- 2 days ago
Dale Romans, a veteran trainer of the Kentucky racing circuit, joins us on this week's TDN Writers' Room to discuss his recent announcement that he will be making a run at the United States Senate.
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00:00Welcome to another edition of the TDN Writer's Room presented by Keeneland.
00:22My name is Bill Finley and I am a correspondent for the Thoroughbred Daily News.
00:26This, by the way, is my beloved dog, Penny, who you've seen on camera before.
00:31How are y'all doing?
00:33I am Randy Moss with NBC Sports.
00:36I don't have a dog on my shirt.
00:37The dog is behind me.
00:40Where she goes.
00:40There she is.
00:41There's Lucy.
00:43Zoe Cabin here with First Racing and First TV.
00:46It's dark outside.
00:47I'm in England and it's obviously five o'clock somewhere.
00:51So I'm going to drink this while we chat through our podcast, if you don't mind, gentlemen.
00:57Zoe, we don't mind one bit.
00:59I think you're better when you've had a couple of drinks.
01:01Not that you're not good to begin with, but you're a lot of fun.
01:04So we like that about you.
01:06Anyways.
01:07So, guys, I wrote a story today.
01:09We're recording this on Monday.
01:10I wrote a story in today's TDN, which kind of resonated with me.
01:15I'll give you the basic details.
01:18A really remarkable story, the Stewart family, especially John Stewart's daughter, Sarah
01:24Stewart, rescued three horses out of a kill pen in Louisiana.
01:27If they hadn't have done it, the horses would have been sent to slaughter.
01:31There were only yearlings that were bought only a few days earlier at a sale in Louisiana.
01:36Normally when this happens, I've never heard of any of these horses, not only racing, but
01:40going on to win.
01:42One of the horses was by the name of Awesome Hawaiian.
01:44And believe it or not, they gave him every chance in the world.
01:49They treated him like a superstar.
01:51They said he got the best care.
01:53They went to Winstar to break the horse.
01:55Lo and behold, he broke his maiden for $30,000 last week at Churchill Downs.
01:59Now, I know that doesn't make him necessarily a grade one stakes winner, but that's an incredible
02:03accomplishment.
02:04And now he's reclaimed by Joe Sharp.
02:06We'll head down to Louisiana.
02:07I wouldn't be surprised if he, at the very least, is an allowance winner on the Louisiana
02:12Circuit.
02:12But another part of the story that troubled me a little bit, I do think that the horse
02:17racing industry has done a remarkable job to make this problem dissipate.
02:23But it's time for the problem to disappear.
02:25And the reason why I bring this up is the story did point out that there are still plenty
02:30of horses going to slaughter.
02:31A matter of fact, the person who bought the horse from the yearling sale, the three horses,
02:37matter of fact, the stewards bought three horses, two others are not suitable for racing.
02:42They'll go on to other careers.
02:43But what happened to the other eight horses?
02:45Were they sent to Mexico on slaughter?
02:49The answer is, this is viable.
02:52This is something that the racing industry can and should accomplish.
02:56I don't want to see another horse ever go to slaughter.
02:59And you know what the answer is, Zoe Cabman?
03:00It's money.
03:02Put up the money and end this problem.
03:04I've kind of had it.
03:06Yeah, we need the SAFE Act to pass.
03:08That will simply, quite simply stop it.
03:11You cannot export horses out of the USA for slaughter.
03:14Not to Mexico, not to Canada, not to anywhere.
03:17It's been put in place.
03:19We've had someone on this podcast before to talk about it.
03:22It simply needs to pass.
03:24Now, where these three horses came from that the Stuarts bought,
03:28the horses they named were Ed, Ed, and Eddie.
03:33So three of them, the three Eddies, were purchased from not quite a kill lot,
03:39but there are a lot of people taking advantage of good-hearted people
03:43that they'll purchase these horses and hold them for ransom, per se,
03:48and say, we will send these horses to slaughter if you don't put up the money.
03:52Now, whether they do or they don't, I don't know.
03:55But there are a lot of people taking advantage of people on Facebook
03:59and holding these horses to ransom, so to speak, for $1,200, $1,300, $1,400.
04:07And it's a tricky situation because do you trust they're going to send this horse to slaughter?
04:12It's not in slaughter right now.
04:14Or do you – I don't know.
04:16There's a lot of it going on, and it's something that a lot of the thoroughbred rescues
04:20rescues are trying to put an end to.
04:22As far as the horse slaughter thing, that has to be put to an end with the SAFE Act once and for all.
04:28Yeah.
04:29And it's a daunting problem.
04:32It's a moral issue, obviously, in thoroughbred racing,
04:35but just a numbers and money problem, as Bill pointed out.
04:38I mean, you go back to 2017, and between 2017 and 2025,
04:44there have been approximately 175,000 thoroughbreds bred in North America.
04:51I mean, that's a lot of horses, and that's just in the last, what, eight years.
04:56You know, there are a lot of horses that need future care,
05:02that need to be repurposed, rehomed, taken care of, fed, you know, veterinary care and everything.
05:09It's an expensive proposition.
05:11It's a logistical issue as well.
05:13And I think the sport has done yeoman's work in improving that situation.
05:1920 years ago, it was horrific.
05:22And it's something that I think everybody in the sport can get behind.
05:24And three cheers to the stewards.
05:27You know, I mean, Jon Stewart has taken a lot of guff since he came into the industry
05:30as someone, you know, who might have been a little cocky when he first came in with guns blazing,
05:36made some comments that might have rubbed some people the wrong way.
05:39But in my opinion, he has really been a big net positive for the thoroughbred industry since his appearance a few years ago.
05:47So, and this is just one example, you know, I mean, they didn't have to do this.
05:54It's a lot of trouble.
05:55And apparently, it's a great story, Bill.
05:57And apparently, just, you know, they were just made aware of these horses at the last possible moment,
06:05almost like what, the day before they were scheduled to be shipped to Mexico to slaughter.
06:11And they jumped in right away and had the resources to do it and got it done.
06:19And I really love the part, Bill, that you referenced it, about how Stewart's daughter insisted
06:25that these horses bought for $1,000 a piece would get exactly the same treatment, exactly the same perks,
06:35the same chances as the million-dollar horses that Stewart may have bought as yearlings or bred.
06:43That's a great story.
06:45Yeah, thank you.
06:46So, I want to get back to a point that you brought up and have you touch upon a little bit further.
06:51To me, this is a heartwarming story from the angle of Awesome Hawaiian.
06:59Then there's the other part that we've been talking about.
07:01But this concept of bail is very controversial in the industry.
07:05Some people don't like it.
07:07I think the Stewart's in some corners will be criticized by this because they believe that paying the bail –
07:13So, here's how it would work.
07:14A guy might buy a horse at one of these sales for $800 or something like that.
07:20He puts it on Facebook that, I'll give you one week, and if nobody comes up with $1,500, I'm selling this horse to slaughter.
07:28And, you know, that's a few hundred dollars, but, you know, these are people that –
07:33I don't know how any human being could do that, but that's, you know, another story for another day.
07:37But a lot of people think that people shouldn't pay the bail money because it encourages these buyers to buy these horses,
07:45and otherwise there might be another avenue to take care of this.
07:48It sounds like you're a little conflicted about this as well.
07:52It's a very, very thin line to cross, to be honest, because there are a lot of decent rescues that will pull horses out of bad situations
08:02and need money and need funding to save these horses.
08:05And then you get some assholes that buy these horses for $8, $7, $6, $1,000 and put horrible pictures up.
08:16It might not even be the same horse.
08:18This horse is in dire need.
08:20It's going to die tomorrow if you don't send $1,500, and you're just pulling on people's heartstrings.
08:26You don't know what's real and what's not.
08:28That's the very unfortunate thing about everything that's going on.
08:33And at the end of the day, the only thing to stop all of it is to pull the SAFE Act in and get it done because that will eliminate all of it.
08:41It will eliminate the post to Mexico, to Canada, because they can't go.
08:46There's no way they can go.
08:48So, yeah, it's a very tough situation.
08:50And I know plenty of people that have donated and plenty of organizations that are mad because people donated.
08:58But it's hard for the general person, Joe Blow, and the general public to be able to differentiate between what's a just cause and what's not.
09:08And the steward said to me that, matter of fact, it was interesting.
09:13They said Resolute Racing has never once before run a horse in a claiming race.
09:18This is the first time.
09:20But they obviously were realistic and wanted to put the horse in a spot where it went off at, what, 3 to 5 as well, which is pretty fascinating because Jon Stewart told the whole world to bet on the horse.
09:31So they made the horse 3 to 5.
09:32That was claimed by Joe Sharp, as I think I might have mentioned earlier.
09:36Randy, I'll be fascinated to see.
09:38And first of all, I'm going to root for this horse from now to the end of the year.
09:42How could you not?
09:43But I'm going to be fascinated to see what happens to him next.
09:46I'm not saying he's going to go on and be a graded stakes winner or anything like that.
09:51But as Sharp said to me, this horse is OK.
09:54And he thinks he can win allowance races, state-bred allowance races at the fairgrounds.
10:00And imagine, again, another one of the quotes.
10:02This is a horse nobody wanted for $1,000.
10:04I bet you couldn't buy him for $100,000 right now.
10:07Yeah.
10:07And Sharp, in your stories, knew nothing about the background of the horse.
10:12All he knew was he watched workout videos online, and the horse looked like he was training exceptionally well.
10:20He was a Louisiana bred, and Sharp goes to New Orleans for the winter.
10:24So he thought, hey, this is a perfect opportunity to get a horse.
10:27He just knew nothing about the fact that the horse was rescued from essentially, you know, certain death for just $1,000.
10:35And now, apparently, he's bought into the story, and he thinks it's a huge big deal as well.
10:39Just look at how far the sport has come in this.
10:42You know, it's got a ways to go.
10:44So, yes, SAFAC would be great.
10:47But 40 years ago, right, I'm a kid, and a very small thoroughbred sale in the South hired me to do publicity.
10:59I was writing news releases and sending them to the newspaper and stuff.
11:04So I'm noticing one buyer was buying dozens of horses for $600, $700, $800.
11:16That's the most money that this individual was spending.
11:20And his name or her name wasn't on the sales.
11:25It was just some sort of nondescript, you know, stable name or whatever.
11:31So I start poking around and asking questions and trying to find out who this person was.
11:37I was going to put it in the story.
11:39I had the leading buyer at the sale by numbers, you know, and the owner of the sale went absolutely berserk
11:45when he found out that I was digging on the, no, no, no.
11:50You do not want to publicize this.
11:52You do not want to know who this person is.
11:55Stay away from this completely.
11:58Focus on the horses selling at the top end.
12:01And that's why.
12:02I mean, this is 40 years ago.
12:04You know what was happening to those horses.
12:06Yeah.
12:07And that's how far we've come as a sport right now that this is now front and center.
12:12And it's a good thing.
12:14And honestly, well done to the Stuarts.
12:17And they say he'll always have a home.
12:19The other two, Ed and Eddie, are still on the farm because obviously they never made
12:24it to the races.
12:25So they'll have a home for life.
12:26And well done to them.
12:28It's good to say good things about people.
12:31It really is.
12:32Yeah.
12:33And I totally agree with Randy that, you know, even though I was, you know, made some critical
12:37comments, the industry has done a tremendous job on this.
12:40But let's take the next steps now and let's do what we can to just really wipe out this
12:46problem altogether, which I don't think is impossible.
12:49But anyways, and again, I also mirror what you say.
12:54The Stewart family deserves a lot of credit.
12:56And I hope that other owners step in and follow their lead.
13:02And that would certainly help with the situation.
13:05We're going to take a break.
13:06And when we come back, Dale Romans, a candidate for the United States Senate, that trainer.
13:11Boy, what an interesting story that is.
13:12He'll be our Gainsway guest of the week.
13:14Stay with us.
13:15I do want to remind you that the TDN Writer's Room is brought to you by Keeneland.
13:19Now we're going to talk about this a little bit later on, but these are the cliff notes.
13:24The Keeneland November sale concluded with record sales of nearly $246 million, the highest
13:31total since 2007.
13:34Records were set in average and median and 18 horses sold for $1 million or more, the most
13:40since 2017.
13:42And for the first time since 2022, we saw a $1 million horse in book two.
13:48The day after the November sale concluded, Bishop's Bay topped the Horses of Racing Age
13:53sale at $1.3 million, a record price for the sale.
13:57We'll talk more about this a little later on, but we'll be right back after this message
14:01from Keeneland.
14:04We do this so your granddaughter can work on a farm someday.
14:07So the stands will still be packed in 50 years.
14:13That's why we come to work every day, obsess over every single detail.
14:21Because the story of racing is written one moment at a time.
14:25And the future of our industry deserves nothing less.
14:30Keeneland, every moment matters.
14:34As always, our fastest horse of the week brought to you by the fast sires at Windstar Farm.
14:38As we head now into the last month and a half of 2025, Constitution is doing it again.
14:44He's currently a top five sire by earnings after also finishing in the top five in 2024.
14:50And this year, Constitution also ranks among the top five in winners and in the top five
14:56in black tie courses.
14:58It's no surprise then that the market is responding.
15:01Constitution has had seven-figure yearlings at Keeneland September now for four consecutive
15:07years.
15:07His top earner this year was Mindframe, who has been retired.
15:10Mindframe now will join Tis the Law and another Windstar Stallion, Independence Hall, as sons of
15:17Constitution, standing at stud in Kentucky.
15:20Constitution will stand at Windstar in 2026 for a fee of $110,000.
15:26We had one triple-digit buyer speed figure last week in a $10,000 claiming race at Remington
15:35Park.
15:35Remember a horse named Get Her Number?
15:38Five years ago, he won the American Pharoah, beating future Preakness winner Ron Bauer.
15:42He was later fourth in the Arkansas Derby, second in the Bing Crosby, beaten ahead in the
15:47cigar mile, finishing ahead of Wyatt Abario, and then his form went badly south.
15:52And this summer at Del Mar, Get Her Number was claimed for $12,500.
15:57He's now seven years old.
15:58So he resurfaces on Saturday at Remington with the new trainer, Robertino Diodoro.
16:04And in his first start for Diodoro, Get Her Number has a flashback.
16:07Six furlongs, 108.78.
16:11An eight-length victory, his first win in almost exactly three years.
16:16And Get Her Number got a number of 103.
16:21Get Her Number, our fastest horse of the week.
16:24Welcome to now the Gaines Way Guest of the Week.
16:30It's Dale Romans.
16:31You know him as a horse trainer, but soon, if things break his way, you might know him
16:35as a United States Senator from the state of Kentucky.
16:37He announced last week that he is running in the Democratic primary to try to win the
16:42seat vacated by Mitch McConnell's retirement.
16:44But before we get to Dale's interview, let's look back and take a look at his first campaign
16:48video.
16:49It takes two minutes to win a Derby, but it takes a lifetime to win a community.
17:04I've been in Kentucky my entire life, and I think I know what Kentucky needs in Washington.
17:10An independent Democrat that can go to Washington, D.C. and vote for what's right for the people
17:15of Kentucky.
17:16I've been successful in my life.
17:18I grew up with nothing, worked hard to get to where I am, but working every day with
17:23the people that I work with, they'll keep me grounded.
17:27You know, this is a family affair, horse racing and working inside of a barn.
17:31I've traveled around the world, but I also saw the plight of the immigrant workforce we
17:36needed back here.
17:37The ones that are here working, doing jobs that are necessary in this country.
17:41We need those people.
17:42We don't need a fight.
17:44We need a fix.
17:44Kentucky is the greatest place in the world.
17:48It's the heart of the United States.
17:50We need to keep Kentucky great.
17:52Education was a hard thing for me.
17:54In second grade, I was diagnosed severely dyslexic.
17:57School was always hard.
17:59But along the way, I realized how important education is and how we can educate kids differently.
18:03Good afternoon.
18:04Hey, how are you?
18:05Good.
18:06Of course, my mother was a single mother, raising three boys by herself, but she was not going
18:10to let me fall through the cracks.
18:11It's always 60 years right here.
18:13This is where I learned the true values of hard work.
18:16That's my grandfather.
18:17Big union man.
18:19He loved FDR.
18:21Best thing to the Democratic Party was for the working class.
18:23Yes.
18:24And that's the way it should be.
18:27I never imagined ever having a horse in the Kentucky Derby.
18:31And then all of a sudden, we got that opportunity.
18:34I know how to win as an underdog.
18:35I know how to come from behind.
18:37And there's a lot of strength in electing a Democratic senator from a red state.
18:41I wouldn't be beholden to the party, but I also wouldn't be a puppet to the president
18:45like a Republican freshman senator would have to be.
18:48Kentucky is ready for an independent Democrat in 2026.
18:51I'm Dale Romans.
18:53I've won for myself my whole life.
18:55Now I'm ready to win for Kentucky.
19:01Dale, welcome.
19:03And first of all, I want to express a little bit of just wonderment.
19:06You're a very successful trainer.
19:08You're the leading trainer in the history of Churchill Downs.
19:11You won the Travers beating American Pharoah.
19:13You won the Preakness Stakes.
19:15You're training the hottest.
19:17You trained the hottest sire in the sport today.
19:19Not this time.
19:20You seem to really enjoy the job.
19:23Meanwhile, right now, Washington is a snake pit, a cesspool, whatever you want to call
19:27it.
19:28What the heck are you thinking, Dale?
19:30Well, yeah, I'm more than a horse trainer.
19:31I'm also the president of the HBPA, our horseman's group.
19:34I'm on the board of the Racing Authority.
19:37I've been on the arena board.
19:39I've been the vice president of our HBPA for 30 years.
19:42I've spent a lot of time on Capitol Hill.
19:44As Zoe knows, we spent a full day there together one time.
19:46And I've been behind the scenes on a lot of political issues.
19:52I've supported a lot of our Democratic candidates inside the state of Kentucky.
19:56Spent a lot of time in Frankfurt working on issues like the VLT situation we have and helping
20:02Kentucky grow its whole entire horse industry here.
20:07So politics has always been a side gig of mine.
20:11And this seat became open.
20:13And at this stage of my life, I think I could do a lot of good and help people from Kentucky
20:18by getting to Washington.
20:21All right.
20:22You know Steve Kornacki, right?
20:24Know him?
20:25Yes, I do.
20:26Okay.
20:26He's an NBC guy, horse racing guy, political animal.
20:31He does a lot of polling and stuff on NBC.
20:33So when you made your announcement, of course, the texts were flying back and forth between
20:38all of us.
20:39Can you believe this?
20:40Look at Dale.
20:40This is so cool.
20:42And Kornacki thought it was cool.
20:44But he said, Dale is about to be a bigger long shot than any horse he's ever run because
20:52he's running as a Democrat in a Trump plus 32 state.
20:57Why Democrat instead of Republican if you're going to be in Kentucky, obviously?
21:04It would have been a phony issue.
21:05A lot of people said, change your party to Republican and run as a Republican or run as
21:09an independent.
21:10That's not what I am.
21:10I'm a Democrat, but I'm a very centrist Democrat.
21:14Senator Manchin, I've been talking to him a lot about running because he came from West
21:17Virginia.
21:17And he told me, I identify myself as an independent Democrat.
21:21And he said, from your state, there would become a lot of power coming from a red state
21:25and being a Democratic senator because they can never primary.
21:28You don't have to go along with the party on anything.
21:31You vote for what's right for Kentucky and what's right for this country.
21:34And it's a good place to be in.
21:37And, you know, everybody says we're such a red state.
21:40They did vote for Trump.
21:41But we've seen in all the elections in the last couple of weeks that people don't just
21:45follow what Trump says and who to vote for.
21:47We have a Democrat governor, a very popular one.
21:50It's won a couple of terms.
21:52We just haven't had an opportunity really to have a senator.
21:54For 30 years, we had two institutions in Mitch McConnell and Jim Bunning.
22:00And then Rand Paul came in.
22:01And I don't know, we ran the strongest candidate.
22:03And he won a seat.
22:05So there really hasn't been a lot of opportunity for a Democrat to run for a senatorial seat
22:09in the state of Kentucky.
22:11I'm just going to give it all I can, see what I can do, see if I can win this primary
22:15as a centrist Democrat.
22:17We'll get into the general.
22:18And who knows what the political environment will be next November.
22:21Well, I'm certainly rooting for you.
22:25You mentioned at the top that we both went to the Senate together.
22:292012, guys, you probably didn't hear this story.
22:32Dale had just won the Preakness and a buddy of his is in the Senate.
22:35He's like, hey, Zoe, do you want to come to Capitol Hill?
22:38Do you want to go see the Senate?
22:40I'm like, sure.
22:41So we go in the whole building.
22:43We go through all the red tape.
22:45And then we go into this big round room.
22:48And Dale's like, lay on the floor in here.
22:50And I didn't know what was going on.
22:52I'm like, OK.
22:53So I lay on the floor.
22:54He's like, you're actually lying in place where the dead presidents lay.
22:58It was the most amazing thing.
23:02Isn't it?
23:02It's the last thing any president sees, what Zoe was staring up at.
23:09It was a really fun day.
23:11So Dale's always loved politics.
23:13But, I mean, Dale, you've had a long history with the Democratic Party,
23:18your daughter Bailey.
23:19Did she not work on Hillary Clinton's campaign trail as well?
23:24She worked on Hillary.
23:25She worked on Pete Buttigieg.
23:26My future son-in-law was the scheduler for Pete Buttigieg.
23:30And, you know, she got into all that because I was so much into politics
23:34all the time.
23:35Now, she's left to me.
23:37We argue about a lot of issues.
23:39So I like to think I'm dead in the center.
23:41And that's where we need to lead from.
23:43I mean, the fringes are getting way too much news and too much stuff done.
23:48We all live in the middle.
23:49And, you know, the difference between a Republican and Democrat
23:52in the center in Kentucky is so small.
23:54Hopefully people see that and they vote for the person and not the party.
23:57Well, they say the challenges of being a conservative Democrat
24:03or a liberal Republican, let's say, is not really so much getting public
24:08support as much as getting money because the money seems to come from the
24:13fringes.
24:13So how are you going to overcome that?
24:16I'll tell you what.
24:17We spend less than a week and the money's coming in pretty well.
24:20Some good endorsements are coming in.
24:22And it couldn't ask for a better rollout in the first week.
24:25So it is it ends up being all about the money, which is crazy.
24:29I mean, at the end of the day, this is going to be a 200 million dollar race
24:32between the two candidates, if not more, to try to win this seat in the Senate.
24:37And that's ridiculous that we have to spend that much money to get the word out.
24:43Dale, many times you've mentioned that one of the issues that means the most to you
24:47is immigration reform.
24:48I'm sure part of that is your history as a horse trainer, where there's a lot of issues
24:53with the whole virtually the almost the entire workforce at Churchill Downs and most racetracks
24:59now are foreigners.
25:01So far, ICE has not, for the best of my knowledge, really come into any racetracks, did a little
25:06bit of a Delta Downs or a quarter horse meet and deported people.
25:09But tell us more about your feelings on this issue.
25:12Is it fixable?
25:13And what is the answer?
25:15It is fixable.
25:16You know, a third of your all's telecast here is an immigrant workforce.
25:23But it's not just horse racing.
25:25It's so many different industries around the country that need this labor force of jobs
25:31that Americans don't have to do because there's so much opportunity.
25:35We're at 4% unemployment.
25:37There's so much other opportunity.
25:38People don't need to have to pick crops.
25:40They don't have to come to the barns at 4 o'clock in the morning.
25:42They don't have to put roofs on.
25:44So we need an immigrant labor force in this country that makes sense.
25:48It's become a political talking point for Republicans.
25:50Just deport everybody.
25:52It's unrealistic.
25:53I mean, there's $25 billion been paid in the Social Security system by undocumented people
25:57that nobody wants to talk about.
26:00To me, it's an easy fix.
26:01There's a 10-year ban rule where if you've been in this country undocumented for one day,
26:07then you're banned from applying for a visa for 10 years.
26:11First thing we knew is suspend that rule.
26:13I think it was a Clinton law that backfired.
26:15What it ended up doing is made everybody just stay here all the time because they knew if
26:18they ever went home, they couldn't get another visa.
26:20If we suspended that rule and a person has an employer that will sponsor them, that they
26:27can pass a background check, that they're not taking an American's job, we make a work
26:31permit.
26:32We don't need a path to citizenship.
26:34We need a path to work permit.
26:35It would be something common sense that's a renewable annual work permit.
26:39And I think, you know, I've been on Capitol Hill twice in the last year trying to get
26:44this issue through.
26:45I've gotten as far as Secretary Rollins at a meeting with her, and you just can't get
26:49it over the line because it's a political pawn.
26:52And it makes no sense to me.
26:54Even when I sat with Mitch McConnell for a long time in March, he said both sides agree.
26:59He agreed with me 100% on what we should do.
27:01He said neither side wants the other side to get the win.
27:05It would be one of the first issues I want to work on.
27:07We need to document, not to port.
27:09That's a more realistic situation for a labor force that we have to have in this country.
27:13You know, affordability is such a big thing in the last couple of elections.
27:17You take out that workforce that we have and see how much things go up because you're not
27:22going to be able to afford them.
27:23You have to have this labor force.
27:25And they are not taking away American jobs because anybody that gets a visa, you have to
27:31try to hire an American worker first.
27:33And they just don't need these jobs.
27:36They don't have to do them.
27:38So I think it's just a common sense thing that we could do.
27:41We could move quickly on it.
27:43And I don't care who gets the credit.
27:45We'll let Donald Trump get the credit.
27:46Let's just get this thing fixed.
27:48My whole motto is going to be I'm not going up there and fight for anybody.
27:51I'm going up there and work for everybody.
27:53Yeah.
27:54I mean, politics has become almost like a sporting event now.
27:56It's us versus them.
27:58Democrats don't want to give Republicans credit.
28:00Republicans don't want to give Democrats credit and nobody seems to be all in for the people.
28:05What's best for the people?
28:06Is that what really resonates with you right now?
28:08That's what's resonated with me and one of the reasons I want to go up there.
28:13One term is plenty.
28:14Let me get up there, try to get a few things done that I think are important.
28:17If you want me out after the first term, that's fine.
28:19I'm not going to placate to anyone.
28:21I'm going to do what's right for the Kentucky people, what's right for America.
28:25How long have you been thinking about this, Dale?
28:28Well, I've been thinking, I've always wanted to run for something for a long time.
28:31You know how politically active I am on things, Zoe.
28:34And when this seat came up, I called the governor, which is a friend of mine, Annie Brashear,
28:39and I told him, what do you think about this?
28:40And he hesitated for a second.
28:41He got to thinking about it.
28:42He said, you know, it might make some sense.
28:44It's the kind of politicians we need in Washington.
28:48He said, I think that you should take a shot at it.
28:50Of course, he won't endorse me during the primary, but he's got to stay back during the primary.
28:59But once we talked about it, he said, you know, there's a type of Democrat that's going to win.
29:04He's got to have deep roots in Kentucky.
29:05You've got to have a little bit of name recognition, no voting record.
29:08He said, you've got all three.
29:09Go out and resonate with the people, and you can win the primary, and we'll just worry about the general after that.
29:13Dale, in the 2025 elections, it was the first time that the Democrats had any good news in quite some time.
29:20And all the winning issues were about affordability, kitchen table issues, how people are struggling to make ends meet.
29:28How do you relate to that?
29:30What can you do as a senator to help that situation?
29:34And is that part of your background as well?
29:36Do you identify with these people?
29:37I identify 100 percent.
29:39You know, I was raised basically a single mother, raising basically three boys, basically by herself, paycheck to paycheck.
29:45I know the struggles of that.
29:46And then I grew up, I've lived in attack rooms.
29:49I've lived in an attack room at Hialeah with two hot walkers working for Woody Stevens.
29:53I understand those struggles.
29:55And then I've also, you know, built a successful career inside of our signature industry.
29:59I know what it takes to build a business.
30:01I know the hardships, having the labor force, paying all your withholdings, all the regulations to get involved with.
30:08And I think that my life experiences would serve me very well on Capitol Hill from the time I was born until today.
30:15You know, they were going through my Rolodex looking for people that might want to donate.
30:19So it's the most unique Rolodex my guys that they've ever seen.
30:23So not only do I talk to billionaires every day, but I call my hot walkers and talk to them, too.
30:28So I cover the entire spectrum.
30:32So what about your current job?
30:34I'm not going anywhere.
30:35I train horses for fun.
30:36This is my fun.
30:39I'm going to figure out a way to keep doing this.
30:41At least, you know, through the campaign, it's not a problem.
30:43I've told all my guys nothing starts till after 11 o'clock.
30:46If I have a horse in, I'm there.
30:48And we've got to work around my training schedule.
30:51After I'm a senator, I think I can still do it.
30:54Dale, if somebody, like, walked into you now that hadn't seen you in five years,
30:59they're going to notice a major change, not only in your stature, but physically, mentally.
31:06You've been through a lot and a lot of good things have happened to you over the past couple of years.
31:11Do you think this is like the right time for you to start now?
31:14You're in the best place you could possibly be in physically and mentally.
31:18I'm in the best place I've been in my life.
31:20You're right, Zoe.
31:21You've known me a long time.
31:22We've had a lot of fun together.
31:23It's, you know, I was excess on everything.
31:27I ate too much.
31:27I drank too much.
31:28I ran too much.
31:30But a few years ago, I decided I needed to make major changes or I wasn't going to be here.
31:35And the first thing I did was have gastric sleeve surgery.
31:37I lost 180 pounds.
31:39Two years ago, I went into rehab.
31:41And that's another thing I want to work on in Capitol Hill is our whole rehab system.
31:46I've quit drinking, haven't had a drink in two years.
31:49Later today, I will be a part of my 12-step program, continuing to do that.
31:54I've never been healthier or happier in my life.
31:58So how much has your phone been blowing up for the past week?
32:01It went crazy that first day.
32:02I can't imagine.
32:03It went crazy that first day.
32:05And you know what?
32:05I can't believe that because I was a little bit apprehensive about it.
32:09Most people think it is a crazy thing.
32:11But I can't believe the support and enthusiastic support I've gotten from outside the industry,
32:16but really from inside the industry.
32:17Some of my peers have really stepped up.
32:20Todd and Tracy Pletcher were the first two to come over and say, what can we do?
32:24And they maxed out contributions.
32:26And I don't want to go through the whole list of everybody since they were first.
32:29I feel good about saying it about them.
32:30And that meant a lot to me.
32:32A lot more than just trying to win a campaign.
32:35Dale, you have some formidable opponents that you're going to have to beat to make this successful.
32:40First of all, in the Democratic primary, Amy McGrath, who I know you have a lot of respect for.
32:46She has run for several offices.
32:48I asked you this question when I did the TN Q&A with her.
32:52But with all due respect to her, is it time for a change to try someone new?
32:57And then fast forward, if you can get to that, Andy Barr will likely be your opponent in the general election if, in fact, you win the Democratic.
33:07He's also a very strong candidate.
33:09I know you also have a lot of respect for him.
33:11But could you speak of the two and the difficulty of beating two people that have a lot of things going for them in the state of Kentucky?
33:21Well, Amy, I don't know Amy, but I do respect the fact she's put herself out there several times.
33:27And you have to respect that, that she's wanting to do what's right.
33:31I don't think she can win a general.
33:33And I just think that I would have a better chance at winning a general.
33:36I mean, she's already lost two good races, two big races I know of.
33:40As far as Andy goes, Andy's a friend of mine.
33:42But I disagree with him on a lot of issues.
33:45I think that, you know, I'm not going to knock Andy in any way.
33:47I talked to him last week, by the way.
33:49I said I had to call him about a political issue that I was concerned about through the HBPA.
33:54And we were sitting there talking.
33:56I said, how often do you think two candidates running against one another have sat down and talked about an issue?
34:01And he said it probably doesn't happen very often.
34:04But we'll just meet Andy when we get through the primary and see what happens.
34:09Dale, another issue that you've brought up is Haiza.
34:12And it's not necessarily whether you're a Haiza fan or not a Haiza fan.
34:16But you have brought up that this is quite an expensive, very expensive proposition that was that the horse industry was, I don't know, is forced to strong a word, but I'll use it anyways, was forced to accept.
34:30And we had a story in the Thurber Daily News last week about Emerald Downs saying we could literally go out of business because we can't afford this.
34:38Now, I'm sure the Keenlands in the world can, but the smaller tracks, this is a very big problem.
34:43I know you feel that the government needs to step in.
34:46The government said you've got to do this and then didn't give the horse racing industry a penny.
34:49How do you get the government to step up and help racing?
34:52You know, this is a bill written by Andy Barr we were just talking about.
34:55And I don't have a problem with government or federal oversight, but I do have a problem with an unfunded mandate.
35:02They put out there a $70 million a year program and say you have to pay for it and you have to let them oversee you.
35:10Something's wrong with that.
35:11It shouldn't have been an unfunded mandate and everybody says, well, it couldn't pass without it.
35:14Well, but no bill is better than a bad bill and the federal government should step up and help.
35:18It's going to bankrupt a lot of small racetracks like Emerald Downs.
35:21And they're just as important to the economics of horse racing as Churchill and Keeneland are, or Belmont Park.
35:28Probably the three that can afford it, maybe the only ones that can really afford it.
35:32We need all these little states' operations up and running.
35:35So that would be one thing I wanted to work on.
35:37It's a federal law.
35:38We have to live with it, but we shouldn't have to pay for it.
35:42All right.
35:42One more question for you.
35:43What's going to be harder to pull off, beating American pharaoh or being elected senator from Kentucky?
35:50Everybody keeps saying I'm a long shot.
35:51You better tell Steve to bet on me.
35:53All right.
35:58Well, Dale, thanks so much for being our Gainesville, I guess.
36:00Anybody else have any other questions?
36:02Yeah, Dale, how does it feel to be a granddad?
36:05Congratulations.
36:07It's good stuff.
36:07Two weeks old tomorrow.
36:09Yeah, that's pretty good.
36:10Everybody told us how great it would be, and it's better than we could have expected.
36:15That's awesome.
36:16That's awesome.
36:17Well, Dale, this is very exciting news, and everybody in the racing industry will be watching it.
36:22I'm glad that your peers have stepped up, and let's hope that the entire Kentucky racing industry hears your message,
36:30because you do have absolutely an important message to tell everybody.
36:34Thanks so much for being our Gainesway Guest of the Week, and maybe we'll interview you next from Capitol Hill.
36:39How about that?
36:40That'd be great.
36:41Thank you all for having me.
36:42Thanks so much, Dale.
36:43Thanks, Dale.
36:44Guest of the Week, Dale Romans, was brought to you by Gainesway, home of the stallion, Muth.
36:49Check out the demand for Muth's first in-full mares at Keeneland November.
36:54In Book 1, he had a $450,000 in-full mare, and he followed that with in-full mares that brought $525,000 in Book 2 and $310,000 in Book 3.
37:08So Muth is off to a fast start at stud, just like he was on the racetrack.
37:11He earned $1.6 million, he won the American Pharoah, he was a two-year-old, then the Arkansas Derby the next spring,
37:18which made him the only son of good magic to win grade ones at 2 and 3, just like his sire.
37:24And Muth stands at Gainesway for a fee of just $30,000.
37:29Gainesway, power, passion, performance.
37:32Say hello to Muth!
37:37The single most important factor in predicting sire success is those who have consistent, high-class form,
37:44and it's even enhanced if they have that form as two-year-olds as well.
37:48By our calculations, Muth has the number one chance of sire success of any of the 30 or so sires that retired to Kentucky in 2025.
37:57He has the credentials that we're looking for when we predict sire success.
38:04Since Randy and I are kind of dummies when it comes to this, we're going to rely very heavily on Zoe.
38:09But both the Fasic Tipton November and the Keeneland November sale, plus the Keeneland Horses of Racing Age sale,
38:15just concluded that was the last sale of the year, last major sale of the year, in a year where the thing just went through the roof.
38:24I mean, we talk about the economic problems in horse racing, and there are plenty, and it's kind of hard to get a feel for this
38:33because there's a lot of struggles in horse racing, yet this one aspect of the industry is just booming like never before.
38:41So, Zoe, you already, in the Keeneland commercial, gave us a lot of statistics, but give us your overview.
38:47Tell us what is happening here, and more importantly, why is it happening?
38:51Well, love him or hate him, everybody in the horse industry probably has to thank Mr. Trump for passing the big, beautiful bill
39:00that managed to slide in the 100% depreciation for horse ownership because that came in, when did it come in?
39:08In July, was it July, June, something like that?
39:12It was before any, like, major sales went on because we first started to see the craziness start in the August sale in Saratoga.
39:21So, it was the main sale, and it carried on to the New York bread sale.
39:25And then in September, everybody got their ducks in a row, and that whole sale had already eclipsed last year's record,
39:34which was a record after the first six days of that sale.
39:37The whole sale was up 25%. And then we go into Keeneland November, and obviously, you've got the Fazig October sale that went through the roof as well.
39:47So, now we're in November. So, people aren't buying yearlings anymore.
39:51A lot of people got shut out in the yearling markets, and now everyone's like, ooh, maybe I should just buy a weanling.
39:58Now, the weanling pinhook market is a very strong market indeed, and it has been for the last few years.
40:03But this year, even the pinhookers were shut out. When you've got Donato Lani and Zidane coming in there and plonking down 2.2 million for a gunrunner colt that they figure next year they'll have to pay 4-4.
40:17They're like, why not? Let's just start off and buy weanlings now.
40:20So, it's just basically, I don't know how much longer it can go on, but it's going to keep going on for a little while longer.
40:27Basically, the November sale was up 40%. The median was up. The average was up. The November sale at Fazit Tipton was up.
40:37Everything has gone through the roof. We'll see how it goes in January, but I know a lot of people for their weanling to pinhook, weanling to yearling market, haven't bought enough weanlings.
40:47So, they'll be looking at the short yearling market at the January sale. So, those will be impossible.
40:52I even have friends of mine that are looking to buy mares and foal because they couldn't get any weanlings bought.
40:58This is how strong the market is now. And, Randy, you hit the nail on the head in the middle of the year when we were talking about how strong the market was.
41:08And you're like, I hope they don't put up the stud fees too high.
41:11And now everyone's jacked up their stud fees just because the market has been so lucrative.
41:17Honestly, it's brilliant. Everybody has made money and the whole industry across the board needs to make money.
41:23And hopefully, it will carry on. But at the back of everybody's mind has to be this lingering thought, what if it doesn't?
41:30And Zoe, you work these sales. You work with Mariette Farrell, a very prominent bloodstock agent.
41:39How hard is it getting for the people that aren't Amherst Zidane and Mike Rapoli to come away from these sales and find horses that they think are reasonably priced?
41:49It's tough. It's tough.
41:51Even the smaller guys are paying, if you're looking for a horse that you could pick up for $80,000, usually, say, a yearling, you're going to pay $150,000.
42:00And now it just seems to be the norm as of now.
42:05It'll be, for me, I think the really prominent part will be the two-year-old sales because it has to hit a certain level at some point because everybody is overpaid for the yearlings thus far.
42:17It's going to be really interesting to see how the two-year-olds sell because they're already high enough.
42:22I'm not sure how much higher they can go, which is probably why Zidane jumped in and bought that yearling for $2.2 million.
42:30Yeah, interesting stuff.
42:32So let's segue now to what's going on at Monmouth Park.
42:34We had a story in the Thoroughbred Daily News.
42:36We actually had two. I wrote one.
42:37And then later, T.D. Thornton followed up on it.
42:40But not a good look.
42:41Monmouth Meat has been over since about September 24th.
42:46So we're looking at almost two months now.
42:49And several people, dozens, matter of fact, maybe even hundreds of owners have not been paid the money due to them in purses.
42:59I got a text from a pretty prominent owner.
43:01They probably wouldn't want me to use his name.
43:04But he told me the other day that it's been 88 days since his horse earned approximately $25,000 in purse money.
43:09He still has not got paid.
43:11He feels like he's getting the runaround.
43:12And he said that, you know, the problems filter down.
43:17You know, he needs to be – it's a partnership.
43:19He needs to pay his partners.
43:21He needs to give money to his trainer to be able to pay his bills.
43:25And it's definitely – Dennis Drazen, the CEO of the Darby Development that runs Monmouth Park, has explained that it's a very complicated situation.
43:32Excuse me, in New Jersey, where the state has to turn the money back over to Monmouth Park.
43:40So that doesn't make it easy.
43:41I don't know if that exists in any other track.
43:43But nonetheless, you know, guys waiting three months for their purse money, again, has got to be very difficult on the owners.
43:50You know, Drazen promises they will get paid.
43:53And I'm sure they will.
43:54But, you know, nobody likes to wait around this much.
43:57I have one thing that hadn't really come up and see what Randy and Zoe have to say about this.
44:04Why didn't Monmouth just take out a bank loan to pay this money?
44:08I mean, no bank in the world would turn them down.
44:10It's obvious that the money is coming in eventually.
44:13Probably can pay the loan back at fairly low interest within a couple months.
44:17That, to me, is the solution to this.
44:18But, you know, Monmouth Park, without slot machines, one of the few racetracks left in the country that doesn't have slot money.
44:26It's not an easy go for them.
44:28And, you know, this is not a good story for Monmouth or for horse racing.
44:32No, I mean, Monmouth has been, you know, in part dependent on state subsidies for purses, for their purses to be competitive with other tracks in the region.
44:43And, look, you know, I've got a little sympathy for Monmouth here.
44:47Because, you know, Dennis Drazen and Monmouth Park would love nothing more than to turn around and pay all the owners the day after.
44:58I mean, ASAP, get it out there to them.
45:00There's obviously a reason why they're not.
45:03And, to me, it's a perfectly logical explanation that Drazen came up with.
45:08They've got to wait for the state to give them the money for the purse subsidies before they can then turn that money over to the owners.
45:15So it becomes a political problem, I think, as much as anything else.
45:19It's unfortunate that the owners are having to wait like that.
45:22But, you know, it's I don't know what Monmouth can do about it other than what they're doing.
45:28How much exactly do they owe, Bill?
45:31Dennis has been asked that question by both myself and T.D. Thornton.
45:35And he said, I don't have that at the tip of my tongue.
45:38I'd have to look into it.
45:39So I have I don't have the faintest idea.
45:42Yeah.
45:43Must be a lot for them not to be able to cover a little bit.
45:47Yeah, no doubt about it.
45:49So, well, again, you know, I think Randy makes a good point.
45:53And, you know, maybe the answer is to come up with a better system here.
45:57I mean, you know, I don't see why the state needs to hold on to this money.
46:01It doesn't belong to them.
46:02It belongs to the horsemen.
46:04And it belongs to the owners and trainers and and, you know, should be funneled to them through Monmouth Park.
46:09So let's hope for them, you know, this is settled soon.
46:11And it's still I love Monmouth Park.
46:13It's my home racetrack.
46:14And, you know, I hate to see them go through a difficult situation like this.
46:19And I also hate to see the owners, you know, look, you know, it is a tough game and these people need to get paid.
46:25So let's hope that that takes care of itself sooner rather than later.
46:30We're going to have a message from the PHBA and then we can come back.
46:33We have some more thoughts, including on what happened last week in the claiming crown.
46:37Stay with us here on the Writer's Room podcast.
46:40The TD and Writer's Room sponsored by the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association, the PHBA.
46:45Alert, alert.
46:47Four more two-year-old stakes races for Pennsylvania breads remain on the calendar for 2025.
46:53Coming up at Park's on November 26th, the $100,000 Pennsylvania Nursery at seven furlongs and the $100,000 Shamrock Rose at six furlongs for Phillies.
47:05And also at Park, fast forward now to December 30th, the $75,000 Wait for It stakes and the $75,000 Misbehavior stakes for Phillies, both at six furlongs.
47:16And those are for two-year-olds that are PA bred and PA sire.
47:21To learn more about the Pennsylvania Bread Program, you can go to pabread.com or, as always, call Brian San Fratello at 610-444-1050.
47:32The Pennsylvania Breeding Program is the best program in the country.
47:38The stallion awards, the owner bonuses, also the restrictive races and the stakes races for Pennsylvania breads.
47:45This year, eight breeders are on track to earn over $200,000 in breeders awards, and two could hit the million-dollar mark.
47:54We have the best program in the country.
47:58Take advantage of the fantastic program that we have.
48:00Learn more at pabread.com
48:03Be a smarter bettor with First TV, the best horses.
48:11With thousands of exclusive morning workouts.
48:18All at your fingertips and delivered right into your inbox.
48:23Everything you need to be informed.
48:27Be smart. Bet smart.
48:29With First TV.
48:30It is time for the First TV Work of the Week.
48:36The Work of the Week, of course, brought to you each and every week by First TV.
48:40Now, heading into the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf,
48:43Heineine was 3-for-3, including wins in the Tyro Stakes at Monmouth and the Grade 3 Juvenile Turf at Dalmar.
48:51He was handed his first defeat, however, at the Breeders' Cup after briefly taking the lead and fading to 10th after some bumping in the stretch, causing jockey Joel Rosario to lose his whip.
49:03Now, let's take a look at his first work back.
49:05This is it.
49:05He covered a half mile in the All Weather and 47 flat.
49:08Trainer John Sadler, very happy with that work, said he is pointing him towards the Grade 3 Cecil B. DeMille Stakes at Dalmar at the Turf Festival on November the 30th.
49:19Well, the Claiming Crown was one run last week at Churchill Downs, and once upon a time, I really didn't like it.
49:27I thought, you know, what is the point of giving a lot of money to not necessarily mediocre horses, but horses that can't cut it at the stakes level?
49:37Now, I understand, you know, the common guy, the guy with a $25,000 claimer, they deserve a break, too.
49:42And also, I'll be honest about this.
49:45It's a little bit controversial.
49:46I think some of the trainers that we're a little bit suspicious of in this sport are some of the ones that have been taking advantage of the Claiming Crown, claiming horses for $25,000 and $30,000, and then improving them quite a bit so they can get into the Claiming Crown.
49:59But I had a change of heart when I handicapped the Claiming Crown this week.
50:02These were some of the best betting races I have ever seen.
50:06They were impossible.
50:08And that's what horse players – so, okay, is it good for the game?
50:12Man, we'll see.
50:13But is it good for horse players?
50:14Very good for horse players.
50:16I mean, there was one race with 14 horses, another one with 13.
50:21I lost my notes here.
50:22I believe there were seven races with at least 11 horses or more.
50:26So, you know, it worked out very well for the bettors.
50:30I found that card absolutely impossible.
50:33I think I went 0 for 7 or 0 for 8 or whatever it was.
50:36But, you know, as a horse player, who doesn't like that?
50:38So, I have mixed feelings about the Claiming Crown, guys.
50:42I mean, go ahead, Zoe.
50:43What do you think?
50:44No, we need it.
50:46I mean, we need to celebrate the blue-collar horses.
50:48It's just like Dale Romans was talking about with the state of Hissa and Emerald Downs and needing those smaller racetracks to keep the game going.
50:57We can't survive on just Kentucky and New York.
51:01We need a lot of smaller tracks to keep it going.
51:05Every horse can't be a stakes horse.
51:06They just can't.
51:08And I love the Claiming Crown for the fact that we can celebrate the blue-collar horses.
51:13And a lot of great horses come out of those races.
51:15Yes, there are some very savvy conditioners that will claim a horse that just fits the credentials to get into the Claiming Crown.
51:25And they'll claim it at the last jump, take it, feed it up, and not run it, and enter it in the Claiming Crown.
51:31It'll win by five, and they'll make $100,000.
51:34Those are the savvy horsemen.
51:35Anybody can do it.
51:36We shouldn't penalize those guys for doing it.
51:39But I think it's a brilliant way to showcase these horses.
51:42I really do.
51:44Yeah.
51:44I mean, I like the way the Claiming Crown showcases the horses that, you know, that by far, from a numbers perspective, are in the majority in thoroughbred racing in this country.
51:56And I was just going to mention what Bill said as probably the primary point, and that is how great the races are for gamblers, for the full fields, competitive racing.
52:10You know, you had to wonder, does it pay for itself?
52:14And I think that's the reason why the Claiming Crown has lasted as long as it has.
52:19People love to bet on races like that that are just so competitive.
52:25It's almost like a little mini Breeders' Cup, except for claiming horses.
52:29And I also like the way it's moved around from track to track as well.
52:34So there's a lot of things to like about it.
52:36And as long as it's, you know, as long as it can be as successful as it's been, let's keep it going.
52:42The fastest horse of the week might win it next year.
52:45That's it.
52:46There you go.
52:47Well, that kind of number might win the Breeders' Cup Classic.
52:50We'll have to see.
52:51Get her number.
52:53Anyway.
52:53So, again, this is the quiet time of year.
52:56Not very much going on this weekend in stakes racing.
52:59I know out of Del Mar that they have the native diver stakes.
53:02Nevada Beach, who was the grade one winner of the Goodwood, didn't run very well in the Breeders' Cup Classic.
53:08For Bob Baffert, would likely be the favorite in there.
53:10They also have a stake on Sunday as well, the red carpet stakes.
53:14But anybody take a look at the Commonwealth Turf Saturday at Churchill Downs.
53:18It's 300,000 grade three.
53:20And I like the Kings Plate winner, Manzetti, a horse that will be trying turf for the first time.
53:27However, the horses that transition from the synthetic at Woodbine usually do very well on the turf.
53:35And on top of the fact that this horse has a lot of class and good speed figures, I think the horse is the only speed in the race.
53:41But for 300,000, they got a really good field in here.
53:44Troubleshooting is going to be very tough.
53:45He won a grade one at Kentucky Downs, stretched out for the first time in the Bryan Station by not this time, and won that race as well.
53:52I imagine he will probably be the favorite by not this time.
53:56But Manzetti is my pick.
53:58How about you guys?
53:59How about Greg Foley, trainer of troubleshooting, right?
54:02He's done such a good job with all these blue-collar horses, you know, throughout his career based in Kentucky.
54:08And here he gets troubleshooting, wins a $2 million grade one at Kentucky Downs, the Franklin Simpson.
54:15And then he comes right back and wins a $600,000 grade three at Keeneland, the Bryan Station, back-to-back, $2.7 million in purses for troubleshooting.
54:26Now, he's the son of not this time, okay?
54:29You mentioned him earlier as the hottest stallion in America, formerly trained by Dale Romans.
54:34And in the Bryan Station, another horse in that race that finished third, Giacoso, another son of what this time.
54:43And if you go back and you watch the Bryan Station, you can at least make a case that Giacoso might have been the best horse.
54:51He didn't break.
54:52He dragged Ben Curtis up through the field.
54:55He got ranked with his mouth open when Curtis tried to take a hold of him on the first turn.
54:59And then he still finished well enough to be beaten just a length in three quarters at the end.
55:03He won the Secretariat at Colonial earlier in the summer.
55:06So it's a very competitive race.
55:08But those two sons of not this time are going to take some money for sure.
55:14And the TD and Riders Room is brought to you by West Point Thoroughbreds.
55:18Last week, West Point continued its hot streak at Aqueduct.
55:21Remember, earlier in the month, Cugino won the grade two Manowar stakes.
55:26And now, last week, She's Country took the key sense stakes for New York breads.
55:32That was Thursday.
55:33Followed Saturday by the victory of odds-on favorite Ohana Honor in the Knickerbockers stakes.
55:39For information on how you can become a West Point partner, you can log on to www.westpointtb.com for more information.
55:49West Point Thoroughbreds, the gold standard in racing partnerships.
56:16Visit westpointtb.com.
56:20Well, guys, that's a wrap on this week's show.
56:23I want to thank maybe future center Dale Romans.
56:25You never know.
56:27He's a man who likes to pull off long shot victories, as he did when he beat American Pharaoh.
56:32He was our Gainsway guest of the week.
56:33I want to thank my co-hosts, my partners Randy Moss and Zoe Cabin, as well as our producers and directors who worked so hard behind the scenes to make this podcast look as good as it does.
56:42That's Sue Finley, Katie Petruniak, Anthony LaRocca, and Aaliyah LaRocca.
56:46And remember, by the way, we have some shows coming up over the holidays.
56:50We're going to give everybody a little bit of a break, one of which is the show where we're going to ask you to send in questions.
56:57And our team, be it Randy, Zoe, myself, or all three of us, be more than glad to ask us anything.
57:03And we'll tackle those questions.
57:06No, not anything.
57:08No.
57:10Except anything except Zoe's dating life is fair game.
57:16You can ask that.
57:17That's fine.
57:18Okay.
57:19All right.
57:19Anyways, send your questions, please, to suefinleyatthetdn.com.
57:26Send them in.
57:26That'll be a fun show.
57:28And we'll see you next week.
57:29Thanks for joining us.
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