- 13 hours ago
Trainer Brendan Walsh joined this week's TDN Writers' Room to discuss his undefeated 3-year-old filly Bella Ballerina after her win in the GII Rachel Alexandra Stakes. He also shares stories of the filly's Kentucky Oaks-winning half-sister, Pretty Mischievous, and some of his other favorite past trainees.
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00:00:17Welcome to another edition of the TDN Writers Room Podcast.
00:00:20My name is Bill Finley.
00:00:22I'm a correspondent for the Thoroughbred Daily News.
00:00:24I also co-host the Down the Stretch radio show on Sirius XM, the iconic announcer, Dave Johnson.
00:00:31Hey, guys.
00:00:33Randy Moss with NBC Sports.
00:00:35I look like I'm kind of in a cave right now.
00:00:36I'm not very well lit.
00:00:38I'm in a corner office at NBC Sports at Stanford, Connecticut.
00:00:41I'm here for the Olympics.
00:00:42I've been doing biathlon.
00:00:44So this is a nice little return to reality, reality being the horse racing that we love so much.
00:00:51I don't know.
00:00:52I'm really intrigued by the biathlon.
00:00:55And you seem like a very well-read expert, Randy, if I'm being perfectly honest.
00:01:00I've been watching it.
00:01:02And I think those women are amazing.
00:01:04Yeah.
00:01:04It's been really, really cool to watch.
00:01:07I know what's cool about...
00:01:09Go ahead, Bill.
00:01:10Where are you this time?
00:01:12Oh, me?
00:01:13I'm in Mexico.
00:01:14Oh, okay.
00:01:14Of course.
00:01:15I was on the roof, but there's no Wi-Fi out there.
00:01:18So, yeah.
00:01:19I've been for Swim in the Sea.
00:01:21I went for a run this morning.
00:01:23Yeah, life is good.
00:01:24I'm not going to complain.
00:01:25You win.
00:01:26I win.
00:01:27I win.
00:01:27I do.
00:01:28Doesn't she every week, though?
00:01:29I mean, the exotic life of Zoe Cadman is an ongoing theme here at the Thoroughbred Gaming News.
00:01:35Yeah.
00:01:35You know what the cool thing about biathlon is for a guy like me?
00:01:38And, Bill, you would be the same way.
00:01:40And maybe Zoe, too.
00:01:41One of the things I think that we like about horse racing is the challenge of the handicapping part of
00:01:48it, right?
00:01:49Taking all the variables and getting as much as you can information and sorting it all out and which variable
00:01:55matters the most in this race, whatever.
00:01:57The analytics of biathlon are off the charts.
00:02:01Horse racing could actually learn a lot.
00:02:03You could actually – there's actually basically speed figures in biathlon for skiing performances for all these different skiers.
00:02:11And that's one of the things that I've really gotten into is the next impulse.
00:02:16I can't imagine skiing uphill.
00:02:19It's bad enough when you're trying to get to the chairlift, right?
00:02:22So, last week, I'm in Utah, and I'm trying to ski uphill to get to the damn chairlift, and I
00:02:27get on the chairlift, and it's done.
00:02:29But these women are skiing uphill and then shooting a rifle.
00:02:34It's unbelievable.
00:02:36It's tough.
00:02:36Very cool.
00:02:37It's tough.
00:02:37It's a fun sport.
00:02:38I'm enjoying it a lot.
00:02:40Well, you'll have to start doing buyer figures for the biathlon contenders.
00:02:44How about that, Randy?
00:02:45If I can gamble on it over here, I might.
00:02:48I bet you would.
00:02:49But I'm sure you can gamble on it somewhere, maybe in the U.K. or something like that.
00:02:54All right.
00:02:54So, over the weekend, obviously, a lot of big racing, highlighted by the Saudi Cup.
00:02:58And, you know, forever young, what a racehorse he is.
00:03:02You know, I did beef about – I didn't think he deserved to be the older male dirt champion in
00:03:08the U.S. last year based off the one run in the Breeders' Cup.
00:03:11But that doesn't mean I don't have immense respect for him.
00:03:14And I think it's time to say that he's one of the best dirt horses we have seen maybe since
00:03:18Flightline.
00:03:19And that's setting the bar pretty high.
00:03:21But look at his resume.
00:03:23He's won the 2025-2026 Saudi Cup in back-to-back years.
00:03:28He won the 2025 Breeders' Cup Classic.
00:03:31He was third in the Kentucky Derby.
00:03:32His earnings are now $29 million.
00:03:37And he's a six-year-old, and he's still going strong.
00:03:41The other thing that I was impressed by – and the jockey Sakai.
00:03:46And Randy, please help me with the pronunciation.
00:03:48What a wonderful race he rode, cutting the corner.
00:03:51And, you know, he would have beaten Isos anyways, I think.
00:03:54But the jockey still definitely, Randy, rode a terrific race.
00:03:59What a racehorse this is.
00:04:00Oh, yeah.
00:04:01I'm not so sure he would have beaten Isos if he hadn't gotten the ride that he got.
00:04:05And if he would have had to go around and follow Isos into the stretch, I'm not so sure he
00:04:11would have run him down.
00:04:12I don't think Forever Young, you know, really delivered his A-plus performance.
00:04:18I don't think he ran as well as he ran in the Breeders' Cup Classic, for example.
00:04:21And certainly not as well as he ran the year before in the Saudi Cup in a race against Romantic
00:04:27Warrior that was a race for the ages.
00:04:29And Romantic Warrior, by the way, has won $31 million.
00:04:32He's number one on the all-time list.
00:04:34And now Forever Young is number two.
00:04:36A couple things I found interesting.
00:04:37First of all, the owner of Forever Young said he's having so much fun, he may reconsider his plans to
00:04:44retire Forever Young at the end of this year.
00:04:46And he may bring him back for his seven-year-old season.
00:04:49Wouldn't that be interesting?
00:04:51Who knows, if all goes well, how much money this horse will have bankrolled between now and then, because now
00:04:57they're on to the Dubai World Cup after this.
00:05:00And I keep thinking back to when really nobody in the United States had ever heard of this horse.
00:05:07And he runs in the Saudi Derby, right?
00:05:10And we make, not officially, but we make buyer speed figures, or I do, that are, they're not published, but
00:05:18they're pretty accurate for the Saudi Cup and for the Dubai World Cup card.
00:05:22So, he wins the Saudi Derby narrowly, and his buyer figure in February of his three-year-old year comes
00:05:29back at about a 100, which is better than anything that the three-year-olds in the United States had
00:05:35been running.
00:05:36And I tell some people that, and they're like, oh, there's no way.
00:05:39No, he beats a New Jersey bread by three-quarters of a length.
00:05:44But, book him Dano.
00:05:46And even if you think the New Jersey bread can run that fast, the horse that finished third, six lengths
00:05:51back, that means he ran, like, you know, like almost a 90, Ben Tornado, right?
00:05:57So, in hindsight, we got a pretty early look at exactly how good Forever Young was going to turn out
00:06:04to be, and, boy, he lived up to it.
00:06:06And I can remember sitting here and talking to you guys about Forever Young and how he never handled the
00:06:13kickback.
00:06:13He has grown up so much, and it's been really fun to follow along and watch him.
00:06:20Like, that's the kind of horse you can get behind and follow.
00:06:22Like, Sovereignty this year, we're all looking forward to seeing him run.
00:06:25It's nice to have these horses to root for, horses that you've been rooting for for a couple of years.
00:06:31It's like in Europe with the jumpers.
00:06:33You know, you go to Cheltenham, you see the same old jumpers, and it's nice to see a friendly face
00:06:39to root for.
00:06:39So, I'm super excited to see what Forever Young does for the rest of the year.
00:06:45Tip of the hat to his trainer, Yoshida Yohagi, for doing just a phenomenal job with him.
00:06:52He is amazing.
00:06:53And if you think about it, I can remember his mother, Forever Darling, Richard Boltz has trained her.
00:07:02She was an $8,000 yearling.
00:07:05She RNA'd at OBS for $65,000 as a two-year-old.
00:07:08She won, I think she won the Grade 3 Santa Ynez, and then they sold her privately to Japan.
00:07:14And Bob's your uncle.
00:07:16It's really cool to follow the whole story if you really dig into it.
00:07:21Credit to Nysos, too.
00:07:23I mean, Nysos ran a heck of a race.
00:07:25I know some of the international broadcasters were surprised that he was able to get the mile in an eighth.
00:07:30And to me, that wasn't really that much of an issue going in,
00:07:34and especially a one-turn mile in an eighth for a horse like Nysos.
00:07:38So the buyer would be estimated to be about a 106 for Forever Young and about a 104 for Nysos.
00:07:45They both ran huge races.
00:07:46And Nysos is going to be, obviously, going forward, a horse to be reckoned with as well.
00:07:50One other quick note.
00:07:52The international people also talked about how they had been talking to Sakai all week,
00:07:57and that a return to the Breeders' Cup Classic is not necessarily a slam dunk.
00:08:06So let's cross our fingers and hope that when we get down that road that we get to see him
00:08:10back again at Keeneland this year.
00:08:12Randy, I'm intrigued by that.
00:08:14If not the Breeders' Cup Classic, what might be on a schedule?
00:08:17There is a big race in Japan.
00:08:20Is it travel problems?
00:08:20I don't know if it's the Japan Cup dirt or if it's another major race that they want to showcase
00:08:26him a little bit more.
00:08:27The thought is in Japan, in his home country, where he hasn't run as often as he has run internationally.
00:08:33Yeah, he only ran there once last year.
00:08:36But anyways, so overall, it was a pretty good showing for the Americans.
00:08:40As Nysos, as Randy said, ran very well.
00:08:43They were 1-2 in the sprint race with the Riyadh Dirt Sprint, won by Bob Baffert's Imagination, just beat
00:08:53the odds.
00:08:54Trained by Greg Sacco was second.
00:08:57And, you know, Fabian Pratt, we'll talk about it a little bit later.
00:09:01He gave up the mount on Paladin in the Risen Star Stakes to go over to ride in the Saudi
00:09:08races.
00:09:09He got the job done with Imagination, ran second with Nysos.
00:09:15So lucratively, he made a lot more money, but we'll see.
00:09:18And T.D. Thornton had an item about that in his Week in Review, whether or not that Flavian Pratt
00:09:25will get back on the mount.
00:09:26And also, Reef Runner, good job by David Fox.
00:09:29I mean, he took a good horse.
00:09:31Reef Runner is no superstar, but he recognized that maybe the 1351 turf sprint wouldn't be that difficult a race.
00:09:39And he went out there, and, you know, if he would have stayed at Gulfstream and run someplace like there,
00:09:43he probably would have run an $100,000 race.
00:09:45He won a $2 million race with him, $1.2 million in earnings.
00:09:50Other than Nevada Beach, who was 12th in the Saudi Cup, I thought the Americans did very well, Zoe.
00:09:55Yeah, they really did.
00:09:58No complaints.
00:10:00I don't think Bob had any complaints with his two.
00:10:03I feel that Nysos was beaten on the square by Forever Young.
00:10:08And Imagination, he's a racehorse.
00:10:11He really is.
00:10:12I didn't think Imagination had much of a shot midway on the turn.
00:10:15No, nor did I.
00:10:16No, he was way further back than he wants to be.
00:10:19And the long stretch at Saudi obviously helped.
00:10:23And, you know, here he came.
00:10:24And Reefrunner, you know, I shared that opinion going in to the turf sprint, but I think he may be
00:10:31better than we're giving him credit for, right?
00:10:34He's now won five of his last six starts.
00:10:36And the horse that he beat in Saudi, a horse called Lazat, had been a Group 1 winner at Royal
00:10:45Ascot at six furlongs.
00:10:48And you know how tough it is for Americans to beat Group 1 winners in Europe.
00:10:52Then he came back and was second in a Group 1.
00:10:55And then later in the year in the British champion sprint, he was beaten just a neck.
00:11:00That's another Group 1.
00:11:01So this was a very accomplished horse, Lazat.
00:11:04And Reefrunner outgamed him to beat him by now.
00:11:07And incidentally, the owner of Reefrunner, Alex Lieblanc.
00:11:13Yeah, Alex and his wife, Joanne.
00:11:16Conway, Arkansas.
00:11:17He's the chairman of the Arkansas Racing Commission for the last 10 years.
00:11:21He raced the sire, the Big Beast, who is now standing in Arkansas.
00:11:27The Big Beast has been at stud now for 10 years or so.
00:11:30He's had one graded stakes winner.
00:11:33And this is it.
00:11:34Reefrunner, and he's owned by the Lieblanc.
00:11:36So that was kind of cool.
00:11:37Alex is a really good guy.
00:11:39Super easy guy to root for.
00:11:41He's a superstar.
00:11:43Oh, and they picked up a nice piece of change.
00:11:45So here's what we're going to do.
00:11:46We're going to hear from our sponsors at Keeneland.
00:11:49And then when we come back after that, Brendan Walsh is the Gainesway Guest of the Week.
00:11:53So stay with us here on the Thoroughbred Daily News Writer's Room Podcast.
00:11:58I do want to remind you that the TDN Writer's Room is brought to you by Keeneland.
00:12:01It was a big weekend for Keeneland grads, both here, at home, and around the world.
00:12:06Imagination, a million-dollar Keeneland September yearling, won the Group 2 Riyadh Dirt Sprint in fine fashion.
00:12:13September grad, Lagnos, won the Grade 3 Fairground Stakes.
00:12:17And September and January grad, Claret Berry, won the Royal Delta.
00:12:23Tickets for the Keeneland Spring Meet went on sale on Tuesday.
00:12:27Head over to Keeneland.com to reserve your space.
00:12:29We'll be right back after this message from Keeneland.
00:12:33We do this so your granddaughter can work on a farm someday.
00:12:38So the stands will still be packed in 50 years.
00:12:43That's why we come to work every day.
00:12:45Obsess over every single detail.
00:12:50Because the story of racing is written one moment at a time.
00:12:55And the future of our industry deserves nothing less.
00:13:00Keeneland.
00:13:01Every moment matters.
00:13:03The fastest horse of the week brought to you by the fast sires at Windstar Farm, like Nashville.
00:13:09He's not only obviously fast, he's got the Keeneland six furlong track record after all, 107.89.
00:13:17But he's apparently pretty smart as well.
00:13:20There will be 30 of Nashville's first two-year-olds that will be at the OBS March sale in a
00:13:25few weeks.
00:13:25And already consignors like April Mayberry are giving them rave reviews.
00:13:29She credits them with an exceptional ability to learn.
00:13:33And she thinks their intelligence will transfer over to race results.
00:13:38We don't talk about intelligence very much on this podcast, probably because we're not very smart.
00:13:42But apparently, Nashville is very smart.
00:13:45And he stands at Windstar for a fee of $12,500.
00:13:49Now, the fastest horse of the week.
00:13:52Ran at Gulfstream Park on Saturday in a one-mile allowance race.
00:13:56It was his comeback.
00:13:57His name is Grande.
00:13:58He was the four-year-old who was second last year in the Wood Memorial.
00:14:02And then was a scratch the day before the Kentucky Derby with a foot problem.
00:14:07Grande was making his comeback in that race at Gulfstream.
00:14:10And one with a buyer's speed figure of 105 after a battle pretty much from start to finish
00:14:17with a horse named Prater from the Chad Brown Barn, who was also coming off a long layoff.
00:14:23Prater hadn't run since finishing third in the Lexington Stakes.
00:14:27So these two four-year-olds hooked up in a very fast race.
00:14:31Grande with a buyer of 105.
00:14:32Prater with a buyer of 103.
00:14:35They are horses to watch in the handicapped division, the older male division.
00:14:40And Grande, getting the slight edge, is our fastest horse of the week.
00:14:43Owned by Mike Rupole.
00:14:44Trained by Todd Buncher.
00:14:51And welcome in now to Gaines Way Guest of the Week.
00:14:53It's trainer Brendan Walsh, who had a big day at the fairgrounds on Saturdays.
00:14:57He won the Rachel Alexandra Stakes with none other than Bella Ballerina.
00:15:01And Brendan, welcome.
00:15:02And in deep stretch, it looked like your horse was beat.
00:15:07The other horse, Love Your Neighbor, went by.
00:15:10Was it gameness on your part?
00:15:13A willingness to fight on her part?
00:15:15What do you make of not only her race, but the fact that she showed a lot of determination?
00:15:19I think it was gameness, Bill.
00:15:22You know, I remember, like, she was coming down the stretch and she looked like she was beat.
00:15:27And I thought to myself, well, you know, she's run well.
00:15:30We've got what we needed to get out of it.
00:15:33She'll improve a ton for it.
00:15:34And the next thing she starts to get back up again.
00:15:37And I thought, well, OK, we'll take that.
00:15:40But, yeah, it was just gameness on her part.
00:15:42It's the first time she's ever been headed in the second half of a race.
00:15:47First time she's really gotten a battle, to be honest.
00:15:52And I thought she showed a lot of good qualities, the qualities you want from a filly that you plan
00:15:58on doing the things that we plan on doing with her.
00:16:02And the good qualities also extend to her pedigree.
00:16:07She's, by street sense, and a half-sister to Pretty Mischievous, who we are all very familiar with from your
00:16:14barn.
00:16:14What similarities are there, if any, other than their ability?
00:16:18There's more now, Randy.
00:16:20This one was a little trickier when she was a baby.
00:16:22She had her own ideas about certain things.
00:16:27But all credit to the team.
00:16:30They got her straightened out.
00:16:32And, you know, we worked on her last year.
00:16:36And just, you know, she was just a little bit of a playgirl, you know.
00:16:41She'd try and get up to a few little tricks.
00:16:44But nothing horrible.
00:16:46You know, and, you know, Tyler came in and he worked her a bunch of times last year, more than
00:16:51this year.
00:16:52And he got to know her.
00:16:53And I think a lot of that is due to him.
00:16:58And she behaved very well on Saturday.
00:17:01She behaved very well before the race.
00:17:03She behaved very well in the race.
00:17:05So hopefully we've got all that behind us.
00:17:08But, yeah, I mean, there's a lot of similarities now.
00:17:11She's after getting stronger.
00:17:13And physically she looks more like Pretty Mischievous did.
00:17:18But, yeah, look, you guys know as well as I do, the good ones, they all have got that class.
00:17:25And she seems to have an abundance of it.
00:17:28So she's got a very good mind.
00:17:31And I think that's super important going forward.
00:17:34How lucky are you, Brendan?
00:17:37Two half-sisters, both on the road to the Kentucky Oaks.
00:17:41That obviously was Pretty Mischievous a few years ago.
00:17:44And now with this filly.
00:17:45Do you ever wake up in the morning and just pinch yourself?
00:17:49And, like, how lucky am I to train for such a powerhouse stable?
00:17:54Because we met many moons ago back in, I think, the early noughties at Arlington Park
00:17:58when you were just galloping for Godolphin.
00:18:01Did you ever think in your wildest dreams,
00:18:04wow, one day I'm going to train in Oaks whenever for Godolphin?
00:18:07No, it's unbelievable, Zoe.
00:18:08I mean, it's like the stuff you dream of, you know.
00:18:13Because, you know, like, I spent years in Dubai and around all them good horses that they had
00:18:20and in Alquaz and, you know, we traveled back and forth.
00:18:23Do you ever think you're going to actually be in that position where you're training for them?
00:18:27Absolutely not.
00:18:28I mean, it's like a dream come through.
00:18:32But, yeah, I mean, unbelievable to have that standard of a horse and have access to that standard of a
00:18:37horse
00:18:39every year and to get to work with these horses and these people.
00:18:45I mean, they're just the most fantastic people to work with as well.
00:18:49You know, it's, yeah, you do wake up in the morning and you pinch yourself.
00:18:53And, well, believe me, I'm under no illusions.
00:18:56I mean, it's a privileged position and it's great to be there.
00:19:03Brendan, a lot of the Godolphin trainers have told us over the years that they don't really know what they're
00:19:07going to get from Godolphin.
00:19:09They just all kind of show up on your doorstep and they say, here, here's your horses for this year.
00:19:13But I would imagine they gave you Bella Ballerina because of your success with Pretty Mischievous.
00:19:19Is that the case or is that really something you're not even sure of?
00:19:22No, I do.
00:19:23I do think that they tend to do that, Bill.
00:19:27You know, it is a bit of a lucky bag to a point with a lot of them.
00:19:32But I think if you do particularly well with certain families, you know, I've had we were fortunate enough to
00:19:37have Maxfield the first year I trained for them.
00:19:40And I've had, you know, every sister and brother of Maxfield's that's gone into training since, you know, we had
00:19:46loved after Maxfield, who was a graded stake winner.
00:19:50I have another filly this year, Wondrous.
00:19:52So they do tend to, you know, there's there's no fear that that any of Sovereignty's siblings will be coming
00:20:01to me and not going to Bill.
00:20:02Well, I would think in the near future anyway, but yeah, they do tend to do it like that.
00:20:08But outside of that, it's, you know, I think if you do well with a certain family, they will keep
00:20:14you going with that family.
00:20:15But, you know, for the most part, we, you know, we take over what we get and we're quite happy
00:20:21to do that.
00:20:23And Brendan, it leads me to the next question, and I probably already know the answer.
00:20:27I did look it up.
00:20:28There's a two-year-old half-brother.
00:20:30It's not a half-brother, full-brother to Pretty Mischievous.
00:20:33Are you going to get that horse as well?
00:20:35Do you know yet?
00:20:36I would hope so.
00:20:38You know, we've I was talking to Michael about him the other day, actually.
00:20:42He was he was talking about him.
00:20:44So I'm sure I'm I'm high on the list of getting a chance to train him.
00:20:50Yeah.
00:20:51Like I said, you know, you generally they keep it going, especially if if you've been successful with the family.
00:20:58So you mentioned, Brendan, that you spent time in Dubai just off the top of my head.
00:21:02I can think of Owen Hardy, Kieran McLaughlin, Tommy Albertrani, who spent time over in Dubai working with those horses
00:21:11and Sheikh Mohammed's crew before they came back to the U.S.
00:21:15and launched successful training careers.
00:21:17Did you work over there with any of those guys?
00:21:20And and what what was it like training over in Dubai?
00:21:24I did, Randy.
00:21:26I did most of the time I did with them.
00:21:29I did under, you know, Saeed Binsarour, who who Tommy was assistant to Saeed.
00:21:36So, you know, we were we were around.
00:21:38I remember, you know, going into there initially and it was like you were overwhelmed by the horses that were
00:21:46in there.
00:21:46You know, at the time they had maybe 60 horses, 70 horses that they brought to Dubai every winter.
00:21:53And it was like a who's who of of horses.
00:21:56You know, we had Del Ami, we had Fantastic Light, we had Dubai Millennium.
00:22:01You know, you I could stay here all day listing the kind of horses we had.
00:22:07And, you know, so it was it was really a privilege to be to be part of that.
00:22:15But, you know, it was a great experience.
00:22:19It taught you to be around good horses and how to handle them to a point.
00:22:26You know, it's different when you actually have to step up and do it yourself.
00:22:30But they were great years.
00:22:32And then I went when Owen Harty was training in the States.
00:22:35Once I brought some of some of Owen's horses, I came back to the States with Owen.
00:22:40And that's where I met you, actually, Zoe, was when we were in Arlington with with Owen's horses.
00:22:45And, you know, they were just great horses and you were treated very well.
00:22:50Well, in the interim, I had to go back to Newmarket and work for I went to work for Mark
00:22:55Wallace and learn what the real world was was like.
00:22:59And then I came over here under Eddie Keneally initially as well to, you know, because it's a little bit
00:23:08of a fantasy, really, to have them type of horses.
00:23:10So I think in order to go back training yourself, you kind of have to have to go back to
00:23:15your roots and learn how to train the lesser horses, as it were.
00:23:21So you mentioned one name I want to follow up on to me, Brendan, just my personal opinion.
00:23:26If you ask a serious horse racing fans, OK, give us the best dirt horses of the last 25 years
00:23:35and you'll get, you know, you'll get all you'll get flight line and you'll get all kinds of names like
00:23:39that.
00:23:39Right. But one name that you hardly ever get that I think you should get is Dubai Millennium.
00:23:46Yeah. What was what was it like being around Dubai Millennium?
00:23:50I mean, he was a horse of his, you know, he was a kind of a like he was a
00:23:58funny horse, Randy, because he liked to be in front all the time.
00:24:03He even liked to walk out of the touring in front in the mornings.
00:24:06And it was like it's weird, you know, people say about stuff, but like it was like himself and Sheikh
00:24:13Mohammed had a bond between them.
00:24:16It was it was the weirdest thing.
00:24:17I remember being in his stall one evening doing something.
00:24:20I don't know. It wasn't a lot.
00:24:22And Sheikh Mohammed walked in.
00:24:23It was like the horse recognized him.
00:24:25And he used to come up in the afternoons.
00:24:27Yeah, honest to God, he used to come up in the afternoons and he'd go up specifically like he'd he'd
00:24:34go straight to his stall.
00:24:35He just loved them.
00:24:36It was it was the strangest thing.
00:24:39You know, you hear these stories and you'll be like, oh, you know, whatever.
00:24:42But but no, it actually I saw it.
00:24:45And but the horse was a serious horse.
00:24:47I mean, on his day of the night, he won the World Cup in in Dubai.
00:24:51I mean, that was a serious performance.
00:24:54He beat and he beat everything that was put in front of him.
00:24:57But I guess what took from him a little bit was the fact that it was at the time we
00:25:02were very they were still very focused on the turf and on what went back, what went on back in
00:25:09Europe.
00:25:10And, you know, he ended up coming back to Newmarket.
00:25:12So he didn't really, really focus.
00:25:16I'm sure if he hadn't have got injured the year that he did get injured, I'm sure he would have
00:25:21come back here for the Breeders Cup Classic that year and and been a force to have been reckoned with.
00:25:26But unfortunately, it didn't happen.
00:25:30Would he be one of the best horses you've ever ridden?
00:25:32Because people kind of forgot that Brandon used to, like, throw his leg over one and get on these horses
00:25:38day out, day out.
00:25:39Who is the best one you've ever sat on?
00:25:40I never actually rode him, Zoe.
00:25:43I let him I let him plenty of work.
00:25:46I'm not going to lie and say that I did.
00:25:50But we got to ride some some really nice horses.
00:25:54I, you know, I, I can say I mean, I got to work with a lot of good horses out
00:26:01there.
00:26:02I mean, the list is endless, really.
00:26:07The best ones.
00:26:09There was a filly called a German filly.
00:26:13She won the guineas.
00:26:14She won the oaks.
00:26:16Why is her name escaping me now?
00:26:18I'm getting old.
00:26:19She was probably the best I've I've ever sat on.
00:26:22I mean, she was she was very good.
00:26:24We've been lucky enough.
00:26:26We've we've gotten to sit on some nice horses.
00:26:28I mean, I, I was lucky enough to be still galloping when we got Maxfield here, even though I didn't
00:26:34ride Maxfield a ton.
00:26:35I was I was in semi retirement at the time that he was a freak.
00:26:40I mean, I remember the boys telling me.
00:26:42Yeah, I remember the boys telling me one morning, boss, you have got to sit on this horse.
00:26:47This horse is a freak.
00:26:49And I remember galloping him and I had two horses in front of me and I had to go buy
00:26:53them, not because he was running off of me, because he had a stride from here to the end of
00:26:58the barn.
00:26:58And I just thought, yeah, absolutely.
00:27:00I mean, he was he was a serious, serious horse, you know.
00:27:06Brennan, you talked about some of the people you came up under.
00:27:09How about Eddie Keneally?
00:27:10What did he mean to you?
00:27:12And was he the one who really introduced you to the ways of American racing and helped you make that
00:27:17adjustment from what you're doing in Dubai and Europe?
00:27:20He was Bill.
00:27:20And it was it was a huge adjustment.
00:27:23You know, it was a huge adjustment.
00:27:26I mean, it's a completely different ballgame.
00:27:28You know, you're dealing with with a different type of horse, even though, you know, as much as you had
00:27:34galloped horses and as much as we had been in Dubai, Dubai was very turf orientated.
00:27:42But when we came over here, I mean, it's it's a different ballgame.
00:27:46And, you know, that was one thing with Eddie.
00:27:49I really got to learn how to get down to the nitty gritty of it, because, you know, even riding
00:27:55horses, dirt horses are different to Zoe.
00:27:58You know, this dirt horses are different to the turf horses.
00:28:01Turf horses have this turn of foot.
00:28:03And when you work them, you go, wow, you know, they've got this serious turn of foot, whereas dirt horses
00:28:09tend to be more constant.
00:28:11You know, they cruise along, cruise along, cruise along and have this constant like when you're working them, you know,
00:28:17you're going 12 and change, 12 and change.
00:28:19And they just don't stop.
00:28:20So that was a little bit different to recognize a dirt horse from a turf horse.
00:28:26And I think, too, you have to be a lot more aggressive with horses in this country, even turf horses,
00:28:34you know, like gate work, stuff like that.
00:28:36Horses have to learn how to leave the gate here, even on in grass races, because, you know, at home,
00:28:42they fall out of the gate.
00:28:44Everyone takes back, they find their position and eventually they pick up into the race here on the grass.
00:28:52They leave the gate, you get it, you try and get the position you're in and then you settle in
00:28:56and you ride a race from there.
00:28:58So it's it's just a completely there.
00:29:00That's just to name a couple of things.
00:29:02I mean, there's thousands of other of other different angles.
00:29:05But but that was the one thing with Eddie for sure.
00:29:08And he did it.
00:29:09He's a fantastic trainer.
00:29:11He he you know, he's a great caregiver of horses.
00:29:16You know, his horses always look fantastic.
00:29:19Just a just an excellent horseman.
00:29:21So it was a great, great experience for sure.
00:29:26And now here you are.
00:29:27Well, go ahead.
00:29:28Go ahead, Zoe.
00:29:29Oh, no, no, you carry on, Randy.
00:29:31I was just going to ask for a little barn tour.
00:29:33You're probably going to ask the same thing there.
00:29:35Yeah.
00:29:36So, you know, now here you are with good dirt horses and good turf horses.
00:29:39We've talked about Bella Ballerina.
00:29:41Give us kind of the greatest hits right now of the Walsh stable heading into the rest of 2026.
00:29:47We're very lucky, Randy.
00:29:49We've got a good we've got a good stable of horses this year.
00:29:53Like we were saying earlier on about pinching yourself.
00:29:56But, you know, obviously from last year, we've got East Avenues back here in in Palm Meadows.
00:30:04Gosger is here.
00:30:07Lush Lips is here.
00:30:09Clicko is here.
00:30:11You know, we had some nice, nice two year olds last year.
00:30:15Imagination, the lady.
00:30:17Gin Gin getting back to the older horses.
00:30:19She's back in training.
00:30:22You know, we've we've obviously got Bella and we've still got some nice three year olds that we haven't even
00:30:29run yet that that I think we'll see in the spring at at Keeneland and that are horses that were
00:30:35kind of have had one run or so.
00:30:37So I think they can be they can be nice horses.
00:30:41But, you know, I've got a couple of fillies that won a raiding party in Indigo Woods last year that
00:30:48won first time out and we put them away for the winter.
00:30:51I mean, expensive queen, expensive queen.
00:30:55Absolutely.
00:30:55Yeah.
00:30:56I didn't forget her.
00:30:58I just yeah.
00:30:59I mean, we've got we've got a wealth of Proctor Street, you know, another one.
00:31:04She's a nice filly.
00:31:06She won the Cardinal at Churchill in in November.
00:31:10So, yeah, it's it's a nice table of horses.
00:31:13Hopefully we get lucky and we can keep them healthy and have a good year.
00:31:18Who's in the first stall by the office?
00:31:21Funny enough, no, Zoe.
00:31:23Imagination, the lady is there.
00:31:27East Avenue is is next to her and Gosgar is above him.
00:31:32So, you know, it's it's nice.
00:31:34It gives you a little bit of, you know, it's it's nice introduction to the barn when you come out
00:31:40in the morning.
00:31:41It makes it worth getting up for for sure.
00:31:45Who's who's your favorite horse?
00:31:47Doesn't have to be the best horse you've ever had.
00:31:50But do you have one that you're like, oh, I love that horse.
00:31:53Even if the horse wasn't that good.
00:31:55Do you have one horse that you're like, oh, man, I love that horse.
00:31:58I don't know if I have one, but I I I'm not, you know, I'm not totally on.
00:32:03I mean, I love all the the good horses we've had down through the years.
00:32:07I mean, I love pretty.
00:32:08She was a sweetheart, you know, and she'll always she'll always have a place in my heart.
00:32:15But I love horses that try that that are not particularly superstars.
00:32:21You know, they can be they can be claiming horses.
00:32:24But I love horses that go out and and leave it on the line every time.
00:32:28I mean, I love horses like that that just that just try.
00:32:32There's nothing more infuriating than than one that, you know, has talent.
00:32:35And they just they just don't put it out there.
00:32:37You know, they'll do everything but what you want them to do.
00:32:41But but no, I do.
00:32:43And of course, the good horses, Maxfield was a big favorite, of course.
00:32:47So how could he not be?
00:32:48And he was a sweetheart of a horse to just, you know, you could do anything with him.
00:32:53Oh, he was Randy.
00:32:55You could you could put a child on his back and around the barn and he wouldn't flinch.
00:33:00He was just a cool horse.
00:33:01But, you know, the thing in common with them good horses, they all have class.
00:33:05They use class and they give themselves every chance, you know, and I think that's that's it more than anything.
00:33:14Well, Brendan, congratulations on your win with Bella Ballerina.
00:33:18I assume the Fairgrounds Oaks will be next for her.
00:33:20Have you decided?
00:33:21Yeah, I mean, we I would say 90 percent.
00:33:26I had a conversation with with Michael Bannon this morning, Bill.
00:33:30And I think unless something were to go wrong, I think, you know, it worked very well for us with
00:33:35Pretty Mischievous.
00:33:36It worked very well for them last year with good cheer.
00:33:39So I think that's probably going to be the plan unless something were to were to happen untoward and we'd
00:33:47have to go a different route.
00:33:48But I think, you know, like I said, it's worked good.
00:33:51So why change it?
00:33:53Sure.
00:33:54Well, Brendan, good luck on your road to the Kentucky Oaks and may you get your second winner within a
00:33:59couple of years.
00:33:59And what a story would be half sisters for the Goodolphin Stable and Brendan Welsh.
00:34:04Thank you for being our Gainesway Guest of the Week.
00:34:06And once again, good luck on the road to the Kentucky Oaks.
00:34:08Thanks for having me on, guys.
00:34:11And Brendan Walsh, our guest of the week, brought to you by Gainesway, the home to Locked, multiple grade one
00:34:18winner and track record holder.
00:34:20Locked began his career with a 96 buyer speed figure, the fastest figure in a Saratoga maiden race on dirt
00:34:27since 2015.
00:34:28He was also a graded stakes winner at two, at three and at four.
00:34:33He won the Breeders Futurity as a two year old and the big cap at Santa Anita with a 109
00:34:37buyer.
00:34:37He retired with earnings of $1.9 million, having won or replaced in 10 of his 11 starts.
00:34:44That's quite a CV for Locked, who is now covering his first book of mayors at Gainesway for a fee
00:34:50of $35,000.
00:34:57And it's lights out, locked, pouring it on, running aggressively through the stretch to win by seven easy lengths.
00:35:09Here is Locked, locked, racing by on the outside for the lead.
00:35:14Locked, the wine steward, it is Locked.
00:35:21Here comes Locked after Mulligan.
00:35:24Locked catching with every single stride and Locked will win the cigar mile.
00:35:34It's all about Locked, dominating the big cap, cruising home to an effortless eight length rock.
00:35:53And now it's time for this week's edition of First Things First, a very sad week at Santa Anita.
00:35:58I caught up with Hall of Famer Mike Smith and Lee Searing to talk about the late, great John Sheriffs.
00:36:12Well, the fame of Mike Smith needs no introduction here, Mike.
00:36:16We're celebrating the life of John Sheriffs.
00:36:19What did he mean to you as a person?
00:36:23Boy, you know, he played such a big part of my career.
00:36:28But way beyond that, I think I'm more proud that he was my friend, man.
00:36:35It meant a whole lot to me.
00:36:36He really did.
00:36:38Still in shock, to be honest with you.
00:36:41You know, he was 80 years old, but, man, he was a tough, tough man.
00:36:44You know, he was just a beautiful, tough, tough man.
00:36:46And he was, I mean, he looked better than ever, to be honest with you.
00:36:50So, like I said, I'm still trying to register it all, but we lost one of the good ones, man.
00:36:57He was one of the great guys and incredible horseman, incredible man.
00:37:02What I loved about him most is that he treated each horse as an individual.
00:37:06He wasn't scared to ever step outside the box and just try something out of the blue that you might
00:37:12call crazy, man.
00:37:13And it'd work and he'd be a genius all of a sudden, you know, again.
00:37:15So, we used to love things like that, and I'm just going to miss his friendship and his horsemanship.
00:37:21I really am.
00:37:23Lee, when you walked in today, it's hard not to notice the flowers and tributes by Zenyatta to commemorate the
00:37:30late, great John Sheriff's.
00:37:32You spent basically his final weekend with him.
00:37:35Talk to us about the weekend and your thoughts of John, not only as a trainer, but as a person.
00:37:40Well, you know, I've been around John for the nine years.
00:37:43I mean, it was just the right thing to do to finally, you know, everybody said, you belong with John
00:37:48Sheriff's.
00:37:49We moved the horses over there.
00:37:52We talked every day, but I did take him to look at the two-year-olds, and he was just
00:37:58at the top of his game.
00:37:59He looked great, had a great dinner, looked at the horses, was so excited.
00:38:04He took pictures of all of them.
00:38:06But I think, you know, John got really sick on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and maybe that contributed to, you know,
00:38:13a great guy, a great man, you know, passing away.
00:38:16Love John.
00:38:17If you could summarize John in a word, what would it be?
00:38:22Quiet horse whisperer.
00:38:24That's what I really thought.
00:38:25Because, you know, I watched him time after time put his hand on a horse's heart in that paddock.
00:38:31And, you know, how many people, not many do that, but that was really important on how he felt the
00:38:37horse and how he could quiet it down.
00:38:44Well, there was a lot of sad news in horse racing last week, particularly with the deaths of two icons
00:38:49in the sport, John Sheriff's and King Leatherberry.
00:38:52Why don't we start off with John Sheriff's, who had passed away at age 80.
00:38:56And, of course, he's known for a lot of things.
00:38:58But when they put something on his what probably will be a future Hall of Fame plaque, it will be
00:39:03all about Zenyatta and the remarkable career that he engineered with her.
00:39:07He also won the 2005 Kentucky Derby with Giacomo.
00:39:12And, Zoe, I want to start with you here because I know you knew John being a California person very
00:39:17well.
00:39:18And I'll just say one thing.
00:39:19Dan Ross wrote a very well-written, as he always does, obituary for John Sheriff's in the Thoroughbred Daily News.
00:39:27And he said he wrote, this is a trainer who did things his own way.
00:39:31I think that really did sum us up.
00:39:33And also very unexpected.
00:39:35Did anybody realize that he was, you know, alien?
00:39:40I didn't think so.
00:39:41He wasn't.
00:39:43And we heard from Lee Searing they'd gone down to Ocala.
00:39:47Him and Dottie went down, spent the weekend down there, had a fabulous time.
00:39:53They went to dinner.
00:39:54He's like, John even had a couple of drinks.
00:39:56He was telling stories.
00:39:57And then he didn't feel that great.
00:40:00They flew back and he just didn't, he didn't feel good for a couple of days.
00:40:06And I don't really know what happened, but he died in the night.
00:40:10I mean, if you're going to go out, I guess that's the way to go.
00:40:14But I feel for Dottie.
00:40:18It's going to be a tough time for Dottie.
00:40:21Lee Searing, he's already transferred a lot of his horses, Peter Ert, and have some.
00:40:25I think it was just brought out in the news that Baeza is going to go to Belmont.
00:40:29And I was actually talking to Lee and I'm like, I didn't want to ask him where Baeza was going
00:40:35to go.
00:40:35I said, where would John want him to go?
00:40:38Because John was a true horseman's horseman.
00:40:43And Lee was like, he would want him to go to Belmont.
00:40:46And that's where he's going, which is really cool because John would absolutely love that.
00:40:51You want to talk about a great guy.
00:40:53He was just a magical guy.
00:40:55And we always joke with him, Randy, the patient trainer.
00:41:00And he hated it.
00:41:01Don't call me the patient.
00:41:03Why do you always say that, Zoe?
00:41:05And he was just a real horseman.
00:41:08Often I go by the barn and I can remember going by there one day and he was on his
00:41:13knees and the hot walker was holding Baeza outside in the sunshine.
00:41:17And he just had both hands around one of his legs.
00:41:19I'm like, I watched him for about 10 minutes with his hands on his leg.
00:41:24I'm like, John, what are you doing?
00:41:26It's like, I'm just feeling his pulse.
00:41:28And then he was doing some Reiki on his legs.
00:41:31He was just such a horseman, such a horse whisperer who used old school and new school at the same
00:41:37time.
00:41:38You want to talk about Inspector Gadget?
00:41:39He had every gadget known to man.
00:41:42He wore like two eye watches.
00:41:44He had heart monitors.
00:41:45You name it.
00:41:46John had it.
00:41:47He was the most up-to-date old school trainer that you would ever, ever come across.
00:41:52What a great guy.
00:41:53Yeah.
00:41:54Sadly missed.
00:41:55You know, I'm not a Southern California guy, but I'm covering racing in newspapers and TV.
00:42:00I've been around him a lot because he had such good horses.
00:42:03The first time I ever met him was at Oaklawn Park, and I was there for newspapers, I believe.
00:42:11And he brought a filly named Manistique to Oaklawn for the apple blossom.
00:42:15And I went back to the barn to see him, and it was just him and Manistique.
00:42:19And I spent probably an hour with him back at the barn.
00:42:22And I asked him about his background, and he starts going into Vietnam.
00:42:27And then he gets out of the Vietnam War, and he's a hippie.
00:42:30Yeah.
00:42:31And he has a Chevy van, and he makes his way, living in his Chevy van, to Southern California,
00:42:38where his goal was to make it to Hawaii and become a surfer.
00:42:42And he runs out of money.
00:42:44So he's in California.
00:42:45He's got no money.
00:42:46He's living out of a van.
00:42:47He's got to work somewhere.
00:42:48He had a background as a young man in horses.
00:42:52And there was a horse farm that he went to see that had a job opening.
00:42:55And he went to work for the horse farm just to try to get some cash in his pocket so
00:42:59he
00:43:00could make it to Hawaii.
00:43:01And lo and behold, he never left.
00:43:04And he winds up making what might be a Hall of Fame career in the horses.
00:43:09And the other thing, just recently, you mentioned his Inspector Gadget, right?
00:43:15It was Baeza.
00:43:16So we go back to the barn at Churchill Downs, Jerry Bailey and I, to talk to him about Baeza.
00:43:21And I've got my iPhone and I'm trying to figure out the best way to record the conversation
00:43:27with John.
00:43:29And John's like, what are you doing there?
00:43:32And I said, well, I'm trying to figure out the app.
00:43:35Oh, no, no, no, no, no.
00:43:37Let me tell you the app.
00:43:37She got to go.
00:43:38There's like three or four apps you need to look at.
00:43:39There's this app.
00:43:40And then there's this app.
00:43:41And there's this app.
00:43:42Let me see your phone.
00:43:43So I gave him my phone.
00:43:46And he said, I had no idea.
00:43:48I didn't know he was Inspector Gadget.
00:43:49He was like Mr. Tech.
00:43:51He was up to date on every.
00:43:52This is an 80-year-old guy, basically.
00:43:55And he was up to date on any kind of technology that you could ever imagine.
00:43:59And the way he shared Zenyatta with the public and all of her adoring fans and stuff was just
00:44:05incredible.
00:44:05She wasn't the easiest horse to be around and to deal with.
00:44:09And, I mean, he just basically opened up his barn to anybody, any kids, anybody that wanted
00:44:15to come in and be around Zenyatta.
00:44:18It was really amazing.
00:44:19And it's going to be really interesting to follow his two-year-olds because he went down
00:44:23to Ocala.
00:44:2428 two-year-olds were going to John.
00:44:26The best crop he's ever had.
00:44:30So I'm going to be following every single one of them.
00:44:33And I guarantee there's some good ones in there because the Maybrews do a terrific job.
00:44:38So it was a very sad day.
00:44:41Yes.
00:44:41King Leatherberry had a very different career than John Sheriff's, but it was remarkable
00:44:45in its own right.
00:44:46Well, if John Sheriff's got to deal with horses like Zenyatta, King Leatherberry largely dealt
00:44:51with $10,000 claimers running at Pimico and Laurel.
00:44:56But the numbers are just staggering.
00:44:58And he died last week at 92.
00:45:00We mentioned him very briefly on the show last week.
00:45:02But I wanted to go back to give him the proper send-off that he deserves.
00:45:0852 training titles between Pimico and Laurel, 6,508 career wins, fifth all-time.
00:45:15And he won at least one race for 62 years.
00:45:19Now, a lot of people didn't see this as a Hall of Fame resume because he was a claiming trainer.
00:45:25But boy, was he as good as a get when it came to claiming trainer.
00:45:28And the really kind of heartwarming thing about the tail end of his career was when he was
00:45:35really only a few years away from retirement, he came up with this remarkable horse called
00:45:40Ben's Cat.
00:45:41Can you get any more poorly bred than this by Parker Stormcat, who was one for four lifetime
00:45:49out of two fix, who was three for 23 lifetime?
00:45:54Leatherberry bred this horse.
00:45:56It turned out to be Ben's Cat, who won 32 races, including 26 stakes races.
00:46:03And Leatherberry got it right.
00:46:04That's the horse that got him into the Hall of Fame.
00:46:07Without Ben's Cat, he was never going to make it.
00:46:09But late in life, Ben's Cat didn't retire until he was 11 years old at age 2017.
00:46:15But that horse resonated so much with people.
00:46:19Again, he was not Zenyatta, but he was just this war horse.
00:46:22And King Leatherberry is kind of, you know, represents a different time in racing where,
00:46:27you know, the claiming game in Maryland was so vibrant with all these, you know, big name
00:46:32guys like Delp and Dutro, Tamero, and of course, Leatherberry.
00:46:36And, you know, I was that was kind of in my head.
00:46:39I didn't grow up in Maryland.
00:46:40I was paying a lot of attention being an East Coast guy to Maryland racing.
00:46:44And King Leatherberry was the best at what he did.
00:46:47Again, it's not what, you know, Brad Cox or Chad Brown did or Todd Pletcher, but at what
00:46:55he did, taking $10,000 claimers, horses that sold at the yearling sales for $25,000 and
00:47:02winning races with them.
00:47:04There was nobody better, Randy.
00:47:05And you talked about he's an old school guy.
00:47:08He was he was old school, except for one particular respect.
00:47:14I mean, it's unbelievable that four of the best claiming trainers in history, the ones
00:47:21you just mentioned, were all based in Maryland, and they were all going head to head every
00:47:26day, claiming off each other.
00:47:28It was an unbelievable time in Maryland.
00:47:30And one edge that Leatherberry had that the other guys didn't, and one edge that he used
00:47:37to tremendous advantage.
00:47:39He was one of the first trainers to appreciate the impact of speed figures in where to place
00:47:46his horses.
00:47:47Nowadays, you hear guys talking all the time.
00:47:50Oh, I get this horse gets this buyer.
00:47:51This horse gets the sheet number.
00:47:53You know, we're going to put him here.
00:47:54I'm going to put him there.
00:47:55This was back in the early 1990s, late 80s.
00:47:59This was 30, 35 years ago.
00:48:01Trainers were still saying time is only important when you're in jail.
00:48:04They were ridiculing Andy Byer.
00:48:06They weren't paying any attention to speed figures.
00:48:07But Leatherberry was, and he was using them to determine which horses to claim, where
00:48:14to run them, where to move his horses up and down the claiming ranks.
00:48:18And he was really ahead of his time when it came to that particular aspect of the game.
00:48:25I mean, you can't make it up.
00:48:27You could not write a movie with a better name than King Leatherberry.
00:48:34You can't make that stuff up.
00:48:36I mean, what kind of a name is King Leatherberry?
00:48:39And it's just so fitting.
00:48:41Was that its given name, King?
00:48:43Yes, absolutely.
00:48:45Does somebody name their son King?
00:48:47That's what it says on his birth certificate.
00:48:49King T. Leatherberry.
00:48:50King Leatherberry.
00:48:51If you really think about it, and you're going to write like this fiction horse racing novel,
00:48:57and you have a trainer, King Leatherberry.
00:48:59It wouldn't be John Sherriff.
00:49:00It would be King Leatherberry.
00:49:02Right.
00:49:02King Leatherberry.
00:49:03I mean, it's just a fantastic name.
00:49:04And that was him.
00:49:06He was the king.
00:49:08What a name.
00:49:09Both great, iconic figures in horse racing, and they will be missed.
00:49:13So here's what we're going to do.
00:49:15We're going to take a little break.
00:49:16We're going to hear from our friends at the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association.
00:49:19A couple more things.
00:49:21We'll have the first work of the week.
00:49:23Zoe will tell us about that.
00:49:24When we come back, we'll do a little review of the Risen Star and the Rachel Alexandra.
00:49:28Stay with us here on the TDN Writer's Room podcast.
00:49:32And the TDN Writer's Room brought to you by our friends at the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association,
00:49:37the PHBA.
00:49:38We've told you this before, but my gosh, does it bear repeating.
00:49:42If you breed your mare to a Pennsylvania sire and you register as a Pennsylvania bred,
00:49:49listen to this.
00:49:50You run in a $50,000 maiden race at parks.
00:49:52You win.
00:49:53You get 60%.
00:49:54It's a nice payday.
00:49:55$30,000.
00:49:56But if you're a PA bred, a registered PA bred, your winner's share will not be $30,000.
00:50:04$58,800 almost double.
00:50:08At other tracks, you'd have to run in a $100,000 race to get a winner's share about equal to
00:50:14that.
00:50:15So therein lies the attraction of the Pennsylvania Breeding Program.
00:50:18To find out more about it, go to www.pabred.com or call Brian Sanfratello at 610-444-1050.
00:50:27The Pennsylvania Breeding Program is the best program in the country.
00:50:32The stallion awards, the owner bonuses, also the restrictive races and the stakes races for Pennsylvania breeds.
00:50:39This year, eight breeders are on track to earn over $200,000 in breeders awards, and two could hit the
00:50:48million dollar mark.
00:50:49We have the best program in the country.
00:50:52Take advantage of the fantastic program that we have.
00:50:55Learn more at pabred.com.
00:51:00Be a smarter bettor with First TV.
00:51:02The best horses.
00:51:06With thousands of exclusive morning workouts.
00:51:13All at your fingertips and delivered right into your inbox.
00:51:18Everything you need to be informed.
00:51:21Be smart.
00:51:22Bet smart.
00:51:24With First TV.
00:51:28The work of the week brought to you by First TV is Litmus Test, who is eyeing the Grade 2
00:51:33San Felipe on March 7th for his next start.
00:51:36Now, he was on Saturday's work time at Santa Anita.
00:51:40He's trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert and worked four furlongs in 47 and 2.
00:51:45Two weeks ago, the Colt by Nyquist was scratched from the Grade 3 Southwest.
00:51:48At Oak Lawn, in favor of the San Felipe, Litmus Test previously won the Grade 2 Los Alphaturity on December
00:51:56the 13th.
00:51:56You can check out that work and more on firsttv.com.
00:52:00Well, there were two big races and one we've already talked about over the weekend for horses on the way
00:52:05to the Oaks and the Kentucky Derby.
00:52:07We talked to Brendan Walsh about the Rachel Alexandra and Bella Ballerina.
00:52:10But we have yet to mention the win by Paladin.
00:52:13Very expected in the Blue, excuse me, he's going next in the Bluegrass Stakes.
00:52:18His win was in the Risen Star for Chad Brown.
00:52:21I noticed that he was, other than the all others, he's the favorite in the Derby future wager.
00:52:27What do you make of the race?
00:52:28It was okay.
00:52:30Randy, I'll get the buyer figure from you.
00:52:32He did what he had to do.
00:52:34Didn't necessarily blow anybody away.
00:52:36But Chad Brown's got a good one in his barn.
00:52:39And, you know, right now with nobody really pulling ahead of the pack so far as the three-year-old
00:52:45division,
00:52:46I think, again, you know, we talked about who's number one, who's number two.
00:52:49Well, at the very least, I think he belongs in anybody's top two or three off that performance.
00:52:54Looks like he's going to the Bluegrass next.
00:52:56We all know that Chad Brown's going to win a Derby or two or three or four or five before
00:53:01his career is over.
00:53:02He's a relatively young man, and he's got a hell of a good stable, not only of turf horses, but
00:53:08of dirt horses at his access at any time.
00:53:12So what did you think of Paladin, and what was his buyer figure?
00:53:17His buyer figure was 93.
00:53:19I thought it was a very good race for him.
00:53:23I mean, we talked about how Chip Honcho was the best horse in the LeCompte, the prep before the Risen
00:53:30Star, and because of his trip.
00:53:32And this time they got a jockey change to Luis Saez, and the horse got a fantastic front-running trip.
00:53:37I mean, he had everything his own way.
00:53:39Kicked hard, turning for home, and Paladin still ran him down.
00:53:42I think the most interesting part right now about Paladin is the comparisons to Sierra Leone.
00:53:51Sierra Leone had a maiden race, then he went on from his maiden race straight into the Remsen, and then
00:53:57he went from the Remsen to the Risen Star.
00:54:00Paladin has done exactly the same thing.
00:54:02Sierra Leone starts his debut with a 71 buyer.
00:54:06Paladin began with an 87 buyer, so Paladin actually started his career on a better foot.
00:54:11In the Remsen, Sierra Leone got a 91.
00:54:14Paladin only got an 85.
00:54:15But in the Risen Star, Sierra Leone, 95, Paladin, 93.
00:54:20I mean, you know, there are a lot of similarities between the two, and of course, both trained by Chad
00:54:27Brown.
00:54:28Same ownership.
00:54:30It's a copy and paste, Sierra Leone, Paladin.
00:54:34I'm not sure he's a very good horse, a very, very good horse, and the distance isn't going to be
00:54:41a problem.
00:54:43Same rider, even.
00:54:44You've got Tyler Gaffione, who, of course, was taken off of Sierra Leone in favor of Flavian Pratt.
00:54:50We'll see if Pratt gets the mount back.
00:54:52Chad Brown not really saying he's not or he is, so that'll be up to them.
00:54:58Obviously, Flavian Pratt's not going to be without a derby mount.
00:55:01We all know that.
00:55:02So, yeah, copy and paste, Sierra Leone, Paladin.
00:55:06Nice horse.
00:55:06One thing that Paladin has going for him over Sierra Leone.
00:55:10He goes straight.
00:55:11Yes.
00:55:12Yes.
00:55:13That was the big conversation about Sierra Leone.
00:55:15He logged in so badly in all his races.
00:55:17Paladin, at least, is straight as a straight.
00:55:19Randy, do you want to take a guess?
00:55:21Does Pratt get the mount back, or does he stick with Tyler Gaffione?
00:55:26I think he gets the mount back.
00:55:28Yeah.
00:55:28That would be my guess as well.
00:55:29So, yeah, it's hard to, as good as Tyler Gaffione is, if you have Flavian Pratt, you know, under your
00:55:35control, it's kind of hard to go in any other direction at this point.
00:55:38Maybe Flavian might have another one.
00:55:41We already talked about the Rachel Alexandra with Brendan Walsh and what a game performance by Bella Ballerina.
00:55:48The fact that she is a half-sister to his other Kentucky Oaks, or his first Kentucky Oaks winner, pretty
00:55:53mischievous.
00:55:54Randy, do you have more to add to what maybe you heard from Brendan?
00:55:57Yeah, I mean, it was a solid race for Bella Ballerina.
00:56:02It wasn't a fantastic race.
00:56:04Byerspeed figure of 83, that puts her near the top of the class.
00:56:08But there's one thing to keep in mind, and I think this is always pretty interesting.
00:56:12When you see a horse battle back on the inside to win after losing the lead like Bella Ballerina did,
00:56:19there's one of two ways you can look at that.
00:56:21The one way to look at it is the boy was Bella Ballerina courageous in game.
00:56:26And boy, did she fight back.
00:56:28The other possible way to look at it is that second horse didn't really want to win.
00:56:34Did that second horse make the lead and then ease up and allow Bella Ballerina to come back?
00:56:40All right.
00:56:40Now, let's look at the second horse.
00:56:42The second horse is named Love Your Neighbor, trained by Mike Stidham.
00:56:46Four races back at the fairgrounds in an allowance race.
00:56:48She looked like a winner.
00:56:50She could speed at the wire by a half length.
00:56:51Next start, the untappable.
00:56:53She duels for the lead head and head all the way down the lane.
00:56:56Won't go by.
00:56:57She loses by a head.
00:56:59The next race, the silver bullet day.
00:57:01She's dueling for the lead all the way down the stretch.
00:57:03Won't go by.
00:57:04Loses by a neck to take in by the wind.
00:57:07And then in the ritual Alexandra, she makes the lead at the 16th pole.
00:57:11I think she eases up a little bit.
00:57:13And this time she loses by a half length.
00:57:15So even the race she won when she broke her maiden, she won by a nose.
00:57:18So I think possibly something to keep in mind.
00:57:22It may be as much the second horse easing up a little bit as Bella Ballerina fighting back to win.
00:57:28But they both ran good races.
00:57:31Bella was very game.
00:57:32She's a tough filly because she didn't give herself an easy lead.
00:57:36She kind of fought Tyler the whole way.
00:57:39And she never really relaxed and took a deep breath.
00:57:42So she ran hard and she had a right to get tired, which I believe she did.
00:57:48So one more story I want to touch upon that happened during the week.
00:57:51It actually has been going on for quite some time.
00:57:53And it's an ugly one.
00:57:54A young trainer by the name of Kevin Bond in New York is the son of James Bond, a well
00:57:59-known trainer.
00:57:59Also, his mother, Tina Bond, is head of the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association.
00:58:03I guess you still have to use the word allegedly, but posted some anti-cemented postings on Facebook dealing with
00:58:10the death of Rob Reiner.
00:58:11Or Naira investigated it.
00:58:14And I'll say two things about this.
00:58:17And again, maybe this isn't the place for politics and this sort of thing.
00:58:20But nonetheless, this is something that needs to be said.
00:58:23I don't understand hate.
00:58:25I just don't understand it.
00:58:27The world would be a much better place if we all loved one another.
00:58:32I don't understand anti-Semitism to begin with.
00:58:35And the other thing I'd like to add, too, and I don't know if, Randy, I know you've been busy
00:58:39and Zoe's been busy.
00:58:40New York Racing Association put out a statement of charges against Kevin Bond.
00:58:45And it's likely going to lead to him being barred from the New York Racing Association tracks.
00:58:50They also found some – he claimed that his account was hacked.
00:58:53But they did a very, very good job of refuting that and also found some other anti-Semitic postings that
00:59:02he had put up on other social media websites.
00:59:05There's no place for that in society and there's no place for that in horse racing and as well within
00:59:10Naira's rights after he has a hearing if it's determined that he is, in fact, guilty to tell the guy
00:59:15to hit the road.
00:59:16And I do want to commend the New York Racing Association.
00:59:19If you read the investigation they did on this individual, they did – took this very, very seriously and they
00:59:28did a tremendous job of examining every single thing, looking under every single rock.
00:59:35And I don't think young Mr. Bond really has a leg to stand on.
00:59:38But people, come on.
00:59:40There's no place in the world for hate right now.
00:59:42There never has been.
00:59:43And it's pretty ugly stuff.
00:59:45But, you know, that's the one thing I did want to say to get off my chest, that New York
00:59:51Racing Association deserves a lot of credit for, A, taking this seriously, and, B, for doing an extremely thorough job
00:59:58with their investigation.
01:00:00TDN Riders Room also brought to you by West Point Thoroughbreds, which recently retired a Maryland-bred fixture in the
01:00:06remarkable Jackson Traveler, who won a stakes race, believe it or not.
01:00:11As a 2-year-old, 3-year-old, 4-year-old, 5-year-old, 6-year-old, and 7-year
01:00:15-old, and is now a first-year stallion in New Mexico.
01:00:18Well, on Saturday, another Maryland-bred emerged for West Point.
01:00:23Creed's Vision, who nearly broke the track record in a maiden special weight race at Tampa Bay Downs.
01:00:30He went six furlongs and 109 flat.
01:00:32He earned an 89 buyer's speed figure.
01:00:34He's one of our five fastest maidens this week in TDN.
01:00:38And Arnaud Delacour, the trainer of Creed's Vision, who was a $115,000 purchase at OBS Spring for 2-year
01:00:46-olds in training.
01:01:10West Point Thoroughbreds, the gold standard in racing partnerships.
01:01:14Visit westpointtv.com.
01:01:20I want to thank our team, Randy Moss and Zoe Cadman, my co-host.
01:01:25Zoe, where are you going to be next week?
01:01:27What exotic place will we find you?
01:01:31I'll be home.
01:01:32I will be home next week for sure.
01:01:34Which is not bad either.
01:01:36Sunny California.
01:01:38I've got no complaints.
01:01:39What can I tell you?
01:01:40I want to thank our Gainsway Guest of the Week.
01:01:42That, of course, was Mr. Brendan Walsh coming off his win in the Rachel Alexandra.
01:01:46Also, I want to thank the people that work behind the scenes to make this show look so good each
01:01:50week.
01:01:50That's Sue Finley, Katie Petruniak, Anthony LaRocca, and Aaliyah LaRocca.
01:01:54Thanks so much for tuning us in, and we'll talk to you next week.
01:01:59I'll see you next week.
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