:35it like an accordion and all the air out of it to like, okay,
00:44:39there's five in this session that I want to bid on. And then
00:44:42I start making phone calls or or I'll just go buy the horse and
00:44:46then worry about it later. And whenever I buy one cheap, my
00:44:49phone starts blowing up. People follow the they follow the the
00:44:55results and go, Oh, can I have that one? Can I have that one?
00:44:59Which is great, right? Yeah.
00:45:03Kenny, one of the great things about your career is you think
00:45:05outside the box, you've been one of the first people to go over
00:45:08to Epsom, you talked about buying horses in South America
00:45:12with Mystic Dan, any chance that you would put them in the
00:45:16running for a foreign race like the Epsom Derby?
00:45:20Well, this isn't the year to try that. But wouldn't it be cool if
00:45:24a Kentucky Derby won the Epsom Derby too? I mean, this is a
00:45:28horse that would be very capable of doing it. I wouldn't be
00:45:30scared of going at all. I mean, City of Troy just showed me a
00:45:35little chink in his armor. But if he had won the guineas the
00:45:39other day, and I pay attention to all that, then you would have
00:45:43been scared to go. But now it looks like it's pretty wide
00:45:47open. You know, Aiden probably run 10. But you know, and I love
00:45:53those guys. But yeah, I'd love to do that. But you know, this
00:45:59isn't the right horse in the right timing. But you could say
00:46:03that let's say he won the Keeneland stake and then maybe
00:46:06came back and won the American turf. Oh, I'd already be on a
00:46:09plane. But you know, that's been daddy's little darling, I think
00:46:15would have run really well if she'd made the starting gate.
00:46:17Yeah, I like those kind of challenges. I think they're fun.
00:46:21What's next for Torpedo Anna?
00:46:24I think the acorns are no brainer. You know, we need to,
00:46:30I want to win another Alabama. She's very capable of doing
00:46:35that. You know, let's keep her in her division right now. Go
00:46:41from there. I mean, I wouldn't be scared to run her in the
00:46:44Belmont at a mile and a quarter. I wouldn't want her to run her a
00:46:47mile and a half at Belmont itself. But Belmont at Saratoga,
00:46:51I mean, I'll come I'll contemplate it.
00:46:54And so what, say you decide not to go to the Preakness with
00:46:58Mystic Dan, would you consider the Belmont for him?
00:47:01Oh, yeah, for sure. Yeah, yeah.
00:47:04Kenny, we haven't brought up Brian Hernandez yet, which seems
00:47:08a mistake on our part. Literally, if he didn't ride a
00:47:11perfect race, which he did, you might not have won saving ground
00:47:16every single inch of the way. I mean, he never got any more than
00:47:19three inches outside the rail. You've been one of his biggest
00:47:23supporters. If you could just talk about what Brian meant to
00:47:25the team and about his ride on both horses.
00:47:28Well, I've said repeatedly, he's a consummate professional.
00:47:33There's nothing complicated about Brian. Family man, no bad
00:47:37habits. Comes in with a smile on his face, keeps an even keel.
00:47:42Never had a crossword with him, never will.
00:47:46Gives me feedback. Loves to come breeze the horses, get on the
00:47:50horses. If I say, Greg and I'll be in here and we'll go, who you
00:47:55got coming five, throw Brian, Brian, Brian here at 515. No
00:48:00problem. Never have to worry about scrambling. Where's Brian?
00:48:03Where's Brian? No, he's here. And Frank Bernice, his agent's
00:48:07fantastic guy. He came in here and said we go through all the
00:48:11horses conditions so he knows where we're going. To touch on
00:48:17it, what is it that's in the water in Louisiana? Is it the
00:48:23food? Is it the soil? But they keep producing these guys that
00:48:29can ride. And the list is amazing in that, I mean, Eddie
00:48:36Delahousse is the first one that like my era, at least. But you
00:48:41could go back, you know, Randy Romero, Kent DeSormo, Robbie
00:48:48Alvarado, Lanry, Shane Sellers, fantastic rider, simply didn't
00:48:54have a classic horse. Lanry hadn't had a classic horse.
00:48:57Burrell, you wouldn't want to leave him out, right? Mark
00:49:00Guidry was a great rider. If he ever left Chicago sooner, I
00:49:04mean, what a fantastic jockey. I know I'm missing a bunch of
00:49:08them.
00:49:08There's a ton of them. Larry Monson. I mean, there's so many
00:49:11of them over the years.
00:49:12Amazing. Amazing.
00:49:13Maybe Jambalaya stunts their growth.
00:49:17I don't know. Brian's cut from that cloth. And I, for years,
00:49:21all my career, I've used them a lot, a lot. And you don't have
00:49:25to tell them to cut the corner. You don't have to worry about
00:49:27them hitting a hole. I mean, they can just horseback.
00:49:32Well, Kenny, I'm flattered that out of the 2000 techs, he chose
00:49:37to return mine to get you to come on to this show. I know how
00:49:41busy you've been. And a lot of people rooting for you because
00:49:45you're one of the good guys in racing. Congratulations on an
00:49:48historic achievement. And hopefully we'll see you in the
00:49:51brightness.
00:49:52All right. Thanks for having me.
00:49:54As the Green Group Guest of the Week, a guy that's come into a
00:49:57lot of money here recently, Ken McPeak will receive a free one
00:50:01hour tax consultation with Lynn Green et al at the Green Group.
00:50:05For more information on how they can save you money on your
00:50:08taxes, go to www.greenco.com.
00:50:13When it comes to the horse industry, tax laws are
00:50:15complicated and unique. That is why most people overpay on their
00:50:19taxes. Why not get a second opinion from the top rated
00:50:22accounting and tax firm in the thoroughbred industry. With over
00:50:25800 clients in the horse business alone, the Green Group
00:50:29has the expertise to save you taxes. There is a reason the
00:50:33most successful owners, breeders, trainers, vets and
00:50:35horsemen use the Green Group as their tax advisors. We save you
00:50:39taxes. Over the past 40 years, the Green Group founder Len
00:50:43Green has owned and bred some of the best racehorses in the
00:50:47history of the sport. His DJ stable competes at the highest
00:50:50level and has received the game's most prestigious honors.
00:50:53Len Green's in depth hands on industry knowledge combined with
00:50:57current edge tax saving strategies produces positive
00:51:00tax saving results for clients. Take advantage of this special
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00:51:27And they're off in the Pegasus World Cup!
00:51:58On this week's edition of First Things First, I caught up with
00:52:02Phil D'Amaro, who had literally just got back to Santa Anita.
00:52:12Phil, you got back quick from Churchill. When did you get
00:52:14back?
00:52:15Yeah, like about 1230. I was able to hop on an owner's private
00:52:20plane, which always helps and just catch an Uber right off the
00:52:23plane, which always helps and just catch an Uber right off the
00:52:27plane.
00:52:27Awesome. Tell me a little bit about your experience, strong
00:52:30hold, how he came out and what the plans are now.
00:52:34Yeah, very happy. He came out of the race 100% perfect. But you
00:52:38know, that's it. Considering that kind of race. It's a really
00:52:42good thing. I talked to the owners, we're probably just gonna
00:52:45give him a little freshening in house and then point for some
00:52:48nice of these, you know, all these nice three year old
00:52:51steaks throughout the country.
00:52:53Do you have any in mind?
00:52:55I made a long list of them. And we're just going to kind of play
00:52:57it by ear, see how you know, he trains. But the good thing is
00:53:01there's a lot of them. And throughout the country, and I'm
00:53:05sure we'll find a couple good spots.
00:53:06Was it fun?
00:53:07Oh, it was awesome. You know, to experience that with my family,
00:53:11it was just kind of an electric feeling. Walking over with the
00:53:14horse with them. You know, it was cool. It's definitely, you
00:53:17know, any trainer gets that, that itch, they'll definitely
00:53:21want to come back every year and do it again.
00:53:23All right, well, you were gone, you won a good race here at
00:53:25Santa Anita with Gold Phoenix taking down the Charlie
00:53:28Whittingham. A win and you're in for the grade one, group one
00:53:32Coral Eclipse in England. Tell us about Gold Phoenix. And do
00:53:35you need a rider for England? Because I am available.
00:53:38Yeah, I mean, he ran a sensational race. I, you know,
00:53:42he didn't really show up the race prior. Kyle Frey had ridden
00:53:47before for me and it's breezed him a lot. So I mean, he knows
00:53:51him like the, you know, the back of his hand. So I just thought
00:53:53let's change things up a little bit. Put Kyle back on him. And
00:53:57he just gave him a nice, more aggressive ride, put him in the
00:54:00race. And, you know, he battled through the stretch and got the
00:54:03job done.
00:54:04Are we going to Old Blighty?
00:54:06We'll talk to the owners. I just think with this kind of horse
00:54:10pointing for the Breeders' Cup, going over there and coming
00:54:13back, you might, you know, take too much out of him to have that
00:54:17chance to do that. And we want to focus on the Delmar races
00:54:22where he really loves Delmar. I mean, that's where, you know,
00:54:25he's won his win and you're in. And, you know, we're going to
00:54:27try to do it again.
00:54:28Maybe next time.
00:54:29Maybe next time.
00:54:36Many thanks there to Phil. Looks like I won't be going to
00:54:39Sandown anytime soon. But, you know, perhaps next year, he'll
00:54:43have a shot. All right. Let's talk about Santa Anita. This
00:54:46weekend, we will resume racing on Friday. And there is a
00:54:49massive pick six carryover for the eight race card on Friday.
00:54:53We'll start race number three, a carryover of over $100,000
00:54:58expected to exceed $500,000. And for all you fathers out there
00:55:04and husbands, don't forget it is Mother's Day on Sunday. You can
00:55:08bring your wife or your mother or your sister or just bring the
00:55:12whole family, bring them out to Santa Anita for a Mother's Day
00:55:15brunch on Sunday. You can go to Santa Anita.com for more
00:55:18details on that.
00:55:20It sounds great. A brunch on Mother's Day at Santa Anita. I
00:55:23would definitely take that in if I was living in the 626 area
00:55:27code. Well, guys, of course, now we've got to move on to the
00:55:29Preakness. And at this point, we don't know everything. You just
00:55:35heard what Ken McPeak had to say. Sounds to me like he's
00:55:39going to go in the Preakness, though he hasn't committed fully
00:55:41to it. Wayne Lucas, who never misses a big dance when he can,
00:55:45he's going to run two horses, including the horse that he ran
00:55:49in the Derby and seized the gray, who won the Pat Day mile.
00:55:53But Randy, I mean, let's get on our soapbox again for the
00:55:57hundredth time, and talk about again, okay, and also Baffert
00:56:00will bring in his horses so that just because of that, it's going
00:56:04to be a better Preakness than it would have been in under
00:56:08ordinary circumstances without the Baffert story. But this
00:56:12isn't working. And like I said, we've talked about it 1000
00:56:15times. This just isn't working. And, you know, the Preakness is
00:56:19in danger of having a race some year where the Kentucky Derby
00:56:23winner doesn't run and literally no one from the Kentucky Derby
00:56:27comes back in the Preakness. But, you know, the three tracks
00:56:31can't get together and fix this. And here we go. Another
00:56:35Preakness where it's going to be about as much about who's
00:56:38there as who's not there.
00:56:41I am maybe I'm just naive, Bill, I think it's ultimately going to
00:56:47be fixed. And I think it's probably going to be fixed
00:56:50relatively soon, probably after after the Belmont at Saratoga
00:56:58two year, two year run ends and the Belmont stakes goes back to
00:57:03the newly rebuilt Belmont Park. That's what I think will happen.
00:57:07I, you know, again, maybe this is a Pollyanna opinion, but I
00:57:11think New York, I think the New York Racing Association, despite
00:57:15the fact that the Belmont has been the beneficiary of this,
00:57:18can see the writing on the wall and can understand that the
00:57:21Triple Crown as a unit is being compromised by what's going on
00:57:27with the with the two weeks and three week gap between the
00:57:30races. Look, if Mystic Dan, right now, it looks like Mystic
00:57:34Dan and Just Steel will be the only two horses from the
00:57:36Kentucky Derby to run in the Preakness. If Wayne Lucas wasn't
00:57:39the trainer of Just Steel, and if Kenny McPeak changes his mind
00:57:42about the Preakness, you would have zero, just like he
00:57:46predicted might happen someday. So it definitely has to be
00:57:50changed. I don't care what some of the, you know, tradition
00:57:53obsessed people think you got to make improvements, you don't
00:57:56change just for the sake of changing. And this definitely is
00:58:00an improvement that would be overdue. But hopefully we get
00:58:03the Derby winner back in the Preakness this year.
00:58:06Let's hope. Let's hope. But I'm all for the first Saturday in
00:58:10May, first Saturday in June, first Saturday in July. It just
00:58:13seems it just seems logical. And as far as this year's entrance
00:58:18for the Preakness, hey, we never brought this up. How do you
00:58:21think Bob was feeling on Saturday when he saw Mystic Dan
00:58:25want win, knowing that Muth just beat him by two lengths in the
00:58:29Arkansas Derby?
00:58:31Well, yeah. And, and then there's this, okay, I've said
00:58:36this before, and I'll say it again, and Churchill, no, Bill
00:58:41Carstensian didn't tell me this. I firmly believe that a primary
00:58:47reason why Churchill extended the ban from two to three years
00:58:51is that they were looking for anything to hang their head on
00:58:56to try to keep Baffert out of this specific Kentucky Derby,
00:59:02because they thought that his presence would overshadow the
00:59:05150th anniversary. And they didn't want to take a chance on
00:59:09the 150th anniversary being a situation, well, where
00:59:13Carstensian is in the winner's circle or whoever presenting the
00:59:16trophy to Bob Baffert, or in this case, it might have been
00:59:20Amir Zidan and Bob Baffert. And I think now, now that this
00:59:25Kentucky Derby is over, and they look back on it, I think they
00:59:29are happy with their decision, since Muth soundly defeated
00:59:33Mystic Dan in the Arkansas Derby. And you can certainly
00:59:36make the case that Muth might have won the Kentucky Derby if
00:59:39he'd been allowed to run.
00:59:40I think they I think they dodged a little bit of a bullet when
00:59:43Nysos got hurt, because if he had, as good as Muth is, if
00:59:48Nysos had won the Sanita Derby by open lengths, he would have
00:59:51been the sensation coming into the race. And then it would have
00:59:54been a big story. So Zoe, let's get back to Muth, all things
00:59:58being equal. Like Randy said, he beat Mystic Dan in the Arkansas
01:00:02Derby. He's been freshened up. Also, he's got a stable made
01:00:05imagination. How dangerous are the Baffert horses in the
01:00:09Preakness? I got to think very dangerous.
01:00:12Super, super dangerous. We're going to show you the work in
01:00:15just a moment. But yeah, super, super dangerous, the pair of
01:00:18them. And, you know, he's got two in the race. And if Mystic
01:00:23Dan goes, there's only one in Mystic Dan. And I mean, Bob can
01:00:26team up. They can like gangbusters. But yeah, super
01:00:31dangerous. I'm not sure I'd want to be going there off two weeks
01:00:34rest and facing those two monsters.
01:00:37No, Muth will be the favorite.
01:00:39Yeah. Oh, really? Okay.
01:00:41Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, he'll be the favorite in the in the
01:00:43Preakness over Mystic Dan. I don't think there's any doubt
01:00:46about it. My opinion. Yeah. And there's there's there's one
01:00:49other horse dimension to I mean, Baffert will bring Muth and
01:00:52imagination. Chad Brown has a horse by the name of Tuscan
01:00:57Gold, who ran an exceptional race in the Louisiana Derby to
01:01:01finish third, didn't have enough points to run in the Kentucky
01:01:06Derby. I think maybe with some of the scratches, he might have
01:01:10been able to sneak in. But anyway, this is the the thing
01:01:15we've seen so often in the last few years. This is the Chad
01:01:18Brown Preakness horse that skipped the Kentucky Derby to
01:01:22wait for the Preakness and he's got a great chance to win. The
01:01:25TDN Riders Room is brought to you as always by the
01:01:27Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association, the PHBA, the
01:01:31Pennsylvania Bred, Pennsylvania Sired, don't look back at all,
01:01:34became Peace and Justice's newest stakes winner as a
01:01:37stallion in Sunday's $150,000 license fee stakes at Aqueduct.
01:01:42Congratulations to the breeder A1A Racing Peace and Justice
01:01:46stands at Blackstone Farm in Pine Grove, Pennsylvania. For
01:01:50more information on breeding and racing your very own PA bred
01:01:54visit www.pabred.com and click on the stallion and boarding
01:01:59farm directory link at the top of the homepage. Any questions
01:02:04after that, here's the phone number 610-444-1050.
01:02:11The PA Horse Breeders Association has a remarkable
01:02:15story to tell. North America's most lucrative awards program
01:02:19also produces grade one winners year after year. Of all the
01:02:23great PA breds, none is more well known, more iconic than
01:02:27Smarty Jones. We salute Smarty on the 20th anniversary of his
01:02:32wins in the first two jewels of the 2004 Triple Crown, at the
01:02:36time, becoming only the third ever undefeated Preakness champ.
01:02:42With some of the fullest fields in the country, and quality
01:02:45racing year round, there's never been a better time to reap the
01:02:49rewards of breeding and racing in Kentucky. Purse money in
01:02:54Kentucky is at an all time high, as is average purse per race,
01:02:58outpacing California, Florida, and New York.
01:03:02Kentucky breds, breed them, raise them, race them. We all
01:03:08win.
01:03:12Imagine this, this is a shocker. Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky
01:03:15Derby winners bred in the state of Kentucky. Kentucky bred
01:03:19torpedo Anna, obviously in the Kentucky Oaks. The breeder,
01:03:23congratulations. Judy Hicks, you saw her briefly in the winner's
01:03:26circle after the race. She's also a co-owner. And she earned
01:03:29a $50,000 award for a KBIF registered Oaks winner. And
01:03:36Mystic Dan's win in the Kentucky Derby gave Kentucky breds 116
01:03:41victories in the 150 year history of the run for the
01:03:45roses.
01:03:46Well, when we talked with Kenny McPeak, we talked mainly about
01:03:49him winning the Kentucky Derby, but didn't want to give a short
01:03:53sell the feed in the Kentucky Oaks as well with Torpedo Anna,
01:03:57stablemate of Mystic Dan. And, you know, huge weekend for Brian
01:04:02Hernandez, huge weekend for Kenny McPeak. That was a tough
01:04:06field, I thought. And, you know, to me, it looked like I'm not
01:04:09surprised that she won. I'm surprised that she won as easily
01:04:13as she did. I thought that was the I thought that was the race
01:04:16is going to have three noses on the wire, rather than the
01:04:19Kentucky Derby. So, Randy, what was your review of the Oaks?
01:04:24Oh, I thought Torpedo Anna ran an exceptional race. Look, to
01:04:27me, she was the most visually impressive in her most recent
01:04:30race in the fantasy stakes of any of the Oaks fillies. And
01:04:33again, kudos, not just to Kenny McPeak, but to Brian Hernandez
01:04:38for a very opportunistic ride. Torpedo Anna drew, you know,
01:04:43sort of an inside post position and then they she drew post
01:04:46five, or post four, actually, number five in the in the on the
01:04:50saddle tail, but they they looked at the McPeak and
01:04:54Hernandez looked at the competition, and saw that the
01:04:57speed, the competing speed was to the outside of Torpedo Anna.
01:05:01And they thought, you know, if she breaks, well, you know, why
01:05:04not use her ability and her sharpness to their advantage.
01:05:09And it just worked out that to the surprise of everyone,
01:05:11Torpedo Anna for the first time in her career, I believe, was
01:05:15actually on the pace. And it wasn't a slow pace, they went a
01:05:18half and 46 and three. But you know, we've seen this as
01:05:21handicappers and as better as all the time, guys, you know,
01:05:24when you have the best horse in a race, sometimes it's better.
01:05:28Don't get cute, you know, don't mess around and don't be trying
01:05:31to rate rate rate when you don't have to. And in this case, speed
01:05:36rail rebroke at the top of the lane and beat a very sharp
01:05:41filly herself. In just why I just FYI.
01:05:45Yeah, she was quick. I think she may have been aided a little bit
01:05:49by the sloppy racetrack that day, because speed was, I mean,
01:05:53it was fairly fair, but speed's always dangerous on a sloppy
01:05:57racetrack, especially for those horses trying to catch up after
01:06:01they've been splattered with mud. So yeah, she won
01:06:04convincingly and she earned it. Those are very, very honest
01:06:07fractions she went for. As far as just FYI was concerned. I
01:06:12thought she was going to nab her at the head of the lane. I
01:06:14really did. She had no excuse whatsoever. You know what, for
01:06:19future reference, if I'm writing just FYI, because I'm
01:06:22still her biggest fan. I think she's just got no gears. She has
01:06:27a high cruising speed. I'm going to put her on the lead. Next
01:06:31time, put her on the lead and make them come and catch me
01:06:34because she does not have that kick. She was in a perfect
01:06:38position to go on by Thorpedo Anna who just kept going. Yeah,
01:06:44that's what I would do. Stick her on the lead next time, Mr.
01:06:47Ma. Hmm. That's some interesting advice. All right,
01:06:51guys, I'm going to go out on a limb a little bit here. And all
01:06:54we've been talking about the Kentucky Derby, the Kentucky
01:06:56Oaks, I think the best horse in racing, any age, any sex, etc.
01:07:02is idiomatic. And she came back like a tiger winning the lot
01:07:07Troy and and she didn't to do so she had to beat the fellow
01:07:11champion, pretty mischievous. And it was a tremendous
01:07:14performance. Brad Cox doesn't isn't somebody like a McPeak
01:07:18who thinks outside the box too much. So I doubt very much he
01:07:21would run her against males at any point. But boy, I almost
01:07:25voted for for horse the year last year I didn't have voted
01:07:28for Cody's wish, which was the right thing to do. But what a
01:07:31way to kick off her year as yeah, she's she looked great. I
01:07:35mean, she I'd like to put her and Sierra Leone together and
01:07:39just seems bigger. Because they both kind of look the same
01:07:42because she's got this big galloping stride just like him.
01:07:46I could just imagine them going head and head down to the wire.
01:07:49But she won she earned it on the sloppy racetrack. She never to
01:07:54me looks like she's kind of looks like she's just
01:07:58struggling one pace. She just gallops along but she galloped
01:08:01everyone into submission. And she won pretty handily on the
01:08:04end. I thought the runner up. I can't remember her name. She got
01:08:08a perfect trip on the rail coming up and she just ran out
01:08:12gears basically.
01:08:16Yeah, look, it's her sixth win in a row her ninth win in her
01:08:20last 10 starts free like a girl. I think that runner up that
01:08:24came up the inside. Yeah, the Louisiana bread. But look, it
01:08:29idiomatic showed once again that she loves a fight. I mean, and
01:08:35she and she had a fight on her hands. And it looked at one
01:08:39point at the quarter poll. If you didn't know it was
01:08:42idiomatic, you might think Oh, but you know, she dug in and
01:08:47then as always, and then at the end, she was drawing away and
01:08:50I'm really looking forward to what the rest of the year holds
01:08:53for idiomatic and kudos to Judd Mott for for keeping her in
01:08:58training. I mean, what else does she really have to prove she
01:09:02won the Breeders' Cup Distaff. She's made two and a half
01:09:05million dollars. She's got a fantastic pedigree. And of
01:09:08course, Judd Mott. This is a Judd Mott bread, and they're all
01:09:11about the their, their breeding industry. But they decided to
01:09:16keep her going for another year. And that's, that's good for
01:09:19horse racing for sure.
01:09:22We touched on it a little bit earlier, but the TDN Writers
01:09:25Room is brought to you by XBTV. And this is a work you need to
01:09:29watch if you're planning on betting on the Preakness. All
01:09:32right. So let's take a look at Moof and Imagination this past
01:09:37Saturday. Trainer Bob Baffert confirmed that the grade one
01:09:40Arkansas Derby winner Moof and stablemate Imagination, who won
01:09:44the grade two San Felipe before finishing a narrow second behind
01:09:48Stronghold in the Santa Anita Derby last out are both expected
01:09:52for the Preakness. They breezed in company Saturday in one, 11
01:09:57and two. Now you can see Moof down on the inside of
01:10:00Imagination. And these two are absolutely cruising. Actually, I
01:10:04would say watching this work, I might give the edge to
01:10:08Imagination as they cross the wire right there. 11 and two,
01:10:13they're supposed to ship from Southern California to Baltimore
01:10:17on May the 14th. Guys, if you watch that work, you've got to
01:10:22think that Bob's squirrelly has the two main contenders in the
01:10:26Preakness.
01:10:34All the thrills.
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01:11:16the highest level of thoroughbred racing. West Point
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01:11:25westpointtb.com.
01:11:28Meanwhile, the TD and Riders Room is also brought to you by
01:11:30West Point Thoroughbreds, which racked up three stakes winners
01:11:33last week. Three different trainers, Sheree DeVoe, Greg
01:11:36Foley, and Christophe Clement, but all three ridden by Irad
01:11:40Ortiz. First of all, Vava in the Derby City Distaff. I think
01:11:44she's got like 48 owners. She came through on the big stage
01:11:48against her rival there to win in the Derby City Distaff. And
01:11:53then also at Churchill, Obezos. Greg Foley's done a great job
01:11:57with Obezos. Won the St. Matthews Overnight Stakes. He's
01:12:00now made more than $760,000. And then at Aqueduct in the License
01:12:06Fee Stakes, it was Don't Look Back at All on Sunday, leading
01:12:10home a 1-2 finish for the Clement Barn. Gal in a Rush
01:12:13finished second there in the License Fee. Now this weekend
01:12:16looking forward. Kertes and Ohana Honor will square off for
01:12:20West Point in the Man O'War, the Grade 2 $400,000 race on the
01:12:24grass at Aqueduct. And of course, that would vault those
01:12:28owners into the world of instant camaraderie. For more, visit
01:12:32westpointtb.com.
01:12:42All right, well, that's a wrap on this week's show. I hope we
01:12:45entertained you and informed you a little bit about what's coming
01:12:48up in the Preakness. I want to thank my partners, Zoe Cabman
01:12:51and Randy Moss and our producers, Katie. Oh, where's
01:12:56Randy going? Oh,
01:12:57he wanted to show a little bit of leg. I see you in there.
01:13:02Easy now.
01:13:04Hi, Lucy. It's good to have you back.
01:13:06He missed me very much. I was gone.
01:13:08All right. So we want to thank once again, Zoe, Randy and Lucy,
01:13:11who was a big part of this team, no doubt, as well as our
01:13:15producers, Leah LaRocca, Anthony LaRocca, and Katie Petruniak.
01:13:22Thanks so much, everybody, for tuning us in. Have a great next
01:13:25weekend. And pretty soon it'll be Preakness time. Stay with us
01:13:28next week. We'll be back.