Eric Wing: Welcome to today’s NTRA Communications National Media Teleconference.
A big weekend coming up and as most of you know a pair of million dollar races taking place at Parx in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, just about 15 miles northeast of Philadelphia. On Saturday’s program at Parx, it’s already drawn; still have the Grade 1 million dollar Cotillion stakes for three-year old fillies and also the Grade 2 $1 million Pennsylvania Derby for three-year old males; and both of those races, incidentally, will be broadcast live on the Down The Stretch Race Of The Week radio program from 5 to 7 p.m. Eastern on Sirius Channel 93 and XM Channel 209. Dave Johnson and Bill Finley will do their customary fine job in providing all the race action and details for those two exciting events at Parx. Also, this weekend, at Belmont on Saturday, Win & You’re In Breeders’ Cup Challenge Event, the Grade 2 $200,000 Gallant Bloom Handicap. That race, of course, a feeder to the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint.
A little later in the call, we’ll talk to trainer, Bill Kaplan, who has the 2011 Breeders’ Cup Filly or Mare Sprint Champion Musical Romance set to go in the Gallant Bloom. Horse has vanned up from Florida and worked out this morning. We’ll find out how it went. We’ll also talk to trainer, Ken McPeek, who has Golden Ticket, the dead-heat Travers winner ready to go in the million dollar Pennsylvania Derby. And right now we’re very pleased to be joined by a gentleman who will have Action (ph) in both halves of the million dollar doubleheader at Parx, Kiaran McLaughlin. He’s got Alpha, the Travers winner in the Pennsylvania Derby, and of course, Questing, the Coaching Club American Oaks and Alabama winner in the Cotillion.
Kiaran, it’s Eric Wing. How are you today?
Kiaran McLaughlin: Great, Eric. Thanks for having me.
Eric Wing: You’re welcome, Kiaran. And I don’t mean to scare you at all, but as you might know Philadelphia sports fans are notorious for being tough. It’s said they even booed Santa Claus. Are you feeling any extra pressure in your position of saddling a pair of what will be the likely favorites in those two million dollar races in Philly?
Kiaran McLaughlin: Not really, no. I mean, obviously all of our successes, both horses, have been in New York. We’re happy to travel to Parx and hope that we perform well there.
Eric Wing: Now, Kiaran, it would seem that there can be no distance questions in any way for Alpha. He’s successfully stretched out to a mile and a quarter, done just fine at a mile and an eighth in the past. With Questing, she actually turns back to a mile and a sixteenth, a distance she hasn’t run at least around two turns, well, except for the Breeders’ Cup, but this year she hasn’t. Is that turn back to a mile and a sixteenth in your opinion a good thing or a bad thing?
Kiaran McLaughlin: That’s a little concern. We probably would have preferred a mile and an eight or even further, but it shouldn’t be a big deal. I’m more concerned about giving My Miss Aurelia seven pounds and she is fast, so it’s going to be an interesting race for the first half mile, who’s in front and how fast we’re going. But we’re not really that concerned about the distance; it shouldn’t be a big deal.
Eric Wing: Do you have any clue as to how it might play out? I mean, you raised a great point that, you know, with such a short field it could be a jockey’s race particularly early, do you have a preference other than, you know, just being lose on the lead, but do you have any guess as to how it might turn out?
Kiaran McLaughlin: Well, being where post two and the other speed is My Miss Aurelia, Number 3. We will probably go into the first turn on the lead and then just see what happens, what Corey Nakatani decides to do. Hopefully we’re in front and he’s, you know, a length or two behind that pushing us along too fast, but we’ve proved we’re still fast and keep going. So it’s going to be interesting, you know, race and how it unfolds but her race is going long like in the Breeders’ Cup and (inaudible) last year she was on the lead also and that is this My Miss Aurelia shows pace going longer. So we have to respect her and we’re giving her seven pounds so it’s going to be interesting the first half of the race. Hopefully we’re in front and not going too fast.
Eric Wing: Yes, and if My Miss Aurelia is going really fast, she did prove in the Coaching Club that you don’t absolutely have to be on the lead when you stopped Yara in that race.
Kiaran McLaughlin: Correct, if she clears us and brakes quicker than us and clears us then we’ll lay second.
Jon White: Kiaran, you’ve mentioned a couple of times about about Questing having to give seven pounds to My Miss Aurelia, what is your opinion in terms of Grade 1 races and whether they should be all even weight when—if you’re racing at that level?
Kiaran McLaughlin: Well, that’s a very good question, Jon. I just, you know, it’s the way the conditions were penciled in at Parx this weekend and around the world a lot of times you get penalized for Grade 1 wins forever. They stay with you, you give at least three more pounds and then (inaudible) more than your opponents too. So it’s not something I haven’t dealt with before, but, you know, it’s a concern because, you know, 124 to 117 is a pretty big difference. She was a three-year old champion so it’s kind of tough that we’re giving her weight but we have—we do have the recent form of Grade 1 win but it’s a shame that it has to happen but I don’t think that it’s a big deal as far as Grade 1s go. Being equal weight I would probably prefer that, for sure. All—in your whole life I prefer that. I mean, It’s Tricky ran us (inaudible) stumbled badly, Todd Pletcher won the race but we had to give her nine pounds. Now they’ve come back in the Beldame. Next week at Belmont we’re going to be equal weight so that’s a big plus for us. So I would prefer them probably to be equal weight, especially when you have the horse to beat as a favorite. When you’re a long shot or you’re, you know, fourth choice, you’re hoping you get eight pounds or seven pounds.
Jon White: Questing was drifting out in the Alabama, has there—have you done anything in terms of her training regimen or her equipment in terms of dealing with that—with her?
Kiaran McLaughlin: Not really. We train her as a right hand and at Greentree always—we always have and it appears—I was just at the Kentucky sale at Keeneland and I spoke to John Gosden a little more about Questing and I was explaining to him that if you duck from the stick, and I kind of thought that it was because in England they’re not allowed to raise the stick above their shoulder, you have to keep it down always. And when he raised it she ducked both in the Coaching Club Oaks she went out pretty bad left handed and then the Alabama she ducked in, and then out, back and forth. So I will ask Irad not to lift the stick at all until he needs it and then go ahead and do what he has to do, but I prefer if he’s in front by three or four not hit her.
Jennie Rees: Hey, Kiaran. So I’m going to ask you about Questing and training her right-handed because I read that her work was actually…Her last work was right-handed. Is that because she did come from England?
Kiaran McLaughlin: No, it’s very interesting that we have talked about it for a couple of years when I brought in Neal mainly about training right-handed instead of left-handed always. Because most of our injuries come in the left front, right hind from going left-handed all the time, so we decided to switch up. This year we finally, you know, went ahead and said, “Let’s go right-handed with some of these horses that show anything left front, right hind, and just do it to freshen them up and to change things.” So we have been training a lot of horses and all of our key horses right-handed, as in It’s Tricky, Questing, Alpha and Emcee all. Since Saratoga closed, they’ve all been training right-handed; some work left-handed, some work right-handed. But it’s just to freshen them up and if there’s any issues at all usually they’re left front so we hope that they get better by training the other way.
Jennie Rees: So—but I mean, so, like, everyday when they gallop they’ll gallop right-handed?
Kiaran McLaughlin: Yes. And it looks…
Jennie Rees: I mean that…
Kiaran McLaughlin: Different but they do it very well.
Jennie Rees: Does it take any adjustment on the part of the exercise riders or?
Kiaran McLaughlin: No, it’s really been very easy and a smooth transition. It’s really been interesting. It’s kind of weird for me to watch them come at me on their left lead down the stretch, you know…
It looks funny but that’s the leader supposed to be on and it comes natural to the horse and they just switch over to their right lead and go into the turn. So we haven’t had any issues whatsoever and all of the horses have gotten happier and better being able to just change it up a little bit.
Jennie Rees: But it’s just since Saratoga that you’ve been doing this at Greentree?
Kiaran McLaughlin: No, we’ve been doing it all summer but…
Jennie Rees: All summer
Kiaran McLaughlin: Certain horses that Alpha, trained on the main track the whole meet and then when it closed we obviously stayed at Greentree. So he’s training right-handed also and Emcee has stayed up and he’s been training right-handed for a couple of months and It’s Tricky just has been here since the beginning of the meet and we switched her up to going right-handed also just lately just to freshen her up a little bit.
Jennie Rees: And so is it—you’re the only one at Greentree now, your horses or?
Kiaran McLaughlin: Yes, there’s a couple for—they’re only Sheikh Mohammed horses…
Jennie Rees: Yes.
Kiaran McLaughlin: So Eoin Hardy has some and Tom Albertrani has some, so we just kind of tell each other, ‘I’m going to track,” then we time it right where we have the track to ourselves (ph).
Jennie Rees: Yes, interesting. And I have a Pennsylvania Derby question. If they say that a tie is like kissing your sister, what is a deadheat like?
Kiaran McLaughlin: Well, it’s very important for three-year old colts, three-year old fillies, and it was very important for us to get that Grade 1 win for Alpha. Go back to last year in the Vanderbilt when Trappe Shot lost by a nose…
And it was just the dirtiest noses to get beat because you’re trying to hopefully win Grade 1s for these colts, for these stallions, and it makes their value so much more—they’re so much more valuable to be Grade 1 winners. So Alpha is a Grade 1 win and I don’t—you know, it feels great to share the Grade 1 with Kenny McPeek or anybody for that matter. This time it’s Kenny McPeek. Because it makes the horse and the stud that much more valuable as a stallion and it helps Bernardini and, you know, it’s just great for the whole operation.
Jennie Rees: So was it a relief that you felt or excitement when they hung up the numbers?
Kiaran McLaughlin: Both. I mean, I was excited. At first I didn’t think we were going to get there. And then they hung it up three, six, so it was—Kenny’s was first so it was disappointment for four seconds until the deadheat light came on…And then it was exciting because a wins a win and we needed that. So it wouldn’t have been fair to either one of us to lose by an inch.
Geoffrey Riddle: I’m just—I’m not sort of particularly knowledgeable with the American program. Is there—because you may read there are other options for Alpha and Questing going into this weekend, I mean, why do you choose the races for them where they have to concede all the weight?
Kiaran McLaughlin: That’s a very good question, Geoffrey, and the reason is is because this is the last opportunity for Alpha to keep him in their age bracket Questing could run in the Beldame next Saturday at a mile and an eight, one turn at Belmont but it’s against older fillies and obviously we have It’s Tricky in there. So it’s nice to keep them at their own age bracket as long as we can. Alpha could run in the Jockey Gold Cup at the end of the month or first part of October. I think it’s the 29th also. Or he stays with three—straight three-year olds and we opted to stay with straight three-year olds. So that the main reason is that they’re both million dollar races and against their own age which is very important. We hate to give up the weight but we have one Grade 1s this summer so sometimes you have to give up the weight.
Geoffrey Riddle: Okay. I understand at Greentree you’ve got Poly track surface there… Could you talk about what facility you have there?
Kiaran McLaughlin: Sheikh Mohammed purchased Greentree a few years ago and put in a Polytrack. It’s about a mile oval and it’s the Keeneland Polytrack. Martin, somebody over there in England, is the one behind it. So it’s a great surface. I think we’ve learned more about t it this year in how to maintain it and we have a few new pieces of equipment to look after it and it’s been a great plus and advantage for us this summer to train on it. When it’s wet or raining it stays good and just the fact that we’re back there by ourselves and the facilities are fabulous. We have paddocks, you know, like one acre paddocks that the horse can be turned out in. We have round pens that they all go out in before they train and green grass to graze in twice a day and it’s just a fabulous facility.
Geoffrey Riddle: I understand that you hadn’t seen Alpha for 10 days prior to last Friday, do you see any changes in him at all while you were away?
Kiaran McLaughlin: Not really, no. He’s just doing very well. He’d put on a few more pounds and he’s very happy; right now training great. So he’s just doing very well.
Geoffrey Riddle: And lastly I think Art Magnuson’s your man in Belmont, who looks after the house (ph) at Greentree when you’re away?
Kiaran McLaughlin: Neal McLaughlin, my brother, and his wife, Trish.
Tim Wilkin: Hey, Kiaran. I talked to you a little bit yesterday about—you might have been a little surprised with Golden Ticket and the Travers but that being said now that you’re going to be facing them in Pennsylvania how formidable of an opponent do you think he is?
Kiaran McLaughlin: Well I think that he ran very well last time and had a great trip and he’s improving and that was his first start since May, so I feel like he’s one of the main horses as to—as far as across the line, I also think Macho Macho, Steve Asmussen’s horse, coming off the West Virginia Derby are the two main opponents, it looks like.
Tim Wilkin: Could this be the—well, maybe it already has. Could this be a rivalry starting between you and Golden Ticket?
Kiaran McLaughlin: Yes, it very well could be. It’s, you know, obviously this is a rematch so we’ll see how it goes, but you never know going forward.
Jennie Rees: Do you like the idea that these two horses that deadheated a month earlier are hooking up again in another million dollar race?
Kiaran McLaughlin: Yes, I think that it’s good for the business and good for everybody involved and we both have to carry the same weight again. So everything is—seems to be—it’ll be fun to see us run against them again and see how it goes. I mean, we definitely have always done better in New York, and Alpha, hopefully—it’s just Churchill Downs he doesn’t like, so hopefully Parx he likes okay.
Eric Wing: Kiaran, I would—just jumping back to something you were talking about earlier with the weight discrepancies in these two races. A lot of people who complain about the sport penalizing its stars usually do so in reference to handicap races, do you find it ironic that these weight discrepancies are kind of written into the conditions and if it were a handicap the spread would probably be much closer?
Kiaran McLaughlin: Yes, I don’t know if the Pennsylvania Derby weights would be closer but, —it is what it is and I respect them for penalizing the Grade 1 horses; it just happens to be us right now. But, you know, I don’t like it normally, but they are a favorite, both of them, Alpha and Questing, and if a favorite should be the high weight, so we’ve, you know, been fortunate to win some important races in the last month or so. So it’s not a big deal. It’s just not, you know, an ideal situation. It’s best if we get even a photo finish.
Eric Wing: And lastly, Kiaran, you mentioned their names earlier, but could you give us a quick update on It’s Tricky and Emcee?
Kiaran McLaughlin: Emcee is training very well. We’re going to go most likely straight to the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. I spoke to Simon Crisford about that and he said, “Proceed on” and It’s Tricky’s going in the Beldame next Saturday and then on to the Breeders’ Cup. Which Breeders’ Cup we haven’t decided yet. Obviously she could go seven-eighths, or the Ladies Classic. We’ll see how Questing does Saturday.
Eric Wing: Very good. Well, Kiaran, good luck with those two down the line, and more pressingly, good luck with both Questing and Alpha this Saturday at Parx in those two big money races. We appreciate you coming on the call, as always.
Kiaran McLaughlin: Thanks, Eric.
Eric Wing: Thank you. That’s Kiaran McLaughlin. A hard encore for Kiaran after the Saratoga meeting he had but he’s got to take the next steps and he will do so Saturday at Parx Racing with Alpha in the Grade 2 million dollar Pennsylvania Derby and Questing in the Grade 1 million dollar Cotillion Stakes. As mentioned, that Cotillion shapes up at least on paper as a battle between Questing and My Miss Aurelia, and in the Pennsylvania Derby of course we have the two horses who deadheated to win the Travers in Alpha and Golden Ticket. And joining us now is Golden Ticket’s trainer, Kenny McPeek. Kenny, it’s Eric Wing. How are you today?
Kenny McPeek: I’m doing pretty good.
Eric Wing: Kenny, the big leap forward by Golden Ticket in the Travers and he ran that race off basically a three-month layoff, is that jump up in your mind more a case of the distances finally suiting him to a tee or the physical maturity as the summer progressed? Or both?
Kenny McPeek: He’s always run well at the distance-to-ground on the dirt and, you know, I’m probably guilty of sprinting him one too many times in his career. But, you know, he is getting better physically and I was joking around. We’re just actually using the Travers as a prep for the Pennsylvania Derby is all it is. So he (inaudible) goes to the next level.
Eric Wing: The money is certainly good enough in Philadelphia to use just about any other race as a prep for it but—but, you know, in speaking of those two races, Kenny, in the Travers you were—I mean, the facts are you ran a 33 to 1 shot, Saturday you’re running a horse that you absolutely know fits the race like a glove, is it a different feeling this time around with Golden Ticket?
Kenny McPeek: Yes, there’s no doubt. We had no pressure at all the last time. We also kind of like to think that, you know, we could beat Alpha this time. It’s a great grudge match over there. That’ll be interesting to see how that pans out. And I know Kiaran had his horse ready. But it’s all good. You know, we’re just keeping our fingers crossed that it goes smooth between now and Saturday and we could get the horse over there and get him settled in and he runs well.
Jennie Rees: Yes. Kenny, and I asked Kiaran this, but as they say a tie is like kissing your sister, what is a deadheat?
Kenny McPeek: Well, we’re not the—that he’s been sick if we had lost You know, so even if it is a deadheat it does (inaudible) so we’re not going to make a negative out of that at all.
Jennie Rees: Yes. But just—because Kiaran was talking about how, first, he said he got beat because he said they posted it and it took him, like, four seconds to come up with a deadheat, did you think that you had won it—you know, I mean, what—did your emotions change at all in those four—you know, you’re happy and then you see it’s a deadheat, was it just still all the same or was there any, you know, any other …
Kenny McPeek: When they posted the three on the board on top of the six I thought we had won it and then he says to me “Deadheat.” I just thought it was hilarious. It is still a positive. I mean, he would have been sick. I mean, I – somebody when I was walking down the stairs, somebody said, “Ah, you were second, you were second,” and I was like, “Oh, hope not. That one’s going to hurt if we are.”
Kenny McPeek: But it worked out fine. But the reaction—there was a little bit of delay before the deadheat sign went up which was a little bit confusing. But it worked out.
Jennie Rees: Yes. It’s—do you like the idea that both horses just a month later going for a million dollars against each other again? I mean, is that—It’s a great grudge match.
Kenny McPeek: Yes, I mean, I think the sport’s in these rivalries but, you know, hopefully this is not the only time we ever get to run against each other on something like that but it’s—I’m excited. I think my horse is going to improve off his last race and if he does that I think it’d be pretty salty (ph).
Jennie Rees: Yes, I was going to ask you, do you see any difference? Seems like coming into this race than the last race and…
Kenny McPeek: He needed the last race. I mean, he drank over a bucket of water in the spit box. That’s a horse who had gotten tired. So if he can improve then all the better and he’s going to need to do that. I mean, they’re not going to give it away over there. So that’s hopefully—hopefully goes in there and he fires his best shot.
Tim Wilkin: Hey, Kenny. The—you had—in the Travers it was 33 to 1 and I’m sure a lot of people who didn’t expect you to be where you were at the end, what would you say to people that think it might have been a fluke?
Kenny McPeek: No, I don’t think so. I mean, if you studied the sheet numbers, the (inaudible) numbers, we had run within range of those types of horses but especially in the Tampa Bay Derby was a really good race for the colt. But he needed to improve off that and he did and I’m sure that (inaudible) will –maybe will regress this time but I think tendency for my horses is is a good race, a better race and then a best race. So hopefully runs a little bit better than the last time just off fitness level and it—I hope it wasn’t a fluke. I hope they’re wrong. So, we’ll see.
Tim Wilkin: Can you think about historically what happened at the Travers? It did happen once before obviously before any of us were even alive. Has that sunk in to you at all?
Kenny McPeek: You know, having trained the longest Belmont winner in history and now the most recent or really recent major classic that I can remember deadheating, yes, it’s pretty neat. You know, we’ve got—I guess I got—we’ve got a place in the record book some place and maybe a hundred years from now they’re still talking about it, who knows. But it’s a really neat thing. I mean, I was—you always want to win those races. I had been second in Travers with Repent and I’ve been fourth with a horse named Wild and Wicked and to have, you know, even the deadheat to win and then another fourth with Atigun, I’m proud of it. We’ve been competitive in those spots and it’s a blessing to have those kind of horses to get in those kind of races. And they’re hard to win, so they’re supposed to be.
Tim Wilkin: What is your opinion of Alpha?
Kenny McPeek: I try to watch him close when he was in Kentucky in the spring. You know, he’s, physically, he’s a well made horse but he’s not a horse that you look at and you go, “Wow, I mean, I’m scared of him.” I think I can remember walking over and looking at Quality Road walking the paddock and say, “I don’t have a horse that’s a big and strong like that. I don’t have a chance here.” But Alpha’s not an imposing horse. She’s—he’s an efficient well made horse. And actually Golden Ticket’s similar; Golden Ticket’s a small horse. Not a horse that would be, you know, make your jaw drop when he walked in front of you but they obviously both can run.
Geoffrey Riddle: Hi there, Kenny. Can you just fill me in a bit on how you and Kiaran know each other from way back?
Kenny McPeek: Well, we both grew up on the south side of Lexington.
Geoffrey Riddle: Yes.
Kenny McPeek: Kiaran’s a couple of years older than me. And I first met Kiaran at a—at Southland Park, which is in between—well, in between Tates Creek Road and Keeneland, and probably—I probably was 10; he might have been 12. He had a head full of red hair and I had a head full of blond hair, believe it or not. But just in passing in a Midget Football tryout and long time ago and I kind of crossed paths with him and we had mutual friends that grew up with and it was all good. It was great—it’s a great town to grow up in and just happened to know him in passing more than anything. Wouldn’t say he’s a close friend but certainly a good acquaintance; long time acquaintance.
Eric Wing: Kenny, since we have the luxury of the past performances already for a Saturday race, it seems like there’s not a ton of pace in the Pennsylvania Derby; can you kind of envision Golden Ticket and Alpha with their similar tactical running styles being in fairly close proximity during the race?
Kenny McPeek: Well I’m going to leave that to David Cohen. We practiced how he would sit on that horse going into the Travers repeatedly and he’s got a real good idea of how he feels underneath. He—we’re actually—we actually used a neck strap on him and if you look at the picture he had a neck strap on and David used to hang on to as opposed to grabbing the bit because he—we kind of feel like he’s a free-running horse. But he’ll have a neck strap on again and, you know, my instructions in the Travers were for David just to sit completely still. It didn’t matter to me if he was on the pace or off the pace but just to sit completely still and wait until they (inaudible) and said, “If you find yourself on the rail, stay there. You’re going to need every inch to win this thing,” and he snuck through on the fence and didn’t really let the horse go until the quarter pole so that won’t be—there won’t be any change in those tactics. I hope he can match, you know, the (inaudible) and the Travers because it was a fabulous job.
Eric Wing: And it was also undoubtedly the highlight of his riding career. He started out in California, came to New York where he’s done well though he’s not—the marquee name, that a Dominguez or a Velazquez is, perhaps. Could you comment on Cohen’s skills?
Kenny McPeek: Well, I think he’s very underrated. I think he’s trying to find his way. If you look back at all the great riders, you know, I’ve probably been fortunate enough to be around the likes—you know, Pat Day’s won many races for me; Jerry Bailey did as well. You know, Pat Day struggled befo