- 14 hours ago
Lindsay Schultz had a lot to celebrate on this week's TDN Writers' Room. The trainer discussed her breakout victory in the GI Haskell Stakes with Baby Vino. Elsewhere on the show, the Writers' Room team recapped graded stakes racing at Monmouth, Saratoga and Del Mar, and looked ahead to big races this coming weekend.
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SportsTranscript
00:00:17Welcome to another edition of the TDN Writer's Room.
00:00:21I'm Zoe Cabin with First TV and First Racing, ensconced in beautiful Saratoga in the basement
00:00:27of the Brennan household. I'm going to start with TD first because TD filling in for Bill Finley
00:00:33this week. How about those Red Sox? What kind of a streak are they on? Did they not won the
00:00:39last 14?
00:00:40Is Sue Finley a Red Sox fan? What's going on here? I've heard a rumor that Sue's a Red Sox
00:00:45fan and
00:00:46the streak is at 14 as we're taping this show. So hopefully you didn't jinx us because Sue will
00:00:51have something to say about that. Randy Moss with NBC Sports, fresh off the Haskell telecast
00:00:59and Haskell evening. I had the privilege of having dinner with said Sue Finley and her daughter
00:01:04as they were monitoring the Red Sox game on their phones. I can tell you firsthand,
00:01:09huge Red Sox fans. You think Bill Finley is a Red Sox fan?
00:01:15Sue Finley is a bigger Red Sox fan. I'm going to bet you bought Sue a bottle of wine, did
00:01:19you?
00:01:20Uh, no, I did not. I knew there would be hell to pay if that happened, Zoe.
00:01:27Did Sue drink my bottle of wine? That's all I'm worried about.
00:01:30No.
00:01:31All right. Well, Randy, seen as you were on hand at the Haskell, let's talk about the Haskell
00:01:36stakes won by Baby Vino. Lindsay Schultz, her first grade one win. We'll talk to her just a little bit
00:01:43later on, owned by Cosmo Stables and Delta Squad Racing. Um, what a race. You were there firsthand.
00:01:51How was the atmosphere? How was the day? How was the inquiry that seemed to take way too long?
00:01:57The atmosphere was typical for the Haskell. It was unbelievable. Um, if anything, I don't know,
00:02:03I didn't see a final attendance figure, but easily the youngest crowd at any racetrack that I've ever
00:02:11been to for any major race. And that includes Keeneland, which has always had a very young crowd.
00:02:17Uh, they were all having a great time, um, inside because it was raining most of the day at, at,
00:02:23uh, at Monmouth. And it was a good race. Obviously it was a very good race as well, an entertaining
00:02:28race.
00:02:28Um, the inquiry that took longer than you thought it should. And I agree. At least they put the inquiry
00:02:35sign up and they looked at it right away, which is something that not every steward,
00:02:40steward's room at every racetrack in America would do. So kudos to Monmouth for that and for making the
00:02:46right decision, in my opinion, to leave it alone and not, uh, and not do anything about it. Obviously
00:02:51we can talk about this TD can talk about it more, but Paco was, uh, was being typically aggressive.
00:03:00I don't think he crossed the line necessarily and coming over and trying to intimidate Vargas
00:03:06on baby vino, maybe a light brush at the quarter pole or so, but, uh, it was kind of tit
00:03:12for tat after
00:03:13that, but I will give the opinion that if Paco Lopez had just worried about his own horse
00:03:24and stayed on the fence, which he easily could have gotten with the clear lead, baby vino came up the
00:03:31fence. So the rail was fine and just, you know, stayed and saved ground throughout and forced baby
00:03:39vino then to come around. I think without a doubt, Napoleon solo wins the race, but Paco was trying
00:03:47to mess around with further ado and he was way out in the four or five path. And then he
00:03:52looks and sees
00:03:53baby vino and angle sharply over at that point too late, uh, to try to keep baby vino from coming
00:03:59up
00:03:59through the inside. I think Napoleon solo was probably the best horse because of that, but kudos to baby
00:04:06vino, uh, uh, for running a courageous race and showing that that 10 and three quarters length
00:04:11win in the Pegasus was certainly no fluke. So Paco should only ride one horse and not try and ride
00:04:18three. That would be my take on the Haskell Zoe. Um, and you know, obviously very disappointing
00:04:25performances for further ado, um, who finished fifth, the Puma finished fourth, uh, way back early.
00:04:35And Oselli who ran like a maiden for a change, uh, finishing last in the seventh or seven horse field
00:04:42and, uh, and far
00:04:43behind TD. I'm not going to focus as much on Paco's tactics, uh, but I will speak to the inside
00:04:52outside deal.
00:04:53And I think that, um, Monmouth, some weather blew through the Jersey shore on Saturday, uh, by race six, even
00:05:01though
00:05:01the track was still fast, it hadn't really started raining enough to affect the track condition. They
00:05:06had sealed it. So it was a, I believe the Molly pitcher stakes was race number six. They had sealed
00:05:11it, ran it on a fast track. And from then on the inside really seemed to move up. Um, and
00:05:19I was
00:05:20wondering why Paco maybe didn't realize that by the time they, they went off with the Haskell, he had
00:05:25Napoleon solo floated out to about the four or the five path on the first turn, uh, further ado was
00:05:31shadowing him to the outside. And both of those riders were just avoiding the inside. Like it was
00:05:35strung with barbed wire, uh, except for, uh, Georgie Vargas on, uh, on baby Vino who scooted right up on
00:05:44the inside. And I looked at the stretch run of that race a couple of times. At first, my impression
00:05:50was
00:05:51that maybe baby Vino was in the right place at the right time. And he was able to get by
00:05:55a tiring
00:05:56horse, but I think Napoleon solo was not tiring so much as I thought at first impression, that was a
00:06:01real fight from about the quarter pole to the 16th pole. And, um, you know, baby Vino dug into the
00:06:08wire
00:06:08and Napoleon solo tried to match strides with him and he couldn't right at the end there. Um, one lingering
00:06:15question that I think, uh, sticks in my mind after having watched all these horses and followed them
00:06:19through, through the triple crown season and the preps and the triple crown itself. And now we're
00:06:24into the deeper part of the summer. And we're soon going to be at that point where the three-year
00:06:28-olds
00:06:28step up and face the older horses. That entire three-year-old division is really lacking in a
00:06:34solid, scary speed threat, a horse who can run them off their feet on the front end. We don't really
00:06:39have
00:06:40one. Well, let's move on and talk about the older horses. One 50 and change was the time of the
00:06:46Haskell. One 47 point five, five was the time of the Monmouth cup for Knightsbridge who finally
00:06:53showed up. Now I'm not sure who was behind him. We know that Skippy was came out of the race,
00:06:58perhaps with a bit of a foot issue, according to Safi Joseph got a corn on the bottom of his
00:07:03foot,
00:07:03but a one 22 by a speed figure, Randy Moss, is this legit?
00:07:08That's legit. I mean, the challenge of it was that you obviously had to separate
00:07:15the day at Monmouth from a speed figure perspective by the rain, okay? You can't include
00:07:22the sloppy track races with the fast track races. And there were really only two dirt races that you
00:07:28could look at before the rains hit. It was the second race, a non-stakes race, and then it was
00:07:34Knightsbridge race, which was the fourth. And fortunately for the fig makers, the second race
00:07:41had consistent, solid, older horses that ran predictably. So you could get a good line on
00:07:49Knightsbridge's race by looking at the final time. I think it was a mile and 70 yards for the second
00:07:55race. And it's a legit 122, a scary fast race by Knightsbridge. His very first race around two
00:08:04turns. All those other one-mile races on his form were all run at Gulfstream or at Saratoga.
00:08:12Saratoga was like a turn and a half, but not really a full two-turn race in the Metropolitan.
00:08:19And he had an easy trip, obviously. He controlled the pace. But Knightsbridge did what Knightsbridge
00:08:27has done so often in the past. When he gets a field that he can handle, he just kicks sand
00:08:33in
00:08:34their face. I mean, he just demolishes the competition. His average winning margin in his
00:08:39seven races is seven and three-quarters lengths. He just really pours it on when he catches a field
00:08:45that he can beat. Will he come back and run to that 122 buyer again against grade one level of
00:08:52competition wherever they choose to run him? Maybe the Jockey Club Gold Cup. You know, I'm a little
00:08:57pessimistic about that. But no doubt that his performance in the Monmouth Cup was spectacular.
00:09:05First time Pratt, first time two turns. He's a half to Speaker's Corner who's standing at stud,
00:09:11predominantly a sprinter. TD, what are your thoughts on the race and how good really is he?
00:09:16You know, I was wowed by that speed figure. I don't have as much knowledge to back it up as
00:09:25Randy, who makes the figures and is part of the team that makes the figures. To me, the question
00:09:30that I tried to center on, and I don't think I have a conclusive answer, is that does this stamp
00:09:35Knightsbridge as a two-turn horse? I don't think we have enough evidence here. I mean, he's won five of
00:09:41his last seven. His only two losses were in grade one races, one of them in which he was second
00:09:47behind
00:09:48Nysos in the Met Mile that Randy alluded to, and he was also sixth as the beaten favorite on the
00:09:55Derby undercard at Churchill Downs. But, you know, I think beating up on a field of four
00:10:03subpar horses and drawing away and winning as the jockey pleased in that race isn't going to convince
00:10:09me as to whether or not his future is around two turns. But it does certainly back up the results
00:10:14of the Met Mile because you talk about the race that Nysos ran that day on the Belmont Stakes
00:10:22undercard up at Saratoga. And not only did Knightsbridge come back to win, but the horse we're
00:10:26going to talk about next out on the left coast, Journalism, who ran third in that race. He also
00:10:31came back to win over the weekend. Yeah, very good race indeed by Knightsbridge. By the way,
00:10:36he got his final eighth of a mile in 12.32, being pulled up, being pulled up in an absolute
00:10:42gallop.
00:10:43TD, let's talk about journalism. Yes, he faced probably an overmatched field, blew the break. There's
00:10:49always something that happens. Delighted to see him matched up with Umby Rispoli once more and happy
00:10:57for him, the horse, the connections for finally getting a win because he's faced some serious horses
00:11:03over the past couple of years. Yeah. And he gets back to the winner's circle. I believe it was almost
00:11:10one year to the date of his last win in last year's Haskell out at Monmouth Park. But he did
00:11:16take quite
00:11:16a haircut in the buyer department with this victory. He dropped down to a 94, which I believe was seven
00:11:22points off of his most recent race. And going back to his preakness last year, he ran a 98 to
00:11:27win it at
00:11:28the second jewel of the Triple Crown. I was going into Saturday. You know, a lot of people were saying
00:11:33that it's a slam dunk race for journalism. It's going to be a confidence builder. And I was, you
00:11:39know, as a person who doesn't, as a handicapper who doesn't make that many bets these days, I was ready
00:11:44to open up my wallet and let the moths fly out of it because it's been a while since I
00:11:47placed a bet.
00:11:48I was going to bet on full Serrano, speed horse who likes Del Mar, short field. I'm not a big
00:11:55weight guy. But, you know, this was a handicap and journalism was spotting the rest of the field.
00:12:02I believe between five to seven pounds in that race. And he's a closer to begin with. And he blew
00:12:08the break. So I didn't end up making the bet because, of course, full Serrano scratched. He
00:12:13continues to have foot problems, although I guess his foot issue that scratched him on Saturday
00:12:18is a different foot that plagued him after his race back in March. However, back to journalism,
00:12:23he blew the break. He was able to make up ground incrementally. He tagged onto the back of a,
00:12:28you know, a subpar four horse lot. The horses that he beat on Saturday, not a single one of them
00:12:34has
00:12:34won an open stakes race in the United States. So I guess it was, you know, chalk it up as
00:12:39a
00:12:39confidence builder. He might go on to something else, bigger and better things. I don't know if
00:12:43it's going to be another matchup with Nysos in the Pacific Classic, though. Trainer Michael McCarthy
00:12:49was a little bit noncommittal. Nysos over the weekend, Bob Baffert said he is going into the
00:12:55Pacific Classic on August 22nd. But it was a victory, but it's a who did he beat type of
00:13:02question for me. Yeah. I mean, something definitely always seems to happen to journalism
00:13:07when Umberto rides him. Now, this is not, yeah, I don't think you can blame recently for this. I mean,
00:13:13the horse had his head turned in the gate, you know, and he wasn't really fully prepared for the
00:13:19start. And he's, you know, he dropped, it looked like it probably cost him four or five lengths of
00:13:24early position. So I'm willing to give him a pass on the 94 buyer speed figure and the narrow win
00:13:31over
00:13:31the inferior competition. Uh, I say inferior, I'd like to own any of those horses, but not grade one level
00:13:38competition, right. That he faced. Um, so he, I mean, you know, he did what he was supposed to do.
00:13:44He won, he overcame adversity again, and, uh, I'm sure we'll see him take a big step forward in the
00:13:50buyer department, wherever they decide to run him again. He won like he was supposed to at one to five.
00:13:56He most definitely did. Meanwhile, at Saratoga, we saw Chad Brown take down grade one, Diana. I think
00:14:03it's number 10 or number 11 for Chad Brown with Kathy and Marissa. What are your thoughts about
00:14:09that? We both liked it last week, Randy. It did rain like it. Absolutely. The heavens opened about
00:14:15the second race on Saturday. Yeah. It's number 11 for 10 and the last 11 years. Wow. And in those
00:14:2410
00:14:25wins in the last 11 years, each one of those years, he accounted for two of the top three finishers.
00:14:33Right. Either first and second or first and third, or, I mean, this is the third time that
00:14:37Chad's actually run one, two, three in the Diana, um, as he did on Saturday. Look at Kathy and Marissa.
00:14:45I thought she was a toss up sort of with, uh, suggested going in. She had, she should have won
00:14:51the
00:14:52New York in her most recent start, uh, trip and a pace is what got her beat wide trip in
00:14:58a very slow
00:14:58pace. Um, and the pace probably didn't help her in the Diana. It was kind of hard to know what
00:15:04to
00:15:04make of the fractions given the fact that it rained so much and there were no other turf roots to
00:15:10compare
00:15:10the fractions to, but it definitely wasn't a fast pace. And she came from way back, was wide as turning
00:15:16for home, fanned wide and just mowed them down. Um, right now, the way I look at it, Kathy and
00:15:24Marissa
00:15:24is in my opinion, the early American favorite for the Breeders' Cup filling mare turf. Now that she
00:15:33feels pretty is retired, right? Classic Q has been running well, but a mile and three sixteenths,
00:15:39which is what it's going to be this year at Keeneland is probably a little further than Classic Q wants
00:15:44to
00:15:44run. There are some other, you know, female milers that have been doing well, but Kathy and Marissa was
00:15:49just getting warmed up at the end of a mile and an eighth in the Diana and in a mile
00:15:53and three sixteenths,
00:15:54which she has run before the New York most recently is right up her wheelhouse. And she loved the
00:16:00yielding going wide and driving right down the center of the course. Was the track yielding by then?
00:16:06I believe that's what I picked up off the chart. Yeah. Okay. Well, she was a very good winner indeed.
00:16:10Okay. Randy special all the way from Canada. Woodbine. Oh my gosh.
00:16:16Josie Carroll, uh, Luster by Nick's go. I watched the race back this morning because I actually
00:16:23hadn't seen it live. She was pretty awesome with Johnny V aboard her.
00:16:27She was pretty darn impressive. Wasn't she? I mean, she just galloped across the finish line.
00:16:32She probably won not by as large of a margin, but even easier than Knightsbridge across the finish.
00:16:37Johnny was looking back, you know, he was, he was doing a Paco and looking behind him constantly
00:16:42as the horses were coming down the wire. Uh, she's now on four out of five starts. Um,
00:16:48she's, um, modestly bred Philly. She's by Nick's go. Her dam was originally purchased by the breeder
00:16:55for $5,000. And she has certainly overachieved in that category. And she's going to be without a
00:17:02doubt, uh, the favorite and maybe even a solid favorite for the Kings plate, um, on August the
00:17:0915th, obviously at a mile and a quarter for Canadian breads. 39 Phillies have won the race in
00:17:15the past. Six out of the last, I think, um, 16 years or something like that have gone to females.
00:17:21So that's no issue. Um, and she looks better than any of the males I've seen that are Canadian
00:17:26bred. Third Oaks win for Josie Carroll. She won with Inglorious about over a decade ago. And
00:17:32the Phillies in that race, in fact, she ran a full second faster than the plate trial for the boys
00:17:38on
00:17:39the same day. Yeah. And, and they just, just the, the visual aspect of John Velasquez, one of our
00:17:46great front end riders. It's not too often that you see him going into the first turn,
00:17:51practically hanging off the back of a horse, uh, trying to throttle back the speed, but let a 46
00:17:57to one pacemaker go out ahead, took over as Johnny wanted to on the far turn in hand and, and
00:18:03just was,
00:18:04uh, you know, no competition late and with no need to, no need to ask her for running the stretch.
00:18:09She won under her own power clearly. And a 97 buyer speed figure to put that into perspective,
00:18:15counting stars, uh, ran a 95 most recently, uh, in her stakes win. And she'll be one of the,
00:18:22she'll be the favorite probably coming up, coming up next weekend at Saratoga, but a fine performance
00:18:27all the way around by Luster. All right, let's pay some bills here from our friends at Keeneland
00:18:32coming up after the break. We'll have our Gainesway guests of the week and it's none other
00:18:36than grade one winning trainer, Lindsay Schultz.
00:18:39I do want to remind you that each and every week, the TDN writers room is brought to you by
00:18:43Keeneland. In case you need another reminder as to why you should attend the Keeneland September
00:18:49sale, look no further than last Saturday's grade one, Duncan Diana stakes at Saratoga.
00:18:56Catherine Marissa, a 200,000 2022 Keeneland September purchase earned her very first grade
00:19:03one win in the race, leading home a Chad Brown trifecta. That's 10 Dianas for Chad Brown.
00:19:10Make plans to attend at this year's September sale, which begins on Monday, September the 14th.
00:19:17We do this. So your granddaughter can work on a farm someday.
00:19:22So the stands will still be packed in 50 years.
00:19:27That's why we come to work every day, obsess over every single detail.
00:19:34Because the story of racing is written one moment at a time. And the future of our industry
00:19:41deserves nothing less. Keeneland, every moment matters.
00:19:47The fastest source of the week brought to you by the fast sires at Windstar Farm, including life is good.
00:19:55And life is really, really good for this brand new stallion at Windstar.
00:19:59Thanks to a lot of horses who are now just being unveiled his first two year old, such as the
00:20:04good life,
00:20:06who was a very impressive winner of his debut at Saratoga to give life is good.
00:20:09Now his third TDN rising star. He's had six winners already from his first crop.
00:20:15Three of those have been rising stars. Life is good himself.
00:20:19Obviously, extremely fast. Four-time grade one winner with a 112 buyer.
00:20:23Based on the buyers, he's into mischief's fastest horse at stud.
00:20:27Life is good. Stands at Windstar for a fee of $60,000.
00:20:31Fastest source of the week. No drum roll needed here. We've already talked about it.
00:20:35Obviously, it's Knightsbridge with his 122 buyer in the Monmouth Cup.
00:20:41We've said pretty much all there is to say about Knightsbridge,
00:20:44but I can tell you a little bit just from a buyer perspective.
00:20:47His 122 was the fastest buyer speed figure since Flightline's 19-length win
00:20:54in the 2022 Pacific Classic in which he got a buyer speed figure of 126.
00:21:00And if you want to really wow your friends with a very hard-to-come-by trivia question,
00:21:05Okay, here's one for you.
00:21:08Beyond Flightline, who was the previous horse before Flightline that ran a buyer of at least a 122?
00:21:15That one you're going to have to think about.
00:21:17And the answer came in the four-go stakes at Saratoga, won by Midnight Lute in 2007.
00:21:27Midnight Lute racked up a buyer speed figure in that race of 124.
00:21:32Or his second 120-plus buyer speed figure of his career.
00:21:37Two-time Breeders' Cup Sprint winner.
00:21:39So there you go.
00:21:39Fastest horse of the week.
00:21:41Knightsbridge at 122 and a little history to go with it.
00:21:47It is my great pleasure to introduce this week's Gainesway Guest of the Week.
00:21:51It is none other than grade one winning trainer, Lindsay Schultz, fresh off her Haskell victory.
00:21:57Lindsay, how are you doing today?
00:21:59Thank you so much for joining us.
00:22:01I'm great, Zoe.
00:22:03You're welcome.
00:22:05And thank you so much for having me on.
00:22:07All right.
00:22:08Well, we'll cut straight to it.
00:22:09Let's talk about the Haskell and not only winning your very first grade one race,
00:22:15that must have been awesome as soon as he crossed the wire.
00:22:19But then the inquiry light starts blinking.
00:22:21What were you thinking in those moments from, wow, this is the best thing ever to, oh, my God, what's
00:22:28going to happen?
00:22:30I mean, the horse ran a huge race.
00:22:33So I wasn't disappointed or scared or, you know, it wasn't a negative emotion, but I was, you know, a
00:22:44little reluctant to really celebrate and embrace the win.
00:22:49I, you know, the thought watching it, he ran a good race and they kind of duped it out to
00:22:57the wire and like you, you know, like, like any exciting horse race should be.
00:23:03Um, so I was, yeah, look, I was, I was excited and, uh, just kind of waiting for, for what,
00:23:12if it would be official or not.
00:23:14Was that the trip you anticipated him having?
00:23:17Like you saw Paco at the beginning of the race trying to ride like two other horses further ado.
00:23:22And then your plucky little horse, baby Vino comes diving down the rail.
00:23:27What was going through your head when you saw him trying to make that hole on the inside?
00:23:33Well, I think it, George had, he had already committed to the inside, right?
00:23:38When he came up inside of, uh, of the one horse there and he wasn't going to make a new
00:23:46path,
00:23:46but, uh, the horse is brave and he's been in a lot of different situations, not in grade one races
00:23:53and not in the slot,
00:23:55but throughout his maiden races at Oaklawn, he's, he's been in all sorts of traffic problems.
00:24:01So, uh, yeah, I was just, honestly, I was excited that he put him in a spot that he could
00:24:07win from.
00:24:09And he, you know, he, he figured as a long shot 28 to one on, on the tote board,
00:24:15but he was sitting on a couple of good races coming into this, especially races over the track there at
00:24:20Monmouth.
00:24:21And, you know, is it, describe baby Vino Forrest physically and his mental makeup too.
00:24:27I mean, is it a more of a steady progression or was there a point back in the late spring,
00:24:32early summer,
00:24:33that you can say the light bulb really went on and he changed somehow?
00:24:35Well, how did he, how did he end up in the winner's circle?
00:24:40He, he's always shown us so much talent.
00:24:43Um, he, so he came in to us in September of his two-year-old year from the farm.
00:24:49Uh, he went to fairgrounds, he'd started working at Keeneland, went to fairgrounds.
00:24:54And when he was working at fairgrounds, he, he could work with any horse in the barn.
00:25:00He, you know, he didn't, didn't overdo it, but you could, you know, he showed us early on that he
00:25:07had talent.
00:25:08Um, so look, we knew it was there and he, and when it, you know, became, when it was time
00:25:17for him to get started,
00:25:20his first race, he was, you know, he's a fast horse.
00:25:23He broke from the gate and, and ran.
00:25:25That was all he really knew how to do.
00:25:27You know, we schooled him in the mornings behind horses and, and different situations,
00:25:31but a lot of them don't really learn until they're actually racing among other horses.
00:25:37So, so look, he, he had the talent all along, but I think, you know, in his, in his two
00:25:44-turn races at Oak Lawn,
00:25:46he seemed like he made a run every time in kind of different spots.
00:25:53And when he won, he's, he still had traffic, but, and still got stopped, but was able to overcome it
00:26:00that day.
00:26:01But when he shipped up to Monmouth after the race at Oak Lawn, he, he did start to develop and
00:26:11widen.
00:26:12And you could see just, he's not, he's not a really big horse, but he's not a small horse either.
00:26:19Um, and you could see him kind of grow up some, and that was, that was good physically to see
00:26:29that.
00:26:30And I think mentally, he was always a little, he'd be keen at times in his races at, at Oak
00:26:40Lawn.
00:26:41And, but the Pegasus stakes at Monmouth, he really relaxed and, and Paco does a really good job with him.
00:26:50And Paco worked him, he worked him in fairgrounds.
00:26:53He worked him at, um, at Monmouth.
00:26:57And I thought, you know, that wasn't a big field, but he really was able to kind of relax.
00:27:01And then when he asked him to run, he ran and Georgie was able to do the same thing with
00:27:08him.
00:27:08He, I don't know if he was in the absolute best spot early on, but then when he saw the
00:27:15opportunity to get in a better spot,
00:27:17he asked and the horse took it.
00:27:20And when he needed him to run and, and dig in, he did it for him.
00:27:24So I guess the long answer to your question is that, you know, just these last couple of races, he's
00:27:32really learned how to run.
00:27:34Well, he seems like a neat little horse who the light bulb has suddenly come on.
00:27:39You mentioned Paco, who's obviously ridden this horse before.
00:27:43Now, Randy's not with us just yet, but myself and Randy are a little hard on Paco for justifiable reasons.
00:27:50But for someone that sees him every day, like you do at Monmouth, can you explain what Paco brings to
00:27:57the table and why someone like you might leg him up onto horses?
00:28:02Because he wins races by the boatload.
00:28:06He's a, he's a very natural horse spin.
00:28:11He, he really gets along with horses and gets the best out of them.
00:28:14And he's, he's good in the mornings.
00:28:16He can tell you something about a horse and, and he's, he's as part of a worker, if not harder
00:28:23than anybody else around.
00:28:25So, you know, to have a jock that's, that's at his level and out there every morning, you know, happy
00:28:32to work, whatever you want to put him on.
00:28:34It, it means a lot.
00:28:35Um, and he's, if he has the horse, he's, you know, he's going to get the best out of them.
00:28:43Um, he might not always get them the best trip or they might get into trouble, but they will run
00:28:48for him.
00:28:49That being said, he picked the wrong horse on Saturday, didn't he?
00:28:53He sure did.
00:28:54And George gave us a phenomenal ride and he's, George, he's been a big part of our barn, um, the
00:29:01last few years and this year, especially.
00:29:04So it, it was, it was really fun to have him on and, and he had, he had all the
00:29:10confidence in the horse and we had the confidence in him.
00:29:13Um, one more.
00:29:15What's this last week been like for you, Lindsay?
00:29:17Because you prefer to let your horses do the talking and now you've got to do an awful lot of
00:29:22talking.
00:29:23How's it been for you?
00:29:24Well, my throat's a little sore, but, uh, but it's been, it's been great.
00:29:30Like it's, uh, it's been a lot.
00:29:33There's been so many people, you know, that you meet at all stages of your career, um, of your life
00:29:41that have reached out.
00:29:42So, and there's been a lot of interest to talk about it and, um, it's, it's a really big deal
00:29:53for our barn.
00:29:53It's a, it's a big deal for the horse.
00:29:56It's a really, it's a big race, but the, yeah, the recognition and, and all the, the response has been
00:30:04definitely greater than I could have ever imagined.
00:30:08Lindsay, I think there's going to be a lot of people out there who aren't familiar with you.
00:30:11You're, you're not a household name, but hopefully a grade one win will put you on your way.
00:30:16And I know, for example, you and I haven't spoken before.
00:30:19We haven't, I haven't interviewed you before, but I looked at your statistics page on Equibase.
00:30:25I said, wow, what have I been missing here?
00:30:26I mean, you started your, you saddled your first horse back in 2017 as a licensed trainer, had only a
00:30:33couple of starts, but in 2022, things really took off for you.
00:30:37And since then exponentially, your stable has been built up.
00:30:40You've been branching out.
00:30:42And I personally was very surprised to see that you had divisions at, at Oak Lawn with a string at
00:30:47Keeneland, I believe.
00:30:48And now at Monmouth with some horses up at Saratoga.
00:30:51You're, you're starting at horses, horses up and down the Eastern seaboard and also in the Kentucky circuit.
00:30:56I believe you also had a starter up at Woodbine the other day.
00:30:59For people who aren't too familiar with you yet, tell us a little bit about the state of your stable,
00:31:04how many horses and where we can expect to see them in the near future.
00:31:09Um, so we have about 60 horses in training, um, split between for the summer, Kentucky Monmouth.
00:31:17And while Saratoga is going on, we have a small string up there.
00:31:21Uh, that's the first time I've kept horses in Saratoga.
00:31:25So it's a, it's progression for us for sure.
00:31:28Um, and then in the winters, we've, the last few years, we've been split between fairgrounds and Oak Lawn.
00:31:35Um, and it's, yeah, look, I, I, I like the, the number.
00:31:43Obviously everybody is happy to take on more horses.
00:31:48Um, and, but I, I do like that.
00:31:52I'm able to get around to be in every location and, and, you know, keep a good tap on everyone.
00:32:00And it's, it's important to, it's important for me anyways, to be hands-on and to be a part of
00:32:09every day of the stable.
00:32:11And roll it back for us a little bit.
00:32:13You, you have quite a resume.
00:32:15You, you went to the University of Louisville Equine Industry Program.
00:32:18You went through the Darley Flying Start Program.
00:32:21Uh, you've handled horses for Lane's End, Glen Hill Farm.
00:32:25You've worked for Nick Zito, Tom Proctor, Shug McGahee.
00:32:29Um, what, in all of that ball of experience got you to where you are today?
00:32:34What, what would you say were some of the big standouts that, that helped put you on the map?
00:32:38Well, look, I mean, I think all of it together, um, you know, I was, I was saying earlier about
00:32:45all the, you know, people that have reached out to congratulate me.
00:32:48And there's, there's just so, so many people at, at every stage and in, in every place that I, you
00:32:56know, worked or, um, learned from that have contributed and helped, but most importantly, given me a chance.
00:33:05And, um, um, let me learn from them, but it's, uh, look, it's been huge.
00:33:13I think going to the University of Louisville really opened my eyes to horse racing and gave me enough of
00:33:21a background and opportunities to do things like hot walk for Nick Zito and prep yearlings for Lane's End.
00:33:28Um, and, um, be involved in some of those areas.
00:33:31And then I, and then doing the Darley flying start program.
00:33:37I mean, you see the best of the best everywhere in the world.
00:33:41And, uh, I mean, if my eyes weren't open before they were definitely open then, um, and that, you know,
00:33:49connections you make are great and everything you learn and the lectures and working for different people, it just, it
00:33:58just really gives you such a broad overview.
00:34:01But then, you know, being able to take all that, uh, I went and worked for Tom Proctor for about
00:34:08eight years after, um, after the course.
00:34:12And I mean, that's where you really learn how to work and how to take care of horses because you're
00:34:20doing the, you're working with the same ones every day.
00:34:23And, you know, you're being told what to do or what not to do and, and following a routine and
00:34:30having to think by yourself, you know, as you progress and, uh, you have more responsibility.
00:34:36So look, I mean, I think that I probably developed a lot when I was there, um, had the chance
00:34:45to run the farm for them for a few years as well.
00:34:49And then, um, and then Shug McGehee's assistant, Robbie Medina had, had left to start his own thing and moved
00:34:59to Kentucky.
00:35:00So there was an opening with Shug and that was, yeah, it was just insane to be able to work
00:35:06for him and, you know, work for another trainer that had these, um, breed to race type of owners and
00:35:15solid families and horses behind them.
00:35:18Um, and of course, when I worked for Shug, he was public and had a lot of other, other horses
00:35:25as well.
00:35:26Uh, so, I mean, I can't really say anything specifically, but it was, it was a good experience and I
00:35:37think it, you know, I take something from every, everywhere.
00:35:42Eight years for Tom Proctor and I love Tom, but you've got to be a saint.
00:35:48Not that many people love Tom.
00:35:54All right, so, so we've, we've got all that.
00:35:57Where does Liz Crowe and Marshall Graham come into this equation?
00:36:01Did, did you go to college with Liz?
00:36:03Yeah, Liz and I are great friends.
00:36:06Um, uh, we, we went to college together at UofL.
00:36:10We were roommates for most of our time there.
00:36:13Um, I was in her wedding, godmother to one of her kids.
00:36:17Um, we were very close, um, but, um, but Marshall Graham helped Liz go out on her own when she
00:36:26started buying horses herself and Ten Strike supported her.
00:36:30So I met Marshall through Liz and, you know, they, Marshall had sent me some horses while I worked for
00:36:38Tom, just one or two.
00:36:40Um, Tom had the idea, you know, if, if you want to think about training, you try to take one
00:36:47while you work for me and, and do it.
00:36:51So what, um, when TD was saying I had the first starter in 2017, that was when I was still
00:36:57working for Tom and that was for Marshall.
00:37:00Uh, so that was like a really good opportunity.
00:37:03Um, but I wasn't, I wasn't even thinking about leaving Tom at that point.
00:37:08So then when I was working for Shug, um, uh, Marshall and I had a conversation and, and he asked,
00:37:16you know, what would it, what would it look like?
00:37:19What would it take if I, if, you know, if you wanted me to support you to get, get a
00:37:24stable started?
00:37:25So we talked about that and started claiming some horses in Kentucky, um, with the plan to kind of start
00:37:35a couple of horses at Churchill and then hopefully go to Oak Lawn.
00:37:39That's, that's his home track.
00:37:41And, and that's what we did.
00:37:42And, you know, without his support, I, I wouldn't be here because that, you know, you have to have a
00:37:51good start.
00:37:52And I was able to kind of use those horses and, and get some wins.
00:37:59And as you do that, you get more attention.
00:38:02So it's a really big deal.
00:38:05Lindsay, before we let you go, let's throw it back to baby Vino.
00:38:08Uh, we're, we're talking on Tuesday afternoon.
00:38:10So viewers will be seeing this show later in the week.
00:38:13How did he come out of the race?
00:38:15What's next in terms of next race and for the rest of the year, might you envision?
00:38:19Came out of the race.
00:38:21Great.
00:38:21He, um, he was a little stirred up after the race.
00:38:25I think he, he knew what he did and knew it was a little different than normal.
00:38:29Um, but finished all his feet overnight and seemed ready to go the next morning.
00:38:36So look, he, he looks great.
00:38:38We're happy with him.
00:38:39Um, obviously toughest race he's run.
00:38:43Um, and he'll, he'll go back to the track this week.
00:38:49And, you know, in a couple of weeks we'll, we'll breeze and I think we'll probably leave
00:38:56it until then to make a decision.
00:38:57But there's, you know, two great ones for three-year-olds coming up in the next six to eight weeks.
00:39:03So both of those are on the, on the horizon.
00:39:09You know, I think we'd probably go either Saratoga or parks.
00:39:14Um, but, you know, I think it's important for us to see how he's doing and, and how he works
00:39:20at, at Monmouth and where he's been the last couple of months.
00:39:24One last question.
00:39:26When you were a little kid growing up, were you a pony mad horse girl?
00:39:30What did you want to be when you were a little girl?
00:39:33I was, I mean, I, I rode, you know, little, um, the woman that I worked for, her name is
00:39:42Trudy Whistle.
00:39:43She had, she had horses and ponies in Connecticut and she, I didn't realize at the time, but she was
00:39:50kind of a pony dealer.
00:39:51So I remember she'd ship in the ponies and we'd get on them and she'd decide which one she wanted
00:39:57to keep.
00:39:58And there was this one pony named Sonny who I loved, this little buckskin.
00:40:02And, but we were trying to, he didn't want to jump and no desire to jump.
00:40:07And she was getting so mad.
00:40:09He wouldn't pick up his legs over the cross trails.
00:40:11And so I'm like kicking and whipping and going all at it.
00:40:15And I point him at the mounting block and he jumps the mounting block.
00:40:19It was great.
00:40:23That is awesome.
00:40:25That is awesome.
00:40:26All right, Lindsay, Lindsay Schultz, our Gainesway guest of the week.
00:40:30Thank you so much for joining us.
00:40:31It's been fun.
00:40:32Thanks, Cy.
00:40:33Thanks, TD.
00:40:33This, this has been great.
00:40:35Our guest of the week, Haskell winning trainer, Lindsay Schultz, came to you courtesy of Gainesway Farm,
00:40:40the home of stallion Raging Bull, who got a stakes winner on Friday.
00:40:45It was in the Oceanside Handicap at Del Mar.
00:40:47The winner of that race was Proletariat, who was third in a couple of grade three stakes last year
00:40:52and is now two for two in 2026.
00:40:55That's his very first stakes winner, Raging Bull.
00:40:57So congratulations.
00:40:58On the track, just like his name might tell you, he was as tough as they come.
00:41:02He won or placed in 12 graded stakes races, including three grade ones.
00:41:07He earned over $1.7 million.
00:41:08Won or placed in nine of his 15 grade one starts, consistently competitive over multiple racing seasons at the very
00:41:17highest levels,
00:41:18seven plus 100 buyer figures.
00:41:21Raging Bull is a son of Dark Angel, a perennial leading European sire of sprinters and milers.
00:41:29Introducing a stallion as top class as they come.
00:41:33In 22 career starts, he won or placed in 12 graded stakes, competing in 15 grade ones, earning over $1
00:41:42.7 million.
00:41:44His undisputed speed is evidenced by seven 100-plus buyer speed figures, a three-time grade one winner, Raging Bull.
00:41:59The Pennsylvania Breeding Program is the best program in the country.
00:42:04The stallion awards, the owner bonuses, also the restrictive races and the stakes races for Pennsylvania breads.
00:42:11Last year, 321 Pennsylvania breeders earned breeders awards.
00:42:1622 Pennsylvania breeders earned over $100,000.
00:42:20We have the best program in the country.
00:42:24Take advantage of the fantastic program that we have.
00:42:26Learn more at pabread.com.
00:42:29The TD and Riders Room also brought to you by the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association, the PHBA.
00:42:36This past Saturday, July 18th, was Pennsylvania Day at the Races at Parks.
00:42:41A million dollars in purses and bonuses paid out to Pennsylvania breads.
00:42:46Twelve races included four $100,000 stakes races, and those winners were Maximus Meridius,
00:42:54bred by Westerly Farm in the Banjo Picker Sprint Stakes.
00:42:58He broke the $700,000 mark in earnings in that one with an 88 buyer.
00:43:02Ponder and Dream won the Little E.T. Stakes.
00:43:05Craig Harris, three-year-old homebred, got a 92 buyer there.
00:43:09Won that race by 14 lengths, by the way.
00:43:12Bartlett, with an 87 buyer, won the Stormcat Stakes.
00:43:15He's now over $325,000 in total purses, homebred by Newell Thoroughbreds.
00:43:20And Nature's Candy went wire-to-wire in the Teresa Garofalo Memorial Stakes,
00:43:26breaking $400,000 in purses for his owner and breeder, Freedom Racing,
00:43:31and 84 buyer for Nature's Candy.
00:43:33To learn more about breeding and racing your very own Pennsylvania breads,
00:43:37you can go to www.pabread.com,
00:43:40or you can call Brian Santatillo at 610-444-1050.
00:43:46Okay, and now some sad news.
00:43:48Not unexpected news about the closing of a track near and dear to my heart,
00:43:54Hawthorne Racetrack in Cicero, Illinois.
00:43:57I got my first and only leading rider title there.
00:44:01Spent many a happy evening across at the little bar at the Yellow House across the street
00:44:07and won many races at Hawthorne.
00:44:09And finally, after months and months of Tim Carey saying everything's going to be okay,
00:44:15it certainly is not okay.
00:44:18TD, have you got an update on Hawthorne for us?
00:44:21Yeah, so I'm going to couch my update by saying that at the time of this taping,
00:44:26there was what was supposed to be a final bankruptcy sale hearing on Monday, July 20th.
00:44:33It went all day.
00:44:34Parts of it were contentious.
00:44:36It ended up getting carried over to Wednesday, the 22nd.
00:44:40So we're taping this right in the middle on Tuesday.
00:44:43So we don't have a final outcome yet.
00:44:46But it's not good for Hawthorne.
00:44:48And as Zoe alluded to, this has been years in the making.
00:44:53You know, I wrote a column, the Week in Review column for TDN this week.
00:44:57And the gist of the column was there's plenty of blame to go around, maybe a sliver of hope
00:45:02for Chicago racing.
00:45:04But you won't see that sliver until the future.
00:45:08But, you know, who could you blame?
00:45:10You can certainly blame Tim Carey and the Carey family.
00:45:13And they essentially had what was a monopoly to build a racino at the remaining thoroughbred track
00:45:20in that county after Churchill Downs abruptly closed Arlington International Racecourse five
00:45:26years ago.
00:45:27You can certainly blame Churchill Downs Incorporated for that.
00:45:30And I covered over the past five, six, seven years, the Illinois Racing Board meetings and
00:45:36just kind of stunningly watched as, you know, there's not too much a regulator can do to stop
00:45:41a sale from going through or to stop a racetrack from closing, but they can at least put some
00:45:46things in place to try and make the transition a little bit better or to try and make the
00:45:51bidding process fair so other entities could maybe come in and take over the track.
00:45:56That didn't happen.
00:45:57It was very much an elephant in the room syndrome every time I covered an Illinois Racing Board
00:46:02meeting.
00:46:02So the combination of Churchill Downs Incorporated selling off Arlington, the Carey family being
00:46:10given some veto power over their racino and not wanting to partner with certain entities
00:46:15to make their racino happen.
00:46:16They tore down the grandstand back in 2019 or 2020, never had the money to fully build out
00:46:22that racino.
00:46:23The horsemen stuck with them because they really didn't have many other options.
00:46:27And we got to a point in February where, as Zoe said, you know, after months of Tim Carey
00:46:33telling the Illinois Racing Board, everything's going to be okay.
00:46:36Things weren't okay.
00:46:37And Hawthorne just ran out of money.
00:46:40And, you know, it's not easy to run a racetrack in this day and age.
00:46:43It's not easy to run a family business like the Careys did for over 117 years.
00:46:49But the fact is they could have managed aspects of it better.
00:46:53And the horsemen, as usual, are left in the lurch.
00:46:57They might have already run their final races at Hawthorne.
00:47:01They might not get paid for some of the races because there might not be purse money to scrape
00:47:05up to pay those races that already happened on the past couple of Sundays.
00:47:11And the horsemen back last weekend made a last-ditch court appeal to try and salvage
00:47:18at least the end of the season at Arlington to give the – I keep saying Arlington here – at
00:47:23Hawthorne to give the people on the backstretch a place – some time and a place to relocate
00:47:29to.
00:47:30It doesn't look like that's going to happen either.
00:47:32So by the time that people are watching this podcast, some additional clarity might come
00:47:37out of that final sale hearing on Wednesday, July 22nd.
00:47:40But I wouldn't bank on the news being good in that respect.
00:47:45What is the sliver of hope?
00:47:47I did speak to one guy.
00:47:49His name is Ron Awesome.
00:47:51And he's a businessman.
00:47:52He's a former horse owner and a horse breeder, thoroughbred owner and breeder in Illinois.
00:47:57He's from the Chicago area.
00:48:00And he wanted to start up a thoroughbred racetrack called Lincoln Land Downs two years ago that
00:48:05was going to be a Racino and it was going to partner on a circuit with Hawthorne after
00:48:09Arlington closed.
00:48:12Hawthorne tried very much to squelch that effort.
00:48:15And the horsemen were reluctant to partner with him because there was some gray area and
00:48:20there still is some gray area about whether a thoroughbred entity can build a Racino in greater
00:48:26Chicago.
00:48:27But as Ron told me in that Week in Review column, if you want some details on what he said,
00:48:31he said the silver lining coming out of this is that if Hawthorne goes away, so too does
00:48:39some of their exclusivity and their veto power over other entities that might want to build
00:48:45a standard bread or a thoroughbred or both Racino in greater Chicago.
00:48:49So it's not going to happen right away.
00:48:52It might happen, he said, within the next six months.
00:48:54You might start to hear some rumblings, but not a great situation.
00:48:57It's not as, you know, I think in the early part of this century when racetracks started
00:49:02dropping off the grid, there was some thought that it's a zero-sum game.
00:49:07So if this track closes over here, those horsemen and those horses are going to go elsewhere and
00:49:11bolster the racing product.
00:49:12It doesn't happen that way.
00:49:14When tracks go out of business, nobody wins.
00:49:16There's a lot of owners and trainers and backstretch workers and jockeys and exercise riders and even
00:49:22supporting people like veterinarians and vendors who make the show go on.
00:49:27They just get out of the game.
00:49:28It's too hard to continue.
00:49:29And, you know, every time I have to report on one of these tracks closing for TDN, I get flashbacks
00:49:36to my home track, Suffolk Downs, which closed for good, or closed its, had its last full
00:49:42racing season in 2014.
00:49:44And then we kind of limped along with a couple of festival meets until 2019.
00:49:49That was just one or two weekends a year.
00:49:51And until your track goes through it, you don't have any idea.
00:49:55Until it happens to your home track, you can think you know, and you can try and feel some
00:50:00sympathy, but you don't know until it happens to your track.
00:50:03So I really feel for the people in Illinois and Chicago is, you know, by some metrics,
00:50:08it's the third biggest city in America and there's no thoroughbred racing there.
00:50:12It can support it, but it's just a matter of how, when, where, and who wants to step up
00:50:18and bankroll it.
00:50:20And probably, unbelievably, it looks to me like Chicago land racing is just doomed.
00:50:28I can't see a new track being built.
00:50:35What would, I think it's disgraceful.
00:50:39I think it's absolutely disgraceful that the ownership of Hawthorne couldn't scratch together
00:50:45with a casino license, couldn't scratch together a way to keep Hawthorne open with at least
00:50:52viable purses.
00:50:53I mean, what would Santa Anita give for a Racino license?
00:50:57What would Del Mar, Los Alamitos, Monmouth, what would all those tracks?
00:51:02A kidney.
00:51:03Yes.
00:51:04Yes.
00:51:05And here it's, you know, Hawthorne's got it handed to them on a silver platter and they
00:51:11completely screw it up.
00:51:13They can't, and can't figure out how to make it happen.
00:51:16It's just unbelievable.
00:51:17Disgraceful.
00:51:18I feel so badly for the people who, for the horsemen, you know, who have anchored in the
00:51:26Chicago area for years and years and have families and don't want to, you know, uproot
00:51:32and move.
00:51:33But I mean, Zoe, people like you too, that have, you know, that, that, that have emotional
00:51:39ties to Hawthorne.
00:51:41That's like the fans.
00:51:42That's part of it too.
00:51:43It's, I mean, right now there are 500 people living on the backside and they were originally
00:51:47given an order.
00:51:48Good reporting by Marcus Hearst, by the way, from the DRF.
00:51:52They're originally giving an order that they had to get out ASAP.
00:51:55This is the only track in the country where a school bus picks up kids to take them to
00:52:00school.
00:52:01Kids and families live on the backside and they were going to turf them out overnight.
00:52:07Now, I think they got a bit of a respite through August the 31st to try and go and find
00:52:12somewhere else to live.
00:52:13But as far as the saving grace for thoroughbred racing, I don't think it's going to happen.
00:52:18It might happen with that guy that TD was mentioning with the standard bread racing.
00:52:23But I think it's, we're going to have to say goodbye to thoroughbred racing in the
00:52:28Chicagoland area as we know it, which is terrible.
00:52:32I'm far from a financial expert on all these things.
00:52:35But to think that the stalking horse bid by the real estate developers of $90 million
00:52:42couldn't be topped with a casino license sitting there, to me, just, I was shocked.
00:52:49I think it's shady.
00:52:51That that couldn't happen.
00:52:51It takes approximately $20 to $30 million a year to run a racetrack with a meeting of any
00:53:00substantive length.
00:53:02If they get, if the, if the new owners of Hawthorne, if they had just gone into it with
00:53:08the attitude that, okay, we're going to lose a little money on live racing, but we're going
00:53:13to make it up in a casino.
00:53:15And we're not going to have purses like Kentucky, but we hopefully can have purses that can be
00:53:20competitive with the Prairie Meadows of the world and the Horseshoe Indianapolis of the
00:53:25world, which are really the tracks that Hawthorne would be competing against for horses, the
00:53:30Canterbury's of the world, places like that.
00:53:32And just rode off making a profit on live racing and make your profit off the casino and boost
00:53:38the purses in the meantime.
00:53:40I just, I just can't understand it.
00:53:42Driving me to drink.
00:53:44I wish I had a drink with me.
00:53:45All right.
00:53:45On to happier notes.
00:53:46Let's talk about the first yearling sale of the year.
00:53:49I'll handle this.
00:53:50Fazek Tipton held their first yearling sale, the very first yearling sale of the year.
00:53:54Hot on the heels of the two-year-old sales that set records in every market so far this
00:54:00year.
00:54:00A good sale all around at Fazek Tipton.
00:54:03The sale topping colt was a colt by Vekoma, owned and bred by my good friends at Shohan
00:54:08Place, topping the sale for $600,000, bought by Legion Bloodstock.
00:54:13So he was the sales topper there.
00:54:15147 yearlings sold for $17 million, up 9% from last year.
00:54:22The median was also up 95,000 from 90 last year.
00:54:26Everything's going up.
00:54:27Nothing is seeming to plateau.
00:54:29This is the first yearling sale of the year and it's still going up.
00:54:33They also had a horses of racing age sale that's proved very, very popular indeed.
00:54:37They sold 39 horses for $6.9 million.
00:54:41The bulk of that coming from the Brett Calhoun Allied Racing owned Money Man, who sold for $2
00:54:47million after running second in the Indiana Derby to KAS Stables.
00:54:54Looks like we'll get to see him continue on his training in the Brett Calhoun barn, which
00:54:58is a very good thing to hear.
00:55:00All in all, it's going to be tough to buy a yearling this year, guys.
00:55:05I think.
00:55:06The TDN Writers' Room Work of the Week is brought to you by First TV.
00:55:10And this week it was star Nitrogen.
00:55:12She worked four furlongs in an easy 47 and 3 on Sunday morning over the Saratoga Main
00:55:19Track for trainer Mark Cassie.
00:55:21In her very last start, she won the grade one Ogden Phipps by over 12 lengths.
00:55:26She is expected to head next to the August 8th Whitney Stakes.
00:55:30I was on hand to watch this work, and it was just like she galloped around there going
00:55:35for an ice cream.
00:55:39Be a smarter better with First TV, the best horses, with thousands of exclusive morning
00:55:47workouts, all at your fingertips and delivered right into your inbox, everything you need
00:55:58to be informed.
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00:56:30West Point Thoroughbreds, the gold standard in racing partnerships.
00:56:34Visit westpointtv.com.
00:56:37TD and Riders Room also brought to you by our good friends at West Point Thoroughbreds, which
00:56:41scored its first two-year-old victory of this year on Sunday.
00:56:46Thanks to Atlas Major, who sped to the lead and held strong at Colonial Downs to win by slightly
00:56:51more than four lengths.
00:56:53Atlas Major is trained by Arno Delacore.
00:56:56He's the son of Yaupon.
00:56:57How hot has Yaupon been?
00:56:58Secured by bloodstock agent David N'Gordo from Mayberry Farms.
00:57:02Consignment at OBS March.
00:57:04Delacore also prevailed at Colonial last Monday for West Point's four-year-old Creed's Vision,
00:57:11who went into 2026 as a maiden, but now has three wins on both turf and dirt.
00:57:19Some great races this weekend, guys, and we're going to kick off with grade one action at
00:57:24Del Mar there with the Bing Crosby Stakes goes as race number 10 on Saturday.
00:57:29A very, very good field indeed.
00:57:32But I'll tell you one thing.
00:57:33When Cornucopian is good, he is very, very good.
00:57:38He should be a grade one winner, in my opinion.
00:57:40He was scratched out of the Malibu last year after just rearing up in the paddock.
00:57:46Comes in with a bullet work out of the gate for Hall of Famer Bob Baffert.
00:57:50In my eyes, he's the horse to beat.
00:57:52What do you say, Randy?
00:57:54Oh, definitely.
00:57:54He's definitely the horse to beat.
00:57:56I mean, he didn't run that well, surprisingly, in the Churchill Downstakes, but he was five
00:58:05and an unbelievable cast of characters.
00:58:07Knight's Bridge was off the board in that race as well.
00:58:10That's the one that T.O. Elvis ran off and hit in.
00:58:13So you can give him a little bit of a pass for that.
00:58:16He was also a little bit further back, I think, than he wants to be.
00:58:18And he bounced back and won the Aristides.
00:58:21Okay.
00:58:21You know, there's some decent horses in there that are up against him.
00:58:26Stronghold.
00:58:27Dr. Vinkman is interesting.
00:58:29He ran poorly in the Bango Stakes at Churchill in his last start.
00:58:32But he was a Southern California-based horse running in the slop for the very first time.
00:58:37He doesn't see sloppy tracks in California.
00:58:40And he didn't handle it very well.
00:58:41It was also his first start of the year.
00:58:43So you can give him a little bit of a pass for that.
00:58:45And in his race before that, at Del Mar, he was third in the Breeders' Cup Sprint.
00:58:53I look at Cornucopian and I see a horse as he's been odds on in six of his last seven
00:58:58races.
00:58:58I'm the type of guy that if you give me good enough odds, I'm going to bet that the sun
00:59:02might come up in the West on occasion.
00:59:04But I always try and beat these favorites.
00:59:07I'm going to take a flyer.
00:59:09Toss out Maximum Bourbon, who breaks from the rail.
00:59:13Nice claim for $50,000 back in his debut last November.
00:59:18He is unraced since winning a restricted stakes at the fairgrounds towards the end of March.
00:59:24But he's run the numbers.
00:59:25He's been up there in the 102-103 range last couple of times out.
00:59:29And I'd take a shot at him.
00:59:31I haven't seen the morning line odds yet, but he might be a hefty price.
00:59:35Let's go east now and talk about the Grade 2 Vanderbilt stakes at Saratoga on Saturday as well.
00:59:42Good field in here.
00:59:43You've got Damon's Mound, Crazy Mason, Cat on time, just beat the odds.
00:59:47Nutella Fellas back for Joe Sharp.
00:59:50Him, T-Craft and Bilt, who's definitely going to take some attention.
00:59:54But I think it all lands on the inside horse, Randy, in Damon's Mound,
00:59:58who has really, really turned the corner against some lesser company.
01:00:02But numbers-wise, he looks pretty darn good in here.
01:00:05He looked pretty good at Gulfstream in a race against Florida Breads.
01:00:08He won the race by five and a half.
01:00:10He's won four out of his last five.
01:00:12But you mentioned Bilt.
01:00:13To me, that's the horse I'm most interested in.
01:00:15When I saw him, not in person, when I saw him on video,
01:00:19win that allowance race at the fairgrounds in March and get a 106 buyer
01:00:25coming off the heels of another six-furlong allowance win in December at the fairgrounds,
01:00:29it really hit home to me that the cat, Wayne Catalano,
01:00:35has retooled Bilt now as a dirt sprinter.
01:00:40This is a horse, obviously, that was on the Kentucky Derby Trail as a three-year-old,
01:00:43and he just couldn't quite even really get a mile and an eighth,
01:00:46much less a mile and a quarter.
01:00:48And now that he's running around one turn, he's run some sensational races.
01:00:52I loved his last start.
01:00:53He couldn't beat Harrodsburg in the Bango at Churchill Downs,
01:00:56that same sloppy track race Dr. Vinkman ran in.
01:00:59But he ran a heck of a race in defeat, and it's built for me with IRAD in the saddle.
01:01:08I'll throw out another iconoclast trying to beat the fave type of pick.
01:01:13How about him?
01:01:14A McKinsey gilding.
01:01:16He was most recently gilded three starts back.
01:01:18His connections were a little reluctant to go on with that procedure,
01:01:23but it eventually paid off.
01:01:25He's won three straights since being gilded.
01:01:27He won at Oaklawn.
01:01:28He won at Churchill.
01:01:29His most recent victory at Laurel was a 98 buyer.
01:01:32He's kind of run up his buyer pattern there.
01:01:35To be a solid 90s horse, I think he might need to do a little bit better than that
01:01:38to win a race of this caliber at Saratoga.
01:01:41But I'm going to look at him on Saturday.
01:01:43So, TD, the very next race is race number 10, the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks.
01:01:49Features a Grade 1 winner and always a runner.
01:01:51She kind of faltered just a little bit to Counting Stars in her last stop,
01:01:56but she's got to be the horse to beat, does she not?
01:01:59Yeah, that was kind of an odd race, I think, last time out in the Acorn at Saratoga
01:02:03on Belmont Stakes weekend.
01:02:05Counting Stars was right up there with the pace and took back off it on the inside.
01:02:11And when it looked like always a runner was making her move,
01:02:14it looked like Counting Stars was waiting a little bit too long there.
01:02:17But she did come back for the victory.
01:02:19And I'm not sure if always a runner, her bid was just mistimed in that race or not.
01:02:23But when Counting Stars blew by her five wide, it was certainly an impressive opening up there.
01:02:30I don't know what to do with Zaney in this race.
01:02:33She is cross-entered.
01:02:34She's entered in the Coaching Club American Oaks,
01:02:36but apparently she's also going to be entered in the Monmouth Oaks as well,
01:02:40where she would face no graded stakes winners.
01:02:42She's going to be blinkers on, regardless whichever spot she goes into,
01:02:46according to her connections.
01:02:48Yeah.
01:02:48I've had it up to here with Zaney.
01:02:53After the Kentucky Oaks, I've been making excuses for Zaney's zaniness all winter long,
01:02:58all spring long.
01:03:00And she just was a no-show without any real excuse that I could see legitimately in the Kentucky Oaks.
01:03:07And I've given her a little time.
01:03:08They're going to try the blinkers.
01:03:09But look, I'll let I-Rad make the decision for me between Zaney,
01:03:14who he had ridden in her previous four starts,
01:03:16and Counting Stars, who he rode in the Acorn to beat Always a Runner.
01:03:20And he took Counting Stars in this spot.
01:03:23And I certainly can't blame him.
01:03:26Always a Runner totally got the jump on Counting Stars.
01:03:30She ran by her on the outside, opened up while I-Rad was sitting inside in the rail pocket,
01:03:35waiting for an opening.
01:03:36I thought at that point, Always a Runner was gone.
01:03:39And just in a matter of less than a sixteenth of a mile,
01:03:43I mean, Counting Stars reeled her in and then spit her out the final furlong.
01:03:46Just drew off very impressively.
01:03:49You know, to TD's point about the favorites,
01:03:51I mean, yeah, Counting Stars is going to be a pretty solid favorite.
01:03:55And even though she's been consistent lately,
01:03:58she does have a history of throwing in some head scratchers every now and then.
01:04:03So if you want to try to beat her as the favorite, I think, you know,
01:04:06that's you might as well try, I guess,
01:04:08if you have an aversion to horses at short prices, as most of us do.
01:04:13And Always a Runner ran as good in the Kentucky Oaks, I think,
01:04:17as Counting Stars ran in the Acorn.
01:04:20So maybe she'll bounce back to that.
01:04:21So it's a two-horse race.
01:04:23It's definitely those two, Counting Stars and Always a Runner.
01:04:28I think, you know, unless you're still going to, you know,
01:04:32stay on the zany bandwagon if she runs, if she runs in this spot.
01:04:35That's where Bill is today.
01:04:37Bill's like counting his money to put it on zany, right?
01:04:40Either that or he's hungover from the Red Sox, winning so many, so many games.
01:04:48All right, I think that's a wrap for the TDN Writers Room,
01:04:51for myself, Zoe Cabin, for TD Thornton, for Randy Moss,
01:04:54for everybody that makes this show go.
01:04:58Bye.
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