June 15, 2020

Belmont Stakes Preview

Guests

  • Todd Pletcher, trainer, Farmington Road, Dr Post
  • Jack Knowlton, owner Tiz the Law
  • Mark Casse, trainer Tap It to Win

Full transcript (note: transcript has not been edited)

P R E S E N T A T I O N

 

 

Operator:

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the NTRA Road to the Triple Crown Conference Call.  At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode.  Following the presentation, we will conduct a question-and-answer session.  At this time, participants are asked to press star one to register for a question.  As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Ms Alicia Hughes.  Please go ahead, Ms Hughes.

Alicia Hughes:

Thank you so much, John, and welcome everyone to this week’s NTRA Road to the Triple Crown Teleconference.  Normally of course, when we are talking about the first leg of the American – Classic – we are usually discussing the Derby, but with the coronavirus pandemic, throwing everything off its axis this year, it is the Belmont Stakes that will lead off the Triple Crown this season.  That race will be taking place this Saturday, a mile-and-an-eighth and it will offer 150 Derby qualifying points to the winner.

In a year that has been filled with uncertainty, multiple Grade 1 winner, Tiz the Law has been a consistent force in the three-year-old male range, thanks to his victories in the Holy Bull and the Florida Derby.  Jack Knowlton of Sackatoga Stable, which owns Tiz the Law will be joining us in a bit to talk about the expected Belmont Stakes favorite.  And we will also be joined later on by newly-minted Hall of Fame trainer, Mark Casse, who captured the race last year with Sir Winston and it’s at the Saratoga to win when this season comes.

First off, however, we are lucky to be joined by three-time Belmont Stakes trainer Todd Pletcher, who has two expected runners this year in Farmington Road and Dr Post.  [Inaudible] in 2007 when the silly Rags to Riches bested Curlin in a race for the ages and he won to place a trophy again in 2013 after Palace Malice’s victory and in 2017 when Tapwrit prevailed.

Todd, thank you so much for joining us today.

Todd Pletcher:

 

Thank you, Alicia.

Alicia Hughes:

Todd, I said, I know it’s been a challenging season for all horseman in terms of trying to map out targets for their runners when tracks were still in the midst of trying to figure out how to even resume operations.  With Farmington Road, with Dr Post, how did you come to the decision that, you know, this kind of non-traditional version of the Belmont Stakes would be an ideal fit for each of them?

Todd Pletcher:

Well, looking at Dr Post, he’s a horse that’s probably benefitted from the change in the traditional Triple Crown calendar because he didn’t make his three-year-old debut until 29th March and then came back in – after breaking his mane, he came back into a mile-and-a-sixteenth take, 25th April.  So, you know, under traditional timings, he was not going to be ready for probably any of the Triple Crown races, but certainly the Kentucky Derby.  So this – this is kind of been to his benefit, he’s progressed greatly since the beginning of the year.  I thought he’s very impressive in his maiden win.  And while he lacks a little bit of experience in terms of number of races run, he got a lot of education in the Unbridled Stakes, the Gulf stream, when he was kind of boxed in through a good portion of the race and ate a lot of dirt and, you know.  So for a lightly-raised horse, we were happy that not only was he able to win but kind of overcome some adversity and get some education.

And Farmington Road’s front, he’s probably a horse who would have benefitted from the traditional distance of the mile-and-a-half into Belmont but he’s come close to delivering that breakthrough performance.  And he’s a horse that he doesn’t have a lot of early speed, but he’s got a good sustained run, he would certainly appreciate a good, honest, fast pace upfront and unbiased track that would play to closers, would also help him, so very happy with the way both horses are training.  They did most of their preparation in Florida, shipped up last week, worked in company on a Saturday morning together, 44 and both of them seemed like they handle the main track in Belmont very well.  So fingers crossed, everything continues to go smoothly as it has this week so far.

Alicia Hughes:

 

Yeah, I mean you said, you know, you mentioned with Farmington Road, obviously with the fact that the Belmont year – that the Belmont this year is going to be a mile-and-an-eight instead of the usual 12 furlongs, how much do you feel like that will, in particular help his cause of kind of getting the pace set up he needs, because obviously going a mile-and-a-half, you know, you’re not going to get – you’re usually not going to get them going quick fractions upfront?

Todd Pletcher:

 

Usually not, usually not.  And I think, you know, on paper, this is a race that certainly looks like it could have, you know, a solid pace.  You know, I think the one turn dimension making it, you know, one turn mile-and-an-eighth, you’ll generally see horses lay a little bit closer.  The pack kind of becomes a little more consolidated, you don’t have that first turn to immediately negotiate, which most of the time kind of spreads things out a bit as everyone’s trying to save some ground.  And these one turn scenarios, you know, I think you’ll see the group kind of a little closer together and so hopefully that’ll be to the benefit of Farmington Road, who instead of being way out of contention early on, will hopefully be in contact with the main part of the field.

Alicia Hughes:

 

Sounds good, Todd.  Like I said, I know we’ve got a lot of media joining us today.  So with that, I will throw it back to our operator, John and check in with the media to see if they have any questions for you.

Operator:

 

Thank you, sir.  Ladies and gentlemen, if you would like to ask a question, please signal by pressing star one.  That is star one to queue for a question.  We’ll pause for a brief moment to allow everyone an opportunity to signal for questions.

We will now take our first question from Tim Wilkin of Albany Times Union.  Please go ahead.  Your line is open.

Tim Wilkin:

 

Hey Todd, the – Tiz the Law is expected to be the big favorite in this race.  Is he in an advantage or in a disadvantage, the fact that, you know, his schedule was the fact that he was ready to run as, I guess, a race on Kentucky Derby day and now he’s had to wait and he’s got an 11-week – 11-week layoff.  Is that – do you think that helps or hinders him the way the schedule is now?

Todd Pletcher:

 

Well, I mean, Barclay Tagg’s a very experienced, skilled-horse trainer and I think once he knew kind of what the schedule was, he’s been focused on this.  And, you know, it looks to me like the horse is training sensationally, it looks great on the race track and, you know, I think it’s not been an ideal scenario for anyone, but I think, you know, there’s no doubt in my mind that Barclay will have his horse ready to go.

Tim Wilkin:

 

Right.

Operator:

We will now move on to our next question from Mitchell Gibbs of WGSO Radio.  Please go ahead.  Your line is open.

Mitchell Gibbs:

 

Todd, I have a question outside the Belmont.  The last couple of months or so, when we really didn’t have any sporting and non-sporting events, horse races sort, I had front and center, so I want to know your thoughts if you think that that’s something that can expand the racing a fan base for, you know, for horse racing?  Because we always hear about it, it’s kind of an aging fan base, so I want to get your thoughts on that.

Todd Pletcher:

Well, I do think the fact that we were one of the few sports that was conducting, you know, live action, given an opportunity maybe for some people who haven’t been following racing to follow it or people maybe haven’t been following it recently to come back.  You know, what’s going to happen when everything else opens up?  You know, I’m not sure you’re going to start seeing competition from other sports as well as casinos and that sort of thing.  But, you know, you would certainly hope that by exposing it to some new fans and bringing it back to some – maybe some fans that weren’t recently following it, that they’ll continue to do so.  I mean – but certainly we all know that there’s going to be a lot of competition out there once the NBA and NHL and NFL and college athletics come back, but, you know, hopefully we’ve made a good impression.  I think, it’s been very well televised and, you know, hopefully it can carry some momentum.

Mitchell Gibbs:

 

Can I ask one more question?

Todd Pletcher:

 

Sure.

Mitchell Gibbs:

 

Do you think the distance diminishes the Triple Crown since it’s a mile-and-an-eight as opposed to the mile-a-quarter or the traditional mile-and-a-half?  So I want to get your thoughts on that, if that has any effect on – we’ll see, right?  Because we don’t even know if we’re going to have a Triple Crown winner or not this year, so I want to get your in – your take on that.

Todd Pletcher:

 

Well, I don’t think there’s any question that at the end of 2020, you can put a big asterisk by the whole year and the Triple Crown is certainly part of that.  It’s a – you know, it’s not going to be the same, it’s going to be spread out over a much different timeframe and, you know, at different distances, different orders.  So, you know, I think it goes without saying it’s a non-traditional Triple Crown series.  And, you know, it wouldn’t – I don’t think it would take away from the accomplishments of a single horse if they were able to win, you know, one, two or three legs of it.  It’s – these are still very difficult races to win but it’s clearly not the same as trying to do it all in five weeks at three different distances, culminating with the mile-and-a-half in the Belmont.

Operator:

 

We will now take our next question from Robert Kieckhefer, United Press International.  Please go ahead.  Your line is open.

Robert Kieckhefer:

Thank you.  Todd, I was wondering, you know, sometimes when change is forced upon us, like it has been this year, it’s an opportunity to think about, you know, things that we wouldn’t normally think about in terms of scheduling and so on and so forth.  I’m just wondering, have you given any thought at all to it?  If you could take the stake schedule in the United States and put it into a big paper bag and shake it up, would you restructure things differently as they have been traditionally in terms of how things progressed during the course of the year?

Todd Pletcher:

 

Well, I think there was a movement for that.  And you know, when there was 37 years in between Triple Crown winners and, you know, everyone was saying, ‘Well, maybe we need to change the distances, change the timing in between races and all of those things.’  And then when you have two Triple Crown winners and American Pharaoh and Justify, then, you know, I think all of a sudden that talk sort of subsided.  And, you know, to me, I appreciate the tradition of the Triple Crown series and the way it is and that’s part of what makes it so difficult.  So, you know, I think I would hope that it would go back to its traditional order and timing next year.  There could be some other events along the way, you know, maybe in the middle of the year, later part of the year, they could make some adjustments from this.  But, you know, I think the traditional Triple Crown series is – it’s a buried honor tradition and I’d like to see it stay that way.

Robert Kieckhefer:

 

Fair enough.  And a lot of credit is due to you and the other trainers, as owners, and to Alicia too for keeping going through all of this.  It’s not been easy, I’m sure.

Todd Pletcher:

 

Yeah, thank you.

Operator:

 

Once again, ladies and gentlemen, if you would like to queue for a question, please signal by pressing star followed by one.  That is star one to queue for a question.  We’ll take our next question from Tim Sullivan, Louisville, Courier-Journal.  Please go ahead.  Your line is open.

Tim Sullivan:

Yes, Todd.  I wanted to get your thoughts on how the gap between the Triple Crown races might affect preparations of various trainers, how you’re looking at it with the Derby still almost three months off?  And if – there’s a second part, are you at all surprised that given that this is the first leg of the Triple Crown, that this isn’t a bigger field?

Todd Pletcher:

 

I’m sorry, I didn’t hear that last part.

Tim Sullivan:

 

The last part was that given that this is the first leg of the Triple Crown, are you at all surprised that it’s not a bigger field for the Belmont?

Todd Pletcher:

Yeah, I am a little bit surprised and, you know, there was some unfortunate defections recently that contributed to that.  But, you know, my original thought was, you know, it could potentially be erased, it would oversubscribe and, you know, now it’s – it looks like it’s going to be more in the neighborhood of an eight or nine horse field max.  So that does surprise me a little bit and I think that’s partly due to some bad luck for some horses and also just, you know, the uncertainty sort of the timing of everything.  But, you know, on the first part of the question with the timing between races, I mean, I think it’s pretty straightforward from the Derby to the Preakness, you’re going to go 5th September to 3rd October.  I think the bigger question is sort of what you do in between the Belmont and the Kentucky Derby, if you’re on that path, you know, with the 20th June, Belmont and then 5th September, Kentucky Derby.

First of all, we don’t even know what alternatives are necessarily there, Saratoga’s not put out their fixed schedule yet.  So I’m going to assume that the Travers is probably going to be positioned somewhere in between so that you could potentially run in both the Belmont, the Travers and then follow up with the Kentucky Derby.  The Haskell is scheduled for 18th July, so there’s also the opportunity to run back, you know, after the Belmont there.  And I think of course, there’s the, you know, also the possibility that you could train from the Belmont up to the Kentucky Derby.  So, you know, a lot of those things still to be decided and a lot of it to be determined once we see sort of what all those options are.

Tim Sullivan:

 

Thank you.

Operator:

We will now take our next question from Beth Harris of Associated Press.  Please go ahead.  Your line is open.

Beth Harris:

 

Hi, Todd.  I’m wondering if you have been told whether your owners can attend on Saturday and whether they plan to do so?

Todd Pletcher:

 

It is my understanding that there will be no spectators, no owners, which, you know, is unfortunate in a lot of ways, but with the current protocols in place, I think everyone’s health and safety is first and foremost.  And as we sort of get a little further down the road, maybe, you know, things will start to loosen up as we see how this progresses.  But it’s my understanding that there will be no owners in attendance.

Operator:

 

We will now take our next question from Brad Stevens from First Racing Nations.  Please go ahead.  Your line is open.

Brad Stevens:

 

There’s no racing without spectators that’s been going on for a couple of months now, but do you think it’s really going to set in and you have a Belmont Stakes when you’re, you know, you’re used to seeing that big atmosphere on Belmont Stakes Day and having no one there Saturday, do you think that’ll be, you know, really when the difference stands out when you see an empty crowd on Belmont Stakes Day?

 

Todd Pletcher:

 

Well, it’ll certainly be a far different.  I, you know, I’ve always said that the Belmont Stakes, especially when there’s a Triple Crown at stake, is one of the most exciting sporting events in the world and, you know, and match it up there with Super Bowls, and World Series and everything else.  So when you take that traditional 90 to 100,000 fans out of the grand standards, it’s going to be, you know, a far different scene, for sure.  So it’s, you know, sad in some ways, but like I said, we’re grateful that we’re getting the opportunity to run and, you know, hopefully, get a good viewership on television and, you know, the one thing I think we’ve all seen from the coverage is that, you know, horse racing makes good TV.  And so, hopefully we can build on that.

Brad Stevens:

 

Thank you.

 

Operator:

 

We will now take our next question from Jay Privman of Daily Racing Form.  Please go ahead.  Your line is open.

 

Jay Privman:

 

Todd, I was wondering if you could describe the two colts you’re running from a physical standpoint and compare both of them to their sire who you also train for part of this career, please?

 

Todd Pletcher:

 

Well, I think Dr Post, you know, physically reminds me a great deal of quality road.  He’s a big scopey colt that, you know, when you first look at him, you think, you know, he wants to run all day, but he also, like his sire, has good tactical speed and stable to break his maiden go on 7 furlongs and then stretch out and just this third lifetime start in second start of the year.  So from a physical comparison, very similar, same color, [inaudible] and he’s a very challenging horse.  This is Franklin Road who I would classify as a little more compact tidy version of his sire and still resembles quality road.  Not quite the same color, a little darker color, but really a ‒ just a bright disposition, easy horse to train.  Very, very relaxed in the mornings and quiet and ‒ well, you don’t hear much out of him until it’s time to breeze and that’s when he kind of picks strides up a bit.

 

Jay Privman:

 

Thank you.

 

Operator:

 

It appears we have no further questions at this time.

 

Alicia Hughes:

 

Thank you so much, Todd.  Again, I said, I know things are always busy in your world, so as always, I want to thank you for taking the time out to come on and share your thoughts with us.  And, you know, best of luck for it this week of what’s it going for when Belmont wins number four.

 

Todd Pletcher:

 

Thank you so much, Alicia.  Take care and have a good day.

 

Alicia Hughes:

 

Thank you.  And next up, we’re going to go to owner, Jack Knowlton, who is enjoying another ride of a lifetime with Tiz the Law.  Knowlton and his partners in Sackatoga famously campaigned Funny Cide in 2003 when the gelding one two leagues of the Triple Crown before finishing third in the Belmont stakes.  Jack, thank you so much for joining us today.

 

Jack Knowlton:

 

Happy to be there.

 

Alicia Hughes:

 

Happy ‒ always happy ‒ It’s always a pleasure to have you on here.  So, Jack, I know I saw ‒ oh, we saw obviously that Tiz the Law put in his final serious workout yesterday and it sounds like your trainer, Barclay Tagg, was more than satisfied with what he saw.  What does it say to you just about Barclay as a horseman and Tiz the Law as a talent that, you know, that he’s been able to maintain such a high level, especially, you know, when the schedules have constantly had to be adjusted in the ‒ in this current climate?

 

Jack Knowlton:

Well, Barclay has been in this game for 50 years and, you know, he has all the experience you need.  You know, Barclay doesn’t get the kind of horses like Funny Cide and Tiz the Law are very often, but when he does get an opportunity, he makes the most of it.  And, you know, I think that he’s been adaptable and fortunately, you know, Tiz the Law is the kind of horse that, you know, seems to take everything in stride and he’s very easy to work with.  So from that perspective, I think we’ve been very fortunate that that was already proven that, you know, the horse can run well off a layoff winning his two races this year of eight, nine week layoffs.  So this one is going to be even a little bit longer, but, you know, Barclay has been patient to, you know, working him, you know, a little hard when a line of do that, but not continually doing that.  So, you know, a week ago, we had kind of his last, you know, real serious work and then yesterday, it was just kind of a maintenance work.  But from all indications, he’s doing as well as he’s been doing all year and hopefully, that’ll carry over into the Belmont.

 

Alicia Hughes:

 

And I knew with you, Jack, obviously, you know the Travers is a race that’s up there with you as far as in terms of how meaningful they would be to win.  Assuming all goes well this weekend and depending on whenever the Travers is contested, with a plan B just to wait for that race and then go to the Derby or is there maybe another race timing-wise that you think could be sort of his last prep before potentially heading to Louisville?

Jack Knowlton:

 

You know, the Travers is definitely on our schedule.  I continue to hear that most likely date is going to be 8th August and, you know, 1st August, 8th August.  You know, either one of those that would set well and still give us four or five weeks before the Derby.

 

Alicia Hughes:

 

Sounds good.  Like I said, with that, Jack, I will throw it back to our operator, John, and we can check with the media to see if they have any questions for you.

 

Operator:

 

Thank you.  Ladies and gentlemen, once again, if you would like to queue for a question, please do so by pressing star followed by one.  We will take our first question from Mark Whicker of Orange County Register.  Please go ahead.  Your line is open.

 

Mark Whicker:

 

Hi, Jack.  This horse has returned its investment pretty impressively.  What ‒ do you remember what you saw in the horse when you bought him that appealed to you?

 

Jack Knowlton:

 

Well, Barclay Tagg and Robin Smullen and, you know, they’re ‒ they serve as our bloodstock agents.  And historically, we have tried to buy horses at the New York-Bred Yearling Sale in August and Saratoga each year and Barc