On this week's TDN Writers' Room, owner and breeder David Anderson discusses the potential impact of tariffs on the Canadian Thoroughbred industry.
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00:00:00For the love of the horse, for generations to come.
00:00:28Welcome to another edition of the TDN Writer's Room Podcast.
00:00:31My name is Bill Finley.
00:00:32I'm a correspondent for the TDN and also I'm the co-host of the Down the Stretch radio
00:00:36show with legendary Dave Johnson on Saturdays on Sirius XM.
00:00:40Hey Dave is legendary.
00:00:41I'm Randy Moss with, see there, I'm wearing the logo NBC Sports.
00:00:47Zoe Capman with First TV and Santa Anita, I am also wearing the logo here, delighted
00:00:55to be here today.
00:00:56Oh, I need some swag for my own.
00:00:58What was I, you should have told me, I would have done something.
00:01:01Could have had three people giving free advertisements for us.
00:01:06I just assumed you worked for the Breeders' Cup.
00:01:08Yeah, you've got a Breeders' Cup logo there.
00:01:10From the first Breeders' Cup at Del Mar, yes.
00:01:13Okay.
00:01:14There you go.
00:01:15So guys, this week we get the announcements out of both Hyza and the Jockey Club about
00:01:21the equine fatality rate.
00:01:24This is one of the better news stories in racing, maybe even the best news story in
00:01:29racing over the last four or five years.
00:01:31These numbers get better every single year.
00:01:35So for Hyza, at their tracks, there were 0.90 fatalities per 1000 starts.
00:01:42The Jockey Club, which does all tracks, there was 1.1 fatalities per 1000 starts.
00:01:50That's down 44.5% since 2009 when they first came out with the equine injury database.
00:01:57But Randy, I thought the most pertinent thing out of all this information is how well the
00:02:01Hyza tracks are doing compared to the non-Hyza tracks are doing.
00:02:05So the Hyza tracks are at 0.90, as I mentioned.
00:02:08The non-Hyza tracks numbers almost double, 1.76 for the non-Hyza tracks.
00:02:16That's something that cannot be ignored.
00:02:17Oh, it's huge.
00:02:20We all know that horse racing's enemies have taken this whole horse safety thing and have
00:02:27used it as a baseball bat to beat the sport over the head.
00:02:31And that's one of the big accomplishments that Hyza has had so far, to be able to whittle
00:02:36down those statistics to where now dirt is about as good as synthetic.
00:02:41A lot of that has to do with the way dirt racetracks are being maintained, improvements
00:02:48in track maintenance, but a lot of it has to do with just veterinary oversight.
00:02:53You see that in California as much as anyplace else.
00:02:56That's really where it all began.
00:02:58And it's now spread across the country.
00:02:59And when it first started, and Zoe can testify to this, in California, as you can imagine,
00:03:07there were a lot of trainers who didn't completely buy in, okay?
00:03:12There are trainers who've dedicated their life to, and have developed an incredible
00:03:17amount of expertise to be able to identify when their horses are doing well, when they're
00:03:22not doing well, and along comes a veterinarian that they may or may not even know, who decides
00:03:28suddenly, okay, your horse has to be scratched, your horse is not ready to run.
00:03:32It causes a lot of hard feelings.
00:03:34But I think now that even those horsemen have seen the rate of fatalities drop as drastically
00:03:42as they have dropped, and are continuing to drop under HISA, I think they understand.
00:03:48And you get a lot more buy-in now.
00:03:49You still get some hard feelings every now and then, but I think you get a lot more buy-in
00:03:53to what's going on than you had initially.
00:03:57Absolutely.
00:03:58The horsemen have acquiesced.
00:04:00And a lot of the times that you'll see something, or the veterinary team will see something,
00:04:06the horse will be sent for a scan, and most of the time, something will pop up.
00:04:10And you won't see those horses work out or do anything for 30 or 60 days.
00:04:15So whichever way you spin it, it is working.
00:04:18A lot of people have said, well, what about all the scratches?
00:04:22And that was something that I noted in the article, that it basically said, before they
00:04:26implemented the veterinary oversight, the scratches were 11.9% veterinary oversight
00:04:33scratches.
00:04:34Now they are 12.7%.
00:04:37That's not really that big a difference as far as the scratches, 11.9% to 12.7%.
00:04:42So it started basically here in Southern California, while the rest of the country just laughed
00:04:48at us and kind of stuck their noses up as like, oh, we can't go there, they're crazy,
00:04:52that'll never work.
00:04:53I said, well, be careful what you wish for, because it's spread across the country and
00:04:57now virtually every track in the nation is doing it.
00:05:01And it's proven to be working, love it or hate it, it has to be done.
00:05:05Randy, you mentioned this, but I thought another remarkable figure out of there is, you know,
00:05:10it was always dirt racing was the problem.
00:05:13You know, grass, pretty safe, tepida, synthetic, very safe.
00:05:18Dirt is where we're going to find most of these breakdowns occurring.
00:05:22In the Jockey Club database, the number for dirt, the equine fatalities per 1000 yards
00:05:29was 1.18.
00:05:31On the synthetic, it was 1.02, by the way, turf was safest at 0.88.
00:05:37That's remarkable as well, because when this started out, tepida slash synthetic was much
00:05:43safer than dirt.
00:05:46And however they do it, and I guess it's some, you know, diligent track men who are really
00:05:52on top of things, but the fact that they've gotten the dirt tracks as safe as they are,
00:05:57that is another pretty big story.
00:05:59And that's notable, I think, because everyone just assumed, and I think we did as well,
00:06:06that dirt was just inherently going to be a less safe surface by a large margin than
00:06:12synthetic or turf.
00:06:13And what we're seeing right now is that that might not necessarily be the case.
00:06:16And there may even be room for improvement, because one thing that your article pointed
00:06:21out is that there is a slightly higher rate on dirt in locations where you have a lot
00:06:28of freeze thaw going on in the winter.
00:06:32And you know, maybe there are ways to look at that and mitigate some of the problems
00:06:36that that causes.
00:06:37Maybe there's not anyway, but that's something I think that you might even see an improvement
00:06:43from that as well.
00:06:45It's a very, very good article, Bill.
00:06:48I would implore people to read it.
00:06:50And it just goes to show you that when natural surfaces are maintained properly, that we
00:06:57can get such fantastic statistics.
00:07:00Yeah.
00:07:01And also, to me, the bottom line, look, everybody knows there's been a lot of problems with
00:07:06HIESA.
00:07:07I got off to a little bit of a rocky start, you know, the finding positives on people
00:07:11who couldn't possibly be cheating, you know, so they gave you some reasons to not like
00:07:16them.
00:07:17But I don't know how all the non, the people fighting HIESA, how they can look at these
00:07:22statistics and not turn over and go to the other side.
00:07:28This is horse racing's number one problem, what the equine fatalities and how the animal
00:07:32rights community reacts to it.
00:07:35And HIESA slash the tracks everybody working on is solving it.
00:07:41I don't see how you can be anti-HIESA when this statistic alone is something that is
00:07:48very, very important to the future of horse race.
00:07:51Yeah.
00:07:52Totally agree.
00:07:53Maybe Louisiana and Texas will come around.
00:07:55I do want to remind you that the TDN Races Room is brought to you by Keeneland.
00:07:58Seems like it's the right place and the right time.
00:08:02Held on the closing day of the Spring Meet on April the 25th, the Keeneland April Selected
00:08:07Horses of Racing Age Sale is a fitting finale.
00:08:11The prime opportunity to showcase proven racehorses and ready to run prospects.
00:08:16The deadline for entries into the imprint catalog is April the 1st and supplements will
00:08:22be considered until the sale date.
00:08:25Enter now at keeneland.com slash April.
00:08:28We'll be right back after this message from Keeneland.
00:08:52This week's fastest horse of the week is brought to you by Independence Hall among
00:09:07those fast sires at Windstar Farm.
00:09:09Breaking news.
00:09:10One of Independence Hall's first two year olds sold for a session topping $1 million
00:09:15last week at OBS March.
00:09:17His sales average currently ranks third among first crop stallions behind only Maxfield
00:09:23and Charlatan.
00:09:24Independence Hall stands at Windstar alongside his sire, Constitution, for a fee of $7,500.
00:09:31Now the fastest horse of the week, there's a lot to unpack here, Booth with his 107 buyer
00:09:36speed figure winning Saturday's grade three Whitmore stakes at Six Furlongs at Oakland.
00:09:41That 107 is the highest figure thus far for an older male sprinter in 2025 and it comes
00:09:47on the heels of his 105 buyer in the Commodore stakes at Oakland.
00:09:51He was ridden by Eric Asmussen who rode of course for his father, Steve.
00:09:55It was Eric's first ever graded stakes victory.
00:09:58Booth is co-owned by Texans Bill and Corrine Heiligbro who have a knack for finding fast
00:10:03sprinters.
00:10:04They also raced Booth's sire, champion sprinter, Mitole.
00:10:09Next up, Booth will try to emulate a sire and win Oakland's Cal Fleet Sprint Handicap
00:10:13on April 12th.
00:10:15Steve Asmussen has won three straight years and six times in all.
00:10:20One more note, a few years back the Heiligbros had another fast sprinter named Cowan who
00:10:25was second in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint, second in the Re-Dyed Dirt Sprint.
00:10:30Cowan was named for Texas wildlife artist John Cowan and that worked so well the Heiligbros
00:10:36went back to the well.
00:10:37Booth is named for another Texas wildlife artist, the late Herb Booth.
00:10:42It's hard to know he wasn't named for John Wilkes Booth.
00:10:50Welcome in now the Gainesway Guest of the Week, it's David Anderson, prominent breeder
00:10:54from Ontario and he's got a lot to say about the tariffs that have been lobbied across
00:11:00the board and all sorts of products from all sorts of countries, but it is not something
00:11:05that horse racing has escaped and David for right now it looks like what has been put
00:11:11in is going to be very difficult for Canadian breeders and owners, etc.
00:11:16Can you just give us sort of an overarching look at what the situation is?
00:11:21Well it's really right now clear as mud, I mean we're trying to navigate it through the
00:11:29best way possibly can.
00:11:32There's different stories coming from the border of people that tried to cross the border
00:11:38on the initial day of the tariffs a couple weeks ago.
00:11:42We were told that we had a 30 day temporary permit or a temporary bond where if we didn't
00:11:50have the horses back in Canada after 30 days we would be charged a 25% tariff.
00:11:58We've been, I say we, as in the Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society, the CTHS, we've been working
00:12:05with Tom Rooney at NTRA and their folks in Washington and their lobbying efforts and
00:12:14Andy Barr has been a big help in Kentucky, but we've extended that temporary permit now
00:12:21to one year is what our understanding is, which given the breeding season right now
00:12:29is in full steam, that will allow us to be able to send our mares hopefully down to the
00:12:35states to breed, get them in full hopefully, and get them home before we're hit with a
00:12:43tariff.
00:12:47What we've also learned, it doesn't matter who owns the horse, it can be any owner, it's
00:12:54really what the country of origin is or where that horse was born.
00:13:01If it's a Canadian fold horse, it's going to be subject to US tariffs and then we've
00:13:08also got the Canadian government, which is threatening retaliatory tariffs on the Canadian
00:13:13side of 25%, so any American born horse would be subject to tariffs coming into Canada.
00:13:23So that's a whole other wrinkle and we're working very hard on the Canadian side with
00:13:32our government, with politicians, we've put together a task group with all breeds quite
00:13:39frankly across Canada because this is not only going to affect thoroughbreds and other
00:13:46race breeds like standard breds and quarter horses, but there's show horses as well and
00:13:52little kids ponies going across the border and it's opening up a real can of worms that
00:13:59no one really wants to see right now.
00:14:03So you mentioned it's clear as mud, I think what we've seen so far is just wait a couple
00:14:08of days and then everything will do a dramatic change in the tariffs, but who knows which
00:14:13direction it may change.
00:14:16You mentioned horses being sent to the United States to breed.
00:14:21What about horses in Canada being sent, for example, to Keeneland sales or maybe to Saratoga
00:14:28sales in the summer?
00:14:29What might that impact be?
00:14:31Well, that's where the big impact comes in, Randy.
00:14:34I mean, when a horse is sold, whether it's transferred privately or publicly at auction,
00:14:42they're going to be subject to a tariff.
00:14:45If they're not in the United States by April 2nd, those horses selling at Saratoga or Fasig
00:14:52July or Keeneland September, they're all subject to 25%.
00:14:58So, I mean, I can tell you personally with my own horses, they're all on their way to
00:15:04Kentucky.
00:15:05I'm not going to risk a 25% tariff on my entire yearling crop.
00:15:12You know, it'll just cripple my operation.
00:15:15All my profit is gone.
00:15:18And a lot of other Canadians are making the same arrangements and people that are doing
00:15:25it, you know, they're running the gauntlet.
00:15:27It could be crippling.
00:15:32Dave, that's going to cost everyone money as well.
00:15:34And by the way, delighted to have you here.
00:15:36Thanks, Zoe.
00:15:37As always, good to see you.
00:15:39You too.
00:15:41But that's going to cost all these Canadians breeders money because they all have their
00:15:45home farms in Toronto or wherever.
00:15:48I mean, you don't have your own private farm down here, means you've got to send horses
00:15:52to other farms.
00:15:53That's already going to cost you money.
00:15:56How's that going to happen?
00:15:59Yeah, it's and it just it happens so quickly.
00:16:02And, you know, in this business, you know, I don't have to tell you as a breeder, it's
00:16:08years of incubation time to get these mares in full and get live foals and get them to
00:16:14the sale.
00:16:15So to literally have to move your game plan overnight, it's it's unheard of.
00:16:22And it's going to cost people a lot of money.
00:16:26And, you know, I have my own farm, like you said, in Canada and all the infrastructure
00:16:31and lots of money invested, as do others.
00:16:34So I mean, like all of us, we're hoping that something will happen on April 2nd and cooler
00:16:45heads will prevail and this will all go away and everything will be merry again.
00:16:50And Dave, how are they going to determine the value of these horses?
00:16:53I mean, these are not professional border agents.
00:16:56They don't know if a horse by intermission is worth 100,000 or 2 million.
00:17:02How on earth are they going to figure that out?
00:17:04Yeah, exactly.
00:17:06And, you know, sadly, I think our industry, we're really just collateral damage for for
00:17:14bigger issues, you know, steel, aluminum, oil, gas, all the all the big ones.
00:17:20And how do you value a horse?
00:17:23I mean, like you said, just because the horses by intermission doesn't mean it doesn't have
00:17:28OCDs in the stifles and standing on three legs and it's worth 500 bucks.
00:17:35It's going to be a bit of a Kreskin routine at the border and whether they're going to
00:17:40check values, how they check them.
00:17:45I don't know.
00:17:45These are the unknowns.
00:17:48So you mentioned cooler heads.
00:17:50You're hoping cooler heads will prevail.
00:17:52I mean, we're hoping that down here, too.
00:17:54But I think no matter which side of the political spectrum you're on, I think everyone could
00:17:58agree there aren't many cool heads down here right now, Dave.
00:18:02It's very chaotic.
00:18:03And maybe that's by design.
00:18:05Maybe it's supposed to be chaotic.
00:18:06I don't know.
00:18:07But you say you've been talking to Tom Rooney, the head of the NTRA.
00:18:11Are you getting any encouragement?
00:18:14Yeah, absolutely.
00:18:16Everybody's on the same page here.
00:18:18Nobody wants this.
00:18:21You know, Tom's been great.
00:18:22His whole team's been terrific.
00:18:25And, you know, I've spoken with Shannon Arvin and Boyd Browning.
00:18:30Obviously, they have a lot to lose here.
00:18:3436% of our Canadian-bred horses are by U.S. sires, and most all of them go to the sales
00:18:43in Kentucky.
00:18:45So there's a big loss there.
00:18:47The stallion farms, I've spoken to all the major stallion farms.
00:18:52They're all supportive.
00:18:53You know, I think last year we spent almost $10 million on stud fees.
00:19:00That'll be gone.
00:19:01You know, the Jockey Club, we won't be registering horses in the U.S.
00:19:07There's no point.
00:19:08We just register in Canada and save the registration fee.
00:19:12That'll be $200,000, $300,000 loss revenue for them.
00:19:15The Breeders' Cup, no one's going to nominate for Breeders' Cup.
00:19:20Then you got the boarding farms, the vets, the blacksmiths, the transportation companies.
00:19:26I mean, the trickle-down, it's going to be tens and tens of millions of dollars.
00:19:31Lost revenue for Americans.
00:19:35Can you give us an example of some of the revenue?
00:19:38Congrats with Moira, by the way, as you were part owner.
00:19:41But she was sold at Fasig-Tipton for $3.4 million.
00:19:45What kind of tariff would you have to pay on her?
00:19:49I was $4.3.
00:19:51Sorry, I got my numbers.
00:19:52I got my numbers.
00:19:54Your dyslexia is kicking in.
00:19:57That's a figure I'll never forget.
00:19:59Believe me.
00:20:00So 25% would be a million dollars.
00:20:03Tariff would be over a million dollars, Randy.
00:20:06Exactly.
00:20:07I mean, can you imagine?
00:20:09Yeah, it's real money.
00:20:12Real money.
00:20:12And I look at what I sold last year to my yearlings and other horses.
00:20:19I mean, it's crazy.
00:20:23Dave, going forward, will you continue to breed to U.S. stallions?
00:20:27Might it just be easier to breed to Canadian horses and not have to go through all this?
00:20:31I know no knock on the Ontario sires, but we know they don't compare favorably to the
00:20:37Kentucky sires.
00:20:38That's one easy way to do it.
00:20:41But are you going to knock heads with this thing and continue to breed to American stallions?
00:20:45Yeah, that's a good question.
00:20:48In Canada, listen, we have some nice, solid horses.
00:20:52And there's a market there for those horses in the Ontario sire program and even out west.
00:21:02We haven't had to go after top quality horses because we never encountered these obstacles
00:21:07before.
00:21:10Have we been given some time and know that this is going to be a permanent thing?
00:21:15I mean, yeah, we'll have to look at bringing in some better stallions.
00:21:20But again, if they're American stallions, we're going to be tariffed 25%, bringing them
00:21:25into Canada.
00:21:28I personally have 11 mares to full after April 2nd, and they're all booked to American stallions,
00:21:39Kentucky stallions.
00:21:41Nine of those 11 mares are American bred, so they'll be able to go into the states duty
00:21:48free, but their foals at their side will be tariffed.
00:21:53And so I'm going to run the gauntlet with those.
00:21:58I have the rest of my horses are all in Kentucky now.
00:22:03So I don't know.
00:22:06It's really a moving target.
00:22:08And President Trump, he's a wild card.
00:22:14And I appreciate many things he's doing.
00:22:18This particular case, I don't.
00:22:23So we're focusing primarily here on the impact that this could have on breeders, on sales
00:22:29companies, which is understandable.
00:22:31I mean, it could be huge.
00:22:33Mark Cassie has also come out and said that as a result of this, that if this goes through,
00:22:40then he will send fewer horses to race at Woodbine than he has in the past.
00:22:47Might this also have an impact on Woodbine itself?
00:22:51Well, it's going to have a huge impact on Woodbine and a claim is a transaction.
00:23:00So if an American horse comes up and runs in a claiming race and gets claimed, that
00:23:06importer is going to be hit with a 25% tariff on the Canadian side.
00:23:13So nobody really was thinking about that one.
00:23:18Most of the races at Woodbine now are claiming races.
00:23:23In Mark's case, I mean, he's been a huge supporter of Canadian bred horses.
00:23:30He's strong at the sales.
00:23:32His ownership group, especially the last couple of years with DJ Stable, they've been strong
00:23:39buying horses and been very successful.
00:23:42Those Canadian horses are going to be able to come back to Canada tariff free, being
00:23:48Canadian horses.
00:23:50But any of his American horses, he's going to be subject to tariffs.
00:23:56Dave, it seems like you Canadians are resilient up there in Ontario because it seems like
00:24:02just a few years ago we were talking about the troubles of Woodbine and the horse racing
00:24:06was going down the pan.
00:24:08What's going on with Woodbine right now?
00:24:10And is there a contract that's yet to be signed with the meet coming up?
00:24:16No, the short answer is no.
00:24:19The contract, the purse agreement with the HBPA, our horseman's group, expired at the
00:24:26end of the year.
00:24:28And we're a month away from hopefully starting and we don't have a contract.
00:24:34And from what I'm told, both parties are at loggerheads and literally walked away from
00:24:41the table.
00:24:42And it's very concerning, very concerning.
00:24:48We haven't had a purse increase at Woodbine in a long, long, long time.
00:24:54And we faced a lot of cuts.
00:24:56And it's been disheartening as a breeder and an owner.
00:25:01And I know, I feel at times that they just don't have the horseman in mind.
00:25:12They're running a real estate company at the moment and casinos and whatever else they're
00:25:19doing.
00:25:20But we need help.
00:25:22We need it now.
00:25:24And we're not getting it.
00:25:28You're getting punished instead of getting help.
00:25:31You're getting punished by tariffs.
00:25:33Yeah, I know it's not funny.
00:25:34I'm laughing, but it's yeah.
00:25:36Yeah, no, I mean, I feel like I'm playing one-on-one with Michael Jordan right now.
00:25:42Well, what are the tariffs going to mean to your other businesses?
00:25:46Because you've got your hand in many parts, Perturons, Clydesdales.
00:25:52Does that affect them as well?
00:25:53Because you go backwards and forwards.
00:25:55Yeah, I mean, it does.
00:25:57It's going to help.
00:25:58You know, we show all over North America with my draft horses.
00:26:02And, you know, it's a bit of a cottage industry, but it's fun.
00:26:07And I always think of horse breed, no matter what you're in, it's North America.
00:26:18Canadians, Americans, to me, it's no different.
00:26:21I don't differentiate.
00:26:23And this industry, the horse business, we're all in it because we're passionate.
00:26:29We didn't go to school because it's a great business model.
00:26:33It's because we love the animal.
00:26:35And that's why we're in it.
00:26:36And we can make a little money along the way, then terrific.
00:26:41But there are no political or economic boundaries anywhere in the world.
00:26:46No political or economic borders.
00:26:48And we're allowed, we can go to Australia or Japan or Europe and race and breed and have fun.
00:27:01And this isn't fun right now.
00:27:03Well, Dave Anderson, thanks so much for joining us here on the Writer's Room podcast.
00:27:07And we are rooting for you guys because this isn't just a Canada problem.
00:27:13It's just not a U.S. problem.
00:27:15It's a horse racing problem.
00:27:16And we all want to see it solved to take away all these potholes on the way to getting these
00:27:24horses in and out of Canada.
00:27:26So good luck with everything and keep up the good fight.
00:27:28Well, thank you.
00:27:29And just thanks to everyone's support.
00:27:31It's been wonderful to see all the support of all our American friends.
00:27:35And and we'll get through this.
00:27:39Dave Anderson, our guest of the week, came to you courtesy of Gainesway.
00:27:43Three years ago this weekend, Olympiad set a track record in the New Orleans Classic,
00:27:48running a mile and an eighth in 147.74 for a 111 buyer speed figure.
00:27:55That was one of his eight triple digit buyers during his career.
00:27:58In fact, two races later, Olympiad ran another 111 in winning the Stephen Foster.
00:28:04So he was a grade one winning multimillionaire, a track and stakes record setter.
00:28:11And Olympiad's first yearlings sell this summer.
00:28:15He is standing at Gainesway for a fee of thirty five thousand dollars.
00:28:19Gainesway power, passion, performance.
00:28:28Olympiad gets the gold in the Jockey Club Gold Cup.
00:28:46Four hundred and fifty thousand, three hundred and fifty thousand, three hundred twenty five
00:28:50thousand.
00:28:50On this week's edition of First Things First, I caught up with the trainer of Lady Claypool,
00:28:55who has been three for three since teaming up with Brazilian jockey Tiago Pereira.
00:29:06Lady Claypool takes down the grade three Santa Ana here with a trainer,
00:29:10Richie Balthus. And Richie, she is just rattling off conditions like it's easy.
00:29:15Were you expecting such an easy race?
00:29:17Like it's easy. Were you expecting such an easy win from her?
00:29:21No. I mean, she has been getting good. She's been training at San Luis Ray Downs.
00:29:27They're doing a great job on her. And Tiago fits her. You know, he just gets her to settle
00:29:33and he saves ground. He's rode three perfect rides and you have to give a lot of credit to him.
00:29:38Certainly that was an excellent ride. We're missing one member of the team from
00:29:42Aberdansa Racing. Where is Bing Bush? If he was here, you would know it.
00:29:49Actually, he's going to the Eagles concert in Vegas. So he was here today,
00:29:53but he had to catch a flight. So he's not here to celebrate.
00:29:56Is there any truth to the rumor he was trying to get the race to go earlier so he could stay
00:30:00and watch? I don't know if he called the racing office or what. But anyway, you know,
00:30:06anyway, he's very enthusiastic. He's been a great owner and congratulates us to him.
00:30:12Well done to you with Lady Claypool. Thank you. Thank you, Zoe.
00:30:20But I really, really do hoping that you had a great time at the Eagles concert. Well worth
00:30:25missing that graded stakes win. All right. Thanks very much to trainer Richie Boulters.
00:30:30Do join us this coming weekend. We have a three day weekend, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
00:30:36Saturday, the highlight event is the San Luis Ray. I'm really looking forward to that.
00:30:41One of my favorite races of the year. And it also smorgasbord Saturday. All the best
00:30:47fried chicken vendors from across the country will be showing up and bringing their chicken.
00:30:53So coming out to Santa Anita, go to Santa Anita dot com for more details.
00:30:58Well, the big action this weekend will be at the fairgrounds where the Louisiana Derby
00:31:01copped a really special card. It is their big day filled with derby preps and other
00:31:06major state races. And the Louisiana Derby, I don't know. I don't think this came up with a
00:31:12very strong field. John Hancock was scratched out of the Virginia Derby to run here. Flavia
00:31:18and Brad Cox had horses got to take some money, but he's slow. You have Wayne Lucas with Caldera.
00:31:24It's good to see Wayne Lucas in the fight and any of these prep races for the derby.
00:31:30Yeah. And then a horse that I'm kind of interested in is instant replay
00:31:33by maximum security of all things. First started the year last time out for Brad Cox,
00:31:39ran a terrific race to win an allowance at fairgrounds is 92 buyer ties for the fastest
00:31:44buyer in the field. But Zoe, there's no one in this race that, you know, jumps off the page
00:31:50or was, you know, you would find in people's top five or so Kentucky Derby countdown. So
00:31:58somebody comes out of this emerges with a lot of points and we'll know more later. But
00:32:02I'm a little disappointed in this field. Well, it's going to be a good betting race for sure.
00:32:07So I'm quite happy with it. Listen, I like instant replay looks good in there. His bias speed figure
00:32:13jumps off the page. The one thing I'm going to note with this, it's laden with speed. Now,
00:32:17I don't know if we're going to see the same kind of thing that happened with magnitude that that
00:32:21race was late laden with speed in the risen star because he was the speed of the speed and he just
00:32:27took off. So it could be the same thing that one of these horses is just going to go crazy.
00:32:34Yinza looks good in there having just broken his maiden, the Joe Sharp runner, Furio. I thought
00:32:41while he's a little lower on speed figures, I thought he ran a good race last time. And I
00:32:46believe that he can move forward. I know the connections of Furio, the son of McKinsey,
00:32:51really, really like this horse. So I'm going to try to look for a little bit of a price there
00:32:56with Furio. Randy, are you going to try and make some money with Chunk of Gold who won't be 43 to
00:33:03one this time? Actually, no. I mean, Chunk of Gold, he did get in a little bit of trouble last time
00:33:11turning for home, but he had a rail trip pretty much all the way on a day that it appeared that
00:33:17the rail was really, really fast. And when we talk about looking at this field, you mentioned
00:33:23Magnitude. When we say, eh, this field just kind of looks lackluster. So did the Risen Star going
00:33:29in. And then Magnitude completely freaks and runs a 108 buyer. And it was Magnitude's race in the
00:33:37Risen Star that that's why I like Built so much in this race. Built was the only horse in the Risen
00:33:47Star that really made any kind of a run at Magnitude. If you go back and you watch the
00:33:52Risen Star, Built had a nice little move there from about the three eights pole to the quarter
00:33:57pole and got right up on the flank of Magnitude turning for home. And then, of course, Magnitude
00:34:02just took off and left him, you know, left him behind. But I thought it was a really strong
00:34:07effort by Built in that race. And therefore, I think he's clearly, in my opinion, I think he's
00:34:13the horse to beat in here. There is a ton, a ton of early speed. That's going to be one of the
00:34:22one of the hallmarks of this race. John Hancock has got to go from post position number one
00:34:28in a big field. And he went wire to wire last time in the Sam F. Davis. Yenzer has run his
00:34:34best recent races on the front end. Zoe mentioned Furio. So far, he looks like a one dimensional
00:34:39front runner in his three races. So all those horses are going to be part of a really, really
00:34:45quick pace. And it's going to set up for a horse like Built. And Caldera, one thing to mention
00:34:51about Lucas, this horse should have won the Sunderland Derby. He was absolutely the best
00:34:56horse. He didn't break all that sharply. They rushed him up. He gets caught four wide around
00:35:02the first turn. He hooks up with getaway car at the top of the stretch, actually goes past him a
00:35:08little bit in mid stretch and then got tired at the end and getaway car comes back and beats him
00:35:13on the inside. But Caldera should have won that race. And he's in with a big shot here in the
00:35:17Louisiana Derby to give coach a couple of Kentucky Derby potential starters. Yeah, not really
00:35:25flattered by getaway car running so poorly this past weekend, though. But I'll I'll give you that.
00:35:31He's a he's a big boy, a big, big boy. All right, so let's see what the Phillies are up to in the
00:35:39fairgrounds, folks. And unlike the Louisiana Derby, you have a real standout here. And that,
00:35:47of course, is good cheer. She has not only been winning, she's five for five. And it's amazing.
00:35:53Only Brad Cox is so deep with this division three year old Phillies. He had last year's two year
00:35:58old Philly champion immersive. She gets hurt now. He still has the best three year old Philly in the
00:36:04country and good cheer. And he's got a couple of others that are right up on the list. Zoe,
00:36:09this horse is not only winning, she is dominating every single time out. I would be I can't be a
00:36:16wise guy and try to pick against her. She's that good. And she doesn't need the lead. She could be
00:36:21on the lead. It seems like she can make her own trip. She's been really well handled by Brad Cox
00:36:27because looking at her PPs initially, I'm like five for five. How can she keep this going?
00:36:31But she's only run once this year. We're in mid-March already. She won that lone start in
00:36:37February. So he's planned a really good campaign with good cheer, who arguably ran four times as
00:36:44a juvenile, which now seems a lot these days. So good cheer, definitely the one to beat in here.
00:36:51Cherie DeVoe has a Philly in here that I think you need to take a look at that.
00:36:57How do you say that? Ahava, a four year old daughter of City of Light. I thought she was
00:37:04very impressive in her debut, did just as much as she needed to do with running sneakily well
00:37:11from the one hole. She gets off the rail today. So I quite like her too. She's a half sister to
00:37:16Vava, the horse that Cherie DeVoe had. It was more of a sprinter, but they think Ahava might
00:37:22have a little bit more distance in her. Okay, look, good cheer. When you look at the Kentucky
00:37:27Oaks future wager last week, she was the favorite. And then it was like a mile to the second horse
00:37:33individual wagering interest. So good cheer is clearly the number one horse right now among
00:37:38three-year-old Phillies as we sit here right now in mid-March leading up to the Fairgrounds Oaks.
00:37:45But if you're looking to play against the favorite, okay, she's going to be two to five.
00:37:52Her last race, remember all the scratches in the Rachel Alexander, it scratched down to a four
00:37:56horse field. Simply joking came out. It was really the only tough competition. She was in honestly
00:38:03against a bunch of mains and tails in that race. She was one to 20 in the Rachel Alexander, and
00:38:12she got a rail trip to boot. Okay. The figure still wasn't all that great. It was an 89 buyer
00:38:18speed figure, right? So she's definitely the horse to beat, but it's not like you're talking about
00:38:25Rachel Alexandra in here. I mean, she hasn't shown yet that she's clearly like this runaway,
00:38:32in my opinion, talent in a three-year-old Philly division. So if you're looking to beat her,
00:38:37there are a couple of options. There is her laugh. Go back and watch the race that she ran
00:38:44in the Suncoast at Tampa. Absolutely, totally missed the start. Blew the start. She's last by
00:38:51two or three lengths leaving the starting gate. And so I read Ortiz, she'd been a horse that had
00:38:56been close to the pace. I read, just decided to try to make lemonade and he anchored her at the
00:39:00back of the field. Didn't try to rush her at all. Squeezed through in between horses at about the
00:39:04three 16 spell and finishes a nice second. She's a lot better than that race shows on paper.
00:39:10And then I don't know if she's going to run in this race because they've double entered her.
00:39:15They've cross entered her in a Louisiana bread race earlier, but I encourage you to go back,
00:39:20go back to about October of 2024. If you have access to videos and watch all the videos
00:39:28of this Philly secret faith, I'm telling you, she, she is really good.
00:39:35She is a runner and she has overcome some absolutely horrific rides. And some of those
00:39:42wins, I changed jockeys to Florence drew for her last two starts. Uh, she's hooked up a couple of
00:39:48times in like an affirmed Aladar matchup against a horse of Steve Asmussen's name, blue fire,
00:39:54who is a very talented Philly in her own right. Who's also entered in the other Louisiana bread
00:39:59States. So it'll be interesting to see which way they go. If I had secret faith, I would run her
00:40:04here because trust me, it she's, if she runs in this race, okay. Good cheer is going to know
00:40:12that she's in there. She's she's that good. She may be a Louisiana bread,
00:40:16but she's got a lot of talent and she's going to be what six to one, eight to one.
00:40:22So is Randy trying too hard here? No, I love that. Give me some love to the law breads. Brilliant.
00:40:30Okay. So that's the case, uh, in the fairgrounds Oaks random. Will you actually, uh, you know,
00:40:35wager a few dollars against good cheer? You seem pretty confident in your opinions.
00:40:40Well, I mean, look, if, if, uh, if secret faith winds up being six to one, seven to one in this
00:40:47spot, well, I mean, she ran a number, a couple of races back when she hooked up with that blue
00:40:52fire horse of Asmussen's, uh, it was 88 by her speed figure. Right. And she, and she had a three
00:40:58wide trip. It was a two turn race at I believe Delta. And she was a little bit wider on both
00:41:04turns and still ran an 88. Good cheer just has a rail trip in a four horse field in the Rachel
00:41:09Alexander and runs an 89. It's not beyond the realm of possibility. And, and she's going to try
00:41:15really hard. We shall see. Okay. So the other highlight Saturday at the fairgrounds is the
00:41:21return of Sierra Leone last year's breeders cup classic winner. He was supposed to go to Saudi
00:41:26Arabia, but he came down with a foot abscess that knocked him out of that. Um, I don't wish anything
00:41:32bad to happen to a horse, but I'm kind of glad to see him run. I'd like to see our horses run
00:41:37on our soil, especially really good ones like this. And, uh, I'm sure Chad Brown has mapped
00:41:43out a campaign from here that, you know, we'll probably see this horse in five or six races
00:41:47between now and the breeders job. Yes. Uh, somewhat like good cheer, you know, I see if
00:41:52Randy wants to be a wise guy here again. I don't, I mean, this is the breeders cup classic winner
00:41:58running against largely great two type horses. Um, and, uh, I'm sure she's over her foot problem.
00:42:03Otherwise Chad Brown wouldn't be racing her interesting first time LASIX because you can
00:42:08use LASIX and stakes races in Louisiana because it is not a high as a state. So, uh, that's the
00:42:14reason why the horse goes on LASIX. Zoe, can they beat Sierra Leone? We'll see. Um, it depends how
00:42:23cranked up he's got him because he's now four years old. He's a big horse. He's a beautiful
00:42:28looking son of gun runner. He should win this race. And the first time LASIX was really interesting
00:42:34because I'm looking at my first time LASIX and you look down, you're like, Oh, they're in
00:42:37Louisiana, of course. So that's definitely a big plus for me. So Sierra Leone is the horse to beat.
00:42:44The really interesting thing that I sought out when looking at this race, Sierra Leone is a son
00:42:50of gun runner was sold at the Fazek Tipton August sale for $2.3 million. Gainesway sold him. He was
00:42:56a beautiful horse. And then you have a hall of fame four-year-old son of gun runner sold at the
00:43:03same Fazek Tipton sale for 1.4 million. Denali sold him. And I can remember looking at the pair
00:43:10of these and we look very hard at Sierra Leone, myself and Marette Farrell. And I went back to
00:43:16my catalog and had a look. And I looked at what I wrote down for hall of fame. I'm like, nice Colt,
00:43:23love the gun runner. The other gun runner is better. And I just thought that that was great.
00:43:29Yeah. I'm like the other gun runner is better and they're both good horses,
00:43:33but obviously Sierra Leone is proven breeders cup classic winner that he's been so far a better
00:43:40horse than hall of fame. So I thought that was very cool, but hall of fame is a very good horse.
00:43:44He trains at the fairgrounds. He's two for two at the fairgrounds. No, he's three for five at
00:43:49the fairgrounds and two for two this year. So he might well be Sierra Leone's biggest competition.
00:43:56And he has recency on his side as well. Couldn't agree more. If you're going to
00:44:01take a shot against Sierra Leone, this is the race to do it. His first start as a four-year-old
00:44:07a mile and an eighth, as opposed to a mile and a quarter in the breeders cup classic.
00:44:10And he's a confirmed late runner. Doesn't have all the early speed in this race that he had to
00:44:16help set up his late kick in the breeders cup classic. Remember that race had a supersonic
00:44:21early pace. And so hall of fame, it wouldn't be ironic if Coolmore beats itself and hall of fame
00:44:29winds up upsetting Sierra Leone in this race. And one other point I want to make about this race.
00:44:34If the fairgrounds, if Louisiana is not going to be a high subtract,
00:44:39Toba, the thoroughbred owners and breeders association needs to step up. It's too late for
00:44:44now, but in the future, any stakes race, any graded stakes race in which the horses run with
00:44:51Lasix should have the grade stripped going forward. That should start in 2026. There's no excuse for
00:44:59this race graded stakes to be allowed to have every horse in the race on Lasix when other
00:45:05graded stakes races aren't. Good point. I like that, Randy. Let's go to Turfway Park now where
00:45:12this has got to be the first, I imagine the first race in racing history with a purse of $777,000.
00:45:19That's kind of clever. It's the Jeff Ruby stakes. Of course, Jeff Ruby owns that chain of steakhouses.
00:45:26Again, I, you know, it's a good betting race or some evenly matched horses. I would be shocked
00:45:31if the Kentucky Derby winner came out of this race, even for, you know, not only do you have
00:45:37the factor, you're going from synthetic to dirt, but I quite honestly, you know, most of these
00:45:41horses in here just don't look like they have the ability to compete with the heavyweights of the
00:45:46division. I kind of like Baby Max for Kelsey Danner. Last time in the John Battaglia Memorial
00:45:53California Burrito beat Baby Max, but once they happened 49 and two and just kept going and
00:46:00hanging on and hanging on, Baby Max didn't come from the clouds. They had to close into that
00:46:05very slow pace and only lost by a half a length. So I think the added distance of a mile from mile
00:46:1316th to mile and eighth will help. And I just think he's going to get a better trip in here,
00:46:17but we can win my 50 and I'm not going to put them in my top 10 for the Derby. Sorry.
00:46:23Come on, Bill. How can you not love a horse by the name of California Burrito?
00:46:27That's a great name. Absolute army mural. I mean, it's a great name. I love California Burrito.
00:46:35I believe he's the horse to beat. He's probably going to be the speed of the speed, but I mean,
00:46:39are we talking speed here? We're going to go 24 and change probably 49 to the half.
00:46:44Final Gambit to me was interesting for trainer Brad Cox, the son of Not This Time out of the
00:46:49Tappet mare. I thought he broke his maiden stylishly while not a massive buyer speed
00:46:55figure. It was the way he did it that really perked my interest, the son that he's owned by
00:47:01Judd. So I like Final Gambit in there and I, you know, maybe Max is okay.
00:47:07All right. I love a trifecta in this spot to be boxed because it could go either way. And I'll
00:47:14give you a little bit different opinion about the pace. I think they go 23, 46 and change.
00:47:19There is a lot of speed in this race, namely Charlie's to blame who basically beat the gate
00:47:26when he won the Kitten's Joy at Gulfstream. He's a confirmed front runner and innovator from the
00:47:31Wayne Lucas barn is a one-way kind of horse who was part of that supersonic pace last time out
00:47:37in the Rebel. I couldn't make the lead and stop to a walk. So, you know, they're going to have
00:47:42to go with him. And to me, I agree with you, Bill, that's going to compromise California Burrito
00:47:48because his trademark races, his wins and the allowance race in the Battaglia were on the front
00:47:54end in very slow fractions. Maybe he'll be just as good stalking, but I much prefer Baby Max to
00:48:00California Burrito for that very reason. So here's my, here's my trifecta. You got Baby Max. Okay.
00:48:06If the pace is super fast and I think it will be poster coming from well off the pace for Owen
00:48:13Hardy, third, last time out behind, uh, what was the two John Hancock and no one almighty
00:48:20in the Sam F. Davis. So he's going to be really running. And we know
00:48:24synthetic tends to favor late runners more than dirt does. Okay. And the third horse,
00:48:30uh, this race in the past has been dominated by horses that either were coming off turf races
00:48:37or synthetic races. Okay. Flying Mohawk is a horse trained by Whit Beckman, who is very
00:48:46catching wins on turf. And each of his last two starts, if you go back and watch those races,
00:48:50you'll be very impressed. Jason worth. There you go. There's Zoe. Jason worth is one of the
00:48:55co-owners of flying Mohawk. And I think he's going to run a big race and that's my trifecta
00:49:01box right there. Baby Max poster and a flying Mohawk. No hedging. Come on. Give us it straight
00:49:08of the three. I think I prefer Baby Max, but I could see it going any of the three ways.
00:49:15Okay. I can keep Baby Max on top then per Randy
00:49:21TD and writer's room also brought to you by the Pennsylvania horse breeders association. K H B
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00:51:11year round, there's never been a better time to reap the rewards of breeding and racing in Kentucky.
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00:52:25For the upcoming spring meet, Keeneland has increased the purses for 16 of its stakes races.
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00:52:38spring meet which runs April 4 through the 25th. Kentucky breads. Breed them, raise them, race them.
00:52:45We all win. Well, kind of a quiet weekend last week insofar as the derby action and the road to
00:52:52the Kentucky Derby and Oaks goes, but they put on a special card at Colonial Downs. They ran three
00:52:57days. Laurel took the weekend off so that Colonial could have the spotlight all to itself. They moved
00:53:04the Virginia Derby and the Virginia Oaks from the late summer when they were turf races to this day
00:53:10and made them dirt races, preps for the Derby and the Oaks. They didn't get great fields by no
00:53:16stretch of the imagination, but I think this is a really smart move on the part of Churchill Downs
00:53:20because number one, on this weekend in the past, there were not any derby prep races.
00:53:26This really caught my attention. Have any of you guys been there to Colonial?
00:53:31No.
00:53:31I haven't either. It must be a really small facility because they sold out 8,000. They
00:53:38only let 8,000 into the building and they sold out. So how often do you see that at a racetrack?
00:53:43So the story in the Virginia Derby was Wayne Lucas. Here's a horse, American Promise,
00:53:50who wins by seven and three quarter lengths. Wayne Lucas will be back in the Kentucky Derby
00:53:55where he's four for 51, hasn't won since 99 with Charismatic. This horse ran visually a very,
00:54:03very good race. But prior to that, he was fifth beaten, 13 in the Risen Star, six beaten, six and
00:54:09a half in the Southwest. So the question, Zoe, is, is this horse really improving? Is he that good
00:54:15or did he win by this margin because the rest of the competition was pretty weak?
00:54:19It was a terrible race to watch visually. I don't know what kind of numbers they had,
00:54:24but they were strung out. And I mean, kudos to Virginia for holding the race there. And I love
00:54:31the fact that it was sold out and it was a quiet weekend. It's a really good idea. I'm glad that
00:54:36they managed to get a Bob Baffert named horse there, getaway car, although he laid an egg.
00:54:44He ran up the track, but yeah, he just galloped along. He's a big galloping, looking at the size
00:54:51of him and getaway car going down the backside. You got this giant horse up here. I'm like,
00:54:56oh my God, getaway car's not that small, but I don't know how big Wayne's horse is, but he looked
00:55:02like an elephant going down the backside and coming down the lane. And this little getaway car
00:55:07just chugging along as fast as he could go. So visually great. Kudos to the winner. Delighted
00:55:14to have D. Wayne. What is he? 89? I don't know, but I know a good friend of mine, 89, Arna James,
00:55:22that works for Fanjul, just sat down with him for an hour with Scott Hazleton doing a feature
00:55:28for Fanjul at his house in Hot Springs, Arkansas last weekend. I'm like, what do you have to cut
00:55:34that down to? She's like, I think I'm going to leave it as it is. She said, we talked about
00:55:39everything. She said it was just amazing to just sit there and listen to him go. So it'll be cool
00:55:47to have him on the Derby trail. Horse racing's all about stories. And he is one of the stories
00:55:52that I'm sure that NBC will be keying in on, Randy. Oh yeah. And if Caldera runs well, he might
00:55:57even have two in the Kentucky Derby. Now American Promise, Son of Justify, that's where he got his
00:56:03big size, right? 91 buyer speed figure. So I know Wayne would tell you that horses aren't numbers,
00:56:09but that tells me that he'll be a 30 to one or higher probably when you roll down to the first
00:56:16Saturday in May. I think his big margin win had a lot to do with what turned out to be pretty
00:56:21weak competition. I was very surprised though, that he was seven to one, very surprised.
00:56:27Because you go back, I talked about Bilt making that run at magnitude in the Risen Star. Well,
00:56:34right behind Bilt when he made that run was American Promise. When they turned for home,
00:56:38it was a magnitude pulling away, Bilt in second and American Promise trying his hard out in third.
00:56:43And when you see a horse disappear on the horizon like that, it's discouraging to another horse.
00:56:48And so American Promise just sort of didn't really finish it out the last eighth of a mile,
00:56:53kind of like Bilt. But now he comes back against Getaway Car who would just, he is not a big horse
00:57:01and he just came off a very strenuous head to head battle against Caldera at Sunland, okay?
00:57:08He wasn't the best horse in that race. Caldera was the best horse. He got a clear lead in the
00:57:13Sunland Derby in fractions that by Sunland Park standards were not particularly fast.
00:57:18And American Promise was going to push him, was going to push him in the Virginia Derby.
00:57:23He had two workouts after the Sunland Derby that by Bob Baffert standards were not particularly
00:57:31fast. I think he was kind of taking it easy on him. And to boot, he was an afterthought to run
00:57:38in that race. Gaming was supposed to run in the Virginia Derby and when it came time to enter,
00:57:42gaming had a fever. And so they just kind of threw in Getaway Car as a substitute.
00:57:48So all that meant that Getaway Car was a very good favorite to try to take a shot against.
00:57:54And I couldn't believe that American Promise actually went off at seven to one in that race.
00:57:59Virginia Oaks presented an interesting possibility. A horse by the name of Fondly,
00:58:03who had trained by Graham Motion. All she had done is broken her maiden coming into the race,
00:58:08but it was a very impressive victory. Matter of fact, they made her the favorite,
00:58:12which I was surprised off that one maiden win. And she gets the job done. She wins by a half
00:58:17length for Eclipse Thoroughbred. They bought her for only $50,000. Is she good enough to make the
00:58:25Oaks? Does she have enough time to make the Oaks? Those are all questions we'll find out later. It
00:58:30would be hard to take her off of just winning the Virginia Oaks by a half length. But at the same
00:58:36time, considering what she's done so early in her career, this is somebody I think that might
00:58:40have a future. I agree with you. Oh, go ahead, Randy. No, go ahead. Go ahead.
00:58:49I agree with you. You get a rattle tease to ride her. She's by upstart who stands for just
00:58:54$25,000. He, to me, is one of the most underrated sires. This is a homebred for Brereton Jones.
00:59:00Eclipse Thoroughbreds, everywhere we look, everywhere we talk, they're running horses
00:59:04in races and really, really starting to make a big splash. I mean, they've got good horses already,
00:59:10but just of late, everywhere you look, there's an Eclipse Thoroughbred horse running. So I
00:59:15thought it was a good race by fondly. And one thing about Graham, he's a patient trainer and
00:59:21he's not going to push her if he doesn't think she's ready.
00:59:25Look, I love Aaron Wellman. I'm a big fan of Graham motion. This was a horrible race.
00:59:29Whoa. It was a terrible race on paper and in real life,
00:59:36fire speed figure 70, 7-0. This horse will be 50 to 1 if they decide to run her in the Kentucky
00:59:42Oaks. So I think it had a lot to do, the visually impressive win with the fact that the horse that
00:59:48she was running against were not particularly fast. Randy, you need to speak your opinion,
00:59:57speak your mind a little bit more. You know, I mean. You know, one thing that always
01:00:03sticks in my mind when I'm watching races like the Virginia Derby and the Oaks, which weren't
01:00:07visually pleasing to the eye, I can remember years ago, John Dooley calls the races in New Orleans.
01:00:14And one of his favorite race calls of all times was on Mardi Gras day one time. And he's calling
01:00:20the race and he's like, and they're coming home. They're strung out like Bourbon Street regulars.
01:00:26I just thought it was so apropos. They're really good.
01:00:32Don't don't don't leave at the G. John G.
01:00:37G's important. So one more thing, let's not overlook what happened Friday at Colonial
01:00:42Downs. Bookham Dano is back. Three horse field, but actually they gave him a little bit of a
01:00:49fight in there. My pal, the Jersey bred Randy, you need new favorite horses. All your horses
01:00:54have retired. I know I love Bookham Dano. But Bookham Dano won. They're not going to Dubai.
01:01:00They're looking probably to run maybe in the Churchill Downs stakes on Derby day. But it's
01:01:05good to see old Dano back, especially after he was a little bit flat in the Cigar Mile last time out.
01:01:10So way to go, Dano. Yeah, I mean, I'm supposed to be opinionated. I'll give you an opinion.
01:01:14It's a hell of a race. It was a short field. They ran fast, visually impressive. He would
01:01:20have beaten the Virginia Oaks horses by about 25 lengths. But no, look, I mean, he's an easy
01:01:27horse to root for. I can't like him as much as you. I'm not from New Jersey, but still, I like him.
01:01:33It was a good race. If you're going to have a three horse race, that was a good race.
01:01:36Yeah, it actually was. Yeah, it actually was a good race. All right.
01:01:42The TDN Writers Room is brought to you by First TV. Now let's take a look at Baeza,
01:01:47a leading candidate for the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby on April the 5th. He worked a sizzling,
01:01:53a blazing six furlongs in 1.10 and 2. That is wickedly fast. That's not even as quick as like
01:02:02Baffert time. That's quicker than Baffert time. That was amazing. Anyway, he's trained by John
01:02:06Sheriffs. He was joined in the workout by stablemate Bolted Down, an unraced son of Bolt
01:02:11Dorough who worked in 46 and 2. Hector Berrios was aboard Baeza for the work, which was his third
01:02:18since his standout maiden win on February the 14th at Santa Anita. Berrios described the drill
01:02:25as super. Why wouldn't he? By McKenzie out of the big brown mare Puka, Baeza is a half brother to
01:02:312023 Kentucky Derby winner Mage and 2024 Belmont Stakes winner Doorknob. That was sizzling, guys.
01:02:43Be a smarter better with First TV. The best horses.
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01:03:31West Point Thoroughbreds, the gold standard in racing partnerships. Visit westpointtv.com.
01:03:41And our TDN writers room also brought to you by West Point Thoroughbreds. West Point had a new TDN
01:03:47rising star Saturday at Colonial Downs. Lion of Justice won a maiden special weight by six and a
01:03:54half links going a mile on the Virginia Derby undercard. A big margin win doesn't always mean
01:03:59a fast race, but this one was. Lion of Justice earned a 92 debut by her speed figure. Brad Cox
01:04:06trains that three-year-old son of into mischief. Everyone wants into mischiefs, of course. And West
01:04:11Point added another one last week at the OBS sale of two-year-olds in training. This cold is headed
01:04:17to Dale Romans and was one of West Point's five purchases. Four of those are already fully
01:04:23subscribed in partnerships. But West Point does have some availability on a charlatan filly who
01:04:30has been earmarked for trainer Cherie DeVoe. Details on that you can find at www.westpointtv.com.
01:04:42Thanks for tuning in to another edition of the TDN writers room podcast. I want to thank my
01:04:46partner Zoe Cabman and Randy Moss, as well as our guest of the week, our Gainesway guest of the week,
01:04:51David Anderson. Also, our producers and our editors, Sue Finley, Katie Petruniak, Anthony
01:04:56LaRocca, and Aaliyah LaRocca. It's going to be a great weekend of racing topped by the
01:05:00Louisiana Derby at the fairgrounds. Enjoy, everybody. We'll talk to you next week.
01:05:05Look at Lucy. She's so cute.