- 17 hours ago
Jason Witham, a presenter and form analyst for SKY Racing, joined this week's TDN Writers' Room ahead Everest weekend in Australia, where Ka Ying Rising will look to defend his title in the Group 1. Randy Moss and Bill Finley also discussed last weekend's racing from Keeneland and looked ahead to the Breeders' Cup races they're most looking forward to seeing.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00:18welcome to another edition of the tdn writers room podcast presented by keeneland
00:00:22my name is bill finley and i'm a correspondent for thoroughbred daily news just the two of us
00:00:28me and you bill that's it randy moss here with uh nbc sports and the buyer speed figures squad
00:00:36zoe cabman our usual uh entry into this uh trifecta is off uh doing i'm not sure what but
00:00:43we'll miss zoe and have her back next week so randy this is a part where we usually like to
00:00:47review the races from last week and again this is a very quiet time of year but we did have
00:00:52a grade
00:00:52one at keeneland the queen elizabeth the second and uh tam tam uh an easy winner for phil bauer
00:01:00wired the field uh the big disappointment to me i fell in love with this philly luster after she
00:01:07won the king's plate and just demolished males in that race but i think i got a little bit fooled
00:01:13because these horses that race in the canadian restricted bred races even against males have
00:01:18generally not fared that well when they try graded company in the u.s but uh tam tam for phil
00:01:24bauer
00:01:25a junior alvarado wires the field to win the last grade one race before the big show on breeders cup
00:01:32weekend it was a battle of oaks winners the runner of faithful departed i say oaks winners oaks participants
00:01:37she had been second in the belmont oaks and the saratoga oaks on turf tam tam was coming off a
00:01:42win
00:01:42in the delmar oaks and tam tam was clearly the best horse uh very well bred 975 000 yearling
00:01:51by medaglia doro out of a mare named princess julia who was by distorted humor out of breeders cup
00:01:57juvenile fillies winter folklore so a lot to like pedigree wise about tam tam and boy she certainly
00:02:02looked good i share your disappointment about luster it's either the stepped up quality of competition
00:02:08or possibly she's just not quite as good on turf as she is on the tapita up in canada now
00:02:16she did
00:02:16start her career with two wins as a two-year-old on turf her numbers though on tapita possibly because
00:02:22she's just gotten older and more mature have just really skyrocketed but there's also that possibility
00:02:28kind of the same deal on sunday the same trainer that luster has on josie carroll ran a two-year
00:02:36-old
00:02:36filly in a stakes race at woodbine and i'm telling you her name is la mirada and on tapita i
00:02:43don't
00:02:44think there's a two-year-old filly in america who can outrun her she broke her maiden on tapita by
00:02:4911
00:02:50and three quarters then she lost in her next start um on turf and came back again on tapita sunday
00:02:57and
00:02:57won by eight with a like a 94 buyer speed figure she can really run but she's seemingly better on
00:03:05tapita
00:03:05than grass and maybe luster kind of falls in the same category for the same stable well we will
00:03:12see i'm not ready to give up on luster i was so impressed with her maybe she just had the
00:03:16proverbial
00:03:17bad day but we'll see josie carroll uh no doubt we'll uh get her back in action some point maybe
00:03:23we'll see her next year as a four-year-old um also too it's worth noting that um you know
00:03:28a lot of times
00:03:28we talk about randy and both of you have i have agreed on this over the years that the california
00:03:33grass horses normally don't perform very well outside of california but this race is an exception
00:03:38um courtesy of our friend jeremy plonk he gave me the following statistic this is the sixth winner
00:03:44coming out of the delmar oaks into the queen elizabeth since 2010 and that's two in a row with
00:03:49lush lips winning last year so at least in this race the california gals are getting it done okay so
00:03:55i love blue collar heroes i can't talk about poor bookum dano because he's on the sidelines and
00:04:01god only knows when we're going to see him but randy how do you not like touch upon a star
00:04:07and i know
00:04:07we're talking about a restricted state bred race at delta downs but he did it again saturday night
00:04:12winning the gold cup he's 22 for 30 lifetime has won 19 stakes races he's won 17 stakes races in
00:04:21a row
00:04:22against louisiana bred competition only problem is he has is when he leaves louisiana he can't run
00:04:29uh he's at eight career losses four of them have all come at lone star park in the steve sexton
00:04:35mile
00:04:35so uh he loves louisiana he loves to win and uh jake delon the former quarterback and his brother jeff
00:04:43the trainer boy they've done a great job with this horse his earnings are now well over two million
00:04:47dollars and uh i i need to look back but i they paid some ridiculously small some some for him
00:04:53at the
00:04:54yearling sales and he's by one of my favorite stallions star guitar who might be the most
00:04:59underrated stallion in america we've had his owner of course uh jake delon the former nfl carolina
00:05:04panthers quarterback on the podcast to talk about the horse he's kind of a head scratcher why he can't
00:05:09repeat that form outside of louisiana unless of course it's just the old fallback you know louisiana's
00:05:15the medication wild west and maybe he gets some kind of medication in louisiana that he can't get
00:05:20anywhere else but boy he is an easy horse to root for we always wondered why they didn't send him
00:05:25out like they nominated him a few times to races like the ali sheba on the kentucky derby undercard
00:05:31or the friday before the derby and we're you know we're always hoping that we get to see touch upon
00:05:35a star in that kind of uh in that kind of a race but let's just enjoy what he is
00:05:41when he runs in
00:05:41louisiana which is really really something extra special and he's a seven-year-old gelding still at the
00:05:48top of his game he's been managed carefully so i think we're going to see a lot more of touch
00:05:52upon
00:05:53a star yeah i'm with you randy i mean i was like hoping he'd run in the pegasus last year
00:05:57yeah you know he leaves the borders of louisiana and that's his kryptonite so i have uh no problems
00:06:03with with the way the del holmes have managed him because they have certainly piled up a lot of money
00:06:07with him all right so always fun to talk about blue collar stars like touch upon a star okay so
00:06:13we're
00:06:13going to take a break we come back you're going to hear what's going on at keeneland you're going to
00:06:17hear
00:06:17more about what's going on in australia matter of fact coming up next is our gainsway guest of the
00:06:23week and that's jason widdum presenter and form analysis for sky racing big doings coming up in
00:06:30australia with the everest run later this week stay with us the tdn riders room is brought to you by
00:06:36keeneland it's gearing up to be a busy two months at keeneland that kicks off with the championship sale
00:06:42to be held at historic castleton farm on wednesday october 28th sale continues to add exciting new
00:06:48prospects like a 25 interest in prime time emmy a french group three winner who is a breeders cup
00:06:54juvenile phillies turf contender right on the heels of breeders cup weekend we have the november sale
00:07:00which continues to add exciting updates to the catalog like the dam of grade one winning juvenile
00:07:05voyager to learn more visit november.keeneland.com we'll be right back after this message from
00:07:13keeneland we do this so your granddaughter can work on a farm someday so the stands will still be packed
00:07:22in 50 years that's why we come to work every day obsess over every single detail
00:07:31because the story of racing is written one moment at a time and the future of our industry
00:07:38deserves nothing less keeneland every moment matters
00:07:45the wait is over the world's fastest horses collide right here right now in the everest can anyone catch
00:07:53hong kong superstar kai ying rising the world is watching to find out and it doesn't stop there
00:07:59the caulfield cup brings the globe's best stayers to battle for glory on the very same day legends are
00:08:05made on one unmissable day of racing live from australia this is racing at its absolute best
00:08:17we are about to welcome jason widdum as our gainsway guest of the week jason's going to talk to us
00:08:23about
00:08:23the australian spring racing carnival a four-day event which reaches its peak with the running of the
00:08:3020 million dollar everest at randwick and also the six million dollar caulfield cup both of those
00:08:36on friday night you can watch it all on the new friday night aussie racing show on the sky world
00:08:42sky racing world channels the show airs at 8 30 p.m eastern 5 30 pacific it's on sky racing
00:08:49world's
00:08:49regular australian simulcast channel for us it's on the sky racing world youtube channel viewers can
00:08:58expect the latest racing news race analysis and plenty of banter ahead of the first post of the
00:09:04night now our guest of the week jason widdum welcome and now the gainsway guest of the week
00:09:10and it's jason with him he's a presenter and former analyst for sky racing this is a first for
00:09:17tdn's writer's room podcast it's tuesday in america and jason's talking to us on a wednesday
00:09:23morning in australia a little problem jason coordinating these times that we made it work
00:09:27thanks for getting up early for us uh in australia to talk about what's going on uh this saturday in
00:09:34australia friday night in the u.s at randwick and and what a car topped by the everest at 20
00:09:40million
00:09:41australian dollars which is about 14 million u.s it's the richest turf race in the world
00:09:46we also have the caulfield cup a prep for the melbourne cup on the card so welcome and uh you're
00:09:52going to tell us all about we'll start with the everest and the big story is kai ying rising what
00:09:57a tremendous horse this is uh going for 22 straight races uh won the race last year the current odds
00:10:06the anti-post wagering are about one to three can they beat this monster well it's a pleasure bill to
00:10:12be uh to be on your show it's um yeah it's uh it's a wednesday morning a little bit ahead
00:10:16of you here
00:10:17but uh look it's uh it's it's fascinating too to see if he can go back to back kai ying
00:10:21rising what a
00:10:22champion what a what a privilege it is to have him here in australia here once again of course he's
00:10:26trained by an australian in in david hayes and ridden by an australian in zach purton and uh the plan
00:10:32was launched some time ago now to bring him to australia for his inaugural win last year and that
00:10:38attracted to the attention not only of australian media uh both in racing and beyond uh racing but
00:10:44also the world's media as well and and this year i think it's only intensified as he attempts to go
00:10:48to go back to back it's um look the weather has intervened a little bit bill and that's probably
00:10:54the only question mark that uh that people have got on their lips this this week as to whether or
00:10:59not
00:10:59he can overcome a very wet track um it's been raining in sydney for the last 24 hours and there's
00:11:04more rain forecast throughout the week so uh there's a little bit of a question mark david hayes
00:11:08is uncertain his uh his best form has been on on dry ground but um we'll see uh look he's
00:11:15he's a
00:11:15superstar he broke his own track record in the chief executive's cups there about a about a month ago
00:11:20at char tin so he's in the form of his career his trial here the the other day bill was
00:11:25was props a
00:11:27little bit below what we expected but that happened last year as well and he came out and won the
00:11:31ever said what david hayes then said was about 80 fit so uh can he do it again look the
00:11:37market says
00:11:37he can um but we've got a couple of great spritters that can certainly test him i was going to
00:11:42ask you
00:11:42about the barrier trial i looked at the this year's barrier trial and went oh no and then i called
00:11:46up
00:11:46the 2025 version and it looked as like an instant replay you're just kind of you know kind of babied
00:11:51across the wire so we're we're obviously in this country familiar with the concept behind uh the
00:11:58everest which began with the pegasus world cup where owners put up stakes and put up a lot of
00:12:05money to help fund such a large purse that eventually kind of fizzled out in the united states because
00:12:11there was a series of prohibitive favorites in those in those pegasus world cups and nobody wanted to put
00:12:17up a lot of money just for the right to run against a one to five shot how is it
00:12:22different how has the
00:12:23everest succeeded so fabulously when that concept didn't really uh do so well here yeah it's a great
00:12:30great question randy um and i think the uh the answer is that this is probably the first year
00:12:36that we've seen uh a really prohibitively priced favorite in in the race uh throughout its history
00:12:42which dates back this will be the 10th running of the race we've always had competitive racing and
00:12:46that's probably been the case in australian racing in general uh in in terms of our feature races
00:12:51they've always attracted a very competitive sort of race field the size of our fields um the weight
00:12:57for age scale also handicap racing in australia as well in sort of grade one racing has ensured that
00:13:02we get you know big fields with with lots of competitive horses in them but but the everest
00:13:06itself uh is it as i said as bill was saying a 20 million dollar race what's that about 14
00:13:12million
00:13:12us dollars it's it's worth a lot of money it's grown over the years it attained group grade one status
00:13:17uh two years ago this will be the third grade one rating of the race so it's it's certainly world
00:13:22renowned in terms of its uh its quality and its recognition but um but i think the slot holders
00:13:27throughout the the uh the years have uh have grown to accept the conditions of the race and and it
00:13:34also
00:13:34i think helps uh the the studs that the generally own a lot of the slots and and and some
00:13:39of the bigger
00:13:40racing syndicates and and stables um to showcase their horses uh so that when they when they do go to
00:13:46stud that that they have that that benefit of perhaps being an everest winner as well so
00:13:50there are a number of layers to uh to to the people who get involved in terms of the slot
00:13:56ownership in
00:13:56in this country um and and i think it's it's proven to be a very successful method um and it
00:14:02and and the
00:14:03race itself is is targeted sort of the younger generation uh the under 35 so there's been a direct
00:14:09marketing campaign to get you know people to the track and get people interested in it to renew sort of
00:14:14uh an enthusiasm for racing itself sprint racing has always been big in australia as opposed to
00:14:19staying racing so uh and sydney is probably the you know the golden child of uh of australia and
00:14:25and and the glitz and glamour city of australia so it all ties in nicely um they've had some huge
00:14:31barriers barrier draw uh extravaganzas out on sydney harbour and the like so they've pumped a lot of
00:14:38uh popped a lot of advertising a lot of promotion into the everest and it's just continued to grow it's
00:14:43uh
00:14:43it's it's the race on everybody's lips here in australia at the moment jason just kind of touched
00:14:48on this but but i was uh curious when you know we did the research for the the race and
00:14:53of course
00:14:53it's it's raced at six furlongs and in in europe uh and in the united states and and presumably in
00:15:00australia your biggest race of the year is not the everest it's the melbourne cup the everest
00:15:04uh is obviously very popular that's a two mile race we're used to the big money in the most
00:15:10prestigious races being a mile or longer how did they settle on this huge purse and and create a
00:15:17make it a sprint race that that that to me is a little bit uh you know thinking outside the
00:15:21box
00:15:21what was the thinking behind that it certainly was bill and um and i think a lot of the credit's
00:15:26got
00:15:26to go to the the racing new south wales boss peter valandis who's uh he's just um retired from his
00:15:33post to go on to uh to two other ventures but uh but he's been at the helm for uh
00:15:38well well over sort
00:15:39of 20 years nearly 25 years now but uh he elected i suppose about uh well just over a decade
00:15:45ago now
00:15:46to try to reinvigorate the sydney spring carnival melbourne um and victoria's kind of had a bit
00:15:51of a mortgage on the on the best races during spring uh for for many many decades and and
00:15:57probably as far back as we care to remember but uh the melbourne cup carnival has always been the jewel
00:16:01in the crown i suppose of of australian racing but uh but peter and his team at racing new south
00:16:06wales uh decided that was time was right to to try to introduce some some huge racing in sydney in
00:16:12the spring and to come up with you know a concept that would uh that would generate that interest and
00:16:17that excitement and that thrill of racing uh not only for you know the racing public in general but
00:16:21specifically for for younger people and i think that's that's what he achieved with with the
00:16:26everest he took uh he took a lot of um inspiration from the pegasus world cup um and i know
00:16:31that that
00:16:32concept perhaps hasn't gone quite as well in the us but it certainly worked here in australia
00:16:36in recent times and um and sprint racing has always been big in in sydney especially we've
00:16:41got a race called the golden slipper which is a two-year-old sprint race over six furlongs as well
00:16:46it's always been a a bit of a study in making race and and and i think in australia owners
00:16:51have
00:16:52specifically wanted to get quicker returns on their money so so sprint racing uh and and specifically
00:16:58two-year-old racing has always been an appeal to uh to owners so um so the sprint race over
00:17:04six
00:17:04furlongs was a was a unique concept for that sort of money as you mentioned uh you know mile races
00:17:09and
00:17:10and and melbourne cup was a two-mile race let's face it the classics are a mile and a half
00:17:13but
00:17:14the concept of a of a 20 million dollars a six furlong race was a new one but it certainly
00:17:19worked
00:17:19though jason you mentioned the uh targeting the young people the 35 and younger uh that's obviously
00:17:27been a huge problem here in the united states i don't think i'm being overly pessimistic when i say
00:17:33that racing here is no longer a mainstream sport you can't find coverage in the newspapers
00:17:39anywhere about horse racing maybe other than kentucky unless it's the kentucky derby preakness
00:17:45belmont maybe even sometimes the breeders cup it really racing is really struggling to get a foothold
00:17:50here whereas in australia it seems like it's just gang going gangbusters and the young people are
00:17:56involved what what are you guys doing right that's not happening in the united states yeah that's
00:18:02that's a great question too isn't it and uh and let's face it it's uh there's probably many layers
00:18:06to that also but uh but look i suppose it's um it's the promotion of racing that uh that that
00:18:13probably is the key um and the availability of racing i think one of the the biggest differences i
00:18:19noticed is the availability of racing and the availability of being able to place a wager on
00:18:25racing um and i think that the u.s is a little bit behind in that sense they're catching up
00:18:30a little bit
00:18:30now but but here in australia i mean we've had uh we've had you've been able to wager on your
00:18:35phone
00:18:35for you know for more than 20 years um there's there's so many corporate bookmakers here in
00:18:40australia um there's so much promotion of racing and the mainstream media also promotes racing here
00:18:47regularly and and especially in you know carnival times in in our fall and in our spring carnival um
00:18:53more more more specifically which is the the pinnacle of racing here in australia so so this
00:18:59week has been huge blanket coverage of racing throughout not only racing media but uh but also
00:19:04through uh through mainstream media um that they're keen to get involved in it um i think people that
00:19:10see going to the races as uh as one of the great sort of social outings of of the spring
00:19:16you know
00:19:16that girls can get dressed up but we got the guys can get into their suits um that they promote
00:19:21racing
00:19:22so well as a place to go and be seen and mingle um but also the the stars of the
00:19:27sport are promoted
00:19:28as well i mean we've been so lucky to have you know such superstars like winks and black caviar
00:19:32in recent times also like chitakwa that uh that you know that get back and run on um some real
00:19:38superstars that have that have really brought new people to our sport as well so so there's many layers
00:19:44to it but um i think that the health of of our of our breeding industry is a big one
00:19:49as well
00:19:49and i think you need to have all of those factors sort of firing on all cylinders as well at
00:19:55the one
00:19:55time to have a to have a healthy industry prize money in new south wales especially but in australia
00:20:01in general has continued to grow as as wagering turnover grows um and i think one of the other
00:20:06things as well randy that's uh that that's a key point is that uh that that horse bettors and sports
00:20:13bettors in this country um often are the same people whereas i find it in the u.s there tends
00:20:19to be a bit of a gap between the between the two you find a lot of young people in
00:20:23australia that are
00:20:24under sort of under 40 bet on both racing and sports um and and i think that maybe the u
00:20:30.s can
00:20:31try to narrow that gap by including sports bettors and and horse bettors in the same pool and appealing
00:20:37to them and and combining the two well that's an excellent point and one of the problems we have
00:20:43here is that they they don't integrate sports betting and in horse betting you need a separate
00:20:48wallet so they don't make it easy for americans who want to bet on sports to cross over to racing
00:20:54but
00:20:54uh that's great news i'm glad that uh you guys aren't experiencing many of the same problems u.s
00:21:00racing is um so short attention to the caulfield cup six million australian dollars on the same card
00:21:06at ranwick now this is a traditional prep for the melbourne cup i understand that cosmic crusader
00:21:12um is probably the horse to beat uh tell us uh give us some of your thoughts on that race
00:21:17yeah absolutely bill it's a yeah it's a terrific time-honored race um that'll be run this this uh
00:21:23the saturday australian time this friday night uh u.s time incidentally um all of our meetings kick
00:21:28off um at about 6 p.m pacific time on on friday night so it's it's great timing for uh
00:21:34for any of
00:21:35your uh your viewers and listeners to uh to get involved and and the feature races come on a little
00:21:40bit later on the night the everest about 10 30 pacific and the caulfield cup about 11 45 the
00:21:45caulfield cup dates back to about 18 79 it's uh well along with the melbourne cup one of the the
00:21:49top
00:21:50group ones in in australia and um it's run over the classic distance of a of a mile and a
00:21:55half
00:21:55it's an 18 horse field um it's a it's a handicap race as i mentioned before um a lot of
00:22:02our a great
00:22:03sort of competitive races are handicaps and a lot of the greats of the turf have have won this race
00:22:08on route to uh competing in the melbourne cup and some having having won both uh this year it's it's
00:22:14a
00:22:14very wide open race we've had uh several international horses come out to to contest and win this race in
00:22:20in recent times this year joseph o'brien is uh is bringing a horse who i think is a is
00:22:25a good chance
00:22:26um roger varian brings a horse as well but uh of the locals kieran ma has just been on fire
00:22:31lately
00:22:32uh he's one of our leading trainers um along with chris waller but certainly in victoria kieran
00:22:37has been dominating and and i think his horse called zar ran can can win this this year um a
00:22:43horse who's
00:22:43been brought over from the uk a winner over a mile and a half in ireland and also in the
00:22:49uk at royal ascot
00:22:50last year targeted for this race uh coming off well a poor performance last on a wet track but
00:22:55back on top of the ground today after a terrific win at caulfield over a mile and a quarter previous
00:22:59to that i think he could win cosmic crusader a great chance in this race as well but um yeah
00:23:04it's it's
00:23:05a deep race and a lot of chances in the in the caulfield cup this year jason you brought up
00:23:12and as randy
00:23:12was talking about what does australia do right and that what maybe american racing uh can learn from
00:23:17as we've been talking i i keep picking up on a theme of handicap racing and we first of all
00:23:24there's very few major stakes races left in this country that are handicapped they've gone by the
00:23:28wayside and the ones that are are kind of a a joke the the high weight will be 124 the
00:23:35best horse in
00:23:35the race and the worst horse in the race will be 120 pounds i mean that's not going to make
00:23:39any
00:23:39difference and we're seeing a lot of it has to do uh with the full shortage and the glut of
00:23:45so many
00:23:45races we have but but we're seeing you know major races with four and five horse fields the spinster
00:23:51stakes one of the greatest races on the calendar for older fillies and mares just ran with a three
00:23:55horse field could america maybe learn something from going back to it not only a handicap race system
00:24:01but a meaningful one where maybe the high weight is 128 and somebody gets in at 109 that seems to
00:24:07be
00:24:08working for you uh australian racing have we have we gone in the wrong direction when it comes to that
00:24:13i think so bill uh personally i do think so i think i think handicap racing encourages turnover
00:24:19um because the handicapper essentially wants you know however many horses there are in the field
00:24:25so there's 12 horses in the field he wants all 12 to finish uh dead heat for first that that's
00:24:30the
00:24:30goal of the handicapper isn't it to uh to give you know a very competitive race so that uh that
00:24:34horse
00:24:34bettors get every chance to uh to to get a winner on on each of the horses each of the
00:24:38horses have got a
00:24:39chance um and so i think that's been a a key element to the success of australian racing throughout the
00:24:45years uh of course you know big races are white for age and that scale as well as is also
00:24:50provides
00:24:51chances to you know three-year-old fillies up against uh you know experienced uh you know six-year-old
00:24:57in tires as as it might be in the everest this year but uh the handicap system has been has
00:25:02been
00:25:02fantastic in australia we've got races like the epsom and the doncaster two terrific mile races
00:25:07um and and and the melbourne cup as well which is uh you know a been a famous race for
00:25:12for so many
00:25:13decades now a handicap race that allows you know a relatively inexperienced horse to get in with uh
00:25:20you know with a lightweight up against uh you know one of one of the the best horses in in
00:25:24the country
00:25:25with with a huge weight but handicap racing is uh has been successful in this country and and i think
00:25:30the field sizes also make a huge difference i know that's a that's a laid question as well that's
00:25:35a hard one to address but um but but the breeding industry in australia has meant that our field
00:25:40sizes have been much higher than the u.s and that encourages turnover as well all right before we
00:25:47let you go i want you to show our viewers your t-shirt and i want to know where an
00:25:51aussie guy came
00:25:52up with this huh yeah where'd you get that jason well i i got that uh at uh at the
00:25:59kentucky derby
00:25:59when i was there in 2024 mystic danzy at the 150th running bill so i was lucky enough to come
00:26:05over
00:26:05there with fan duel um and uh and looked after uh by uh by andrew brown in fact to uh
00:26:11for off to the
00:26:12racers media who i do a uh a youtube show with her her and caitlin him and caitlin on on
00:26:19a friday
00:26:19night you can uh you can tune in on youtube via the sky racing world um website but it's a
00:26:25uh it's
00:26:25yeah i had a magnificent time over there in uh in kentucky and uh and and enjoyed it immensely
00:26:33um it was one of the great experiences of world racing in my life i've been to royal ascot and
00:26:38plenty of other places around the world as i'm sure you both have also but uh but the kentucky derby
00:26:42for me was uh it was number one bill all right so randy and i are going to scour the
00:26:47internet and
00:26:47look for everest t-shirts and we're going to if we're lucky enough to have you on next year
00:26:50we promise well maybe we'll get a melbourne cup t-shirt we're going to try to match you
00:26:57i'm going to try to match you t-shirt for t-shirt so some very exciting things going on
00:27:04on australian racing friday night this friday night in the u.s saturday in australia we thank
00:27:09jason with him so much for joining us and uh boy that kai ying rising uh that hong kong superstar
00:27:15uh
00:27:15what an exciting horse and we'll see if he can win his second straight everest jason thanks so much
00:27:20you're being our gainsway guest of the week bill randy it's been my absolute pleasure
00:27:25and guest of the week jason woodham came to us courtesy of gainsway the home to top stallions
00:27:30such as olympiad and the winners are coming fast and furious now for olympiad who saw three of his
00:27:36first crop juveniles in the winner's circle just this past weekend he now has 13 winning two-year-olds
00:27:43this year olympiad of course was a multi-millionaire on the track speed and stamina one from seven
00:27:49furlongs to a mile and a quarter highlighted by that win in the jockey club gold cup
00:27:52eight 100 plus buyer speed figures including multiple 111 buyers gainsway power passion performance
00:28:17olympiad gets the gold in the jockey club gold cup
00:28:34the fastest horse of the week brought to you by the fast sires at one star farm we'll start this
00:28:39with the trivia question bill you're not allowed to participate you know the answer we know how good
00:28:43sovereignty was as a three-year-old he won the kentucky derby and the belmont and the jim dandy
00:28:50and the travers he was horse of the year but he lost one race as a three-year-old who
00:28:53was the
00:28:54horse that beat sovereignty time's up the answer was to pan street who is the newest stallion at
00:29:03winstar farm for 2027 to pan street the fastest son of into mischief to win the florida derby which
00:29:09has always been a stallion making race and he's also this is very important bred on the into mischief
00:29:15distorted humor cross that has produced leading sire's practical joke and life is good to pan
00:29:21street a one million dollar saratoga yearling his introductory stud fee will be announced later this
00:29:28year twin fastest horses of the week now it's kind of slim pickings this week because most of our normal
00:29:36candidates are preparing for the breeders cup but we had two that got buyer speed figures of 99
00:29:42on thursday at keeneland seven-year-old facture cheval continued a great run recently for barry
00:29:50irwin's team valor this horse in particular co-owned by tim by team valor and by gary barber
00:29:55in fact tour cheval enjoyed a significant class relief to win that allowance race in his very first
00:30:02start for trainer mark cassie only a second start in the u.s he broke a 13 race losing streak
00:30:08for
00:30:08facture cheval but here's the deal with that his last win was in the group one dubai turf in that
00:30:1513 race losing streak he ran against forever young in the saudi cup twice against ombudsman romantic
00:30:20warrior notable speech this horse has been running against the very best the other 99 buyer speed
00:30:27figure saturday at charlestown it was a day for west virginia bred stakes races and in the seven furlong
00:30:34west virginia russell road breeders classic stakes for three-year-olds one to five favorite ryan's run
00:30:39ran off by 11 and a half lengths son of run happy he's now five for six lifetime he lost
00:30:45his only race
00:30:45against open company against west virginia breds his wins have come by an average margin of eight lengths
00:30:56welcome back and my goodness what a mess this thing is going on at turf paradise first we have an
00:31:02arizona racing commission meeting that td thornton reported on thoroughbred daily news last week we're
00:31:07all hell broke loose turns out that virtually everybody that mattered and management at turf
00:31:12paradise including tom loot had quit matter of fact uh the uh gary hartoonian who has leased the
00:31:19track from jerry sims thought that a fellow by the name of dave johnson not my dave johnson was going
00:31:24to take over as general manager the arizona racing commission had to say no gary he quit too
00:31:30so that's part one of the story then on saturday jerry sims who actually owns the track but leases
00:31:36it to hartoonian locked him out they kicked him off the grounds kicked all his employees out they
00:31:42padlocked things and uh right now randy this is a mess and nobody knows where this is going the
00:31:50meet's supposed to start on november 27th and jerry sims has had i haven't personally reached out to him
00:31:56but i know uh some other people in the media said nothing to say about this about why he did
00:32:00this
00:32:01there's all sorts of problems going on the eight the arizona hbpa said that hartoonian was behind on
00:32:07some payments etc etc etc but i i guess the bottom line and and and you can run with this
00:32:14wherever you
00:32:14want is this the next racetrack to fall could be it could very well be by the way you're dave
00:32:20johnson's
00:32:21much too smart to step on that land mine um it looks awfully bad for hartoonian that his entire
00:32:28staff pretty much quit in mass and you know he's saying that it was you know it was uh sabotage
00:32:36and collaboration with jerry sims you know i don't know of many people who would just willingly put
00:32:42themselves out of a job in mass by quitting just before the start of a race meet so that plus
00:32:50the
00:32:50purse account stuff that came up during the commission hearing is not a good look for gary
00:32:56hartoonian to be sure i don't know any of the details but i do know this jerry sims bought the
00:33:02track in 2000 okay for years i heard from friends of mine like cory johnson and skip lanard who used
00:33:10to
00:33:10work way back in the day at turf paradise about what a garden spot that was and what a beautiful
00:33:14little
00:33:15track it was so in 2015 i happened to find myself in glendale arizona to cover the super bowl for
00:33:21nbc
00:33:22and my wife and i decided we got an afternoon free let's go to turf paradise i've never been to
00:33:27turf
00:33:27paradise before i've heard all these good things about it you know my wife kathy's a horse racing
00:33:31fan so she's all in so we get on the elevator to go to the racetrack at the hotel and
00:33:37i run to al
00:33:37michaels who went to the university of arizona and al says where are you going i said we're going to
00:33:43turf
00:33:43paradise he's oh i went to college arizona i spent so much time at turf paradise i love that place
00:33:49i
00:33:49wish i could go with you you know give me a give me a report on it when you guys
00:33:53get back and i said
00:33:53okay we'll do bill turf paradise made pimlico look like the ritz carlton when you first walked in there
00:34:02was a sign welcome to turf paradise letters were missing other letters were crooked you walk in the
00:34:08door there's a folding table folding chairs there's missing ceiling tiles with exposed wires hanging
00:34:14down uh there were maybe a hundred people in the whole joint it was a live racing day we walked
00:34:20around the grandstand just to see maybe it gets better it didn't we were going to spend a whole
00:34:25afternoon there and have lunch there's no way i'm going to buy food there and trust that they
00:34:30handled the food properly after the way they took care of the grandstand so we spent a half hour there
00:34:34and left and that was that was jerry sims who had the racetrack the next day i saw al michaels
00:34:42and i
00:34:42said oh how's turf paradise did you have good memories there he said yeah i said don't go back
00:34:46it was that bad so i can't necessarily be on jerry sims's side in this deal either because i saw
00:34:53firsthand what the racetrack looked like when he was in charge and hartoonian apparently spent a lot of
00:34:58money in his words to to restore the track and and fix a lot of the things that had been
00:35:06uh you know
00:35:07allowed to neglectfully you know waste away and he you know spent apparently a lot of time and effort
00:35:14in doing that so i really don't know what to think it's hard for me to come out on the
00:35:17side of either
00:35:18one of them at this point until we know a little bit more but it's certainly i agree with you
00:35:22that it
00:35:23looks like um turf paradise might be the next domino to fall ultimately well i mean we don't
00:35:29want that obviously phoenix is the fifth biggest city in the country so it's a major market even
00:35:34though it's it's a uh smaller racetrack and randy you brought up a good point and i haven't been to
00:35:38turf paradise uh the last time i went there it was in pretty good condition but i um you know
00:35:43by all
00:35:44accounts hartoonian had really when tom loot had really turned the place around yeah that on-track
00:35:50attendance was up that they they corrected all the problems you brought uh you brought up and it
00:35:55made the facility like really improved it so you know think what you want about hartoonian you know
00:36:00at least you can say he was trying but obviously there's more to this story that that is going to
00:36:05come out i mean why did all these guys quit yeah i mean and and mass what was going on
00:36:10there and like
00:36:11you said you don't walk away from a job because you're part of some great conspiracy uh you walk away
00:36:16from a job for for other reasons and maybe we'll find that out but let's hope i mean the meet
00:36:22is
00:36:22supposed to open on november 27th the barn area is supposed to open uh within the next couple days
00:36:27we'll see what happens there but you know once again uh a struggling racetrack with a small handle
00:36:33no uh income from casino revenue um it's hard to imagine how they've they've hung on all these years
00:36:39but let's hope for uh the phoenix area for horse racing in general that they are not the next domino
00:36:44call your dave johnson and see if he wants to live in phoenix i i i'm pretty sure he'll pass
00:36:50pass on that job all right so micropoli is in the news this week or last week and he went
00:36:57out
00:36:57and bought one million shares of stock in churchill downs incorporated that cost micropoli
00:37:0480 million dollars to do so uh he now owns 1.43 percent of a company that's worth is 5
00:37:13.5 billion
00:37:15dollars so uh i guess the question randy and and i'll answer it first and then obviously turn to you
00:37:22uh does this mean rapoli is going to have some impact on the running of churchill downs
00:37:28and honestly i think the answer is probably not i'm sure bill karstangian will pick up his phone
00:37:34calls but i think he would have done so anyways uh in the grand scheme of things even though it's
00:37:3880
00:37:39million dollars to own one less than one and a half percent of a company um you know really doesn't
00:37:44give you a lot of oomph uh you have to be on the board of directors really to be able
00:37:49to influence
00:37:50the uh decisions the other thing i'd like to bring up to this i first of all i think was
00:37:55a good
00:37:55investment i mean churchill down stock has just been a great investment over the years
00:37:59but one thing about this that i found noteworthy is mike has always targeted these institutions in
00:38:06racing whether you agree with it or not that he thinks are doing a bad job the jockey club heists
00:38:11are top of his list the one company you could point to and say emphatically is not doing a bad
00:38:18job
00:38:18is churchill downs people don't like them and i understand why but they do a terrific job
00:38:25with not only the kentucky derby but running a business and their fiduciary responsibility is
00:38:31to their stockholders and from that respect you know mike has got himself involved in
00:38:37one of the company one of the things in horse racing that really does work maybe he sees a
00:38:43kindred spirit i mean bill karstangian has been pretty outspoken at times uh it against some of the
00:38:49things that heisa has done and heisa of course is closely connected with the jockey club
00:38:53and we know how micropole feels about the jockey club my first thought on this bill was hey great
00:38:59it's a good deal and then i i've kind of gone back and forth on it several times i read
00:39:04a a long tweet
00:39:05from uh someone whose name i don't have right now but clearly it was from saudi arabia
00:39:10and he detailed uh in uh with quite a lot a bit of thoroughness about how big of a conflict
00:39:18of
00:39:19interest this is for mike rapoli to be racing horses in the kentucky derby and racing horses
00:39:25at churchill downs while he's also a part owner of the racetrack and then the thought occurred to me
00:39:31okay if the shoe is on the other foot let's suppose instead of rapoli it was seth clarman
00:39:38who bought a million dollars worth of churchill down stock and owned 1.5 percent of the company
00:39:43and now we get to the kentucky derby and there's a basically the derby looks like a two-horse race
00:39:49between a seth clarman horse and a micropole horse and suddenly like forte micropole's horse is scratched
00:39:55by the vets two days before the race you think he's going to be mentioning the fact that the other
00:40:00horse
00:40:01is owned by a guy who's invested a million dollars in churchill downs yeah but then then i thought about
00:40:09it a little more bill where can you find the situation in horse racing where there's not a
00:40:15conflict of interest it's a little different in the sport of horse racing uh in a regular business
00:40:21i mean there are thousands of uh mbas that are turned out every year by american colleges and universities
00:40:29if you're going to be involved in horse racing it requires some knowledge of the sport that you just
00:40:35can't find walking around on the street so by nature to really have the sport run properly you
00:40:41need some people with experience in horse racing and that creates conflicts of interest sheikh muhammad
00:40:48owns maidan owns the dubai world cup look at how many horses come around from the world to run there
00:40:54frank stranick ran horses at san anita ran horses at gulf stream park when he owned both facilities right
00:41:01i mean you see that all the time in horse racing so i'm not sure now that i think about
00:41:08it that
00:41:08micropoli owning 1.5 percent of churchill downs incorporated is anything near the kind of conflicts
00:41:14of interest that we've seen in the past in the sport good points there annie we'll see uh if mike
00:41:20can uh
00:41:21you know you know by the force of his personality which is kind of how he gets things done you
00:41:27know
00:41:27maybe that alone will will give him a sounding board but again like i said before uh you know
00:41:33you're going to improve on something that that doesn't really need to be improved on i came across
00:41:39a great quote by the way by ripoli and researching this whole thing this is from micropoli directly
00:41:44crazy people have changed the world
00:41:49he takes that to heart okay no no comment there um anyways all right so let's move on um you
00:41:56know
00:41:56uh we should have we wish we had zoe here because she's our sales expert but uh the tattersall sale
00:42:01over in europe uh i mean sheikh muhammad um boy was he out on a spending spree uh he spent
00:42:09the
00:42:09equivalent bought 25 yearlings for the equivalent of 37.4 million u.s dollars uh one out of every five
00:42:20yearlings bought in the sale was bought by sheikh muhammad's godolphin team so uh the the rich get
00:42:27richer and the strong gets stronger as we see godolphin dominate racing all over the world we can
00:42:34see why not only do they have a ton of well-bred homebreds uh and and just terrific horses all
00:42:40over
00:42:40the globe but now uh 25 more yearlings that cost an average of more than one million dollars each
00:42:47will be hitting the ground next year for sheikh muhammad's godolphin stable and before then we're
00:42:52about to see uh another episode of the breeder's cup featuring the arch rivals godolphin and coolmore
00:42:58mix in a little jedmod in there as well clearly godolphin and sheikh muhammad are looking for the
00:43:04next dubawi uh who's been just an unbelievable stallion for them over in europe and spending that
00:43:11much money maybe they'll get it and uh also worth note that uh once again the americans are
00:43:17very active at this sale as they have been over the last several years really with mike ryan uh and
00:43:23chad brown leading the way americans bought 50 horses at the sale which is a big number i assume
00:43:30most of them will be heading over to the u.s to race and uh it was interesting that clarevich
00:43:35seth clareman stable and randy just mentioned seth clareman part owner of the boston red sox i was like
00:43:41to throw that um two very expensive horses by the sire modern game so i'm sure they'll be winning on
00:43:50the grass somewhere for chad brown in the future as clarevich uh is is is a powerhouse and uh especially
00:43:58does well on the grass okay so that's a wrap-up of what happened at uh turf paradise we'll keep
00:44:04uh our
00:44:05eye on that story and also what's going on with micropoli and tattersalls we're gonna take a break
00:44:09when we come back we'll uh hear from our friends at the pennsylvania horse breeders association also
00:44:14what's going on we're first things first then we'll wrap it up a little preview of the raven run
00:44:20stakes and uh randy and i will talk a little breeders cup stay with us we'll be right back
00:44:26and the td and riders are brought to you by the phba the pennsylvania horse breeders association the phba
00:44:32a proud supporter of horse retirement and aftercare initiatives so we thought we'd share
00:44:36a good story for you this week you might remember a horse by the name of like a salt shaker
00:44:42a stakes
00:44:42winner the 2024 claiming crown horse of the year like a salt shaker won 18 of 43 lifetime starts and
00:44:50over six hundred thousand dollars now into his second career after racing he's competing in the
00:44:56retired racehorse projects thoroughbred makeover as an eventer competing with madison oliver and
00:45:03crystal conning through industry partnerships and a joint promotion with the pennsylvania horse
00:45:08racing association the phba supports the statewide aftercare network and that includes turning for
00:45:14home new start and also canter pa to learn more about the pennsylvania bread program in general
00:45:21contact brian sanfratello at 610-444-1050 or go to pabread.com the pennsylvania breeding program
00:45:31is the best program in the country the stallion awards the owner bonuses also the restrictive
00:45:38races and the stakes races for pennsylvania breads last year 321 pennsylvania breeders earned breeders
00:45:45awards 22 pennsylvania breeders earned over 100 000 we have the best program in the country take
00:45:54advantage of the fantastic program that we have learn more at pabread.com this week on first
00:46:01things first first the san anita crew spoke with jamie spencer the european champion jockey who was
00:46:07new to the san anita jockey colony so he cabman chatted with him about his decision to move his tack
00:46:12here
00:46:12michelle you caught up with him after his first california stakes victory with teru potty in the
00:46:18swing time stakes
00:46:24i am very happy to be joined by a new addition to the southern california riders colony in jamie spencer
00:46:31jamie welcome to santa anita thanks zoe thank you i see it's cooled down a little bit how hot was
00:46:37it
00:46:37when you first got here and what were you thinking oh my god what is this yeah it's pretty similar
00:46:41i
00:46:41supposed to what kentucky downs is like um it was very hot earlier in the week but um obviously it's
00:46:46cooled down yesterday and today so it's a nice temp now jamie it's been announced that you're going
00:46:50to stay here through santa anita through dalma you're fresh off a grade one win up there at woodbine
00:46:56what led to the decision to shift your tack here to the great race place um well usually it's a
00:47:01quieter
00:47:01time of year for me um obviously we've got champions weekend next weekend in the uk but i'm i'm going
00:47:07to
00:47:07australia anyway so i kind of just thought well i normally start shutting down so i thought i'll do
00:47:14a bit more for the next few months and um chatting to obviously simon and george and aiden obviously uh
00:47:23they said why don't you come here and enjoy a bit of nicer weather joined right now by jamie spencer
00:47:29first stakes win here for this uh new vision of coming to santa anita for this winter time jamie
00:47:36congratulations how's it feel yeah it's nice obviously it's nice to get that first win on the
00:47:40board uh jonathan was pretty keen on her chances i was a little bit restless in the gates so i
00:47:45had to
00:47:46go to plan b and rather patiently as originally we wanted to kind of sort of in the first three
00:47:50and
00:47:50taking the lead but you know it worked out well i always saw from the top of the straight she
00:47:54was
00:47:54going to grind them out and nail them late on and i suppose i better apologize to your husband and
00:47:59the people who rode the first few horses because it took me it takes a few races to get used
00:48:03to it again
00:48:03and it's such a tight track to what we're used to in europe but um i'm sure we'll get the
00:48:08hang of it
00:48:15it's the most wunderbar time of the year octoberfest continues this coming weekend at santa anita
00:48:20join us for more bavarian beer and eats plus live music and entertainment by past action heroes playing
00:48:27your favorite 80s and 90s hits we'll also have a costume contest a stein holding competition i'm not
00:48:34entering that by the way cornhole plank and keg rolling no grade one action this weekend but there's
00:48:41a pretty good race at keeneland or a bunch of good races at keeneland this weekend uh topped by the
00:48:46lexus raven run grade two for three-year-old philly sprinting and normally uh these kind of races we
00:48:52wouldn't think would have breeders cup implications but maybe someone will come out of this race because
00:48:57two horses that have won this race came back to win the breeders cup philly and mayor sprint that's
00:49:01an informed decision in 2009 shamrock rose in 2018 randy uh it looks to me on paper like a two
00:49:11-horse
00:49:11race between concede who's riding a three-race winning streak beat explorer last time out in the
00:49:16dogwood stakes and mashallah who ran that humongous buyer figure when she broke her maiden at keeneland the
00:49:22106 hasn't run back to that but at the same time uh when sprinting she's been perfect when the
00:49:28prioress last time out by five i think it's a flip of the coin between the two but i would
00:49:34lean to
00:49:35mashallah and from a buyer speed figure point uh is she rounding back into that 106 and game will we
00:49:43see that number from her again be it on saturday at keeneland or at some point in her career it's
00:49:48possible this is a sensational race uh throw movie night in there as well in the dogwood at churchill
00:49:53downs in september seven furlong race explorer was a huge favorite and it wound up being a three horse
00:50:00photo finish at the wire conceit over explorer by a head over movie night by a head and then it
00:50:08was
00:50:08six and a half lengths back to the rest of the field movie night got a 94 buyer and then
00:50:11if you
00:50:12remember movie night uh zoe and i both talked up movie night a lot for the test stakes at saratoga
00:50:19and she just absolutely showed nothing but then she bounced back in a big way in the dogwood so yeah
00:50:25you got mashallah and conceit and movie night uh you've got with a kiss who's two for two uh owned
00:50:31by michael taber trained by todd fletcher and with the kiss as a pedigree they won't quit she's by gun
00:50:36runner out of kentucky oaks winner katherine sophia and she is just now really getting started with her
00:50:42racing career and there's some other good horses in there as well percy's bar was second to explore
00:50:47in the test um despite stumbling at the start so yeah i mean the ravens run is just one heck
00:50:53of a race
00:50:54and maybe it's doubtful maybe we'll get a breeders cup runner out of it all right well speaking of the
00:51:01breeders cup it's right around the corner and nobody and i mean this digs deeper into the breeders
00:51:07cup than our friend randy moss and uh if you want to know anything about what's going on a couple
00:51:13weeks
00:51:13out he's the man on the scene so randy um let's start with a classic and and i think the
00:51:19story right
00:51:20now is what do you make of sovereignty's workout pattern uh five furlongs in 104.01
00:51:28and four furlongs in 51.5 runners last two workouts now let's compare that to last year
00:51:34now granted it was a very different situation he didn't run in the breeders cup but he was preparing
00:51:39for it he didn't have uh any uh any straw in his path until right up to the race when
00:51:46he had to be
00:51:46taken out but his last three workouts or 49.80 101.39 59.80 uh the word from the mot
00:51:54camp is everything
00:51:55is fine but i boy i is this really what you want to see these slow workout patterns uh with
00:52:03a horse
00:52:03that that has had some problems and hasn't raced in a long time i always put my faith in bill
00:52:09mott
00:52:09there's no one better if if this is the pattern that he thinks is going to get sovereignty right
00:52:14for the breeders cup i trust him but i wouldn't be the least bit surprised if maybe they say
00:52:19yeah you know he's not burning up the racetrack maybe we're going to call it a career what do you
00:52:24think i said last week i wouldn't be surprised if in a few days we saw an announcement that
00:52:29sovereignty had been retired i don't think this is a designed way of training by mott um i after his
00:52:38first slow workout last week i expected sovereignty to uh you know i i know they wanted him to bounce
00:52:47back with a much sharper workout the breeders cups only in 18 days and what concerned me the most
00:52:53about this last workout is not just the fact that he went five furlongs in 104 it's that he then
00:53:00galloped out an extra eighth of a mile in 14 seconds he galloped out badly he galloped out six furlongs
00:53:09and 118 you would think having gone that slowly for five eighths of a mile he'd be raring to go
00:53:15on
00:53:15the gallop out and that might be the best part of the workout but it wasn't so that's extremely
00:53:20concerning um we'll see if they give him another breeze and you know just to see if they can turn
00:53:25things around maybe he'll be ultra sharp in a week and this will all be kind of water under the
00:53:30bridge
00:53:30but it it's the big story right now uh as we head into the breeders cup we got forever young
00:53:36who's
00:53:36training in new york seemingly all systems go there but it's you know either going to be sovereignty or
00:53:44knight's bridge in the breeders cup classic uh knight's bridge expected to be uh rerouted to the
00:53:50dirt mile if sovereignty makes it into the race it would obviously be a much better race and a much
00:53:56more fun race if we get to see sovereignty against forever young but knight's bridge obviously wouldn't
00:54:02be a uh very bad substitute right now i think we're looking at uh if you consider either knight's bridge
00:54:07or sovereignty as a starter three four five six seven eight nine ten horses right now appear to be
00:54:14pretty solid um headed by forever young i guess you'd have to say the defending champ uh he's going
00:54:21to set the all-time breeders cup record as the richest horse ever to start in a breeders cup race
00:54:26by a
00:54:27wide margin 31.3 million dollars in earnings right now the record is held by arrogate at 17.3
00:54:36so almost double the earnings forever young has and seemingly according to all accounts he's doing
00:54:43well up at belmont park prior to being sent down to kentucky so our producer asked us to uh you
00:54:50know
00:54:50talk about races we're looking forward to and obviously the classic but the one that i randy that
00:54:55i'm really looking for i think the breeders cup this staff is going to be just fascinating you obviously
00:54:59have nitrogen as the big story and she's just had a great career but fully subscribed even though she got
00:55:05drilled by nitrogen in the ogden phipps losing by 12 and three quarter length she's been sensational
00:55:11since then uh winning three in a row i know is a three horse race in the spinster but she
00:55:16she's not
00:55:17the same horse that nitrogen just drilled back in the ogden phipps she's really good right now
00:55:22throw in splendora for bob baffert he's confirmed that after winning the breeders cup philly and mayor
00:55:28sprint uh last year he's confident that she is now thriving in two-turn races you throw her in there
00:55:34uh i don't think that nitrogen necessarily has wrapped up the philly and mayor older philly
00:55:40mayor championship uh if she gets beat by one of those two in there that's the race i'm most looking
00:55:46forward to uh you would have to expect nitrogen to be the favorite in there i think but if you're
00:55:51looking for you know if you're looking to bet against the favorite okay here's the angle to bet
00:55:58against nitrogen i have all the you know i i love nitrogen and she's obviously a superstar but this
00:56:05is the same nitrogen that earlier this year at oakland park was losing more races than she was
00:56:11winning and then suddenly in her last three we've seen a completely different much faster nitrogen now
00:56:19what's the difference between early in the year and the last three the last three races are when
00:56:24nitrogen was sent to the early lead in this race you've got snow white with a ton of speed super
00:56:31corridor is one dimensional one way to go immersive has speed scottish lassie has speed there is a ton
00:56:39of pace competition in here and you'd have to look at this race on paper and think that nitrogen will
00:56:44have to win it from off the pace slightly off the pace and she wasn't as good earlier this year
00:56:50when
00:56:51she was put in that situation so randy any other race that uh is on your radar any other horses
00:56:57in
00:56:57particular that you want to talk about are we saving that for the nbc telecast but i'm a horse i'm
00:57:03such a
00:57:04horse racing fan i get into all of them i really do i mean you know just kind of skipping
00:57:09through a few
00:57:10um it's kind of unfortunate but it looks like we're probably not going to get ombudsman in the
00:57:17breeders cup turf uh this saturday at an ascot is champions day which is like come to rival the
00:57:23breeders cup at least in the uk and ombudsman is being pointed for the big race on champions day
00:57:29if the turf doesn't come up soft and the weather forecast is good right now for the weekend and
00:57:36gosden said he probably would not send night send ombudsman to the breeders cup turf if he does go
00:57:42ahead and run at uh at ascot this weekend and you know so that's unfortunate but um the mile looks
00:57:50really good to me you've got notable speech coming back again trying to win the breeders cup tour of
00:57:55mile back to back you've got a three-year-old philly by the name of blue bolt who is being
00:58:01pointed for
00:58:01the mile trained by andrew balding who has won six races in a row in europe who has looked absolutely
00:58:07sensational and then you've got stodd who runs is scheduled to run on saturday champions day but
00:58:14aiden o'brien is always game to wheel his horses back um you've got those three uh from europe against
00:58:21deterministic and rhetorical the two best of the american milers who i think probably have a shot
00:58:27in this spot even against the europeans you got englishman going up against to elvis in the sprint
00:58:32you've got baccio in the turf sprint the sensational sprinter for wesley ward
00:58:38going up against comanche brave from donica o'brien and then oh by the way throw in two past winners
00:58:44of the race star lust and she's so spicy as well as cypher um there's just so many so many
00:58:51races to
00:58:51really really get interested in and on friday sun goddess who is considered to be a superstar two-year-old
00:58:58philly for coolmore and aiden o'brien in europe has been confirmed for the juvenile phillies turf
00:59:03so we'll get into detail a lot more detail on on a lot of these races but quite a few
00:59:09breeders cup
00:59:09races shaping up to be really interesting as always all right so we always encourage people to uh
00:59:15watch us on the youtube channel because one of the reasons you can do that is you can leave comments
00:59:20there and when we have time from time to time we like to pick up on some of the comments
00:59:24that our
00:59:25listeners and viewers made and we thank you for for writing in and uh i missed last week but uh
00:59:31john grabowski uh the finger lakes trainer who won the frisette with dotsy he has a lot of fans and
00:59:38this is from uh fleet skipper 1810 you've had many excellent guests on your show but i think john
00:59:44grabowski is my favorite so far he's humble he's delighted with this philly and his owners share his
00:59:50enthusiasm for this girl so neat to hear that they want to stick with this philly even after she's
00:59:56retired reminds me of the good old days when people both raced and bred generations of their
01:00:01own racehorses well said fleet skipper francis russo 2775 so great to put faces to people you bet year
01:00:09after year remember john grabowski riding forever great interview sure francis russo cashed a bunch of
01:00:15tickets on jockey uh john grabowski as he won 3400 races probably 3399 of them at finger lakes and then
01:00:24um uh on another subject beth bug 45 i thought this was kind of cheeky and and cute uh we're
01:00:31talking
01:00:31about the uh breeder's futurity when american history upset coach pope named for the uh kentucky
01:00:36basketball coach said uh or he or she said the look on coach pope's face when american history caught
01:00:43was my favorite moment in this weekend frame worthy okay so not the best result for fans of
01:00:49the university of kentucky's basketball team but they'll be just fine as they always are
01:00:55the tdn writer's room work of the week is brought to you by first tv on october 31 super corridor
01:01:01will
01:01:01look to become just the second philly in history to capture both the breeders cup juvenile phillies and
01:01:07the distaff joining the great beholder here she is working a half mile toward that goal on friday at
01:01:12san anita covering the distance in 48 flat for trainer john saddler be right back after this
01:01:18message from first tv be a smarter better with first tv the best horses
01:01:28with thousands of exclusive morning workouts
01:01:35all at your fingertips all at your fingertips and delivered right into your inbox
01:01:40everything you need to be informed be smart bet smart with first tv
01:01:51all the thrills fraction of the bills
01:02:00experience the power of the partnership
01:02:05change your life make new friends and compete at the highest level of thoroughbred racing
01:02:13west point thoroughbreds the gold standard in racing partnerships visit westpoint tv.com
01:02:20and now for the latest from west point thoroughbreds a young globe trotter starred for west point this
01:02:26past sunday when two-year-old true north star ran away to a five-length maiden win at woodbine
01:02:32in his second lifetime start mark cassie trains the son of early voting so what makes him a globe
01:02:38trotter well he was bred in ontario but true north star was acquired across the pond at the
01:02:44tattersall's craven sale of two-year-olds in training this past spring then it was on to
01:02:49ocala where cassie transitioned him into his program and then on to toronto and woodbine he
01:02:55was written by rafael hernandez and congratulations to hernandez that was his 3 500th career victory
01:03:07that's a wrap on this week's show i want to thank uh jason witham from sky world racing for his
01:03:13excellent analysis of what's going on in australia gonna be a great everest uh coming up friday night
01:03:18in the u.s saturday in australia i also want to thank randy mawz so would uh we double teamed
01:03:23him
01:03:23this week and did well with zoe cabman on vacation and also oh and there's lucy how's she doing randy
01:03:29we have movement we actually have movement back there so i had to i had to get lucy her star
01:03:34turn
01:03:34here okay all right we want to thank lucy for her participation in the show i also want to thank
01:03:40the people that work behind the scenes they do such a great job at sue finley katie petruniak
01:03:45alia laraca and anthony laraca well breeders cup is right around the corner and sue finley of course
01:03:51didn't i say sue finley i always mentioned sue finley of course and uh breeders cup is right around
01:03:55the corner uh we'll keep you abreast of what's going on uh as we head towards the breeders cup
01:04:00thanks for tuning us in see you next week on the tdn writer's room podcast presented by keith
01:04:05you