September 28, 2020
Preakness Stakes preview
Guests
- Tommy Drury, trainer, Art Collector
- Ned Toffey, General Manager of Spendthrift Farm, co-owner Authentic, Thousand Words
- Bret Calhoun, trainer, Mr. Big News
Full transcript (note: transcript has not been edited)
P R E S E N T A T I O N
Operator:
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the NTRA Road to the Triple Crown conference call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session at which time instructions will be provided. For operator assistance during the call, please press star zero. Today’s conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the meeting over to Ms. Alicia Hughes. Please go ahead, Alicia.
Alicia Hughes:
Thank you and welcome everyone to this week’s NTRA Teleconference on the Road to the Triple Crown. This week we will be previewing the 145th edition of the Preakness Stakes, which this year serving as the final leg of the American classics, having been postponed from its usual mid-bay[?] date due to the Coronavirus pandemic. The Preakness, which will be contested without fans in attendance this year, will be one of six graded stakes races held on October 3rd at historic Pimlico Race Course. Kentucky Derby winner, Authentic [inaudible] is the one to beat this coming Saturday, after leading every point of call in Louisville on September 5th, and the set of intermission was installed as nine to five morning line favorite for the Preakness. We will hear more on how he and his stablemate Thousand Words are doing heading into the race when we check in with Spendthrift Farm General Manager, Ned Toffey a little bit later on. We are also slated to be joined by trainer Bret Calhoun, who conditions Mr. Big News, a last-minute entry into the Kentucky Derby, who then far outran his 46 to one odds when he finished third that day. First up, however, we are fortunate enough to be joined by trainer Tommy Drury, who conditioned Art Collector, the five to two second choice on the morning line for the Preakness. Art Collector had to miss the Kentucky Derby, unfortunately, due to a minor [inaudible] that week, but the son of [inaudible] has trained sharply in his preparation for his trip to Baltimore. Tommy, thank you so much for joining us today.
Tommy Drury:
Yes, ma’am. Thank you for having me.
Alicia Hughes:
First and foremost, since we did just have the draw take place a short time ago, I believe you guys do post edition three. I know posting is huge – in a relatively, you know, small field isn’t a huge deal, what are your, kind of just your quick impressions about that starting position for you guys?
Tommy Drury:
I’m happy with it. We were the three in the Bluegrass, and we were the four and the Ellis Park Derby, so, it seems like our last couple of races we’ve been right in that area, and I think if this horse gets away good, he’s tactical enough that he can be forward and give Brian a little chance to see how the race is developing, and then we can kind of take it from there.
Alicia Hughes:
Right. And, you know, this was a horse who, he was doing so, so good heading in to Derby, which I know made the decision that you and Bruce Lunsford made, to go ahead and keep them out of that race all the more tougher. How is he doing now in the week since that time, and what are some of the intangibles that you usually see from him that lets you know that he is sitting on go for a race?
Tommy Drury:
Well, I think his work, you know, his last two works actually, have kind of shown his hand a little bit. I guess[?] that, you know, I don’t think you could ask the horse to work any better. I mean, it’s just, you know, he seems like he’s happy enough. He’s kind of throwing his ears up, galloping out and certainly galloping out strong enough and at this stage, he’s showing some animation around the barn and out on the grass when he’s grazing, and just seems like a horse that’s doing well, that we should be able to go take our best shot with.
Alicia Hughes:
Sounds good. Tommy, looks like we’ve got a good amount of media with us today. So, with that, I will throw it back to our operator and they will check in to see if the media has any questions for you.
Operator:
Thank you. If you would like to ask a question, please signal by pressing star one on your telephone keypad. If you’re using a speakerphone, please make sure your mute function is turned off to allow your signal to reach our equipment. Again, press star one to ask a question. We will take our first question from Steven [inaudible] with AP.
Steven Wine:
Thank you very much for doing this. I’m curious, a lot of trainers would have kept a horse in the race in the Derby with the kind of minor injury that Art Collector had. What did it mean to you or how difficult was that, and how glad are you to be able to run it back in this race?
Tommy Drury:
It was certainly difficult. I mean, it was, you know, the Kentucky Derby is a race of a lifetime for a horse trainer, but at the end of the day, the ultimate responsibility that we have is to put our horse first, and to make sure that he’s taken care of. And it just wouldn’t have been fair to him to leave him over there, especially at that level of competition, and ask him to run his very best race knowing that there was an issue going on. And [inaudible], and it was, you know, to us, it was just kind of a no brainer. We want our horse to be good for the long haul, not just one race. And we just made the decision to do right by him.
Operator:
We’ll take our next question from Tim Sullivan with the Louisville Courier-Journal.
Tim Sullivan:
Hi, Tommy. Kind of a follow-up to that question. You’re a local guy. You’ve been training for 29 years. This is your first shot at the Derby, and you have to give it up. For some of us, that would leave you like a free day drunk. I’m wondering how you handled it emotionally, and do you think you will get a chance to go back?
Tommy Drury:
I guess as a trainer, you go through this, and doing this as long as I have, you go through this so often that, you know, a horse is injured, or something goes wrong, or you don’t get in the race you want to get into. I guess you almost become a little desensitized to it, just because you’re used to it happening, and that being said, it was tough, but boy, there’s so many other things that it could have been.
I mean, it was something that could be addressed. It was something that could pretty easily be addressed, and knowing that the Preakness was right behind the Derby, we just immediately turned the page and we started moving on to the next race. So, there wasn’t a lot of time to sit around and cry about it because we had four weeks to get ready for this one, and we need to be focusing on trying to get him as good as we could possibly make him for this race.
Tim Sullivan:
As a follow up, this was your first graded stakes win in the Bluegrass. Have you ever come anywhere close, in your own mind, to having a horse of that caliber?
Tommy Drury:
We’ve had some horses that have been graded stakes placed over the years, and just ran some really big races, and unfortunately, it just came up a little short. But when you grow up in Kentucky, the Derby and the Bluegrass and races like that are, you know, those are the kind of races you dream about. And, to be able to go over to [inaudible] on that day and win the Bluegrass, it meant everything. It just – there’s been a lot of long, tough days that we’ve had to go through to get to that one race, and just, you know, it just kind of made all seem worthwhile. So, yeah, it was definitely, next to my kids being born, it was the most exciting day of my life.
Tim Sullivan:
Thank you.
Operator:
Once again, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one. We will take our next question from Tom Pedulla with America’s Best Racing. Tom please go ahead, you may have us on mute.
Tom Pedulla:
I’d have- hello?
Tommy Drury:
Yeah, sir. Yeah.
Tom Pedulla:
Yes, I’m sorry. Did you hear my question Tom?
Tommy Drury:
No, sir. I’m sorry. Maybe my phone cut out there. I did not hear it. I’m sorry.
Tom Pedulla:
Okay. No worries. I said it’s so difficult to get to the Derby. Do you worry that you could have missed your once in a lifetime shot?
Tommy Drury:
No. Not at all, because had I run in the race, I wouldn’t have been doing it the right way, and that’s just not the – that’s not the way I want to get to it. We made a decision to do right by our horse, and we’re certainly going to stand by that decision and there’s no looking back at this point. We’re focused on the Preakness and what we can do down the road. The Derby was hopefully just a race of many that this horse is going to be able to compete in, and had we let him over there and maybe done something that seriously damaged him, that would’ve been bad. I mean, missing the Derby was, you know, it was just frustrating, but our horse is good right now, and we’re ready to take our best shot, and you’d like to think that there’s still going to be some plenty more races for him to be able to run him down the road.
Tom Pedulla:
Okay. And if I could just ask one follow up question, how do you feel about the amount of time between his starts?
Tommy Drury:
His work the other day, that might’ve been in the back of my mind until he started breezing. His last couple of works have been fantastic, and he came back out of them in good order and I sure don’t foresee us having any excuses. I think we’re ready to take our best shot.
Tom Pedulla:
Thank you very much.
Tommy Drury:
Yes, sir.
Operator:
We’ll take the next question from Alan Carasso with TDN.
Alan Carasso:
Hey Tom. Just wondering what your thoughts are on the [inaudible] You’ve got obviously Authentic drawn outliner, who’s speedy enough, [inaudible] after showing some speed, Thousand Words has shown some speed. So, it seems to me you have a versatile sort of horse, can sort of – he can be up there with the pace if need be, or he can take back, but from a trip standpoint, what do you kind of foresee Saturday?
Tommy Drury:
I think if he gets away cleanly, he’s tactical enough that I would expect him to be formerly placed, at least until they get into that first turn and then Brian can kind of decide where he wants to go from there. Ideally, you’d like to be forward going by the stands the first time and have Brian be able to look around a little bit and see how the race is developing, and then he can kind of make up his mind as to what he wants to do. But one of my favorite things about this horse is, he seems like he’s got a little stop and go to him and you can kind of use him but then get him to shut back off if you need to. And I think sometimes, in these races like this, that can be very beneficial.
Alan Carasso:
Okay. Best of luck.
Tommy Drury:
Thank you very much.
Operator:
We’ll take our next question from Danny Brewer with horseracingscoop.com.
Danny Brewer:
Tom, how are you?
Tommy Drury:
Fine. Thank you.
Danny Brewer:
This horse has seen to have a knack for staying out of trouble. He does whatever he need to do just to keep himself in the clear. Is that just his instinct? I mean, you talked about his tactical speed, is this something you teach, or is it something he just has.
Tommy Drury:
Well, I think it goes back to what I was just saying. He’s got that stop and go to him to where, if you’re in a spot and you want to get somewhere else, you can use him a little bit and get him where you want him, but then you can get him to shut right back off again. And I think that anytime you’re, you know, when you’re running in bigger fields like this race is going to be, I think that can be a little bit of an advantage, because you can kind of get yourself out of a spot, get where you want to be, and then get him to come back off the throttle again and wait for, you know, wait until you give him another cue.
Danny Brewer:
Brian Hernandez Jr, talk about the relationship that they have.
Tommy Drury:
I think Brian fits this horse like a glove. He’s been on him for most of his breezes in the mornings, you know, gosh, he even served as my exercise rider for a few days there at Churchill and was galloping him. And I can’t think of anybody else on earth that I’d rather have on this horse. I think he fits him like a glove.
Danny Brewer:
Outstanding. Wish you the best of luck, man.
Tommy Drury:
Yes, sir. Thank you.
Operator:
As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one. We will take our next question from Tim Sullivan with the Louisville Courier-Journal.
Tim Sullivan:
Just circling back on a couple of things. One, how did you stand Derby day? Where did you watch the race and what do you remember of your emotions as it was being held?
Tommy Drury:
I actually ended up watching the Derby with my daughter at home. And I was happy for Bob. I had actually ridden through the tunnel and onto the front side of the racetrack earlier in the week with him on a golf cart. Churchill was doing the little shuttle thing from the infield and coincidentally, he and I rode over together. It’s the first time I’d ever met him, and, you know, the guy was as kind as he could be to me, and I was happy for him. I was a little disappointed for myself, but that’s horse racing, and I think that’s what makes the good day so special, it’s when everything goes right, it’s because you have to go through a lot of those kinds of days to get to them.
Tim Sullivan:
One other thing, you didn’t get this horse until the new year, right? What is the background there? I know that there was a drug DQ with Joe Sharp. Did that produce your getting ahold of him?
Tommy Drury:
Well, Bruce had called me, and I’ve been working for Bruce for years and years in a variety of ways. I’ve had some horses that I’ve raised for him, we’ve legged up some young horses for him that have gone on to other trainers, then he just called and said he was going to be shuffling the deck a little bit and had some horses that he needed to send me. He wasn’t sure what he was going to be doing with them and Art Collector ended up being one of those horses. And then, as we’ve trained along and got him closer to being ready to run, all the COVID stuff hit, and then once racetracks went on lockdown and travel was limited, and things of that nature, then, you know, Bruce made the decision to leave him with us and let us have an opportunity to racing.
Tim Sullivan:
You’ve ever had a horse that impressed you as much?
Tommy Drury:
No. I haven’t. We’ve had some really good horses go through the barn that I’ve sent on to other trainers and, you know, Art Collector is just a very special horse to us, and he’s just taken – he’s taken my career to places that I never dreamed it would go, and he’s just a member of the family. So, I’m probably a little biased when I answer that question. It’s kind of like asking somebody that their kid playing sports. But no, I’ve not had anything like him ever before.
Tim Sullivan:
Thank you.
Alicia Hughes:
Tommy, thank you again so much. You’re always so gracious with your time. Like I said, continued best of luck with everything. Thank you so much for joining our call this week, and safe travels out of Baltimore.
Tommy Drury:
Yes, ma’am. Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it.
Alicia Hughes:
Thanks again, Tommy.
Tommy Drury:
Okay. Bye. Bye.
Alicia Hughes:
Take care. And next up, we are going to go to Ned Toffey, General manager of Spendthrift Farm, which co-owns both Authentic and his stablemate, Thousand Words. Authentic victory in the Kentucky Derby marked the first win in the classic for the Spendthrift team under the helm of owner B Wayne Hughes, and it also gave Authentic sire, Into Mischief who stands at Spendthrift, his first classic winner. Ned, thank you so much for joining us today.
Ned Toffey:
Thank you for having me.
Alicia Hughes:
Thank you, Ned. It’s always a pleasure to have you on and have you share some wisdom with us. I know to put it mildly that the Spendthrift team experienced the wildest of emotions on Derby day, going through the heartbreak obviously, of having Thousand Words fall in the paddock and have to be scratched, and then to Authentic pulling off the win. When you all were walking through the tunnel after the incident with Thousand Words, and then you watch Authentic and you watch those fast fractions go up on the board with him, I’ll fund[?] there, what was rolling through your head at that point?
Ned Toffey:
To be honest, I think I was still in a funk from Thousand Words and that incident. And, you know, it really wasn’t until they got on into the stretch and I thought, you know, the way he responded, when Tiz the Law came to him, I perked up just a bit at that point.
Alicia Hughes:
And after Authentic’s win is a hassle[?], you know, some people criticize that because they thought he was, you know, he was getting tired late, and that’s why New York Traffic was able to kind of reel to reel him in there. Bob Baffert was very adamant that it wasn’t so much a case of the horse getting tired, but he thought it was more of a case of him losing focus. Is he just the kind of type of horse you think who just responds to the level of his competition and kind of needs to be pushed, so to speak?
Ned Toffey:
Well, I think there’s something to that. You know, Bob – you know, in private, when I spoken to him, has been very, very consistent about not having any reservations about this horse’s ability to get the mile and a quarter. And a conversation that he and I had after the Haskell was that yeah, the horse just sort of went to sleep out there. And the interesting thing is that people that were at the race commented how when New York Traffic got to him at the finish line, it was actually after the finish line that Authentic kind of rebroke. And so, you know, he got competitive and never really let the horse past it. So, you know, to be quite honest, like everybody else, I was questioning whether or not he would get the mile and a quarter. But as I said, Bob has been very consistent and yeah, I think you just have to keep after him. But I think he’s going to respond to the competition, and you certainly really saw him respond when Tiz the Law came through with the stretch and so, hopefully we’ll see more of that on Saturday.
Alicia Hughes:
Absolutely. So, with that Ned, I will throw it back to our operator, and they will check in to see if the media has any questions for you today.
Ned Toffey:
Sure.
Operator:
As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one. We will take our first question from Tim Sullivan with the Louisville Courier-Journal.
Tim Sullivan:
I’m curious, given the success of Authentic and the demand for Into Mischief, do you think you should have put a price on his stud fee, and what is the demand like now?
Ned Toffey:
Well, you know, the nice thing is that you saw the demand skyrocket at the recently concluded yearling sales, both at Fasig-Tipton and at Keeneland, and his average was, was up about $100,000 dollars over last year. And, you know, he was tremendously popular. Had five-year length sell for over $1,000,000, one sold for 1.9 million. So, the demand there has been tremendous. The stud fee – we’ve not made an announcement yet on the stud fee, but it will be up and – but we’ve had tremendous response from breeders and we think he’ll be very, very popular again this year.
Tim Sullivan:
Thank you.
Operator:
We’ll take our next question from Steven [inaudible] with AP.
Steven Wine:
Okay. Thanks very much for doing this. Obviously, Jimmy Barnes getting injured by Authentic after the Derby is a tough thing for all of us to see, how tough is it just to know Jimmy’s not going to be there on Saturday?
Ned Toffey:
Well, you know, it certainly would feel still terrible for Jimmy and we’d love to have him. He actually got hurt by Thousand Words in the paddock, but yeah, Jimmy’s always been a very important part of Bob’s team. So, you know, anytime you’ve got a team member down, that’s a concern, but, you know, Bob’s a wonderful horseman. And, you know, I know Bob has joked about looking for help saddling him, but Bob was, you know, Bob said just this morning up at Churchill, he was very comfortable with it, and was not worried about it. So, you know, Thousand Words, he’s a great horse around the barn, but he does have that quirk about saddling before races. So, I think Bob and his team will be ready for him, and they’ll get the job done.
Operator:
Once again, that is star one for questions. We’ll take our next question from Alan Carasso from TDN.
Alan Carasso:
Hey, Ned, how are you?
Ned Toffey:
Good.
Alan Carasso:
I’m just wondering, you know, all the years that you’ve spent with Mr. Hughes, just wondering what you’ve learned from him in terms of just, you know, as a businessman and what you’ve learned from him in this business. Can you just reflect on your relationship with him down the years and what it meant to you to see him win the Derby?
Ned Toffey:
Well, first of all, I think what it meant for me was that, you know, as I said after the Derby, I think there’s – you’d be hard pressed to find somebody more deserving to win the Derby. He’s put so much into this game for so many years, and he’s done it in so many ways, just in terms of what he’s spent on horses over the years, in terms of what he’s done here at Spendthrift, in terms of the creative programs to help breeders be successful. So, you know, I was very, very happy that we were able to help him get his first Derby win. As far as what I’ve learned from him, you know, I could go on for quite some time about everything I’ve learned for him, but I think the biggest thing that I’ve learned is the way in which he looks at things. He’s, you know, the least tied to conventional thinking of anybody I’ve ever been around, and he just challenges you to constantly look at things in a fresh way, and wants to constantly challenge your thinking.
And I think the other thing is that what you see in meetings with him over and over again is his desire to hear your opinions. And he’s going to challenge you, he’s going to debate with you, and even in a quite a spirited way, at the end of that, he’s going to thank you for your opinion. So, he very much encourages opinions and information from everybody. He realizes that he could learn something from almost anybody, wants to hear their thoughts, but again, this idea of looking at things in a fresh way, in a way that maybe people haven’t looked at them before, it’s just been such a big part of what we do here, and I think that’s probably the biggest thing that sticks out in my mind when I think about my time here, dealing with Mr. Hughes.
Alan Carasso:
And how long have you been with the farm?
Ned Toffey:
Mr. Hughes bought the farm in 2004, and I bought the – I came with the horses essentially when he bought it. I actually was a broodmare manager at Three Chimneys Farm, and I managed all of Mr. Hughes’ mares at Three Chimneys, and at one point told me that he was thinking about buying a farm, and would I come run it for him. So, that actually happened probably in 2003, before he bought the farm. And, you know, it never dawned on me that he was going to buy a place like Spendthrift. So, it’s been an interesting experience. So, it’s been 16 years.
Alan Carasso:
Great. Well, best of luck with both horses.
Ned Toffey:
Thank you very much.
Alicia Hughes:
Well, Ned, again, thank you so much for jumping on and joining our teleconference today. Congratulations to you, to Mr. Hughes, to the entire Spendthrift team, and continued best of luck with everything this weekend.
Ned Toffey:
Thank you very much, Alicia, and thank you for having me.
Alicia Hughes:
Thanks a lot, Ned. You take care and stay safe.
Ned Toffey:
Sure thing. Bye bye now.
Alicia Hughes:
And last but not least, we are going to check in with trainer Bret Calhoun, who conditioned Mr. Big News for owner Chester Thomas. Mr. Big News will be the first Preakness starter for both Calhoun and Thomas, and had previously earned a fee paid birth[?] into this race by virtue of his win in the Oaklawn Stakes back in April. Bret, thank you so much for joining us today.
Bret Calhoun:
Good afternoon.
Alicia Hughes:
Always a pleasure to have you on with us, Brett. I know Derby week – I know you and Chester didn’t officially make the call to join the Derby field until I think it was Monday of that week, and then of course you jumped up and run the huge race to get third. I think Chester said, was quoted as saying that he stayed up till about one o’clock in the morning on Sunday, debating between the Derby and the [inaudible]. What was it specifically that you guys were seeing with Mr. Big News that gave you the level of confidence to go ahead and take the big swing with him for the Derby?
Bret Calhoun:
Well, it was how he was doing at the time. The horse was training phenomenally welcoming in to the Derby. The mile and a quarter was a big part of it too. We really felt like he would relish that distance, and we also knew that there’s a lot of other horses that wouldn’t really care for it. So, you put all that together, the turf had been soft during the week, [inaudible] it was going to be more rain, didn’t know that we’d get a very fair evaluation of him on the turf, and we were pretty well aware, for the coming prior weeks, that there was not going to be – you’re not going to need[?] points to get in, so they left that option wide open for us.
Alicia Hughes:
And I think you said the other day with Mr. Big News, that he seems to have gotten sharper in his gallop since his run in the Derby. Has he typically been a horse who recovers quickly from his races, or is this kind of a newish wrinkle from him that – in his form that tells you just how well he is doing?
Bret Calhoun:
Well, I think we’ve purposely spread races, kind of know what his makeup and what we thought he was thriving on was a little bit of spacing and letting him continue to grow and mature. He’s been a late bloomer. I think that’s helped him a lot, the spacing, and – so that’s always been part of our process to get him to this point, and now we think he’s continuing to make progress, he’s continuing to mature, but he’s a much more mature horse today than he was six, eight weeks ago.
Alicia Hughes:
Sounds good Bret. And with that, I will throw it back to our operator who will check in with the media and see if they have any questions for you today.
Operator:
As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please signal by pressing star one on your telephone keypad. We will take our first question from Frank Angst with Bloodhorse Magazine.
Frank Angst:
Hey Bret, how are you?
Bret Calhoun:
Hey, Frank.
Frank Angst:
What does it mean to you to get that first classic placing of the trainer, and what would it mean to get a Preakness one?
Bret Calhoun:
It was Hughes. He always dreamed of the Derby and the Triple Crown. I’ve never really felt that I was close enough to it to even have kind of dream, to make a dream come true. I thought last year, with By My Standards, we were very, very live horse going into the Derby, my first appearance. Things didn’t work out as well. Coming in this year, there really wasn’t any pressure to get there with this horse. We just let him take us along for the ride, ended up taking a stair, and the points, and everything kind of came together. So, really special. I never really thought about it too much. I really never wanted to get involved with Triple Crown unless I felt like I had a legitimate chance. And I think this was kind of proof that he proved himself in the Derby, and hopefully, he’ll run as well, if not better, in the Preakness.
Frank Angst:
What are some of the reasons that you think that yourself and Chester had enjoyed so much success together? What are some of the keys to that relationship?
Bret Calhoun:
Well, one thing Chester’s put good horses in the barn and that helps. He’s put talent at the barn. And then he’s really been patient and let me make the right decisions for the horse along the way. I know there’s times that he wanted to push, maybe we both did and, you know, I would sit back and play devil’s advocate and while we need to do this and that, he’s been totally on board and let me manage the horses like they needed to be, and I think that’s why we’ve been so successful.
Frank Angst:
Thanks a lot.
Bret Calhoun:
Thank you.
Operator:
We’ll take our next question from Danny Brewer with horseracingscoop.com.
Danny Brewer:
Hey Brett, how are you this morning?
Bret Calhoun:
Hey, Danny. All good.
Danny Brewer:
Mr. Big News has been like Mr. Big opportunity here. What about his recent works, and what tells you he’s ready to do it again here in the in the Preakness?
Bret Calhoun:
He’s always been somewhat of a quiet horse. He’s not one that’s out there touting you ever morning, buckling and squealing and playing, and he just goes about his business, does everything the right way. But I noticed going in the Derby, he was getting stronger and stronger and stronger. His gallops were getting stronger. They weren’t runoff or uncontrolled or nothing, but you could just tell, he was getting a lot stronger. And that’s kind of what we’ve seen going into the Preakness. He bounced out of the Derby very well, he held his weight very well and, you know, we’ve put a couple of easy breezy in him. I feel like he’s very, very fit, very ready, just keeping fresh and happy, but you could see those same kinds of gallops going into the Preakness.
Danny Brewer:
He’s been obviously a highlight for you. You had some other highlights, one this Saturday with Mr. Money, By My Standards. Talk about the Calhoun Stable and how things – I mean, I know 2020 has been challenging, but it’s also been good in some ways, right?
Bret Calhoun:
Well, with all things said, it’s been a pretty good year for us for sure. We’ve got some really nice horses in the barn. I feel very, very fortunate to be able to have these horses and to be able to find places for them to compete, and compete on a big stage a lot of this year.
Danny Brewer:
When does he go to [inaudible], or is he already there?
Bret Calhoun:
He goes tomorrow. The plane leaves Louisville tomorrow.
Danny Brewer:
And you probably just let him walk over the track and see how he acting [inaudible].
Bret Calhoun:
Our intention is to probably to gallop him on Wednesday there. We’ll see how things go. We’ll see if the, you know, if all the rains[?] or connections and everything goes like it’s supposed to, and they don’t get strung out on the plane or on the tarmac for long periods of time. If things go like it’s supposed to and he makes it there fresh, we’ll probably do a little light gallop on Wednesday. If not, we’ll probably just jog him. But he will be on track on Wednesday.
Danny Brewer:
Bret, I appreciate your time, and you know I wish you the best of luck.
Bret Calhoun:
Thanks a lot, Danny.
Operator:
As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one. We will take our next question from Tim Sullivan, with the Louisville Courier-Journal.
Tim Sullivan:
Hi Bret. Just wondering, as you analyze the Derby, how do you think [inaudible] scratch impact that race, and second question, how do you think his being available for the Preakness race
Bret Calhoun:
You know, you don’t know how much it affected it, but you look at the Derby and it was a very, very honest pace. I don’t know how much different it would have been with him in there, because I think they were going plenty fast early on. I think Authentic earned the lead and he earned the win because he didn’t have anything easy. He was forced to run hard early and continued on. I really don’t know that Art Collector being in there, or not being in there really changed the dynamic of it. And I think this race could be different. Authentic’s coming in there and proving himself that he can run a mile and a quarter on the lead with hot fractions and stay. So, I think that’s probably going to affect what Art Collector does. I think that he has to make a decision whether he wants to turn him loose and take the risk of him being gone, or he wants to stay right on top of him and pressing. And that could affect the whole race.
Tim Sullivan:
Thank you.
Alicia Hughes:
Well Bret, before we go ahead and let you go here today, I would be remiss if I let you go without asking you some more about By My Standards, who was very impressive winner of the Grade 2 Alysheba on Oaks day, and I thought he had a good work again this morning. The only horses who have beaten him this year are Tom’s d’Etat and Improbable, the latter of whom now might be the favorite for the Breeders’ Cup Classic. What do you feel needs to happen for By My Standards to kind of just put him over the hump against those types in the Breeders’ Cup?
Bret Calhoun:
Well, he’s had an unbelievable year. When you said he’s got two blemishes on his record this year, Tom’s d’Etat and Improbable, two very, very good horses. I think that in the Whitney, us being the one post, getting away a little tardy and stumbling, Improbable got the jump on us and got positioned up front with moderate fractions, and we just couldn’t make it up. So, that gives me a lot of confidence moving forward. If Improbable is going to be the favorite for the Breeders’ Cup Classic, I would say that gives me a lot of confidence that we have a huge shot.
Alicia Hughes:
Definitely, I said. [inaudible]. I know he’s a horse you all have always been high on, and he’s definitely taking the next step in his form this year as an older horse.
Bret Calhoun:
No doubt. He’s been a very fun horse to train.
Alicia Hughes:
Yeah. So, like I said, you are always extremely generous with your time. Thank you again so much for coming on and for joining us today. Continued the best of luck with everything, and safe travels to Baltimore this week.
Bret Calhoun:
Thank you very much.
Alicia Hughes:
And with that, that will do it for today’s NTRA National Media Teleconference. An audio file of this call will be up later on today on ntra.com, and a transcript should be up there tomorrow. Once again, we would like to thank our guests, Tommy Drury, Ned Toffey, and Bret Calhoun. Thank you to everyone for joining us in participating today. And now, back to our operator to wrap things up.
Operator:
That concludes today’s presentation. Thank you for your participation, you may now disconnect.
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