- 1 week ago
Gerry Duffy joins this week's TDN Writers' Room to discuss GI Hopeful winner The Good Life, his sire Life is Good, and his own transition to a new role at WinStar Farm. Plus, the crew closes out the Saratoga meet and looks ahead to weekend racing at Kentucky Downs and Woodbine.
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SportsTranscript
00:00:18And welcome to the TDN Writer's Room presented by Keeneland.
00:00:21My name is Bill Finley.
00:00:22I'm a correspondent for the Thoroughbred Daily News.
00:00:26How are you all doing?
00:00:27I am Randy Moss with, I think you can see a peacock there, with NBC Sports and also the
00:00:33Buyer Speed Figure Group.
00:00:35It says Sochi.
00:00:36Yeah, it says there's a little peacock above that.
00:00:39Yeah, now you're showing off.
00:00:41Zoe Catman with First Racing and First TV.
00:00:44I'm out of California.
00:00:45I am now in lovely Kentucky, courtesy of my good friend Alice Emsen, awaiting the Keeneland
00:00:51September 7th.
00:00:52So, so much racing action over the weekend.
00:00:55And let's start with the hopeful stakes where the winner was the good life.
00:00:59And he is sired by the Red Hot Life is Good.
00:01:02And as a matter of fact, in our Gainsway Guest of the Week segment, we are going to talk to
00:01:06Jerry Duffy, who is about to take the helm at Windstar Farm, fully take the helm within a
00:01:14couple of weeks.
00:01:15And guys, I mean, the good life is the story.
00:01:17Life is good as the story.
00:01:19Very good looking horse.
00:01:20I'm just going to rain on their parade just a little bit in that the hopeful has not been
00:01:27a very important race when it comes to producing Kentucky Derby winners.
00:01:31That produced a lot of good horses, including a lot of horses that were good sprinters.
00:01:36But the last hopeful winner to go on and win the Kentucky Derby was affirmed to win the
00:01:421977 hopeful in the 1978.
00:01:44So, can the good life break the hopeful jinx?
00:01:48Randy, what do you think?
00:01:50He's a very good horse.
00:01:51He's a very fast horse.
00:01:53He takes after his sire in that respect.
00:01:56Life is good.
00:01:57As soon as the gates open in the hopeful, I mean, he streaked to the early lead.
00:02:02And the pace wasn't especially fast.
00:02:04It was 22.71 for the opening quarter, which by, you know, I mean, life is good was obviously
00:02:09capable of running a whole heck of a lot faster than that.
00:02:11But look, here's the issue with the good life.
00:02:14And I don't want to sound pessimistic.
00:02:15I don't want to sound like a Debbie Downer.
00:02:17When you look at good horses like this, as a horse player, you have to try to look for
00:02:23the chinks in the armor.
00:02:24That's what you do.
00:02:25You don't automatically assume that every horse is going to be flight line, right?
00:02:29I mean, you got to look for little things.
00:02:31And there are a couple of things here with the good life, as good as he is, he's two for
00:02:35two now, that are pretty obvious.
00:02:39First of all, the buyer speed figure that he got for the hopeful was only an 83.
00:02:44Which is by historical standards is not the kind of figure you would expect out of a
00:02:50horse who's going to go on and, you know, be a factor in the Breeders' Cup juvenile, much
00:02:54less the Kentucky Derby next year.
00:02:56But more troubling from a distance perspective.
00:03:00I mean, I think the good life is going to be a one-turn horse and maybe a really good
00:03:04one-turn horse.
00:03:05I'm probably going to echo those sentiments as well.
00:03:09Even like watching his maiden race, right?
00:03:12His very first start, he was up against a horse from Steve Asmussen's barn who's yet to break
00:03:17his maiden by the name of Powerline.
00:03:18Powerline had a disastrous trip, but was gaining on him late.
00:03:22This horse looked like your atypical two-year-old, fast, typey, the perfect horse to win six furlongs
00:03:29going first time out, which is exactly what he did.
00:03:33He had to stretch out an extra eighth of a mile.
00:03:35We'll get to the spin away.
00:03:37They ran faster.
00:03:38So the hopeful was run in 124.08.
00:03:42The spin away, the day before, 122.72.
00:03:47And then we're going to talk about the TDN rising star, USS Valor, who ran 122.04.
00:03:54So we'll have to see what he does around two turns.
00:03:57But for now, he is a very good horse indeed.
00:04:00And I wish I owned him, but he might have distance limitations.
00:04:04An important piggyback on that.
00:04:06I know some people will be listening and they'll say, well, it's a dirt.
00:04:09You can't compare times one day to times the next day.
00:04:12Correct.
00:04:13From a buyer speed figure department, a track variant department, the track was exactly
00:04:18the same on both days in terms of final time.
00:04:22So you can compare them.
00:04:24All right, Mr. and Mrs. Downer, we turn our attention now to the spin away stakes.
00:04:29And Summer Starlet on Saturday was the winner of that.
00:04:33And I got to tell you, this race on paper was loaded.
00:04:37I mean, there were so many good horses in there.
00:04:40So many fast horses in there.
00:04:43Summer Starlet was very impressive breaking her maiden.
00:04:47And a couple of things that are a little bit unusual about the maiden victory.
00:04:49First of all, why on earth did she go off at 15 to one?
00:04:52Maybe Zoe will have some comments about that.
00:04:54I may be watching the horse in the morning.
00:04:56How did everybody miss the boat on that?
00:04:58That kind of threw me off a little bit.
00:05:00That's why I didn't pick her in the race.
00:05:02But she beat up on a very good field.
00:05:06And I, you know, again, I'd like to hear your guys' opinions.
00:05:10But, you know, I certainly see her going on to bigger and better things.
00:05:15Zoe, tackle that.
00:05:17And did she not wow people in the mornings initially?
00:05:22Honestly, I missed her first start as well, if I'm being perfectly honest.
00:05:26I did like her in the spin away, purely off of that first start where she was 15 to one.
00:05:32She obviously didn't wow anyone in the morning, so to speak.
00:05:36But she's good and she's got the right style.
00:05:38I mean, she sat off a 44 and change, 44.94 half mile, 109.72.
00:05:44She finished up in 13.02, her last eighth of a mile, and she did it the right way.
00:05:50So she's got a bright future moving forward.
00:05:54I love two-year-olds that can rate and pounce and just place themselves and not be pace dependent
00:06:00without being on the lead.
00:06:01I thought she was excellent.
00:06:03She's the real deal.
00:06:04She's totally the real deal.
00:06:06It's going to be interesting, the East-West matchup now with the Del Mar debutante winner
00:06:11that we're going to talk about here in just a minute.
00:06:12But, I mean, this was a truly big-time, legit performance.
00:06:17Buyer's speed figure, 97, which for a two-year-old filly, a lot of these two-year-old fillies
00:06:22that run at Saratoga in these seven furlong races are kind of staggering to the wire, and
00:06:27they don't run numbers that are all that big.
00:06:30But some are startled, and again, you can compare Saturday and Sunday's times because the surfaces
00:06:36were almost identical.
00:06:38In the spinaway, they went a half a second faster than the good life went in the hopeful.
00:06:46And yet, they finished up, what, 1.36 seconds faster in final time.
00:06:53Not only did Summer Starla win by four and three quarters, but the talented horse that
00:06:57she beat, Harper's Corner, was seven lengths ahead of the rest of the field.
00:07:01And that's really an indication that those horses were doing some serious running, especially
00:07:06Summer Starla.
00:07:07And she's bred to go long.
00:07:08She's by City of Light out of a street-sense mare.
00:07:10So you can easily project that to extend out to two turns.
00:07:16So let's turn our attention now to Del Mar, where once again, two-year-olds were the highlight
00:07:21of the closing weekend at Del Mar.
00:07:24And I'll let you guys focus in on the horses, because I want to focus in on Bob Baffert.
00:07:30Of course, the Del Mar debutante was won by Miss Monica.
00:07:32Del Mar Futurity won by Hughes.
00:07:35And this, you know what?
00:07:37Obviously, the numbers I'm going to give out now don't come at this point in any surprise.
00:07:43But then when you look at it, and you digest it, and you think about it, what Bob Baffert
00:07:49has done with these things is unbelievable.
00:07:51And he had a great quote afterwards.
00:07:53I think it was after the Del Mar debutante of Del Mar Futurity.
00:07:56I don't remember, but he goes, sure come a long way from Prescott Downs.
00:07:59Well, I sure have.
00:08:02Miss Monica was his 13th winner in the Del Mar debutante.
00:08:07And even more impressively, Hughes was his 20th winner in the Del Mar Futurity.
00:08:13And just like I said about the hopeful, that doesn't necessarily mean that they're going
00:08:18to win the Kentucky Derby, but he's done it twice.
00:08:21He won the Del Mar Futurity with American Pharaoh and Silver Charm.
00:08:25So has proven that the Del Mar Futurity can be a route to the winner's circle in the Kentucky
00:08:31Derby.
00:08:32But my goodness, what Baffert, his dominance with these horses.
00:08:38Again, you know, I'm stating the obvious here, and I'm wondering if maybe you guys have some
00:08:43contrary opinions.
00:08:44But, you know, you watch these horses, they were outstanding.
00:08:46I mean, there's no other way to put it.
00:08:49Randy, what did you think?
00:08:50I liked them both.
00:08:51I thought they both looked really good.
00:08:53Hughes, I think, is a lot better than the speed figure that he wound up getting, which was an 84.
00:08:57He was visually very impressive.
00:08:59I'd like to get Zoe's opinion on this, because this continually blows me away about these Bob
00:09:06Baffert horses that we see that do so well out on the West Coast.
00:09:09And the ones especially that, you know, they pay a lot of money for a two-year-old sales.
00:09:15What was this, the Hughes, Zoe, what was his, what was his purchase price?
00:09:20Do you have it there in front of you?
00:09:21Hughes was cheap.
00:09:23$675,000, Keeneland September.
00:09:26Porrick Campion, Blanford Studs sold him.
00:09:29Cheap.
00:09:29Okay.
00:09:30He must have, he must have geniuses picking out his horses.
00:09:35Donato Lamy.
00:09:36Because Hughes has two full siblings, both by Into Mischief.
00:09:41Neither one of them could outrun me.
00:09:45And both of them went for considerably less than $600,000 plus.
00:09:51And then on the heels of that, they spend all that money for Hughes.
00:09:55And I'd be like, physically, he must be light years better than his full siblings in appearance.
00:10:02But, but there was a reason why they pay that much money for him and he, and he's showing it.
00:10:07So he was excellent.
00:10:08The Delmar debutant, Miss Monica, very cleverly named.
00:10:12If you think about it.
00:10:13Did you guys think about the name?
00:10:15No.
00:10:16Did not.
00:10:16Okay.
00:10:17She's out of Lipstick, Lies, and Lovers.
00:10:21Her name is Miss Monica.
00:10:22Oh, that's good.
00:10:23That is good.
00:10:24Wow.
00:10:25I still don't, I, I, I still don't get it.
00:10:28Monica Lewinsky and Bill Clinton and a little incident that happened in the, uh, Oval Office.
00:10:34Oh, of course.
00:10:35Three Amigos are the ones that are.
00:10:38Right.
00:10:38So, yeah.
00:10:39She was a $45,000 September graduate.
00:10:43Jesse Hopple purchased her for $45,000.
00:10:46She worked 20 and two at the OBS April, March sale.
00:10:51I remember watching that work and going, WTF?
00:10:54Like, what the, what the?
00:10:56I don't know how he does it.
00:10:57He does it every time.
00:10:58And here she is now a grade one winner.
00:11:00Sold for $850,000 to the three Amigos.
00:11:04There was a great quote by Bob Baffert.
00:11:07No, I think it was by Mike Pagrum after they bought her and said he was sitting there.
00:11:11He goes, I could see Bob bidding on this early voting filly.
00:11:14And I saw the price going up and up.
00:11:17And I'm like, I wonder who he's bidding on that one for.
00:11:19He goes, the hammer dropped.
00:11:21He came over and said, okay, now sign the ticket.
00:11:24So they signed the ticket and that's kind of beyond their price range.
00:11:29Usually those guys are $350,000, $400,000 range they're comfortable with.
00:11:34And she has knocked it out of the park.
00:11:36She was excellent as well.
00:11:39And the way Miss Monica won the race was even more impressive than the margin would indicate.
00:11:44She didn't get off to the greatest start.
00:11:47It's a little bit of a scrambling start.
00:11:49She didn't make the lead.
00:11:50She rated nicely.
00:11:51She's three wide and just absolutely blew them away.
00:11:54Now, was she impressive as Summer Starlet?
00:11:56From a numbers point of view, I think you'd have to put Summer Starlet one and Miss Monica two.
00:12:04But it makes for, if all goes well and they handle two turns well, it's going to make for a
00:12:10pretty compelling showdown in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Phillies.
00:12:13Visually, she was in another zip code.
00:12:15Yeah.
00:12:15Like she was in a race on her own at the wire.
00:12:18The rest of them were just battling behind her.
00:12:21She was in a different zip code.
00:12:22She was fantastic.
00:12:23And now, speak about another zip code, Bill.
00:12:27Well, who was the best two-year-old to run this weekend, either at Saratoga or Delmar?
00:12:32I know Mr. Moss has a pretty firm opinion about that.
00:12:36And we're going to learn more about USS Valor when we get to our Fastest Horse of the Week segment,
00:12:42which is sponsored by Windstar.
00:12:45But, you know, as so many good horses, two-year-olds run at Saratoga, there's a lot of exciting moments
00:12:55and a lot of horses that, you know, you really say, wow, you know, this horse really might have a
00:13:00future.
00:13:00But I think this was the wow moment of the meet among two-year-old maidens.
00:13:07And I'm talking about USS Valor, of course, a homebred from a Barry Irwin's Team Valor stable, trained by Shug
00:13:14McGahee, who is not somebody that you necessarily think of with precocious two-year-olds.
00:13:21Randy, tell us more about the story of USS Valor.
00:13:24Yes, it's an interesting story.
00:13:26I'll try to make it quick.
00:13:28He makes his debut and finishes third at Saratoga in what then was the best maiden race of the meet.
00:13:35He didn't get away all that well, which a lot of first-time starters don't.
00:13:39He finishes third, gets to be three-quarters of the length, runs an 88 buyer.
00:13:42So I went back and looked on Formulator on DRF and looked at Shug McGahee's record with Saratoga first-time
00:13:48starters.
00:13:49He doesn't crank them up, as you pointed out.
00:13:51In the last five years, his second best buyer speed figure for a career debut at Saratoga was a 73.
00:13:59And this horse runs an 88 without the greatest trip.
00:14:03So this is a horse I really was really looking forward to seeing him coming back and running next time
00:14:08out.
00:14:08And all he does is win by 13 and a quarter lengths on Saturday with a buyer speed figure of
00:14:13105 for two-year-olds, stratospheric.
00:14:18And here's the rest of the story, which is kind of interesting.
00:14:20His half-brother was a horse named Express Man, who in 2022 broke his maiden in his career debut at
00:14:30Saratoga with a buyer speed figure of 107.
00:14:35Barry Irwin of Team Valor took note of Express Man, took note of the dam of Express Man, Spangled Banner,
00:14:43who happened to be in a digital sale 17 days later.
00:14:49And Irwin, on behalf of Team Valor, went in for, I think it was $230,000 to acquire Spangled Banner
00:14:55in that digital sale.
00:14:57And USS Valor is the very first full out of Spangled Banner for Team Valor.
00:15:02And boy, Amy, Zoe, it sure looks like he could be a good one.
00:15:06Oh, so let's go over the final time again.
00:15:10His final time for that seven furlongs, 122.04.
00:15:16The final time for the grade one hopeful, 124.08.
00:15:22A full two seconds and change slower than a horse who broke his maiden by 13 and three quarter lengths.
00:15:30Honestly, I'm delighted for Shug.
00:15:32It's been a little bit quiet of late for Shug McGahey.
00:15:34He won two races with two-year-olds that day and a second.
00:15:38So his barn is firing on all cylinders going into Belmont.
00:15:42I am delighted for Shug McGahey.
00:15:45He needs a good horse.
00:15:46And this horse is by war of will.
00:15:48Let's just not forget that because he hasn't really lit up many boxes of late.
00:15:52So absolutely brilliant.
00:15:54And by far the best two-year-old we saw racing last weekend.
00:15:57Oh, yeah.
00:15:57And by far the best two-year-old we've seen racing all year.
00:16:00Pretty much.
00:16:01As of right now.
00:16:02I mean, if you ask me who's the favorite, the early favorite for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, even though he's
00:16:07only had two starts, this is it.
00:16:09So high praise from Randy Moss, Zoe Cabman, about USS Fowler, but high praise that well deserved.
00:16:17All right, let's do this.
00:16:18Let's take a break.
00:16:19We're going to hear about what's going on at Keeneland.
00:16:22And you're going to hear more about USS Fowler and his accomplishments because he is the fastest horse of the
00:16:29week.
00:16:29And Randy Moss is going to give you even more details on that number and his story.
00:16:33And when we come back, the Gainsaway Guest of the Week is Windstar's Jerry Duffy.
00:16:38Stay with us.
00:16:40I do want to remind you that each and every week, the TDN Writers' Room is brought to you by
00:16:44Keeneland.
00:16:44It was another blockbuster weekend for Keeneland's September sale graduates who brought home a trio of Grade 1 stakes wins
00:16:52over the holiday weekend.
00:16:54Let's lead off with Summer Starlet in the Grade 1 Spinaway Stakes.
00:16:58Miss Monica, you could have had her for just a mere $45,000 in the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutant.
00:17:05And Hughes in the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity.
00:17:08This year's Keeneland September sale starts this coming Monday on September the 14th.
00:17:13Make plans to attend.
00:17:14Learn more at www.keeneland.com.
00:17:19We do this so your granddaughter can work on a farm someday.
00:17:24So the stands will still be packed in 50 years.
00:17:29That's why we come to work every day.
00:17:31Obsess over every single detail.
00:17:36Because the story of racing is written one moment at a time.
00:17:41And the future of our industry deserves nothing less.
00:17:46Keeneland.
00:17:47Every moment matters.
00:17:49The fastest horse of the week brought to you by the fast sires at Windstar Farm.
00:17:54And we'll hear from Jerry Duffy of Windstar here shortly as our guest of the week.
00:17:58Meanwhile, it was yet another big week for Windstar Sire.
00:18:02Life is good.
00:18:03Actually, his biggest weekend yet.
00:18:05When you consider that the good life's victory in the hopeful stakes gave life his good his very first Grade
00:18:121 winner.
00:18:13The good life also became the 93rd graded winner and 32nd Grade 1 winner bred by Windstar.
00:18:20At the Keeneland September sale, 61 Windstar bred and raised yearlings will be on offer.
00:18:26So to find your next star at Keeneland September, get it, look for the star, Windstar.
00:18:34Fastest Horse of the Week with his 105 buyer speed figure USS Valor becomes the first 2-year-old to
00:18:41take Fastest Horse of the Week honors in 2026.
00:18:44And that 105 buyer was the fastest by any 2-year-old since fierceness won the 2023 Breeders' Cup Juvenile.
00:19:05Welcome to now the Gainsway Guest of the Week, and it's Jerry Duffy.
00:19:09On April 1, Windstar announced that he would be taking over as the president of Windstar Farm.
00:19:14And when Elliot Walden steps down on October 1, he'll assume the role of president and CEO.
00:19:21Jerry, thanks so much for joining us.
00:19:24And let's get right to the thing that I think is putting a smile on your face, Kenny Trout's face,
00:19:29and the entire Windstar team.
00:19:30It's this phenomenal success that Life is Good has had as a freshman sire.
00:19:37And, boy, he put an exclamation mark on the end of the sentence in the hopeful on Saturday when the
00:19:43good life won and looks like a potential star if he's not a star already.
00:19:47So, as part of the Windstar team, I'm sure you guys had high expectations for Life is Good.
00:19:54But could you have ever expected this, that he would just get out of the box like he has and
00:20:00become, in very short time, a superstar sire?
00:20:04Well, I think, Bill, to your point, there's always hope, but expectations.
00:20:10I don't think you can ever have expectations this high, you know, from the stallion himself to his ability to,
00:20:20you know, how he did it on the track.
00:20:21We started seeing, and at least the team started seeing early on with the two-year-olds down in Florida,
00:20:28a lot of those same attributes, that speed.
00:20:30And so the hope was there, but as much hope as there ever is, they still got to come and
00:20:36do it.
00:20:37And Saturday, Sunday, rather, when the good life won the hopeful, it's just that validation that he has a huge
00:20:47future.
00:20:48Well, Jerry, he leads pretty much every category, bar number of wins, which Golden Powell is leading right now.
00:20:54But having seen him train as a two-year-old and having him out in Southern California with Hall of
00:21:00Famer Bob Baffert and then watching him go on and do what he did with Todd,
00:21:04you know, it didn't seem a big surprise to anyone that there was such expectations of him to be a
00:21:11stallion.
00:21:11But usually that happens and it just doesn't pan out.
00:21:15I mean, this has to be pretty buoyant for the whole team to see everything coming together as it has.
00:21:21There was a great quote by one of the Windstar team the other day saying,
00:21:25they chased Flightline around the racetrack, but it looks like he might have to catch you guys in the breeding
00:21:30shed.
00:21:31Yeah, we're hoping that's true.
00:21:34And kudos to Flightline, one of the greatest horses we've all ever seen.
00:21:38So, you know, to be talked about in the same breath is wonderful.
00:21:42To have Flightline chasing us for a change, it's a great spot to be in.
00:21:48And, you know, to your point, as you know well, he was the fastest horse to reach four rising stars
00:21:54and winning maidens is great.
00:21:56And I'm sure you know all the stats on it, but rising stars become black type winners, become graded winners.
00:22:02And a good percentage of them, especially when they're doing it at Saratoga, become grade one winners.
00:22:07So the hope was there, the excitement is there.
00:22:11And yeah, I think the other thing that kind of resonated with me the weekend was,
00:22:18and this horse started out as a $100,000 stallion, but he had the support of breeders right through his
00:22:25first four years.
00:22:26And bred as strong a book and as big a book in year four as he did in year one,
00:22:31which is really rare in today's market.
00:22:35And the thing that I sort of felt the weekend was just the, you know, the validation for those breeders
00:22:42support right the way through.
00:22:44They're going to have foals, they're going to have yearlings to sell.
00:22:47So there's just, you know, this horse has reached every facet, every person on our farm being a homebred.
00:22:55So just the, there was a lot of feel good factor to just everybody involved.
00:23:00And most of all, all the breeders that have supported them.
00:23:03So Jerry, lots to talk about life is good in Windstar, but I want to take a step back a
00:23:09little bit.
00:23:09And people may not know your story.
00:23:13And one of the things that is fascinating is apparently you're a pretty smart fella.
00:23:19As you graduated with degrees in mathematics and mechanical engineering from Trinity College,
00:23:25which is, I think fair to say the Harvard of Ireland.
00:23:29How do you go from that into horse racing?
00:23:31Well, that's very kind of you to say and very flattering.
00:23:34I think more than being a smart fella, as long as a couple of the right people think you're a
00:23:38smart fella,
00:23:39that's all that matters.
00:23:40So, but, but no, I think, you know, horses were always part of our life growing up as a family.
00:23:47I feel so grateful.
00:23:48My dad is the biggest horse lover in the world and always kept a riding horse and kept a pony
00:23:53for myself and my sister.
00:23:54So we were always around horses.
00:23:57And truth be told, it was trying to, as a younger person, not realizing that a hobby could become a
00:24:04career.
00:24:05And so I always felt this need to get a proper job.
00:24:09So to speak, and hence the, you know, the engineering construction, those were industries that were doing quite well in
00:24:14Ireland.
00:24:15And I kind of like maths and numbers and people have always asked me, how do you apply engineering to
00:24:22what you do today?
00:24:23And ultimately, engineering is problem solving.
00:24:26You're taking big problems and you break them down into smaller, solvable problems.
00:24:32And, you know, we do that every day in these environments.
00:24:35You've got to be a bit of a generalist.
00:24:37It's everything from leading the team and sort of helping them navigate their daily challenges.
00:24:43But you've got to be an agronomist, a nutritionist, land management.
00:24:48You've got to know a bit about construction tractors.
00:24:50So it's definitely evolved into being somewhat of a generalist, I would say.
00:24:55It sounds a bit daunting.
00:24:57What are you most looking forward to getting stuck into?
00:24:59I saw you, like, walking around the sales, looking at horses in Saratoga.
00:25:04Looked like you were having a grand old time there.
00:25:06Yeah, well, I hope I didn't look like I was having too much fun, but it is fun.
00:25:10Who doesn't enjoy looking at nice horses, you know?
00:25:13So, yeah, and Elliot and David and I worked the sale and it was kind of our first sale to
00:25:19work together.
00:25:20And I hope we bought a couple of nice horses out of it.
00:25:24What am I most looking forward to?
00:25:27What we didn't, you know, I just love being in the game, being in the industry, the central Kentucky community.
00:25:34You know, we compete for the two minutes on the track when the gates open until they cross the line.
00:25:39But aside from that, we are a community of people with a great love of this game that are working
00:25:46really hard to grow us, to promote us, to bring people into the game.
00:25:51And I was really fortunate that before my role started, I had the opportunity to spend a good deal of
00:25:59time with Kenny and Lisa and Preston.
00:26:02The thing I'm most excited about the game is Preston Trout and my time here at WinStar.
00:26:08Preston absolutely loves it.
00:26:10He's incredibly talented.
00:26:13He's got great ideas to sort of bring new investors into the game.
00:26:18He's already done that through a group of his associates in Dallas.
00:26:22And I'm just really excited about the energy, those shared values and that ability to, between the existing team, Preston's
00:26:34new input, I'm very hopeful that we can do a lot of good together.
00:26:39And Life is Good has, you know, has already done so, but just could be that springboard to enable us
00:26:47to, you know, carry out our vision and our goals.
00:26:51Now, Jerry, I'm sure a lot of your attention as we speak is focused in on Keeneland September, which is
00:26:56right around the corner.
00:26:59We see that there will be 61 WinStar bred and raised horses that will be sold at Keeneland September.
00:27:08And I'm going to ask you to step out on a limb a little bit, but I think you'd be
00:27:13okay with this.
00:27:14Give us two or three that you guys are just like, man, we're going to hit a home run with
00:27:20these guys.
00:27:21Who are they?
00:27:23And, you know, what are some of the highlights of horses that you're selling coming up?
00:27:28I'm going to let the buyers determine what they are and don't want to jade anyone's opinion.
00:27:33But we've got a lot of, you know, the sires that people want to buy.
00:27:36We've got constitutions.
00:27:38We've got gun runners.
00:27:39We've got Uncle Mo's, you know.
00:27:42And we've got a great depth of mares here.
00:27:45You know, I think so much of that will depend on what people are looking for.
00:27:50But, yeah, just the strength of the market, the horses we have in there right the way through the sale.
00:27:57I think people are aware, certainly by the ads we're running, that, you know, we sell the majority of the
00:28:04crop and we've sold a lot of really nice horses.
00:28:06So across the board, there's great opportunities for people.
00:28:09I hope they believe in the brand and believe how we do things.
00:28:14And the results, I think, speak for themselves.
00:28:16So based on the momentum going into the sale, what we've put up there, hopefully it'll be a very good
00:28:22sale for us.
00:28:24Jerry, I'm going to ask you a question that has bewildered most everybody in the industry.
00:28:28And handle is plummeting.
00:28:33We are very afraid that several racetracks, including some very prominent ones, might not be around five, six years from
00:28:40now.
00:28:41Full crop is going down year after year after year.
00:28:44And never was that more evident when we actually had a two-horse race at Kentucky Downs, which is just
00:28:52mind-boggling, considered in the purses there.
00:28:55Yet the sales have never been more booming.
00:29:02We saw what happened in Saratoga with all these seven-figure horses.
00:29:09I look at one of these races at Saratoga with these loaded races, and I see a horse now that
00:29:14sells for $350,000.
00:29:16I put a big X through him.
00:29:17Oh, boy, this one must have been a clunker at the sales.
00:29:22Do you have any theories?
00:29:25It's kind of like the tale of two stories.
00:29:29What's going on?
00:29:30Well, look, you've highlighted the challenges and the headwinds, of which there are numerous and they're serious.
00:29:40But I do, I'm a glass-half-full kind of guy, and I gravitate to all the positives in our
00:29:46game.
00:29:47You know, and it's definitely, you look at the investment that's gone into Churchill Downs.
00:29:53Naira are about to unveil a $500 million capital project in the new Belmont Park.
00:30:01Keeneland's new stand.
00:30:02There's improvements coming at Pimlico, at Oaklawn Park have invested a lot of money.
00:30:07The top of the game is really strong.
00:30:10I think there's a lot of things happening at a macro level in society that we're probably only now catching
00:30:18up on.
00:30:19And that's how people want to watch sports, how they want to attend an event, you know.
00:30:24And Breeders' Cup and the Ascotts and the big festivals of the world have been catching on and doing it
00:30:30very well for some time.
00:30:32But I think the point I'm trying to make is there's an awful lot of positives at the top.
00:30:37The investment, everyone wants to play at the high end, and there seems to be no ceiling to what they,
00:30:43you know, to what they want to invest in the game.
00:30:46So there's a lot of real positives.
00:30:48I think it is getting concentrated around, you know, the sort of boutique, the Keeneland's, the Delmar's, the Saratoga's.
00:30:57Those places are thriving.
00:30:59And again, the contraction in the fall crops and so on tend to have most of the impact at the
00:31:05lower level of the game, the smaller tracks.
00:31:08And it's trying to get that balance right between fantastic that things are really strong at the top, but we
00:31:17know we need multi-levels down through the system to have a top.
00:31:21You can't have a top without a middle.
00:31:23So there is headwinds, there is challenges, but I still feel very optimistic about the game.
00:31:32And I even, you know, I used to talk with my peers and friends in the industry five, ten years
00:31:39ago, and we were concerned about where things were going then.
00:31:43But there isn't that doom and gloom feel anymore.
00:31:48I think we're seeing the high spots, we're seeing the optimism, and we're seeing the opportunity that some of these
00:31:55challenges present if we can get it right.
00:31:59So I'm very optimistic about the future.
00:32:02And again, declining fall crop, Kentucky is very static.
00:32:06You know, again, we, you know, there's the, again, those mayors are going into some big stallions, big book sizes
00:32:12and so on.
00:32:13And it's, it's a, it is a concentration at the top in a sense, but I think at a high
00:32:18level, the game is never been better.
00:32:21And there's a couple of key opportunities that can, that can continue to, to help us.
00:32:27And, you know, we're an early adopter of the horse racing league, which Greg Maffei spoke to at the jockey
00:32:35club.
00:32:35And, you know, any of these initiatives that can bring in a wider fan base, that can give greater opportunities,
00:32:42that, that, that we're bringing in people that have the creativity, the track record and other spheres to really try
00:32:50some very different out of the box things.
00:32:53But we're going to try these things and we're going to learn what sticks and hopefully it'll just further help
00:32:58us to grow the game.
00:32:59So yes, challenges, but I'm way more on the, on the optimistic side about what the future will hold.
00:33:07Can you pour some of your glass half full into bills?
00:33:10Cause it's always half empty.
00:33:11Oh, Zoe.
00:33:14No, and I appreciate what you guys do.
00:33:17You got, we got to talk about these issues and you guys are never afraid to, to tackle them.
00:33:22So we very much appreciate your insights and keep doing it.
00:33:27All right, Jerry, your, uh, congratulations on, uh, your new job at wind star.
00:33:32And like I said, uh, what do we got?
00:33:34We have, uh, just, uh, like 22 days to go and you will officially, uh, be at the helm.
00:33:41Um, thank you for being our, well, wind star guy being our gain square guest of the week, but that's
00:33:47how we do it here at the TDN writers room podcast.
00:33:50Uh, once again, congratulations on, uh, your, uh, appointment to, uh, a great position at wind star.
00:33:57And thanks again for being our guest.
00:33:59Thank you all for having me.
00:34:00Look forward to doing it again soon.
00:34:02Yeah.
00:34:02Cheers.
00:34:04The Gainesway guests of the week.
00:34:05Jerry Duffy is brought to you by Gainesway.
00:34:07Of course, home to the red hot first crop sire Olympiad.
00:34:12Olympiad Citrus Springs broke her maiden in Ireland and was shipped to the U S this week by trainer Joseph
00:34:18O'Brien to contest the $750,000 Kentucky Downs juvenile Philly stakes.
00:34:24And she did not disappoint when leaving home a Gainesway sired exactor Olympiad has nine winners and Citrus Springs becomes
00:34:32her sire's first stakes winner.
00:34:35The runner up was Cara Conte's fast closing up before dawn.
00:34:39Look for Olympiad's 47 yearlings at the Keelan September sale.
00:34:43Gainesway power, passion, performance.
00:35:02Olympiad gets the gold in the Jockey Club Gold Cup.
00:35:08And they're at 410,000.
00:35:10There's your winner.
00:35:11410,000.
00:35:12$400,000.
00:35:18The Pennsylvania breeding program is the best program in the country.
00:35:22The stallion awards, the owner bonuses, also the restrictive races and the stakes races for Pennsylvania breads.
00:35:30Last year, 321 Pennsylvania breeders earned breeders awards.
00:35:3422 Pennsylvania breeders earned over $100,000.
00:35:39We have the best program in the country.
00:35:43Take advantage of the fantastic program that we have.
00:35:46Learn more at pabread.com.
00:35:48The TD and Riders Room also brought to you by the PHBA, the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association.
00:35:55We've discussed the big Pennsylvania races at Parks and Penn National and Presque Isle Downs.
00:36:01So this week, let's broaden our horizons a bit.
00:36:04How about Saratoga?
00:36:06Where on Sunday, the Pennsylvania bred Jean Valjean set the pace, lost the lead, gallantly battled back to win the
00:36:13$150,000 Disco Partners steaks at five and a half on the turf.
00:36:18Jean Valjean, a seven-year-old gelding by Uncle Lino, bred by Hastings Farm, trained by Elizabeth Merriman, was coming
00:36:24off a five-length score in the Marshall Janney for PA breads at Penn National.
00:36:28And now has made nearly $400,000.
00:36:33To learn more about how you can get involved with the Pennsylvania bred program, you can contact Brian Sanfratello at
00:36:38610-444-1050 or visit pabread.com.
00:36:45Well, lots of action this weekend at Kentucky Downs where those big purses keep attracting just great fields and great
00:36:53horses.
00:36:54And let's start the story with the Nashville Derby where Caroline Street beat a New York bred, wins the Nashville
00:37:01Derby.
00:37:02Lots of credit to Miguel Clement.
00:37:06I want to – obviously, one of the stories is that he was coming back on seven days rest.
00:37:11But I kind of want to save that for another segment.
00:37:13Oh, man, do I have things to say about that.
00:37:16But lots of Europeans in that race, despite the fact that they race for less money at Kentucky Downs because
00:37:24they're not Kentucky breds.
00:37:26I thought the race would go through the Euros there, but it didn't.
00:37:31And a New York bred came through.
00:37:35And it was interesting, too.
00:37:37We didn't talk much about Manny Franco, who, you know, we won't be able – we talked about him last
00:37:41week.
00:37:42But the sensational meet that he had at Saratoga to win the riding title actually took off this horse so
00:37:49that he could ride the final weekend, ride that day at Saratoga,
00:37:53because he was so inclined and so devoted to winning the riding title where his main competitors were –
00:38:00and Flavio Pratt and Jose Ortiz were riding at Kentucky Downs.
00:38:03But the Nashville Derby, Zoe, goes to Caroline Street, beat Caroline Street, of course, one of the main drags in
00:38:10Saratoga.
00:38:11Well, good name.
00:38:13Not as good as Miss Monica, but a good name for a New York bred.
00:38:16I think maybe one of us might have picked this horse last week, guys.
00:38:19Would you?
00:38:20Go you.
00:38:21I think so, Zoe.
00:38:22And it wasn't me.
00:38:23And it wasn't Bill.
00:38:25Yeah.
00:38:25Wheeling back in just six days, I might have had a little wager on Caroline Street.
00:38:29So don't ask me about anyone else in the race, because I was only watching one horse the entire run,
00:38:35and that was him, Caroline Street beat.
00:38:38Brilliant.
00:38:39The New York bred winning, New York bred winning.
00:38:41Obviously, he's running for half the purse because he's not Kentucky bred.
00:38:44But, I mean, you mentioned the Euros running for less purse.
00:38:47But is it really, Bill, when they're running for 50 or 100,000 in England and they could be running
00:38:53for 1.5 million rather than three?
00:38:55No, of course.
00:38:56I mean, you run for half the purse.
00:38:58It's still not chump change when it comes to these Kentucky Downs races.
00:39:03Hey, you've got to hand it to Miguel Clement and the ownership team for this horse because they had to
00:39:09enter him the day before he ran and won at Saratoga.
00:39:13So this was the plan all along.
00:39:16They entered him the day before he ran.
00:39:19He won, and then six days later, he won this race.
00:39:23He basically won and shipped on the Thursday to Kentucky Downs and then won again there.
00:39:29It was terrific.
00:39:30Brilliant.
00:39:31The thing about the Nashville Derby and this horse, it's an invitational.
00:39:36The Nashville Derby invitational.
00:39:38And Clement wanted an invitation for Caroline Street beat that wasn't forthcoming.
00:39:44So that's why he went ahead and entered Caroline Street beat in the allowance race at Saratoga.
00:39:48And then lo and behold, he's in the entries, he's going to run at Saratoga, and he gets a phone
00:39:53call and he gets invited after all.
00:39:56So I guess you would know this more than me, Zoe, but if you scratch and it's a trainer scratch,
00:40:02it's not a vet scratch.
00:40:04And maybe even if it's a fairly short field, you're sort of in jail for a little while and you
00:40:10can't run anyplace else.
00:40:11So the only way to make it work was to run in both races.
00:40:15And he thought he could do it.
00:40:17Big, strong, strapping horse.
00:40:19He told his owners, here's my plan.
00:40:20They were all in.
00:40:22And boy, did it pay off.
00:40:24Pretty awesome.
00:40:27Well, there's so many big races on the Kentucky Downs program, but the one that really caught the headlines was
00:40:33the Kentucky Turf Cup.
00:40:34And, Zoe, I'm going to obviously let you focus in on this mainly because the winner, Tiffany, a six-year
00:40:40-old mayor in the Kentucky Turf Cup, is trained by your old boss, as you said before, Sir Mark Prescott.
00:40:46You probably picked this one, too, didn't you?
00:40:48I had a pretty good day.
00:40:50Oh, good for you.
00:40:51Okay.
00:40:52A six-year-old mayor that ships over.
00:40:55I looked this up, and this was interesting.
00:40:57Sir Mark has not necessarily been shown that he's been a big fan of Kentucky Downs or U.S. racing.
00:41:07According to Equine Line, it was his first start in the U.S. since 2017.
00:41:14So he must have caught the Kentucky Downs fever that certainly looks like it's catching on with the Europeans because
00:41:22we're seeing many more come over than we did four or five years ago.
00:41:25But, Zoe, like I said, what's the story of Sir Mark Prescott?
00:41:31Sir Mark knows where to place his horses.
00:41:33It's his first U.S. win.
00:41:35So if you're going to win your first race on U.S. soil, this would be the place to do
00:41:39it.
00:41:40She'd already won her Group 1 over in Japan, so he didn't think he had much to lose to come
00:41:46over.
00:41:46We tried to get him on this podcast.
00:41:48In fact, he was all gung-ho if it was just a phone call.
00:41:51But he even called me back this morning and was like, listen, I'm not tech savvy at all, Zoe.
00:41:55I would love to do it.
00:41:57I know you're going to be bereft that I can't make your podcast.
00:42:02And I'm like, no, it's okay.
00:42:05We'll catch up with you at Breeders' Cup.
00:42:07And he said, well, that is the plan that he would like to bring up for Breeders' Cup.
00:42:10So hopefully we'll get to chat to him during Breeders' Cup.
00:42:14But an absolutely terrific run by Luke Morris, who wouldn't be the most stylish of most of the riders that
00:42:21you've seen.
00:42:22He kind of makes Ryan Moore look like Frankie DeTore, to be perfectly honest, dear old Luke.
00:42:26But gave her a terrific trip.
00:42:28Did get a bit stymied turning for home and had to check.
00:42:31But the person who probably had to check them all right behind her was Ethical Diamond.
00:42:37You know, there's been some European participation at Kentucky Downs over the last few years, but nothing wholesale.
00:42:43And we've all been wondering, with the purses in Europe, in England especially, Zoe, that you just noted,
00:42:49when they were going to win the light bulb, the proverbial light bulb over the head was going to go
00:42:53off.
00:42:54And they were going to say, wait a second here.
00:42:55This is a European-style race course.
00:42:58It's all grass.
00:43:00You know, all this money.
00:43:01European horses are better than American horses on turf.
00:43:04Why not do it?
00:43:05And this year, I think they brought 16 horses over.
00:43:08The IRB helped there.
00:43:10They were involved in, so far, there's some more coming up on Wednesday at Kentucky Downs, closing day.
00:43:17Some more Europeans.
00:43:19But right now, they were entered, European participation, in eight races at the meet so far.
00:43:25They won four of them.
00:43:26And in this particular race, European starter had never entered the Kentucky Turf Cup.
00:43:34Three of them did this year.
00:43:35They ran one, two, three.
00:43:38Obviously, great performance from the winner.
00:43:40I was going to say exactly what you said about the trouble.
00:43:42I'm not sure Ethical Diamond could have won if they had gone around again.
00:43:47But one thing about Ethical Diamond, the winning buyer's speed figure here was 107, which was the same fig that
00:43:54Ethical Diamond got winning the Breeders' Cup Turf last year.
00:43:56Ethical Diamond ran a 104, finishing second.
00:44:01There's with a little trouble, right?
00:44:03There's something about America that agrees with Ethical Diamond.
00:44:06I was just about to say that.
00:44:08Those are the two best races of his career on the flat by far.
00:44:13Both of them, his only two starts in the United States.
00:44:18He's terrible in Europe.
00:44:19He can barely win a group three.
00:44:21Terrible.
00:44:22You used to say it's because you could give him Lasix, right?
00:44:26That was the thing.
00:44:28Can't do that anymore.
00:44:29No.
00:44:30And it was hotter than balls down there this past weekend.
00:44:34Like, hotter than Hades.
00:44:36Hot.
00:44:37And none of the Euros seem to have a problem with it either.
00:44:40First win in the U.S. for Sir Mark Prescott on Monday.
00:44:45Johnny Murtaugh, the former jockey, won a big stakes with Jamie Spencer.
00:44:50His first win in the U.S.
00:44:52Richard Hannon Jr. won one on the same card of stakes.
00:44:55His first win in the U.S.
00:44:56So, a lot of American maidens being broken at Kentucky Downs in fine fashion.
00:45:02And the other story in the race, and we kind of touched on this when we were previewing, is Burnham
00:45:07Square.
00:45:08I'm a big fan of this horse.
00:45:10But, man, he ran seventh.
00:45:13And he kind of tipped it.
00:45:14To me, he kind of tipped, you know, I mean, I sound like a genius in hindsight.
00:45:17But he kind of tipped his hand that I know it was a mile and a quarter, but he just
00:45:22didn't look that great winning the Arlington Million.
00:45:25The Churleywood stakes, was that the one before that?
00:45:27Same sort of thing.
00:45:28He won, but he just didn't look like that horse that was so electric in the Elkhorn stakes when, you
00:45:36know, when he was going the mile and a half and all that.
00:45:39So, I haven't had a chance to talk to Ian Wilkes.
00:45:42I don't know what the story is, but not a good day for him.
00:45:46But I'm a fan of his.
00:45:48I hope he bounces back, and we'll see maybe if he runs in the Breeders' Cup turf and what happens
00:45:54there.
00:45:55Okay, so a lot of news on the Jockey Club Gold Cup front.
00:46:00And two big stories.
00:46:01First of all, sovereignty.
00:46:03The reigning horse of the year is now iffy for the Jockey Club Gold Cup.
00:46:08He had an abscess in his foot.
00:46:10In the TDN, Tim Wilkin has quoted Bill Modden saying he's 50-50 to make the Gold Cup.
00:46:17And certainly, we're all hoping that he does because, you know, to see sovereignty versus forever young in the Jockey
00:46:25Club Gold Cup would be a must-see horse racing.
00:46:29But it could get even spicier.
00:46:31They're now talking about running nitrogen in the Jockey Club Gold Cup as well.
00:46:36Now, as we say often on this show, first of all, they're also considering – well, let me back up
00:46:42again.
00:46:43The original plan was to run on the Locust Grove, but trainer Mark Cassie was concerned about the hot weather
00:46:49in Kentucky.
00:46:49Didn't want to make a ship and, you know, maybe perhaps ship into Churchill Downs and have to run on
00:46:54– I haven't looked at the advanced forecast, but on a 98-degree day or something like that.
00:46:58So, the possibilities are the Jockey Club Gold Cup, the Beldame, and the Spinsner.
00:47:03Now, we are recording this on a Tuesday.
00:47:06And quite possibly, by the time you are viewing this, they will make their decision official regarding where nitrogen is
00:47:15going.
00:47:15But again, as a fan of the game, oh my goodness do I hope she would run on the Jockey
00:47:20Club Gold Cup.
00:47:21Zoe, she's provided us with a lot of thrills this year.
00:47:24And if we could just keep our fingers crossed and get lucky, you can get Forever Young a healthy sovereignty
00:47:30and nitrogen into the starting gate.
00:47:33That's one hell of a horse race.
00:47:35That would be fabulous.
00:47:36And Forever Young has touched down on U.S. soil.
00:47:39He has arrived already as far as sovereignty is concerned.
00:47:43I mean, we don't know how bad the abscess is.
00:47:46We do know it's in a hind foot, which is generally better than it being in a front foot.
00:47:50So, just think that all the power comes from behind and you're landing on the front feet.
00:47:55So, if you have a sore front foot, you're going to be a little more ouchy than you are if
00:47:59you have a sore hind foot.
00:48:01And plus, how many times do you look in a horse's stall and they're like resting a back leg like
00:48:05this?
00:48:05It's a little easier on them to rest their legs and take the weight off.
00:48:09So, I'm not sure how bad it is, but I mean, he's a fit horse.
00:48:12If he misses the work, is it really going to make that much difference?
00:48:17He's a bit of a perfectionist and he knows he needs to be 100% to run his best race
00:48:23against Forever Young.
00:48:25So, he is going to take baby steps, but he's a big, tough horse.
00:48:29I don't think missing one work is going to hurt him.
00:48:31If it goes on a little bit longer, yes, maybe.
00:48:36But, you know, initially he wasn't that worried about it.
00:48:39And the hind foot is generally easier to manage than the front foot, for sure.
00:48:43Well, having just gotten sovereignty back to peak form in his last start in the Whitney, I'll be surprised.
00:48:52I'll be really surprised if Mott goes ahead and runs in the Jockey Club Gold Cup because he has another
00:48:58option, right?
00:48:59You can wait until the end of September, I think it's the 26th, and run in the Lucas Classic at
00:49:04Churchill Downs.
00:49:05It's not a mile and a quarter, it's a mile and an eight, but at least, you know, the breeders,
00:49:10he would still, he could still get a prep in for the Breeders' Cup Classic.
00:49:15And it would be four weeks instead of, you know, instead of more time in between races.
00:49:19But I'll be surprised if he runs.
00:49:22Randy, let me throw out another scene.
00:49:25You want to win a bottle of wine back that you owe me?
00:49:28Oh, we can do this.
00:49:31I want to throw out still another scenario to you guys.
00:49:35Is this, is there another possibility here?
00:49:38He skips the Jockey Club Gold Cup, doesn't run in the Lucas Classic.
00:49:42Is there any reason why, if he gets him healthy in time, and so he said this is not a
00:49:47real serious problem, he still couldn't run in the Breeders' Cup Classic.
00:49:50I mean, last year, I mean, he was intending to run, go straight from the Traverse to the Breeders' Cup
00:49:54Classic.
00:49:55We know, you know, that got derailed as he had to be scratched shortly beforehand, but isn't that a possibility,
00:50:01too?
00:50:01I would think.
00:50:02Yeah, I mean, it's not ideal.
00:50:04Right.
00:50:05Layoffs nowadays aren't what they used to be, right?
00:50:08It used to be all the handicapping books you would buy.
00:50:11If a horse is off for more than 30 days, draw a line through him.
00:50:15And that's Tom Ainsley from not all that long ago.
00:50:18Yeah.
00:50:19Anyway.
00:50:20Last half full, he's running.
00:50:23All right.
00:50:23All right.
00:50:24So now, some very interesting news that came out just, I believe, yesterday.
00:50:30And there is talk.
00:50:34And it's just that.
00:50:36Apparently, Naira is just kicking the tires, nothing official.
00:50:39But David O'Rourke, as David Grenning and the Daily Race Inform reported, mentioned the possibility of future Belmont stakes
00:50:47being run at a mile and a quarter.
00:50:50And I'm not going to be the least bit wishy-washy on this.
00:50:54I hate this idea.
00:50:55I hate it.
00:50:57I hate it.
00:50:57I hate it.
00:50:58I hate it.
00:50:59Let me give you the reasons why.
00:51:02Number one, and I know Dave wrote that they've made some changes to the configuration of Belmont, the new track
00:51:08that might make a mile and a quarter a little bit more plausible.
00:51:14But the reason why they don't have a mile and a quarter races at Belmont Park is because they start
00:51:18on the turn.
00:51:19So, you know, if they get 12-horse field in the Belmont, you draw up post 11.
00:51:23I don't care what they've done to the racetrack.
00:51:26You pretty much, even though one bridled won the Breeders' Cup Classic there from some way outside post, which, by
00:51:33and large, that would be a huge disadvantage.
00:51:35Number two, Belmont stakes is called the test of the champion or test of the champion for a reason.
00:51:41It's a mile and a half.
00:51:43It's a test.
00:51:44It's a grueling challenge.
00:51:46What's the new motto of the race going to be?
00:51:48The test of the horses that aren't quite good enough to run a mile and a half.
00:51:52That's a pretty catchy motto.
00:51:54But here's the one that really bothers me.
00:51:56And, you know, I don't know what's going on in the back rooms.
00:52:01And maybe I'm being a little bit too cynical and assuming something that I shouldn't assume.
00:52:07But to me, this reads like, you know what?
00:52:10We're going to take another crack at diminishing the Preakness.
00:52:14And the only logical reason to me to change this race to a mile and a quarter would be it
00:52:19would make an easier decision for horses that run in the Kentucky Derby to choose the Belmont over the Preakness.
00:52:26Because, yes, the distance is a factor.
00:52:30Most of these horses aren't bred to go a mile and a half.
00:52:32A lot of trainers, given their druthers, probably would like to see the race run in a mile and a
00:52:37quarter.
00:52:37Look, they've done enough damage to the Preakness as it is.
00:52:40Leave the poor race alone.
00:52:42Leave the Belmont stakes at a mile and a half.
00:52:45That's their tradition.
00:52:46I don't like this one bit.
00:52:48And I hope that Naira certainly doesn't go through with what I think would be a real bad move, Randy.
00:52:54Oh, you hit the nail right on the head there with the last comment.
00:52:58I mean, right now, unfortunately, and, you know, don't get me ranting.
00:53:02I could rant on this for the half hour.
00:53:05But you've got the Preakness three weeks after the Derby, and then you've got two weeks to the Belmont.
00:53:10So, it's still five weeks from the Derby to the Belmont stakes.
00:53:14And, yes, trainers would rather have five weeks between races than three.
00:53:20So, advantage Belmont in that respect.
00:53:22But if the Belmont's a mile and a half, trainers would rather run a mile and three-sixteenths than a
00:53:27mile and a half.
00:53:28So, the choice would be three weeks to a mile and a sixteenth or five weeks to a mile and
00:53:32a half.
00:53:33And I think Naira was fearful, is fearful, that the Preakness is going to win out in that comparison.
00:53:40And I think that's the impetus here for the whole thing.
00:53:44No question.
00:53:46Especially when you look at the Belmont the last couple of years being won by Sovereignty and Golden Tempo.
00:53:55The Derby winners are winning the Belmont at a mile and a quarter.
00:53:58That is case in point what they're looking at.
00:54:00They're like, oh, yeah, this could work.
00:54:02Five weeks?
00:54:03Sure.
00:54:04Now, let me add something more to that, okay?
00:54:08I've gone off for 20 years on the fact that no business, no sport can be so beholden to tradition
00:54:19that they stick with something that they know is not working just because it's always been done that way.
00:54:26That's a recipe for running a sport out of business, for running a business out of business.
00:54:30And that's the number one argument by far for changing the spacing of the Triple Crown races.
00:54:37And you can also make that same argument for the mile and a half distance of the Belmont stakes.
00:54:43I mean, I agree with everything David O'Rourke said in that article about horsemen not really wanting to run
00:54:49a mile and a half, about the Belmont not being that big of a race for breeders anymore because a
00:54:54mile and a half is a total anachronism.
00:54:56Hell, it might even be a disadvantage to have a sire that won in a mile and a half nowadays
00:55:00when breeders are breeding for a mile.
00:55:02So I do understand where he's coming from about not blindly sticking to tradition if you can do something that
00:55:12you think might improve yourself in the long run.
00:55:16What I don't understand, this is unfathomable to me.
00:55:20The second part of that article talking about how O'Rourke was quoted as saying he was broadsided by the
00:55:27Preakness decision to move three weeks after.
00:55:30It's amazing.
00:55:31I just don't understand how somebody can be willing to be publicly quoted saying something that's absolutely categorically untrue.
00:55:42And he knows it.
00:55:43He knows it's untrue.
00:55:46And yet he said it anyway, and the truth is going to come out, and I'm sure there won't be
00:55:53any blowback because it's just the way it is nowadays.
00:55:57There's not much media anymore covering thoroughbred racing.
00:56:01But, yeah, that one, I just couldn't believe it.
00:56:06Couldn't believe it to read that.
00:56:08Anyway.
00:56:08All right.
00:56:09Well, we are strongly in agreement on that subject.
00:56:13We're going to take a break.
00:56:15When we come back, we're going to learn more about Kentucky Breads and their continued success.
00:56:21We're going to find out more about what's going on with First TV.
00:56:25Then we come back.
00:56:26We'll talk about the Woodbine Mile and also a very interesting question posted on YouTube by one of our readers.
00:56:33Stay with us.
00:56:34We'll be right back in the TDN Writers' Room podcast.
00:56:37The TDN Writers' Room is also brought to you by Kentucky Breads.
00:56:41Kentucky Breads swept the grade one races for two-year-olds in a productive weekend at Saratoga and Del Mar,
00:56:48east to west.
00:56:50Summer Starlet won the grade one spin away by four and three-quarter lengths.
00:56:54Miss Monica won the grade one Del Mar debutant by six and a quarter lengths.
00:56:59The Good Life won the grade one hopeful by four lengths.
00:57:02And Hughes won the grade one Del Mar Futurity by four and three-quarter lengths.
00:57:07And, of course, the previous weekend, Leading Change won the grade one Travers.
00:57:11With the Keeneland September sales swiftly approaching, it's worth noting that Summer Starlet, Miss Monica, and Hughes and Leading Change
00:57:19were all September graduates.
00:57:21Kentucky Breads, breed them, race them, race them.
00:57:24We all win.
00:57:26With some of the fullest fields in the country and quality racing year-round, there's never been a better time
00:57:34to reap the rewards of breeding and racing in Kentucky.
00:57:38Purse money in Kentucky is at an all-time high, as is average purse per race, outpacing California, Florida, and
00:57:46New York.
00:57:47Kentucky Breads.
00:57:49Breed them, raise them, race them.
00:57:52We all win.
00:57:58Be a smarter bettor with First TV.
00:58:01The best horses.
00:58:04With thousands of exclusive morning workouts.
00:58:12All at your fingertips and delivered right into your inbox.
00:58:17Everything you need to be informed.
00:58:20Be smart.
00:58:21Bet smart.
00:58:22With First TV.
00:58:26The TDN Writer's Room Work of the Week is brought to you by First TV.
00:58:31Grade one Frisette Stakes winner Iron Orchard is preparing for her full campaign.
00:58:35She was working here Monday over the Saratoga main track in a very sharp solo 59.45.
00:58:42She won the Fleet Indian Stakes Saratoga in her last start by a whopping 12 lengths and is targeting the
00:58:49grade one $1 million cotillion stakes at parks on September 19th as her very next start.
00:58:58Well, the focus in racing this weekend coming up will shift north of the border to Woodbine where they have
00:59:03a terrific card of a couple of grade.
00:59:07I think there's three grade ones on the day.
00:59:09A couple of their stakes races.
00:59:11But the highlight will be the Woodbine Mile.
00:59:13And the PPs aren't out yet, but Woodbine is telling the world.
00:59:20They've posted online and on Twitter what the prospective field is.
00:59:24And boy, talk about a showdown.
00:59:27America's best turf miler, deterministic, against probably Europe's best turf miler, notable speech.
00:59:36That is one hell of a showdown.
00:59:39Who's going to win?
00:59:40Well, I got to look at it this way.
00:59:43And I have all the respect in the world and deterministic.
00:59:46When it comes down to, and I just said, America's best versus Europeans best.
00:59:52Well, aren't Europeans best usually better than America's best?
00:59:57Now, again, deterministic is as good a turf miler as we've seen in this country in a long, long time.
01:00:03But, Randy, just based on that simple premise, you know, the PPs aren't even out yet.
01:00:09I haven't had much of a chance to really look at the race.
01:00:12But just on what I just said, I'd have to go with notable speech for those very reasons.
01:00:17And as good as notable speech has been everywhere else in America, I mean, Woodbine is sort of tailor-made
01:00:21for him.
01:00:22And all Europeans.
01:00:23So I think that gives him even a little bit more of an edge, probably over deterministic.
01:00:27I don't know what the pace is going to be.
01:00:29I'd see the, you know, the full breakdown of it and all that.
01:00:32An easy, easy pace would obviously help deterministic.
01:00:35But keep this in mind also, because this is kind of a trial run for Miguel Clement.
01:00:40He has another option in his back pocket.
01:00:44Because he has told me that he would not at all be against stretching out deterministic to a mile and
01:00:52a half.
01:00:53He thinks deterministic can handle a mile and a half with no problem.
01:00:57He thinks he's got the right temperament to handle a mile and a half.
01:01:02And so if he, let's say notable speech blows him away in the Woodbine mile, and he doesn't think he
01:01:09can handle notable speech, he's got the option to stretch him out and get one prep into him after this
01:01:16and stretch him out and try to run him long.
01:01:18He could little Mike it, he could little Mike it in the Breeders' Cup turf, gate to wire.
01:01:24He's going to get the jump on notable speech, most likely, especially with Kendrick, knowing that's his way to win
01:01:31the race.
01:01:31It's just go to the lead and improve your position.
01:01:34Notable speech won this last year, right?
01:01:36Yes, he did.
01:01:37Yeah.
01:01:38So, I mean, he's already proven over the turf course.
01:01:40It's going to be a good race.
01:01:41But deterministic will get the jump.
01:01:43But how fast is he going to have to go?
01:01:45That is going to be the question.
01:01:48Well, it should be a great show at Woodbine.
01:01:50Okay, before we wrap this up, we have a question.
01:01:53Once again, we always, I mean, we can't get to all of them.
01:01:56But we love it when our readers go to watch the TDN Writers' Room podcast on YouTube because you have
01:02:03the opportunity to post some comments on there and raise questions about what has been said and ask any one
01:02:11of the three of us, if not all three of us, our opinions on things.
01:02:14Zoe, this one was, in particular, addressed to you.
01:02:18It's from Thomas Steely.
01:02:20And I'll read it as follows.
01:02:22I am somewhat confused by the excessive whipping fines.
01:02:25I thought several years ago they switched to a, quote-unquote, soft whip, which was allegedly easier on the horse.
01:02:31As I recall, Ramon Dominguez was a major booster of this soft whip.
01:02:34I believe it was used in the Kentucky Derby the year maximum security was disqualified.
01:02:38Are they still using this soft whip?
01:02:40And if so, why is the use of this whip subject to these penalties?
01:02:44I have a cynical theory, which I'll keep to myself.
01:02:47What's your response to Thomas Steely?
01:02:50I'd love to know what his cynical theory is.
01:02:54Yes, there is.
01:02:56I mean, there has to be.
01:02:57Yes, we're still using the soft whips for sure.
01:02:59And they're basically like hitting a piece of foam against a barrel.
01:03:03That's what you're doing.
01:03:04But it's more optics than anything.
01:03:06Like most of the general public do not know what kind of whips riding crops these riders use.
01:03:12So if you see a guy flailing away 25 times down the lane, I don't care if you're hitting him
01:03:18with just a piece of string.
01:03:21It's not a good look.
01:03:22And that's basically what it boils down to is public perception.
01:03:26And I'm good with that.
01:03:27I mean, six, eight times is more than enough as far as I'm concerned.
01:03:30Most of the times it deters a horse from winning.
01:03:33I can't remember how many times I've seen a rider.
01:03:36It's happened to me.
01:03:37Drop your whip and they win anyway, regardless of it.
01:03:42Thank you for being the voice of reason here.
01:03:45And I want to add something to this.
01:03:47And I think Randy's getting ready to join in here.
01:03:51But there's perception and there's reality.
01:03:55And first of all, I think 95% of the people in horse racing will disagree with what I'm about
01:04:01to say.
01:04:01The reality, I believe what people say.
01:04:05I mean, someone once said this is the equivalent of striking a horse with a Q-tip.
01:04:10And you know what?
01:04:12That's probably a good point.
01:04:14And not being a jockey and never being hit with one of these damn things.
01:04:19I'm perfectly okay with the idea that it probably doesn't hurt the horse.
01:04:24But horse racing has a huge perception problem.
01:04:27And I still think that one of the biggest threats to the future of this sport is the animal rights
01:04:32movement.
01:04:33And the perception issue is a huge one.
01:04:37And people, whether it's hitting them with a Q-tip or those old-fashioned whips before Ramon Dominguez came around,
01:04:43that probably did hurt the horses.
01:04:45The perception among the people in America do, oh, my God, I think Randy's ready to just go Apple.
01:04:52Black people will find out about that.
01:04:54I think the perception among the general public is that they don't want to see horses whipped.
01:05:01We still call it the whip.
01:05:03They're still hitting them with something.
01:05:06And I'll give you an anecdotal response to this.
01:05:11My very daughter, who is raised in a family of two people that work in the horse racing industry, has
01:05:16no interest in horse racing whatsoever, will not watch a race, and says the reason why, I don't like to
01:05:23see these animals hit with a whip.
01:05:25If you or I or Randy were walking down the street and we saw someone striking a dog with something
01:05:31that resembled one of these whips, we'd call the police on them.
01:05:34So that's my rant.
01:05:37We hate PETA, and for good reason.
01:05:39They're idiots.
01:05:40They suck.
01:05:42But the perception issue is a major one.
01:05:46And you know what?
01:05:47But everybody wants to dump on Haiza, and sometimes a good reason.
01:05:51I'm fine with these penalties that they give to these jockeys.
01:05:55They're not fining them hundreds of thousands of dollars.
01:05:59Manny Franco can afford the $50, $100 of what it is.
01:06:04That's my say.
01:06:05Randy?
01:06:06When riders say it's a safety issue, Jerry Bailey always says that's what the reins are for.
01:06:11Stear them.
01:06:12Yes.
01:06:13There are more situations caused by people with their – jockeys with their heads down whipping than, you know, the
01:06:21actual, you know, lack of a whip itself.
01:06:23Anyway, when they created – this is not one of the new fangled whips, but they brought in – I
01:06:30was at a racetrack somewhere doing a TV show, and they brought in one of these whips, one of these
01:06:33new whips.
01:06:34They're supposedly softer and gentler, okay?
01:06:36I'm sure they are, but it's still a whip.
01:06:39It's still a whip.
01:06:40And this person that brought it in was like, see, and this doesn't hurt the horse.
01:06:43I'm, oh, really?
01:06:44I got – okay, let's – I got two things to say about that.
01:06:47Pull your pants down, hand me the whip, and let me have a crack at you.
01:06:52And tell me if it hurts.
01:06:53Oh, no, no, no, no.
01:06:55And secondly, when you say it doesn't hurt the horse, did the horse tell you that?
01:07:00Who told you that?
01:07:01How do you know it doesn't hurt the horse?
01:07:03Right?
01:07:04So, yeah.
01:07:05I agree with everything you said, Bill and Zoe.
01:07:08I agree with both of you.
01:07:09I thought the whip is overrated, and it's a terrible optic problem.
01:07:13I'll just add one more thing to this question because this is something I'm very passionate about.
01:07:18Remember when they banned the whip at Monmouth for that one meet?
01:07:23People were – it was a crisis.
01:07:26They were apoplectic.
01:07:27Joe Bravo refused to ride at the meet.
01:07:32He'd been riding there for the last 20 years or whatever.
01:07:36There's going to be accidents everywhere, and it's going to be a disaster.
01:07:40Nothing happened.
01:07:41Absolutely nothing.
01:07:41Didn't the percentage of winning favorites go up?
01:07:43Yes, absolutely.
01:07:45Paco Lopez, who was the worst offender in the history of racing with a whip.
01:07:50He was able to get through it.
01:07:52They don't allow whipping.
01:07:53It's either Denmark or Norway.
01:07:55I always get them mixed up.
01:07:56No problems there.
01:07:58They don't allow whipping in Sweden.
01:07:59No problems there.
01:08:01Enough on that subject.
01:08:03But it's nice to – we're all agreeing on this.
01:08:07A very controversial subject.
01:08:09That's always a good thing.
01:08:11Okay.
01:08:12Anyways, we're going to wrap up this week's show.
01:08:15And actually, before we do that, we're going to hear from West Point and find out what's going on there.
01:08:22Okay.
01:08:25That's not very good.
01:08:26You're going to get fined.
01:08:27Your arm is above your shoulder.
01:08:31All right.
01:08:33Our sponsor, West Point Thoroughbreds, just wrapped up the Saratoga and Del Mar Meats on high notes,
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01:10:03Okay, that's a wrap on this week's show.
01:10:05I want to thank our Gainsway Guest of the Week,
01:10:08Jerry Duffy,
01:10:09and we wish him well in his new role at Windstar Farms.
01:10:12I want to thank my partners in crime,
01:10:16my very good companions,
01:10:18Randy Moss and Zoe Cabin.
01:10:20And as always,
01:10:21we want to thank the people
01:10:22that work behind the scenes
01:10:23or the real stars of the show
01:10:24because when it comes out,
01:10:25it looks excellent.
01:10:26And Zoe and Randy and I
01:10:28have nothing to do with that.
01:10:30And that's Sue Finley,
01:10:31Katie Petruniak,
01:10:32Anthony LaRocca,
01:10:33and Aliyah LaRocca.
01:10:34Enjoy that Woodbine Mile this Saturday.
01:10:36Ask me one hell of a race,
01:10:37and I'm sure we'll be talking about it next week.
01:10:40Thanks for tuning in.
01:10:42Bye.
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