- 9 minutes ago
Barry Irwin of Team Valor International joined this week's TDN Writers' Room to discuss the Champagne-bound speedy juvenile U. S. S. Valor. The team also debriefs big wins from Distaff stars Nitrogen and Super Corredora, and handicapped Fall Stars weekend at Keeneland.
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00:00:18Welcome to another edition of the TDN Writer's Room, presented by Keeneland.
00:00:22My name is Bill Finley.
00:00:23I'm a correspondent for Thoroughbred Daily News.
00:00:26And if I seem a little nervous today, it's because tonight, Tuesday, when we're recording it, Yankees-Red Sox, baby.
00:00:33And if they lose, I'm not going to be doing okay, guys.
00:00:38I can't wait.
00:00:39I got a Red Sox red water bottle here, just for you here, Bill, as I'm going through all my
00:00:44notes.
00:00:45Randy Moss, NBC Sports and the Buyer Speed Figure Group.
00:00:49Zoe Cabman with First Racing and First TV.
00:00:52And Bill, you're in a different location.
00:00:54Where exactly are you?
00:00:56Okay, this is my humble abode.
00:00:58Nice.
00:00:58And I've switched back because I used to do it elsewhere.
00:01:03But we had the horrible, horrible storm here.
00:01:07Everybody lost power, internet, et cetera.
00:01:10And I had to come back to this place because I had internet and power.
00:01:18We lost power.
00:01:19Everybody lost power for three days.
00:01:20The roads were flooded.
00:01:21It was absolutely awful.
00:01:23But the sun is out today in Monmouth County, New Jersey.
00:01:26And so we move on.
00:01:28And I survived the great storm of 2016.
00:01:31Oh, nor'easter.
00:01:33Oh, man.
00:01:34It was, guys, it was nasty.
00:01:36Wow.
00:01:36Absolutely nasty.
00:01:37Which, of course, is why there was no racing at Belmont Park this weekend.
00:01:41The Joe Hirsch Turf Classic and all those other stakes will be run on Thursday.
00:01:46We talked about the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic last week, so no reason to recap that.
00:01:50But there was racing on Friday at the new Belmont Park.
00:01:53And, of course, Nitrogen was the story there.
00:01:55And she did exactly what we expected in the Beldame, 2-10, 2-10, 2-10 across the board.
00:02:03I guess if you want to nitpick, you could say easy trip, slow fractions, got loose on the lead, four
00:02:10horse field.
00:02:11But I would not choose to do that.
00:02:14I thought she was really good.
00:02:15And you can't blame her for the fact that nobody wanted to show up and run against her.
00:02:20And also, we get the story this week, Dave Grenning, as he so often does in the Daily Race and
00:02:26Form Broker's Story, that Nitrogen will come back next year to race at age five, which is really cool.
00:02:32I think she's in the driver's seat this year for the Eclipse Award.
00:02:36I guess that could change in the Breeders' Cup disc staff.
00:02:39But imagine if she comes back next year.
00:02:41And, again, anything can happen.
00:02:42But if she were to win three straight Eclipse Awards.
00:02:45And I've asked John Green about that of DJ Stable.
00:02:48He said one of the reasons why they're doing this is because their goal, Randy, is to get her into
00:02:54the Hall of Fame.
00:02:55But, again, we've given the shout-out to the Greens and Mark Cassie many times with this horse that they
00:03:01have been so sporting about her.
00:03:03Very cool she's coming back at five.
00:03:05Your take on the race, your take on whatever else you want to say about Nitrogen.
00:03:10It's obviously fantastic news that she's coming back at age five.
00:03:13As we all know, the calculus behind keeping superstar horses in training for additional years is a little different for
00:03:21females than it is for stallions.
00:03:24There's just so, so much money out there for stallions, the very top-level stallions, that it just doesn't make
00:03:31economic sense, really, to keep them in training as long as their five-year-old year sometimes.
00:03:36So it's great news for us that Nitrogen is coming back.
00:03:40And as far as her race, I think she did exactly what she had to do.
00:03:43I don't think there was any reason looking at the prospective competition for Mark Cassie to just really drill her
00:03:50hard for this particular race
00:03:53and maybe take some of the starch out of her for the Breeders' Cup disc staff.
00:03:56So I think she got an ideal prep race, Zoe.
00:03:59She ran like a horse board with a competition.
00:04:01He just did what she had to.
00:04:03She was kind of nervous.
00:04:04She's like, oh, God, you?
00:04:06You?
00:04:06All right.
00:04:07Well, I guess I'll have to run a little bit fast.
00:04:09And it wasn't spectacular, but it was fine.
00:04:11It's exactly what she needed to do.
00:04:13And I agree with everything Randy says.
00:04:16Kudos to the Greens for keeping her in training next year.
00:04:19Randy, what was the buyer figure?
00:04:21It was 103.
00:04:23Okay.
00:04:24So she's capable, obviously, of faster than that.
00:04:26But it was a solid race.
00:04:28And even the 103 would put her right up in the top echelon of contenders for the disc staff.
00:04:33So any improvement off that would really make her tough.
00:04:36Yeah.
00:04:37And she, I mean, they were flirting very briefly with the idea, John told me, of going into the Classic.
00:04:44But just for a moment or two, and she is going to go in the Breeders' Cup disc staff.
00:04:49Right now, it looks to me like Splendora might be her toughest competition.
00:04:54And Baffert is pointing Splendora for the two-turn disc staff instead of a repeat in the one-turn Breeders'
00:05:01Cup Philly Mare sprint.
00:05:02He's got enough contenders for the Philly Mare sprint also.
00:05:05So that, you know, nitrogen versus Splendora would make for a nice disc staff.
00:05:10Yeah, I didn't know that.
00:05:11That's interesting news, especially with Splendora's success going around two turns.
00:05:16So let's turn our attention to Santa Anita over the weekend with the Grade 1 Goodwood.
00:05:20And, you know, we haven't talked much about the Safi-Joseph phenomenon, and it's time that we do.
00:05:26Bob Baffert runs Nevada Beach.
00:05:28Big favorite.
00:05:28Looks good on paper.
00:05:30Safi not only wins the race with Forge Steel, he runs second with Caldera.
00:05:35Rain, I'll give you a chance again to talk about all the accomplishments of the Cornette brothers with C2 Racing
00:05:40and the job that they've done with not only Forge Steel, but so many other horses.
00:05:45But the people are, I mean, I think the guy's flying a little bit under the radar because, you know,
00:05:53as well as he's been doing, he still doesn't really get the kind of acclaim that Chad Brown and Todd
00:05:58Pletcher do.
00:05:59But how about these statistics?
00:06:00He's won 26 graded stakes races this year.
00:06:04By way of comparison, Chad Brown has won 22.
00:06:08He has won, over the last month, the Grade 1 Goodwood, the Grade 1 Cotillion, the Grade 1 Kentucky Downs
00:06:16Ladies Sprint.
00:06:18He's won six Grade 1 stakes races this year and won seven stakes races in the month of September.
00:06:26The guy from Barbados, he's sure getting it done, Zoe, isn't he?
00:06:31He really is.
00:06:32And I think one thing that Safi has held the key to is less is more.
00:06:37Now, I like Forge Steel going in specifically because I thought he would at least get a clear lead.
00:06:44Didn't have to be on the lead, but he needs to be in the clear, which is what Safi has
00:06:48been alluding to.
00:06:49He trained all summer in Saratoga on the harness track, on Clare Court, just trotting around there and cantering.
00:06:58What Safi does with a lot of these horses is less than anyone else.
00:07:02They'll work a half mile from the quarter pole and gallop out.
00:07:07And Safi's just so smart.
00:07:08He brings the right horse to the right places.
00:07:11The Grade 1 Goodwood was kind of a soft spot, to be perfectly honest, for him.
00:07:15He's already proven integrated stakes over the track, winning the Hollywood Gold Cup at Santa Anita.
00:07:21So he just puts him on the plane or the van and shipped him out here.
00:07:25So well done to Safi.
00:07:27He just seems to be picking the right spots for these horses and sending the right horses.
00:07:31Also, a big congratulations to Edwin Gonzalez picking up his first Grade 1 of his young career.
00:07:37And I think he's got a bright future.
00:07:41Yeah, it'll be interesting to see if they push on to the Breeders' Cup Classic.
00:07:46Great handicapping job, by the way, Zoe, to pick this horse, who actually wound up 10 to 1 just because
00:07:53his last couple of races weren't so good, right?
00:07:59Personally, I don't think the Goodwood is going to be an effective prep race for the Breeders' Cup Classic this
00:08:08year.
00:08:08Buyer's speed figure of the winner was just 98.
00:08:12That doesn't even put him in the ballpark.
00:08:14He was kind of a weak Goodwood by historical standards.
00:08:19Caldera, Joseph's runner-up, is a decent horse, but no one went into that race considering Caldera as a Breeders'
00:08:25Cup Classic prospect.
00:08:27So, yeah, congratulations to everyone.
00:08:29Another great job by Mark Cornett just as an example of the horses that he's been sourcing.
00:08:38But I just don't think this horse is a legitimate, strong Breeders' Cup Classic contender.
00:08:43He might go in the mile that's not been written in stone.
00:08:48I think he's more of a mile horse, to be honest.
00:08:51Dirt mile would be a better spot, I think.
00:08:53Yeah.
00:08:53We'll find out.
00:08:54And, Randy, get your Skippy longstocking file back out.
00:08:57Safi told me the horse is back in training soon.
00:09:01And he is pointing him for the Breeders' Cup Classic as well.
00:09:05So a fan favorite, Skippy, as we like to call him, will be back.
00:09:10And at the end of the day, the lesson needs to be learned by handicappers.
00:09:16In any spot, any racetrack, never count out Safi Joseph.
00:09:20So many races, and I didn't really expect to talk about the Zenyatta because it was kind of not exactly
00:09:27a marquee race.
00:09:28But we have to mention, and we'll hear later in our plug for West Point Thoroughbreds, more about Super Corridora.
00:09:36But she wins last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Phillies and then becomes a forgotten horse.
00:09:40She hadn't won since then.
00:09:42She hadn't run since March 8th.
00:09:44And she comes back, runs against older horses, and wins.
00:09:49And they have not officially – the last I read, John Sadler said he's still a little bit on the
00:09:54fence regarding the Breeders' Cup Distaff.
00:09:57But if she goes, she's an interesting player in there, Randy.
00:10:00Would you give her any chance against the Nitrogens of the world?
00:10:04That's an awfully tough spot.
00:10:06But you've got to give her credit for coming back, you know, off of a couple of really weak performances
00:10:14earlier this year.
00:10:15Now, bone bruising, as we're going to talk about later, was the explanation for some of those efforts.
00:10:21But, you know, she had a really good effort in the Breeders' Cup as a two-year-old.
00:10:26She's always been a little bit better on the early lead.
00:10:29And there is plenty of speed in the Distaff this year.
00:10:31I mean, she deserves an opportunity, but she's certainly not going to be, I think, one of the top couple
00:10:36of favorites in there.
00:10:38I don't believe it's locked in stone that she's going, because I think they all know what she's going to
00:10:42be up against.
00:10:43And West Point's already got another horse probably going through the Distaff.
00:10:48Anyway, it was a very good comeback race.
00:10:50I actually loved her on the card, especially with Joao Rosario riding for the first time.
00:10:55I knew she'd get the lead.
00:10:56She got a little bit late towards the end, which was fine.
00:10:59They went fast, and we have to remember that speed was good all opening weekend.
00:11:04We'll hear about the fastest horse of the week with Liam Smith blistering a half mile in 42 and change.
00:11:10So speed was good.
00:11:11She's by Gunrunner out of a Super Saver mare.
00:11:13Super Saver mares are really proving their mettle in the Broodmare shed as of now and can't say enough about
00:11:19Gunrunner.
00:11:19So she's got a bright future.
00:11:21I was glad to see her back on the beam, especially at a little bit of a price.
00:11:25Not that the buyer speed figures are everything or speed figures in general are everything, but her figure in the
00:11:31Zenyatta just kind of points out the challenge that she'll have in the Breeders' Cup.
00:11:34It was a 90, even, 9-0, compared to what we talked about, you know, what nitrogen typically runs, 103,
00:11:41105.
00:11:42What Splendora usually runs, you know, 100, 101, 102.
00:11:46So, yeah, that's the challenge facing Super Corridor.
00:11:49All right, so that's a wrap-up of last weekend's races.
00:11:52Got plenty more to talk about.
00:11:54We're going to take a break, and when we come back, you're going to hear from the Gainsway Guest of
00:11:57the Week.
00:11:58It's Barry Irwin from Team Valor.
00:11:59Stay with us.
00:12:01I do want to remind you that each and every week, the TDN Riders' Room is brought to you by
00:12:05Keeneland.
00:12:05As you can see, I'm home.
00:12:07That means the Keeneland September sale officially concluded on Saturday,
00:12:11making history with the highest through-the-ring gross ever recorded at a thoroughbred auction worldwide.
00:12:18There were over 536.7 million in total sales through 12 sessions.
00:12:26That's half a billion dollars.
00:12:28It also set a record with 70 yearlings selling for $1 million or more.
00:12:33And they're just getting started at Keeneland.
00:12:36We'll talk about opening weekend of the fall meet later in today's show.
00:12:40And, of course, we have the Breeders' Cup to look forward there.
00:12:42It'll also be bookended by the Keeneland Championship sale on October the 28th.
00:12:48And then there's the November breeding stock sale, which starts on November 3rd.
00:12:53So Keeneland is certainly the place to be this fall.
00:12:57We do this so your granddaughter can work on a farm someday.
00:13:02So the stands will still be packed in 50 years.
00:13:07That's why we come to work every day.
00:13:09Obsess over every single detail.
00:13:14Because the story of racing is written one moment at a time.
00:13:18And the future of our industry deserves nothing less.
00:13:24Keeneland.
00:13:25Every moment matters.
00:13:28Our fastest horses of the week, once again, brought to you by the Fast Sires at Windstar Farm.
00:13:34This week we are featuring Nashville, who currently is a top five first crop sire in the category of winners.
00:13:42His 13 winners so far include Dolly Madison Sticks runner-up Gypsy Lullaby,
00:13:48Nessie, who won a maiden race by 11.5 lengths,
00:13:52and Philly Ruckus, who won a maiden race by six lengths.
00:13:56This weekend, watch for Nashville Sun Soldier's Glory and the Bertram Bongard Sticks at Belmont Park.
00:14:03Of course, freshman stallion Nashville was best remembered as a racehorse for his jaw-dropping stakes win at Keeneland,
00:14:10setting a new track record of 107.89 for six furlongs,
00:14:16faster than the Breeders' Cup Sprint later on the same card.
00:14:18He also broke his maiden at Saratoga, by the way, by 11.5 lengths.
00:14:23And now Nashville stands at Windstar Farm for a fee of $12,500.
00:14:29The fastest horses of the week.
00:14:31Both ran Saturday.
00:14:32One of them happened to be the Lucas Classic.
00:14:34Won by Dragoon Guard, owned by Judmont Farm out of the graded stakes winning Mayor Falimbi.
00:14:43Dragoon Guard won the Lucas Classic by three and a quarter lengths over a tough chunk of gold
00:14:50with a career-high buyer speed figure of 107.
00:14:54Despite that speed figure, I talked to Brad Cox or texted with him a little earlier today as we tape
00:15:00this,
00:15:00and he says that as of now, Dragoon Guard is not being considered for the Breeders' Cup Classic.
00:15:06In an allowance race, a six-and-a-half furlong allowance sprint was won by a horse named Liam Smith,
00:15:13also with the buyer's speed figure of 107.
00:15:16Not only that, back-to-back 107s for Liam Smith.
00:15:22He previously got his 107 in a $50,000 claiming race.
00:15:27He was taken out of that race by Peter Miller, brought back in this allowance race,
00:15:31and Liam Smith comes back with a second consecutive 107.
00:15:36Now, Peter Miller just texted me back, and Liam Smith is being considered for the Breeders' Cup Sprout.
00:15:46Welcome, and now the Gaines Way Guest of the Week,
00:15:48and he's someone that everybody in the racing industry knows for good reason.
00:15:51He won the Kentucky Derby with Animal Kingdom and has had a lot of success with the Team Valor Racing
00:15:56Partnership,
00:15:57and that's Barry Irwin.
00:15:58Barry, welcome to the TDN Writers' Room Podcast presented by Keeneland,
00:16:02and always good to talk to you, but no better time than the few days before the Champagne Stakes,
00:16:08where you have the likely favorite USS Valor.
00:16:11And I'm sure going into his second start, you had high expectations.
00:16:15He ran really well first time out in a loaded field, got into some trouble.
00:16:20But in your wildest dreams, did you expect him to win by 13 and a quarter lengths and get a
00:16:24105 buyer?
00:16:26No, no.
00:16:27I knew he was a good horse.
00:16:32And the anxiety leading up to that race was like nothing I have ever experienced.
00:16:38You know, before Animal Kingdom won the Derby, I would get nervous all the time.
00:16:43I'd have to visit the restroom.
00:16:45I'd get this little tingly thing under my tongue that I used to get when I ran track.
00:16:49And once Animal Kingdom won the Derby, it all went away until the week before this horse made his second
00:16:57start.
00:16:58I averaged about four hours a night's sleep, you know.
00:17:02After he won, I got a great night's sleep.
00:17:04But now, once again, I'm facing another hump here, you know.
00:17:09So what's your biggest concern?
00:17:12Is it the proverbial bounce coming off that 105 buyer?
00:17:17Exactly, yeah.
00:17:18Yeah, the thing that's – so you have the bounce.
00:17:21That's one thing.
00:17:22You know, a guy like me and you, we have to live with that 24 hours a day.
00:17:28And the part about his race that I can't stop thinking about is the horse acted green when he got
00:17:37in the stretch, when he won.
00:17:38So from the quarter pole to the eighth pole, Manny Franco rode him.
00:17:43I didn't think he needed to.
00:17:45He let up on him the last 16th.
00:17:47He, you know, that was nice.
00:17:49But if you look and see how Coach Pope was ridden, never touched the whole length of the stretch.
00:17:55I would like to have had that race.
00:17:58Going into the Champagne, if I had that type of ride, I would feel a lot better.
00:18:03I'm not, like, sweating it.
00:18:05I think we can bounce and still win.
00:18:07But if you didn't worry about the bounce, you'd be an idiot.
00:18:12And you're certainly not an idiot.
00:18:15You're a very smart guy who's been around an awful long time, Barry.
00:18:18Let's go back to the beginning and the fact that you brought this horse's dam out of a digital sale.
00:18:26Can you talk to me through what went on and what made you pick her and the whole experience for
00:18:32you to get this horse to the races buying the dam?
00:18:35I mean, it's a homebred.
00:18:36It has to be such a sense of accomplishment for everybody so far.
00:18:42It's just I don't feel that much of a sense of accomplishment as I do luck.
00:18:47I'm just the lucky recipient here, okay?
00:18:52It all boils down to the dam had a foal named Express Man.
00:18:57He broke his maiden first time out for Pletcher with a 107 buyer.
00:19:02His dam went through the sale.
00:19:03She was unsold.
00:19:05A friend of mine called me up and says, you better check this out.
00:19:07So I did.
00:19:08Went out and looked at her.
00:19:10She's a big, good-looking bear.
00:19:12And I asked my wife if she was game to buy it.
00:19:15And she said, yes, I called my banker.
00:19:18I said, I want to borrow two and a quarter.
00:19:20I want to borrow 100% of what it's going to cost to buy this mare.
00:19:24Usually a bank will loan you 50%.
00:19:26And I persuaded the guy to loan me the two and a quarter for a year, and we bought it,
00:19:32and everything's turned out in our favor.
00:19:35So you're talking about your luck, but I don't think you're giving yourself quite enough credit.
00:19:39I mean, you knew about Express Man's 107 buyer prior to that digital sale, correct?
00:19:45Or to that first.
00:19:48But she'd also thrown a bunch of bums.
00:19:51I mean, he's got five other siblings that all ran for a claiming tag.
00:19:54That's rolling the dice.
00:19:56Yeah.
00:19:57There is one other one that I think he's still running in Dubai.
00:20:02Yes.
00:20:02Who's not a plug.
00:20:04He's pretty decent.
00:20:06But, you know, most mares aren't consistently throwing one runner after another.
00:20:11If you look at pedigrees, I've worked with pedigrees for years.
00:20:15You know, every mare, you know, they have one good one in them, sometimes two.
00:20:21So I was banking on number two.
00:20:23So talk about the decision to go to War of Will.
00:20:27Okay, that's my wife.
00:20:30I'm giving her the full credit on that.
00:20:32And, you know, at the time we did it, War of Will wasn't as mediocre as he looked a year
00:20:38or two later.
00:20:39You know, some guy wrote that we only spent five grand to bring to him.
00:20:44That's not true.
00:20:45His study was either 20 or 17, five, something like that.
00:20:48And he didn't figure to get off to a real rollicking start.
00:20:53I mean, he was a Preakness winner.
00:20:54He wasn't a, you know, hot shot two-year-old or anything.
00:20:57And my wife liked the cross, the gender, balanced breeding.
00:21:04She was big on it.
00:21:05And I went out and looked at the mare.
00:21:07And, you know, I loved her.
00:21:10So it was a combination of her and the like to my eye.
00:21:14So, Barry, you have been very outspoken for many years about some of your problems with the American racing industry,
00:21:22most notably the drug issue.
00:21:25And Team Valor has kind of, over the years, kind of stepped away from U.S. racing, been more focused
00:21:30on European racing.
00:21:32We don't see the numbers in the U.S. that you used to have.
00:21:36That you have this horse here and you have a few others.
00:21:39Is that an indication that maybe you're coming back more to U.S. racing?
00:21:44Where do things stand so far as you racing in Europe versus the U.S.?
00:21:50And, you know, your thoughts about the current state of the game.
00:21:54Right.
00:21:56Ideally, I want to have half as many horses in Europe as we do here.
00:22:01And we've gotten to that point now.
00:22:04A lot of the horses here got long in the tooth and we said bye-bye to them.
00:22:10We have some young horses coming up.
00:22:13You know, as lucky as I am, I'll digress for one second.
00:22:18As lucky as I am or appears to be right now with USS Valor, two weeks ago, tragedy struck.
00:22:25We had another two-year-old we liked, not as much as USS Valor, but he's a homebred, is a
00:22:33full brother, was a full brother to Green Up, who won four stakes for us, was a damn nice filly,
00:22:39grade one place.
00:22:41And in his first start at Churchill, he was bet down to second favorite.
00:22:46And a quarter mile into the race, he snapped the leg off.
00:22:49And that was so devastating.
00:22:53My wife left the track and I think she, if she never went back to the track, she wouldn't miss
00:22:59it.
00:23:00You know, it was just a tragedy.
00:23:03So we have cut back here.
00:23:05We've got about 20 here and 20 in Europe.
00:23:08And I don't like U.S. racing as much as I used to or as much as I do in
00:23:17Europe for several reasons.
00:23:19One is the drug issue.
00:23:21And, you know, I'm not taking credit for starting HISA, but I did write a story in the Blood Horse
00:23:28in 2004.
00:23:29And I said that we needed to hire USADA and bring them in to run the sport.
00:23:34Then after that, we started, whoa, and we passed the legislation.
00:23:39So I'm still a fan of HISA and the idea of HISA, but there's a lot of it that I
00:23:46don't like.
00:23:47And one of the things I don't like is I don't think they're really going after the people that are
00:23:52cheating.
00:23:52There's plenty of people that are sure up here to still be cheating.
00:23:56And I'm not alone in this contention.
00:23:59And until I see it cleaned up, I'm not going to be that happy about it.
00:24:04And the most depressing part of the whole thing are the types of people that gravitate towards the trainers that
00:24:11look like they're cheating.
00:24:12Some major, major players.
00:24:15And I find that very depressing personally.
00:24:17In Europe, I like it because you can develop a horse.
00:24:21It's very difficult to develop a horse here.
00:24:24And I'd rather have horses in Europe where you've got a really good shot to develop them.
00:24:30So I was going to ask Barry about HISA, and he already answered my question.
00:24:35And Barry, for what it's worth, I agree with you.
00:24:39I want to see HISA catch the guys we know that are cheating.
00:24:43And we can't name names on this because we don't want to get sued, but they're not catching those guys.
00:24:48And that, to me, is a problem.
00:24:50But anyways, you pretty much already covered that subject, so I'll pass the baton to my two esteemed colleagues, Zoe
00:24:57and Randy.
00:24:57So you mentioned, Barry, that you had written an article in 2004 for Blood Horse.
00:25:02Some of us go back far enough to know that you were a turf writer, W-R-I-T-E
00:25:10-R, long before you were a horse owner.
00:25:12And you recently have actually self-published a novel, a fiction novel called A Knight Errant that actually got recommended
00:25:21highly.
00:25:22It's a very good read.
00:25:23So it's fiction, but then there's also some names that people will recognize.
00:25:29Tell us a little bit about that labor of love, and what do you think about it?
00:25:34If you recognize a name, I've treated those people very nicely.
00:25:39If you don't recognize the name, some of those people you can figure out, and they're deep doo-doo.
00:25:46Okay, it is fiction, and the characters are all an amalgam.
00:25:51It's not just one person.
00:25:53There's one person that is an actual person, but everybody else is a combination.
00:25:57And as you say, it was a labor of love.
00:26:02I thought about writing it for more than 60 years.
00:26:06And over the winter, I didn't like what was – everybody was piling on Haissa.
00:26:12And I wanted to write a book to show what the culture was like before Haissa.
00:26:18So I went back to 1977, which for my lifespan, that was the golden age of racing.
00:26:27I know there's been plenty of golden ages, but for me, in my lifetime, that was the one that I
00:26:33lived through.
00:26:33And I wanted people to realize how great it was on the one hand, but how depressing it was on
00:26:39the other hand.
00:26:40And younger people just – they don't know about that.
00:26:43So I wanted to show them that.
00:26:45That was one thing.
00:26:46I wanted people to know what it was like from an insider to own, campaign, and make decisions on a
00:26:52really tip-top horse.
00:26:54I also wanted people to understand the difference between a legitimate therapeutic drug and a performance-enhancing drug.
00:27:03There are still trainers that don't know that, let alone fans.
00:27:06So I had a lot of stuff I wanted to put in it, and I had thought about writing it
00:27:12for literally since 1967.
00:27:15And I used to be a short story writer, and a novel always scared the hell out of me.
00:27:22And over the winter, for some reason, I just got the balls to do it.
00:27:26And I sat down, and I wrote a chapter a day for 30 days, not 30 straight days.
00:27:32It took me five weeks, and it came so easily, I was surprised.
00:27:38And then I thought about it.
00:27:39When I used to write fiction back in the 60s, I would write a couple of sentences, go to bed,
00:27:46wake up the next morning, and my subconscious did the work.
00:27:50So in this novel, it's written by Barry Irwin, but actually the author is his subconscious.
00:27:56Would you consider yourself a knight-errant, Barry?
00:28:03And so is the horse.
00:28:06Wouldn't it be something if, that's probably too tall of a task, but if the USS Valor could turn out
00:28:12to be a knight-errant?
00:28:14Yeah, well, it is nothing, if not coincidental, that this thing should take place immediately after I wrote this book.
00:28:22It's screwy, you know, but it might happen.
00:28:26All right, so let's get back to USS Valor and the race on hand on Saturday.
00:28:31Who do you consider your biggest opponent, other than what you suspect, could be a bounce factor?
00:28:37Well, I think it looks like a two-horse race, looking at it, from the point of view of a
00:28:42handicapper, Goudreau, if that's how you pronounce it.
00:28:47But it's a complicated race for a handicapper because that horse will have two months between races, not ideal.
00:28:55He's only run once.
00:28:56And for a horse to improve from a maiden win into a grade one against a horse like mine, who
00:29:06spiked a huge number, who showed he has a lot of ability, and he has two starts.
00:29:12You know, it's very difficult to go from A to B, and if you do that in a grade one.
00:29:19So my horse has two edges.
00:29:21He's got recency, and he's got an extra race over Goudreau.
00:29:27In that race, when Goudreau beat him at Saratoga, so we were in the one hole.
00:29:35Goudreau was in the two.
00:29:36When you run six-and-a-half at Saratoga, it's very, very scary, very dicey, because if you run straight,
00:29:44you're going to run right into the rail.
00:29:45So you have to be able to move over.
00:29:48And Manny Franco was on Goudreau, and then he moved.
00:29:55Was Franco right at Goudreau?
00:29:56I can't remember.
00:29:57Anyway, he angled left, and if we kept going, we'd hit the rail.
00:30:03So our jock had a go-around.
00:30:06And then in the stretch at about between the 16th pole, between the 8th pole and the 16th pole, Goudreau
00:30:13kind of bore out to the right,
00:30:15carrying Coach Pope with him, who in turn made our horse kind of check a little bit, lose some momentum.
00:30:22So even though we ran third beat in three quarters, to me, our horse ran a better race than Goudreau.
00:30:29I think he's, Goudreau, obviously a good horse.
00:30:31I've heard from several people that Chad Brown says it's his best horse.
00:30:36And if there is a trainer that can pull off a stunt of going from a maiden race to winning
00:30:42a grade one, it would be Chad Brown.
00:30:44So you have to take that into consideration.
00:30:47But we've got Shug McGahee in our camp.
00:30:50I wouldn't trade him for anybody with this horse.
00:30:53That's why I gave it to him, and so we're very hopeful.
00:30:55Well, speaking of Shug, that's another little handicapping element here, because at least in recent history,
00:31:02the results seem to indicate that Shug doesn't really crank up his first-time starters that much, even at Saratoga.
00:31:10Yeah.
00:31:11Yeah.
00:31:12That's the – you know, when I sent the horse to him, and I knew it was coming up to
00:31:18Saratoga,
00:31:19it never dawned on me that we were going to run there.
00:31:22You know, I thought he would just train him up there and get him ready for Belmont.
00:31:26The fact that he even ran, I thought we were ahead of the curve.
00:31:30For him to do what he did is just mind-boggling.
00:31:35So, Barry, before we let you go, I'll revert to the turf rider's favorite cliché.
00:31:40Do you have derby fever yet, or is it kind of silly to have derby fever the first week in
00:31:44October?
00:31:45No, I definitely have it, and my brain is always on, okay?
00:31:54And so I've already thought several moves down the road, and that's one of the reasons I haven't been sleeping
00:32:00that great lately.
00:32:02Yeah, I've had plenty of good horses, as you guys all know, but I've never had anything remotely as exciting
00:32:10as this horse.
00:32:12Very good.
00:32:13Well, Barry, congratulations with what you've accomplished so far with USS Valor.
00:32:17He's an exciting horse.
00:32:19Good luck in the champagne, and thank you for joining us as the Gainesway Guest of the Week here on
00:32:23our TDN Redition Podcast.
00:32:25It's great having you, Barry.
00:32:28Again, our guest of the week, Barry Irwin, came to you courtesy of Gainesway Farm, the home to stallion Caraconte,
00:32:34who just added a new stakes winner Saturday when his Riyadh Way won the Hollywood Beach Stakes at Gulfstream Park
00:32:41for two-year-olds.
00:32:42He's now two for three.
00:32:43Lifetime, Riyadh Way broke his maiden in August by over four lengths.
00:32:48Caraconte, of course, a Breeders' Cup mile champion, the sire of four juvenile stakes performers in 2026,
00:32:55and Caraconte leads all North American sires by percentage of juvenile winners 56.25%.
00:33:04He stands at Gainesway for a fee this year of $15,000.
00:33:09Gainesway, power, passion, performance.
00:33:13The sun shines bright on Caraconte.
00:33:17His versatility is evidenced by winners on all surfaces across the globe.
00:33:21Spandarella turns it into a procession.
00:33:25Yet another grade one for this magnificent daughter of Caraconte.
00:33:31Roja waved goodbye right out of the gate to win the Intercontinental.
00:33:35And his offspring are lighting up the sales ring.
00:33:38$300,000, Emma, thank you.
00:33:40Caraconte, standing at Gainesway.
00:33:44On this week's edition of First Things First, who else would I catch up with?
00:33:48But the winner of the Goodwood Stakes and all the connections.
00:33:57Forge Steel gets his ticket punched to the Breeders' Cup, winning the Goodwood win,
00:34:02and you're in here with the winning connections.
00:34:04And Edwin, well done indeed.
00:34:07It's a one-two for Safi Joseph, a guy who's supported you so well.
00:34:11Tell us about your trip aboard Forge Steel and how game he was.
00:34:15Yeah, I talked to Safi before the race.
00:34:17He called me.
00:34:18He didn't give me too much introduction.
00:34:19He said, yeah, I'm doing great running to see where you're at.
00:34:22And I'm great running to see if he let me go to the league or if not I keep him.
00:34:25I have the position on the side.
00:34:27And when I passed the 3-8, I passed to the league.
00:34:30And I was waiting for the horse from behind.
00:34:32I let him bring my home.
00:34:33I waited for him.
00:34:34And when I asked, he'd give me a great light and he'd keep going.
00:34:38Mike Iverone, Micah fresh in the business.
00:34:41Micah, your first win at Santa Nietzsche, your first win ever in a horse race.
00:34:44Yeah, it's just insane.
00:34:46Like, the way he ran today, wow.
00:34:48We've got Jules, Mike Iverone's wife, on FaceTime right now.
00:34:52Yay!
00:34:53Say again.
00:34:54Congratulations to everybody.
00:34:56Oh, my God, so exciting to greet me here in Spain.
00:34:58Wow.
00:34:59All right.
00:34:59Well, Jules is in Spain.
00:35:00How excited are you?
00:35:01And tell us about bringing Micah into this great sport that we love.
00:35:04Well, first thing I have to say, Safi, for a young guy, is building a Hall of Fame career.
00:35:08I mean, he's 1-2 in this race.
00:35:09He sent me a video last night of this horse in his stall.
00:35:13He was rolling around.
00:35:13He was squealing.
00:35:14I took one look at it.
00:35:15I said, if this horse doesn't win, I don't know who is.
00:35:17And then congratulations.
00:35:18Huge for Edwin.
00:35:19First grade one.
00:35:20I told him before the last race, this is going to be your first grade one.
00:35:23I was wrong that week, but I was right this time.
00:35:27And he rode the horse just amazing.
00:35:29Micah to be here, get our first win as a grade one.
00:35:32It's just, that's ridiculous.
00:35:35And look, two weeks in a row, I win grade ones.
00:35:37I mean, that's why I'm in the game.
00:35:39And just blessed.
00:35:40What's better than that?
00:35:41Onward to Breeders' Cup.
00:35:42And congratulations, Edwin, on your first grade one win right here at the Great Race Place.
00:35:51Many thanks.
00:35:52Always a great pleasure to talk to Mike Ivaro.
00:35:54Never a dull moment there.
00:35:56And a big congratulations on first grade one win for jockey Edwin Gonzalez.
00:36:01All right.
00:36:01What's going on at Santa Anita?
00:36:03This will be for you.
00:36:05Beeromania, Randy.
00:36:07We've got tacos.
00:36:08We've got Lucho Libre.
00:36:09We have lots of margaritas, micheladas, craft beer, and everything.
00:36:16You can find more on santanita.com with all the packages going on this weekend.
00:36:21And then on Sunday, don't forget Pinktober.
00:36:23Pink Hot Dogs is in town benefiting the American Cancer Society, a very worthwhile cause.
00:36:30Join us on Friday for a nine race card and we'll continue on Saturday with some very important
00:36:35win and you're in races with Breeders' Cup implications.
00:36:40And good to hear from Mike Ivaro and congratulations on Vekoma for his first grade win.
00:36:44But guys, Mike Ivaro has started TCC Stables.
00:36:49That's now the new stable name, Triple Crown something or other.
00:36:54Triple Crown Stables is his new venture.
00:36:57And he was FaceTiming his wife in the winner's circle that you saw right there.
00:37:02His wife went and walked the El Camino de Santiago, which is 105 miles across Spain.
00:37:09Okay.
00:37:09Mike went with her.
00:37:11He said he walked for eight days.
00:37:12Can you imagine Mike Ivaro walking this like religious trail across the western part of Spain?
00:37:20He walked it for eight days.
00:37:21He said he broke down, lost a shoe and had to fly home.
00:37:25Now, wait a minute.
00:37:26You buried the main story here.
00:37:29Did he wear those crazy outfits?
00:37:31Well, he was hiking or did he wear like shorts and a T-shirt or something?
00:37:35That was going to be my question.
00:37:36What was he wearing?
00:37:37Come on, Zoe.
00:37:38We'll get the real story.
00:37:39I don't know.
00:37:40But I know he said he wore the El Camino de Santiago.
00:37:44His wife, Jules, finished it.
00:37:45She was FaceTiming from her hotel bed.
00:37:48Absolutely exhausted.
00:37:49And he came back early.
00:37:50But he was there for eight days.
00:37:52He said they watched the grade one Pennsylvania Derby with their guide in this bodega in the middle of nowhere
00:37:59because he owns a piece of the puma and watched it from there and then flew back to watch the
00:38:07Greyhorse Santa Anita.
00:38:08And you said he had a shoe problem?
00:38:10Yeah.
00:38:11He blew a shoe.
00:38:12He probably blew one of his loafers.
00:38:14Platform shoes.
00:38:15There you go.
00:38:19So, Randy, I'll throw this one to you.
00:38:22I thought the best news that came out this week is that finally the Breeders' Cup Classic is back to
00:38:28the last race on the Breeders' Cup card.
00:38:31And, you know, look, we understand college football rules the day and Notre Dame and all that.
00:38:37We get it.
00:38:37But my Sirius XM radio show on Saturdays, we've lost an hour so that they can play the broadcast of
00:38:45Southeast Rhode Island versus North Dakota A&M.
00:38:49And it just drives me crazy.
00:38:51But that's a story for another day.
00:38:55But they've gotten back.
00:38:57And because it made the Breeders' Cup the races after the classic anti-climatic.
00:39:02It's like, okay, we've seen the classic.
00:39:04We can, you know, we love your broadcast, Randy.
00:39:06But, you know what, you know, maybe it's time to just go home.
00:39:10What happened there?
00:39:10How were they able to get it back to that spot?
00:39:14You know, I haven't talked to anyone about it, Bill, but I think it's all about time zones.
00:39:19I mean, you're in the eastern time zone now with Keeneland, with the Breeders' Cup at Keeneland.
00:39:24And it obviously makes it easier to run the Breeders' Cup Classic as the last race and keep it on
00:39:30NBC.
00:39:32That's always been the big deal.
00:39:33And the Breeders' Cup Classic in recent years, Del Mar, could have been the last race on the card.
00:39:39But then it would have been, you know, on an alternate channel besides NBC because of college football.
00:39:46And the Breeders' Cup decided that it was better to run it a little earlier in the Breeders' Cup program
00:39:52and keep it on the regular NBC channel where it can be viewed by more eyeballs.
00:39:58No concern this year with the Breeders' Cup at Keeneland in the eastern time zone.
00:40:05Well, we're certainly glad to see that happen.
00:40:08And, Zoe, I'm going to talk about how goddamn tough these jockeys are.
00:40:13And, you know, you were in the wars and yourself for years.
00:40:18And I didn't know Martin Garcia.
00:40:22And I did an interview.
00:40:23What a nice man he is.
00:40:24What a great guy.
00:40:25You probably know him well.
00:40:27But he had that spill at Churchill Downs the other day.
00:40:33And this is what has happened to him.
00:40:35Horse stepped on his face, on his back, and kicked him in his helmet.
00:40:40And four or five days later, he was up and walking around.
00:40:44He's got a lot of injuries, broken ribs.
00:40:45He's got some punctured lung and whatnot.
00:40:49But he said he's lucky to be alive and that the helmet saved his life.
00:40:53And, again, also would kind of get mad when the Railbirds at New York would curse at the jockeys after
00:41:00they lost on a two-to-five shot.
00:41:03And he's like, you know, these guys are, like, such tough customers.
00:41:08And they're out there doing their best.
00:41:10But Zoe, man, that's a tough profession.
00:41:13And good for Martin Garcia.
00:41:16And, you know, he thanked God and believed that there was divine intervention here.
00:41:21But I just wanted to bring this up to reemphasize how dangerous this job is and how tough these jockeys
00:41:29are.
00:41:30It really is.
00:41:31It's – I mean, come on now.
00:41:33It's the only sport where you have an ambulance follow you around the racetrack.
00:41:36There is no other sport in the world where you have an ambulance literally following you every single step of
00:41:44the way.
00:41:45Martin's a tough cookie.
00:41:46And you've got to consider a couple of other factors.
00:41:49These guys are hungry, most of them.
00:41:51Most of them have to watch their weight.
00:41:53I mean, that's one thing.
00:41:55And then you've got to worry about – you can't worry about dying or getting paralyzed every day.
00:42:01If that's in the back of your head, you better quit right now.
00:42:04So you just have to ride your horse.
00:42:06And, yes, the good ones.
00:42:08You know, the 5%ers, the 1%ers get very, very well compensated.
00:42:13But then you've got all these other guys.
00:42:15I mean, Martin's not making a ton of money right now.
00:42:17He's really not.
00:42:19You've got the guys, you know, in the bottom 50, the bottom 20.
00:42:23They're barely making a wage.
00:42:24And they are risking life and limb every single day.
00:42:28And they all get hurt.
00:42:29We don't hear a lot about these guys getting hurt at the smaller tracks like Bueller and other tracks.
00:42:36But that is what the Jockey Guild is for.
00:42:38And that's why we support the PDJF so well, because these guys put their lives on the line every single
00:42:46day.
00:42:46And, yes, people go, well, they get paid a lot.
00:42:49Yeah, well, the good ones do.
00:42:50But there's plenty of others that don't.
00:42:54If you didn't mention that, I was going to, that they put their life on the line while starving themselves
00:43:01in the process.
00:43:02Yes, my good friend, Jerry Bailey, broadcasting colleague, he's one of the most competitive people I've ever known in my
00:43:11life in anything.
00:43:13And when he would lose a big stakes race and the media would come talk to him, there would be
00:43:17occasions when he would be in a bad mood.
00:43:20And he wouldn't necessarily apparently be the friendliest to the interviewers.
00:43:24And sometimes it's come back at him now that he's retired.
00:43:28And he says, hey, I was hungry.
00:43:30I was starving.
00:43:31What do you expect?
00:43:33That's a that's a that's an element that I think not enough people fully appreciate.
00:43:38Yeah, I'm a big Jerry Bailey fan.
00:43:40But, yeah, I was I faced the Jerry Bailey pissed off after losing a big race in my days covering
00:43:48New York racing.
00:43:49Even Pat Day would be a big race and he didn't have to starve himself.
00:43:55Yeah, he could be a real son of a bitch when he wanted to.
00:43:58But again, another great guy.
00:44:00But again, just I just want to talk about that to show my respect for these guys.
00:44:06And I know Zoe and Randy agree.
00:44:09Well, really, the last huge weekend of racing before the Breeders' Cup and it's just loaded with grade one races
00:44:16at not only Belmont Park, Keeneland, also Santa Anita.
00:44:20So a great weekend to get your final thoughts in and see a lot of Breeders' Cup horses getting ready.
00:44:26So the big two and we were trying to other than Belmont, we don't have the PPs out.
00:44:32So we all say, you know, we apologize if we pick a horse that doesn't enter something like that.
00:44:37But I'm not going to go too far into picks because I need more information.
00:44:42I need PPs, et cetera.
00:44:43Not that I'm going to get it right anyways.
00:44:45But I am going to make a pick in the frisette and it's going to be a wise guy horse.
00:44:50Revenge of the Cis.
00:44:52This horse was entered as a first time starter for George Weaver in the sorority.
00:44:56He had all sorts of trouble, made up a ton of ground, was making an eye-catching move and just
00:45:03ran out of gas earlier.
00:45:05And I picked the horse in that race thinking, why on earth would George Weaver run a horse first time
00:45:10starter in a stakes race?
00:45:12On that same day, the sorority is worth $100,000.
00:45:15There was a maiden race at Saratoga that she was eligible for for $115,000.
00:45:19My guess was he just thought she would win and get black type right out of the box.
00:45:23But having said that, Libby Lloyd, Randy, certainly looks like the horse to beat for Chad Brown, was a TDN
00:45:30rising star.
00:45:31Do you have some thoughts on the frisette?
00:45:33Yeah, you know, it would be interesting to see who takes a big step forward because Libby Lloyd, for example,
00:45:40breaks her maiden in Saratoga by 10 lengths.
00:45:42Anytime you do that, you know, that's impressive.
00:45:45And she's a daughter of into mischief.
00:45:48But the buyer in that race only came up a 78, which by Saratoga maiden special weight standards, especially for
00:45:56a 10 length winner, is not all that high.
00:45:59And exactly the same figure was run by Rum Twist when she won her maiden race at Saratoga by five
00:46:06and three quarters.
00:46:07And by Valora when she won a New York red stakes race for Linda Rice at Saratoga.
00:46:13So it's a pretty wide open race, according to the numbers.
00:46:16Your pick ran a 71.
00:46:17So she's right there in the ballpark.
00:46:19But it really, it's all about who takes that big step forward.
00:46:24It really is.
00:46:25And I like your pick, by the way, Bill.
00:46:27Revenge of the Sist, owned in part by the breeder, good friend John Ropes.
00:46:31Corey Johnson purchased this horse.
00:46:34And John stayed in for a piece at the Keeneland September.
00:46:36She's actually half to Dorf Vader, a very nice filly indeed.
00:46:40So Revenge of the Sist is there.
00:46:42Libby Lloyd's going to be super, super tough to beat the daughter of Inter Mischief.
00:46:46But I quite like Valora drawn on the outside for Linda Rice, who's just firing on all cylinders.
00:46:53So this is actually, for once, a really good race.
00:46:58Well, the Champagne comes up next.
00:47:01You've heard from Barry Irwin, who has USS Valor.
00:47:03However, you know, this horse just jumps off the page in the, you know, obvious category coming off that.
00:47:10I believe, Randy, you called it the most impressive maiden winner of the entire Saratoga meet.
00:47:17I guess you could make a case for Goudreau because Goudreau did beat USS Valor when the two met in
00:47:22that loaded maiden race that also included Coach Pope.
00:47:25But USS Valor had a lot of trouble that day and, you know, the factor that Chug McGahee doesn't really
00:47:33fire first out with his horses.
00:47:35And I think we saw the real USS Valor in the Champagne.
00:47:39Randy, I'm not going against the favorite here.
00:47:41I mean, I mean, how many two-year-olds do you see run a 105 buyer's speed figure?
00:47:46Not very many.
00:47:47And that's why Barry Irwin is concerned about a regression from that, that a lot of times horses will react,
00:47:53especially two-year-olds,
00:47:54and experience lightly race horses from a huge effort like that.
00:47:58Some people will point out that some horses never recover from it, seemingly.
00:48:02But USS Valor is a deserving big favorite, even though Goudreau beat him last time out.
00:48:08Yeah, absolutely.
00:48:11USS Valor, the horse to beat.
00:48:13Goudreau coming out of that key race.
00:48:14Coach Pope came back to win.
00:48:16USS Valor, the last-place finisher.
00:48:18Hemingway came back to win at Kentucky Downs.
00:48:20That is a key race, and I look forward to more horses coming out of that race to win.
00:48:25So good luck to Pete Bradley and Goudreau and Chad Brown, but USS Valor appears to horse to beat.
00:48:32So we're going to focus primarily on the grade one races of the weekend.
00:48:36So we'll head to Santa Anita now for the American Pharaoh Stakes.
00:48:38Hey, here's a surprise.
00:48:40It looks like Bob Baffert.
00:48:42I know who he is.
00:48:43He's going to dominate this race.
00:48:45Entries are not out yet, but I called up the Santa Anita Racing Office.
00:48:48They're out.
00:48:49They're out, Bill.
00:48:50They are.
00:48:50Okay.
00:48:51Well, hopefully the information I got was right.
00:48:54There's going to be, and Zoe, please correct me because I didn't know the entries are out.
00:48:58Five-horse field with four Bob Bafferts.
00:49:01And, of course, Hughes, who's been so impressive so far in his career, looks, Zoe, to lead the Bob Baffert
00:49:09contingent.
00:49:10And he's won this race, of course, 13 times.
00:49:14He's won all these races, 13, 12, 14 times.
00:49:18So it looks like if you're not riding the Bob Baffert bandwagon, you're not going to have the winner of
00:49:26this race.
00:49:27So did I get that right, a five-horse field with four Bafferts?
00:49:30It's actually a six-horse field.
00:49:31Dangson, Hughes, Netpar, Imperial, Honor, Emancipate, and Domus.
00:49:37Four Bob Bafferts, one for Doug O'Neill, and one for Antonio Sanna.
00:49:42I mean, Garcia.
00:49:45Numbers-wise, Imperial Honor, who's one for one lifetime.
00:49:50It's a three-amigos horse that Baffert trains, obviously, a son of Honor AP.
00:49:56Just on numbers alone, ran an 85 in his maiden win.
00:50:00And that's roughly what Hughes has been running in his stakes wins, although I don't think they quite do him
00:50:06justice.
00:50:07But those two look like, on paper, they're solidly the best.
00:50:10You do have a daughter, a son of Marley's Freedom in there as well, and Emancipate.
00:50:15So all of Bob's four horses are owned by four separate entities.
00:50:20So it's giving everyone a slice of the pie.
00:50:24All right.
00:50:25Here's what we're going to do.
00:50:26We're going to take a break, and we're going to continue looking at the weekend races and focus in on
00:50:30a huge weekend at Keeneland.
00:50:33Stay with us.
00:50:35The TD and Riders Room also brought to you by the PHBA, the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association.
00:50:40The Power by Far Pennsylvania Bread Steaks last Friday at Presque Isle Downs was won by John Dutton.
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00:50:55The Power by Far is just one of 20 Pennsylvania Bread Steaks races run.
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00:52:41Good day.
00:52:42Hey, yeah, don't change the dial.
00:52:45We welcome a new sponsor to the Writer's Room this week, Sky World Racing, the home of Australian racing.
00:52:52The Australian Spring Carnival continues this Friday night with Group 1 Racing, both at Randwick and Flemington.
00:52:59Now, if you've never been to Randwick, it is an absolutely amazing place to go.
00:53:03At Randwick, the time-honored Epson Handicap headlines a blockbuster card.
00:53:08For 160 years, this Group 1 mile event has made careers and crowned champions like the Great Winks, who took
00:53:16it in 2015.
00:53:18On the same card, the Group 1 flight stakes puts the best three-year-old fillies on display,
00:53:23and the Group 2 Premier stakes over 1,200 metres is worth a million dollars and will send shockwaves towards
00:53:30the Everest,
00:53:30which is now just weeks away on October the 16th.
00:53:34In Melbourne, meanwhile, the Grade 1 Turnbull stakes at Flemington over a mile and a quarter headlines the card.
00:53:40Plus, there's the back-coming stakes, which offers a golden ticket to the Melbourne Cup, now just one month away.
00:53:48Sir Delius is the favourite in the Turnbull stakes, as he looks ready to defend his title, having won the
00:53:53race last year.
00:53:55Make sure you tune in to some top-class racing this weekend.
00:54:00Well, once again, as good as the races are at Belmont and Santa Anita, really, Keeneland's going to steal the
00:54:06weekend with three days of huge racing.
00:54:09Grade 1 races on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
00:54:13Randy, before we get into the handicapping angle, tell us what NBC has scheduled for the Keeneland races coming up
00:54:19this week.
00:54:20Yeah, we've got a pretty significant telecast on Saturday on NBC with, I think, five stakes races from Keeneland.
00:54:28And maybe, depending on where they put them on the card, I haven't heard an update on that, but maybe
00:54:33a couple from Santa Anita.
00:54:35Probably not the American Pharoah, since it's the seventh race on the card in the entries that just came out.
00:54:42But probably the Oak Leaf will be part of our telecast as well for two-year-old fillies.
00:54:46It's the third race out at Santa Anita.
00:54:48But, yeah, we're looking forward to a good day of racing at Keeneland.
00:54:52Now, are you on Big NBC or an affiliate?
00:54:56I believe we're on Big NBC, but check your local listings.
00:55:01Are you at Keeneland? Do you get to go?
00:55:03No, we're in the studio.
00:55:05Bummer.
00:55:05I know. I love Keeneland.
00:55:07And, of course, the Naira card will be broadcast, as it always is, on Fox.
00:55:12All right, Friday is the Alcibiades for two-year-old fillies.
00:55:15Anyways, I actually had a little problem downloading the PP, so I'm going to try to get some more help
00:55:22from Zoe and Randy.
00:55:24But I would imagine Summer Starlet off the four-and-three-quarter length win in the spin away would be
00:55:28the obvious horse in there.
00:55:29I have one question that maybe you guys can come in.
00:55:32And I was a little surprised to see Ricardo Santana come off this horse and go to Flavian Pratt.
00:55:40I know Flavian Pratt is Flavian Pratt, but that's kind of a rough blow for Santana.
00:55:44He wins a grade one race, and he doesn't retain the mount.
00:55:47But, Zoe, what can you tell us about the Alcibiades?
00:55:50Summer Starlet's race to lose.
00:55:52It really is a daughter of City of Light.
00:55:54She's out of act now.
00:55:55They paid $335,000 for her at the Keelan September sale.
00:55:59Looks like a steal right now when you consider her brother, Coach Prime.
00:56:03All he did was break his maiden, but they paid $1.7 million for him a few years ago.
00:56:09She's trained by Steve Asperson.
00:56:10You get Pratt.
00:56:11She's the horse to beat in here, coming out of some good races.
00:56:15Watch out for forever, Karina.
00:56:17John, right to her outside.
00:56:18She's by Gunrunner out of Always a Dreamer, Always Karina, excuse me,
00:56:23that makes her a half-sister or maybe a full-sister to Always a Runner.
00:56:27Let's have a look.
00:56:28She's definitely a full-sister, yeah.
00:56:31I think there's plenty of upside there for her.
00:56:35So should Summer Starlet stub her toe, I might land my hat on her.
00:56:40And I can tell you that Chad Brown is very high on forever, Karina,
00:56:47who on pedigree, being a full-to-Always a Runner,
00:56:51and the way she ran when she was in her maiden race at Saratoga,
00:56:55is clearly a filly that's going to be better around two turns.
00:56:59And her maiden race, obviously, was at six and a half at Saratoga.
00:57:03So the mile on the 16th of the Alcibiades should be right up her alley.
00:57:07And I think she could be a formidable foe for Summer Starlet in there.
00:57:12All right, so Saturday's card, let's get into that at Keeneland.
00:57:16And this race always comes up great.
00:57:18The Coolmore Turf Mile has some really interesting horses.
00:57:22Rhetorical, who won the race last year for Will Walden, is back again.
00:57:27And again, this race, like I said, is loaded year after year.
00:57:32But I'm going to go with the same angle I always go for in these races.
00:57:36European.
00:57:36Forrest, go for the Europeans, coming off a second-place finish behind Notable Speech.
00:57:43We know how good Notable Speech is in the City of York stakes.
00:57:48Group one at York.
00:57:50Kieran Fallon, spelled differently than his father, but the son of Kieran Fallon.
00:57:56He spells it with a C.
00:57:58He's been the rider.
00:57:59I assume he's going to get this mount.
00:58:01But, Zoe, I'm sticking with the European angle.
00:58:05How about you?
00:58:06You're probably on to something, for sure.
00:58:09You have to like rhetorical.
00:58:10He's really done nothing wrong.
00:58:12Watch out for Zulu Kingdom.
00:58:14I don't have the PPs, so I'm just going over some names.
00:58:17I always like Zulu Kingdom.
00:58:19And he likes proper tight racetracks.
00:58:21That's his kind of specialty.
00:58:24He's won 8 out of 12 lifetime.
00:58:27His last couple of numbers, Byers 100, 101.
00:58:32I'll take him over.
00:58:33I know that I'll probably regret it because I'm always beating the European drum as well.
00:58:38But I'll take Zulu Kingdom over Lake Forest with rhetorical right there as well.
00:58:43A hell of a race.
00:58:44All right, so let's move on to the Breeders Futurity.
00:58:47And this is another one that came up tough.
00:58:49But the focus will be, obviously, on Coach Pope coming off that huge win at Churchill Downs.
00:58:56And also, we talked earlier about it with Barry Irwin.
00:58:59And that race at Saratoga with Goudreau winning, Coach Pope second, and USS Fowler looks like it's going to be
00:59:07the key two-year-old maiden race of the year.
00:59:10So the Kenny McPeak trainee ran second, and that comes back at 2 to 5 and just absolutely romps in
00:59:16a maiden race at Churchill Downs going a mile.
00:59:20But there's some other big names in here, horses that look very impressive breaking their maiden, including American History for
00:59:28Todd Pletcher.
00:59:29One for fun, first time out.
00:59:31End rush for Eddie Keneally, impressive winner, first time out at Churchill Downs.
00:59:37QB Rocket, same story.
00:59:39Brad Cox, one at Saratoga, first time out.
00:59:41So some good horses in there.
00:59:46But, Randy, I believe you think that, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe you think Coach Pope looks
00:59:52pretty solid in there.
00:59:53Oh, I don't think this is that tough.
00:59:55I think Coach Pope will be 3 to 5, and he'll probably win like a 3 to 5 shot.
01:00:00I think visually he was even more impressive than USS Fowler, even though the numbers don't quite compare the same.
01:00:09I think the official 86 buyer that Coach Pope had at Churchill isn't what I saw visually, the way he
01:00:20won that race.
01:00:21He looked extra special to me.
01:00:23If you're going to play exactos in there, you don't want to bet a 3 to 5 shot.
01:00:27Doug O'Neill is shipping phone booth from California who was second to Hughes in stakes races in his last
01:00:34two starts.
01:00:34They want to get away from Hughes, probably, and the whole Baffert contingent.
01:00:38And I really like the way Endrush finished for trainer Eddie Keneally in his career debut at Churchill Downs.
01:00:45Those would be, I think, the two most likely to fill in the slots behind Coach Pope.
01:00:5387 buyer?
01:00:54Who does those buyer speed figures?
01:00:56I mean, that's got to be wrong, right, Randy?
01:01:01Yeah, you can't go against Coach Pope in here.
01:01:04I might take a little swing with QB Rocket underneath.
01:01:07He's a horse I've always had high hopes for.
01:01:10I think he could step forward, but it's Coach Pope for me.
01:01:14The Saturday card at Keeneland includes still another grade one race, the First Lady.
01:01:19Randy, I know you're doing all your preparations for NBC broadcasts and have done your usual deep dive into the
01:01:25field.
01:01:26So what can you tell us about the First Lady?
01:01:28That's an amazing race.
01:01:29Absolutely amazing.
01:01:31You've got Sugesta in there, who might be the favorite.
01:01:34She was beaten just a neck in this race a year ago by Simply in front, and she's as consistent
01:01:40as they come.
01:01:41But look at the rest of the field.
01:01:43Mark Cassie's running both End One More Time and Classic Q.
01:01:48Bless the broken for Brad Cox, who won her turf debut at Kentucky Downs in the ladies' turf.
01:01:54Expensive queen, who beat Sugesta.
01:01:56Actually, it was a dead heat.
01:01:58In the Ginny Wiley at Keeneland.
01:02:01A huge late surge to catch Sugesta right at the wire.
01:02:05You've got Deep Satin.
01:02:07You've got Lush Lips, who probably needed her last race at Ellis Park, coming back off a layoff.
01:02:12And the European angle of Francis-Henri Greffard is back from France with Mandanaba, who competed in the Just a
01:02:23Game and was second to Classic Q in that particular race.
01:02:26So loaded, Zoe, with some top, top turf mares.
01:02:31That's definitely one you could overthink, right?
01:02:36Yeah, which I'm very good at.
01:02:41I think I'll just take a wait and see.
01:02:42I'll listen to Randy on the telecast and see which one he actually picks.
01:02:46See if he's sitting on the fence or he can just pick one.
01:02:49I think that's going to be problematic.
01:02:51All right.
01:02:52So now let's move on to Sunday.
01:02:54The Spinster.
01:02:55And very interesting race.
01:02:58The headliners are counting stars.
01:03:00The three-year-old filly going against older.
01:03:03Mark Cassie used the same move last year with Nitrogen.
01:03:06Ran second with her as a three-year-old in the Spinster.
01:03:09And it'll be interesting to see if she can rebound.
01:03:14She didn't run terrible in the Alabama, but it's not what we expected.
01:03:19She was just a shade under 2-5 and got beat that day, but was so good in her previous
01:03:26races with winning the Coaching Club of American Oaks in grade one.
01:03:32It'll be interesting.
01:03:33Maybe, Randy, you will know this.
01:03:35The entries are not out yet.
01:03:37And Ired Ortiz is back.
01:03:38He was supposed to ride her in the Alabama, but because he was hurt, his brother Jose took over.
01:03:47I'll hold that thought for a while, but I want to see if you know if Ired is going to
01:03:50ride her or not.
01:03:51But watch out for fully subscribed.
01:03:53I know she got beat a long way by Nitrogen and the Ogden Phipps, but her race in the personal
01:04:00Anson was really, really good.
01:04:03And if she runs like that again, I think Nitrogen might have her hands full with this filly.
01:04:10So to me, those are the two headliners in the Spinster.
01:04:14Mandy, take it away.
01:04:15Yeah, thanks for mentioning fully subscribed because I had a brain lapse there earlier in this podcast when I mentioned
01:04:23the disc staff and the leading contenders.
01:04:25And I mentioned Splendora and Nitrogen and what a matchup that was going to be.
01:04:29Fully subscribed ran like a freak in her last race.
01:04:32And if she runs that race back again, I agree with you, Bill, she could easily give Nitrogen all she
01:04:39can handle and more the way she ran in her most recent.
01:04:43She's amazing.
01:04:44She's paired up a couple of really good numbers in her last two last two starts.
01:04:50I can see her taking a big move forward, especially at Keeneland, a track I think she's going to love.
01:04:57Yeah, once again.
01:04:58And, you know, we thank Keeneland for putting together a great card.
01:05:04And, you know, they just go from one success story, the phenomenal success at the Keeneland September sales.
01:05:11They take a couple of days off and then they come back with the fall meet and open up with
01:05:17a weekend that we can all really, really look forward to.
01:05:21The TDN Writers Room Work of the Week is brought to you by First TV.
01:05:25And this week we have two Hall of Fame Bob Baffert trainees pointing towards the grade one American pharaoh.
01:05:32They are Hughes and Imperial Honor, who went five furlongs in one minute and four fifths on Sunday at Santa
01:05:38Anita.
01:05:39Hughes is down there on the inside with Imperial Honor on the outside.
01:05:43Hughes, of course, is the undefeated son of intermischief that won the grade one Delmar for Turity.
01:05:49Imperial Honor just broke his maiden on debut earlier this month, winning a five and a half furlong contest by
01:05:55over five lengths.
01:05:57We'll be right back after this message from First TV.
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01:07:02TD and Riders Zoom also brought to you by West Point Thoroughbreds.
01:07:05It was a stellar rebound.
01:07:07Was it ever?
01:07:08And a significant milestone for West Point on Sunday.
01:07:10When their Super Corridora spread to victory in the great two Zenyatta stakes at Santa Anita.
01:07:17She was the champion two-year-old filly of 2025.
01:07:19And she bounced back after needing some time off for bone bruising after a couple of disappointing races at the
01:07:25beginning of this year.
01:07:26Now, Super Corridora is off to hopefully the Breeders' Cup Distaff.
01:07:31With Joelle Rosario aboard for trainer John Sadler.
01:07:34Super Corridora, a daughter of Gunrunner, also landed West Point's 200th stakes victory.
01:07:40That game almost 31 years to the day after the Stables' first stakes win in 1995.
01:07:49Courtesy of Big City Bound and the Miss Liberty Stakes, written by Julie Krohn at the Meadowlands.
01:07:56West Point extends gratitude to all the jockeys, trainers, horses, and partners who have helped pave the way for their
01:08:03200th stakes victories.
01:08:06That is a wrap on this week's show.
01:08:09It should be a great weekend of racing.
01:08:11The real last hurrah before we get back to Keeneland for the Breeders' Cup.
01:08:16And where I know Randy Moss is probably digging deep already to come up with the sneaky horse in the
01:08:24Breeders' Cup juvenile filly turf.
01:08:27Or something along those lines.
01:08:29But nobody digs harder into this than Randy.
01:08:34And that's obviously one of the reasons why the NBC broadcasts.
01:08:38And I'm not saying this because you're on the podcast.
01:08:40You guys do a terrific job.
01:08:41You absolutely do.
01:08:42So anyways, that's a wrap on this week's show.
01:08:44I want to thank our Gainsway Guest of the Week, which was Barry Irwin.
01:08:48As always, I want to thank my partners, Randy Moss and Zoe Cabman.
01:08:52And once again, thank the people who worked so hard behind the scenes to make this story so good and
01:08:57this podcast so good.
01:08:58And that's the team of Sue Finley, Katie Petruniak, Anthony Araka, and Aaliyah Araka.
01:09:02We'll be back next week.
01:09:04And among other things, we'll recap a huge weekend of racing.
01:09:07Thanks for tuning us in.
01:09:09Thanks for watching.
01:09:10And we'll be back again next week here on the TDN Riders from Podcasts presented by Keeneland.
01:09:15We'll be back again next week.
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