- 16 hours ago
Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen was enthusiastic in his praise for GI Stephen Foster winner Magnitude this week on the TDN Writers' Room. The team also recapped the races at Churchill Downs and looked ahead to opening weekend of Saratoga.
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00:18welcome to another edition of the tdn writers room my name is bill finley i'm a correspondent
00:23for the thoroughbred daily news also the co-host of the down the stretch radio show every saturday
00:28with dave johnson tune us in channel 85 10 a.m eastern time i am randy moss with nbc sports
00:36i
00:36was actually uh digging through my uh bin of ball caps the other day and i came across something that
00:43i didn't even know i had and i thought a tvg hat since i don't have a fan duel hat
00:48as well would
00:49be pretty apropos right now uh after uh after last weekend extremely apropos and very fitting i'm zoe
00:57cabin with first tv and first racing if i could have found my hr tv hat that kind of superseded
01:03it
01:03i would have plopped that on as well as we saw half of the folks say goodbye this weekend from
01:09fan duel obviously they're going to continue through breeders cup but there'll be no
01:13in-studio presence they will be on site at delmar and at keeneland for breeders cup but
01:19it's a topic that we'll have to get into another day because they will be greatly missed and the
01:24industry definitely is going to be at a loss and i've got another hat i'm going to pull out here
01:30a little bit later in the uh a little bit later in the podcast why don't many hats oh i
01:34look forward
01:35to that so well yes uh good sentiments about fan duel and uh to tune in yesterday on monday and
01:41to see
01:41nothing but the track feeds was a little bit sad to see but um hopefully the industry can come up
01:47some way to uh get something going again but let's turn our attention to what was the huge story of
01:53the
01:53weekend and of course was the stephen foster and quantity wise no only five horses but this was
02:00what we all like to see in horse racing the definitive showdown for the most part we got
02:06everybody maybe you know a couple horses here and there no niceos that's understood he's going on to
02:11the whitney but for the most part we got the horses that mattered and it was the definitive showdown to
02:17prove who is the best older horse on the day and perhaps the best older horse in all of racing
02:24and magnitude zoe he answered the question and he answered it definitively this is one hell of a race
02:30horse oh boy did he ever um breaking through the gate obviously he didn't run down the racetrack
02:36the starter did a great job holding on to him but i mean generally people are ripping up their tickets
02:41after that happens third choice in the morning line oh see you later let's just go with the favorite
02:47he was phenomenal now and randy will probably touch on this as well i thought by azer ran a banger
02:55absolute banger i don't know how he can't get out of the gate i don't know if he's remembering
02:59back when john sheriffs was training him in his first couple of starts when he couldn't leave the gate
03:04either i don't know what's going on but he didn't leave the gate and maybe ran a banger race from
03:10there
03:10but take nothing away from the winner to do what steve has done with him to win the world cup
03:14following carlin's footsteps come right back not miss a beat coming off the layoff to win a race like
03:20this under jose ortiz i think you have to put uh an eclipse award by jose's name already this year
03:27he's got it slammed down slam dunk for me already as champion jockey eclipse award winning jockey he'll
03:34definitely get my vote if i could vote right now today but magnitude was fantastic he uh
03:40by azer was gaining on him don't know what happened to sovereignty ran flat can you blame the track i
03:46don't know um bill mart trains a pair of them we're going to see good things from by azer
03:51uh in the coming months as well we have a fantastic older older horse division something that i don't
03:57think we hardly ever say right randy we do yeah i'm going to unpack a few things here the obviously
04:04sovereignty was a pretty heavy heavy favorite and a lot of the talk after the race was what's going on
04:10with sovereignty what happened to sovereignty but look sovereignty's best race was the belmont stakes
04:15he ran a 115 buyer magnitude just ran a 114 buyer in stephen foster so there's no guarantee that even
04:23if sovereignty had run his best race that he was going to be able to run down magnitude especially
04:29given the trip that magnitude had right now he's proven he's matured he doesn't have to have the lead
04:36to win but since they've been running dirt races in america everybody knows that it's an advantage
04:43to have a clear early lead in modest fractions and these were fairly modest fractions for that level
04:51of racehorse um and you know he benefited from that when a couple of horses were scratched out of the
04:58race by sappy joseph so he did have that going in his favor but i'm not taking anything away from
05:04magnitude uh he ran uh he ran one heck of a race now so what happened to sovereignty okay there's
05:10a
05:10couple of things i want to point out um i was i was a little bit on the fence about
05:18sovereignty going
05:19into the oakland handicap and here's why when sovereignty didn't run in the preakness last year
05:26when uh mott made the decision to skip the preakness and point for the belmont one of the stated
05:32reasons at that time was that they wanted to make sure they had a fresh horse for the breeders cup
05:38classic and for the dubai world cup and we all know how much sheikh muhammad desires to have his
05:46best dirt horses running in godolphin's colors at the dubai world cup now sovereignty spikes a small
05:54fever before the breeders cup and had to be scratched had to be treated with antibiotics it was apparently
05:59nothing major but then suddenly we hear that he's not going to make the dubai world cup no real
06:07explanation as to why he just wouldn't be ready in time for the dubai world cup and there wasn't a
06:15whole lot of transparency there which there seldom isn't uh there seldom is uh you know when you're
06:21talking about a racehorse of that caliber and the stud value he's going to have and all that but to
06:26me
06:26that was a red flag that he that they skipped the dubai world cup right now for the stephen foster
06:33itself oftentimes i know he's went in the slot before but oftentimes when horses do not handle
06:40a uh a wet racetrack like that what you'll see is that they run in spots and that's exactly what
06:48sovereignty did he was up in good striking position then he dropped back to last at the half mile pole
06:54and looked like he was done and then suddenly he starts running again and you think oh okay here
06:59comes sovereignty maybe we're going to see him win and then again he flattens out uh in the last
07:05quarter mile three sixteenths of a mile or so that could be an indication that he just didn't
07:11particularly relish that particular sloppy racetrack i don't know and by aza i mean what an unbelievable
07:18race he ran but i will say this also i don't want to be there's always point counterpoints right
07:22if i had a dollar for every time i've seen a horse who habitually broke slowly and made a huge
07:30run
07:30right and everybody says oh man if this horse ever breaks and then they break and then they have
07:36nothing for the stretch right we've seen that so often over the years i hope that's not by aza
07:42because uh he gave away a lot at the start for the second consecutive race but man did he kick
07:48it in
07:48late zoe randy just brought up the track condition we haven't mentioned white abario and he does have
07:55a history of running um subpar races in the slop so do you think that affected him and and segue
08:01off
08:02randy said you know how do you think the track condition played and affected the outcome of the race
08:08quite possibly could have affected white abario and sovereignty and it's something that we just never
08:14know some horses wake up with a headache i wake up with a headache that some horses have off days
08:19some
08:19horses have brilliant days there is no way to pinpoint exactly what happened for these two horses
08:26they weren't eased it wasn't the you know an absolute abominable put a line through it it just was a
08:33blah not what you expected so you just move on you know bill mott will be shaking his head and
08:41regrouping
08:41but you know he's got the horse back in saratoga and his best races have come in saratova yeah he
08:49won
08:49the derby he won the derby over a fast racetrack so i don't know and we probably never will know
08:55right
08:55did it raise any eyebrows with you when they skipped the dubai world cup given how often mott has run
09:01horses in the dubai world cup i don't know uh it was some i mean usually for bill every single
09:09peg
09:09has to fall in place so maybe he wasn't ready maybe he got a little sick in the spring that
09:15we
09:15don't know about you know there's not a lot of people um following bill mott around payson or in
09:21saratoga i mean there's more now but we don't know what went on the only person that really knows is
09:26bill
09:27and he's either kicking himself or doesn't know and we'll never know so guys we've already talked
09:34about this and this is in my memory one of the best crops of older horses we've seen in a
09:41long
09:42time and it's great to see i mean even though sovereignty is not one this year that they brought
09:46him back they brought baeza back they brought journalism back type of thing that we haven't
09:51normally seen and now we have these horses like magnitude and the rest of them running so well
09:56forever young forever young of court coming back for uh the jockey club gold cup which is going to be
10:03a tremendous uh race um we're going to hear from steve asmussen in a little bit and he says he's
10:08not
10:08afraid of forever young he's gonna if all things are uh in line he'll take them on in the jockey
10:14club
10:14gold cup again but now we had niso centers the equation and how about the announcement this week
10:21that nitrogen off that huge win and the ogden phipps she's gonna join the fray and go in the
10:29whitney and i give um dj stable and john and len green a lot of credit for doing this
10:34they could have gone through the older philly mayor division one to five one to five and swept
10:39everything and uh i love it when people are good sportsmen and they want to challenge their horse
10:46is she good enough to beat these horses i don't know if she is or not but i think they
10:51deserve a lot
10:51of credit randy i do too i do too i think it would be cool um if it's just magnitude
10:58that they have to
10:59deal with as far as the horse is coming out of the stephen foster uh that's one thing uh if
11:05she's got
11:05to deal with magnitude and sovereignty and baeza maybe white abario again on a fast racetrack that's a
11:13different challenge entirely but it's it's it's a if it if it comes to pass it's very much a sportsman
11:19like move i think it's awesome but i think one thing that we have to keep in the back of
11:23our minds
11:24is should all those horses go in there i am pretty sure that mark cassie's a very smart guy
11:30and he'll take the stand with jose ortiz whoever jose opts to ride or whoever rides um rides her and
11:38just simply say listen if things aren't going your way just wrap up because we just saw how it gutted
11:43rachel alexandra that day she was never the same after that never the same and i think every person
11:50who witnessed that realizes that and they have you know the end of the year goals if she doesn't win
11:55against the boys in the whitney she'll go back against the girls in the distaff they don't want
12:00to gut her in one race and i think they'll be very cognizant of that so you just brought up
12:06an
12:06interesting uh question though um jose ortiz if would ride magnitude in in the whitney they're going
12:12to need a new jockey yeah yeah and then who does he ride golden tempo or magnitude honestly i can't
12:20see him taking off the derby winner the derby is the derby can anybody see him taking off the derby
12:26winner now you're looking ahead to the breeders cup classic yes correct yeah well i i guess it just
12:31depends on how they're running and the immediate race is preceding that right everything goes well
12:37leading up to the breeders cup classic as good as it's gone now who are you picking would you take
12:44off the derby winner or would you stick with magnitude if golden tempo wins the traverse
12:50that would be a tough that's that's a much tougher decision and i'm not dissing nitrogen but that's a
12:55much tougher decision than magnitude versus nitrogen yeah so i don't know we shall see well the man of the
13:05hour steve astmussen will be joining us after these commercials he's the gainsway guest of the week and
13:09he'll give us more on magnitude's huge win in the steven foster stay with us do want to remind you
13:16that
13:16each and every week the tdn writers room is brought to you by keeneland the can't miss moments this fall
13:21are all happening at keeneland futures are found history is written champions are crowned legacies are
13:28cemented as the world watches don't miss everything that's happening at keeneland this fall which kicks off
13:34with the september yearling sale on the 14th and is then followed by the full meeting october the
13:40second through the 23rd through the 24th excuse me the october 28th championship sale and then
13:48if that wasn't enough the breeders cup on october the 30th and the 31st and then the november sale which
13:56begins on november the 3rd and there's more the november the 11th horses of racing age sale be there
14:04for every moment we do this so your granddaughter can work on a farm someday
14:12so the stands will still be packed in 50 years that's why we come to work every day
14:19obsess over every single detail
14:24because the story of racing is written one moment at a time and the future of our industry
14:32deserves nothing less keeneland every moment matters
14:38the fastest horse of the week brought to you by the fast sires at winstar farm this week we're
14:44looking again at constitution who made some fireworks the week before the 4th of july on stephen foster day
14:50at churchill downs constitution's hard trying mayor pinup betty won the anchorage stakes for her
14:57fourth career stakes win and then on the same card harrodsburg became constitution's newest
15:02stakes and graded stakes winner with a win in the bango stakes which is a grade three both of those
15:09races the anchorage and the bango carried purses of 275 000 constitution stands at winstar for a fee of
15:17110 000 fastest source of the week no surprise we've already talked about magnitudes 114 buyer
15:25speed figure we've pretty much said everything there is to say about the stephen foster but i will
15:31add this it is not the fastest buyer speed figure of the year here are the top five right now
15:37as of
15:38last week number one englishman his 115 in the woody stevens then comes magnitude in the stephen foster
15:45then nitrogens 113 in the ogden phipps tied with the 112 knights bridge from the gulf stream park mile
15:53and biazza from that second place finish last saturday and finally wider barrios 111 in the oakland handicap
16:06welcome and now the gainsway guest the week and who else do we have on this week after the stephen
16:11foster but one other than hall of famer steve asmussen steve thanks so much for joining us
16:16congratulations on a great victory on saturday at churchill downs and and steve you've trained so
16:22many great horses over the years gunrunner curlin rachel alexandra it's almost blasphemous that i ask
16:29you this but is magnitude creeping up on them as one of the best ever that you've ever trained
16:34i i've thought about that a lot since saturday going in um you know obviously an extremely emotional
16:41victory for the team um just wanted validation of what we what he did in dubai in beating forever
16:50young and for them assembling sovereignty and why why to borrow you in a baza you know for his first
16:59run
16:59after dubai just you know i think the same reason you're talking to me is what that race really
17:07meant and how special a horse he is and for him to have beaten forever young in dubai and then
17:14come
17:14back over here beat the derby winner at churchill uh as well as you know two of the hottest older
17:21horses
17:21as well and yes i mean what what else could you ask for as far as validation from a racehorse
17:29to
17:29prove how good he is so we've all seen you in the winner's circle in major races numerous times i've
17:36been covering you since what oakland in 96 and lone star park in 1997 right no one i don't think
17:44has seen
17:45you at least on television as giddy as excited as amped up as pumped up as you were in the
17:53immediate
17:53aftermath of that race and you've had other horses that that you know needed to prove themselves and
17:59and did it on a big stage what made this so extra special i think we have the best horse
18:06in the world
18:06and he just proved it i mean i grew up in a horse racing family with the dream of being
18:13able to
18:14participate on this level and to uh have the responsibility of a horse uh like this and for
18:24what he's done in his last two races and i just i felt that he was a bit disrespected going
18:31into this
18:31race uh coming into it i mean how many horses beat forever young and are third choice on the morning
18:38line you know in their next start and uh i just yeah i i uh you're right extremely giddy i
18:49think
18:49that's a great way of putting it you know emotional but you know i feel that he's the best horse
18:55in the
18:55world and i want everybody to feel the same way about him as i do well steve it certainly was
19:01fun to
19:01watch but can you tell me about the progression that he's had over the course that we've been
19:06watching him from a three-year-old obviously he missed the derby but he's a horse who who just
19:13seems to have gotten better under your tutelage and there's been terrible ups and downs with him
19:19it is the talent's been there and the confidence that he's grown into and the man that he's become
19:27have given us the results that we're getting but it the talent has always been there and
19:35it's just a culmination of him being exactly where he needs to be mentally and physically to
19:41get done what he's getting getting done so this is not this is not network television zoe zoe's drops
19:49four letter bombs all the time on this podcast what what were your thoughts when he broke through the
19:56starting gates you could have knocked me out with a feather i mean i my anticipation and expectation
20:05of how fast he was about to run was at an all-time high and for that variable at that
20:13exact moment
20:14it made you recalculate everything you're thinking and the variable of what it took out of him and all
20:24that that's just rushing through me and they reload him and when they opened the gates with the
20:30willingness he was and the lack of hesitation he had in his first two jumps that's how special is
20:39that i mean it it that literally he knew what he planned on doing i talked with jose afterwards and
20:46he said something clanked behind him when he did it you know and that's that's how ready he was to
20:51show
20:52him what he was gonna do so steve um yeah has that ever happened to you a horse winning after
20:59breaking
21:00through the gate i said after the race that it had never happened to me in 11 260 victories and
21:07i was
21:07proved wrong at at monmouth park we had one break through the front and win but i'm gonna go with
21:13i
21:13probably wasn't in attendance that day you know i might have missed that one
21:20yeah so steve take us through the rest of the calendar obviously the breeders cup classic would
21:25be your main goal of the year but uh the whitney uh anything else beyond that and as a trainer
21:31at
21:31this point is the goal to just keep him at the same level does he need to improve and how
21:37you know
21:38just take us through what you think is going to happen between now and breeders cup classic day
21:43i i do he made it to saratoga this morning about 5 a.m uh got video of him uh
21:51walking and he looked
21:53fabulous got his bath i was so happy with how he came out of the race uh yesterday morning at
22:00churchill he was very proud of himself looked looked wonderful loaded up made it there this morning
22:07and i am expecting uh the whitney to be his next race i august august august 8th perfect timing
22:16all right so yoshido yahagi has already come out and said that his intentions are to run forever young
22:22in the jockey club gold cup prior to the breeders cup classic would you have you've i mean you've
22:27beaten him once would you have any qualms of going up against forever young again prior to the breeders
22:34no i mean that yeah you're i i like to race i definitely do and and and whatever we feel
22:46is
22:46best on how to get to the breeders cup and what that will mean this year and in the best
22:51shape possible
22:52but i definitely the whitney the jockey club and the breeders cup are very reasonable to consider
23:00as his next three races steve you have a horse flying under the radar if we could segue a little
23:08bit uh lagmios won the wise dan um here's a horse that's just as a win machine tell us a
23:15little bit
23:15about him and uh how good is he and what's in store for him a tremendously fun horse as you
23:21mentioned i
23:21believe that was his eighth stakes victory in the wise dan on saturday uh very very competitive
23:29through his three-year-old uh early four-year-old year in you know solid races but couldn't quite
23:37work out the trip get the trip get the pace scenario um last year at kentucky downs had a breakout
23:45victory
23:45there looked the best that he ever has i think the car and what is jose's confidence in him and
23:53the
23:53difference that i see from him placing in good races to winning him is the horse is in the right
24:00position in a race but he's handling right to be in that position he's not being held in that spot
24:07and his confidence is obviously where something that's won five races in a row it should be
24:15steve where are you headed right now everybody seems to know that you like to drive everywhere
24:21what does your weekend what does your weekend look like i uh started it i'm leaving ellis park right
24:29now we they've moved back their opening day from move the thursday card to monday so opening day there
24:37will be friday and we have uh several uh participants this over the four days at ellis
24:44and obviously want to get off to a good start there um go back to churchill and then i will
24:51be heading to
24:52saratoga probably thursday after training with a stop at turfway
24:59i've got one more for you one couldn't help but notice the winner's circle celebrations when magnitude
25:05one there were a lot of young kids around uh in the winner's circle was there a bachelor party going
25:11on yeah this weekend was keith's bachelor party and a lot of his friends uh were there for the weekend
25:18and what a great celebration we had and two or three of them have walked hots for us at different
25:25times in the summer most of them at lone star and so it they they're more than just your uh
25:32part-time
25:33racing uh racing fans they definitely know what's going on knew how important to race uh magnitude
25:41the stephen foster was for magnitude and it was uh it it'll be a very memorable weekend for a lot
25:48of
25:48reasons and did you participate in said bachelor party just oh no no no no no no no no no
26:00absolutely not we we had uh we had enough on the line this weekend that's uh well i'll celebrate at
26:07the wedding but uh obviously keith and andy uh getting getting married on the 18th of august and
26:14we all could not be more excited about that how proud are you of all your kids moving forward
26:21along with keith and andy as well because it's something that you hold near and dear to your heart
26:26is your family they are i mean us being involved in this and for that you know as blessed and
26:36as
26:36fortunate as we've been they could uh take a position in horse racing that would not be judged
26:43and for them to be willing to the discipline that keith and eric are showing at their height
26:49to maintain their weight and to put themselves in the arena and compete on this level as you know
26:56zoe you know riding yourself and all that it entails and you know for we know we know with uh
27:05my resume uh that they could have taken a black card from a farm and then you know just offer
27:11opinion
27:12and never be judged and for them to be willing to put themselves in is what makes me the proudest
27:18and
27:18they are uh better horsemen uh than i than i definitely was at that age and their experiences
27:28and how you know um i i how do you possibly put a father's pride into words very good well
27:37steve thank
27:38you so much for taking time out from your busy schedule even got you to pull over to the side
27:42of the road to be able to talk to us uh on a tuesday morning yeah congratulations so much on
27:50magnitude what
27:51a fun horse and we look forward to him and the whitney and uh all the major stuff down the
27:57road
27:58absolutely well i greatly appreciate it and uh could not be more proud of the whole team but mainly
28:04magnitudes effort to put us in this position very good thank you so much steve for being the
28:10gainsway guest of the week and keep the run going with magnitude we'll be watching all right thank you
28:15all our guest of the week steve asmussen came to you courtesy of gainsway farm the home of stallion
28:21mackenzie who had a stakes double on saturday in the mid-atlantic him won the the francis dash
28:29at laurel easily by over five links is the favorite and colonial downs is now racing and
28:35colonials brookmead stakes went to day to day who won as she pleased but the best performance of the
28:42weekend by any offspring of mackenzie was baeza's second place finish in the stephen foster mackenzie
28:50street senses best son stands at gainsway for a fee of seventy five thousand dollars gainsway power
28:56passion performance
29:08a million two million two right there a million two hundred thousand
29:12baeza gets his moment in the sun in the pennsylvania derby chancer mick patrick wins the champagne
29:18impressively spectacular display from scottish lassie who's in front by 15 legs
29:29the pennsylvania breeding program is the best program in the country the stallion awards the
29:36owner bonuses also the restrictive races and the stakes races for pennsylvania breads last year 321
29:42pennsylvania breeders earned breeders awards 22 pennsylvania breeders earned over 100 000 we have the best
29:52program in the best program in the best program in the country take advantage of the fantastic program that we
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29:56learn more at pabread.com
29:59the td and writers are brought to you by the phba the pennsylvania horse breeders association
30:06the malvern rose steaks for pennsylvania breads was run at presk isle downs
30:11the easy winner by six lengths in her three-year-old debut
30:15smooch up who is now four for four at presk isle smooch up is a homebred for robert and tammy
30:22klimazewski the malvern rose just a small part of the overall seven million dollars in pennsylvania
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31:05that was a fun interview with steve asmussen and a couple things struck me and i'm sure you guys
31:10would feel the same way first of all his enthusiasm for this horse and you know just the smile on
31:17his
31:17face and also the first question that i asked him i mean this is a guy who's trained rachel
31:22a curling gun runner not to mention a bunch of other really good horses and when i asked him is
31:28he this
31:28horse magnitude maybe belong in that same sentence with them he didn't even hesitate and his answer
31:34basically randy was yes yeah i mean he was extremely giddy in the immediate aftermath of the race
31:40and now 72 hours later we're taping this on tuesday morning he's only slightly less giddy
31:47than he was right after the race zoe yeah a really fun interview and it's a sight of steve that
31:53you don't
31:53always see and it was good to see it on the day and it's good to see it still goes
31:58forward and you
32:00know with with the kids doing so well racing and um uh steve and not steve um keith's upcoming
32:08nuptials to annie bianco and it just made for a fun story it really did and that really comes
32:13through from steve which is good to see i see randy's got a new hat what's that hat the wood
32:18memorial at aqueduct yeah this was also in my bin of seldom used uh headgear that i uh found it
32:26about the same time i found the tvg hat so two apropos hats i'm wearing here on this podcast
32:33now um randy or zoe were you on ebay this morning because i knew this would happen you can buy
32:39a jar
32:39of aqueduct dirt on ebay for the low low price of 29.99 so if you weren't there on set
32:48on sunday to
32:49get your own dirt history was made and for 29.99 a jar of aqueduct dirt maybe it's the same
32:56dirt
32:56that secretariat ran over uh back in the day you never know so i'll probably i'll have to kind of
33:01carry the load for this but i'll get some um thoughts from my two cohorts i was out at aqueduct
33:06covering the closing day for the tdn and i was pleasantly surprised i mean the place really is
33:13in disrepair um it it they haven't put any money into it there's most parts of the racetrack are shut
33:19down but people went out and it was a fun occasion and i thought everybody you know people were sad
33:27but
33:27i think for the most part people were celebrating the long history of aqueduct and their memories
33:33there had been open since 1959 uh and you know the time had come for it to move on new
33:41york racing is
33:42now going to turn to what i think is going to be a really popular and fabulous facility at belmont
33:48park come in september with the opening day the jockey club gold cup perhaps of that great lineup
33:54including forever young and perhaps magnitude uh well that what a way to kick it off but uh zoe i
34:01don't know if you have if you've ever ridden an aqueduct or anything like that but it was nostalgic
34:06i think and they myra did a great job what could have been just kind of a dreary uh afternoon
34:13there
34:13was a beautiful day they had bands out to greet the customers uh they named every race after a
34:20famous uh occurrence in aqueduct history the last race was called it's been a good ride or it's been
34:26a great run um sad to see it go yes and no uh i'm not particularly that sad because i
34:34think the new
34:34belmont is going to be great and it's time it come it's time for aqueduct to step aside and for
34:39a new
34:39era in new york racing to start i read your piece it was very good very poignant and it seemed
34:45like it
34:45was a great day and then it begs yourself to wonder where all these people to begin with
34:49you've got people that just showed up people coming as far as england and ireland just to pay homage to
34:55aqueduct which was great quite fitting that the last race was won by a horse called assume nothing
35:01which we should all do assume nothing is going to be the same um a sad day but i too
35:10look forward
35:11to seeing what belmont has to offer and hopefully it's going to be bigger better and just inviting
35:17more families more people in more young people in which is what we need to see to try and make
35:22this
35:22sport grow and hopefully they've got some new ideas something out of the box completely but a sad day
35:29i'm glad you went there and got to see it and by all accounts it was a very fun day
35:34a celebration
35:35of life so to speak some of the people that were in attendance a couple of people bill talked to
35:41had
35:41never been to aqueduct before and they thought it was it was poignant to come out on the very last
35:46day
35:46and and i'm sure there were people who were aghast at the condition of the grandstand i think somebody
35:54told bill that clearly they haven't put any money into it at all well there's a reason for that they
35:59knew
35:59this day was coming a long time ago right now this has been in the works for at least a
36:05decade and
36:06probably longer than that to consolidate everything at saratoga and belmont park and the reason for
36:12that is economic um naira just uh stated that the uh the property value of the 110 acres that aqueduct
36:22sits on they estimated at 1 billion dollars so it makes no sense financially as big a footprint as
36:31that is and as much as it costs to keep a racetrack going not only utilities but the barn areas
36:37and
36:37things like that racing surfaces to just close aqueduct uh you know develop it for all that
36:43money and the racing doesn't isn't impacted at all it's could actually improve because everything
36:49has gone now to belmont park do we know what's going to happen to it do we know what it's
36:54going
36:54to be yeah i was asking that question zoe i mean the property is is taken up at least half
37:01of it by the
37:02casino and i i think the casino will expand and and and you know uh have new amenities and and
37:10whatnot
37:10but nobody said for certain but i mean remember it's it's it is half aqueduct half the casino
37:17and you know the the yin and the yang of the casino is is immaculate and well taken care of
37:23and then
37:23you step into the aqueduct property and it's like yeah this place certainly has seen better days but
37:28um my my guess is uh that the uh resorts world casino will take over the rest of the property
37:34and um just what we need another casino uh in the united states of america uh uh but it will
37:42be uh
37:42it's not for me but uh certainly very popular with the uh the gamblers in this day and age but
37:48i i
37:49think that's what's going to be the future of the aqueduct racetrack property but it it went out with
37:54a bang and it was good to see all right we're going to take a break and we come back
37:59it's opening weekend
38:00well it's it's there's three opening weekends at saratoga if you want to put it that way it is
38:06the second of the three and uh on they open on friday and a great card on saturday with a
38:11couple
38:11uh grade one stakes races the belmont oaks at belmont derby that also run the suburban
38:15so right after we hear from our sponsors we will get into segment four and talk a little bit about
38:21opening weekend at saratoga stay with us nominations for the thoroughbred industry employee awards are now
38:28open through july the 13th please please take a moment to nominate a member of your staff
38:35recognizing and rewarding the hard work and dedication you can visit www.tiea.org it's a
38:45worthwhile program we saw last year the newcomer award kenela rose getting the newcomer award
38:50nominated by tom amos he is now of course a lead trainer and a head trainer so well worth it
38:58people really appreciate it and just go to the tiea.org to nominate your favorite member of staff
39:07people at the racetrack so oftentimes you know don't get the spotlight that they deserve
39:12there's so many great people back here i mean that work really really hard you know they're back here
39:17seven days a week you know 24 7 you know working hard every day and we're so grateful to be
39:22a part of
39:23this industry they love their job they love the horses a little bit of recognition goes a long way
39:28it's not too late nominate go to tiea.org
39:38with some of the fullest fields in the country and quality racing year-round there's never been a
39:44better time to reap the rewards of breeding and racing in kentucky
39:49purse money in kentucky is at an all-time high as its average purse per race outpacing california
39:56florida and new york kentucky breads breed them raise them race them we all win
40:08kentucky breads had an exceptional week at the recent royal ascot meeting taking home
40:13one of the meetings crown jewels and showcasing two exciting young horses in what was probably the
40:19most thrilling race of the week scandinavia a kentucky bred son of justify ran down the defending
40:25champ trawler man in an unbelievable renewal of the ascot gold cup giving aden o'brien his 100th
40:32career winner at the royal ascot meet and then in the chess and stakes for two-year-olds
40:37justify struck again with the one two finishers nola soul owned by craig bernick of glenn hill
40:43farm and on just terms both sons of justify one two finishers in the chess and then wesley ward
40:51returned to the ascot winner's circle with another kentucky bred bacchio who dominated the field in the
40:56palace of hollyrood house stakes by three and three quarters lengths he got a time form rating of 120p
41:03putting him on par with the best sprinters of the week kentucky breds breed them raise them race them
41:09we all win well the belmont oaks at saratoga will be the first of the two grade one races on
41:17saratoga
41:17opening day is friday and uh y'alls have to deal with charlie appleby in this race chad brown has
41:23won
41:23it six times but has only won one since 2017 he's got fits right in here charlie appleby has abashiri
41:33coming in um my first feeling is you know charlie appleby is usually able to win a lot of these
41:39big
41:39american races with his second stringers i'm not sure that abashiri coming off a race um well okay
41:45the 2000 1000 guineas pretty good race three by three definitely fits into the charlie appleby mode
41:51but i think chad brown's going to win it with fits right i mean this is a horse that is
41:55in terrific form
41:57right now has won three straight really turned a corner this year and uh the chad brown um i mean
42:03this has been said a thousand times on this podcast and we'll say it again chad brown flavian pratt that's
42:09a very hard combination to beat but um as as always happens with these races they are terrific races
42:17terrific betting races wide open events and something to look forward to zoe yeah they really are i don't
42:24really know where to look i'll tell you a horse you didn't mention in here that definitely deserves
42:29a good look is faithful departed the three-year-old daughter of yoshida coming off a win under none
42:35other than jose ortiz last time out that was in the grade three regret taking a step up in class
42:40but
42:40numbers wise her numbers are through the roof and by far the best in here obviously you've got
42:47monica o'brien coming over with kensington lane she might be a cup below the other abashari in here
42:53for charlie appleby but it might well be on the americans over the euros in my opinion what do you
43:00think randy well if you don't take the euros it's almost a coin flip between fits right storms wake
43:08faithful departed just aloof imagination the lady i mean they've all been running against each other and
43:15they've been in close proximity to each other at the finish to me this is not a charlie appleby second
43:21stringer i mean this is a this is a very nice philly abashiri uh precise not only won the irish
43:281000 guineas very impressively she came back and won a royal ascot after that perhaps even more
43:34impressively so she is the leading three-year-old philly right now in uh in england for sure and ireland
43:42i
43:42know about all of europe probably so and there's not really much zoe knows more about this than me
43:47from this point forward i don't think there's really much in europe just for three-year-old phillies
43:53right now you got to run against the older phillies and mayors if you stay over there
43:56so they decided to come over here and point for some of the three-year-old philly races that we
44:02have
44:02on our calendar to me she's given what we've seen in the past not just from europeans make good
44:09europeans making the journey but charlie appleby europeans she's definitely the worst to beat and
44:15charlie's been a little quiet of late so it seems just that he would bring his first string and not
44:21his second string because in years previously he's done well enough with his second string horses and
44:26beaten the americans but he's been a little quiet of late so i think he had to dig deep and
44:32say let's
44:32just take this philly to the states and see how she handles over there she'll um get the services
44:38of bill buick and she ran a very good race last time out but i just have a feeling that
44:44the american
44:44horses might have the edge at saratoga a little bit tighter little little quicker i i don't know
44:51okay we shall see the suburban run at a mile and a quarter will be run in between the two
44:58turf races
44:59and ford steel scratched out of the stephen foster to run in gear and i'm gonna go with
45:05the saffy joseph trained horse because the mile it looks like the horse just loves a mile and a
45:11quarter ran in the gold cup the hollywood gold cup at san india the last time out one by nine
45:16and a
45:17half lengths and saffy joseph has just been so hot all over the country um i think there'd be some
45:23question of how this race will set up because looks like ford steel wants to go to the lead so
45:28does phileas fog horse it's going to be a long shot in this spot but um i think ford steel
45:35under
45:35flavian pratt can rate uh the horse has done it in the past uh back in uh at tampa in
45:41february an
45:42allowance race rated a little bit off the pace but uh that would be my case and then what do
45:46you do
45:46with antiquarian i mean this is the last year's jockey club gold cup winner came back and won the
45:51westchester and fourth by six in the metropolitan there's nothing wrong with that race against
45:58nice those night spreads in journalism i mean that race was absolutely loaded so i will go with saffy
46:05joseph ford steel on top but understand that this is a difficult race and i haven't even mentioned hit
46:12show uh who uh obviously is a horse who won the dubai world cup in 2025 got a lot of
46:17ability and a lot
46:18of class there for brad cox so you what do you think i think it's a good betting race i
46:23do i do
46:24like ford steel but he has one way to go he has to go to the lead under pratt and
46:29he's going to get
46:30some company um tistastic could come in running late got a big move up in class for him but the
46:37asmus and barn is firing on all cylinders phileas fogg like you mentioned he's going to have speed and
46:43kendrick always goes i don't i can't see pratt letting him go but those two are going to undoubtedly
46:50set the pace and phileas fogg definitely loves saratoga it's a very good betting race it would
46:56be wide open between a handful of horses in here in my opinion to me on paper it just boils
47:02down to
47:02forged steel versus antiquarian antiquarian and phileas fogg both ran against each other in the
47:10two races at saratoga that i think are pretty key here this is a mile and a quarter at saratoga
47:16antiquarian last year ran in this race and was beaten ahead by phileas fogg mile and a quarter at
47:21saratoga buyer of 104 then he comes back in the jockey club gold cup another mile and a quarter at
47:27saratoga and he runs a 108 buyer the only two times he's been a mile and a quarter well he
47:32ran in the
47:33belmont earlier as a three-year-old but clearly he loves a mile and a quarter at saratoga and i
47:39think
47:39that probably gives him a slight edge but he's probably also going to be the favorite if forged
47:44steel is a solidly better price um he might be a very good alternative we turn our attention to the
47:51belmont derby once again charlie appleby will be represented by pacific avenue who is coming off a
47:58third place finish in the irish 2000 guineas at 40 to 1 so we outran his odds that day but
48:04i gotta go
48:04with west end kid boy will walden what a job he is doing this horse uh first of all he's
48:10he's just
48:10he's i believe he's winning about 30 percent on the year um but west end kid is in terrific form
48:17won the prep for this the pennine ridge uh back in the first opening of saratoga for the belmont meet
48:23this is crazy we have three opening days we have the belmont steak meet we have the july 4th meet
48:28then we have the regular meet i will personally be glad when belmont is open they go back to their
48:33traditional 40 days of saratoga but i gotta take the hot horse randy west end kid oh i absolutely
48:39love remember mamba in this spot okay if you go if you go two races back in the transylvania if
48:47you
48:47get a chance to you know on formulator or however you watch your replays uh click on that race at
48:52keeneland and you'll think that you clicked on the wrong race you accidentally got the wrong video
48:57because it'll be at the eighth pole and you're saying there's no way the source wins right he can't
49:02he can't win and and yet he just surges this unbelievably dramatic surge to win very visually
49:10impressive and then he did kind of the same thing in the american turf uh he was beaten by stark
49:16contrast who i think is the best three-year-old turf horse in america bar none uh but he ran
49:21a
49:22heck of a race in defeat and now he gets a mile and an eighth as opposed to a mile
49:26and a sixteenth
49:27in those two races and i think remember mama's going to come flying and i think he'll outkick
49:32the europeans and the americans the other americans yeah he doesn't need pace to run at he kind of makes
49:38his own pace what did you think about title role on pacific avenue because they're not really on my
49:44radar i know you went back and watch the race you did a better job than me randy i did
49:49not go back and
49:49watch the race i asked you i asked you if you had watched the race this is before we taped
49:55i'm you
49:56know drf was down this morning they were having a system uh you know updates and so we couldn't get
50:02the pps right away and then when i did look at pps i see that these two horses title role
50:07and pacific
50:08avenue finished one two in the uh uae 2000 guineas so we were just getting ready to start the podcast
50:15i
50:15didn't have time to go back and watch it zoe did you watch it no did you watch it i
50:21know i was
50:22scrambling to get pps from somebody thank you brisnet for providing the pps for us and uh at least i
50:30use
50:30those and uh interesting they're uh good pps but uh i still remember um i'm a drf.com fan so
50:36uh we're a
50:37little bit uh hamstrung by not having uh the buyer numbers and whatnot uh for all that so i'm going
50:44west
50:45then kid anyway uh of course i work for moret she purchased the horse for scott malaka great piece
50:51in the tdn about scott's most speed racing today always been a good horse and incrementally he's
50:58just got better i don't think we've seen the best of him yet and we're gonna have to see the
51:02best of
51:03him on saturday for him to win it's an outside draw again that hasn't been a problem for him towards
51:08the outside of the field but it's going to be a very good race and i'm intrigued with what randy
51:13had to say he loves remember mama i love that definitely a much must watch love him randy do
51:20you have a forever mamba hat for us no but i have i've wore this once before right university of
51:28oklahoma won the ncaa baseball championship yeah boomer i went to arkansas but with three kids
51:35through ou so i have a hat to show for it college diplomas that's that's more important how's your bank
51:42account uh dwindling the tdn writers room work of the week is brought to you by first tv
51:51remember ewing how could you forget him last year he broke his maiden at saratoga by 12 lengths and
51:57was named a tdn rising star which he quickly backed up taking down the grade two saratoga
52:03special in his very next start he was off for about six months after that race returning in oakland
52:08for oakland park's ozark stakes where he finished a well-beaten sixth as the three to five choice but
52:15he's back guys here he is on the work tab at saratoga raising three furlongs in 36 flat now i'm
52:22not sure he
52:22could go any easier the poor rider was having to pull out his back teeth to try and slow him
52:27down
52:28the folks at west point thoroughbreds are hopeful he will be back at the races sometime during the
52:33upcoming saratoga meet doesn't look like it's going to take very long judging from that work
52:38we'll be right back after this message from first tv
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53:35west point thoroughbreds the gold standard in racing partnerships visit westpoint tv.com
53:43td and riders room also brought to you by west point thoroughbreds who's doing something really cool
53:48as saratoga approaches west point is bringing fantasy football of sorts to horse racing with
53:55the 2026 saratoga challenge it's free it's easy to play you just draft a roster of jockeys trainers
54:03and west point horses and based on their performances you will earn points throughout the saratoga meet
54:10and the leading point earner will receive a one percent ownership stake in new york state of mind
54:17a new york bred two-year-old colt by solomini trained by george weaver
54:21and picked out originally at the obs april sale of two-year-olds in training by west point's longtime bloodstock
54:27advisor
54:28david ingordo and here's the cool part you get the one percent of west point's net purse
54:34distributions for new york state of mind with zero of the expenses involved in training the racehorse
54:42and you get to enjoy the partner benefits um winter circle trips hopefully get to go see the horse in
54:48the barn area all the other things that west point ownership has a chance to experience second and third
54:54place finishers will also receive west point thoroughbreds merchandise gift cards to enter go
54:59to westpointtv.com you got to do it before the first race friday which is saratoga's opening day
55:06good luck and enjoy another outstanding summer of racing at saratoga well before we wrap up the show
55:12we as always encourage people uh to post comments on the uh youtube feed of the tdn writers room podcast
55:20and uh we've gotten some great comments and we get a chance we like to acknowledge people and randy
55:25what did we hear from our listeners and viewers this week uh michelle you was a uh was a smash
55:30hit
55:31especially with francis russo as you can see there uh kuprik the horse loved the ascot gold cup said if
55:37he wanted to watch dirt races less than a mile he would watch quarter horse races and uh sean william
55:43is
55:44a big fan of air conditioning which clearly michelle you did not have on her houseboat last week
55:50there you go well some interesting comments please uh keep sending them in and we get a chance uh
55:55we'll certainly pick out some each week to uh read uh on our podcast well that's a wrap on this
56:01week's
56:02tdn writers room podcast presented by keeneland want to thank our gainsway guest of the week steve
56:07aspison i want to thank my partner zoe cadman and randy moss and as always want to give a special
56:13shout
56:13out to the people who work behind the scenes with the real stars randy what do you got now
56:17no no i'm just two hats back on there you go all right i was wondering if you had another
56:23still
56:23another hat for us oh i got a whole i have bins full of them yeah i'll pull an arlington
56:29park hat
56:29out someday maybe all right we'll save that for pretty soon uh maybe for next week so once again
56:34uh the behind the scenes people sue finley katie petruniak anthony larocca and alita larocca thanks
56:39so much for tuning us in thanks so much for watching and listening and we'll be back next week with
56:44another edition of the tdn writers room podcast
56:48you
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