April 25, 2019
Kentucky Derby Preview
Guests
- Rick Porter, owner, Omaha Beach
- Elliott Walden, CEO and President of WinStar Farm, co-owner of Improbable
- Bret Calhoun, trainer, By My Standards
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. Welcome to the NTRA Road to the Triple Crown call. At this time, all participants are in listen only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. At that time, participants are asked to press star one to register for questions. 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 and welcome everyone to this week’s NTRA teleconference to preview the 145th edition of the Kentucky Derby on May 4th, 2019 taking place at historic Churchill Downs. This week we’ve got a trio of guests who all have viable reasons to feel confident that their charge will be the one to bring home the roses next weekend. And leading things off is the man who hoped to be leading in his first Classic winner, Mr. Rick Porter of Fox Hill Farms, owner of Arkansas Derby winner and expected Kentucky Derby favorite Omaha Beach. Rick Porter has campaigned such champions as Songbird and Havre de Grace and has twice finished second in the Kentucky Derby first in 2007 with Hard Spun and again a year later with a filly Eight Belles. With Omaha Beach, Porter has arguably his best ever chance at the Derby as the son of War Front defeated champion game winner in the Rebel Stakes and then went on to turn back Improbable to take the Arkansas Derby in his most recent outing. Rick, thank you so much for joining us this afternoon.
Rick Porter:
Oh, thanks for having me.
Alicia Hughes:
Rick, you started five horses in the Derby and three of them have finished in the top five, so I know you know what it feels like to come in here with a live contender. Compare those past experiences to what it feels like now to have a horse that is expected to be the favorite, especially given the amount of success that favorites have had in this race in recent years.
Rick Porter:
Well, obviously, you know, I feel really good about Omaha Beach’s chances. It gets me a little nervous when we’ve got all this hype about him, but, anyway I, you know, I was fairly confident when Hard Spun ran in 2007. And Friesan Fire went off the favorite and beat one horse. But anyway, I feel like you know, I have a better chance than I did before, but it’s, you know, 20 horses, it’s a tough thing, there’s a lot of good competition, and we’re just hoping for, you know, a good trip.
Alicia Hughes:
And we were fortunate enough to have Dick Mandella come on in advance of the Arkansas Derby and he joked at that point that someday somebody is going ask him how he got this horse beat so many times. At what point in this whole –
Rick Porter:
[Inaudible]
Alicia Hughes:
Exactly so at what point in this whole development did he really start kind of tipping you guys off about what his real potential, you know, would be?
Rick Porter:
Well, Bill and Jean Rucio[?] break my horses and they were pretty high on him, you know, when they were training him. And then you know, he started off training very well. Dick was very excited about, you know, the way he was training. His works were good, he was getting over[?] the dirt but he wanted to try – because with War Front, try him on the grass first, and I think we ran third and second and second and, you know, then I asked if we could run him on the dirt because he was training and working so well. So, that’s what happened. Got him on the dirt and he just seems to be getting better and better with every race. His numbers are getting better, and Mike Smith just thinks he’s getting better every race and he’s a push-button horse.
Alicia Hughes:
Sounds good. So, well, Rick, like I said, I know we’ve got a media on the call today. I will throw it back right now with Vickie and see if they have any questions for you today.
Rick Porter:
Okay.
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 and we’ll pause for just a moment to allow everyone an opportunity to signal for questions.
We’ll take our first question from Dan Wolken with USA Today.
Dan Wolken:
Rick, hi. Thanks for doing this. Was just curious –
Rick Porter:
Hi Dan.
Dan Wolken:
– because of the timing of all of this, a lot of people who maybe don’t follow horse racing all that closely are going to be kind of clued in on the Lasix debate. And I was just curious from your standpoint as an owner, and, obviously, you’ve been in this a long time, where do you stand on it and what do you think is important for people to know about the conversation that’s currently happening around Lasix?
Rick Porter:
Well. You know, I know the horses run in Europe without Lasix. I know Dick Mandell said that it wouldn’t be the end of the world for him if they wouldn’t race on Lasix, but I don’t know enough about the pros and cons for the health of the horse, and, you know, whether it can possibly cause breakdowns. I just don’t know enough about it, but, you know, it would be fine with me if we run without Lasix and whatever they decide, you know, I’ll just have to live with it. I really don’t have an opinion.
Dan Wolken:
Fair enough, thank you.
Operator:
And we’ll go next to David Grening with Daily Racing Form.
David Grening:
Rick, how are you doing?
Rick Porter:
Hey David, haven’t talked to you in a while.
David Grening:
Yeah, I hope you’re feeling well.
Rick Porter:
I am, thanks.
David Grening:
Good. Given everything that was happening in California earlier this winter, did you get spooked by any of that? Did you want to move the horses out of California? I know you obviously had a race outside of California, but as far as training, did you get a little – how concerned did you get by what was happening out there?
Rick Porter:
After talking to Dick Mandell, I wasn’t concerned about it at all. You know, he thinks that there’s no question the track had a problem, but he didn’t train when the track wasn’t good enough to train on. You know, he felt that a lot of the breakdowns were avoidable if they didn’t take the horses to the track all the time when they had so much rain. So, he wasn’t concerned. He said we won’t go to the tracks unless I think it’s good; and he’s got a lot of experience, and he wasn’t concerned with it at all, so I wasn’t either.
David Grening:
Also, at this time of year, you know, as we get to the Derby, how much do you think about what happened with Eight Belles or is it something that you’ve been able to just put behind?
Rick Porter:
Yeah, I, you know, I’ll never forget it, obviously, but, you know, I don’t think about it when we run in the Derby. You can’t just start bringing that back. It was a fluke. She took a bad step and then another one. You know, I can’t – you know, I don’t dwell on it at all.
David Grening:
Okay. And my last question was just how much does – given how close you have come in this race and how much you put in the game, how much does this race mean to you?
Rick Porter:
Well, it means a lot to me, Mike and Dick. It means a lot. This might be my last shot I mean. But you know, I think every owner would like to win a Kentucky Derby a lot. I know Dick Mandella wants to win it. But we’re both virgins, so hopefully this will take care of both of us.
David Grening:
Thank you very much and best of luck.
Rick Porter:
Alright, David.
Operator:
And we’ll go next to Hal Habib with The Palm Beach Post.
Hal Habib:
Hi, Rick, good to talk to you again after all this time.
Rick Porter:
Hey, how you doing, Hal?
Hal Habib:
I’m doing well, thank you. I wanted to take you back for just a minute to before he broke his maiden. If I had told you that he would be in this position and the likely favorite in the Kentucky Derby, what would your reaction have been?
Rick Porter:
Total shock and disbelief. I hadn’t even thought of the Kentucky Derby, you know. Number one, I thought he was going to be a grass horse and. you know, it wasn’t until the Rebel that we really started thinking about it.
Hal Habib:
And also, going back to what you touched on a minute ago about what it would mean to you to win this race, would it sort of be like the last missing link in your horse-racing career do you think?
Rick Porter:
Yeah, I think it sure is. We’ve had good fortunes with a lot of horses. I mean, you know, we’ve won a lot of big races, but this would be the icing on the cake.
Hal Habib:
Alright, thanks very much. Good luck to you.
Rick Porter:
Ah yeah, talk to you later.
Operator:
We’ll go next to Tom Pedulla with America’s Best Racing.
Tom Pedulla:
Hey Rick, how are you there?
Rick Porter:
Good, Tom, how are you doing?
Tom Pedulla:
Good, thank you. Wanted to ask you, do you feel that the Derby is a big missing piece for Mandella? Obviously, we all know how much he’s accomplished, but is this a big missing piece and what would it mean if he could get it?
Rick Porter:
He wants this bad, believe me. He’s, you know, he’s talking about it all the – you know. He just wants to prove that he can win the Kentucky Derby because of his track record. And, you know, he’s done everything – just about everything else in horse racing, and, you know, he wants it as much as anybody could ever want anything.
Tom Pedulla:
And just as a follow up if I may, could you talk about the job he has done in bringing Omaha Beach to this stage?
Rick Porter:
Well, I think he’s done a wonderful job. You know, he always does slowly. It made a lot of sense to try him on the grass and, you know, I don’t think he could’ve done anything any better. Everybody’s talking about it all the time how could you lose with this horse. Well, you know, he was going easy with him and it just happened. He developed slowly and Dick always goes slowly.
Tom Pedulla:
Okay, thank you very much.
Rick Porter:
Okay.
Operator:
We’ll go next to John Clay with Lexington Herald-Leader.
John Clay:
Yes, Rick, with the health problems that you went through recently, how gratifying is it just to have a horse back in the Derby, especially in such a prime position?
Rick Porter:
Well, it’s great to have another good horse. Such really a shock that I got another one, but, you know, it really came at the right time for me and I’m just very fortunate.
John Clay:
To follow up on that, Rick, when did you start getting back into buying horses again and what was it about Omaha Beach? I know that Larry Jones helped pick out the horse. What was it about Omaha Beach that you liked when you purchased him?
Rick Porter:
Well, Larry had told Reiley McDonald, you know, who was consigning the horse, or Colmore[?], and Larry told him he thought it was the best-looking physical he’d seen in sales. But he didn’t put it on the shortlist to show me because he knew I wasn’t a fan of grass horses particularly and it was going to bring too much money. You know, with that pedigree and that looks, you know, we all thought, looking back on it, I wouldn’t have been surprised if it brought a couple million dollars, but I don’t know what happened. He had a little tiny vet issue, but my vet Park[?] didn’t have a problem with it, and then we called Larry [inaudible] asked him to look at the X-rays and he said Rick don’t, you know, don’t let this interfere with your purchase, this is nothing, it’s going to go away and so –
And then Mandella came and looked at it. He hadn’t seen it and I asked him to look and he said I got to agree with Larry, I haven’t seen a better physical yet. So, even though it was a War Front, I made Reiley an offer and he took it and the rest is history.
John Clay:
Great. Thank you.
Rick Porter:
You’re welcome.
Operator:
We’ll go next to Marcus Hersh with Daily Racing Form.
Marcus Hersh:
Hi Mr. Porter, I’m wondering what’s your most memorable win so far in your career owning horses?
Rick Porter:
I think that it was probably – it’s tough to say, but Havre de Grace with beating the boys in the Woodward. But I guess the most memorable now that I think about it was Hard Spun winning the King’s Bishop because we had a lot of horses in there and Kerlin[?] came along and we couldn’t beat him. So, anyway, Larry decided to shorten him up and it was a very memorable time in the winter circle.
Marcus Hersh:
What do you think you’re like to train for as an owner? You’ve had a number of trainers. What do you think it’s like training for you?
Rick Porter:
I think I’m very easy. I’ve been with Larry a long time and Dick Mandella. We have a great relationship. I don’t interfere with them, but just, you know, I think I’m an easy owner, that’s what I think.
Marcus Hersh:
Excellent. Best of luck to you. Thank you.
Rick Porter:
Bye there. Thanks.
Operator:
Again, press star one to ask a question. We’ll go next to Pat Forde with Yahoo Sports.
Pat Forde:
Hi Mr. Porter, I’m sorry if this question has already been asked, but I was just – I got on a little bit late. Wondering if you could recap the jockey change you made to Mike Smith and then your reaction when you knew that Mike was going to stay with Omaha Beach for the Derby.
Rick Porter:
So, obviously, I was very happy that Mike decided to stay with us. And… I forgot part of the question, sorry.
Pat Forde:
Yeah, the decision to go with Mike when you did.
Rick Porter:
Oh, I had talked – you know, Dick knows that I like Mike a lot. That was way back. We’re friends, we talk a lot all the time and – but really Mike got on it because… Prat[?] decided to – you know, he took off of it and then when they, you know, when they split the race, he’d already given the call to Mike when Prat wanted to get back on, and that was a done deal as far as Dick. He was very upset with the –
So, I thought it was –
Pat Forde:
How long –
Rick Porter:
I thought it was great [inaudible] Mike got on.
Pat Forde:
Yeah. How long have you been friends with Mike?
Rick Porter:
His father used to work at Philadelphia Park and that’s how I started with John Servis on the horses over there. I got to know his father and then Mike rode my first grade-one winner named Jostle a long time ago and he won the coaching club in the Alabama with him, and then he’s ridden for me – there’s a lot of good horses. He and [inaudible] have ridden most of my good horses.
Pat Forde:
Okay, thank you.
Rick Porter:
You’re welcome.
Operator:
And we’ll go next to Stephen Whyno with The Associated Press.
Stephen Whyno:
Hey Rick, thanks very much for doing this. I know you’re in Delaware and the Mid-Atlantic region and over recent years kind of they’ve done some security things in terms of safety for the horses and have cut down breakdowns a lot. I’m curious what your thoughts are as a horseman just on kind of some of the changes that Mid-Atlantic made to kind of cut down on injuries and how successful they’ve been.
Rick Porter:
Well, you know, I don’t know the statistics, but, you know, I think it’s great that they’re working on whatever they could do to cut down on the breakdowns. You know, I feel a lot of it – maybe the horses shouldn’t be running – and I don’t think it’s just the track, but, obviously, all this inbreeding has affected, you know, how fragile they are.
Stephen Whyno:
Sure. Thank you very much.
Rick Porter:
You’re welcome.
Operator:
And we have no further questions at this time.
Alicia Hughes:
Rick, I know this is a busy time of year, so I just wanted to thank you again for taking the time out to join our call today. Like I said, you know, you’re heading into this next weekend with a great chance and I just want to thank you again and continued best of luck with everything.
Rick Porter:
Well, thanks very much and I’ll talk to you again.
Alicia Hughes:
Thanks again, Rick.
Rick Porter:
Right, bye-bye.
Alicia Hughes:
Take care.
And next up we are going to check in with a man who knows all about success on the first Saturday in May and beyond. WinStar Farm President and CEO Elliott Walden. WinStar Farm celebrated its Derby win in 2010 with Super Saver and then enjoyed the sports pinnacle last year as the co-owners of Triple Crown Winner and Reigning Horse of the Year Justify. This year, the WinStar team is back again along with China Horse Club and Starlight Racing with grade one winner Improbable who physically is a mini twin of Justify himself. Elliot, thank you so much for coming on the call this afternoon.
Elliott Walden:
You’re welcome, Alicia.
Alicia Hughes:
First and foremost, you know, I know it’s probably, you know, borderline impossible to top what the whole group achieved last year with Justify. You know, when you’re coming back to the Classics a year after being part of such a historic run, how does, if at all, alter your expectations and your perspective as a whole heading into these Classics?
Elliott Walden:
Well, you’re right. It’s incredible to think we’re in this, in a position again to have a chance at winning the Kentucky Derby. And, you know, I do come in with eyes wide open. We have had horses in the Derby I think 15 – or actually 13 – the last 14 years, something like that, starting in 2006 and we’ve only won it twice, which is great, but you know, there’s a lot of times that we get beat. So, expectations are that we go in, we have a chance and that’s all you can ask for.
Alicia Hughes:
And with Improbable, this is a horse that has made a big impression with the way that he performed as a two-year-old including his win in the CashCall Futurity. I know he’s come up to short in his last two runs at Oaklawn, but how do you kind of evaluate what you saw from him in those runs and how well do you think it bodes for him to potentially peak next Saturday?
Elliott Walden:
Well, you know, the first two runs were designed to hopefully have him peak on Derby day. And I think we would’ve loved to have won those starts, but I think in both starts, he ran incredibly well. I think it moved him forward. I think we learned a little something about him and so hopefully he’ll put his best foot forward next Saturday.
Alicia Hughes:
Alright, Elliott, again, I said, I know we’ve got a lot of media on. We will throw it back and see if they have any questions for you today.
Operator:
And again, that is star one on your telephone keypad to ask a question at this time. We’ll pause once again to allow everybody an opportunity to signal for question. And we’ll go first to Dan Wolken with USA Today.
Dan Wolken:
Elliott hi, thanks for doing this. My question is for a lot of people who maybe only pay attention to horse racing during the Triple Crown or most of the year are not attuned to the day-to-day of what’s going on at the track, they’re going to hear a lot about Lasix next week; and I’m just curious in your mind, is there a connection between Lasix usage and the situation at Santa Anita, and what do you think people should know about the current debate that’s going on in the sport?
Elliott Walden:
Well I think there’s no connection that I know of between Lasix and the breakdown. And, you know, what people should know is that, you know, I think as an industry, we’re looking at everything we can to try to improve. What’s happened with Santa Anita over the winter is not acceptable and I think everybody’s eyes are wide open on that and we need to improve.
Dan Wolken:
But Lasix specifically, Elliott, just your thoughts on, will it change a lot in the industry if this current proposal is moved into action?
Elliott Walden:
Well, I’m not sure on what exactly will transpire with that as far as – I think that we’ve run horses in Dubai and run horses in Ascot, in places – you know, the horses that run well and felt like it that they ran a race in those situations. So, I think that the best horses will win with or without Lasix.
Dan Wolken:
Thank you.
Elliott Walden:
Yeah.
Operator:
Again, press star one to ask a question. And we’ll go next to Christine Oser with the The Blood-Horse.
Christine Oser:
Hi Mr. Walden, how are you?
Elliott Walden:
Good. How are you doing Christine?
Christine Oser:
I’m good. With Improbable’s ownership group similar to Justify’s and the same trainer with Bob, what did everyone see in this horse to make them want to all come back for Improbable?
Elliott Walden:
Well, you know, he was originally with – we bought him as a yearling with China Horse Club and SF, and SF is where Starlight came in. Starlight leased[?] their racing interests in the Colt just like they did in Justify. So, I think from the standpoint of what we saw in him as a yearling, he’s very athletic. Liked the City Zip part of it, and his bottom stride as well. Being an ATND[?] mare, we felt – we hoped that he would be able to carry the speed that City Zip gives him two terms. And, you know, he’s training well here at the farm. We send him to Bob. Pretty much I think it was the weekend that – I actually was around June and I know that Bob had him in Los Al and sent him to Del Mar when Justify was retired right after he had his parade at Del Mar and came back to the farm. Improbable [inaudible] at Del Mar.
Christine Oser:
Any similarities between him and Justify that you see or similar hope for Improbable?
Elliott Walden:
Justify was a bigger horse, but both of them have extreme balance. And I think Improbable’s real strength is his stride. He has a tremendous stride and great way of moving, similar to Justify. He gets over the ground really well. That’s always beneficial in a race like the Kentucky Derby because of the distance and the demands of the race being a mile and a quarter and just being able to get in that rhythm and get into that stride hopefully will prove beneficial, but that’s his real strength is his stride.
Christine Oser:
Thank you.
Operator:
And we’ll go next to John Clay with Lexington Herald-Leader.
John Clay:
Elliott, you said that you learned something about Improbable with the two races, with each of the races at Oaklawn. What did you learn?
Elliott Walden:
Well, you know in the first race, he was pretty wide. I’m not sure we learned a whole lot about the first race, but the second race, you know, he didn’t have a good incident at the gate, and he got really antsy in there. We had tried the blinkers on him to help him focus a little bit because as a two-year-old, some of his workout, he wanted to look at the grand stand a little bit and cock his head over to the outside and so we tried to correct that with a very, very minor blinker, but the way that he acted in Arkansas for the Arkansas Derby, we decided to go ahead and take that off. Bob felt like that it wasn’t a benefit and also, they kind of grabbed his tail when he started acting poorly in the Arkansas Derby and that made him even worse. So, you know, we stood in this week. Bob told me he stood really well, and I think that hopefully with a good – being good around the gate, which he has been in all his other starts, it’ll make the difference of the length that he got beat by Omaha Beach and hopefully he’ll run a winning race.
John Clay:
Great. Thanks, Elliott.
Elliott Walden:
Yeah, John.
Operator:
And we have no more questions at this time.
Alicia Hughes:
Thank you. Elliott, before we let you go, just wanted to ask you real quick. Improbable’s work this past week looks like a pretty aggressive one. He went four-furlongs in 48 flat. Is that any kind of indicator at all that maybe Bob might want him to show more speed early on in the Derby?
Elliott Walden:
You know, I noticed that too and I think that might be something that he’s looking at. I haven’t really spoken to him about that directly. Although I do know that Bob feels like you do have to get out of the gate well, feels like you need to get into a rhythm. And, you know, like I said earlier, Improbable’s strength is his stride, so I think he does want him to get in a nice rhythm and not have too many obstacles in his path. So, you know, it’s possible that he would show a little more speed, but he’s not a horse that’s going to drag you to the front end or you’re going to have to worry about slowing down. So, I see him somewhere in that first tier, probably four, five, six lengths off of it.
Alicia Hughes:
Sounds good. I said – Elliott, I said I know things are busy. So, again, I want to thank you so much again for taking the time out to come on our call. It’s always a pleasure to get a chance to pick your brain and get some wisdom from you.
Elliott Walden:
Well, thank you and you all have a great day.
Alicia Hughes:
Thanks again, Elliott. Continue, best of luck with everything.
Elliott Walden:
Thank you so much.
Alicia Hughes:
And last but not least certainly, we are going to go trainer Bret Calhoun who conditioned the Louisiana Derby winner and current buzz horse on the backside in By My Standards. By My Standards upset the Louisiana Derby in what was his greatest Stakes debut and he has been turning heads ever since he arrived at Churchill. Bret, thank you for coming on our call this afternoon.
Bret Calhoun:
Good afternoon.
Alicia Hughes:
So, like I said, for better or for worse, I hope it’s a good thing, I said By My Standards looks like he has indeed become the height horse in recent weeks with the way that he’s been training at Louisville. Correct me if I’m wrong, but he was touting himself in a pretty similar matter before his Louisiana Derby win, was he not?
Bret Calhoun:
He really was. After he broke his maiden, he basically became a different horse. We were always high on him before that, but he really had to step forward in the afternoons like we hoped. After that his maiden win, he just became a different horse in the morning. He was training phenomenally, everything he did in the morning was fantastic; and since he’s won the Louisiana Derby and moved to Churchill, he’s had three works up here that have been very, very good.
Alicia Hughes:
Yeah. So, as you mentioned before, obviously, about that proverbial light bulb kind of coming on for him once he got that maiden win under his belt. What did you see from him early on in the training that made you think so highly of him because I know he flustered you a little bit early on because you kept expecting him to kind of perform better than what his results are kind of showing you.
Bret Calhoun:
He showed quite a bit of talent in the morning in his breeze and everything. Just everything, the way he handled things, his works, the stamina he’s showing in the morning, the effortless way he did things. It had us pretty optimistic. And we’d already had one pretty good two-year-old in Mr. Money that – earlier that it kind of developed a little bit earlier. We took a shot at running at the Breeders’ Cup and he ran fourth and we saw all along this horse might step up and be better, so the way they trained in the morning. So, finally, he took that step forward after the maiden win.
Alicia Hughes:
Sounds good. So, Bret like I said, we have a lot of media on today. We’ll throw it back and see if we have any questions for you.
Bret Calhoun:
Alright.
Operator:
And once again, that is star one on your telephone keypad to ask a question at this time. We will pause for just a moment to allow everyone an opportunity to signal for questions.
And we’ll go first to Dan Wolken with USA Today.
Dan Wolken:
Bret, hi. Just curious, if the current proposed phase out of Lasix goes into effect, what impact do you think that will have on your operation and on frankly just the industry as a whole?
Bret Calhoun:
Well, obviously, I think on the whole industry, if you take it across the board, it’s a negative thing. There’s always going to have horses that are going to bleed, a high percentage of them do it and this has been a very proven medication to control it. So, I see it as a pretty negative and I’ve talked to a lot of people last week. I just returned from the Ocala Sale and I think it’s – that sale has gone well, but I think it’s dampened things a little bit and it does not look like some of the California guys showed up in strength as they had in the past. So, I think that shows some owners losing confidence. So, what’ll happen is it’ll reduce the numbers as far as horses racing. It’ll be a little harder for field size, so that’ll decrease the handle and it’s just kind of a spiraling situation. And this has proven to be a very, very effective medication for horses, a very safe medication. It’s a humane thing to do.
Dan Wolken:
Why do you think this has become such a big debate that now the tracks have actually decided to take action on it? Because, obviously, it’s been a conversation for a long time, but why do you think it’s really popped like this now?
Bret Calhoun:
Well, I think the things that’s been going on in California have put a tremendous amount of pressure on the industry as a whole to put our best face forward. I think there are some other things that we can do that’d be better than what’s proposed here, but I think that’s just a response to all the pressure.
Dan Wolken:
Got you. Thank you.
Operator:
And again, press star one to ask a question.
And we’ll go next to John Clay with Lexington Herald-Leader.
John Clay:
Bret, you just said you think there are some better things that the industry could do. What types of things are you talking about?
Bret Calhoun:
Well, I think first and foremost, they ought to concentrate on the racetrack surfaces. I think we spent the amount of the money and the time focusing on some safe racetracks, I think that would go a long way in curing some of our issues.
John Clay:
And, Bret, as a follow-up back to the Derby, how do you see the fields shaping up? Do you think that this is a strong Derby field this year?
Bret Calhoun:
I think it’s a strong Derby field and some people might disagree, but I think the fact that there’s so many of them that have a chance. It’s a wide-open affair, there’s not one horse I don’t believe that stands out. There’s obviously some that they’re a little bit more highly thought of than others, but I think it’s a pretty wide-open field and a very, very competitive field and I think that just adds a lot of excitement to it.
Operator:
And we’ll go next to Tom Pedulla with America’s Best Racing.
Tom Pedulla:
Yeah. So, Bret, what was it like to work with Chester Thomas as an owner?
Bret Calhoun:
Boy, it’s been a lot of fun. Chester and I haven’t been together a long period of time, but we’ve had a lot of success in a short period of time. He’s a fanatic about his racing and his horses. He loves it, got a high energy level and he just loves it and, therefore, it makes it a lot of fun to be around. He’s easy to cheer for, for sure.
Tom Pedulla:
He was excited after the Louisiana Derby. Can you imagine what he’d be like after – if he could win a Kentucky Derby?
Bret Calhoun:
I really can’t, I really can’t. But, you know, we had some success with Mr. Money earlier in the year and was pretty excited and I – he took a shot and put up $100,000 to run him in the Breeder’s Cup and we took another little shot in the Louisiana Derby. It worked out well. So, I know we’re a little bit of a long shot in here, but we like our horse and have a lot of confidence in it and so I’d love to see him in the winner circle.
Tom Pedulla:
Thank you.
Operator:
And we have no further questions at this time.
Alicia Hughes:
And Bret, before we let you go, just had one more for you. You know, this is set to be your first starter in the Derby. Obviously, you’ve won Breeder’s Cup races, you’ve trained champions. You know, when you get to this point, though, do you do anything differently to prepare for a race like a Derby or is part of it making sure that you don’t do anything differently and you make sure that you stick with what got you here?
Bret Calhoun:
I think you just focus on your horse. You know what got you here, you know your horse and just treat him as an individual, don’t worry about what everybody else is doing. I witnessed a lot of Derbies, I’ve watched a lot of preparations for derbies. Luckily for us, our horse has got a very good mind and I think that’s going to help us get through some of the tough spots of getting to a derby and, you know, the nerves and the paddock and the walkover and just the whole thing. And so, I think it’s keeping things normal for him, keeping his routine, keeping him happy and preparing like we have in the past.
Alicia Hughes:
Sounds good. Bret, again, want to thank you so much for taking the time out to come on and join our call today. Like I said, By My Standards, he looked fantastic in the morning. So, continued best of luck to you as he gets ready for next Saturday.
Bret Calhoun:
Thank you.
Alicia Hughes:
And everyone, thank you. And that will do it for this NTRA National Media Teleconference. An audio file of this call will be up later today on NTRA.com and a transcript will be available there by tomorrow. Once again, we would like to thank our guests Rick Porter, Elliott Walden and Bret Calhoun, and thank you to all of you for coming on to participate today. We will be back about a week after the Derby to preview the Preakness Stakes. And now back to our operator to wrap things up.
Operator:
That does conclude today’s conference. We thank you for your participation.
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