- 7 months ago
The 2025 GI Bing Crosby marked the race of a lifetime for trainer Librado Barocio when he earned his first Grade I victory with Lovesick Blues. Barocio was still over the moon with the upset win at Del Mar when he joined us on this week's TDN Writers' Room.
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00:00:00Welcome to another edition of the
00:00:29TDN Writer's Room Podcast. My name is Bill Finley. I'm a correspondent for the Thoroughbred Daily
00:00:34News. I also cover racing on Sirius XM Radio. And how are y'all doing? I'm Randy Moss with
00:00:40NBC Sports and the Bayer Speed Figure team. Zoe Cablin here with First Racing and First TV. And
00:00:49we're all doing great, Randy. Ready to roll. Yes, we are. Because you know why it was one
00:00:55heck of a weekend of racing last weekend. And you know, we knew sovereignty was good. But
00:01:01Randy and Zoe, the thing that when he wins the Jim Dandy, what I like so much about him and this
00:01:07sovereignty, he has this new dimension. He used to be coming from way, way back, which is not an easy
00:01:13way to win races. Now in this race, he was stalking the pace early. Junior Alvarado gave him a little
00:01:18bit of a breather down the stretch. He knew he had the race won. So he didn't make any kind of
00:01:22premature move. And he just pulled away. This is a very, very, very good horse. And I don't know
00:01:29if we'll get to it today or not. But I think he would win the Triple Crown if given the chance.
00:01:33But Zoe, what have you noticed about him? What's your take on the Jim Dandy?
00:01:38He made his own trip. So they all broke together. Moplex did stumble just a little bit. And the thing
00:01:45that drives me mad, especially with the Jots in New York, like the only shot Moplex has to hit the
00:01:51board or run close, is nobody wants to use their speed anymore. Just go. Open up on the field if you
00:01:58have to. People think nowadays that speed is 24 and change, 48, 49 and change, and like choking a
00:02:08horse down. Let the son of a gun go and open up and look like an idiot and be third instead of fourth.
00:02:14Be second. Just go. Use the speed that you have. Everybody these days, too afraid to use the speed.
00:02:21Now, I'm not going to say it would have affected the outcome of the race whatsoever. But if you
00:02:26are the lone speed in a race facing that kind of field, you better damn well use it. So that was
00:02:33my quick dig there. And they went 24 and 2. And yeah, of course, Sovereignty is going to be close.
00:02:39He was close. And then he fell back. And everyone's like, oh, what's going on? Well, he just fell back
00:02:44because he's not used to being that close. He settled into a rhythm. And he did everything that he was
00:02:50supposed to do. Baeza ran a big race. They go around twice. He's probably not going to beat him.
00:02:55Yes, he did gallop out in front and ran a much improved race for the head scratching that John
00:03:00Sheriffs did after the Belmont Stakes. He ran a huge race and trained really well up to it. He's now
00:03:06gone back to Southern California. But yeah, Sovereignty, he's better with pace to run up.
00:03:12And that wasn't the best race I've seen from him. But he got the job done. And he can lay close. But
00:03:18he's got much more of a finishing kick if he can lay back and come rolling.
00:03:23To piggyback on what you said, if you go, for example, if you go to Equibase,
00:03:30right to their new charts, and you can get the fractional times for each horse at every pole pretty
00:03:37much during the running of a race. Now, they're not dead on accurate. They'll get much more accurate
00:03:42later.
00:03:44Yeah, well, it's partially GPS and partially beam. It depends on which racetrack you're at. Okay.
00:03:49So they're not as accurate as they probably should be. But you can go back and you can look at each
00:03:54of Sovereignty's races. You can start with the Fountain of Youth and then go to the Florida Derby and
00:03:59then the Kentucky Derby and then the Belmont and then the Jim Dandy. And you can look at all of
00:04:04fractional times. You can also do pace figures like I do, right? When you do either one of these
00:04:08things, what you'll find is that in the Kentucky Derby, okay, Sovereignty was nine lengths behind
00:04:15after a quarter of a mile. He was 13 lengths behind after a half mile. And he was running faster at both
00:04:23calls than he ran in the Jim Dandy at the quarter or at the half. When you're running in the Kentucky
00:04:30Derby in the 20 horse field, as we know, there's going to be a ton of pace. So he's going to be
00:04:36back where he was. When you run in, even in the Belmont in New York, it was in Saratoga, a bigger
00:04:41field, right? And you get pace in a race like that. When you're talking about the Jim Dandy and races,
00:04:47you get shorter fields. You pointed out zero pace, zero pace. He ran slower early in the Jim Dandy
00:04:56than in any of his races this year. It's visuals versus data that tells you that. And it's all
00:05:03the pace. So when he runs in a race, let's say, let's fast forward to the Breeders' Cup Classic.
00:05:09I mean, ton of speed. There'll be a ton of speed in the Breeders' Cup Classic. And Sovereignty
00:05:14will be eight, nine lengths back, probably. Because that's his pace. That's his, and as you pointed out,
00:05:22that may be what he's best at, is lagging back in a fast-paced race and then coming like a bat out
00:05:29of hell. But Bill, I agree with you. I think he probably would have swept the Triple Crown
00:05:34in a different world if the spacing was different and if Matt had chosen to run him in the Preakness.
00:05:40Even if the spacing wasn't different, I think he probably could have beaten journalism,
00:05:44given what happened to journalism during the running of the Preakness. And it's just unfortunate that
00:05:47that that didn't happen. But let's appreciate what we've got because he is a really, really special
00:05:52horse. Well, I agree with you on both counts. But you and I have been among the people making the
00:05:58case for changing the Triple Crown around. And this is a perfect example why. I mean, we don't know if
00:06:03he would have won the Triple Crown. No, you can just guess. It certainly seems like he would have.
00:06:07Journalism has run against him twice and he's beaten both times. But, you know, we didn't get a
00:06:15Triple Crown winner this year because of the spacing of the Triple Crown races. And I don't
00:06:19blame Bill Mott. I don't blame Godolphin. This is what these guys do. They know it. The tracks know
00:06:24it. Naira knows it. Pimico knows it. Churchill Downs knows it. So, you know, in a better world,
00:06:29and if somebody would finally get these three tracks in a room and settle this thing,
00:06:32this wouldn't have happened. I think we were deprived of a Triple Crown winner this year.
00:06:38Couldn't agree with you more.
00:06:39All right. So, let's head out to Del Mar, where the feature race was not a maiden race on the card,
00:06:45but certainly the most watched race on the card was the two-year-old race that featured Brandt,
00:06:52only cost $3 million at the OBS sales. And who else spends that kind of money but Amir Zaidan
00:06:59and with trainer Bob Baffert. Tons of hype. He goes into the gate, wins easy, rather impressively,
00:07:08gets a 101 buyer, Randy, which you well know, which is easily the fastest of all the two-year-olds
00:07:14that have run this year. And in exchanges back and forth, I said, you think this is the most
00:07:21exciting two-year-old you've seen this year? Yeah, so far. Let me get into some of the data
00:07:26points. And then Zoe's got some interesting visuals about Brandt. First of all, he broke the all-time
00:07:33record at the OBS two-year-old sale in March for the highest price at $3 million, right? And so,
00:07:41he was eagerly anticipated to see his debut. And that 101 buyer speed figure, and it was
00:07:46visually impressive, was the fastest debut buyer speed figure for a two-year-old since way back in
00:07:542022, when Speedboat Beach and Cave Rock ran 104 and 101, respectively, at the Del Mar meet in their
00:08:04career debut. So, it was a very, very fast race. But if you go back historically, all right, this is
00:08:10interesting, I think. There have been, since buyer speed figures were first published in the DRF,
00:08:15okay, there have been 38 two-year-olds that, in their debut, have run buyer speed figures of 100
00:08:23or higher, okay? Of those 38, if you look at their past performances, how many would you think,
00:08:30how many total triple crown race appearances would you get out of those 38 runners? Total.
00:08:38Kentucky Derby, Preakness, Belmont. I say four. Zero. One. Wow. Holy bull. Wow. That was a long time ago.
00:08:48In the 1994 Kentucky Derby, of course, ran off the board as the favorite. That's the only horse of
00:08:54those 38 that competed in either the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness, or the Belmont Stakes. Only
00:09:00six, and there were 28 males and 10 females, only six of the 38, believe it or not, competed in a
00:09:08Breeders' Cup race later in their two-year-old year. The juvenile, the juvenile fillies, the juvenile
00:09:13sprint, or the juvenile turf. So, you know, Brandt, just on those metrics, has got his work cut out for
00:09:20him later in his career, obviously, because typically horses that run that fast, that early, you can say
00:09:26maybe it's counterproductive physically. Maybe, maybe not. Depends on the horse, I guess. But some horses
00:09:33are very precocious, and they're early matures, and the, and the rest of the crop catches up with
00:09:38them when they turn three. Others are more sprinter, miler types to run that fast in sprints in their
00:09:44debut, and they don't go on and run longer distances. So, jury's out on Brandt, but boy, he looked good
00:09:49from a data perspective. Do you remember that? I want to congratulate Randy. That was maybe your best
00:09:55rabbit hole. That was good. Excursion ever. That was some really good stuff. Thank you.
00:10:01Who trained most of them? Can you remember? Obviously, Bob, Todd. Bob trained a lot, and Todd
00:10:07trained a lot. Yeah. Okay. Because the one that really sticks out in my mind would be McLean's
00:10:12Music, who parked at Santa Nisa on the cushion track, and we never saw him again. I think he ran,
00:10:18what did he run, 110 or something ridiculous? Yeah. Yeah. And, and, uh, I mean, I've got a whole,
00:10:24I've got the whole list of them here, right? I mean, you've got... Can you read off some names?
00:10:27Read off the top 10? Uh, well, you've got horses that you would not... Hang on just a second.
00:10:34Hook and Ladder. Yeah. Remember Hook and Ladder? Uh, Chaluki. Yeah. Bob Baffert ran a, ran a,
00:10:42ran a 109. Discreet Cat. There's a name for you. Forest Music. Uh, Fruition. Names that, you know,
00:10:52Advancing Star, Notional, In High Gear, Kelly Kip. Yeah. A lot of these horses, uh, Plagiarist,
00:11:01Elusive Heat, who's actually out of extra heat. NCC's Honor, Lost in the Fog. All right.
00:11:09Quality Road was another horse, and, uh, Uncle Mo, who almost made it to the Kentucky Derby, but didn't,
00:11:16you know, didn't quite get there. But yeah. Some good horses, then. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well,
00:11:22my take on Bran, uh, he was very impressive. No doubt about it. In that debut, he did everything
00:11:29right. Uh, Pratt was obviously in town to ride NISOs. We'll touch on him as well. So Pratt picked up
00:11:35the mount on him, put him in a perfect spot inside of horses. Now, one thing you'll notice, he's not a
00:11:41very big horse. As impressive as the race was, he's not physically a big horse. He's bygone runner,
00:11:47who wasn't an imposing horse as a two-year-old by any means. He was more of a feminine sort,
00:11:53but a brilliant sort. So he's not a big imposing horse. He's kind of got a small head, small little
00:11:58ears. Looks him at the sale. I was like, hmm. He was very, very impressive. Now, the thing that I
00:12:06really noticed, there's a guy on Twitter that just put up this 17 page tweet about the head
00:12:12on watching him come down the lane because he does wing with that left front. You'll watch
00:12:16him come down and that there is a lot of action. And if you go back and you watch him at OBS
00:12:22when he worked so well over the tapita there, it's different. He's out of a kind of turfy
00:12:28mare. I believe the mare and the second dam ran on the grass. He's by gun runner that'll give
00:12:33you just about anything. And he's got a really smooth action that we saw at OBS on the tapita.
00:12:39Now, you're not paying $3 million and hoping for a turf horse. Well, at least Zedan and Bob
00:12:44Baffert, certainly not. That's not what they want. But watching him, he's a little smoother
00:12:50on the turf, but God damn, did he run well on the dirt. So don't watch your head on. If you don't
00:12:57like it, don't watch it. Yeah, that'll be interesting to watch because I'm not a fan of gun runners
00:13:01on turf. But if his action says that, then, you know, in a big day for Baffert, you mentioned
00:13:07Niso winning the San Diego and stamping himself as a legitimate contender going forward for the
00:13:14Pacific Classic and the Breeders' Cup Classic, kind of well within himself, rail trip, swung out,
00:13:20won very comfortably. I thought he was very impressive. He gave me goosebumps watching his
00:13:25acceleration, the final eighth of a mile once Pratt did not panic. He can't seem to win a race
00:13:32right now at Saratoga, but I was glad to see him go back to Taomar and win a couple there. And he
00:13:38just pressed the button and he took off. And that's why he wasn't riding Baeza, because he had to go and
00:13:44ride Niso's. And you can certainly see why. So question for both of you, any reservations about
00:13:49Niso's going a mile and a quarter? No. No. Randy, no? No. Because he did pass the one test. I mean,
00:13:56it's only a mile and a sixteenth. That was the furthest race that he had ever run in. And he did
00:14:02get the job done very nicely. Before we go to our next segment, I just want to mention one more thing
00:14:07about Delmar. Press release just came out a few minutes ago and kudos to Delmar. They've joined the
00:14:13club with Naira. They are no longer going to allow the CAW guys to bet into the wind pools
00:14:18before two minutes to post. That essentially eliminates them because they need to know
00:14:24exactly what the odds are at the exact last minute. Now, it's kind of putting a band-aid
00:14:30on the problem because they'll still pound the exactors, pound the pick fours, pound the pick
00:14:34sixes, et cetera. But at least you don't have that terrible feeling when your eight-to-one shot
00:14:40opens up on the field and the next thing you know, he goes in the winner's circle and pays 740.
00:14:44So I just want to compliment Delmar on that. And I hope that other tracks will follow along.
00:14:51Yeah, they've had a really good meet thus far. The fields have been full. The races have been
00:14:55fun to watch. It's kudos to everyone at Delmar for making it work.
00:15:01The TDM Rises Room is brought to you by Keeneland. Entries for the Keeneland November sale close this
00:15:07Friday, August the 1st. Keeneland November is where the world shops. Recognized as the global
00:15:13marketplace for quality bloodstock, Keeneland November attracts buyers from six continents
00:15:19and the industry's most influential programs. With international reach and year-round engagement,
00:15:26Keeneland delivers a truly worldwide audience. You won't want to miss it. Keeneland November,
00:15:31the world shops here.
00:15:32It all comes down to this. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.
00:15:38The moment that defines the year. When the world's most influential buyers gather.
00:15:44And every decision, every bid, every opportunity shapes the future.
00:15:50At a marketplace that brings the thoroughbred world together.
00:15:53And where futures are forged. Because every moment matters.
00:16:00At the world's yearling sale, Keeneland September.
00:16:04Now it's time for the fastest horse of the week. This week brought to you by Heartland,
00:16:09one of the fast sires at Windstar Farm. We're taping this podcast on July 29th.
00:16:15It was exactly one year ago today as we taped this that Heartland ran at Delmar going five and a half
00:16:21furlongs in 103.20. That was his second lifetime start. He earned a buyer's speed figure of 90
00:16:29in that race, which makes him the second fastest two-year-old ever by the stallion Justify.
00:16:36He's also a half-brother to former two-year-old champion Classic Empire.
00:16:40You can look for Heartland's first foals next spring.
00:16:45Now, the fastest horse of the week, and you'll be hearing more about this horse.
00:16:48A little teaser coming up a little bit later on this podcast, where trainer Labrado Brascio will be our guest of the week.
00:16:55He saddled Lovesick Blues to a win last Saturday at Delmar in the Bing Crosby.
00:17:01At odds of 18-1, Lovesick Blues ran down a talented Baffert horse that we'll be talking about, Hijazi, to win.
00:17:09In his 41st lifetime start and his first win on dirt in more than two years, buyer's speed figure 105 for Lovesick Blues,
00:17:19making him our fastest horse of the week.
00:17:27Welcome in now to Gainesway Guest of the Week, and it's California-based trainer Labrado Brascio,
00:17:32who had a huge afternoon, the biggest of his training career on Saturday.
00:17:38He's been at it since the late 90s and had never won a grade one race.
00:17:43But not only did he win one, the Bing Crosby with Lovesick Blues,
00:17:47he might just have a Breeders' Cup contender as well.
00:17:50And Labrado, first of all, tell us, you know, you've been in this game a long time,
00:17:53kind of in and out, in and out, in and out.
00:17:55But, you know, what does it mean after all this time for you to get a grade one win?
00:18:00You know, it's a blessing, and it's a big blessing for my family.
00:18:06You know, I consider myself and my underdogs trying to play in this arena
00:18:14and to find a horse that was an underdog.
00:18:19And for him, the horse did it all, first of all.
00:18:21And for him, just to accomplish that, it means a lot for my family.
00:18:26It means a lot, you know, even for my parents.
00:18:29You know, my father came over from Italy and via Mexico,
00:18:33and, you know, he was an immigrant here, and he worked hard for us.
00:18:36We had nine brothers. I have nine brothers and sisters.
00:18:38And, you know, he worked hard to allow me to even pursue my dreams, you know,
00:18:43going to film school and then becoming a horse trainer.
00:18:45I don't know where that came from.
00:18:46But, you know, so it all encapsules, you know, just the gratitude I have to the good Lord
00:18:52and to people that helped me.
00:18:54There's a lot of people that helped me, and I couldn't be much more happier.
00:19:00Take me through your journey with this horse, because working in Southern California,
00:19:04we all know Lovesick Blues, and he's hard not to miss, a beautiful gray horse.
00:19:09How did you first get a hold of him?
00:19:12And talk me through the last year, because he's seven years old.
00:19:16They don't usually get better at seven, Liberato.
00:19:19You know what?
00:19:20You know what?
00:19:21Grayson's do.
00:19:22I had Johnny Pardis, if you remember Zoe, last year.
00:19:26Yep.
00:19:26And he was older, and he just got better, and I was able to win a couple of sticks with him.
00:19:31And the way this horse came about is I was speaking.
00:19:35Nick was always calling me and congratulating me about Johnny and the success.
00:19:39And then I was always after this one horse, and it wasn't Lovesick.
00:19:43It was Desmond Doss.
00:19:45Another gray horse.
00:19:46Another gray, and I was after him.
00:19:49And he said, you know what?
00:19:51Liberato, I think I'm just going to retire him.
00:19:54And I said, ah.
00:19:54And then he goes, but I do have another horse on the farm.
00:19:57And lo and behold, he said, Lovesick Blues.
00:20:00I went, oh, my God.
00:20:02That was the – him and Desmond Doss in my scale of preference were the same.
00:20:08And I would take – I never thought he would just – I never thought he would part ways with that horse.
00:20:11And he said, you want to go look?
00:20:14And I said, sure.
00:20:14And he said, well, I gave him a little break at the farm.
00:20:17And I said, can I go now?
00:20:19He said, yes.
00:20:20Jumped in my car, left my office, jumped in my car, got there, saw him.
00:20:23He looked beautiful.
00:20:25And I went over him and said, okay.
00:20:26I called him.
00:20:27I said, hey, Nick, he looks great.
00:20:28And I thought he was going to give it – give him to me to train.
00:20:32And then he says, you want to buy him?
00:20:33And I said, what?
00:20:35Then, you know, I thought, oh, I can't afford this.
00:20:37But we talked.
00:20:38And, you know, he was fair.
00:20:40You know, every good deal, both sides got hurt a little bit.
00:20:43He hurt a little bit.
00:20:44I hurt a little bit.
00:20:44But it was a great deal.
00:20:46Left him there for another month or so and came – brought him back.
00:20:49And like I said, my team at the Barner Gray.
00:20:51And he just started blossoming little by little.
00:20:54The first race after I come back, he ran in the Gray 3.
00:20:56I mean, he lost by, what, a head?
00:20:59And then he came back and won the stake.
00:21:01And I think what Steve and Nick did is that time that they gave him,
00:21:06it's only like 90 days.
00:21:07I think that just is what he needed.
00:21:09And now he's paying everybody back.
00:21:14Labrador, how about the fact that he ran on the grass for most of his career
00:21:19and all of a sudden at age 7, you find out you've got a good dirt horse.
00:21:23What made you think that the dirt was at least worth an experiment?
00:21:27Well, I tell you, you know, I went back – before I bought him,
00:21:29I always do a lot of due diligence.
00:21:31And I watch all the videos, every single race he has, no matter what,
00:21:36maybe 10 times.
00:21:37I saw that he did like – he hasn't run really well on the dirt.
00:21:41Matter of fact, I think he had four or five wins on the dirt already.
00:21:44But he was excelling on the turf.
00:21:46Steve had him on the turf.
00:21:47Steve Miotti, that is.
00:21:48He had him on the turf, and he was doing well.
00:21:52So when he came in, I initially kept him on the turf.
00:21:55And – but he – when he worked at San Diego, he worked on the dirt.
00:21:59And he always worked really nice and easy, but really strong.
00:22:03And Giovanni Franco kept telling me, this horse likes the dirt.
00:22:07And I go, too.
00:22:07And I said, okay.
00:22:08I had that in the back of my mind.
00:22:10And I'll tell you a funny story.
00:22:13For the Bing Crosby, I have another horse called Wound Up.
00:22:17And he is a fantastic animal.
00:22:19I kind of did the same thing that Nick did.
00:22:21I just backed off.
00:22:22After he won those six in a row, I kind of backed off on him.
00:22:25I said, wow, he's not a machine, so I want to give him time.
00:22:27And I said, I wanted to go to the Bing Crosby with him
00:22:29and hopefully win that because I think he's very, very talented.
00:22:35And it turned out, as we got closer, I thought, you know what?
00:22:38I'm rushing him now.
00:22:39I'm not going to rush him on this comeback.
00:22:41And then I started contemplating Lovesick Blues.
00:22:44And I went through the videos again.
00:22:47And Giovanni said, Labrado, he's working great on this dirt at San Diego.
00:22:50And then, I don't know, something inside, you know, from above,
00:22:56just said, you know what, give it a shot.
00:22:57And I did.
00:22:59You know, another gentleman, instrumental, I want to give him a lot of thanks
00:23:03was Derek.
00:23:04Derek is the agent.
00:23:05He was Flavian Pratt's old agent.
00:23:09Zoe, I forget.
00:23:10Gosh, I'm trying to blank on his last name.
00:23:12Lawson.
00:23:13Yeah, very cool.
00:23:13And he came to me and he said, after Giovanni told him
00:23:17that the horse was working really good on the dirt,
00:23:19he said, listen, I won five of these races in a row with Flavian
00:23:22and on different horses.
00:23:24And he said, you know what?
00:23:24I think I know what it takes to win a race like that.
00:23:27And the way Giovanni is talking to me about how good the horse is on dirt,
00:23:31he said, I think we should give it a try.
00:23:32And I said, well, Derek, I know you had Flavian and Flavian is a great jockey
00:23:37and he had his hands on a lot of good horses.
00:23:39And I said, you know what?
00:23:39I'm going to go with what you're saying.
00:23:42We all, Giovanni, Derek, and I made the decision.
00:23:45We went for it and miracles happened.
00:23:48So it happened.
00:23:49How was that feeling when he crossed the wire in front?
00:23:53Because he didn't just win by a nose.
00:23:55He blew the field away.
00:23:57Owned by you, your son, your wife, and the dog, by all accounts.
00:24:03Oh, my God.
00:24:06Yeah.
00:24:06You know, it's funny.
00:24:08So usually my wife, the great thing that day, my entire family was there.
00:24:13Now, let me tell you, my entire family lives in Northern California.
00:24:16And they knew, Zoe, you know me, you don't see my entire family at the race.
00:24:20And that wasn't my entire family.
00:24:21That was a small fraction.
00:24:23And they happened to come to that weekend, to that race.
00:24:28They had known it was going to be a big race.
00:24:30And it was my son's birthday.
00:24:32And he was there.
00:24:33And he's usually so busy because he coaches football at UCLA.
00:24:35And they started Sunday.
00:24:38And just lo and behold, the day before he starts for the season practice, he was able to be there.
00:24:44And that in itself was just crazy.
00:24:51The feeling was, I can't describe it.
00:24:53It's an out-of-body experience.
00:24:56And a funny thing is, my wife, whenever we watch a race, when she does come, she doesn't come off, but she comes.
00:25:01And she doesn't like to stand next to me.
00:25:02She said, because I always grab her and push her.
00:25:04So I said, no, I'm not going to do that.
00:25:07Don't worry, honey.
00:25:07So she sat there.
00:25:08I go to my lucky spot up there.
00:25:09And we're sitting there.
00:25:10Zoe, you know me.
00:25:11I'm always praying.
00:25:12Okay.
00:25:13So we're sitting there.
00:25:14And then the horse breaks.
00:25:15And I said, oh, he's running.
00:25:18I mean, he broke good.
00:25:18I said, he broke good.
00:25:20And then he's sitting there.
00:25:21And then she goes, where is he?
00:25:22And I go, oh, he's there.
00:25:23And then when they turn in the middle of the turn, I said, he's running.
00:25:29Because he's circled.
00:25:30And I go, oh, my God, he's running.
00:25:32And then when they stand out, I know he closes.
00:25:34And I go, my wife said I was jumping 10 feet high.
00:25:39I was just jumping.
00:25:41I grabbed her.
00:25:42And I wouldn't let go.
00:25:43She was like, I thought I would kill her.
00:25:45I said, no, it was the best feeling in the world.
00:25:48But yeah.
00:25:48And then to come down there and greet my family, who, you know, they all bet.
00:25:53I mean, they don't know how to bet.
00:25:55They go, how do you bet?
00:25:56I go, just bet $20.
00:25:59No, they bet a lot more.
00:26:00I go, you guys are crazy.
00:26:02But, you know, everybody left with a great experience.
00:26:06And I mean, Zoe, you'd be surprised how much they bet.
00:26:08I go, it's 40.
00:26:10Oh, by the way, I looked at the board before he left.
00:26:13It was 45 to 1.
00:26:15I don't pay attention to the board.
00:26:16I look at it, oh, God, it's fine to win.
00:26:18Oh, God.
00:26:19I never pay attention to that because my motto is horses can't read the board.
00:26:22So I just like, okay.
00:26:24And then I, so then when I ran down there, I was like, man, you guys bet.
00:26:27And they go, yeah, we bet.
00:26:29Well, I don't want to say the amount.
00:26:30And I said, you guys are going to.
00:26:31And then somebody said it was 18 to 1.
00:26:34I go, no, it's 45 to 1.
00:26:36And I don't know how that happens.
00:26:37And so they don't know the difference, but they were all like money bags.
00:26:41And it was a great, it was just a great experience the whole way around.
00:26:43And to share it with them, it was the topper.
00:26:47Because who wants to win a race when your family's not?
00:26:50And you're by yourself.
00:26:51I go, I like it when everyone's around.
00:26:53I like to be a family.
00:26:55I like family around me and friends.
00:26:57And it doesn't mean to be a family.
00:26:59It means friends.
00:27:00Everybody's my family.
00:27:00And I like that feeling.
00:27:02And that, memories, you know, there's a journey.
00:27:06You don't remember the final part of your journey.
00:27:08And you remember, the journey is what memories make.
00:27:12And that was a big memory.
00:27:13So I'm good now.
00:27:17Labrador, you mentioned that your son is an assistant coach at UCLA, the football team.
00:27:22Steve Anderson had a nice story about you in today's Daily Racing Forum.
00:27:26Even though you won a winning your in race for the Breeders' Cup, you still have to pay a $100,000 supplemental fee.
00:27:33It said that you were on the fence a little bit, and your son was the one that told you to go for it.
00:27:39What did he say to you?
00:27:40He said, Dad, you made it to the Super Bowl.
00:27:45You know, because in his coaching career, right now he's at UCLA.
00:27:49But two years back, he was with the Washington Commanders, Coach Rivera.
00:27:53And, of course, their goal was to get to the Super Bowl.
00:27:55And he played football at UCLA.
00:27:57Their goal was to get to the national championship.
00:27:58And now, back at UCLA, that's the goal.
00:28:01And he said, Dad, you're in the Super Bowl.
00:28:03So, he equated this victory with the Super Bowl.
00:28:06I agree with him.
00:28:07It's the Breeders' Cup, the Super Bowl.
00:28:08He goes, you have to go in.
00:28:10And I said, absolutely.
00:28:11So, it's a – and I think, not to steal a quote from Dwayne Lucas, but I read it on his barn.
00:28:17And you probably saw it, Zoe.
00:28:18He says, it's a chance of a lifetime and a lifetime of chance, right?
00:28:23So, it's – you know, I always have that motto in me and everything I do.
00:28:28I always swing the bat, go for the home run, go for the grand slams.
00:28:31And the good Lord has been blessing me and it's been happening in everything I do.
00:28:36So, I'm lucky.
00:28:38Liberati, you mentioned you're in your office.
00:28:41Now, most trainers have their office at the racetrack.
00:28:44It's a tack room.
00:28:45You've been in and out of racing for the last 10, 20 years.
00:28:48What else do you do?
00:28:51Well, Zoe, I'm a filmmaker.
00:28:53I produce direct films, major motion pictures and television shows.
00:28:58And, yeah, that's what I do.
00:29:00So, whenever you see me leave, that means I'm, you know, doing a project.
00:29:06You know, the projects usually last, believe it or not, to make a film is usually about a year and a half
00:29:10because you have your pre-production.
00:29:12Well, you have your development phase, a couple months.
00:29:15Pre-production phase, if you do it right, it's a couple months.
00:29:17The shooting phase is not a long period.
00:29:21It's usually, you know, the budgets I do are usually 30, 30, you know, between 30 and 40 days.
00:29:28Editing process is a long thing because, obviously, you edit, but you also, special effects, music, color correction,
00:29:34that takes a little while.
00:29:35So, about a year and a half before you actually sell it or it goes out.
00:29:39So, it takes a bit, I think, you know, I take it, because I'm the producer,
00:29:44I take it from the beginning to the end, even when it's sold.
00:29:46So, it's about a two and a half year thing.
00:29:48And so, I usually, if you look at my record, you'll see me missing for two years, three years,
00:29:52missing for two, and that's what I do.
00:29:54And I love it and just, just blessed to be able to do both.
00:29:59It's just unbelievable.
00:30:01Well, Labrador, you've been back for the last couple years because your numbers have been really, really good.
00:30:06You don't have a big stable, but you had plenty, and in the early years in your career,
00:30:11you had plenty of years where you didn't have many winners.
00:30:13You're 16 for 65 at 25% this year.
00:30:17So, and you also had a very good year last year, and you got your first ever graded stakes race with,
00:30:22visually, is that the right horse?
00:30:25It was visually.
00:30:26Yeah, she ran good.
00:30:27Visually, she ran good the other day, too.
00:30:29She ran third, beating by about three quarters of the length in the daisy cutter, and she ran great.
00:30:34So, I was happy for her.
00:30:36She ran third.
00:30:37So, what do you account for this big year that you're having this year?
00:30:40I'll tell you, I have to give all credit to my help, my workers, my assistants, Gabriel Martinez,
00:30:48and my writer, Rafael Castaneda, and the grooms, you know.
00:30:52If you allow me, I'd like to say their names.
00:30:54Adrian Carmargo, there's Jesus Maldando, there's Eddie Gonzalez,
00:30:59Hot Walkers, Maricela Pairas, and Javier Pairas.
00:31:07They work endlessly, and they don't miss a beat.
00:31:10They do everything.
00:31:11They just, you know, and sometimes they do it twice.
00:31:13We work on horses twice a day, and I think the horses respond because they know,
00:31:19and Zoe, you know this, they know, I'm sure you know this, too,
00:31:21but they know when they're being taken care of, and I think that they appreciate that,
00:31:28and they know that I won't take a horse out.
00:31:30They know I won't take him out if something's off or something's wrong.
00:31:32I say go back to the barn, and in my opinion, I think they know, and they know,
00:31:37and when they're getting taken care of it, I think they just respond,
00:31:40and they kind of reward me or reward everybody, my owners.
00:31:44I have a lot of owners, too, and I, you know, I think they reward everybody by, you know, just the care.
00:31:49What was it like working for Julio Canani?
00:31:52Didn't you work for him for a few years?
00:31:53I did.
00:31:54I did.
00:31:54You know what happens?
00:31:55I have a small stable at the time, and, you know, when I started, I just bought my own horses,
00:31:59and I was stabled about, we were the stable in the same schedule,
00:32:02but maybe I was down the way, and Miguel Delgado, if you remember him, Zoe,
00:32:07he was his, Julio's assistant, and he would always talk to me,
00:32:11and then one day he said, hey, come over here, and he said, Julio said,
00:32:14bring all your horses over here.
00:32:15I said, what?
00:32:16He said, here, we got stalls here.
00:32:18We're going to get five stalls.
00:32:19Bring them over here.
00:32:20I'm like, okay.
00:32:21So I brought him over there, and then he said, okay, you know,
00:32:26you're going to work with us right now.
00:32:28So every day I was there, and then, you know, Julio is, I didn't know how to read him at first
00:32:32because he's this Gregorius type of person, and sometimes you think he's mad,
00:32:38and he's not even mad, but that's the way he thought it was.
00:32:40You know, and I'm like, oh, God.
00:32:42At first I was intimidated, and Miguel goes, don't worry, he's teaching you.
00:32:46I go, he's teaching you.
00:32:47Okay.
00:32:48And so I just, you know, I was like a fly on the wall, just listening, and they told
00:32:52me one thing, and I had some horses, and I was trying to win and know, they were my own
00:32:56horses, and then one day Julio said, you know why you don't win?
00:32:59I said, why?
00:33:00He said, you're missing one thing.
00:33:02I said, you don't know how to read the condition book.
00:33:06And I said, no.
00:33:08Because I, Zoe, you know me, I'll get a horse, and I think it's a steak horse.
00:33:12I'll raise, when I first tried to raise the allowance, and sometimes I get lucky.
00:33:16But in between, and I was always, every time I lose, I feel like jumping off the roof.
00:33:21And he said, you know, slow down, relax.
00:33:23He said, you know, you need to learn how to read the condition book.
00:33:26And so I said, ah, so I understand it now.
00:33:29So now, I do have times where I, you know, but I'm very, I'm much more aggressive in the
00:33:36entry.
00:33:37And I think that helps me a lot.
00:33:39But when you put them with their friends, I think they, they perform a lot better than
00:33:44if you put them with superstars and you expect the miracles.
00:33:48Well, Labrado, thank you so much for joining us.
00:33:50Congratulations on the big win.
00:33:52Good luck in the Breeders' Cup.
00:33:54You're a fascinating guy.
00:33:55You seem like a real nice guy, too, to be honest.
00:33:58And you're someone who's easy to root for, and we appreciate that.
00:34:02So once again, thank you for being our Gainesway Guest of the Week on the TDN Writers'
00:34:06Room Podcast.
00:34:07Well, thank you for having me.
00:34:09It was an honor and a privilege, and I hope to be on after the Breeders' Cup.
00:34:15Okay.
00:34:15Woo-hoo!
00:34:17And this week's guest of the week, Labrado Borosio, brought to you by Gainesway, the home
00:34:22of stallions like Olympiad.
00:34:24You can watch for the first crop of yearlings by Olympiad this summer.
00:34:28The son of Spikestown will have six going through the ring at the upcoming Fasig-Tipton-Saratoga
00:34:33sale, including yearlings from the families of grade one winners Perfect Alibi, Gun Eye,
00:34:39and I Want Revenge.
00:34:42Furthermore, as you know, if you follow Horse Racing, Olympiad was a multi-millionaire on
00:34:47the track, eight 100-plus buyer speed figures, including multiple figs of 1.811.
00:34:53Gainesway Power, passion, performance.
00:34:57Olympiad gets the gold in the Jockey Club Gold Cup!
00:35:15Well, this is one of the reasons we like having Zoe on the show, because as an ex-jockey,
00:35:33she has a perspective that neither Randy and I do.
00:35:35A bad story last week or the week before out of Colonial Downs, where a rider, Tyler
00:35:40Connor, got very seriously hurt in a spill.
00:35:44And the Colonial Downs stewards blamed Jockey Francisco Arrieta for cutting him off and causing
00:35:51the horse to clip heels.
00:35:53They called his riding in their ruling extremely careless.
00:35:57Now, what does that mean?
00:36:00That's got to mean at least six months off, six months suspension, 15 days.
00:36:06And we talk about this all the time with Paco and Irad.
00:36:11Zoe, I think the stewards are part of the problem, not just the Colonial, but all over the country.
00:36:16These very serious things happen.
00:36:18This poor guy could have gotten killed.
00:36:19Thank goodness he didn't.
00:36:21And you give the guy 15 days?
00:36:22Is that in any way enough of a deterrent?
00:36:27No, it certainly isn't.
00:36:29And I think there should be a rule if it's something like that.
00:36:34And I have not seen it, but Mike Stidham's assistant, Hillary, is a very good friend of mine.
00:36:39And it was there, Mike Stidham's horse, that he was riding, Francisco Arrieta.
00:36:45And I think he was on the best horse.
00:36:46And he basically, to phrase what Hillary said, made a hole kind of like Rispoli did in the Preakness, but didn't get away with it.
00:36:57And the horse clipped heels, but Tyler Conner clipped heels behind them.
00:37:01And he went down and he was extremely lucky not to be hurt.
00:37:05Hillary felt so bad that she actually organized a GoFundMe for Tyler that's up to, I think, 50,000 right now for Tyler Conner.
00:37:13Because he might be out for a year because they said it's going to take an awful long time to basically rehab him back to shape.
00:37:21Fortunately, he's not paralyzed.
00:37:23But it should be, anytime he drops someone, it should be an automatic 30, 60 days, something like that, racing days.
00:37:30And if you're the cause of someone hitting the deck, it should be automatic as far as I'm concerned.
00:37:37And you know who should be leading that crusade?
00:37:42The freaking Jockeys Guild.
00:37:44Yeah.
00:37:45You know?
00:37:45The beating J.M. as well, because they're paying for it all.
00:37:48It's a steward's job to protect the riders, to try to discourage this kind of careless riding that can cause injuries and things like that.
00:37:57And the only way to discourage it is suspensions.
00:38:00You know, I mean, there's a long history of this in America.
00:38:03You go back to, I think it was 1942, Eddie Arcaro was riding in a race in New York and put a rider over the rail.
00:38:10And the stewards called him in and said, you know, it was before, I think it was before video patrol.
00:38:15I don't know.
00:38:16And they asked him, you know, what happened there?
00:38:19And he said, I tried to kill him.
00:38:22And they gave him a one-year suspension.
00:38:26Four years ago, I read Ortiz got a 30-day suspension for causing a spill.
00:38:31Fortunately, the other rider wasn't injured.
00:38:36But, you know, it was a string of aggressive riding by I-Rad.
00:38:40And the Naira stewards gave him a month.
00:38:42And to his credit, I-Rad said, I deserved it.
00:38:45I should have gotten 30 days.
00:38:47It's the right thing to do.
00:38:49You know, I'll try to do better in the future.
00:38:52I don't blame the stewards at all.
00:38:54So, yeah, I mean, I totally agree with you.
00:38:56The 15 days in a situation like that?
00:38:58Not good.
00:38:59Hey, so, my bad.
00:39:02There was something that we should have mentioned about Brant in the previous segment.
00:39:06So, we're going kind of zigging and zagging here.
00:39:08But, Randy, I understand you have the inside scoop on how that horse got his name.
00:39:14Yeah.
00:39:14I talked to Zidane yesterday.
00:39:17He was at – this is Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.
00:39:22He was at polo practice in Spain.
00:39:26And he was nice enough to call me back.
00:39:29And if anybody, you follow horse racing very closely.
00:39:32Peter Brant, you know, the big money owner that's associated with Chad Brown mostly, Sierra Leone, et cetera, et cetera, quit horse racing ownership for a long period of time to focus on polo.
00:39:47Very big in the polo world.
00:39:50And so, Zidane and Peter Brant became friends, bonding over their shared love of not just horse racing but also polo.
00:40:00And Brant got Zidane interested in fine art collecting.
00:40:05That's another of Peter Brant's passions.
00:40:06He's one of the biggest fine art collectors, I guess, in the world.
00:40:09And so, Baffert called Zidane – I think the two were at lunch, Zidane and Brant – and said, we've got to name some of these horses.
00:40:17What do you want to name this $3 million two-year-old that you just bought?
00:40:21And he said, I'll tell you what, let's name him Brant.
00:40:24And apparently, you know, Peter Brant was quite moved by it.
00:40:28So, that's how the horse got his name.
00:40:30That's very cool.
00:40:31Good stuff, Randy.
00:40:32Good stuff.
00:40:33The TD and Riders Room also brought to you by the PHBA, the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association.
00:40:39Which wants to give congratulations to two of the latest stakes winners in Pennsylvania.
00:40:43He's a Mess won last week's hard-spun stakes at Presque Isle.
00:40:48He's a Mess.
00:40:49A seven-year-old gelding owned and trained by Scooter Davis, bred by Eddie and Linda Martinez.
00:40:54And Candy Reward got her second career stakes win in the Princess of Silmar on Monday for owner-breeder Warriors Reward.
00:41:03Those two stakes races among 17 Pennsylvania-bred stakes, offering a combined $1.5 million in addition to over $5 million offered just in Pennsylvania-restricted races.
00:41:15As of May, 200 breeders have qualified for Breeders Awards in Pennsylvania this year.
00:41:22Seven are on pace to receive rewards of over $200,000.
00:41:26And some of those are on track to receive between $500,000 and a million in rewards total by the time the year is up.
00:41:35Pennsylvania pays.
00:41:36To learn more, go to pabred.com or call 610-444-1050.
00:41:41P.A. Bread, I think we've built a brand at this point.
00:41:49It's excitement at every step.
00:41:52Roses for Debra just set a new track record.
00:41:55One average for the past decade, Pennsylvania paid over $28 million a year in Breeders Awards, restricted races, and owner bonuses.
00:42:04Plus, P.A. Bread shine on the world's biggest stage.
00:42:07Just three states have bred more Breeders' Cup winners.
00:42:10Learn more at pabred.com.
00:42:14Be a smarter bettor with First TV.
00:42:17The best horses.
00:42:20With thousands of exclusive morning workouts.
00:42:28All at your fingertips and delivered right into your inbox.
00:42:33Everything you need to be informed.
00:42:36Be smart.
00:42:37Bet smart.
00:42:38With First TV.
00:42:40The TDN Writer's Room is also brought to you by First TV.
00:42:46This week's First TV Work of the Week is the exciting TDN Rising star Ewing, who won his debut by a dozen lengths on July the 5th.
00:42:55Ewing is pointing towards the August 2nd Saratoga special and tuned up for that start with a half-mile move over the Saratoga main track in 48.66 for trainer Mark Cassie.
00:43:07That's him going solo.
00:43:08And trust me, I saw this work live.
00:43:10He was going extremely easy.
00:43:13Ewing is from the first crop of the tailor-made stallion at Nick's Go.
00:43:17And guys, I even know who Ewing is.
00:43:20I didn't even have to look it up.
00:43:23I was actually rather impressed that I knew that.
00:43:27All right.
00:43:27So let's go into our preview of this weekend's racing.
00:43:31And what a card at Saratoga.
00:43:33Five stakes races.
00:43:34Four grade ones.
00:43:35Topped by the Whitney, which is year after year, turns out to be one of the very best races for older horses.
00:43:42Maybe second best only outside the Breeders' Cup Classic.
00:43:46Mindframe has entered in here, though he is not going to run unless something happens to fierceness.
00:43:52That is why they name Jose Gomez on Mindframe.
00:43:55But even with him not in here, my goodness, you have Sierra Leone.
00:43:59You have White Iberio.
00:44:00You have fierceness.
00:44:02You have post-time.
00:44:04Probably not quite up to this, but a nice horse out of Maryland.
00:44:08I like fierceness, Randy.
00:44:09I think his last race in the Metropolitan was very good.
00:44:13Raging Torrent was just on fire that day.
00:44:16And I think going back around to the two turns and going the mile and eighth is going to help him.
00:44:20I don't think that one mile was really his cup of tea.
00:44:24But can I see him getting beat?
00:44:25Of course I can.
00:44:26How about Sierra Leone and all he's accomplished in his career?
00:44:29How about White Iberio?
00:44:31He's a little bit inconsistent, but when he runs his best race, he's very hard to beat.
00:44:35So what do you think, Randy?
00:44:36Who's your pick?
00:44:37I love him.
00:44:38I absolutely love fierceness.
00:44:40Okay.
00:44:40Yeah, he's nine to five in the program line.
00:44:44I could bet him at nine to five if he stays at nine to five.
00:44:48I think he's going to get a great trip.
00:44:49I don't – the Metropolitan on that sloppy racetrack at Saratoga was kind of a bizarre race.
00:44:55It was bizarrely slow.
00:44:57A lot of horses didn't really handle the track that well.
00:44:59I'll give fierceness a bit of a base on balls for that.
00:45:03Sierra Leone has won one of his last seven races.
00:45:07He made that one count.
00:45:08It was in the Breeders' Cup Classic.
00:45:10But last year before the Classic, when I was talking to Chad Brown about Sierra Leone, Chad said something very interesting.
00:45:17He said, I'm very happy to get him out of Saratoga.
00:45:22He said, I don't think he has the same kick at Saratoga that he has everywhere else.
00:45:27Now, they've got to run him in the Whitney.
00:45:29It's the biggest race for older horses nowadays before the Breeders' Cup Classic.
00:45:33But, you know, that kind of gives you some cause for pause.
00:45:35I'm actually a little bit more worried about Huayda Barrio than I am about Sierra Leone in terms of competition for fierceness.
00:45:42If Huayda Barrio can get back to the form that he showed, not just in the Breeders' Cup Classic, but in the Pegasus World Cup, which was just fabulous.
00:45:49One thing that we'll have, hopefully, in this race that perhaps we didn't – Sierra Leone didn't get enough of is a good bit of pace in here.
00:46:00And the interesting thing is that the Coolmore partners – now, Chad Brown doesn't usually use a rabbit – have got another horse in here by the name of Contrary Thinking,
00:46:10the five-year-old gelding by intermischief, who's 50-1 on the morning line.
00:46:15Now, everybody entered.
00:46:16There's going to be pace aplenty.
00:46:18It'll be interesting to see if they still run him.
00:46:20Maybe they're going to try and send him with fierceness.
00:46:23So, he's on the inside of fierceness draws post position number nine, Contrary Thinking's in eight.
00:46:29Fierceness has got speed.
00:46:31Fierceness continues to train marvelously here at Saratoga.
00:46:35Huayda Barrio's trained okay here.
00:46:37I actually just happened to see him galloping on the main track this morning.
00:46:41Disarm's in there.
00:46:42He will be kind of mid-pack.
00:46:45So, Mama's Gold will show some speed for Jim Ferrero.
00:46:49Highland Falls continues to train very well on the main track.
00:46:54He can show some pace as well.
00:46:55Hopefully, they don't go 48 and change, 24 and change.
00:46:59We'll get some real pace in here.
00:47:01But it's fierceness race to lose, for sure.
00:47:03There's going to be plenty of pace.
00:47:05As a matter of fact, if Mama's Gold does run –
00:47:08I mean, I know they supposedly bought Contrary Thinking for the purpose of using him as a pacemaker in this race for Sierra Leone.
00:47:16I don't think they need him if Mama's Gold runs.
00:47:18You've got Skippy Longstocking drawn inside.
00:47:21He's usually got some speed.
00:47:23There'll be pace aplenty.
00:47:24I agree with you.
00:47:24All right.
00:47:26The next race, we'll go back and start off the day for the grade ones, which is the eighth race, the four-star Dave.
00:47:33And all these races always come up good.
00:47:37Believe it or not, Chad Brown's only won this race one time.
00:47:40I think this was one of those ones he would have won seven or eight.
00:47:42I like deterministic.
00:47:44Miguel Clement is going great.
00:47:46And this horse got to the lead last time out in the Manhattan and won.
00:47:50And I think he's going to get a similar trip and hopefully go gate to wire at one mile.
00:47:56I don't know if maybe this is a little bit too short for the horse.
00:47:59Maybe he needs a little bit longer, but that would be my pick.
00:48:02But, Zoe, I want to know, how good is Johannes?
00:48:05Johannes is very good.
00:48:06You know, he ran more than looks to three-quarters of the length at Del Ma'a last summer.
00:48:13Now, he's never shipped across the country.
00:48:15Well, he has.
00:48:16He went to Churchill and didn't probably get the best of trips that day when he ran in the Churchill Downs race, the American turf.
00:48:25But Johannes is very good, and he really has trained on very nicely to be a five-year-old.
00:48:30Usually you're like, oh, how are they going to be?
00:48:32It's another year.
00:48:33He's another year older.
00:48:34He looks like a beast, an absolute beast, and continues to work very well.
00:48:39For trainer Tim Yachtin, who's very conservative, you know, it wouldn't be like Tim to ship a horse out here to Saratoga.
00:48:47I don't actually really remember him running a horse himself at Saratoga, maybe one or two.
00:48:54But the fact he's bringing this horse here for his 2025 debut says an awful, awful lot.
00:49:00A great ownership, too.
00:49:01So, Kuathe, the dam is actually the very first horse these people owned.
00:49:08And to breed a horse from their first horse they ever owned is quite a feat.
00:49:13And the siblings had doing nothing but winning as well.
00:49:16Yeah, the travel doesn't seem to discourage Yachtin at all.
00:49:22When the horse made his last appearance in the San Gabriel the day after Christmas,
00:49:28Yachtin plotted out a strategy of running in the Pegasus World Cup turf for his next start
00:49:36and then taking Johannes to the Middle East.
00:49:40And so travel obviously was, you know, foremost in his mind.
00:49:44And then the dreaded bone bruising happened.
00:49:46It seems like every long layoff nowadays they say, oh, it was bone bruising.
00:49:50But he's been off now since the San Gabriel on December 26th.
00:49:54The last time he had a long layoff, though, and it was a very long layoff,
00:49:58he came back, and it was like an 11-month layoff.
00:50:02First out, Yachtin had him ready to roll.
00:50:05So the layoff doesn't bother me at all.
00:50:07The only thing that bothers me, and you mentioned it, the horses had 10 races on turf.
00:50:12Okay?
00:50:12Eight wins.
00:50:14Fantastic.
00:50:15One second-place finish, beating just three-quarters of a length in the Breeders' Cup mile.
00:50:21And then the race that sticks out is that fifth-place finish at Churchill Downs.
00:50:25And that's the only race in his 10 races on turf that was outside the state of California.
00:50:31He got a horrible trip that day.
00:50:33That was brutal.
00:50:35That was not good.
00:50:37Yeah, he was 12th out of 13 starters early in the race.
00:50:40So he got kind of shuffled back, and he got bumped.
00:50:43He bumped with Mendelssohn's March out of the gate, getting McPeak's horse, and he was all the way back.
00:50:47So if you can throw that race out, then I think he's definitely the horse to beat here.
00:50:53All right.
00:50:54Let's take a look at the Saratoga Derby Invitational, grade one.
00:50:58This is a race that you would think would be ripe for the foreigners to come over.
00:51:03I don't see how they beat this hot-as-hell horse.
00:51:06This is a horse that is a group one winner in Europe, and we usually see the horses of lesser quality in Europe come over and win these races.
00:51:18Jessica Harrington's a top trainer.
00:51:19They obviously have found the spot because it's a rich race.
00:51:23I think this is going to be a European race all the way around, but hot as hell with Shane Foley aboard.
00:51:30That's his name, isn't it?
00:51:31Zoe, Shane?
00:51:32Shane, yes.
00:51:33Shane Foley aboard.
00:51:34It's a very good horse.
00:51:35I mean, he got beat only three and a half lengths in the Coral Eclipse last time out, which is one of the top races in Europe as it is.
00:51:42So he's my best bet of the day, Randy.
00:51:44Zoe, why don't you go since you're the European expert here?
00:51:48I wouldn't say I'm an expert by any means, but I can tell you that when you get beat four and a half lengths to Field of Gold, that makes you a pretty good horse.
00:51:58Field of Gold, already a dual.
00:52:00Guineas winners.
00:52:01Perhaps he should have took three of them.
00:52:03But Jessica Harrington, she knows exactly what type of horse to bring over here.
00:52:08I love the fact she's bringing Shane Foley with her.
00:52:10And hot in hell is by far the horse to beat in here.
00:52:14And, you know, he's run well on good turf, which would be firm turf.
00:52:19So the turf situation is not going to be a problem for him whatsoever.
00:52:24He's a very, very good horse.
00:52:26Jessica Harrington does know her way shipping to the United States, but also hot as hell is owned by an American outfit, Silverton Hill, who's had a couple of starters in the Kentucky Derby over the years.
00:52:37So that's another reason why hot as hell is here.
00:52:39I agree with you.
00:52:40I think he's the horse to beat.
00:52:41And speaking of Field of Gold, who beat him in the Irish 2000 Guineas, we're taping this again on a Tuesday.
00:52:46And by the time a lot of people watch this podcast, this race will have already taken place.
00:52:51But go back and watch the Sussex at Glorious Goodwood, which is actually run on Wednesday of this week.
00:52:58And Field of Gold, the Judd Mott three-year-old trained by John Gosden, will be running in the Sussex.
00:53:03He's a legitimate Breeders' Cup mile contender.
00:53:06He's tailor-made for Del Mar.
00:53:07So it'll be Breeders' Cup relevant to watch this.
00:53:10Also, the one-two finishers in the Queen Anne, Docklands and Rosalian, are in there, as well as Andre Matisse, the winner of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf, and Carl Spackler.
00:53:20So now owned by the Australians.
00:53:21So an all-star lineup.
00:53:23And that's Wednesday at Glorious Goodwood.
00:53:26It's going to be a very good race.
00:53:27Carl Spackler laid an egg in his last race, but it'll be interesting to see if he can bounce back.
00:53:33For me, that's the horse to beat.
00:53:35I'll give you a Brad Cox trainee.
00:53:37Final Gambit's been working really well on the turf with the blinkers on here.
00:53:42Numbers-wise, he's a cup below the rest of these, but I like what I've seen from this big, beautiful gray horse.
00:53:49Tiztastic, I think he likes Kentucky Downs.
00:53:54New Century is going to be definitely very tough in here for Brendan Walsh as well.
00:54:00All right, the next race on the card is the Test Stakes.
00:54:04This race always comes up tough, and I think this is the most difficult handicapping race among the big stakes races on the card.
00:54:11Ragtime, two for two for Bill Mott, however, has never run above the allowance ranks.
00:54:16You have Bob Baffert in a turf, excuse me, in a seven furlong dirt race, shipping in cash call from California.
00:54:24You obviously have to respect that horse.
00:54:26Echo Sound, what happened to him last time out?
00:54:28What happened to her last time out?
00:54:30I know, 101 buyer kind of out of the middle of nowhere.
00:54:33Beauty Reigns for Bill Mott is another contender.
00:54:35I think Killwin for Rusty Arnaud.
00:54:37I mentioned the whole field because I think the race is that wide open.
00:54:41Randy, have you come up with any words of wisdom for us for this one?
00:54:45Well, you know, numbers-wise, I was, you know, and trainer-wise, I thought ragtime was going to take a lot of beating.
00:54:53Two for two, extremely impressive, kind of geared down in her last race, which was an allowance at Saratoga, right?
00:54:59She's run both of her races at Saratoga, combined winning margins of eight lengths.
00:55:03Last time out, buyer speed figure, 96, which for three-year-old fillies is outstanding.
00:55:09Then I went back and looked at the July 3rd card at Saratoga, which was the victory ride stakes won by Echo Sound.
00:55:17Echo Sound ran six and a half furlongs and 115.49.
00:55:21She got a buyer speed figure of 101.
00:55:25I can tell you right now that she ran at least a 101.
00:55:32You can make a case, and there's sometimes, you know, there's some opinions, some arbitrary stuff that goes into this.
00:55:38But in 101, it might be deadly accurate.
00:55:40You can also make at least a case that it could have been higher.
00:55:46She ran a hole in the wind in that race.
00:55:50So given the fact that Ragtime's got the rail draw at seven-eighths of a mile, which is not exactly desirable, and Echo Sound is coming off that unbelievable win last time out, it's going to be awfully tough, I think, to beat Echo Sound in here.
00:56:03She was extremely impressive in the victory ride.
00:56:07Louis Sayers is back-to-back wins on this daughter of Echo Town.
00:56:11I know Spider and the team will be here in full force because this is right going to be the start of the Saratoga sale.
00:56:17So Wishing Spider and his Springtown Farm, Spring House Farm, this is a homebred for them.
00:56:23The best of luck here with Echo Sound, who appears to be the one to beat.
00:56:27Ragtime is very good.
00:56:28She will have to face off with the rail.
00:56:31She's gone seven furlongs.
00:56:33She's looked every bit as good in the mornings as well.
00:56:35She's got some really good works over the track, so I like her.
00:56:38And one not to forget about as well is me and Molly McGee for trainer Peter Urton, who, while based in California, has a string in Kentucky as well.
00:56:47Me and Molly McGee, owned by X-Line Border Racing.
00:56:50She's good, and she knows Frankie Dottori broke a maiden by five.
00:56:55She's very, very quick, a daughter of Vekoma.
00:56:58She'll be shipping from Churchill Downs.
00:57:00She'll be on her way in just a couple of days.
00:57:02Peter Urton, of course, will have to come from California.
00:57:05Not sure how well Pete ships, but I think the filly will ship no problem whatsoever.
00:57:10She could upset the apple cart.
00:57:12She's going to have to beat the other two fillies in here, and this is probably one of the most competitive races in the field.
00:57:18Don't forget, Bob's got one in here as well.
00:57:20Cash Call's been training here under the Terranova's guidance as well.
00:57:24So she's been here the last week, another daughter of McKinsey.
00:57:27It's a really exciting race.
00:57:30Nobody worrying about Echo Town bouncing?
00:57:33No.
00:57:34No?
00:57:34Eh, Echo Sound.
00:57:36Yeah.
00:57:37Yeah.
00:57:37I don't know.
00:57:38Not really.
00:57:39Philly's bounce past them, boys.
00:57:42Okay.
00:57:42They're a little tougher.
00:57:44I would rather have a horse coming out of a really super fast race than a mediocre race.
00:57:48Put it that way.
00:57:49I got you.
00:57:49I got you.
00:57:50All right, Zoe, you're up to tell us what's going on in the Clement Hearst Saturday at Del Mar.
00:57:54PPs are not yet out, but you are a resident California expert, so give us a lowdown on what to expect Saturday at Del Mar.
00:58:01I wish I was a bit more of an expert.
00:58:03But I'm in Saratoga all summer.
00:58:06I can give you who looks like they may be going in there.
00:58:13I'm not sure if they are or if they aren't.
00:58:15Nothing like you.
00:58:16Bob's got three listed on probables.
00:58:18Nothing like you, Hope Road, and Rishi.
00:58:21Now, Mandela has Copian, who's trying to relieve getting beat at Los Alamitos a couple of weeks ago.
00:58:29Dorfeda's on the probables.
00:58:30She just ran here.
00:58:31She's probably not going to run.
00:58:32And then Bob has another one in Seismic Beauty.
00:58:34And honestly, I wish I could tell you more.
00:58:37Perhaps Randy can shed some light.
00:58:40But, you know, I'm in the third floor in the Saratoga basement.
00:58:44I'm not a Del Mar.
00:58:45Okay.
00:58:46I hope Copian runs because it's going to be fascinating to see how she handles two turns.
00:58:50As good as she has been at seven-eighths of a mile this year, even though she lost to Los Alamitos last time.
00:58:57That will be a fascinating race if she goes.
00:59:01And the TD and Riders Room is brought to you by our friends at West Point Thoroughbreds.
00:59:05Have you heard enough of Ewing yet?
00:59:06I wonder if the horse is tall.
00:59:08That would be very interesting if Ewing was just, like, really, really tall.
00:59:11Ewing is owned by West Point Thoroughbreds.
00:59:14In partnership, and he'll team with Irad Ortiz Jr., West Point will, for a couple of key assignments this weekend at Saratoga.
00:59:22There is Ewing in the Saratoga Special.
00:59:24Ewing versus Obliteration.
00:59:26That should be a really interesting matchup.
00:59:28And then Irad will stick with Cugino in the Grade 1 4-Star Dave on turf.
00:59:33He carries two straight wins going into the 4-Star Dave, including the Tropical Park Derby with Irad Ortiz last December.
00:59:41Best of luck to the West Point team on Whitney Weekend.
00:59:47All the thrills.
00:59:51Fraction of the bills.
00:59:56Experience the power of the partnership.
01:00:01Change your life, make new friends, and compete at the highest level of thoroughbred racing.
01:00:06West Point Thoroughbreds, the gold standard in racing partnerships.
01:00:13Visit westpointtv.com.
01:00:17Well, that's a wrap on this week's show.
01:00:19I want to thank my partners, Randy Moss and Zoe Cadman.
01:00:23Our Gainsway guests of the week, Labrada Barraccio, and the producers and directors who work behind the scenes,
01:00:29Sue Finley, Katie Petruniak, Anthony LaRocca, and Aaliyah LaRocca.
01:00:32It's going to be another great weekend of racing.
01:00:34Enjoy.
01:00:36There's Doodle.
01:00:37There's a good look at Doodle.
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