Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00:00For the love of the horse, for generations to come.
00:00:28Welcome to another edition of the TCA Fighters Room.
00:00:31I'm Bill Finley.
00:00:32I'm a correspondent for the Thoroughbred Daily News and I'll play a little fun game in the
00:00:35beginning of this before we go around the table.
00:00:38My favorite Breeders' Cup race, the Tisdaff Torpedo Anna.
00:00:42It wasn't much of a race after the Two Good Horses Idiomatic and Adair Manor came out,
00:00:47but the queen proved that she was going to do it.
00:00:50She got out there and did it.
00:00:51She's Horse of the Year.
00:00:53I'm Randy Moss with NBC Sports, ready with some pretty strong opinions that will be sure
00:01:00to inflame some people.
00:01:04Among them, my favorite race on Saturday was the Classic because it punctured the balloon
00:01:12of uncontrollable hype, which we'll talk about later.
00:01:15Ooh.
00:01:16Ooh, so we've got uncontrollable hype.
00:01:19We've got Torpedo Anna for Horse of the Year, and we're only 30 seconds in.
00:01:23All right.
00:01:24It's my go.
00:01:25I'm Zoe Cadman with First Racing and XBTV.
00:01:28I'm here at Keeneland for the November sale.
00:01:30I have to say my favorite Breeders' Cup race was Lake Victoria, absolutely dominating.
00:01:37I can watch that replay over and over and over.
00:01:42She is electric.
00:01:43The fact they brought their best horse here was amazing.
00:01:48She's phenomenal.
00:01:49She was.
00:01:50That was really something.
00:01:51Yeah.
00:01:52All right.
00:01:53Guys, let's kick it off with a discussion of the Classic.
00:01:54We're not going to go through all 14 races.
00:01:56We would keep our listeners here all day long if we did that.
00:01:59Classic was a really good race, as expected, and I have many opinions on this, but I'm
00:02:05sure Randy and Zoe would probably agree with this.
00:02:07The difference this time around was the pace, and Sierra Leone, who was always running well
00:02:12but could just never quite get there, got the pace of her dreams, 22.43, 44.96 up front,
00:02:21and she was able to then pass Fierceness, but I think we want to talk about this quite
00:02:26a bit.
00:02:27The horse that ran the best race was Fierceness, that he was that close to those fractions
00:02:30and hung in there for a second.
00:02:32I thought he ran a tremendous race, but nonetheless, Sierra Leone is the winner, and that's how
00:02:39we look at these things.
00:02:41Again, I don't want to throw out too much at once, but an interesting eclipse award
00:02:44battle between Sierra Leone and Fierceness.
00:02:47I think I'd have to go for Sierra Leone.
00:02:49Randy?
00:02:50I mean, I share your opinion about Fierceness.
00:02:52I thought given the pace scenario, he was the best horse in the race.
00:02:55The pace was exceptionally fast.
00:02:58Not as fast as the fractions on the board, which we'll talk about a little bit later,
00:03:03but one of, if not the fastest pace scenarios in Classic history.
00:03:07I thought it was an incredibly formful race.
00:03:11Let's talk about that part of it, the Americans first, before we get into City of Troy.
00:03:18The idea that the three-year-olds this year, which was sort of propagated in Europe, are
00:03:26not really of super top quality.
00:03:30It was absolutely fallacious, because the Traverse Stakes at Saratoga, buyer speed figure
00:03:36for Fierceness in that race of 1.11, was the fastest Traverse buyer other than Arrogate.
00:03:45You have to go all the way back to Bernardini in 2006 to find a faster Traverse, right?
00:03:51Fierceness, a very good horse.
00:03:54Sierra Leone, a very good horse.
00:03:57Forever Young, we knew from the Kentucky Derby, his only career defeat, a very good horse.
00:04:03We were told by the trainer when he got here, and it made sense, that with all the travels
00:04:08going into the Kentucky Derby, that Forever Young was not 100% for that race, but he would
00:04:12be on Saturday.
00:04:15He ran the race of his life, right?
00:04:17An extremely formful race.
00:04:19If you had been told beforehand that the pace would be 22 and change, 45 and one, 109 and
00:04:27change, and Fierceness would be right on top of the pace, how much would we have bet on
00:04:32Sierra Leone in that scenario, right?
00:04:34Finally getting the pace, that kind of a pace that he hasn't gotten in a long time.
00:04:39So I thought it was a fantastic classic, lived up to expectations.
00:04:45More on City of Troy later.
00:04:46Zoe?
00:04:48Yeah, City of Troy was disappointed, but not unexpected.
00:04:52He didn't jump.
00:04:53I mean, poor Aiden can blame himself all he wants for him not jumping, but he just, at
00:04:58the end of the day, he was not quick enough.
00:05:02I listened to the Nick Luck Daily Podcast and he had Adam Mills on from Total Performance
00:05:07Data, and they measure strides and stride analysis and how fast they're going.
00:05:12Sometimes there's too much data, but he looked up some of the data, his like 0 to 30 miles
00:05:19an hour data that they had from his last race in York and his one at Del Mar.
00:05:24And I think he went 5.8 seconds to get to 30 miles an hour at Del Mar.
00:05:29But at York, a full second faster, 4.8.
00:05:34And that was due to the kickback and the stutter step at the start.
00:05:38It was all over at the start for City of Troy.
00:05:41They said he didn't handle the track.
00:05:42He didn't like the kickback.
00:05:44I'm not quite buying that because at one point he was so far back, I don't think he was even
00:05:49getting any kickback per se.
00:05:51There is that picture of him with his eyes closed.
00:05:53But horses are smart.
00:05:55I mean, that's just a shutter camera moment where you catch the horse with his eyes.
00:06:00You could take that picture seven days a week and you're probably going to get the same
00:06:03picture.
00:06:04So City of Troy was a task, Sierra Leone got the pace to run at, Fierceness was as brave
00:06:09as an ox.
00:06:10It was a really, really good race and Flavien Pratt punctuated his Eclipse Award with the
00:06:16win in the Classic.
00:06:17Well, I think Randy's frothing at the mouth to talk more about City of Troy.
00:06:21And so I'm going to throw it back to him.
00:06:24I think, Zoe, you just said is all true.
00:06:27Actually him not getting out of the gate that rapidly in some respects, might have been
00:06:32even though he ran terrible, might have been a blessing in disguise because if he, too,
00:06:36was involved in that rapid pace up front, I think that would have led to his demise
00:06:41as well.
00:06:42So, Randy, we have a tendency in this game to overhype horses.
00:06:46But when you have Aiden O'Brien saying the best horse I've ever trained, people pay attention
00:06:51to that sort of thing.
00:06:53I think that that was a little bit of a salesman's job to, OK, get ready.
00:06:58We're going to send this new sire over there and he's going to be so good, he's going to
00:07:01be the next Galileo.
00:07:02Well, he's going to be a great sire, but he's just not going to be a sire of dirt horses.
00:07:07Aiden O'Brien very predictably fell on the sword after the race, claiming that it was
00:07:13his fault that he didn't train the horse properly, which, of course, couldn't be farther from
00:07:17the truth.
00:07:19This is a turf horse.
00:07:20He's not a dirt horse.
00:07:22He's bred on the bottom side to be exclusively turf.
00:07:25He looks like a turf horse.
00:07:27He didn't break that slowly from the starting gate.
00:07:30He broke about a length behind the horses around him, and then he had absolutely nothing.
00:07:35He got no traction.
00:07:37He was back there with Senor Buscador, for crying out loud.
00:07:41The horse did not.
00:07:42And Sierra Leone.
00:07:43And Sierra Leone.
00:07:44The horse did not handle dirt at all.
00:07:49That was extremely predictable going in.
00:07:53We talked about it.
00:07:54I'm kicking myself for not hitting it even harder on NBC than I did before the race.
00:08:00If he had handled dirt like Justify handled dirt, he still wouldn't have hit the board.
00:08:05He wouldn't have beaten Fierceness.
00:08:07He wouldn't have beaten Sierra Leone.
00:08:08He wouldn't have beaten Forever Young.
00:08:12This horse is probably the most overhyped horse in Breeders' Cup history.
00:08:18He's obviously a talented horse.
00:08:20I'm not saying he's not a talented horse.
00:08:22He's got a beautiful pedigree.
00:08:24Hopefully he'll live up to Coolmore's expectations in the stallion barn, and he'll be that generational
00:08:31stallion that they're desperately hoping for after Sadler's Wells and after the late Galileo.
00:08:37It's what Coolmore really, really needs, and maybe City of Troy will be that.
00:08:45I shopped everywhere in Las Vegas to try to find a prop for the last place finisher
00:08:53in the Classic.
00:08:54If I could have gotten 15 or 20 to one, I was going to bet a thousand or two on City
00:08:58of Troy.
00:08:59I'm glad.
00:09:00I'm really glad I didn't find it because I would have lost money, but I would have gotten
00:09:03a thrill at about the three-eighths pole.
00:09:07He was never going to win the Classic.
00:09:09He was never going to hit the board in the Classic.
00:09:12The fact that he was the morning line favorite and went off at a little under four to one
00:09:19is just ludicrous.
00:09:21Yeah.
00:09:22Yeah.
00:09:23Coolmore.
00:09:24Yeah.
00:09:25I'll send you Randy's number right now.
00:09:26Yeah.
00:09:27No problem.
00:09:28All right, Charlie.
00:09:29Yeah.
00:09:30I'll speak to you later.
00:09:32It's all about opinions.
00:09:33That was my opinion beforehand, and it's even more my opinion now.
00:09:38Yeah.
00:09:39That's awesome.
00:09:40It was a good race.
00:09:42To see Sierra Leone and Fierceness run as well as they both did was brilliant.
00:09:49And the fact that they're going to come back as four-year-olds is even better.
00:09:53Give us something to root on.
00:09:54And now I'm going to make Zoe mad.
00:09:56Okay.
00:09:57Okay.
00:09:58Total performance data is so inaccurate.
00:10:00They can't even get within two or three-fifths of a second in races starting from point A
00:10:06to point B. The thought that they can get stride length or anything like that accurate
00:10:12at all.
00:10:13I don't know the guy.
00:10:14No.
00:10:15I've got no idea.
00:10:16I just thought it was interesting.
00:10:17They brought their stuff over here.
00:10:18That's GMAX.
00:10:19That's total performance data.
00:10:21That's the timing of the races that they've tried to do over here.
00:10:24What is the actual time of the race?
00:10:26Let's get into this.
00:10:27Well, let's get into that later.
00:10:29I don't want to get too sidetracked here, but we will get into it.
00:10:33The final time was accurate, but that's because it had nothing to do with total performance
00:10:38data.
00:10:39Now, there's another subject, pretty important subject that we haven't covered here.
00:10:43Can you believe, actually believe there were some people out there saying it was a good
00:10:48idea to run next in the Breeders' Cup?
00:10:50What kind of fool would say that?
00:10:5234 lengths.
00:10:53Thank you for reminding us.
00:10:56Thank you for reminding us and kudos to Bill Cowens and the ownership group for running
00:11:02him because that was very sportsman's like, and it's your damn fault, Randy, and not Randy,
00:11:08Bill.
00:11:09It's your fault, Bill.
00:11:10They had nothing to lose.
00:11:13I would have given them kudos if they hadn't run him.
00:11:15Look, I mean, it was proven conclusively that this horse does not want any part of fast-paced
00:11:25races on dirt or grass.
00:11:28Four times in his career, he had been tried in races in which the opening quarter went
00:11:3322 and change.
00:11:35His average was 11th by 20 lengths, beaten.
00:11:39In the Breeders' Cup, juvenile as a two-year-old, he ran in one of those races.
00:11:42He was dead last, right?
00:11:44Then they finally find, they finally find what this horse wants to do, where he's not
00:11:49a high-priced claiming horse and he's the most dominant dirt marathon horse in the world
00:11:54and he's loving it and he can run through a brick wall and he's got all this self-confidence
00:11:58and what do they do?
00:12:00They throw him back into races which he has absolutely no chance.
00:12:06Coming down the stretch the first time, this horse was in such a panic that as they got
00:12:13close to the finish line the first time, I watched him change leads back and forth three
00:12:18times in five seconds.
00:12:21He was like, what the hell is going on here?
00:12:24Thankfully, Machado, the jockey, eased him in the stretch.
00:12:30It's the kind of situation which horses can get injured when they're running in races
00:12:34like this that they have no business running in and hopefully, it didn't destroy his confidence
00:12:41and when they run him back in marathon races, he'll be physically okay and he'll be mentally
00:12:45okay but just the poor horse, I feel so sorry for him being put in that spot.
00:12:50He didn't know he lost by 52 lengths or whatever, he just had his oats in his hay after the race
00:12:55and went back.
00:12:56He knew something was wrong going down the stretch the first time, I promise you.
00:13:01I just shake my head that some people actually thought that was a good idea.
00:13:04You didn't run him in that race, Bill.
00:13:07It was not your decision.
00:13:10By the way, before we get into the next topic, I want to remind everybody, around the holiday
00:13:14time we'll be taking a couple weeks off and we're going to try to get some shows done
00:13:17in advance.
00:13:18We'd love to hear from our viewers.
00:13:20If you have any questions for any of us, any rabbit hole questions for Randy, any questions
00:13:26about anything for Zoe or myself, please contact Thoroughbred Daily News at suefinley
00:13:31at thetdn.com and we'll pull our heads together, put our heads together and answer those questions.
00:13:38Once again, we want to hear from you, send them in to suefinley at thetdn.com.
00:13:43I do want to remind you that the TDN Riders' Room is brought to you by Keeneland.
00:13:49This past weekend, we saw excellence on racing's biggest stage from three of Keeneland's sales
00:13:55graduates with more than looks who took the Breeders' Cup mile.
00:13:59Moira, make sure we say it right, it's Moira, got up for a win in the filly and mare turf
00:14:04and Citizen Bull won the juvenile.
00:14:07Their achievements underscore the special connection between Keeneland and racing's
00:14:11elite moments.
00:14:12As the Keeneland November sale gets away, just started about half an hour ago, you can
00:14:18check out all of the updates that the Breeders' Cup has generated at november.keeneland.com.
00:14:24We'll be right back after this message from Keeneland.
00:14:54The Fastest Horse of the Week brought to you by the fast sires at Winstar Farm and
00:15:05this week that happens to be Constitution, his two-year-old son chasing liberty on the
00:15:09Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Stakes on the Breeders' Cup undercard chasing liberty.
00:15:13It's now three for four lifetime and Constitution is having success not only on the turf, across
00:15:18the board.
00:15:19He's a top five general sire, turf sire, sire of three-year-olds.
00:15:22Three seven-figure horses at Keeneland September and despite all that success, the stud fee
00:15:27for 2025 for Constitution at Winstar Farm wasn't upped at all.
00:15:33It stays at $110,000.
00:15:36Now the Fastest Horse of the Week to nobody's surprise, of course, we've already talked
00:15:40about him, and that would be Sierra Leone for his victory in the Breeders' Cup Classic
00:15:45Fire Speed Figure 112, which means that runner-up Fierceness ran the same number that he got
00:15:52in the Traverse Stakes.
00:15:53A strong bunch of three-year-olds this year and they ran one, two, three in the Breeders'
00:15:58Cup Classic, topped, of course, by Sierra Leone.
00:16:05This week's guest is none other than Kevin Attard, who had a beautiful day on Saturday
00:16:09at the Breeders' Cup as he won the Breeders' Cup Philly and Mayor Turf with Maura.
00:16:14Some bittersweet news the next day when she sells but for $4.3 million at Fasig-Tipton
00:16:19in the November sale.
00:16:21Kevin, thanks for joining us.
00:16:22This is sort of an obvious question, but I'll give you a chance to put it in your own words.
00:16:26First King's Plate slash Queen's Plate winner, first Canadian Horse of the Year, first Grade
00:16:32One winner, first everything for this horse.
00:16:37How much did she mean to you in your operation?
00:16:40Well, thank you for having me on, first and foremost, and obviously a very special horse.
00:16:48Definitely a lot of firsts.
00:16:51Being Canadian growing up, Woodbine being my home base, the Queen's Plate, at the time
00:16:57it was run as the Queen's Plate, now the King's Plate, but that's the kind of race on the
00:17:03calendar.
00:17:04Everybody, you know, our version of the Canadian Kentucky Derby, in a sense.
00:17:10Hard race to win, and luckily enough, you know, she fell into my lap and she gave me
00:17:17my first Queen's Plate win in track record time.
00:17:22So pretty special, and then for her to kind of come on along and, you know, a couple years
00:17:27later here we are winning a Breeders' Cup winner, never would have imagined.
00:17:32Well, Kevin, I guess if you have to say goodbye to her, these are pretty darn good circumstances.
00:17:38You win a million dollar Breeders' Cup purse, right?
00:17:42The winner's share was a million dollars, so she's a Breeders' Cup winner.
00:17:45The next day or whatever, she sells for $4.3 million at Fasig-Tipton.
00:17:52What's it going to be like?
00:17:54What is it like right now to have to say goodbye to her?
00:17:57Well, right now it's extremely difficult, no doubt about it.
00:18:00You know, for our stable, our barn, these type of horses don't come by often.
00:18:07And to, you know, to have a horse that did so many firsts like her, there's obviously
00:18:13that sentimental attachment and love to her.
00:18:16And you know, I mean, you know, cultivating it all in the Breeders' Cup, you know, a dream
00:18:24come true in a sense, now to have to kind of watch her go, one of the most hardest things
00:18:32I've had to do in horse racing.
00:18:34You know, the love and the bond that you grow for these horses, it's hard to explain.
00:18:41I mean, I don't think people realize how much, I mean, how much we care for these animals,
00:18:46how much we appreciate them.
00:18:49And you know, I mean, here's a horse that ran 17 times, 15 times in the money, all stake
00:18:56races, laid it out each and every time, you know, I mean, what more could I have asked
00:19:01her to do?
00:19:04When you first came on about five minutes ago, I asked you how you celebrated last night
00:19:09with, you know, the big auction price.
00:19:11And you simply said, with a lot of Kleenex.
00:19:16Such an emotional time for you last night.
00:19:19And it was something different to watch her go through the ring at Hillandale.
00:19:22Who actually took her through the ring?
00:19:23Because that was really cool.
00:19:25Yeah. So her exercise rider, traveling assistant, Karina McLean, you know, Donata Lanny
00:19:32came up with the idea to allow her to walk her in.
00:19:36And obviously, you know, I mean, I'm not the only person that has a sentimental
00:19:40attachment to her. You know, you know, the groom, Peter Lopez, Karina, who's ridden her
00:19:48throughout her career.
00:19:49Right. You know, I mean, you, you, you know, you spend so much time with these horses.
00:19:56And for this particular filly, you know, I mean, she had a little, you know, she had
00:20:00quirks in her, like she wasn't easy.
00:20:02You know, when we as a two year old, when we first were kind of educating her in the
00:20:06gate, the one day I thought she almost killed herself in there.
00:20:09You know, she took a complete wreck and luckily she escaped uninjured.
00:20:15And I remember calling Donato and said, man, we almost lost this horse today, you know.
00:20:21So, you know, I mean, and then her race in the Woodbine Oaks, you know, took a fit in
00:20:28the paddock, lost a shoe.
00:20:30And then we had to pull the other shoe off.
00:20:32It was just like a disaster, you know.
00:20:35And didn't she kick someone in the chest as well that day?
00:20:38Well, the blacksmith, the paddock blacksmith was trying to get the shoe off and she nailed
00:20:43him. And luckily the outrider, you know, some of these outriders are cowboys.
00:20:48Right. So luckily he was there because he's probably the only one that was going to get
00:20:52them off anyways. And lucky for him and a bottle of Crown Royal afterwards that he was
00:21:00able to get that shoe off and she was allowed to run.
00:21:04So she ran with no shoes on in the Woodbine Oaks.
00:21:06And behind. Correct.
00:21:07And behind. Wow.
00:21:09And wins by 10 and three quarters.
00:21:11Right. Yeah, pretty impressive horse, pretty special horse.
00:21:15So, you know, like I said, to me, I mean, I've called her a generation horse.
00:21:21You know, I mean, she's obviously Canada's queen, you know, I mean, probably one of the
00:21:27best Canadian breds, I think, to step on a racetrack, you know, definitely in recent
00:21:32time. You know, I mean, obviously the third Canadian bred to win a Queen's Blade
00:21:38Breeders Cup. And, you know, the two before her, awesome again, Dan Smartly.
00:21:43You know, I mean, do you need to say more?
00:21:47Kevin, actually, the betting public thought that she was your second best horse in the
00:21:51race. Full Count Felicia was actually a little bit lower in the odds, 5.50 to one
00:21:56versus 5.80 to one for Maura.
00:21:59You never would have answered this question before the race, but maybe now that it's
00:22:03over, you will. Did you prefer one or the other?
00:22:05And deep down, do you think this is going to be Maura's race more so than Full Count
00:22:10Felicia's? So ironically, you know, I hate looking at the odds board when I'm in the
00:22:14paddock and, you know, I kept glancing and, you know, Full Count Felicia was getting a
00:22:20ton of respect and she deserved it.
00:22:23Her race in the E.P. Taylor was pretty impressive.
00:22:26But I kept looking at Maura and I'm thinking, how is Maura, you know what I mean,
00:22:30higher? And, you know, I mean, she's five, six to one hovering around then.
00:22:34And, you know, I've always said this, Maura is always, to me, not gotten the respect
00:22:40she deserves. And, you know, you look at her campaign this year, you know, coming off
00:22:47of an eight month layoff, I think, into the Diana, trying to track a slow pace, you
00:22:53know, I mean, just gets beat to white beam.
00:22:57Comes back in the Beverly D with a good performance against a multiple grade one
00:23:04winner that have kind of a rivalry going, Fevrover.
00:23:09You know, E.P. Taylor was a unique race.
00:23:14It just, I mean, Full Count Felicia opens up by 19 and there's four other horses sitting
00:23:20there tracking and a group.
00:23:22And, you know, it was kind of over from the time the gates open.
00:23:26And then obviously in the Breeders' Cup, you know, even my friend Randy here, nine
00:23:30times out of 10 comment about Cinderella's dream.
00:23:36I have to throw it in there, Randy.
00:23:37I'm sorry, you know, again, you know, you know, just doesn't get the respect she
00:23:43deserves. You know, you look at the race in the Breeders' Cup, I mean, Flavian gave
00:23:46her a great ride, put her in a great spot.
00:23:50You know, I mean, was cognizant of the fact that the pace was slow and had to kind of
00:23:55gear her up a little bit.
00:23:56And when he did, I'm thinking, well, we're going a little too soon here because I know
00:24:00they're coming running. Right.
00:24:01So but luckily enough, he's got he's sitting on such a good horse where I think she's
00:24:06able to shut off again and then kind of be called on again and rerally.
00:24:12And that's exactly to me what she did.
00:24:15You know, he made that early move, kind of sat there three wide.
00:24:19And then when the time was right, he kind of got the jump.
00:24:23And, you know, I mean, she was the best horse.
00:24:27That might have been the difference between her and Cinderella's dream, the fact that
00:24:30she can make the multiple moves like that and find the holes, find the holes when she
00:24:34needed to. And in the previous year's Breeders' Cup, I mean, she was the best of the
00:24:37North American horses in there.
00:24:39And Spiral and Warm Heart ran one, too.
00:24:42And she even had a little bit of early trouble in that race coming past the stands.
00:24:46Definitely stumbled going into that kind of as soon as they crossed that dirt patch in
00:24:50that race. And let's face it, if both in Spiral and Warm Heart are in this race on
00:24:55Saturday, their first and second choice respectively, you know, and, you know, I mean,
00:25:00leading into that race, it wasn't smooth for Moira.
00:25:03It was typical Moira fashion, some antics going on.
00:25:07You know, literally wasn't sure if we were even going to make it to the race on that
00:25:13Saturday last year.
00:25:16And, you know, again, you know, I've cried a lot of tears with this horse because she's
00:25:20done it to me. And I remember calling Donato Lanny and telling him, you know, I'm not
00:25:25sure we're going to make this race.
00:25:27And sure enough, you know, I mean, she she was good to go that morning and ran the race
00:25:34of her life. Probably the best, probably her career effort, actually, even though she
00:25:37didn't win, I think it was her career best.
00:25:40So with all the personality that she has and all the the challenges that she's given you
00:25:46to train, you've made another comment about her personality that I found pretty
00:25:50interesting when you said that unlike any other horse you've ever trained, you can see
00:25:56the difference in her on a race day compared to her ordinary personality.
00:26:01Explain that for people that don't might not understand that.
00:26:04Yeah, so, you know, on a regular day when you get her ready to kind of go out and train
00:26:09in the mornings, you can put the saddle on easy, you can throw the bridle over her head
00:26:14very easy on race day after, let's say, 12 p.m.
00:26:18Anytime after 12 p.m., you try to put that bridle on, she just knows it's game time.
00:26:23And, you know, I mean, she's it's a fight, you know, getting it on or getting the tongue
00:26:29tie on. You know, I try to, you know, with these retention areas that you've got to go
00:26:34into before the race. I mean, I don't want to tie their tongues for an hour before they
00:26:38run. So I try to leave it off as long as possible, even knowing that it'd be easier to
00:26:43do it in the stall.
00:26:45But for her sake and her well-being, I hold off as long as possible.
00:26:50And then trying to get that on, sometimes it's like we may not even get this on her
00:26:54now. So she just knows on race day she's doing something different.
00:27:00And we've even tried to trick her.
00:27:01We've literally put the saddle on her before sending her over just to try to trick her
00:27:07into thinking she's just going out to train.
00:27:10And still, she's just smarter than we are.
00:27:13She knows. And, you know, she's just a real cool horse, a real special horse.
00:27:19And, you know, I mean, just a top performer that was so consistent and brought in each
00:27:24and every time.
00:27:26And that they say a real trainer can think outside of the box, and that is definitely
00:27:32thinking out of the box with all that explanation.
00:27:35Where's she going?
00:27:38I'm not 100 percent sure.
00:27:40You know, I heard there's a possibility of her going to Australia, but I haven't been
00:27:46able to have that confirmed yet.
00:27:49It seems like and unfortunately for me and obviously everyone who loves her, that it
00:27:57sounds like she may be going overseas, which makes it a little bit more difficult,
00:28:01obviously, to follow her and to kind of visit.
00:28:04Right. Because for me, I mean, she's obviously the best horse I've had and somebody
00:28:12that you just don't forget about and don't want to ever see again.
00:28:16Right.
00:28:17So I guess wherever she ends up, it just gives me a reason or an excuse to visit.
00:28:21So that that that will be the case.
00:28:25What was your immediate thought when she crossed the wire?
00:28:29Like what went through your brain at that very moment when you realized you'd won the
00:28:34Breeders' Cup?
00:28:35You know, obviously, just the joy and excitement of winning a Breeders' Cup race.
00:28:42But at the same token, I mean, this plan was put in place last year after she went
00:28:48through the Fasig-Tipton sale and was brought back.
00:28:52And Delano Lanny really believed that this filly was a grade one winner.
00:28:57And he said, we're not going to give up until we win a grade one.
00:29:02Wow.
00:29:02And we worked backwards.
00:29:04He said, we're going back to the Breeders' Cup.
00:29:06It's at Del Mar.
00:29:08It's a little further.
00:29:09And we obviously thought that the extra distance was going to be to her advantage.
00:29:14So we worked our way backwards.
00:29:17You know, realistically, we got started a little later than we had anticipated.
00:29:23She had a little hiccup in her winter training early in the year that required us to kind
00:29:30of give her a little bit more time.
00:29:32But at the end of the day, I think it all worked out well.
00:29:34She had three races before the Breeders' Cup.
00:29:36They were well spaced.
00:29:38Fortunately for us, too, the EP Taylor this year at Woodmine was moved earlier into the
00:29:44meet, which gave us a little more time than typical in her last two years anyways, right,
00:29:51where we've done the EP Taylor Breeders' Cup prep type thing.
00:29:54So I thought that was going to also play to our advantage, just giving her a little bit
00:29:58more time to freshen up.
00:30:00And, you know, it just it's funny.
00:30:02You know, I mean, you make a lot of plans in horse racing.
00:30:05Nine times out of ten, they don't work out.
00:30:08But today or on Saturday, this this time it did.
00:30:13Kevin, unquestionably, she's the best horse in Canada, no doubt about that.
00:30:17But she's not eligible for any of the Canadian awards because you have to run three times
00:30:23in Canada to be eligible for that.
00:30:25I can see a scenario where she might win an Eclipse award, but be shut out in the Sovereign
00:30:30Awards. Do you think that's a good rule?
00:30:32I don't, to be honest.
00:30:34You know, unfortunately, you know, the criteria, as you mentioned, for the Sovereign Awards,
00:30:39she is not eligible.
00:30:41I'm hoping that the Jockey Club of Canada that looks after the Sovereign Awards does
00:30:47something to honor and recognize her.
00:30:51You know, obviously, in the seventh Canadian bred to win a Breeders' Cup race in the
00:30:58history of Breeders' Cup racing.
00:31:00So I think that alone tells you the significance and how important of a Canadian bred
00:31:05she is. And, you know, as you said, I think as it stands right now, you know, she has
00:31:12a very good opportunity or a chance to become the Eclipse award winner.
00:31:17And, you know, I mean, I think, you know, it's it's almost like the story, even though
00:31:23it seems over, it's quite not yet over because, you know, I mean, I think obviously if
00:31:28she were lucky enough to win the Eclipse, who would have ever imagined when Donato
00:31:33Lanny put this group together to buy Canadian bred to win a Queen's Plate race?
00:31:38And here we are winning a Breeders' Cup and now possibly an Eclipse award.
00:31:43Like, how surreal is that?
00:31:45It's just, you know, I mean, I almost want to pinch myself and think, hey, am I am I
00:31:50dreaming? Right.
00:31:51So but, you know, this is why we work seven days a week, get up early in the morning and
00:31:56do what we love.
00:31:59Yeah, it really is.
00:32:02Do you want to tell us just a little bit how you got started?
00:32:04Because, I mean, you're born into a family of trainers.
00:32:09The entire family just is spread everywhere.
00:32:12Yeah. So, I mean, luckily for me, obviously, you know, I was born into this.
00:32:17You know, I mean, my father was a trainer, still trains.
00:32:21I have uncles that are trainers, cousins that are trainers.
00:32:25You know, one uncle is a Hall of Fame trainer, a jockey that is in the Hall of Fame.
00:32:32So, you know, I mean, I think we have a pedigree of horse racing, you know, to say I was
00:32:39raised on a farm growing up as a kid north of Woodbine.
00:32:44So, I mean, most kids my age, you know, summer times were playing baseball or soccer
00:32:50winters, playing hockey.
00:32:52I was either mucking stalls or turning left.
00:32:54Right. So, you know, and it's, you know, anybody that works with horses knows that it
00:33:01becomes your in your DNA.
00:33:04You know, it just runs through your veins.
00:33:06You love the horses.
00:33:07You love the game, the adrenaline rush of winning.
00:33:11You know, it's just crazy how addicted we get to it.
00:33:16Right. And, you know, when I was younger, I wanted to be a jockey.
00:33:22Because those are the guys that get all the fame and glory.
00:33:24Right. You know, and then obviously, as I got older and realized I'm going to eat my way out
00:33:30of that job, I'm going to, you know, training was the next thing I wanted to do.
00:33:36And, you know, I always had confidence and believed in myself.
00:33:41And my dad was very successful in the late 80s and 90s.
00:33:45And I remember that was probably the pivotal point as a kid where I kind of said to
00:33:50myself, this is exactly what I want to do and I want to be the best.
00:33:55And, you know, I remember, I mean, attending our first my first anyway, Sovereign Awards
00:34:02for my dad as a leading candidate for the trainer in 1986.
00:34:07And he got shut out and I was so disappointed.
00:34:12And it just kind of ripped my heart out of my chest for just for my dad.
00:34:16Right. Because he's taught me everything I've known.
00:34:18And, you know, being a great mentor for me, great teacher.
00:34:22And I vowed that day that one day I would win that award.
00:34:28And, you know, I mean, I still haven't.
00:34:32I'm hoping that one day that that will come to kind of fruition, I guess.
00:34:37So but, you know, I mean, I love what I do.
00:34:40It's not an easy job, a lot of highs and lows, you know, but luckily right now, I mean, I'm
00:34:47on top of the world, really.
00:34:49I bet you are, Kevin.
00:34:50What a great story.
00:34:51And it's nice to see that she came through on her third try in the Breeders' Cup, this
00:34:55Daphne, what was going to be using Breeders' Cup Philly and Merritt Turf was going to be
00:34:59our last race, then sells for all the money.
00:35:01What a great ending to the story of Maura, who has been so much fun to watch all these
00:35:05years. Kevin, thanks so much for joining us today.
00:35:08Much appreciated. Thanks for having me on.
00:35:10And it is the best name in horse racing, by the way, for those of you that have never
00:35:14seen Schitt's Creek, it's Moira, Bill, are you not a fan, Bill?
00:35:19No, no, no.
00:35:20It's Moira, it's the best show ever, right, Kevin?
00:35:25So if I'm going to be completely honest, I have never watched an episode.
00:35:32But I will, I have to now.
00:35:36You have to, it's brilliant, you have to.
00:35:39I will.
00:35:40As always, the TD and Riders Room also brought to you by Pennsylvania Breads, the
00:35:44PHBA, the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association.
00:35:46Pennsylvania's premier two-year-old $100,000 Pennsylvania bread steaks are
00:35:53scheduled now for Wednesday, November 27th at two different tracks.
00:35:58The Pennsylvania Nursery for two-year-olds will be held at Parks, while the Shamrock
00:36:04Rose steaks for the two-year-old Phillies will take place at Penn National.
00:36:08Nominations for both those races close on Wednesday, November 13th, two weeks out
00:36:13before the race.
00:36:13To learn more about the PA Bread program, go to pabread.com, or you can call them
00:36:19at 610-444-1050.
00:36:26PA Bread, I think we've built a brand at this point.
00:36:29It's excitement at every step.
00:36:33Roses for Deborah just set a new track record.
00:36:36One average for the past decade, Pennsylvania paid over $28 million a year in breeders
00:36:42awards, restricted races, and owner bonuses.
00:36:45Plus, PA Breads shine on the world's biggest stage.
00:36:48Just three states have bred more Breeders' Cup winners.
00:36:51Learn more at pabread.com.
00:36:54With some of the fullest fields in the country and quality racing year-round, there's
00:37:00never been a better time to reap the rewards of breeding and racing in Kentucky.
00:37:04Purse money in Kentucky is at an all-time high, as is average purse per race, outpacing
00:37:10California, Florida, and New York.
00:37:12Kentucky breads.
00:37:14Breed them.
00:37:16Raise them.
00:37:17Race them.
00:37:19We all win.
00:37:23On Breeders' Cup weekend at Del Mar in Breeders' Cup races, there were seven winners bred
00:37:28in the United States.
00:37:29To no one's surprise, all of them bred in Kentucky.
00:37:34In the state of Kentucky, including Sierra Leone in the Classic and Torpedo Anna in the
00:37:39Distaff.
00:37:40You can find your next Kentucky bread at the Keeneland November sale, which is currently
00:37:44running.
00:37:44It began Tuesday, and it will go through next Wednesday, November the 13th.
00:37:50Kentucky breads.
00:37:51Breed them.
00:37:52Raise them.
00:37:53Race them.
00:37:54We all win.
00:37:56Well, it wasn't just the classic on Breeders' Cup day.
00:37:58Some real memorable races and some great performances.
00:38:01When we opened the show, I said that my favorite race was the Distaff because of Torpedo Anna.
00:38:07It really wasn't a very dramatic race by any stretch of the imagination.
00:38:11She was one of the biggest favorites in Breeders' Cup history.
00:38:13We all say, wow, what a race it could have been if Idiomatic and Adair Manor had both
00:38:18stayed healthy and wanted to get into it.
00:38:20But Kenny McPeak, what a good job he's done with this horse.
00:38:23He's got this horse in a position now.
00:38:25She will be horse of the year.
00:38:27The first NTRA poll came out today post Breeders' Cup, and she's got 26 first place votes.
00:38:34Sierra Leone has three.
00:38:35So that race is not even going to be close.
00:38:38She's coming back next year.
00:38:39She's a cool horse.
00:38:41Love to see her go out there and do her thing.
00:38:43And maybe she'll even run the classic next year.
00:38:45You never know.
00:38:45But she didn't dazzle you, but she didn't need to.
00:38:50She went out, got the job done.
00:38:52See you next year.
00:38:53Yeah, it's a shame the race fell apart to the extent that it did.
00:38:56Adair Manor drops out before the pre-entries were taken.
00:38:59And then after the pre-entries, of course, we were going to get that big matchup with
00:39:03Idiomatic and Torpedo Anna.
00:39:05And then that fell through, and Idiomatic dropped out.
00:39:07And then it was going to be Torpedo Anna against the Japanese filly.
00:39:10Awesome result.
00:39:11Undefeated.
00:39:12And then awesome result.
00:39:13Drops out the morning of the race.
00:39:14I mean, just one by one by one by one.
00:39:17It just fell apart.
00:39:18And then you're left with Torpedo Anna at two to five.
00:39:21Tied for the shortest prize favorite in the history of the Breeders' Cup this day.
00:39:24So she did what she was supposed to do, and she did it the right way.
00:39:28Raging Sea, who beat Idiomatic two races back, again, fired what I thought to be her best shot.
00:39:36And she just wasn't good enough.
00:39:38She gave it everything she had.
00:39:40Tried to keep up with Torpedo Anna early and late.
00:39:43But Torpedo was just too good.
00:39:45And, you know, even though I think you might be able to say that the Breeders,
00:39:52that, excuse me, the Travers could have taken a little bit out of Torpedo Anna.
00:39:57Her subsequent two races weren't quite as dominating.
00:40:00She still wins.
00:40:01She just wins.
00:40:02And I think she would be a very deserving horse of the year.
00:40:06That was, without a doubt, a B performance for her on Saturday.
00:40:11But without a doubt, she wins horse of the year.
00:40:14There is no question there.
00:40:16And I think Kenny McPeak echoed it when he simply called it workmanlike.
00:40:21That's all he said.
00:40:22It was a workmanlike effort.
00:40:24And that's what it was.
00:40:25It's been a long season.
00:40:26She's danced every dance.
00:40:27Not only does she dance in the afternoon.
00:40:29I mentioned it last week.
00:40:31She dances in the morning.
00:40:32She's not easy on herself or 72 year old Danny Ramsey.
00:40:37She's very hard on herself.
00:40:39And that's hard to do for 12 months of the year.
00:40:43So she is hopefully she gets a little break and we get to see her next year.
00:40:47I mean, the question is, you know, where are they going to start?
00:40:50Are they going to do the usual?
00:40:52Are we going to the Apple Blossom?
00:40:54Is that that's kind of like the usual thing for the older fillies?
00:40:58Maybe the older mile too.
00:41:00Yeah.
00:41:01So we'll have to wait and see.
00:41:05All right.
00:41:05So other races of note through the first two days of the Breeders' Cup.
00:41:09Breeders' Cup juvenile fillies won by Immersive.
00:41:12And she lived up to the hype.
00:41:13She's really good.
00:41:14Four for four right now.
00:41:15Three grade ones.
00:41:16But I thought the real story here was Brad Cox.
00:41:18And he has won a Breeders' Cup race seven straight years.
00:41:24I'm sure that Randy, that's got to be that is a record.
00:41:28And the consistency of this stable and for it to continue to just pound out
00:41:33these really good horses is really remarkable.
00:41:36And it's a tip of the cap to Brad Cox.
00:41:38But again, when Goodolphin has given you horses, probably, you know,
00:41:42the eighth leading trainer at Waka Pai Downs could win with them.
00:41:45So but no, I shouldn't have said that because Brad Cox is just doing an absolute great job.
00:41:50Immersive is a lot of fun.
00:41:52She's going to be the early favorite for the Kentucky Oaks.
00:41:54If she stays healthy, I think she should have a tremendous year next year.
00:41:59It wasn't the prettiest juvenile fillies that I've watched.
00:42:03Now, I don't want to say anything about fractions because God knows they might be wrong.
00:42:09But according to what I have, the final quarter was 27.58.
00:42:15Is I mean, they were working home.
00:42:17They went fast early, 22, 44 and 99, 45 flat, way quicker than the boys did.
00:42:25The boys wound up running a little bit faster than the girls, but they walked home.
00:42:30It wasn't pretty to watch, even though she's very physically pretty to watch.
00:42:36It looked like a struggle fest coming down to the wire.
00:42:39Yeah, I thought the final quarter was slow.
00:42:42I don't think it was quite as slow as what the fractional times would indicate,
00:42:45since the fractional times are wrong.
00:42:49It's a shame.
00:42:52It's a shame that we're at this point in third red racing in 2024.
00:42:56But yeah, I was of the opinion going in that the two-year-old fillies were on the weak side.
00:43:05I thought, therefore, it was probably a good idea to try to take a shot against immersive,
00:43:09which turned out to be the wrong thing to do.
00:43:12She was a dominant winner, clearly the best of the two-year-old fillies that we've seen so far.
00:43:18I'm kind of expecting somebody to come into the forefront between now and Kentucky Oaks time.
00:43:25But yeah, immersive has done nothing wrong and was clearly much, much the best.
00:43:30As far as Brad Cox, Bill, it was obviously the longest active streak
00:43:37of consecutive years with at least one Breeders' Cup win.
00:43:43Chad Brown had won a race six consecutive years from 2014 through 2019 inclusive.
00:43:52So this broke that tie that Brad Cox had with Chad Brown.
00:43:57And in the NBC interview afterward, he was familiar with that.
00:44:00He knew exactly that there was a tie and that he was now holding the record.
00:44:05But that's remarkable.
00:44:06Seven years in a row with at least one Breeders' Cup win.
00:44:09So let's turn to the boys in the juvenile.
00:44:11How about the things you never want, you never expect?
00:44:14Bob Baffert runs one-two in the Breeders' Cup juvenile,
00:44:16and the X-Acto pays $142.20 with Citizen Bull getting the job done.
00:44:23We talked about, well, Randy, again, you got me so nervous about talking about the paces
00:44:27because you're just going to, oh, that's all wrong, that's all wrong, that's all wrong.
00:44:30But the difference in this race clearly was how slow they went early.
00:44:35The official fractions were 23-2, 47-4, 112-1.
00:44:40And Citizen Bull, I don't think he's a superstar.
00:44:42He'll be named the two-year-old champion.
00:44:44I guarantee you come derby time, there'll be better Bob Baffert horses into the picture.
00:44:49But you let a good horse like that get that kind of trip.
00:44:53It was like they ran one-two around the racetrack.
00:44:57Bob Baffert's other horse, Gaming, ran second the whole way around.
00:45:00Some disappointments.
00:45:01Jonathan's way was seventh.
00:45:02Chancellor McPatrick was sixth.
00:45:04But Bob Baffert came through at a time where people, at least the betters, didn't believe
00:45:09in his horses.
00:45:10Oh, it was all that.
00:45:12The way that race was run, what happened in that race was totally a result of what happened
00:45:18at the start when East Avenue went to his nose, leaving the starting gate from post
00:45:23position number one and was last a few strides out of the gate.
00:45:26That was the horse that, especially in hindsight, was going to set the pace, probably control
00:45:31the pace, and in my opinion, probably win the race.
00:45:34Although, it must be said, Citizen Bull's final time, 143.07, and the final times are
00:45:41accurate at the Breeders' Cup, was so much faster than the juvenile fillies ran.
00:45:47I mean, he ran a really good race.
00:45:49Now, he had everything his own way.
00:45:51The fractions were even a little bit slower than what was posted.
00:45:55And I agree with you, Bill, in one thing you said.
00:45:59A friend of mine said, yeah, well, it looks like Bob's going to be loaded for the Kentucky
00:46:04Derby next year.
00:46:05He'll be back at the Derby in force.
00:46:07And I said, yeah, he probably will be back at the Derby in force, and he probably will
00:46:12have at least two horses that are front and center among the leading contenders for the
00:46:17Kentucky Derby, and I'll be willing to bet you right now that none of these three in
00:46:22the Breeders' Cup will be one of those horses that we'll be talking about going into the
00:46:26Kentucky Derby.
00:46:28Citizen Bull did what he was supposed to do.
00:46:30He went to the lead.
00:46:31Martine, his fourth Breeders' Cup win, the eighth for the sire into mischief.
00:46:36That cross is really good, by the way, into mischief, distorted humor.
00:46:39That's a very, very good cross.
00:46:42Did what he was supposed to do.
00:46:43First, second, and fourth for Baffert.
00:46:47So the top three in the superfecta.
00:46:50According to some quotes from Chad Brown, Chancellor Patrick never got hold of the track,
00:46:55which is a normal thing, and was confused with the second turn.
00:47:00I know that Pratt was riding his horse because I watched a replay back to beat East Avenue
00:47:06because he was on East Avenue.
00:47:08He thought the horse to beat the whole way down the backside.
00:47:12He had him hemmed in, and he just didn't have any horse.
00:47:15Meanwhile, I saw the first fraction for Garcia and Baffert, but they're not beating this
00:47:20horse on the lead.
00:47:21He's walking the dog.
00:47:23It was literally after the first quarter.
00:47:25Here you go, Martine.
00:47:26Here's another Breeders' Cup.
00:47:27Well done, young man.
00:47:28Well done.
00:47:29There you go.
00:47:30Hand it to him on a plate.
00:47:32So you mentioned the eighth winner for siren to mischief.
00:47:34There's now a four-way tie at the top of the Breeders' Cup sire standings.
00:47:38Kirtland already had eight.
00:47:40Dubawi won another race for Charlie Appleby.
00:47:42He now has eight.
00:47:43And the late more than ready had a winner.
00:47:45He now has eight.
00:47:46So that's a little race within a race going on for the top siren Breeders' Cup history.
00:47:51How about juveniles and their sires winning?
00:47:54Because Immersive, Nyquist.
00:47:57Nyquist won in 2015 as well.
00:47:59That's going to be a stat going down the road.
00:48:03Let's turn our attention to the Breeders' Cup turf.
00:48:05Webel's Romance.
00:48:06What a nice horse he is.
00:48:07Won in 2022.
00:48:09He's a gelding, so he's still around.
00:48:11He's going to probably be around for another couple of years.
00:48:13And what does this tell you about the tale of modern horse racing?
00:48:17This has been his campaign.
00:48:19Qatar to United Arab Emirates to Hong Kong to Great Britain to Germany,
00:48:26back to the US, back to California.
00:48:29I played around with the numbers.
00:48:30This is very Randy Moss-esque, but I had to do it.
00:48:33I looked up the distance between all these different places.
00:48:37And, you know, you don't know exactly where he went.
00:48:39For instance, you know, did he go back to England between Hong Kong, etc.
00:48:43But just if you went from one place to another, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing.
00:48:47He traveled 20,188 miles this year.
00:48:53And, you know, he wouldn't have because they like to take them home in between.
00:48:56Right. Yeah.
00:48:57Yeah.
00:48:59And, you know, just a cool horse.
00:49:00It was nice to see him win, get back in there.
00:49:03You know, again, how long can you, you can't keep Charlie Appleby and Godolphin down.
00:49:08You know, not the best race.
00:49:10The Americans are so over their heads in this race now.
00:49:14I don't know.
00:49:15Can't imagine them winning at any time soon, the way things are happening.
00:49:18But Rebel's romance gets the job done.
00:49:21Just an absolute legend of a horse.
00:49:23And that was a quote from Charlie Appleby.
00:49:25But he was not the best horse in the race.
00:49:28Not by a long way.
00:49:30I bet on Rousham Park.
00:49:32I watched him train in the week.
00:49:34Did you watch the ride on Rousham Park?
00:49:36If anybody, anybody ever, Bill, if you'd have ridden him,
00:49:41you'd have probably won on Rousham Park.
00:49:43Broke slow, stayed in last, wrestled back to last.
00:49:47They're going down the backside of the three-quarter pole.
00:49:50He almost hit, clips heels and he's last.
00:49:53Wrestles him back and gets him back last again.
00:49:55Going around the final turn.
00:49:57He's got his feet on the dashboard.
00:49:59He goes 10 wide.
00:50:01Rebel's romance is on the inside path and he gets beat.
00:50:04What a neck.
00:50:05And he almost cut off his stable mate.
00:50:07The third place finisher, different trainer, same ownership group, Sunday Racing.
00:50:12Sharia almost cut him off as well.
00:50:16He was so much the best, it's not even funny.
00:50:19Do I sound like a sore loser?
00:50:20No, no.
00:50:21I mean, while I'm pissing everybody else off, including Kevin Attard,
00:50:24I might as well just say the two worst rides at the Breeders' Cup
00:50:28was Christophe Lemaire on Rousham Park and Irad Ortiz on Cogburn.
00:50:34He apparently thought the finish line was at the eighth pole instead of where it was.
00:50:38Or Cogburn would have won the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint.
00:50:41But yeah, I agree with you.
00:50:42I mean, maybe City of Troy would have won this race if he was in here, but I doubt it.
00:50:48Rebel's Romance and Rousham Park gave us quite a thrill there.
00:50:51But Rousham Park, I agree with you.
00:50:53I thought he was probably the best horse.
00:50:55I'm delighted.
00:50:56Honestly, I am delighted for Rebel's Romance.
00:50:58We do need to mention condolences out to the connections of JRB,
00:51:04who sadly appeared to have a cardiac event on the backside.
00:51:08So that was very, very sad indeed.
00:51:11But Rebel Romance, six years old, what a horse he is.
00:51:14It's a cruel story.
00:51:16Well, we talked a lot with Kevin Attard about the Breeders' Cup Lemaire Turf.
00:51:20I was really happy.
00:51:21He's one of the real good guys in racing.
00:51:23And there was a horse that really, she deserved this.
00:51:27She's been trying so hard and knocking on the door all these years
00:51:32and now finally gets in her third try of Breeders' Cup Lemaire Turf.
00:51:35Zoe, do you think she'll be the Eclipse Award winner?
00:51:39I don't know.
00:51:41I'd have to...
00:51:42Do you think about who, if not her, who else?
00:51:44Yeah, honestly, there's not a big standout in that division.
00:51:48So you have to think about it very, very hard.
00:51:53Honestly, before the race, I hadn't even considered her an Eclipse Award winner,
00:51:57but I'm definitely going to take another look at it.
00:51:59She was terrific.
00:52:00And it was great to hear all the stories from Kevin about how persnickety she is.
00:52:04She sounds like she's a proper madam to train.
00:52:07And I love that.
00:52:09Love that.
00:52:10She's probably going to be one of those old broodmares that chases you out the field.
00:52:14Yeah, I love that.
00:52:15I'm going to vote for her, I think, for champion turf female.
00:52:18I mean, I think she deserves it.
00:52:21What Kevin took exception to with me was what I said on NBC
00:52:26in the immediate aftermath of the race, which I'll stand by,
00:52:29that if the race was run 10 times,
00:52:31Cinderella's Dream would probably win nine of them.
00:52:34She had traffic problems most of the way down the lane.
00:52:37And then she finally got loose and was flying at the end
00:52:41and just got beat in there with William Buick aboard.
00:52:44But I was happy to see Moira win just because of the storyline behind her,
00:52:51the most popular horse in Canada, deserving, going out, final race in her career.
00:52:57Cinderella's Dream is a three-year-old.
00:52:58She can be back next year for Charlie Appleby.
00:53:01So I thought it was cool, especially now that we've talked to Kevin
00:53:07and we've seen all the emotions involved with Moira
00:53:10and what kind of horse she is around the barn.
00:53:12And listen, it takes some serious balls to R&A a mare for $3 million.
00:53:18When you pay $150,000 for her and you're like,
00:53:22yeah, no, $3 million, no thank you.
00:53:25We're going to keep her another year and run her as a five-year-old.
00:53:28Like, that takes some balls, giant cojones.
00:53:32And then you get the million-dollar purse and then you sell her for $4.3 million.
00:53:36Days later.
00:53:37Yeah, good decision by Donatella Lanning.
00:53:40Yeah, well done, Donato.
00:53:44One more race I wanted to touch on really quickly was the sprint and the soul of an angel.
00:53:50All right, go for it, Zoe.
00:53:51Wow, I mean, I just thought it was a really good story because I was on Vava.
00:53:55I thought she couldn't lose.
00:53:57And just to watch her come down the middle of the track with Drayden Van Dyke,
00:54:02who moved his tack to Florida, great young guy, good rider,
00:54:07was dead in the water in California and Safi gave him a shot.
00:54:11And they're all praising God, which is fine,
00:54:14to win on a filly called soul of an angel.
00:54:16I thought it was just a really cool story.
00:54:18And I'm delighted for Drayden and Safi,
00:54:20especially because he didn't get his Breeders' Cup win last year.
00:54:24And she probably shouldn't have won the prize that she was when you go back and look at her
00:54:29two most recent one-turn races,
00:54:31one of which she just demolished randomized at a one-turn mile.
00:54:35And randomized was clicking on all cylinders at the time and is
00:54:39obviously a really good filly from the Chad Brown barn.
00:54:41So should she have been the favorite?
00:54:43No, but she probably should have been the prize she was.
00:54:46The TDN Writers' Room is brought to you by XBTV.
00:54:50This week's Work of the Week is Slider,
00:54:52who breeds five furlongs in 102 and four on November the 1st at Santa Anita.
00:54:58Slider was the winner of the Speakeasy Stakes in 2023,
00:55:01but was ninth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf.
00:55:04Then he ran third in the San Vicente before having a long break to start off this year.
00:55:09He was third last time out on his return to racing in the Keeneland Allowance.
00:55:14And trainer John Sadler said he will be hunting
00:55:16for a Delmar Allowance race for the West Point runner next time out.
00:55:20We'll be right back after this message from XBTV.
00:55:24Be a smarter better with XBTV.
00:55:28The best horses with thousands of exclusive morning workouts.
00:55:38All at your fingertips and delivered right into your inbox.
00:55:44Everything you need to be informed.
00:55:47Be smart, bet smart with XBTV.
00:55:54All the thrills.
00:56:00Fraction of the bills.
00:56:05Experience the power of the partnership.
00:56:10Change your life, make new friends and compete at the highest level of thoroughbred racing.
00:56:18West Point Thoroughbreds, the gold standard in racing partnerships.
00:56:22Visit WestPointTV.com.
00:56:25TD and Riders Room also brought to you by West Point Thoroughbreds.
00:56:29Now that the Breeders' Cup is in our rearview mirror, West Point can look ahead
00:56:33to an exciting weekend coming up with four horses in stakes races all on the grass.
00:56:38See, if you were part of West Point, this is what you could do.
00:56:41Friday, you would have Don't Look Back at All running in the autumn day stakes at Aqueduct.
00:56:46Then on Saturday, you could get your big screen TV in the living room
00:56:49and you could do the picture in picture thing.
00:56:51And you could put horse racing on one side and college football on the other side, right?
00:56:55And at 1.40 p.m., you could watch the Hill Prince stakes and West Point's Cugino,
00:57:01all right, with Flavian Pratt aboard.
00:57:03Then at 3.40 p.m., you could watch Integration run in the Red Smith.
00:57:07That's the Arlington Million runner-up, also with Flavian Pratt.
00:57:11And then at 5.25, you could watch West Point's entrant in the River City stakes at Churchill.
00:57:17Flavian couldn't make it down there in time.
00:57:19Luan Machado will ride Battle of Normandy in the River City stakes.
00:57:24There, the last three all trained by Shook McGahee.
00:57:29That's the update on West Point.
00:57:30To learn more, visit www.westpointtv.com.
00:57:34So I thought one of the good stories to come out of this Breeders' Cup
00:57:37is that we're going to see some of the stars back next year.
00:57:41Mike Rapoli has already said that Fierceness is definitely going to run next year if he stays healthy.
00:57:46The Sierra Leone people, the Coomber bunch,
00:57:48didn't think there'd be a prayer that he'd come back next year.
00:57:51They haven't said for sure, but they were certainly talking like a bunch,
00:57:54a group that wants to see their horse come back next year.
00:57:57For Pito Anna will be back next year, forever young.
00:58:00Mystic Dan, who even remembers him, he won the Kentucky Derby, he'll be back next year.
00:58:05And I want to give credit to Mike Rapoli about Fierceness, too,
00:58:08because, you know, he's the guy that's coming up and saying,
00:58:10there's all these things wrong with horse racing.
00:58:13And one of the things wrong with horse racing is that these horses are retired too early.
00:58:17And so, you know, Mike put his heart in front of his wallet
00:58:21and decided to bring this horse back for another year.
00:58:23And, you know, plus all the other horses coming up through the ranks.
00:58:26But we could have if and the big if is always if they stay healthy.
00:58:30But the big if they stay healthy, we could see some really nice racing next year,
00:58:36maybe in the Saudi Cup, maybe in the Pegasus World Cup.
00:58:39But I'm glad to see that some people are bucking the trend
00:58:42and bringing their horses back to race next year.
00:58:46Yeah, it's very cool.
00:58:47I mean, Fierceness and Sierra Leone will be fabulous.
00:58:52I can only imagine Fierceness looks so much better
00:58:55leading up to the Breeders' Cup than I've ever seen him.
00:58:59Next year as a four-year-old, he's going to be outstanding.
00:59:02At Sierra Leone, he's always looked good.
00:59:04He just needs pace.
00:59:05We've established that now.
00:59:06He's always looked like a four-year-old.
00:59:08But it's going to be exciting.
00:59:11And hopefully we'll get Sierra Leone back as a four-year-old.
00:59:14Have they officially announced it yet?
00:59:15The last I the last I saw, it was still sort of TBD.
00:59:19So, yeah, I think it is.
00:59:20But it certainly sounded like it went on the street is yes,
00:59:23but I don't want to be the, you know.
00:59:26OK, well, I don't want to piss off Coolmore, you know.
00:59:28I'll leave that to you.
00:59:29You don't want to do that, Zoe.
00:59:30You never want to do that.
00:59:31I mean, that makes sense.
00:59:33And City of Troy is being retired to stud.
00:59:35And by the way, that was another one of the fun aspects
00:59:39of the Breeders' Cup Classic.
00:59:42The fact that City of Troy failed for Coolmore,
00:59:45but then at the same time, Coolmore wins the classic
00:59:49as the co-owner with Peter Brandt, Sierra Leone.
00:59:52And it made for a pretty unusual winner's circle.
00:59:55You didn't they didn't know whether to celebrate or,
00:59:57you know, whatever.
00:59:59But and then even Forever Young, the trainer said
01:00:03in the aftermath of the class against third place finish
01:00:07that he was looking forward to running in next year's classic.
01:00:10You know, so, yeah, we oh, and Mystic Dan.
01:00:12Apparently, Mystic Dan is being tentatively pointed
01:00:16for the for the Pegasus World Cup.
01:00:19So potentially, if all goes well, like you said, knock on wood,
01:00:24we could have a lot of superstars going next year.
01:00:27And certainly good.
01:00:28Well, what about the Japanese going into the Breeders' Cup?
01:00:31They brought a huge contingent.
01:00:33A lot of people were very high on them.
01:00:35Randy, I think I got the number right.
01:00:36They were 0 for 15.
01:00:37Correct me if I'm wrong.
01:00:39Say I jotted that down very quickly.
01:00:42They did have a second with Rushen Park, as Zoe talked about
01:00:45in the same race in the Breeders' Cup turf with Sharia.
01:00:48And in the classic Forever Young went great to finish third.
01:00:51But I'm sure the Japanese as a whole were pretty disappointed
01:00:54by their performance on Breeders' Cup day.
01:00:56Yeah, after the scratch of awesome result,
01:00:59they actually had 18 in all with no wins, one second and two thirds.
01:01:03And that is a huge disappointment for the Japanese,
01:01:07even though some of their horses ran pretty well.
01:01:10Because on Friday, for example, I mean,
01:01:13they had the favorite in the Juvenile Turf Sprint
01:01:15and one of the favorites in the race
01:01:18right after that in the Juvenile Fillies.
01:01:20And both of those horses ran very poorly.
01:01:22They had a lot of real disappointments.
01:01:24But they'll be back.
01:01:25They'll be back.
01:01:27At the Fasig-Tipton sale on Monday,
01:01:31out of the 25 mares that were sold for $1 million or more,
01:01:36nine of them were bought by Japan.
01:01:40The Yoshidas stepped up and bought it, but they bought a Dare Manor.
01:01:44A guy named Yoshi Yuki bought both McCulloch and Surge Capacity
01:01:50for $6 million and $3.6 million, respectively,
01:01:53to take back to Japan to breed.
01:01:56We're going to be seeing the Japanese at the Breeders' Cup
01:01:59and I think the Kentucky Derby for a long time to come,
01:02:01despite this disappointment.
01:02:03Yeah, I mean, they're breeding.
01:02:06They're just breeding champions already
01:02:08because they started it 15 years ago.
01:02:11This has been a plan for a long, long time.
01:02:14They've been buying these fantastic race mares
01:02:16and taking them back to Japan.
01:02:18And now they're just Fasig-Tipton, Keeneland.
01:02:20It's good stomping grounds.
01:02:22Everybody's here.
01:02:23That was insane last night, some of the prices those mares bought.
01:02:27We're probably never going to see them again.
01:02:29We'll see the progeny because they're going to come over again.
01:02:32On the whole, I didn't think the Japanese contingent ran too badly.
01:02:36They had some fourths and fifths and horses that actually ran pretty well.
01:02:41If they'd just had two wins, everyone would have been delighted.
01:02:45But they bought so many horses over
01:02:47and I think it was hot on the heels of, what's the trainer?
01:02:51Mori, the fabulous guy with the hat, saying he was the proclaimed king of Delmar.
01:02:57They saw what he did at Delmar and thought, this is an easy game.
01:03:00Let's just go with him and we'll all be winners.
01:03:03And it's not quite that easy.
01:03:05I can't see them bringing as many horses next year to Delmar.
01:03:08But honestly, it wasn't a terrible result by any count.
01:03:12Rousham Park should have won.
01:03:14Maybe the filly that was scratched.
01:03:16She'd have been right there with Thorpedo Anna.
01:03:18Could have, should have, would have.
01:03:20I don't think it was as terrible as you're making out.
01:03:23All right.
01:03:230 for 18 is pretty terrible to me.
01:03:25But we'll save that for another day.
01:03:30Another person who had a very good Breeders' Cup was Slavian Prade.
01:03:33He won the Shoemaker Award given to the jockey with the best overall performance.
01:03:38He won two races, Sierra Leone in the Breeders' Cup Classic
01:03:41and Mora in the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mayor Turf.
01:03:44And when Pratt decided to come from California, shift east,
01:03:48he said the reason why he wanted to do it was to win an Eclipse Award.
01:03:51I think he did it this year.
01:03:52I mean, we've got a month and a half to go of the year.
01:03:55But right now, obviously, his main competition is Erad Ortiz.
01:04:00Ortiz has 268 wins.
01:04:02Pratt has only 202.
01:04:04However, Pratt has earned $34 million, while Erad has earned only $30.3 million.
01:04:10And this is the number that really jumps off the page.
01:04:12Slavian Pratt has won 50 graded stakes races this year, to only 33 for Erad.
01:04:18So I think people are ready for a new face besides with Erad winning it every single year.
01:04:26Yeah, I think Slavian Pratt pulled off exactly what he intended to do coming here.
01:04:30And he's good, isn't he, Zoe?
01:04:33Parlez-vous français?
01:04:34I'll help you.
01:04:37Oh, very good.
01:04:38I'm impressed.
01:04:40Yes, he's damn good.
01:04:41And he's always been good.
01:04:43And he's a good guy.
01:04:45He's got a great agent in Brad Pegram.
01:04:47Brad's a quiet guy.
01:04:49He's not going to shout from the rooftops.
01:04:51And he just goes about his business.
01:04:53He's made good connections.
01:04:55Yes, he does write a lot for Chad Brown now.
01:04:58But he's not solely writing for Chad Brown.
01:05:00He writes for everyone.
01:05:02And he's always made sure that Slavian is not pigeonholed in one barn.
01:05:08I mean, if Chad calls you, you're going to say no.
01:05:11I mean, he's good on the grass.
01:05:12That's tough to do.
01:05:13But yeah, I'm delighted for him.
01:05:15I really am.
01:05:16He's just had an unbelievable year, hasn't he?
01:05:19Too many years.
01:05:20I think Eclipse Award voters just look at the earnings, the season earnings.
01:05:25And whoever's on top of the season earnings standings, they vote as champion jockey.
01:05:29And it's typically Erad Ortiz.
01:05:31Now, right now, because of the Breeders' Cup Classic and because of the Philly Mayor
01:05:34turf, Slavian Pratt has leapfrogged over Erad Ortiz.
01:05:38And he's currently at the top of the earnings standings.
01:05:40But even if Erad moves back ahead of Pratt by the end of the year and earns more money
01:05:45than Pratt, look, if Slavian Pratt's not, if he doesn't win the Eclipse Award for champion
01:05:50jockey, I mean, I'm going to pull a Donald Trump and claim that the vote was rigged.
01:05:56You know?
01:05:57I got a wig for you.
01:05:58You need a wig?
01:06:00I'll be orange.
01:06:03But look, I mean, yeah, to me, it's a slam dunk.
01:06:07And we're just in here in early November.
01:06:08We still got two months to go.
01:06:10Slavian Pratt's had such a good year that this has got to be his Eclipse Award.
01:06:15OK, I've been looking forward to this part of the show ever since we started, because
01:06:19Randy is just he's he's he's loaded.
01:06:22He means business.
01:06:24We'll call this segment Randy's Rant.
01:06:27Go, my friend.
01:06:29Are you talking about the timing?
01:06:30Yeah, of course, you're talking about the time.
01:06:33Look, the final the final times of the Breeders' Cup races are accurate.
01:06:41And they were also accurate in 2021, the last time the Breeders' Cup was at Del Mar.
01:06:46But when we had the Breeders' Cup in 2021, and I've talked about it since then,
01:06:52the fractional times that day, which are timed by GPS, a horribly inaccurate GPS system,
01:07:00were just wrong.
01:07:01And now three years later, it still hasn't changed.
01:07:05The fractional times at Del Mar are still done by GPS and they're still wrong.
01:07:11And they're not horribly, horribly wrong.
01:07:14But two fifths of a second, a fifth of a second.
01:07:18When you're talking about fractional times, we're talking about data that people are
01:07:21betting millions of dollars on.
01:07:24There's no excuse for not having data that is absolutely accurate.
01:07:28It's not Del Mar's fault.
01:07:31Del Mar is totally dependent on the timing system that Equibase and the Jockey Club gives
01:07:39them.
01:07:40OK, and to Equibase's credit, they kicked GPS to the side for final times and went back
01:07:48to the old beam technology to get accurate final times.
01:07:52But, you know, when you're watching races just on a normal day and you're watching those
01:07:57chicklets on the screen that supposedly tell you where the horses are and they're placed
01:08:02and you're watching it, you're saying, what the hell is this?
01:08:05I mean, this horse is in front and it's got him fourth.
01:08:08Right.
01:08:08You see that all the time.
01:08:10That's the same technology that's being used to time fractional times in our championship
01:08:15races.
01:08:16This is good.
01:08:17It should have been fixed a long time ago.
01:08:19They've got to do a full court press to get this fixed.
01:08:22It's an embarrassment to thoroughbred racing that this is still going on.
01:08:27If we want to be a big league sport like the NFL, right?
01:08:30Tom Brady had 505 yards passing in the Super Bowl, 52 when they lost to the Eagles.
01:08:35The NFL doesn't say, well, yeah, maybe it was 475.
01:08:39Maybe it was 525.
01:08:40Ah, it's close enough.
01:08:41We'll just make it 505.
01:08:44You can't have that and be a big league sport.
01:08:47And hopefully it will be fixed sooner, much sooner rather than later.
01:08:52That's my rant.
01:08:54What are you timing it on that makes you know it's right?
01:08:58You can do it.
01:08:59And actually, with all the controversy right now, with the CAW players, computer-assisted
01:09:06wagering players that are betting so much money and that are given the advantage of
01:09:10betting into the pools, they have people on staff that use the same thing I use, video
01:09:18timing.
01:09:18You download the races.
01:09:19You put it on a video timer frame-by-frame advance with time.
01:09:23You can get really close to the time.
01:09:25That's what they're doing.
01:09:26They have that edge too.
01:09:28They're actually getting accurate fractional times to bet with that the average people
01:09:32aren't because they're relying on what's being published in the paper at not at every
01:09:38racetrack, but at the racetracks that are using GPS timing for fractions.
01:09:43And, you know, but yes, I do the same thing.
01:09:46You can use a computer.
01:09:47You can use video timing.
01:09:48There are a handful of us around the country that do that.
01:09:51And you can point out, you know, inaccuracies in the official times.
01:09:56I just wanted to make sure you weren't sitting there with your stopwatch.
01:09:59Yeah.
01:10:00One Mississippi, two Mississippi, three no.
01:10:03So that's my rant.
01:10:04I have to do it once a year, right?
01:10:06All right.
01:10:07Well, we'll come back next year because this doesn't sound like anything that racing is
01:10:11too worried about.
01:10:12And I agree with you, Randy.
01:10:14It's something that needs to change.
01:10:16And it does give racing the look of a little bit of a podunk sport when they can't even
01:10:20time things right.
01:10:21But anyways, enough about that.
01:10:23It was a great Breeders' Cup.
01:10:24I want to thank my co-host, Randy Moss, Zoe Cadman, our guest of the week, Kevin Attard,
01:10:30and our editors and producers, Katie Petruniak, Anthony LaRocca, and Aliyah LaRocca.
01:10:34I hope everybody had a great Breeders' Cup.