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00:00:00For the love of the horse, for generations to come.
00:00:28Welcome to another edition of the TDN Writer's Room podcast.
00:00:31My name is Bill Finley.
00:00:32I'm a correspondent for the Thoroughbred Daily News, also the co-host of the Down the
00:00:36Stretch radio show every Saturday morning on Sirius XM Radio.
00:00:39How are y'all doing?
00:00:41I'm Randy Moss on hiatus with NBC Sports, licking my wounds right now from going 0-2
00:00:47in fantasy football this past week.
00:00:50There's not much you can do when the guy you're playing scores 161 points, but anyway.
00:00:57Well, I didn't play fantasy football, so I'm undefeated.
00:01:01Zoe Kalman here with XBTV and First Racing.
00:01:05Well, guys, let's start off looking at what happened over the weekend in California.
00:01:09Lots of developments.
00:01:11Some good, not some not so good.
00:01:13And the Desi Arnaz, the story there coming in was not so much the horses that were running,
00:01:19but more of the same that we keep seeing.
00:01:22They had a four-horse field.
00:01:26Four-horse field.
00:01:27Three of the four were trained by Bob Baffert.
00:01:30And then he actually entered a fourth horse, which was scratched.
00:01:33So it would have been four or five.
00:01:35Ironically, Baffert didn't win.
00:01:37Tim Yaktin did, winning with practical dream.
00:01:40But Zoe, share your thoughts about the race, but also share your thoughts about is this
00:01:45good for racing to keep having the same situation where Baffert is that dominant?
00:01:51I mean, the question we need to ask is, is it Bob's fault that everyone wants to send
00:01:56him the best two-year-olds and nobody wants to run against him?
00:01:59It's kind of a catch-22, and we've been talking about it for years.
00:02:03We're going to talk about Mike Rapoli a little bit later on, but we need an influx of real
00:02:09dirt horses to run on the dirt against Bob.
00:02:13Now, a lot of people in Southern California are buying turf horses.
00:02:16They don't want to compete with the best of Bob's.
00:02:19And most of the time they can't.
00:02:21So kudos to trainer Tim Yaktin, him and Bob are good friends, that he put practical dream
00:02:28in there when a lot of people might be like, yeah, screw that.
00:02:31I'm not going to even bother.
00:02:34So practical dream was much the best in there and outrun them all.
00:02:37But this is a problem that we are continually facing in Southern California, getting dirt
00:02:44races to go, especially maiden races.
00:02:48And then once you broke the maiden, you've got to go into a stake.
00:02:53And then you're still facing more of the same.
00:02:55It's a big problem.
00:02:57Yeah, first the race, and then I'll weigh in a little bit on that.
00:03:03Practical dream, Antonio Frey-Sue aboard.
00:03:06Tactically, Frey-Sue rode a really good race because the Bafferts won to two favorite in
00:03:12their silent law, very speedy.
00:03:15And in their most recent race, practical dream had set back a little bit and let silent law
00:03:19control the pace and couldn't run her down.
00:03:22This past weekend, practical dream was drawn inside of silent law.
00:03:26And so Frey-Sue just took it to silent law right from the start.
00:03:30They went ahead and had all the way around, didn't finish very fast.
00:03:33The figure wasn't very good, like I think a 73 buyer speed figure.
00:03:38So the jury's still out on how good these horses are going to be going forward in the
00:03:42whole Kentucky Oaks scheme of things.
00:03:44But the nice stakes win for practical dream and also a kind of a feel good thing.
00:03:51The owners, Pierre and Leslie Amistoy from New Mexico and their partner, Roger Beasley
00:03:58from Austin, Texas, have had so much heartbreak and so much bad luck in this sport, primarily
00:04:04a year ago with practical move.
00:04:06If you remember, that's the horse that really catapulted the Amistoys into national prominence
00:04:11when he won the Santa Anita Derby, went on to Kentucky.
00:04:15I was there talking to him the morning of the scratch of practical move from the Kentucky
00:04:21Derby due to some issues.
00:04:23They were bringing him back later in the year after a successful comeback race to run in
00:04:27the Breeders' Cup dirt mile.
00:04:29And he had an apparent cardiac episode and died on the track at Santa Anita the week
00:04:35of the Breeders' Cup.
00:04:36I mean, what else?
00:04:39How much more heartbreak can you get than that?
00:04:42Their very best thoroughbred horse.
00:04:43And now they've stuck it out.
00:04:46They've got practical dream.
00:04:49They've got Mackenzie Street, who we'll talk about in just a second, another three-year-old
00:04:54colt or two-year-old colt who is stakes level.
00:04:57So it's a nice story to see the Amistoys not only stick it out and endure the ups and downs
00:05:04in the sport, but bounce back with some nice horses this year as well.
00:05:08As far as the Baffert thing goes, look, I've been a proponent of doing something to try
00:05:19to lessen the dominance of the so-called super trainers in the sport.
00:05:24OK, I remember and Zoe remembers when we first came around, there were stall limits at a
00:05:30racetrack.
00:05:31Maybe 40 horses would be the max that a trainer would be allowed to train.
00:05:37This is not necessarily Baffert I'm talking about here, but some of the super trainers
00:05:41out there, especially on the East Coast, might have 200, 250, and they control everything,
00:05:47right?
00:05:47I don't know why we can't have a scenario where even if stall space is not controlled,
00:05:54where a racetrack can say, OK, a particular trainer, we will allow you to run 60 different
00:06:03individual horses during our meet.
00:06:05That's the cap.
00:06:07No more than that.
00:06:09And then maybe you see some of these horses get spread around to other horsemen, and suddenly
00:06:14the field sizes get a little bit bigger because there's more horses available to run against
00:06:18each other.
00:06:19That might be a potential solution.
00:06:22I don't think that necessarily applies to Bob Baffert because I don't think he's sitting
00:06:27there with 250 or 300 horses.
00:06:29Zoe, I think you get the nail right on the head.
00:06:32This is, by all stats, Bob is the most successful trainer in the history of horse racing, and
00:06:41people want him to train their horses, especially two-year-olds and potential Kentucky Derby
00:06:47and Kentucky Oaks type horses.
00:06:49You can't blame owners for wanting Bob to train their horses, and you can't blame other
00:06:55trainers for not wanting to run against the 800, 700, $600,000 horses trained to the minute
00:07:02by Bob Baffert in these two-year-old races.
00:07:05I don't know what you can do about that, but the so-called super trainer syndrome, there
00:07:10probably is something you can do about it.
00:07:13It might not be politically correct, but it might be something that horse racing needs
00:07:17to look at.
00:07:19On the next day at San Anita, excuse me, at Del Mar, of course, there was the Bob Hope
00:07:23Stakes, which is the male equivalent of the Desi Arnaz.
00:07:29Quick question, shouldn't the Desi Arnaz be called the Lucille Ball?
00:07:35Zoe, let's see if we can get that worked on, okay?
00:07:38Lucy was at the track occasionally, but it was Desi that dragged her to the track.
00:07:43It was Desi that bought a house next to Del Mar.
00:07:46He was the big horse racing guy.
00:07:48Anyways, the next day they have the Bob Hope Stakes.
00:07:52Baffert only had two of five starters in there.
00:07:55The winner for Michael McCarthy was a horse by the name of Bullard, ran very well, but
00:07:59boy, if a horse ever got a better pace setup than this one.
00:08:03They were flying up front, 21.63, 43.93.
00:08:09This horse just blew by them in the stretch.
00:08:12I think he blew by a lot of tired horses.
00:08:14Visually impressive, but when you take a look at the pace figures and how the race shaped
00:08:19up, got to say, huh, did he just benefit from a perfect trip, Zoe?
00:08:24I mean, that definitely did help him.
00:08:26He's a big burly horse who does his best running late.
00:08:31So yeah, but I think he's a good horse.
00:08:34Is he the best horse in Mike McCarthy's band?
00:08:37I'm not sure he is.
00:08:38We'll get to the maiden winner in just a moment, but he was much the best in there.
00:08:43McKinsey Street's a good horse for the Amistois, and Randy already mentioned him.
00:08:48He got a brutal ride, and I love Kazushi Kimura.
00:08:52He's a very good rider.
00:08:53I'm not really sure what he was thinking.
00:08:55He kind of sent him up to the lead.
00:08:57They went 43 and four.
00:08:59I mean, come on.
00:08:59There's no way you can hold on going that quick.
00:09:02He hasn't got a really good ride in his last couple of races.
00:09:05I believe McKinsey Street's a lot better than we've seen in his last two races, but Bullard's
00:09:12a good horse, and he is beautiful.
00:09:15$675,000 they paid for him at Keeneland September, and he looks every bit of it.
00:09:21He's got a solid pedigree.
00:09:22He's by Gunrunner.
00:09:23When you watched his maiden win September the 1st at Del Mar when he ran down
00:09:28Clea Bay, trained by Baffert, they're going around the turn there, and all of a sudden,
00:09:32whoa, you see this big dynamic move right through the middle of the pack.
00:09:37Who is that?
00:09:37And it turned out to be Bullard, and he was green coming down the stretch.
00:09:41He was slow changing leads and all that, but he still, I don't know if he ever did
00:09:44change the leads that day, but he ran down Clea Bay anyway and indicated that he was
00:09:49going to be a force to be reckoned with.
00:09:52So Bob Baffert runs horses, heavy favorites, and well, actually, Bullard was the favorite,
00:09:59but two races for two-year-olds, two stakes races, Baffert wins neither one of them.
00:10:05If you just look at graded stakes races on dirt for two-year-olds in Southern California,
00:10:12going into the Bob Hope, Baffert had won 10 in a row.
00:10:17Wow.
00:10:18Dating all the way back to the Bob Hope of last year, and just before that,
00:10:21the American Pharaoh of 2023.
00:10:24So this broke a streak here for Baffert when Bullard ran past the first-time starter,
00:10:31Mattaket Road.
00:10:32Zoe mentioned it might not be the best two-year-old in Mike McCarthy's barn.
00:10:35Earlier on the card, a very strong maiden win for a son of Kirtland named Journalism,
00:10:42who has been crying for more distance.
00:10:44And he finally got two turns in his, I say finally, it was a second lifetime start,
00:10:49but he was very eye-catching, great pedigree on the dam side as well.
00:10:54And Zoe, I think this could really be a stake source in Southern California coming up.
00:11:00Yeah, I mean, it's good to be Michael McCarthy right now.
00:11:03He's got Sandy Bottom as well, the Philly.
00:11:05His two-year-olds are late developing, and I think he's designed it that way,
00:11:10but he looked really good.
00:11:12And like you said, he's got the pedigree to match.
00:11:15Journalism's a real deal and a great name.
00:11:17What a great name that is.
00:11:20The dam is Mopatism.
00:11:22You may remember him.
00:11:24Yeah, Paul Redham, Paul and Zilla Redham campaigned Mopatism, trained by Doug O'Neill.
00:11:30She won $800-plus thousand.
00:11:32She ran in 14 grade one races, including the Kentucky Oaks and the Breeders' Cup Distaff
00:11:38twice.
00:11:39So in her 26 race career, she ran against some pretty tough ones.
00:11:44So Mopatism is her first fold to, actually second fold to race, I believe.
00:11:50No, first fold to race, first fold to race.
00:11:52And it's turned out to be a good one, I think.
00:11:55So there's everything in the discussion in California racing.
00:11:57Unfortunately, it doesn't always just talk about the races on the track.
00:12:02Zoe and Randy, you guys know it well.
00:12:03Zoe probably more than anyone else because you live out there.
00:12:05It's a tough time for California racing for some of the reasons we've already talked about.
00:12:11Small fields, purses are nowhere near what they are in places like Kentucky.
00:12:16So Mike Rapoli is someone who came out this week and said, you know what?
00:12:22I'm going to support California horse racing.
00:12:24I'm sending horses there.
00:12:26And if he sends 10 horses there, it's not going to make that huge difference.
00:12:31But it is good to see somebody say that California needs to be strong for the
00:12:36racing industry to be strong.
00:12:38Then the other subject that keeps coming up is, are they ever going to get HHR machines?
00:12:42I was always told that that sort of thing is not on the table because of the
00:12:46lobby of the Indian casinos.
00:12:48But you can always wish for that.
00:12:50Zoe, what do you make of all that?
00:12:52I mean, it's good that Rapoli's sending some horses.
00:12:55I mean, he's had a couple of horses here for the last few years in Southern California.
00:12:59But it looks like he's sending some better stock out here, which is good.
00:13:03And to quote him, you can't have national racing without California.
00:13:10I'm not sure that people realize what a massive industry it is out here in Southern California.
00:13:16And we're running on fumes right now.
00:13:19It will be nice for some other entities to send some horses out here.
00:13:23But I mean, I understand that it's expensive.
00:13:26It's expensive to live.
00:13:27It's expensive to train.
00:13:30And we definitely need some purse funding.
00:13:33We are like the only place in the country that is pretty much self-sufficient as far
00:13:38as the purse payment.
00:13:40And we're in a deficit right now anyway.
00:13:43So we are screaming out to basically get in bed with the tribes.
00:13:49I mean, we've got a bunch of casinos.
00:13:51I don't know if they're ever going to make that happen.
00:13:53Perhaps this should have happened 20 years ago.
00:13:56But we're surrounded by casinos.
00:13:58You've got Yamaha.
00:13:59You've got Morongo just down the road.
00:14:01If we can just try and form some kind of symbiotic friendship with them, maybe we have a chance.
00:14:10But we definitely need it.
00:14:12And of course, the Native American casinos are proliferated in California.
00:14:19And with the casinos come the campaign contributions to politicians.
00:14:25And therefore, so far, any motion whatsoever to add HHR machines or slot machines to racetracks
00:14:33is a non-starter.
00:14:35It's just a non-starter.
00:14:36I mean, politicians have even told racing authorities in Southern California, don't
00:14:40even mention it.
00:14:41Don't even bring it up.
00:14:43You're wasting your time.
00:14:44It's not going to happen.
00:14:46And so what's now a situation in thoroughbred racing is that it's in the discussion stage
00:14:53with Mike Rapole and Tom Ryan of SF Racing, who have come out and said that the racing
00:15:00industry as a whole, including Kentucky, they've singled out Kentucky, needs to do something
00:15:06to help Southern California racing.
00:15:08Because without California, Kentucky racing takes a hit.
00:15:12Kentucky breeding takes a hit.
00:15:14That's how important California is to thoroughbred racing.
00:15:17And you have this internal power struggle going on right now in the sport because you've
00:15:21got the people in Kentucky, for example, Damon Thayer, a friend of mine who's one
00:15:26of the big political power brokers in Kentucky with a horse racing background.
00:15:31Damon Thayer has been front and center in the resurrection of Kentucky horse racing
00:15:37through expanded gaming over the last 10 or 20 years.
00:15:41And he said, look, we've done it in Kentucky.
00:15:44We worked hard to do it in Kentucky.
00:15:45We have gotten Kentucky to where it is right now.
00:15:48It's not our fault that California racing is struggling so badly.
00:15:53Why should Kentucky be the one singled out to help support Southern California?
00:15:58They should be able to handle that on their own like we did.
00:16:02So I can see both sides.
00:16:04And it's a really, really important topic to try to get solved.
00:16:10But something's got to happen because California racing right now is not in a good place.
00:16:15And to quote a friend of mine who will go nameless, and I was giving the same pitch
00:16:20about Kentucky and you should help us out.
00:16:22They're like, where was California when Kentucky was dying?
00:16:27Where were these other states coming in to help us?
00:16:30We did it on our own.
00:16:32No, you're not having any of our money.
00:16:33Screw you.
00:16:34You didn't help us when we were running for $25,000 made in special ways.
00:16:39Kentucky was dying, the whole industry.
00:16:42And I guess nobody reached out.
00:16:43So you're right.
00:16:47Ripolli, to his credit, I mean, he's a New York guy through and through, but he's carrying the
00:16:52ball now for Kentucky horse racing for the good of the industry.
00:16:55And we've talked about this.
00:16:56I've brought it up before on the podcast.
00:16:58Ripolli mentioned the NFL as an example of how disparate elements can pull together for
00:17:07the good of the whole.
00:17:09I've mentioned it.
00:17:09You go all the way back to the mid-1930s when the NFL was just a very minor league operation.
00:17:17We had college football dominant.
00:17:19You had horse racing dominant.
00:17:21You had boxing dominant.
00:17:23I mean, NFL teams, some of them were playing in high school football stadiums.
00:17:27It was like a sort of a sideshow kind of deal.
00:17:31The New York Giants, Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers were dominant.
00:17:34Everybody else was losing money.
00:17:37And they came together and said, for the good of the NFL, we will institute a draft so that
00:17:46the have-nots can have access to the same sort of college players that we've been paying out
00:17:53of college for the good of the sport as a whole.
00:17:55It's going to hurt us.
00:17:56It's going to hurt the New York Giants.
00:17:58It's going to hurt the Chicago Bears.
00:17:59It's going to hurt the Green Bay Packers.
00:18:00But all the other teams in the NFL can be lifted up because if we don't do that,
00:18:06we may be a dominant team in the NFL.
00:18:08But there won't be an NFL anymore to be a dominant team in.
00:18:11And that's the situation right now, I think, with California horse racing.
00:18:17That, of course, is why we also will be talking ad nauseum and probably
00:18:20we'll be talking the same subject 10 years from now.
00:18:23Racing needs a commissioner.
00:18:24It's not going to happen.
00:18:26We all know that.
00:18:26Don't tell that to Mike Rapoli, who was working very hard to make some changes.
00:18:32Not only did he send horses to California, he's bringing fierceness back to run at four.
00:18:38I think he deserves a tremendous amount of credit for that.
00:18:41He is walking the walk.
00:18:43But I bet you today he had a real smile on his face when the press release from the Jockey
00:18:48Club came out saying that Stuart Janney was resigning.
00:18:51And Rapoli has been a serious thorn in the side of the Jockey Club.
00:19:00I think Stuart Janney did a perfectly good job.
00:19:02I don't really agree with Mike on this stuff.
00:19:05And I have been told he was not pushed out.
00:19:09He's 77 years old and it was just time.
00:19:12But Mike Rapoli, maybe in a roundabout way, got his wish.
00:19:17Stuart Janney is no longer chairman of the Jockey Club.
00:19:19Everett Dobson will be taking over.
00:19:22And Everett's a fabulous guy.
00:19:24He really, really is.
00:19:26And of course, Stuart Janney will be there till August 25.
00:19:31And then Everett Dobson will take over.
00:19:33I wonder what this means to his...
00:19:37Obviously, Stuart Janney still had ownership of horses.
00:19:41And Everett Dobson has his Cheyenne stables.
00:19:44Does he have to step back a little bit?
00:19:46What do you think?
00:19:47Or not?
00:19:47I don't think so because Janney was always running horses.
00:19:50So what would be the difference?
00:19:52But it's good that you need a commissioner with a piece of the pie.
00:19:56Someone who it affects, so to speak.
00:20:01And Rapoli has been extremely critical of Stuart Janney and the Jockey Club
00:20:05as being emblematic of the good old boys that for decades have run the sport.
00:20:10And in Rapoli's words,
00:20:12we'll meet at the round table every year at Saratoga
00:20:15and slap each other on the back and light up cigars,
00:20:17take a sip of bourbon,
00:20:19look what we talked about,
00:20:20and then leave and then nothing happens.
00:20:23And it's been in the works for Stuart Janney to step down now for quite a while.
00:20:30They gave him the Eclipse Award of Merit last year at the Eclipse Awards
00:20:35for all the achievements that he's accomplished in thoroughbred racing.
00:20:40It'll be interesting to see how Rapoli and Everett Dobson work together.
00:20:45Um, Rapoli has said that he's been in contact with the Jockey Club
00:20:49about some of these initiatives that he's talking about right now.
00:20:52So that would be the best case scenario for the sport
00:20:56to get someone like Mike Rapoli, as aggressive as he is,
00:20:59out there, you know,
00:21:00beating the drum and working hand in hand
00:21:04with an organization as powerful within the industry as the Jockey Club.
00:21:09Do you want to remind you that the TDN Writer's Room is brought to you by Keeneland.
00:21:13And what a record-breaking year it was for Keeneland.
00:21:17In September, they held the highest grossing auction in Keeneland history.
00:21:24The fall meet saw record purses and all sources wagering.
00:21:28They launched a new sales event at the Breeders' Cup in the championship sale.
00:21:33And if that's not enough,
00:21:35the November sale saw a vibrant global market and a new record median.
00:21:41And now we're on to January.
00:21:43The three-day January sale will be held from January the 13th to the 15th.
00:21:48Make plans to attend.
00:21:49We'll be right back after this message from Keeneland.
00:21:56At Keeneland, a horse will always be measured in hands.
00:22:03Hands that see, that sense, that speak.
00:22:10Hands that hold our sport to a higher standard.
00:22:15Not for our sake, but for theirs.
00:22:19For the love of the horse for generations to come.
00:22:25Fastest Horse of the Week this week is brought to you by Nashville,
00:22:29one of the fast sires at Windstar Farm.
00:22:33Look, we know he's a fast horse.
00:22:34He's got the track record at Keeneland for six furlongs.
00:22:38But Nashville is also off to a fast start at stud.
00:22:42He had a very strong Keeneland November sale.
00:22:45His weanling sold for $230,000, $190,000, $140,000, and so on.
00:22:50That $230,000 filly was a half-sister to Iroquois Stakes winner Jonathan's Way,
00:22:56who we just saw compete in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile.
00:22:59Nashville's weanlings averaged four and a half times their stud fee.
00:23:04The second highest ROI among all freshman sires,
00:23:07with two or more weanlings that sold in 2024.
00:23:10You get all that, and Nashville is standing for only $15,000 at Windstar Farm.
00:23:18Now, the Fastest Horse of the Week is a horse that we'll talk about a little more
00:23:21later in the podcast.
00:23:23No Balls, who won the Kennedy Road at Woodbine on Synthetic
00:23:28with the buyer's speed figure of 100.
00:23:31He thinks he's got the best name, the gelding, of any active racehorse right now.
00:23:35We had a lot of fun with the name when No Balls won the Breeders' Cup turf sprint last year
00:23:43on the telecast, especially since the telecast for that particular race was on Peacock and not NBC.
00:23:50We could just go balls to the wall and talk about No Balls being a gelding and how fun that name
00:23:57was, but No Balls, back.
00:23:59He's back as the Fastest Horse of the Week.
00:24:07Welcome in now the guest of the week, who is Mark Cornett.
00:24:09He, along with his brother, Clint, operates C2 Racing,
00:24:13and they're going to have an exciting day Friday at Gulfstream because their big star,
00:24:16White Iberio, is back in the entries after racing, has not raced since running the fifth
00:24:22in the Met Mile.
00:24:23Mark, bring us up to speed on a two-part question.
00:24:27How is he doing?
00:24:28You have any explanation why his form was a little off before you put him on the sidelines?
00:24:33Well, he's doing great.
00:24:35We did have to back off of him.
00:24:38We sent over to Saudi.
00:24:39We ran over there.
00:24:43I don't have a lot of experience dealing with shipping horses over there,
00:24:45and I think he got knocked out a little more than we thought he did with a trip, to be honest.
00:24:50We brought him back in the Met Mile.
00:24:51He just ran around, or so-so.
00:24:54He pulled his blood after that race, and it really wasn't like we wanted to see.
00:25:00That's when I talked to Safi, and I decided at that point to switch him over to Safi.
00:25:05We turned him out there at Saratoga just to give him a fresh.
00:25:08He's never had any time off whatsoever since his two-year-old year,
00:25:13since we bought him in September of his two-year-old year.
00:25:16We thought the timing was right to do that.
00:25:18He really enjoyed that.
00:25:20Came back at Saratoga, put in a few foundation building works over there,
00:25:24and then we got him down here to Gulfstream, and he's really been working back good.
00:25:29He looks great mentally.
00:25:32He's just fantastic.
00:25:33He's on his game.
00:25:35We're looking for a nice comeback race here for him to get us started.
00:25:39Of course, Guadalbaro famously won the Breeders' Cup Classic in 2023.
00:25:43You mentioned Safi.
00:25:45You guys and Safi teamed up for more Breeders' Cup success.
00:25:49Del Mar, just a couple of weeks ago, was sold of an Angel in the Philly Mare Sprint.
00:25:53What were your thoughts about her?
00:25:55She was a long shot going into that race.
00:25:58Tell us a little bit about the decision to back her up to one-turn races,
00:26:03which turned out to be quite fortuitous.
00:26:06Yeah, Randy.
00:26:08The whole reason I bought this Philly, we went back and looked at her past performances.
00:26:12We dug pretty deep in there at the beginning of her career.
00:26:15She ran an absolute incredible race.
00:26:18It's kind of hidden in the form.
00:26:19Back, it was a one-turn mile at Gulfstream.
00:26:23She beat a very nice course of Pletchers and Safis.
00:26:28Three witches was in that race, actually, who came back and ran,
00:26:33I think, last year, third in the Breeders' Cup.
00:26:36It was a sneaky, good race.
00:26:37She kind of exploded and basically did the same thing she did in the Breeders' Cup race.
00:26:41She ran an eight on the rag sheets,
00:26:42which for a three-year-old Philly that time of the year is a very good number.
00:26:47She never got back to that until we bought her.
00:26:49I told Safi when we bought her,
00:26:51you know, we have one turn is what we want to do.
00:26:54How short, we don't know, but let's take a shot in the rough end.
00:26:59That kind of proved our thought process there.
00:27:03She ran so good there, there was really no one-turn races coming up.
00:27:07What we decided to do is stretch her out around two turns.
00:27:11She ran okay in the personal ensign,
00:27:14and then we ran her over at Monmouth against Idiomatic.
00:27:18Now, if you really dig deep in there,
00:27:21that was nothing more than a half-mile sprint to the wire.
00:27:24She went around there in 26, 27, believe it or not, the first quarter.
00:27:29She got down and Irad made a heck of a decision.
00:27:32So he, I think it was a half-mile pole or somewhere around there he wanted to hook up.
00:27:38She sprinted from the half-mile pole to Idiomatic to the wire,
00:27:41which was a heck of a race.
00:27:43But, you know, that kind of told us right there,
00:27:48you know, it kind of fooled us.
00:27:52But if you actually go back and look at it,
00:27:54this filly has a half-mile to a five-eighths of a mile kick.
00:27:57You can use it at any point you want.
00:28:00So that kind of confirmed to us that she was a one-turn horse
00:28:03because of what I did and they hooked up at the half-mile pole.
00:28:08But, you know, going into the Breeders' Cup filly in their sprint,
00:28:11we were very high on this filly.
00:28:14She wasn't 100% mentally right going into the molly pritcher.
00:28:19And, you know, she wasn't.
00:28:22She just was acting funny.
00:28:23She didn't break good.
00:28:24She had her head sideways out of the gate.
00:28:26If you go back and look at the head-on,
00:28:28she's actually not focused at all on running.
00:28:31And we were very concerned.
00:28:33I was in the paddock of the way she acted
00:28:35because this filly here is just strictly professional.
00:28:39But going back to the Breeders' Cup filly in their sprint,
00:28:42we were very high on her in this race.
00:28:44We thought the pace scenario was really going to help us.
00:28:47And, you know, the rest is history, I guess.
00:28:51Well, hindsight is definitely 20-20.
00:28:54We should have had you on before the Breeders' Cup, to be perfectly honest.
00:28:57I was knocked out in the first leg in all my wages
00:29:00because I didn't have her.
00:29:02So congratulations.
00:29:04But really, how gratifying was it for you and your brother,
00:29:09Drayden Van Dyke, after what he's been through this year,
00:29:12Safi getting his first Breeders' Cup win,
00:29:15especially after what happened last year with White Abario as well.
00:29:18Like, it's an amazing story when you really break it down.
00:29:23It really is.
00:29:24You know, and then you factor in the name of the horse as well.
00:29:29You know, Drayden, he went through some tough times down there.
00:29:32You know, we thought for a minute about putting Irad back on the horse.
00:29:37And then we really dug deep and thought about it.
00:29:40Said, you know what?
00:29:42Drayden knows what he's doing.
00:29:44He's a good rider.
00:29:47Delmar, he's had a lot of success at Delmar.
00:29:50And, you know, he fits this.
00:29:52His riding style, in my opinion, fits this kind of horse.
00:29:55He's already had an outing on her.
00:29:56So, you know, we had all the confidence in the world
00:29:59Drayden was going to give us a good ride, and he did.
00:30:01So we're very happy with that.
00:30:03And then Safi, you know, there's nothing more rewarding than exactly what you said,
00:30:08what happened last year to be able to come back and get his first Breeders' Cup win.
00:30:13You know, it's just a combination of things.
00:30:16It's just a great feeling.
00:30:19Were you ever in doubt watching it go down the backside?
00:30:25Not really.
00:30:27Not really.
00:30:27I mean, maybe for the first 100 yards.
00:30:30And then I saw the first quarter come up, and it was, you know, it was a pressured pace.
00:30:35And I started feeling, and then she started gradually picking it up, picking it up.
00:30:40You know, and like I said, I think Brandy, she went 57 and changed the last five eights.
00:30:46So, you know, she was flying at the end.
00:30:50She ended up getting a three and three quarter rag number out of the race,
00:30:52which is her best number.
00:30:54One of the better rag numbers of the year of any horse that's run.
00:30:57Mark, I want to take you back to White Abario.
00:31:00And people are going to be curious.
00:31:02I know the story, but I think it needs to be told.
00:31:05Take us through the kind of the melodrama and the roller coaster of having Safi,
00:31:11losing Safi, going to Dutrow, going back to Safi.
00:31:16Yeah, you know, that whole situation with what Safi had to go through at Churchill with the
00:31:21two sudden deaths on the racetrack.
00:31:24I mean, you know, it's my feeling all along and a lot of people I've talked to, you know,
00:31:29they were there was a lot of breakdowns that I think there was eight to 12,
00:31:33I believe, that week before the Derby and Churchill.
00:31:39You know, they're looking out for their own best interest for their product and the Derby
00:31:42brand name and everything else.
00:31:45So I think they were kind of backed into a corner,
00:31:48wanted to do something from a marketing standpoint.
00:31:50And unfortunately, Safi was a scapegoat.
00:31:54You know, we had to scratch Maita Barrio out of the Churchill
00:31:58Dell's handicap against Cody's wish there.
00:32:01And, you know, that obviously leaves a very sour taste in your mouth.
00:32:05And then Safi had Pete Vetsko's horse got scratched out of Kentucky Derby.
00:32:12You know, what was really upsetting was that the two horses that were involved in the
00:32:19deaths came from Keeneland.
00:32:21My horse was stabled at Belmont and shipped down, you know,
00:32:28basically the day before any of this stuff happened, they had accepted.
00:32:32They already knew this, you know, this had happened.
00:32:35They accepted our entries.
00:32:37They did all that.
00:32:38We shipped the horse.
00:32:39And, you know, I met personally with the track.
00:32:44I met with the stewards.
00:32:46I met with the vets.
00:32:47I met with everybody.
00:32:49There was just nothing we could do about it.
00:32:50And, you know, that's when I had to make a decision.
00:32:55What's the next step here?
00:32:56Because we wanted to point for the Met Mile.
00:33:00And I had to make, you know, just a quick decision on that.
00:33:04We only had a few weeks to do that.
00:33:06And, you know, Rick at that point, Rick was coming off of what he went through.
00:33:12And I've had a long track history with Rick.
00:33:17Paul Pompa was a good friend of mine.
00:33:18I put a lot of horses with him in the barn, had a lot of success.
00:33:22And, you know, I thought it was the right move at the right time
00:33:28to give the horse to Rick.
00:33:30And it turned out it worked.
00:33:31So.
00:33:33So what about the decision to go from Rick then back to Safi?
00:33:38Yeah, that, you know, I just wasn't happy after the Met Mile performance.
00:33:44You know, I'm big on getting information.
00:33:49You know, I manage all my own horses for the stable for C2, my brother and I.
00:33:54And if you can't get accurate information,
00:33:58it puts us in a bind on managing the horse, whether it's running timing wise,
00:34:04whether it's running in the right race, mapping out a campaign,
00:34:06selling the horse at the right time, whatever it is, you got to get accurate information.
00:34:11And, you know, I don't know if it was,
00:34:17you know, it's very small details that matter in this business.
00:34:20Everybody's, you know, if you can't get the small details right,
00:34:25then you're at a disadvantage.
00:34:27So one thing Safi and I built up is a relationship where I get very accurate information.
00:34:36And what he tells me turns out to be the case.
00:34:41You know, when I buy a horse, I have expectations for a horse
00:34:44and what I think the horse can accomplish.
00:34:47And we have a very good dialogue and game plan on that.
00:34:50And, you know, when we're clicking on all cylinders like that,
00:34:55again, the information is the key.
00:34:57So spinning this forward, Mark, if we assume that,
00:35:01and you can't assume anything in horse racing,
00:35:02but for the sake of this conversation,
00:35:04let's assume that White Abario pleases you in his return.
00:35:08What's on the agenda now?
00:35:10You think for Soul of an Angel coming up in the immediate future?
00:35:13And then White Abario, if he were to run well and come out of the race well?
00:35:17Yeah, he does have to run.
00:35:19And not only does he have to run well, he's got to run great.
00:35:23Okay.
00:35:23We got a lot of balls in the air right now.
00:35:25We got the Japanese looking at him to buy him as a stallion prospect.
00:35:30So that's one option.
00:35:33We've got, you know, a partner on the horse in Prince Faisal.
00:35:38So that's another option.
00:35:41The third option is running him, our preference,
00:35:45and the whole point we're here in this race is to run him one more year
00:35:49and then turn him over to the breeding shed.
00:35:51You know, with everything's going on and people pulling horses out of training
00:35:55and everything else, you know, this horse does have a fan base,
00:35:59especially in South Florida here.
00:36:02And, you know, we're in the racing side of this business.
00:36:04I've always been in the racing side.
00:36:07The breeding side really has never entered interest in us that much.
00:36:12So that's the whole point.
00:36:13He's in this race.
00:36:14Without all being said, he's going to have to run good.
00:36:18He's going to have to probably run 100 plus buyer.
00:36:20He's going to have to do it the right way.
00:36:23We're going to have to have confidence in A, that he's back 100%
00:36:29and that we can carry on.
00:36:31If I don't see that flash of brilliance here that he showed in the past,
00:36:36then he's probably going to we're going to have to make a decision.
00:36:38I'll talk to Prince Faisal and I'll either go to Japan or I'll go to Prince Faisal
00:36:42and we'll do something with a stallion, you know, over here.
00:36:47So it's a very important race.
00:36:49Has Solomon Angel been retired?
00:36:52Absolutely not.
00:36:54We're going to run her one more year.
00:36:56We're going to run her coming up on the 26th at Gulfstream,
00:37:01a one turn mile in the rampart for Phillies.
00:37:05And that's going to be her prep race for the Saudi Cup, possibly.
00:37:11Well, we got that on there.
00:37:13It's 50-50.
00:37:14I want to see how she runs here.
00:37:16I want to see who's going to Saudi Cup.
00:37:18It's a one turn race.
00:37:21You know, you trickle in for fourth or fifth.
00:37:23You're looking at a million and a half bucks.
00:37:28So, you know, it takes a lot of racing over here to win in a million and a half dollars
00:37:31in these races over here.
00:37:32But if we don't go that angle, then we're going to point for a one more year
00:37:37and try to defend our title in the British Cup for the English Cup.
00:37:41Well, that's very cool.
00:37:42I hope Wada Barrio wins by 15 and we get to see him next year.
00:37:47I mean, looking at the field, he should.
00:37:49I mean, that's just my opinion.
00:37:50We got another one in there, but, you know, he's just a horse.
00:37:54But, you know, it's not about it's not about winning.
00:37:57Like I said, it's got to be done the right way.
00:37:58And if that happens, then we're going to go on the Harlins holiday on the 21st.
00:38:03And assuming he runs good there, then we're going to either
00:38:06we're going to probably look at the Pegasus here.
00:38:10You're a man with a plan.
00:38:12How do you go about before we came on?
00:38:15You put down the phone and you're like, oh, that's a horse I'm trying to buy.
00:38:19Although you won't tell me who you're trying to buy until the deal's done.
00:38:22So I expect a text later, by the way.
00:38:25But how do you go about purchasing these horses?
00:38:28You've mentioned the Ragusen numbers a few times.
00:38:31Do you go by the numbers?
00:38:32Do you go by the visual performance?
00:38:34Do you go by all off the trainer?
00:38:36Maybe we can move this horse up.
00:38:38Like, what do you look for when you're trying to purchase these horses?
00:38:42Because you've had so much success.
00:38:45Well, I look at all of the above, really.
00:38:47I mean, you got it.
00:38:48You know, I try to look at first of all, I look at every chart, every equibase chart every day.
00:38:53I don't care if it's at Lone Star, Oak Lawn.
00:38:56I don't care.
00:38:56A good horse can come from anywhere.
00:38:59So I start there.
00:39:00Then I look at the trainer.
00:39:02You know, there's only certain trainers I want to buy off of.
00:39:04You know, I'm not going to go over there to Brad Cox barn and try to buy some of Brad.
00:39:09All right.
00:39:09So and then over the last 25 years, I've learned there's certain owners
00:39:15that will sell and they won't sell.
00:39:17So I don't waste a lot of time trying to buy horses from owners that I know aren't going to sell.
00:39:23Then I'll look at the I'll look at the race.
00:39:26I'll look at the race replay if I like that.
00:39:28Then, you know, most of them get weeded out after that part.
00:39:31I'm a big pace guy.
00:39:33I like internal fractions.
00:39:34I think horses can do things sneaky good internally within the race.
00:39:38Then it's hard for other people to see or hard to see visually.
00:39:42So I'll look at pace numbers.
00:39:43I look at buyer numbers, rag numbers, thorough graph.
00:39:46I put it all together and try to make a package, you know, put all this and package it up.
00:39:51But, you know, the main thing is when when you're buying a horse, you've got to have a plan.
00:39:56We don't we don't just buy horses just to buy a horse to run in a race.
00:39:59We we usually have a three to five race plan mapped out when we buy these
00:40:05and try to execute a business model for that specific horse.
00:40:11Mark, it appears that of all those things that you look at, go into it.
00:40:14I got to guess pedigree is not on the top of the list.
00:40:18Why the barrier is by race day.
00:40:20That's not exactly into mischief.
00:40:21Soul of an Angel is by a treatise.
00:40:23I hope I can only know if I'm pronouncing that right.
00:40:25That's not exactly gunrunner.
00:40:27So it appears that the pedigree is not a big part of the equation.
00:40:32No, because they've already run.
00:40:34Right.
00:40:35All right.
00:40:35They've already run.
00:40:36So I need to see talent.
00:40:39You know, it's like blind luck when we bought her.
00:40:41She's by Pollard's Vision.
00:40:43All right.
00:40:44So, you know, I can't go out there and buy in the day a storm
00:40:47cat or a deputy minister or something of that nature.
00:40:51It's not going to happen.
00:40:52So they got to they still got to be under the radar.
00:40:56They got to show talent.
00:40:58Right.
00:40:58And they're probably lacking on pedigree.
00:41:00You know, the one thing that we do pride ourselves on when you go over there,
00:41:04you want you want to at least be physically looked apart.
00:41:09OK, most of the time we buy something, they're missing something.
00:41:13They're missing something, whether it's the pedigree or something,
00:41:16but or a speed figure or something.
00:41:18But if they got the whole package where they went out there, one by 15 links.
00:41:23Right.
00:41:24And they're by gunrunner and all this, you're not going to be able to buy the horse.
00:41:29And if you were, it's going to be four or five million.
00:41:31That's what we want to sell, not buy.
00:41:34So, Mark, if I'm not mistaken, you're a Dallas area guy, right?
00:41:38Flower Mound, Texas.
00:41:40Correct.
00:41:41Correct.
00:41:41OK, I have a son who graduated from Flower Mound High School.
00:41:45Yeah.
00:41:46Anyway, I lived in Coppell at one point.
00:41:48I lived in Valley Ranch at one point.
00:41:50Worked for the Fort Worth newspaper, the Dallas Morning News.
00:41:55I was right there at the beginning of the reemergence of Texas racing after so many
00:42:02years in the mid to late 1990s.
00:42:05What's the status right now, in your opinion, with horse racing in Texas,
00:42:10which had so much promise when it got going at Lone Star, especially, but also Houston,
00:42:15Rotoma way back in the day?
00:42:17Now, what are you looking at as far as Texas racing?
00:42:21Well, I haven't been involved in it, Randy, in a while, but I was on the board of directors
00:42:26for the Texas Thoroughbred Breeders Association with John Adger and Bill Heiligbrod and I
00:42:33were on there.
00:42:35Steve's dad, Keith, we were all on there.
00:42:39For years, we always banged our head against the wall trying to get the slots in.
00:42:45Around every turn, it was either the lobbyists for the casinos in the other states or the
00:42:50Southern Baptists, somebody trying to kill getting slots in at the racetrack.
00:42:55You go to these other tracks, Louisiana Downs, Remington Park, it's all Texas license plates
00:43:01in the parking lot.
00:43:02So, I hear that they're working on things, but I'm not in that loop anymore.
00:43:11We ran budgets and projections and everything of that nature and the purse structure, if
00:43:17they were ever to get it, would be like Churchill, $140,000 maiden races, allowance races.
00:43:22That was the projection and that was 10 to 15 years ago.
00:43:27So, hopefully, it occurs.
00:43:28We need to add something in race-wise.
00:43:32We need to add another state, for sure, to get this thing going, especially the way California
00:43:36is trending.
00:43:37Well, Mark, thanks so much for your time.
00:43:39Best of luck with White Iberio on Friday.
00:43:43Let's hope that he lives up to your expectations and we can see him have a great 2025.
00:43:47Thanks again for joining us.
00:43:50Cheers, Mark.
00:43:52TD and Riders Room also brought to you by the PHBA, the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders
00:43:56Association.
00:43:57This past week, the Claiming Crown Stakes races, and we had an open company, Pennsylvania
00:44:02Bread Double.
00:44:03First of all, Like A Salt Shaker won the $136,000 Rapid Transit stakes.
00:44:10Yes, Like A Salt Shaker is a Pennsylvania bread, bred by Glenbrock, LLC, owned by the
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00:44:19Then you had Concrete Glory, who won a Claiming Crown stakes called the $100,000 Reddy's
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00:44:31Pourlacher.
00:44:32To learn more about that Pennsylvania Bread program, you can have your own success.
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00:44:45PA Bread, I think we've built a brand at this point.
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00:45:19been a better time to reap the rewards of breeding and racing in Kentucky.
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00:45:39We all win.
00:45:44We are also sponsored here at the TD and Writer's Room by Kentucky Breads.
00:45:48Isn't that apropos?
00:45:50As many races as they win.
00:45:52With seven wins, seven at this year's Breeders' Cup World Championships, including Sierra
00:45:57Leone's win in the Breeders' Cup Classic, Kentucky breads now have won 256 Breeders'
00:46:03Cup races, more than any other state or country, even Ireland, including 29 wins alone in the
00:46:09Breeders' Cup Classic.
00:46:10Kentucky breads, meanwhile, have also shined in Europe in 2024.
00:46:13This week, the Cartier Awards are almost certainly going to crown City of Troy as the European
00:46:18champion three-year-old.
00:46:20Kentucky bread.
00:46:21You have Rahm Etoile, an opera singer, winning important races.
00:46:24Kentucky breads.
00:46:25You have Group 2-winning two-year-old shareholder and Black Forza.
00:46:29Kentucky breads.
00:46:30And here's one that sort of flew under the radar this year.
00:46:32When's the last time you heard anyone talking about Laurel River, who turned in perhaps
00:46:38one of the best performances of any horse in the calendar year 2024, romping in the
00:46:43Dubai World Cup?
00:46:43Laurel River, a Kentucky bread.
00:46:46Of course, Kentucky breads.
00:46:47Breed them.
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00:46:50We all win.
00:46:52Friday at Delmar, the big news on the card was the reemergence of Tamara, Tamara, that's
00:46:57the right pronunciation, I believe, who is the beautifully bred daughter of Beholder,
00:47:04the great, great mayor.
00:47:06She was all the rage last year.
00:47:08She won the Delmar debutante.
00:47:10She looked great.
00:47:11Everybody was thinking this is going to be the next superstar.
00:47:14She gets hurt in the Breeders' Cup, juvenile fillies, and we don't see her for a year.
00:47:19She comes back on Friday and loses by a nose to Michael McCarthy.
00:47:24Zoe pointed out how hot he's been.
00:47:28I got a feeling, I got kind of a wishy-washy feeling about this.
00:47:32I believe that Randy and Zoe are going to have some fun with this.
00:47:36So why don't you guys take it away?
00:47:39Go ahead, Zoe.
00:47:40OK.
00:47:40Um, Sandy Bottom wins the race.
00:47:44And it's kind of ironic that Sandy Bottoms by Omaha Beach, who, of course, Dick Mandela trained.
00:47:50Basically, Tamara lost the race from the rail and she got beat a nose.
00:47:56She didn't get off to a great start.
00:47:58She kind of got sent up there under Mike Smith.
00:48:01She looked like a winner coming down the lane.
00:48:03She just couldn't get by Sandy Bottom.
00:48:05It was a nose that separated them.
00:48:08I'm not sure she lost anything in defeat.
00:48:10And I'm also not sure that people are giving credit to Sandy Bottom, who is,
00:48:15she's undefeated, right?
00:48:16In three starts?
00:48:17Yes.
00:48:18Undefeated in three starts.
00:48:20I'm not sure that people are thinking that she's that good a filly.
00:48:24She is now.
00:48:25She's beaten Tamara.
00:48:27So we'll see what Tamara shows up next.
00:48:29But I don't think it was a massive knock losing.
00:48:32I believe it was the rail that beat her.
00:48:34They didn't run all that fast.
00:48:36I think the buyer was an 83 or something like that.
00:48:39Tamara got all this publicity as a two-year-old filly primarily because she was out of Beholder.
00:48:44And yeah, she looked good, but she never did run all that fast.
00:48:48And then she was beaten and then she laid off and now she comes back and she's beaten again.
00:48:54Yeah.
00:48:56The hope was that she was never going to be obviously as good as Beholder.
00:48:59But the hope was that she was going to be like this real superstar in the sport.
00:49:05Right now, Tamara hasn't shown me anything that would indicate
00:49:09that she's going to be a future superstar.
00:49:11When I looked at the race, I thought, okay, she lost by a nose.
00:49:14That's not bad.
00:49:15She hadn't run in 377 days.
00:49:18I mean, what a comeback race.
00:49:20Sandy Bottom had run in 390 days.
00:49:22She had a longer way off than Tamara did.
00:49:25And yet Sandy Bottom was able to out game Tamara during the last part of the race.
00:49:28Yeah.
00:49:29I mean, the rail didn't help Tamara.
00:49:30She didn't get off all that fast.
00:49:32But I mean, that's part of it.
00:49:34Randy, I'm sort of on the same side as you.
00:49:37Was it a terrible race?
00:49:38No.
00:49:38But we're not talking about just an ordinary horse or someone that's a nice stakes horse.
00:49:44This horse, the hype machine was going wild.
00:49:47I fell for it, too.
00:49:47I loved her after their Del Mar debutant win.
00:49:50She's out of Beholder.
00:49:52Can't be better than that.
00:49:53I know she only lost by a nose.
00:49:55I know she hadn't run in a year.
00:49:56But if she's Tamara, if she's that superstar we're looking for, she does not lose that race.
00:50:01I'm sorry.
00:50:02Maybe she doesn't win it by 10 lengths, but she does not lose.
00:50:05Can she bounce back and then her next start for Dick Mandela?
00:50:09Absolutely, she could.
00:50:10But Randy, I would side with you here right now.
00:50:12I want to see her do something more.
00:50:14And that next start, she'll get to run against Sandy Bottom again, if all goes well,
00:50:18as well as some other good ones in the La Brea at Santa Anita on the day
00:50:23after Christmas at Seven Furlongs.
00:50:25So that'll be a race we can really look forward to.
00:50:27That's turning out to be a really, really good race.
00:50:31That could be.
00:50:33It's a really good race.
00:50:34So hold off to your ballots.
00:50:35Hold on to your ballots.
00:50:37People always put their ballots in for the Eclipse Awards before that day.
00:50:41And it's a very important day in racing.
00:50:45Now, Randy, we want to know, and this is, Zoe and I are showing concern.
00:50:49We like you.
00:50:50You're a friend of ours.
00:50:51How are you doing?
00:50:52How are you holding up with this news this week that
00:50:56Senior Buscador is going to be retired after running in the Cigar Mile
00:51:00and then in the Pegasus?
00:51:01Randy, you going to be OK?
00:51:03I think so.
00:51:03I think I'll be all right.
00:51:04Look, yeah, I'd love to see him running.
00:51:09The Peacocks aren't going to like this, but he ran his race in the Breeders' Cup Classic.
00:51:12He really did.
00:51:13It was a really tough Breeders' Cup Classic.
00:51:17It was a much stronger race top to bottom than the Saudi Cup or the Dubai World Cup,
00:51:22in my opinion.
00:51:24I have loved Senior Buscador and all he was able to accomplish.
00:51:29He came back in the Breeders' Cup Classic,
00:51:31bounced back from a really poor performance in his most recent start, his final prep.
00:51:37You know, ran what I thought was a very creditable race, ran his race,
00:51:42just wasn't quite good enough.
00:51:44So they're going to send him off to stud right now, Zoe.
00:51:47We don't know where, though, right?
00:51:48We don't.
00:51:49I think they have a plan in the works.
00:51:53I was at the November sale and I helped Moret Farrell.
00:51:56And I think it all stems through Shohan Place, where they bored
00:52:01Eight Roses or whatever, the dam of Senior Buscador.
00:52:06So between Shohan and Courtney, who runs the farm over there,
00:52:10they got ahold of Moret Farrell and they set up a little, not a syndicate, but Senior Buscador
00:52:17mares.
00:52:18Moret bought about eight mares for Senior Buscador to go to the breeding shed with,
00:52:25and they've been trying to buy some mares to support their stallion as they should.
00:52:29So got a chance to meet Joey and his wife there.
00:52:31It was their first time at the sale.
00:52:33It was actually really, really cool to see them.
00:52:36And hopefully they get some good mares to him.
00:52:38But plans are still up in the air of where he's actually going to go.
00:52:43He's by mineshaft.
00:52:45He's not a tremendously commercially sexy stallion.
00:52:51He's out of the May Roses desert.
00:52:53It was a tremendous racehorse.
00:52:54He's been a tremendous producer and Mr. Prospector in Spanish,
00:52:59Senior Buscador retires with earnings just under 13 million dollars.
00:53:06Job well done.
00:53:07Now, no, wait a minute, Randy.
00:53:08You're going to get to see him run two more times,
00:53:10the Cigar Mile and then the Pegasus World Cup, then off to stud.
00:53:15So you don't have to, you know, hit the bottle tonight or, you know,
00:53:19cry yourself to sleep at least for a couple of months.
00:53:22Buscador!
00:53:23All right.
00:53:23Two more times.
00:53:24I'm ready.
00:53:25All right.
00:53:25Merry Christmas from the Peacocks.
00:53:31This is our News You Can Use segment brought to you by Darlie
00:53:34with European editor of the Thoroughbred Daily News, Emma Berry.
00:53:37Emma, good morning.
00:53:38Good afternoon, I guess, in England.
00:53:40How are you today?
00:53:41Very well, thanks.
00:53:41Little chilly here.
00:53:43There's snow all over the place.
00:53:45Yeah, it's good to see you all again.
00:53:47Yeah, absolutely.
00:53:48So the Keeneland November sale, the Fasig Tipton November sale are in the books.
00:53:52The European Foal and Breeding Stock sales are now up and running.
00:53:56There's always plenty of interest in the first foals of the new stallions.
00:53:59Who should we be looking for over there?
00:54:02Well, we've got quite a punchy bunch this year.
00:54:05The sales have started this week in Ireland.
00:54:07And my colleague, Brian Shearing, is slaving away on his birthday
00:54:10while I'm hiding away in Newmarket, waiting for catastrophes to begin next week.
00:54:14But we've got, I mean, probably the headline horse would be Bayid,
00:54:19who was Shadwell's great miler of a few years ago.
00:54:22It's hard to believe he's already got foals on the ground,
00:54:25because it seems a minute ago he was racing,
00:54:27but he was a brilliant horse by Sea of Stars.
00:54:30But there's a whole bunch of horses to look out for.
00:54:33I mean, Mermath has been one of the real sort of runaway stallions
00:54:39here over the last few years.
00:54:40He was leading first season sire.
00:54:41He had a Breeders' Cup winner a week or so ago in Magnum Force.
00:54:46And he's already got sort of a growing number of sons at stud.
00:54:49And we've got Persian Force and Minzal, both with first foals this year.
00:54:55And then there's a couple of young stallions from Darley as well.
00:54:58Perfect Power, who was a Royal Ascot winner, as was Naval Crown.
00:55:03Both Group 1 winners for Darley.
00:55:04Both quite pretty fast horses, both sprinters.
00:55:08They've already had foals sold this week in Ireland,
00:55:10and they both seem to be starting off well.
00:55:12So there's, yeah, as ever, so many to keep tabs on.
00:55:16I'm going to ask you about two, Emma, because they're really intriguing to me.
00:55:21First off, we're going to go from one end of the spectrum to the other.
00:55:25What about Blackbeard?
00:55:27Because he was just brilliant as a two-year-old.
00:55:30And then the other spectrum, one of my favourite horses of all time,
00:55:34Stradivarius.
00:55:35What can you tell me about the pair of them?
00:55:37Yeah, absolutely.
00:55:39As you say, both with their first foals.
00:55:41I haven't actually seen any Blackbeard foals yet,
00:55:43but they are already in the sale ring at Goffs.
00:55:46They'll probably have a bigger bunch there,
00:55:48but there'll be a handful as well over in Newmarket next week.
00:55:53I would expect them to be pretty commercial,
00:55:57because pinhooking is obviously such a big part of the foal sales.
00:56:02And the pinhookers, on the whole, tend to go for that faster,
00:56:07more precocious type of horse.
00:56:09Stradivarius, as you mentioned, is a really interesting entry,
00:56:14if you like, in this year's flat size,
00:56:17because so many of the really good stares here
00:56:19do end up going straight to National Hunt stards to be jump stallions.
00:56:23And Bjorn Nielsen, who was Stradivarius' owner-breeder,
00:56:28was adamant that he wanted him to stand at a flat stard.
00:56:30So he negotiated for him to stand at the National stard here in Newmarket.
00:56:34He's covered three-figure books in his first two seasons, which is great.
00:56:39I mean, there have been a few jumping mares among those,
00:56:42but a lot of flat mares too.
00:56:44And there are 14 foals selling next week at Tattersall.
00:56:47So I'm looking forward to seeing those.
00:56:49I actually have one myself as well, who's not for sale,
00:56:52but he is a real favourite.
00:56:53And it's going to be very interesting to see how he gets on as a flat stallion.
00:57:00There is, actually, Brian Shearing made a comment in today's TDN Europe
00:57:04that it would be nice to see a bit more variety among the offspring,
00:57:09among these foals for sale across the distance spectrum.
00:57:13And that's what we will get with Stradivarius.
00:57:15He was at absolutely opposite ends, but he had a real potent turn of foot for a stayer.
00:57:20And I won't be surprised at all if he gets some good flat runners.
00:57:23They'll probably be coming more into their own as three-year-olds,
00:57:27but he actually won it to himself.
00:57:28And yeah, he's a really interesting horse.
00:57:30He's by Sea of the Stars as well, who's a top-class sire.
00:57:33So, you know, we'll be watching him with great interest, you and me both, I think, Zoe.
00:57:39Didn't he be bred to the dam of economics?
00:57:42That's huge, isn't it?
00:57:44Yep, she, yep, La Pondemore, lovely Panjseleb Mayor of Coatgrove,
00:57:49Hall Stud, she's in fold to him at the moment,
00:57:51which is a really good thing in the cap of the National Stud to get that mayor.
00:57:56And yeah, Bjorn Nielsen has supported him very well.
00:58:00There's some nice flat mayors we've got.
00:58:01And it's actually interesting looking through the return of mayors
00:58:03and seeing some of the breeders who've used him.
00:58:06They also introduced a bonus scheme for him.
00:58:08So the first 10 juvenile winners, their breeders get sort of,
00:58:13I think it's £25,000 bonus.
00:58:14And if you breed a group one winner by him from his first two crops,
00:58:18there's a £250,000 bonus.
00:58:20So there was some incentives to use him, certainly.
00:58:25So Emma, you said you could look outside to see snow,
00:58:28which of course means that the European turf season is over.
00:58:32But there are some opportunities elsewhere, Hong Kong, later Dubai.
00:58:38This Sunday, the Japan Cup, mile and a half on turf,
00:58:4310 trillion yen or whatever the purse is for that thing nowadays.
00:58:47The locals are obviously always really tough to beat in the Japan Cup,
00:58:51but there's some pretty strong European representation this year.
00:58:55Tell us about some of those horses and what do you think the chances are
00:58:58that the Euros can take down the Japanese in their own backyard?
00:59:02It's going to be a fascinating race.
00:59:04I was just chatting to Alan Carasso, actually,
00:59:06who's going to be getting up at something,
00:59:07or probably staying up, actually.
00:59:09I think it's about 1.40am on the east coast of America.
00:59:12It's in the morning for us.
00:59:14But I can't wait to see how August Rodin goes.
00:59:20I mean, he's been one of my favourite horses for the last few seasons
00:59:23and he's off to start straight away after this.
00:59:26The Japanese, although he's obviously, you know,
00:59:29Irish trained and been running in Europe,
00:59:31the Japanese feel it's a bit of a homecoming for him
00:59:33because he's by deep impact.
00:59:35So I think they're getting very excited about him being there.
00:59:37He's not the only European runner.
00:59:39Goliath, who won the King George, has gone over.
00:59:42He's now owned by Jon Stewart, Resolute Racing,
00:59:45or majority owned by Jon, I should say.
00:59:48Still trained in France by Francis Graffa.
00:59:50And then also that we have a German runner.
00:59:53Last year's German Derby winner, Fantastic Moon.
00:59:56So it's very exciting from our perspective here in Europe
00:59:59to see how all three of those get on.
01:00:01But as ever, the home team, I mean,
01:00:03I had Naohiro Goda talking this morning on the Nick Lutt podcast
01:00:08saying that he felt the Japanese home defence, if you like,
01:00:12was a bit weaker this year.
01:00:13I mean, last year, Japan Cup was the top rated race in the world.
01:00:18And, you know, Equinox won, obviously.
01:00:20And I think the first five home were all Japanese classic winners.
01:00:24That's the strength they have in that race.
01:00:27But even though Naohiro seemed to think this year was a little bit weaker,
01:00:31I was looking through the field,
01:00:32and there's still, I think, at least four Japanese classic winners in there.
01:00:35So it's not going to be a slam dunk for any of the visiting horses,
01:00:40but it'll be a great race.
01:00:42I'll certainly be getting up very early on Sunday morning to make sure I see it.
01:00:46The 10-0 show is always a key race there for the Japan Cup, by the way.
01:00:50Yeah, absolutely.
01:00:51And Dojus, the winner of that, is running,
01:00:54and he's the Japanese Derby winner of a couple of years ago as well.
01:00:57So, you know, there's some proper, you know, just proper horses, as you expect.
01:01:01I mean, it's a brilliant race, and it's always a strong field.
01:01:04But it'd be fantastic to see August Rodin running again
01:01:08and hopefully going out with a big, you know,
01:01:12big shout before he's off to start in Ireland.
01:01:16Well, we want to thank Emma Barry for the segment.
01:01:19The News You Can Use is brought to you by Darley.
01:01:21Emma, thanks so much for your time.
01:01:23Thanks for putting up some good information for us.
01:01:26It's a pleasure.
01:01:28Two of Darley's young stallions, Perfect Power and Naval Crown,
01:01:32each have their first foals on sale over the next few weeks in Ireland and Britain.
01:01:37A brilliant two-year-old and a dual Royal Ascot winner,
01:01:42Perfect Power carried his juvenile form through his three-year-old season,
01:01:46adding the Commonwealth Cup to his Group One triumphs in the Primorny and Middle Park stakes.
01:01:52Naval Crown was also a Group One winner at Royal Ascot,
01:01:56one of the fastest sons of Dubawi.
01:01:59He won the Platinum Jubilee over six furlongs.
01:02:02That's probably one of the best races at Royal Ascot.
01:02:05We'll be right back after this message from Darley.
01:02:35Be a smarter better with XBTV, the best horses.
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01:03:00Everything you need to be informed.
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01:03:10The TDM Writers' Room is brought to you by XBTV.
01:03:13And this week's Work of the Week is Waide Barrio, who worked three furlongs in 35.06.
01:03:20He worked in company with Silver Moonlight, who was caught in 35.63.
01:03:26Waide Barrio, as we talked about earlier,
01:03:28is scheduled to return to action next Friday at Goldstream Park
01:03:32in a seven furlong allowance race.
01:03:34His first start since returning to trainer Safi Joseph.
01:03:38I'm thinking he can win by 15.
01:03:40Just look how good he looks right here.
01:03:42Well, we've been talking a lot about Safi Joseph on this podcast,
01:03:45and let's bring him up again.
01:03:47He did something that I wonder has ever been done before.
01:03:50And this is giving the TDM a pat on the back, but a well-deserved one.
01:03:54The coveted rising star moniker that they give to horses
01:03:58who are very impressive first or second time out.
01:04:01Safi didn't just have one, he had two.
01:04:04On Friday, he ran a filly by the name of Rojo Rita.
01:04:06She won by 16 and a quarter lengths.
01:04:09Comes back the next day and runs a colt by the name of Grayscale.
01:04:13Went off at one to five.
01:04:14Drayden Van Dyke aboard.
01:04:16That's a big part of this story, by the way.
01:04:18That horse wins easily as well.
01:04:19Not quite as easily as Rojo Rita.
01:04:21Randy, I want to start with you, though, first.
01:04:24The filly that wins by 16 and a quarter gets an 83 buyer.
01:04:28Is that a particularly difficult race to attach a number to?
01:04:31No.
01:04:32Someone wins?
01:04:32No.
01:04:33And why not?
01:04:35It's all about the time relative to how fast the racetrack surface was.
01:04:38It has nothing to do with margin of victory or anything like that.
01:04:41And it's not always the case at Gulfstream Park
01:04:44that it's easy to come up with a track variant and determine how fast the track is
01:04:48because there are now three different racing surfaces at Gulfstream and it's all divided up
01:04:52and you don't get sample sizes that are very big.
01:04:55In this case on Friday, it was pretty straightforward.
01:04:58So I think the 83 is a pretty confident number.
01:05:01If you look at the horses behind her, they're all like in the 40s.
01:05:03I mean, she had very little competition in there.
01:05:05I think that was the main reason for the margin of victory being what it was.
01:05:10And then Grayscale, I mean, she's a daughter of Volatile.
01:05:15It wasn't all that expensive.
01:05:16I think 80 grand or something like that.
01:05:18Grayscale's a son of Frosted.
01:05:20He got an 86 buyer speed figure.
01:05:24Solid, very solid for a two-year-old debut.
01:05:29So he's one owned by the E5 Racing Thoroughbreds.
01:05:31He's one that we can watch as now some of the top horses in New York migrate down to Florida.
01:05:38And we'll see how Grayscale stacks up against some of the others.
01:05:41Safi's got some other ones too that are...
01:05:44I think his best two-year-old is a horse called Neo Equos,
01:05:49who finished second behind the two-year-old that's all the rage in Florida right now,
01:05:54Rated by Merit.
01:05:55He's finished second to him a couple of times.
01:05:58And he got a 91 buyer most recently when he was second to Rated by Merit.
01:06:03When Rated by Merit got a 99.
01:06:06So Safi's pretty loaded.
01:06:08This edition of TDN Riders are brought to you by Safi Joseph and Michael McCarthy.
01:06:12Zoe?
01:06:13Absolutely.
01:06:14Grayscale was good.
01:06:15He tipped his hand in a work the week before going in 44 and 4 under Drayden Van Dyke.
01:06:23Now I went back and watched the work because you have to watch it to believe it.
01:06:27And this is where sometimes you need walkie talkies.
01:06:30You'd be like, hey boys, just what the hell are you doing out there?
01:06:32Slow the hell down.
01:06:34They did kind of nudge the two horses to the wire, but he looked good doing it.
01:06:38He did it the right way.
01:06:39And while Grayscale is good, his company in that sparkling 44 and 4 work was a horse
01:06:47called Thought Control.
01:06:49He's a son of Gunrunner and he might be just as good as him, if not better.
01:06:55Safi's loaded.
01:06:56Yeah, let's drink to that.
01:06:57When are we going to play our drinking game show?
01:06:59Next week?
01:07:01We might have to do it a bit later because even by my standards, 9am Pacific time's
01:07:06just a little bit too early.
01:07:09We can do it next week, right?
01:07:11Right, we'll keep that in mind, shall we?
01:07:13A Christmas show.
01:07:14Well, speaking of popular horses that have won, have later been in the news, who doesn't
01:07:18like No Balls?
01:07:19I mean, yeah, a name like that.
01:07:21How do you not like that horse?
01:07:23But he was in a little bit of a funk.
01:07:25Three starts this year after winning the Breeders' Cup turf sprint, 0 for 3, had not hit the
01:07:31board.
01:07:31He went up to Canada to take on one of my favorite horses, Patches O'Hoolan, Canadian
01:07:36star who was 11th for 13 lifetime, was huge favorite.
01:07:39No Balls is back.
01:07:41He beat him.
01:07:42And according to the TDN, looks like he's going to go to Hong Kong next time out to
01:07:46run in one of those rich races there.
01:07:47But he didn't even go in the Breeders' Cup this year.
01:07:50I'm sure trainer Larry Revelli just didn't think he merited a start in there with the
01:07:53kind of year he's having.
01:07:55But he beat not only did he win, he beat a very, very good horse.
01:07:59So maybe he's back, Zoe.
01:08:01Maybe he is.
01:08:03Well, we know one thing.
01:08:04E.T. Baird has his passport now.
01:08:06Apparently, it took him 12 hours to get his passport.
01:08:10I have to look it up because when I first started riding, I rode with E.T.
01:08:15And he was already a veteran rider there.
01:08:17Now, I didn't start when I was 16.
01:08:19I was 25 when I won my first race.
01:08:22So I looked up.
01:08:22I'm like, how old is E.T. Baird?
01:08:26He's been around forever.
01:08:2757 years young by my calculation.
01:08:31E.T., so still winning races.
01:08:33I think he's had a prolonged career because he never used to come out in the mornings.
01:08:38If you know E.T., he's like, why would I come in the mornings and work 10 horses?
01:08:41I'm saving my energy for the afternoon.
01:08:44You rarely saw him on a horse in the morning back in the Arlington Park days.
01:08:49So E.T. Baird, no balls, kick on.
01:08:52Let's see where they wind up.
01:08:54The TD and Riders Room also brought to you by West Point Thoroughbreds.
01:08:57We talk every week about all the horses that West Point, the stakes horses that they own
01:09:02and how well they're doing.
01:09:04And they're winning races in Kentucky and New York.
01:09:07Well, how about California?
01:09:08We've already talked about the Bob Hope stakes, right?
01:09:10For two-year-olds.
01:09:11Bullard, trained by Michael McCarthy, coming from off the pace, coming from last, roaring
01:09:15by the field and winning by almost five lengths.
01:09:17Well, guess what?
01:09:18Bullard is co-owned by West Point Thoroughbreds.
01:09:21They race the Gunrunner Colt in a group that includes St. Elias Stable of Vinny Viola,
01:09:26Three Chimneys Farm and Michael Talla.
01:09:29To learn more about West Point and how you can get involved, the website www.westpointtb.com.
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01:10:07That is a wrap on this week's show.
01:10:09I want to thank my partners, Zoe Kavman and Randy Moss.
01:10:11I want to thank Mark Cornett, our guest of the week, and also the people that work behind
01:10:15the scenes and do such a great job.
01:10:17Our producers, Katie Petruniak, Anthony LaRocca and Alita LaRocca.
01:10:21Everybody have a great racing week.