August 28, 2020
Kentucky Derby preview
Guests
- Barclay Tagg, trainer, Tiz the Law
- Jack Wolf, Starlight Racing, co-owner Authentic
- Bruce Lunsford, owner/breeder Art Collector
Full transcript (note: transcript has not been edited)
P R E S E N T A T I O N
Operator:
Good morning, ladies, and gentlemen, 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 which time instructions will be provided. For operator assistance during the call, please press star zero. Today’s call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the meeting over to Ms. Alicia Hughes, please go ahead, Ms. Hughes.
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 146th edition of the Kentucky Derby, which traditionally is the first leg of the classics, but due to the coronavirus pandemic this year, it now stands as our second classic that is going to be contested in 2020. This year’s, Kentucky Derby will be run on September 5th at historic Churchill Downs. And while it will be held without fans in attendance, it is still slated to have a near full field of three-year-olds seeking to win the most famous race in our sport. Among the top contenders expected for the Derby this year, are grade one winner, Authentic who captured the Haskell stakes in his most recent start and bluegrass stakes winner, Art Collector. Jack Wolf of starlight racing publishes the co-owner of authentic is set join us later on to talk about his colt. And we are also set the check in later with Bruce Lunsford, who is the owner and breeder of art collector. First and foremost, though, we are fortunate enough to be joined by trainer Barkley Tagg, who conditions the expected Kentucky Derby favorite, Tis The law. Tag has already tasted Derby success once have been trained champions, Funny Cide to the win in 2003, and Barclay and his team has flawlessly brought Tis The Law up to next Saturday’s race, settling the colt to four victories in as many starts this year, including triumphs in the Belmont stakes and the Travers Stakes. Barkley, thank you so much for joining us today.
Barclay Tagg:
You’re welcome.
Alicia Hughes:
I said, you know, I don’t need to tell you that I’m keeping a horse at such a high level for a sustained period of time is one of the biggest challenges that any horseman faces and you and your team have just done a really masterful job of that. When you watch Tis The Law train day in and day out, what are some of the things that you see from him that gives you confidence that as good as he already is, that there is still kind of another level of talent there to be unearthed?
Barclay Tagg:
It’s kind of amazing is a fairly easy horse to train and just does it. He’s got a good constitution. He’s fast, of course, and is willing to do what you ask him to do. Everything just kind of falls into place with him. And of course, I’ve gotten that question about two weeks apart in three weeks apart and all that kind of stuff, but everything was ended in was just done. And you know, we try and keep him on a schedule. We try and keep him fit. Of course, we watch him pretty closely. Becky’s, there’s about four of us that are heavily involved in it and he’s never out of her sight. So, it’s working out fine so far. And he’s taken a hold of it and done everything we’ve asked him to do. He’s a pleasure to have, I’ll tell you.
Alicia Hughes:
Yeah, you know, I used to do that. You know, he definitely has not put a single foot wrong this year. And what day is he slated to have his final major work before he ships out to Louisville?
Barclay Tagg:
Well, we were hoping to do it on Sunday, but they’re calling for a lot of rain this weekend. We’re going to have to play it by ear. If we’ve got a good track early tomorrow morning, we might go ahead and do it. And otherwise we’ll wait until Sunday. And if that’s a horrible day too, I don’t know what we’ll do. I can’t, I’m not clairvoyant, so I don’t know how to handle it yet, but we’d like to get a work in him this weekend, his final work. And then we’re just exercising up to the Derby. We’ve got to ship him out there on Monday and all that. So, that’ll be enough stress on him.
Alicia Hughes:
Well, Barkley with that, as I know we’ve got a lot of media on with us today, so I will throw it back to our operator and they can check with the media to see if they have any questions for you.
Barclay Tagg:
All right.
Operator:
Thank you. If you’d like to ask a question, please signal by pressing star one on your telephone keypad, and if you’re using 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’ll pause just a moment to allow everyone an opportunity to signal for questions. And at this time, we’ll go first to Art Wilson with Southern California news group.
Art Wilson:
Hi Barkley. Thanks for joining us. As far as the Derby draw goes are you happy with the way they do it now? The traditional draw, or would you maybe like to see it where a horse like yours this year would benefit by giving the colt with the most qualifying points, the connections for that was, first choice of what posted, like? How do you feel about that?
Barclay Tagg:
Of course, I’d like to do that if I could this year, I don’t think they’re going to do it that way.
Art Wilson:
How do you feel about it in the future? Like in other years?
Barclay Tagg:
Well, you know, when they’re doing it with racing cars, they’d give them the best position if they’re the fastest car, showing there. I don’t know exactly how they do that, but it seems like they play to the favorite. I don’t know. I haven’t been in that predicament too many times. I’ve always been where they’ve done it themselves.
Art Wilson:
And what other than your own colt, of course, who are one or two other three-year olds that have impressed you this year?
Barclay Tagg:
Well That’s The Source looks good. There’s a couple of them that look good there. I’m not too worried about it. They might be better than ours, of course. I don’t know. Everything has been kind of spread out and it’s hard to get a line on them, you know. So, I just don’t really know. I haven’t, I haven’t seen all the test performances yet in the paper or anything like that yet. So, I can’t really make a good decision on it
Art Wilson:
It’s about the same as it was in 2003 with Funny Cide or are you even more confident this year?
Barclay Tagg:
I was pretty confident with him because everybody was against, but I was pretty confident. I even bet on it. That’s the first bet I’d had in about 20 years and the last one I’ve had since then anyway he was just doing well and I think he was a kind of horse that would love a mile and a quarter. I’m talking about Funny Cide now. And, I had a lot of fall back on how he couldn’t possibly be a mile and a quarter horse. He wasn’t ready to be a mile and a quarter horse and all that kind of stuff. And I thought he looked to me like a mile and a quarter horse the first day I laid eyes on him. So, I think they were three best races anyway, but this horse, I said so far, he’s done everything we’ve asked him to do, he doesn’t kill himself to do it. You make sure he does it. I mean, he’s a very competitive horse and I have no knocks against him and no worries about it. And if there’s somebody better, then they are better, that’s always good.
Art Wilson:
Okay. Good luck on the fifth.
Barclay Tagg:
Thank you.
Operator:
Just a reminder you may press star one on your telephone keypad if you have a question at this time that is star one for questions, and we will go next to Tom Pedula, America’s best racing. Okay.
Tom Pedula:
Yeah. Barkley, you haven’t necessarily been one to have big ticket horses, you know, million-dollar prospects, that kind of thing. Does it not necessarily take an expensive horse, perhaps your experience with Funny Cide and Tis shows that to reach the Derby, can it be done with a lower priced horse? You know, can you beat the odds with a lower priced horse?
Barclay Tagg:
Well, I don’t know if he can beat the odds, but it can be done at a lower priced horse. I mean, you know when you’re going to an auction sale, everybody’s pretty equal. I mean, you know, they don’t, I don’t think anybody’s smart enough or clairvoyant enough to be able to look at a horse and say, this is the best horse in the sale, but we do that all the time. It’s still, it doesn’t mean it’s going to happen.
And it is impossible to see the speed of a horse as a little hairy yearling or something like that. I just try and buy a horse that looks good and strong and sound and never had too much money to spend. So lately we’ve been able to spend a little bit more, but we don’t go much over a hundred thousand and there’s people out there that spend 10 million. So, you know, I don’t have any fancy answer for something like that. It’s just, we do the best we can when we go to the sale with what we’ve got.
Tom Pedula:
Okay. Thank you.
Barclay Tagg:
You’re welcome.
Operator:
And we’ll go to our next question from David Grening of Daily Racing Form.
David Grening:
About the how impressive you did [inaudible]. Why is he such a good fit for this horse? Yeah.
Barclay Tagg:
Why is Oh, Manny? Well I like the way Manny rides. I like the fact that he’s a little taller than some not that that makes any difference for Alvi at all. He’s just, he’s a very athletic kid and he’s smart. He’s quiet and listens to you. And Angel Cordero, who I’ve known for years and years and years. And he’s a great instructor and a great teacher and a great agent for these kids. And I just put all that together and I knew I wasn’t going to get one of the other boys to stay with him if he messed up or something like that. And you know, one of the real good boys when I was just starting out with him, but Manny stuck with him and we stuck with Manny and I’m glad we did.
So, we had a little bit of a controversy over that, but it didn’t last long, and it worked out. So, everything’s good.
David Grening:
You kind of stuck up for him though, right? When that sort of issue came up. I mean, you said that he’s gone. This is my guy. And you know.
Barclay Tagg:
In the first place, I didn’t think he made any mistakes in the race. The second place. I didn’t know whether this horse could handle mud or not because we avoid that when we train. I don’t know, you know, it’s probably a dumb thing to do to avoid it, but still it’s an easy way to get them hurt too at a young age and stuff like that. So Manny rode him Manny solved his faults if they were really faults, but anyway, in that bad race and that helped him know him better, I mean, he keeps putting the jock on him every time he loses a race, put different jock on him, like you never know anybody who’ll ever get used to the horse or really get them going right. Unless it’s just lucky, you know?
So he suits the horse well, he rides him the way we asked him to and he agrees with us and it’s worked out so far and I had no intention to take him off it unless they took the horse away from me. So, that’s where we are. He’s actually a very good guy to work for. Jack Nolte[?] and his sister, he’s just a class act. Yeah.
David Grening:
Thank you, sir.
Barclay Tagg:
You got it.
Operator:
And we’ll move to our next question from John Clay with Lexington Herald leader.
John Clay:
Barclay, was there anything that you learned with Funny Cide in 2003 that can help you this year with Tis The Law, in preparing for the Derby?
Barclay Tagg:
I don’t know. I don’t know how to answer that really. Funny Cide lost his first three trips as a three-year-old. And I was very disappointed in them, but he overcame that, and he won the Derby. I, you know, I don’t have any real tricky answer for that. Like that really, it’s just, it’s just hard work. You’ve got to, you’ve got to keep them in your sights every day and every night. And you’ve got to stick with the horse. Know the horse, know what he eats, what he doesn’t eat, and you can’t just depend on a night watchman or somebody to do all that for you. And you’ve got to really pay close attention to them and or I do anyway because I’m not too smart. So, I’ve got to pay close attention to him and try and figure out what they, what they need and what they can do. And you know, it works out for me, you know.
John Clay:
If I can follow up real quick. When did you first think, okay, I’ve really got something here, I’ve got the potential to have a Derby horse this year?
Barclay Tagg:
Well, everything he did, he did pretty well. Of course, that led race as a two-year-old, messed me up a little bit in thinking, but he just, he never seems to do anything wrong. He’s not overly nervous. He’s not excitable. He doesn’t beat himself and he loves to run, and he loves competition. I mean, when you see him come down the lane and he sees a horse coming or sees a horse in front of him, he just goes for it. And he’s just got the quality of a good horse. So, I don’t put the Derby in my mind and say I’m going to do it, but you know how it is,
John Clay:
Thanks, Barclay.
Operator:
And as a reminder, you may press star one on your telephone keypad if you have a question at this time, that is star one. And we will hear next from a Childs Walker of the Baltimore sun.
Childs Walker:
Hi Barclay. How are you doing? How strange will it be to go to the Derby without the fans and kind of the usual atmosphere, that’s a big part of the event? And do you think you’ll miss it at all?
Barclay Tagg:
I just want to win the race and I’m not trying to be a smart ass. I just, I just want to win the race and quiet too, can’t hurt because we’ve had quiet through all his races and he’s won them all so. This year, so it doesn’t bother me to have it quiet. I mean, it’s nice when there’s fans there and all that, and it’s a great sport. We want to keep everybody happy and have everybody enjoying the sport and be there. But strange things happen sometimes and we’re in the middle of that. And it’s unfortunate. We had the pandemic and we had the riots, or we have the political stuff. And it’s just a sad time for America right now, unfortunately, but I’m sure will come out of it. We’ve come out of worse.
And I can’t really complain because he wins. So, I’m very pleased with the way he does it. And I can’t complain about the quiet or anything else. I mean, he goes out there and does his job and that’s the main thing. So, I don’t know how else to describe it.
Childs Walker:
Yeah. Thank you.
Operator:
And we’ll move on to our next question from Robert Hepper, United press international.
Robert Hepper:
Barclay. Thank you for joining us. It’s nice to talk to someone who doesn’t want to complain. I’ve looked at past performances and it occurs to me that your colt’s only loss came at Churchill Downs, and I think his only trip on an off track. And I’m wondering if you’re concerned at all about his ability to handle Churchill’s track or have the possibility to coming up with another off-track?
Barclay Tagg:
There is the possibility to come up with another off track. And I don’t know about that. You know, I mean, I’ve never taken him out on a real muddy day and tested him to see how fast he could run or anything like that on it. So, it’s a bit of an unknown, and of course it’s a concern, but I think if he gets away good and the kid uses his head, everything, I’m not going to worry about it too much.
He doesn’t seem to let a whole lot bother him, this horse. So, I’m just, I can’t just keep that bad race in my mind and worry about it because I don’t think it’ll really have that step toward him. He is just too honest a horse, but he, you know, he was trapped the whole way and he couldn’t through and almost got through at the last part and got stopped again. And he got away bad. He’s been breaking well now, and it’s break well, on and off track, well, I think he’ll run just as well. Well, it wasn’t all that bad race. Anyway, he was beaten three quarters of the life, you know, but it shocked me because I thought he was the best horse in that race, but still things happen. That’s why we race them.
Robert Hepper:
So, that’s why they run. Thank you very much. Appreciate you joining us.
Operator:
We’ll move to our next question from Beth Harris of associated press.
Beth Harris:
Hi, Barclay. Given the unrest that’s been going on in Louisville for months now, how concerned are you about safety for the horses and the humans?
Barclay Tagg:
Very concerned. And I couldn’t be anything else, but very, very concerned. I don’t want my people hurt. I don’t want myself hurt. I don’t want the horse hurt, and the world is crazy right now. And hopefully we can pull it off without something disastrous happening.
Beth Harris:
What has Churchill told trainers about any additional safety precautions they may be taking?
Barclay Tagg:
I don’t know. I haven’t talked to them yet. We’ve been trying to work out our own trip and work it out. We’re trying to work out this last breeze for him and all that kind of stuff. And I’ll probably call Churchill tomorrow and see what’s new. So, okay. He discussed it with, go ahead.
Beth Harris:
You’re in an age range that’s of concern for COVID-19. Now, what kind of precautions are you taking ahead of traveling out of state?
Barclay Tagg:
I take precautions every day. I don’t like to talk about my age. I’m healthy, I’m blessed with health, good health fit, sound and healthy, and I’m blessed. And you know, the thing I do is I take vitamins and that’s it.
Beth Harris:
Okay. Thank you.
Barclay Tagg:
You’re welcome.
Operator:
Come to a follow up question from Tom Pedula of America’s best racing.
Tom Pedula:
Yeah Barclay. I know you don’t like to promote yourself, but yeah. As I had said before the drivers, that he thought if you could win that race, that might be the missing piece for you to get hall of fame consideration. Do you feel that your career is deserving of hall of fame consideration? Would it be important?
Barclay Tagg:
Well, of course feel that way because I’ve worked hard, you know, I’ve given up everything else in life practically to do this day in and day out for the last 50 years. So, of course you’d like that, but you know, mostly it’s owners, it gets you in the hall of fame. And if you can come up with a good owner, they’ll spend money and have faith in you. I that’s your that’s your best shot and I’m not taking anything away from the other trainers. There’s a lot of trainers I admire quite a lot, but if you’ve got the horses, that’s a big help.
Tom Pedula:
Thank you.
Barclay Tagg:
You’re welcome.
Operator:
There are no other questions in the queue at this time. I’ll turn the call back to our presenter.
Alicia Hughes:
Well, Barkley again. I just want to say thank you again for taking the time out to join us today, to speak about Tis The Law. I said, there’s, you know, can’t, can’t say enough about the great job that, you all have done with him and cannot wait to see him in person in Louisville, this coming week. So, thank you again for joining us today, Barclay.
Barclay Tagg:
Well, thank you very much. I appreciate it.
Alicia Hughes:
Thank you. You have a good one. Stay safe out there.
Barclay Tagg:
Thank you. Bye bye, now.
Alicia Hughes:
And next up, we are going to go to Jack Wolf of Starlight racing co-owner of grade one winner, Authentic. Starlight racing is already, you know, as everybody knows is well accustomed to a racing pinnacle, having owned a piece of 2018 triple crown winner, Justify. And when Justify won the Derby that year, it made Wolf and his partners the first move as residents to own a Derby winner since 1914. Jack, thank you for joining us today.
Jack Wolf:
Yeah, thanks for having me.
Alicia Hughes:
You know, for a horse that is coming off a grade one win in the Haskell and who is trained by a man in bond back in Bob Baffert, who’s already conditioned to triple crown winners. You know, it feels a little bit like Authentic is not getting, maybe, the level of attention that he would get, you know, kind of your so-called conventional season. What is Bob just telling you right now about where he’s at in his training and where he is going into this Derby?
Jack Wolf:
Yeah. He’s, he’s been training very well. He got the bullet the last time out, 21:38 and something. So, he’s training very well, and he’s come out of his last race in good order. And I guess there’s like seven weeks between the Haskell and now the Derby. So, Bob’s if he can’t get them ready in that amount of time, they can’t get ready, but he seems to be doing real well.
Alicia Hughes:
And you know, the fact that we’re even talking about a Kentucky Derby preparations in August just tells you what kind of a different world we’re in right now, even if it takes place, you know, even with it taking place in September. And even though it is going to take place without fans, you know, you’re a Louisville person. Can you just speak a little bit about why the Derby is still the most kind of transcended event we have in our sport? Just what it means to you personally?
Jack Wolf:
Well, I’ve grown up in Louisville. It’s very important. And thanks for mentioning the fact that with Justify and we had a number of Kentucky owners and Bob, but even without one from Kentucky and seeing the ultimate race out there, whether it’s run in September or May, as far as I’m concerned. And I guess Tis The Law is the only one’s got a shot at the triple crown this year and hope we can keep him from winning the second leg.
Alicia Hughes:
Sounds good, Jack, 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.
Jack Wolf:
Okay. Thanks.
Operator:
And as a reminder, you may press star one on your telephone keypad if you have a question at this time that is star one for questions. And we’ll hear from Art Wilson of Southern California news.
Art Wilson:
Yeah. Jack, I was curious on how you felt about the post-position draw for the Derby. Do you like it the way it is now? Or would you like to maybe see it where a, say the horses with the top Derby qualifying points, totals, get their pick of the, what posts they want or are you in favor of just keeping it the way it is? How do you feel about that?
Jack Wolf:
You know, I think it’s Art, it’s got a lot of credit to, especially this year, we’ve got the second most points going into the race. You know, I think it would make a lot of sense to to reward the horses that have got the most points versus a horse, and this case, this year, might not even have any points. But the reality of that happening, I just don’t know.
I think the tradition of the race and to change much of anything is going to be a difficult pass. So, but I like the idea. It’s a good idea.
Art Wilson:
And what are your thoughts on Tis The Law?
Jack Wolf:
Well, I mean, he’s a horse to beat, obviously. I mean, you look at the sheet numbers, you look at his bar numbers his race record and, you know, he’s going to be hard to beat. I was looking at the sheets the other day and he stands out there, but you know, got Honor AP and Authentic and New York traffic and Art Collector right behind him. So, anything can happen in the Derby, but he surely deserves to be the favorite and he’s done great.
And my last question now, with your victory in the Haskell, when he was getting a little late there in the lane and of course, Bob Baffert was not that concerned saying he’s a lazy horse and you just got to keep after him there in the stretch, were you at all concerned with the way you finished the Haskell, or not?
Yeah, obviously he didn’t finish well. You’ve either got to be one of two schools of thought. One is that he can’t get the distance or the other that he is a facility, immature horse may fall. And quite honestly, I don’t know which one it is. I hope it’s not the one that he can get him a mile and a quarter, but you know, his pedigree suggests that he may be limited to the mile and the eighth, but we’ll see if we can get him out there and see if he can hold his speed for a mile and a quarter. And hopefully he can.
Art Wilson:
Okay. Good luck in the Derby, Jack.
Jack Wolf:
Thanks, Art.
Operator:
And we’ll move to our next question from Beth Harris of associated press.
Beth Harris:
Hi, Jack.
Jack Wolf:
Hi, Beth.
Beth Harris:
I’m wondering are all of the owners of a horse being allowed into the Derby? Because you’ve got a pretty good owner, you know, size ownership group yourself.
Jack Wolf:
Yeah. What I’m hearing is, and I talked to spendthrift yesterday they’re giving like eight tickets per horse which obviously we’ve got many more partners than that. And so, Kumon does too, and Lord knows what my racehorses, they’ve got thousands of people. So, it’s going to be obviously very limited. Spendthrift will be making a call on who gets what in the partnership. But I sure wish they would make an exception this year, since there’s not going to be anybody out there, but it looks like we’re going to be short tickets for the owners.
Beth Harris:
Yeah. Without the fans there, what kind of atmosphere do you anticipate?
Jack Wolf:
You know, it’s going to be weird. I guess we won’t have any trouble getting around if we even get into the place, but and then you’ve got the uh concerns over the protestors and and I think the COVID is that you with as few people that’s going to be out there. I don’t think that’s going to be a real threat, but I think that depending on how the protesters react and act will determine a lot, but the actual, once we get in, the actual race is going to be something else. So, I was talking to one of the Churchill downs people the other day, they told me that they were going to implement the new 20 slot starting gate, which they’re real proud of, and at the end of the day, I don’t know if we’ll have 20 to get into there, but it’s going to be, you’re going to be awfully different.
Beth Harris:
Okay. Thanks very much.
Operator:
And just a reminder, you may press star one on your telephone keypad if you have a question at this time that is star one for questions, and we’ll go next to John Clay of Lexington Herald leader.
John Clay:
Jack, as a local guy, how much does the fact that fans won’t be there and you don’t have the traditional pageantry that goes with the Derby, I mean, how much, how do you, I mean, how much of a change, how do you feel about that? And also, the people that, you know, are they going to, how are they, are they making other plans? Are they still going to have Derby parties? Are they going to do other things to watch the Derby just interested in your thoughts on that?
Jack Wolf:
Yeah. I think the ones that aren’t going to get in, or, and I have talked to one of the partners in Atlanta and I’m presently in Saratoga and we have some horses running that particular weekend and he was talking about having a Derby party and then come coming up to Saratoga for our horses running Sunday and Monday, the labor day week. But like I said, that without having the people in there and traditionally we’ve been lucky enough to have a number of horses in the Derby through the years. And our routine is, you know, pretty spelled out during the week leading up to it. And then afterwards we normally have a party over at the house and you know, none of that’s going to be able to be done this year, so it’s going to be disappointing. But you know, the main thing that I’m very pleased about is that all the tracks that are running, at least we’re giving the horses opportunity to run, albeit in a different environment totally. But it should be fun if we get enough tickets to get everybody out there. So.
John Clay:
Great. Thanks Jack. Good luck to you.
Jack Wolf:
It’s alright, John. Thanks.
Operator:
And we’ll go to our next question from Childs Walker of the Baltimore sun.
Childs Walker:
Yeah. Hey Jack, how are you? Sorry to keep asking you about Tis The Law. You obviously, you know, something about what it takes to have a triple crown horse. Do you think he could be on that level with a Justify or an American Girl?
Jack Wolf:
Say the last part again, Childs, I missed it.
Childs Walker:
Yeah. I was just saying, I mean, do you, do you think that Tis The Law could conceivably be on that talent level with Justified and American Girl?
Jack Wolf:
Yeah. From what he’s done so far, I would think, you know, he’s the only one that’s got a shot at it and he’ll probably be four to five or something like that in the Derby. And then you’ll have a four weeks instead of the two weeks going into the Preakness. I mean, if he were to win, obviously would have an asterisk, but I’d rather have an asterisk than not have it, wouldn’t you? But yeah, I think he’s probably quite capable of doing it.
Operator:
Mr. Walker, did you have anything further?
Childs Walker:
No. No, that was it. Thank you.
Operator:
And we’ll go to our next question from Brad Stevens, with horse racing nation.
Brad Stevens:
Yes. With all the different jockey protocols that were going on in there, there are a lot of questions about who would be able to ride. How were you guys able to to get John Velasquez? What was the process like of selecting John to ride Authentic?
Jack Wolf:
Well, we leave those decisions to Bob and he knows the horse better than anybody and he knows the right riders. And you know, all along, it looked like Mike Smith was going to ride Honor AP and Johnny’s been on Demean and he surely would not miss riding her in the Oaks. So I think Bob got a two for one with Johnny and he had him secured now for, I don’t know, sometime three or four weeks, but, you know, with my history of having hardships with Todd Pletcher and Johnny was always the go to a rider in his barn.
And I think this horse fits him perfectly and I’m tickled to death that Johnny’s on the horse. And it looks like the no RN Jose will not be coming down. So, I feel real good about the the jockey.
Brad Stevens:
Also wanted to ask too, while we have you about Charlatan, if there are any updates with them and if he’s getting closer to coming back?
Jack Wolf:
Yeah. Bob sent a little video, they were walking him on the backside over Delmore the other day and he looks fantastic. And Bob’s comment was to rather he won’t be running in Derby because, you know, he’s the real deal for sure. So, he hadn’t had a breeze yet, but I suspect he will start within a week, 10 days. And I doubt that he would be ready for the Preakness, but you know, sometimes these horses can surprise you how quickly they come back. But to answer your question, he’s doing very well.
Brad Stevens:
Sure. Thank you very much.
Jack Wolf:
You’re welcome.
Operator:
And there are no other questions in the queue. We’ll turn the call back to our presenter.
Alicia Hughes:
Jack, it is always, I said, you always, you’re always so gracious with your time. So, just want to thank you again for coming on and joining us today. Always a pleasure to get a chance to get your wisdom. And I look forward to waving at you from six feet away next week in Louisville.
Jack Wolf:
Okay. Well, thanks for having me. Good luck.
Alicia Hughes:
Thanks again. Best of luck with everything. And last but not least, we are going to check in with owner Bruce Lunsford, who has one of the leading Derby hopefuls this year in Art Collector. Art collector announced himself when he captured the bluegrass stakes by by three and a half lanes. And in his most recent start, he was a handy winner of the Ellis Park Derby, by three and a quarter lengths. Bruce, thank you so much for joining us today.
Bruce Lunsford:
You’re welcome.
Alicia Hughes:
First and foremost, I saw that Art Collector went through his final major workout this morning at Churchill downs. I believe you were on site for that. Just kind of take us through a little bit what you and Tommy Drury wanted to see from him and his last big move there.
Bruce Lunsford:
Well, I think he, I think he really got exactly what we wanted. You know, you kind of worked it off in you know, basically twelves. And I would say that he came out of the blue. He didn’t look like he’d done much, he’s fit enough. There wasn’t any sense in taking any unnecessary chances. And I would say he and Brian both were very happy with the work and how the horse handled it and the way he’s acting. I mean, he looks terrific.
Alicia Hughes:
It’s really been, you know, such a great rise for him that we’ve seen in the last few months with Art Collector. He’s gone from, you know, a horse with a nice allowance winner to a Colt who many considered to probably be the biggest threat to Tis The Law, in the Derby this year. When did he really kind of start showing you or signaling to you that you know, that he had this kind of a potential?
Bruce Lunsford:
Well, he actually won a race, the last with Joe Sharp had the horse in December and the race before, which was only two weeks before he Brian was on him and he went to move in a horse, cut in front of him. He clipped heels and then Brian sort of pulled him up. I thought maybe he’d I thought maybe he’d actually hurt himself. But then when they pulled him to the outside, the horse started running again and closed a lot of ground. And that was really our first dirt race. And I always felt that he was bred to be on the dirt. And that’s in our thinking there, and then the next thing has happened. The horse didn’t show it or anything, but I had him, I had him do a scintigraphy on him before we went into this, to the you know, into the spring.
And he had some bruising on the outside of his, on outside of his legs and his bones just bruises. But I just, I know I’m not a person that ever felt that I want us going to rush to get to the Derby. So, we gave him, you know, I basically said, okay, well, we’ll point to the Travers or whatever else comes up in the summer. And because I knew he was good when he won the race at Churchill. He did it so easy. It was incredible. And that was a short route. You know, I knew he was going to get better as he got longer because his mom was a round horse and his dad, Bernadini is one of my favorites that I ever saw when the Travers. So, we gave him three months off and two months over at Kesmark and then a month just kind of letting him graze and all of that.
And then when Tommy kind of sat down on him in May, you know, we sort of looked at it, I looked at what was going on and a lot of horses had already fallen by the wayside. And so we said, okay, let’s make an effort to do something special. So, we, and of course, some of you know, that The Joe had some issues with his feet, and they gave me the option in December. You’d rather than go through the you know, rather than go through the appeal process that I said, you know, the purse was like 50 grand or so. And I said, take the purse back. I’d rather have the allowance race back. And so, our first race back was pretty good spot to go in. It was a one other than he wanted, well enough, he didn’t do anything extraordinary narrowly, but he did show that that point didn’t take a lot out of him.
And then the next race we ran against you know, horses, even though it was a small field, they were all stakes horses except us. And that was a race that when he hadn’t had a big buyer showed everything you’d ever want, one to see. And I felt pretty comfortable that that he was going to be competitive in the bluegrass stakes. But you know, when we went to the bluegrass stakes, I said at the time, it’s kind of, you know, this is chicken in particular feathers time. You know, if he wins, we get the chicken. If he loses, we’re still allowance horse with feathers. And, we won it, it sort of felt, you know, Tommy and I sat down and talked about a three race plan that was essentially our triple crown and that we would, you know, try to win the bluegrass, try to win the Derby and try to win the Breeder’s cup. And in the meantime, we got a real pleasant surprise at Ellis, put up a Derby that fit us pretty well. And we went down there and ran plus I got to see a lot of old friends of mine and it was, it was a great day.
Alicia Hughes:
Great stuff there, thank you for that. With that I said, I will throw it back to our operator and they will check in with the media to see if they have any questions for you today.
Operator:
Thank you again, as a reminder, you may press star one on your telephone keypad if you have a question at this time. That is star one for questions, and we’ll hear next from Art. Wilson was Southern California news group.
Art Wilson:
Hi, Bruce, I asked you the other two guests this question how do you feel about the draw for the Derby? Would you like to see it stay the way it is now the same? Or, would you maybe like to see it where the horses the connections with the most Derby qualifying points get their first pick for what posts they want, et cetera. How do you feel about that subject?
Bruce Lunsford:
Well being this is the first time I’ve been in the Derby, you know, I’m probably not as knowledgeable as Jack would have been but you know, I’m, I’m kind of, I think what they did this time may be a big change. I liked the fact that they’re going to one gate, you know, when I was on Churchill’s board, I wanted to see us do that. Now we’re going to have a 20 horse one gate, which obviously makes it gives you a better chance if you fall into the one or two hole, to run a good race yeah.
It’s part of what makes the Derby, the Derby, is that even though their horses would probably, you know, probably should rethink it, it’s the way it works out. And it’s, you know, when I wanted to go at one gate was 14 horses and the argument always was that everybody looks forward to the Calvary charge. And you know, I wasn’t, I wasn’t going to make much of an effort to stand in between the tradition and where we do you know, future. One of the things that does happen though, as you come to the Derby, everybody comes from different places. So, you really, it’s hard to figure out where the best horses are in what races, for instance, the one thing I like about our horse we’ve run in two races toward the inside with 12 and 13 horses. Nobody else has really done that.
They’ve been in those five and six horse fields or seven horse fields. And I think there’s a big difference between that. And I think that we’ve got a horse that fits the present, set up pretty well. He’s got a good turn of foot, you know, I don’t underestimate how good a job the Barclay’s done. I’m a great, you know, I’m a great fan of his, you know, he sits right down from my box at Saratoga and he’s a real gentleman. And I know several of his owners, not just the Sacatoga guys. And I know he’s, you know, he’s like a phenom he’s 82 years old and he’s a phenom. So, you know, I know what I’m, I know that we’re in high cotton. But I do think I have the most underrated trainer in the race.
Art Wilson:
What impresses you the most about Tis The Law? What characteristics of his most impress you?
Bruce Lunsford:
Well, I think you have to give a lot of credit, you know, I remember Skip Away was one of the most probably the most durable horses I can never remember. I still say to this day, you know, Sonny Heinz, you know, trained him and he owned him. And I always thought the classic example was when he won the Belmont and turned around and ran in the Ohio Derby. And I used to kid Lucas and Martin, those guys said, no, that’s what happens when a trainer has his own money in the game. And Eric, you know, it’s always been one of my running jokes, but that’s what made him a really nice racehorse because he was really durable. And I think you got to give this horse a lot of credit.
He’s been through a lot. He’s gotten to this point without any real setback. And, you know, I think the combination of Barclay and his wife are perfect for the horse. I think they know how to take care of a horse you know, every race he’s, I’ve seen him run, and I will say this, this is the one thing that I will say is, you know, he’s really been a gift horses that he kind of towered over when you looked at the form. But on the other hand, he did everything he was expected to do. And I will, I would say the most impressive race he’s run was the last one he ran. That was an impressive stretch. Manny Franco got a lot out of him. He got him prepared for the Derby and he’s got advantage over everybody in that respect.
Art Wilson:
Right. Okay. Well, thanks for your comments and good luck on the fifth.
Bruce Lunsford:
Thank you very much. I appreciate it.
Operator:
And as a reminder, you may press star one on your telephone keypad if you have a question at this time. That is star one for questions. We’ll go next to John Clay with Lexington Herald leader.
John Clay:
[Inaudible] That Kentucky. And what does it mean to you to be in your part, to have a horse in the Derby for the first time? And how much do you think, does it take away that fans are not going to be able to be there?
Bruce Lunsford:
Well, the first answer to the question is I said earlier that, you know, I wouldn’t, and I’ve said this for years, I would never, I would never put a horse in the Derby I didn’t think he had a legitimate shot. And I think I’ve crossed that barrier here. I think we do have, and, you know, maybe because I’m older and, you know, I was with bill young when Grindstone won, you know, I was also with him when Union City went down in at the Preakness. So, I’ve seen the kind of highs and lows of the business.
I know it can happen. So, I try not to get you too up or too down in the business because I’ve been at it for 32 years racing horses, and I enjoyed every minute of it when you look at it as a whole. So, from that standpoint, what makes it special is we’re all three from Kentucky, you know, I’ve kiddingly referred to us as the Louisville homeboys and it’s made it really nice. I can go out there in the morning to add a skylight watching it’s been special. It’s been special for the people I’ve taken out there. And Tommy’s just, he’s matured just beyond belief, even though I’ve known him for 20 years and he’s trained a lot of horses for me, he’s handled all of this challenge as well as a man can expect to. And so, I’m expecting great things out of the horse as well as him and the other factor is that being my first experience with the Derby, I’m obviously very excited.
But I was excited to win the bluegrass as well. And I think, you know, I think going forward from here we got a horse I’d like to see stay sound you know, I’m breading. You know, I’ve got the history for 24 years of the horse, all that’s important to me. It’s really, it’s kind of ratified my plan from the beginning when I first bought a mare with Seth Hancock. And that was that was Bunning. That was the mother of Distorted Legacy. And you know, now here we are, 24, 25 years later. And I’ve had vision of burst out of that. The original mare, I had Distorted Legacy out of that mare. And now I’ve got this wonderful horse, Art Collector, who’s really the, and I’ve had several horses that have won grade ones and twos over the years. This is clearly the nicest horse I’ve ever owned.
John Clay:
And what about the fact that the fans are not going to be able to be there? How much does that take away from the Derby? If anything?
Bruce Lunsford:
Well, I think I’ve talked to you, John, about this at the bluegrass. You know, I think, I think when you get to where you want to be and you know, and I’ve watching all the other guys that have gone through the races without, without fans, it’s a big day. Probably the thing I’d miss the most is the crowds roar when they leave the gate. Because that’s always been the, you know, the special moment at the Derby, but when you’re focused on something of this magnitude, you know, it’s, you really don’t think about it. The day at the bluegrass, I wouldn’t have been really any happier if there had been a crowd, you know, I did win the Ashlynn steaks one year with madcap when she was undefeated afterwards.
And it was a big thrill when she came back up the track to get her because she got a huge standing ovation and that meant a lot to me, but I was so excited that day. I didn’t even really notice. I don’t think that I don’t think that’ll be different at the Derby. I’m going to get to walk over. I’m going to have the feel of it. I know the track, I have a lot of history at both tracks. And one of the things I did like about our plan was we never had to leave Kentucky. And so, this has been kind of special for me. And that’ll be plenty of time to talk to people later about it. I might even have a party, so that’s okay. Thanks, John.
Operator:
We’ll hear next from Beth Harris with associated press.
Beth Harris:
Hey, Bruce, Jack was saying Churchill plans to give owners eight tickets per horse. How are you going to handle distributing your tickets?
Bruce Lunsford:
Well, you know, the trainer gets six, so he gets that. He gets his family taken care of, but I’m really happy that because he’s got a, he’s got a son and a daughter and the daughter’s like 16 and she’s got, you know, got her Derby dress and so excited. And initially when they said no fans, he told a story this morning where when she heard him talking, she had this tear in her eye and he said, don’t worry, you’re going to get to go.
And I’ve kind of tried to do it in a way that makes sense. You know, for the people who I’ve talked to, you know, I had 55 people coming, so it’s it was a, you know, kind of a difficult process to go through, but I think that’s that people will, you know, we’ll be able to talk to them during the day and all of that and get, I’m just, I’m just excited to be part of the show and, you know, there’s other chances down the road where I can see them, whether it’s in Saratoga, whether it’s at the breeders’ cup or, you know, you know, any races that make sense along the way. I think he’s proven he’s a good, solid stakes horse.
Beth Harris:
You’ve obviously been there as you said, in Kentucky. So, you know the unrest and the the atmosphere that’s going on there right now, how concerned are you about safety for the people participating in the journey and the horses during Derby week?
Bruce Lunsford:
Well, they had the, whatever it was the other day. And they had people in town and they, that’s the first time they’ve really kind of built the kind of the police involvement. And I think there was very little of difficult stuff, and most of the ones that were arrested were because of where they were sitting on the street, or, you know, taking a chance with traffic. And I didn’t hear lots from my friends about really much violence this time. It’s not exactly like Minneapolis or Portland or even now Kenosha. I think it’s under control. I think they got what they wanted. They’re not going to be in, you know, any fans there.
And I think it will go fine. I think it’ll go fine. I’m optimistic. And we got a lot of reasons to hope it does because I don’t know any reason why we’d want to ruin something of that magnitude. It doesn’t make any sense to me.
Beth Harris:
Thank you.
Operator:
And with no other questions in the queue, I’ll turn the call back to our presenter.
Alicia Hughes:
Well, Bruce, again, I said, I want to just thank you for coming on our call today and spending time with us. Like I said, you have a Colt who is very exciting, definitely going the right way. You know, you couldn’t ask for a whole lot more heading into it with your first year Derby contender.
Bruce Lunsford:
Well, thank you. And I really appreciate it. You know, I’ve been here 32 years and it’s nice to have a moment like this because it’s special and it’s also special that it’s in my hometown. So, we’ll keep our fingers crossed.
Alicia Hughes:
Sounds good. I said, Bruce again, thank you so much for coming on. I look forward to seeing you out there next week and continued best of luck with everything.
Bruce Lunsford:
Thank you a bunch. I appreciate it.
Alicia Hughes:
Thank you. And everyone that will do it for this NCRA national media teleconference. An Audio file of this call should be up later today on ntra.com and a transcript will be there within about 24 hours or so. Once again, we would like to thank our guests trainer, Barclay Tagg, owner, Jack Wolf, and owner Bruce Lunsford. Thank you to all of you for participating today. And now back to our operator to wrap things up
Operator:
Again, that does conclude this call. We would like to thank everyone for your participation. You may now disconnect.
Click below to listen to the podcast