00:00On this week's edition of First Things First, I caught up with trainer Aggie O'Donies and her star of her
00:06barn, Almond Joy.
00:13Okay, Aggie, it's Monday morning. You've had, you know, a good 24 hours to recover and the big mare here.
00:20How are you both doing?
00:22I'm still on cloud nine and she's still floating on air. Came out of the race great. Legs are cold
00:28and tight. She's still a big, strong, sound filly.
00:32And she had a little acupuncture treatment this morning, a little massage and she's doing great.
00:41Would she be one of your most favorites of all your favorites? I mean, you have a lot of favorites.
00:46I love them all. I would. How can you not? How can you not love this girl?
00:51She's what everyone would dream of having in their barn. And she's a bit of a ham.
00:57She loves all the attention. She loves to run. And she likes the whole pomp and circumstance of it.
01:03She presents in the paddock. I mean, she's just having fun.
01:06Talk to me about the balls. We can mention that. What it took to run her back in a week,
01:11Aggie.
01:15I was very confident. I know it was I was a bold move. And I just when that strikes me,
01:23it doesn't strike me often.
01:24But when it strikes me as the right thing to do, I run with it.
01:28And I and she was giving me every sign that the grass race took nothing out of her.
01:33In fact, if anything, she was a little mad like she didn't get to do her thing.
01:37And she she had everyone in the world come over and check her and go over her.
01:42And she jogged up and down that road as sound as a bell and bend her, flex her, twister.
01:46And she did nothing but squeal and kick at him when they when they walked away.
01:50And and so I loved it. And I felt I felt great walking her up there.
01:55So it's I'm glad she she she he came through for me.
02:00All right. Well, let's go take a look at a big brother.
02:02Where is she going to head to next?
02:04We'll go to Del Mar. First week of August is the Clement.
02:09Clement Hirsch. Yeah. Yes. Yes.
02:12And it is a Raiders Cup win and you're in.
02:16So that's an exciting and exciting part of it.
02:19I think she's pulling me over because I'm keeping her from her breakfast.
02:22Ah, maybe that's what's going on.
02:25Well, we won't keep her any longer.
02:28Can you give us a little info on Vodka Vodka?
02:31On Monjoy's big brother.
02:32I mean, that's got to be cool to have two in your bar.
02:34The ball's in his court now.
02:36They've been going back and forth on who's earned the most money.
02:39And it's his his sister's got the one up on him right now.
02:43And I don't think it'll take him long to balance that out.
02:47He had a great race in New Mexico.
02:50But when he came out of the gate, he stumbled and pulled a shoe off.
02:53He actually had an amazing performance running that race on three shoes.
02:56I was so impressed.
02:57But it bruised the foot.
02:58So we've been nursing that back.
03:00He's just about ready to get back to serious training.
03:04And we'll see if we can make a race at Los Alamitos in the Betrando.
03:08Does he like his teddy bear?
03:09He loves his teddy bear.
03:11He's sometimes very gentle and other times kind of tough on him.
03:15He's been throwing them around a little bit.
03:19But, you know, tough guys need teddy bears.
03:27Many thanks to Aggie and Almond Joy.
03:30Aggie really is a true horseman.
03:31And we wish her the best of luck with Almond Joy.
03:34She's such a brilliant, brilliant filly.
03:37And she's fun to be around.
03:38All right, let's talk about Santa Anita this coming weekend.
03:41We will race Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
03:44Come and join the Belmont Steaks with us.
03:46Enjoy the Belmont Steaks.
03:47And come and have a little tipple of wine.
03:49It's uncorked.
03:50You can find everything you need to know on the Santa Anita website
03:54to get your tickets for the wine festival at Santa Anita.
03:57And don't forget, Friday, Saturday and Sunday this weekend,
04:00the following weekend, we'll close out with a four-day weekend of racing.
04:04Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday to close out the summer meet.
04:09We'll see you next time.
04:09Bye-bye.
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