A Pair of Rising Stars for McKinzie in Saratoga

thoroughbreddailynews

Gainesway Farm has a rising star of a stallion on their hands in McKinzie, and this Saratoga meet the young sire was represented by two 'TDN Rising Stars.' Danny Gargan trainee Golden Tornado broke his maiden on debut on Aug. 9 and Tom Amoss-trained Big Dom followed suite on Aug. 23. Here their trainers talk about what's next for both promising colts.

Transcript

00:00Golden Tornado is much the best. Fired a big shot and scores by three lengths.

00:12We really like Golden Tornado. He's a really beautiful horse. You know, I spent a lot of time

00:20in Ocala watching him, you know, get ready. He's a horse that we were excited about, you know,

00:25pretty much all winter. When you get him in here, you don't really know who's going to be the first

00:28one to get there. You know, we're pretty pleased that he got, you know, to be able to run here at

00:32Saratoga and run as well as he did. We were expecting him to run a big race, but we're not

00:36really a win first time out operation. But turn for home, you could see him, it looked like he was

00:40going to go by at any time and it was pretty exciting. He did it pretty easy. So, you know,

00:44I think we've got a lot to look forward to. I told Dean probably about five weeks before the run,

00:50I said, this could be our champagne horse and, you know, we're going to stay on course. So,

00:53you know, keep him here, shoot for the champagne and hopefully everything works out well.

00:58Well, I'm a big fan of McKenzie. Golden Tornado's a phenomenal athlete. I mean,

01:03his physical, his shoulder and his hip. I mean, he's probably one of the best looking horses in

01:07the barn. He looks a lot like McKenzie. You know, McKenzie, if he's standing, he's a beautiful horse.

01:13Big Dom on the outside or Dr. Kapoor putting on a show at the spa. Big Dom just in front and Big Dom prevails.

01:21Big Dom was visually impressive right off the bat when I spotted him at Keeneland. So,

01:28immediately I was intrigued by him. He had a good physical presence, well-made, athletic,

01:34and had great confirmation. I had a horse earlier in the meet named It's Our Time that won and won

01:40quite easily and they were work partners. And so, I knew the talent was there. Going into the race,

01:47my biggest concern was what kind of speed Big Dom would be able to show out of the gate because he

01:52is truly, everything he's shown me to this point is that he wants to go longer. Talent? Absolutely.

01:58But out the gate and showing us ability to sprint, I wasn't so sure about that. But he left the gate

02:04well. Turning for home, I was very excited about him. He was positioned well. Looked like Jose was

02:10getting ready to make a move with him. I didn't count on the other McKenzie in the race having the kind

02:15of strength down the lane that he also had. So, it was a real battle. And Big Dom separated from the

02:21other horse, maybe in the last 50 yards. Again, I think showing more distance is going to be better

02:26for him. I think ideally we would like to look at the Keeneland Futurity in the first weekend of October.

02:35The thing about McKenzie is he throws a very athletic looking horse. They don't necessarily have the

02:40traditional look of a strong two-year-old colt like Big Dom, but they're always well put together and

02:46they always have a beautiful walk. I've had some good ones. You know, Quick Kick. She's, you know,

02:52multiple graded stakes placed in a stakes winner. So, they're always going to get my attention at the

02:58sales. And I guess that's why I've, you know, kind of gravitated to them.

03:10That's why I felt a good moment of a brook. So, you know what it's the same one said?

03:14Part here. So, I think that if I can tell you, it's actually a tough one.

03:18Finally, our little girl was talking about who would risk some change.

03:22Well, to keep constant, I think we are going to be thinking, do you think wrong,

03:27we can't tell each other maybe.

03:31Yeah, I'm still going to die.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended