Jim Mulvihill: We’re now only 11 days away from the Belmont Stakes, and California Chrome’s historic attempt at a Triple Crown. By now you probably all know the pertinent numbers. There have been 11 Triple Crown winners dating back to Sir Barton in 1919. The most recent of those, of course, was Affirmed in 1978. Since then, 12 horses have swept both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, only to be denied in, or not make it to, the 1 1/2-mile Belmont, known as “The Test of the Champion.”
The 1970s, of course, were blessed with three Triple Crown winners, starting with the great Secretariat, who ended a 25 year drought in 1973. In 1977, Seattle Slew remained undefeated and virtually unchallenged through his first nine starts, while taking all three classics. In 1978, Affirmed bested his great rival, Alydar, in the Triple Crown races, including a Belmont where those two were never more than a half-length apart in the final seven-eighths and charged down the stretch virtually in tandem.
Who would’ve guessed at that point we would go this long, 36 years, without another Triple Crown? None of the Triple Crown winners are with us anymore – Seattle Slew was the most recently departed back in 2002 – but their legends only grow and their feats seem more unbelievable with each passing year and so many failed attempts at matching them.
Today on this call we’re fortunate to be joined by some of the connections from all three of those Triple Crown heroes of the 1970s. Representing Secretariat we’re delighted to have owner and first lady of thoroughbred racing, Penny Chenery, as well as jockey Ron Turcotte, winner of two Kentucky Derbys and five of the six Triple Crown events between Riva Ridge in ’72 and Secretariat in ’73.
On behalf of Seattle Slew we’re joined by co-owner Dr. Jim Hill, a partner in the Tayhill Stable, as well as, hopefully, trainer Billy Turner. We’re still trying to get in touch with him, he’s scheduled to be on the call, and jockey Jean Cruguet.
From team Affirmed we welcome Patrice Wolfson, who co-owned the colt with her late husband Louis, racing as Harbor View Farm, and jockey Steve Cauthen, then the youngest rider ever to win the Triple Crown when he was 18.
So let me just quickly explain how we’ll do this. All of the guests will be on for the entirety of the call. I’m going to jump around a little bit here, ask a few questions to each of them to make sure we hear from everyone, but then we’ll leave the second half of the call for questions from all of the media assembled here.
So without further ado, let’s get to our guests. I’m going to start with our owners, and Ms. Chenery, we’ll give you the first word. Thanks for joining us today.
Penny Chenery: Hi, there.
Jim Mulvihill: When Secretariat won the Triple Crown, he ended a 25 year drought. Now we’re at 36 years since the last one in ’78. Why, in your opinion, is winning the Triple Crown such a difficult feat?
Penny Chenery: Well, we don’t breed horses for stamina so much these days, and we don’t train horses to run so frequently. Today’s horse maybe will run six times a year. We’re asking these horses to run three times under tough competition in only five weeks.
Jim Mulvihill: Now having been around Secretariat, and you also saw the subsequent Triple Crown winners, in your opinion, what kind of characteristics do they possess that make them extra special? What does it take to win a Triple Crown?
Penny Chenery: Well, versatility. You can’t win a Triple Crown if you’re a sprinter. You can’t sprint for that long.
Jim Mulvihill: Right.
Penny Chenery: Three different race tracks; unfamiliar settings for the jockeys. They may know each other, but you lose the home team advantage when you travel around. It’s just we don’t have the kind of—horses today are (inaudible).
Jim Mulvihill: It is definitely different today than in 1973 for sure. One more question for you. What are your thoughts on California Chrome?
Oh, maybe we lost Ms. Chenery. Well, let’s check in with one of our other owners as we try to get Ms. Chenery back on the phone. Patrice Wolfson is with us, and for those that don’t know, Patrice is from a leading family of the American turf. Her father was Hall of Fame Trainer, Hirsch Jacobs. Patrice, are you there with us?
Patrice Wolfson: I’m here.
Jim Mulvihill: Okay, thanks for being on the call. Let’s get your opinion on the Triple Crown drought. How can it be 36 years since Affirmed and we still haven’t had a Triple Crown?
Patrice Wolfson: It’s a very difficult task.
Jim Mulvihill: Can you elaborate on what makes it so difficult?
Patrice Wolfson: Well, in our case, we had to run against Alydar, who, you know, was just a little superstar of his own.
Jim Mulvihill: Right.
Patrice Wolfson: That was a big challenge. I think horses years ago were tougher, and they campaigned harder, and they usually relished racing. They loved to run; all these Triple Crown winners of the seventies particularly.
Jim Mulvihill: Right. When you think back on ’78, what stands out in your mind? What was it like to own such a special horse, and one that was so tough, like you were saying of all the Triple Crown winners?
Patrice Wolfson: Well, we came out of California, like California Chrome, and trained there all that winter; terrible weather, rained most of the whole season. In the East you had Alydar who was in perfect weather in Florida in the Flamingo and in Kentucky in the Blue Grass, and so he looked like he was having it his own way. Laz was having a very difficult time trying to get Affirmed fit enough, but he did it on his own, and got on the plane and got to Churchill Downs and was probably better right then, and I think Steve will agree, he was just in peak condition and ready to take on Alydar. Of course, we were frightened; fearful of him.
Jim Mulvihill: Sure.
Patrice Wolfson: But it turned out to be, you know, just three phenomenal races.
Jim Mulvihill: Patrice, have you gotten to follow California Chrome, and what do you think of his chances in the Belmont?
Patrice Wolfson: Yes. I think he has that wonderful quality of versatility; easy to rate, easy to ride, responds, you know, has a wonderful acceleration, and now it’s just going to be a question if he can handle the mile and a half. And the little travelling he’s done, and I say little compared to our ’70s horses.
Jim Mulvihill: Certainly. Well, Patrice, I’m sure we’ll be circling back to you with some more questions, but let me get to Dr. Hill, the other owner on this call. Dr. Hill, are you there with us?
Dr. Jim Hill: Yes, I am.
Jim Mulvihill: All right. Dr. Hill, I’m sure you’re aware that California Chrome has some Seattle Slew in his pedigree. That comes via A.P. Indy and Pulpit. I’m curious if that makes this potential Triple Crown any more personal for you? Is that significant to you?
Dr. Jim Hill: That it does. I think that’s one of the real traits that Slew had is he has passed his DNA along quite (inaudible), and so I think it’s exciting for me.
Jim Mulvihill: And is it hard to resist looking for traits of Seattle Slew in California Chrome? Do you see any of those?
Dr. Jim Hill: Frankly, I’ve only seen California Chrome on his last two races on TV, so it’s very hard for me to really have any kind of an opinion on that. He certainly has been dominant in all three of those races. He’s had excellent trips, wonderful rides, and when they asked him for what they needed, he was able to give it to them every time.
Jim Mulvihill: Exactly. Well, Dr. Hill, if you’ll hang on for a few minutes we’ll get to some questions from the media in a little while. But now I want to check in with our riders real quick. We’ve got Ron Turcotte, Jean Cruguet, and Steve Cauthen all here. Gentlemen, thanks for joining us.
Now, if you would, I’d like to ask each of you to just describe your Belmont wins aboard these Triple Crown winners, and tell us what still stands out about those rides all these years later. So, Ron, let’s start with you and one of the great performances in racing history, the ’73 Belmont.
Ron Turcotte: Yes, sir. He came out of the Preakness in very good shape. He really galloped in the Preakness, and I didn’t want to take too much out of him but enough to get him real tight for the Belmont. He was wonderful for the Belmont. We put a good tough work into him, and he was really ready to run. He—I can’t really describe, I mean, his race. I was so confident with him, but I said, hey, you know, let’s go. I really didn’t think—that no other horse could go with him or catch him because of how he worked. I had won the previous Belmont with Riva Ridge, and this horse was working like two full seconds faster, and every move I made (audio interference) the distance.
Jim Mulvihill: Ron, despite the great workouts and how confident you were, you couldn’t have foreseen the margin of victory and just how dominant he would be that day?
Ron Turcotte: No, nobody could’ve foreseen that. But I was looking for something special really. I mean, when you work a mile in better than 34, gallop out in a mile and an eighth in 47 and change and full out, really he was really two minutes. So that’s—and he was coming back really good, you know, and I was blowing and I was really—and when I blew him out the last time I worked him was fast, five eighths of a mile in 58. I know I’ve seen some figures—different figures there that they put up there like they put down he worked a half-mile, but he did not work a half a mile, he worked five eighths of a mile in 58.
Jim Mulvihill: Interesting.
Ron Turcotte: He came back real good. You know, he was hard to hold on the ground (inaudible).
Jim Mulvihill: That’s unbelievable. Well, let me check in with Jean Cruguet and ask, Jean, your Belmont was also the easiest of your Triple Crown races. What do you remember about Belmont Stakes day?
Jean Cruguet: Right. (Inaudible), you know, he likes to (inaudible) up to the quarter of a mile, the first quarter of a mile to me the race was over. You know, I went up to him and he was walking, and then when he went up to me for (inaudible) he win and (inaudible) first quarter of a mile, and that’s what (inaudible). He was the best horse that day. They couldn’t get to him. Nobody went, you know, faster than me. I went (inaudible), you know, where I won.
Jim Mulvihill: Yes, the race was essentially over once you were controlling the speed.
Jean Cruguet: Yes.
Jim Mulvihill: Let’s try Steve Cauthen. Now, Steve, your Belmont win wasn’t quite so easy. You actually got headed in the stretch by Alydar, did you not?
Steve Cauthen: Well, you know, he probably got on level terms with me. I don’t know, if he passed me, it was by a fraction of an inch. But, you know, it was just—it was one of the greatest races of all time, yes, to watch and to be involved in. It was just exciting, and, you know, two great horses, you know, continuing on a great rivalry; never giving up, and it lived up to the hopes and expectations that everybody had for that race.
Jim Mulvihill: I would say so. And, Steve, maybe you can address a bit of the media circus around California Chrome, because, you know, there was certainly so much interest in you as an 18 year old phenom. How did you handle the spotlight of the Triple Crown, and what kind of advice would you give to somebody like Victor Espinoza or all of these connections who are dealing with this intense focus these next two weeks?
Steve Cauthen: Well, Victor’s been there before, so I don’t really see him having any issues with it all. You know, he had War Emblem, and although he didn’t win, you know, it was just—you know, it wasn’t anybody’s fault it was just, you know, things didn’t work out.
Jim Mulvihill: Right.
Steve Cauthen: You know, he broke slow and never got in the race. But I think Victor, you know, Victor’s fine. I think he’s very well connected with California Chrome. I mean they’ve got a great relationship. You know, the horse obviously, you know, he—it’s fun to watch because it reminds me a lot of Affirmed. As Patrice was saying, you know, he’s got a lot of options with him. You know, he can go to the front, sit second, third, fourth. You know, the horse seems to settle wherever he wants him, and he can pick up in an instant when he asks him, like he did on the turn, you know, at Pimlico when that horse challenged on the outside. It looked like he didn’t even have to ask him, the horse just did it on his own, and that’s how Affirmed was. So, you know, in that respect, you know, I think he’s ready. I mean he’s got all the talent. Tactically he’s, you know, in great shape. It’s a question of, you know, if he can really stay a mile and a half. You know, he’s just—to me, he looks just like a freak horse, but, you know, he can probably do things that are beyond his breeding. So, you know, I’m looking for him to really pull it off, and I like the way Art Sherman’s training him. Laz was very—couldn’t do a lot with Affirmed in between the Preakness and the Belmont. I think that was important. I think—it sounds like that’s what Art’s going to do with California Chrome, and I think, you know, that’ll be important.
But, you know, you said there’s been 12 horses that had a chance, and a couple of them—Big Brown being one even looked like a lock-in, and you just you never know. That’s why they have to run the race. But I’m, you know, I’m pretty optimistic that this horse has got a great chance of pulling it off.
Jim Mulvihill: Billy Turner, are you there?
Billy Turner: Yes, I’m here.
Jim Mulvihill: Okay, great. It’s good to hear from you. You’re the lone living Triple Crown winning trainer. You managed Seattle Slew not only through three races in five weeks, but going back to his final prep in the Wood, that’s four races in seven weeks. I’d love to hear from you what kind of challenges you recall facing throughout that time, and just talk about keeping a horse in top form for, you know, not only the Triple Crown, but the spring leading up to it, what kind of challenge is that?
Billy Turner: Well, Slew was a little bit different than a lot of the horses that we see in the Triple Crown, in my lifetime anyway, and my biggest concern with him was trying to figure how to get him settled down enough so that he could go the mile and a half in the Belmont without going the first three quarters of a mile in 9.
Jim Mulvihill: Right.
Billy Turner: That was the—that was my biggest concern when I started training him in the—(inaudible) his three year old year.
Jim Mulvihill: How did you accomplish that?
Billy Turner: Well, I mean he was—the thing is I trained him hard after all that campaigning, he ran—he won the Flamingo, he won—first of all, he set a track record at Hialeah going sprinting distance in his first start. Then he came right back and won the Flamingo. Then he came right back and won the Wood. Then he went down and won the Derby and the Preakness, and I had—and he kept getting stronger and stronger as we went on, so I drilled him harder for the Belmont than I trained him for any race coming—previously, and just so that he would be a little bit tractable, and then so Jean could handle him a little better, and then—well, it all worked out.
Jim Mulvihill: That’s very interesting, because I think a lot people’s assumption would be that you wouldn’t want to do a lot with a horse coming into the Belmont after having a succession of hard races.
Billy Turner: Well, this horse had so much energy. He was an absolute monster, and all he wanted to do was train. He wasn’t lovey dovey and so forth. He liked people, but he didn’t want anybody fussing over him. He just wanted to go out there and train. Once you’d trained him he’d settle right down, but you couldn’t give him enough.
Jim Mulvihill: Wow. You know, talking about that speed, it’s interesting to me how almost all of the Triple Crown winners had brilliant speed. I mean we get so caught up in who has the pedigree to go a mile and a half, but really it’s the ability to run horses off their feet and get the position you want. That’s just as important, no?
Billy Turner: Oh yes. In horse racing, no matter how—you might be a mile and a half horse basically, that might be your best distance, but you have to have speed to compete and at the top of the game in this business.
Jim Mulvihill: Now, Billy, you’re still stabled at Belmont, correct?
Billy Turner: Yes.
Jim Mulvihill: Have you seen California Chrome in the mornings?
Billy Turner: Yes, I have.
Jim Mulvihill: What’s your impression?
Billy Turner: He’s just such a nice horse. He goes out there—he goes out there jogs off the—gallops around, does what everybody would like him to do, walks around, walks home, sort of notices the crowd, and just seems to really enjoy what he’s doing.
Jim Mulvihill: That’s great to hear. Okay, now before we open it up for questions, I want to just ask everybody where they’re at today, and what they’re up to? So, Ms. Chenery, can you hear us?
Penny Chenery: Yes, I can.
Jim Mulvihill: Can you tell us where you’re talking to us from today, and how things are going in your world?
Penny Chenery: I live in Boulder, Colorado. All my four children are here, and I stay in touch with the fans via Secretariat.com. My (inaudible) is telling me people still sends me things to sign and write letters. I’ve always told her take care of the fans because they’re so important to us and racing.
Jim Mulvihill: That’s terrific. Patrice Wolfson, how about you? Where are you at today?
Patrice Wolfson: Yes, I’m in Old Westbury, New York. I have a little summer home here, and I’ll be at Belmont for the Belmont.
Jim Mulvihill: Terrific. That’s so great to hear. Jim Hill, how about you?
Dr. Jim Hill: I just left my family in (inaudible), South Carolina. We had a week’s vacation there all together. I’m on the Florida-Georgia line as we’re speaking. I’m heading to Ocala to watch some little three year old babies that I have there that are in training.
Jim Mulvihill: Fantastic.
Dr. Jim Hill: Hopefully I’ll be back to Belmont, the good Lord willing, for the race.
Jim Mulvihill: That’s great to hear. Now, Billy Turner, we know where you’ll be. You’ll be at Belmont because you’re there every day, right?
Billy Turner: Yes, I am.
Jim Mulvihill: Excellent.
Billy Turner: I’ve been there for 40 years.
Jim Mulvihill: All right, and how about our riders? I understand all three of you guys are going to be there that day signing autographs, correct?
Male Speaker: Yes.
Male Speaker: That’s right.
Male Speaker: As far as I know.
Jim Mulvihill: And related to that, so my understanding is that this is the first time that you all will be signing autographs on Belmont day. It’s the first time ever I believe that you’ll all be together on Belmont day. Is there a special connection between you guys being—aside from just the camaraderie that all riders share—but being Triple Crown winners?
Steve Cauthen: It’s fun to be a part of, and we do things together through Derbylegends.com. You know, we go to the odd occasion and sign and meet and greet and people. So, yes, we get together from time to time and it’s always fun.
Jim Mulvihill: Very cool. All right, well at this point, I’m going to kick it back to Michelle, and she’s going to check in with all the media on the call. If everybody can stand by, they’ll let you know when they’ve got a question. Michelle?
Mike Klingaman: Hi, this is for Steve Cauthen. Steve, first—it’s a two-part question. What is your first—what is your favorite memory of that Triple Crown season? Second, did the competition with Alydar make Affirmed a better racehorse, and did it make the kid a better jockey?
Steve Cauthen: Yes, it (inaudible) definitely Affirmed pushed Alydar and Alydar pushed Affirmed to be the best that they could be, and I, you know, I think I—riding with Jorge Velasquez as my competition, you know, mainly through the Triple Crown, you know, he was a great rider, he was a great friend, and, yes, I certainly think I learned a lot being involved in that Triple Crown. You know, as far as the Belmont, it was one of those races where, you know, nobody could—I couldn’t afford to make a mistake, so luckily I didn’t, and, you know, it was just—that was the greatest memory I’ve had in racing is that race. It was as good as it gets.
Danny Brewer: First for Ms. Wolfson, secretly are you rooting against another Triple Crown, because, you know, Affirmed was the last one to do it? And does it hold special memories since it’s been all these years and he’s still the last one to do it, or would you like to see another Triple Crown for the sport?
Patrice Wolfson: Well, I think a horse going for it like this California Chrome; this is really what’s wonderful about it. You know, whether he does win it now and we have a new Triple Crown added to the list, I think I’m about ready to give up the last of the Crown winners. Sometimes I think that’s my name, Mrs. Last Triple Crown Winner. So we’ll have a lot of collectibles, and you’d just like to see a great horse win it, and I think he’s got the potential to possibly be a great horse, so we’ll be cheering for him.
Danny Brewer: Very good. The next one I have is for Billy Turner. You know, you talked about what you did with Slew. Is that—knowing your horse, was that the key to it, or did you think you were taking a tremendous gamble by working the dog out of him before the Belmont, or did you know your horse so well that you knew that was the right thing to do?
Billy Turner: Oh, I was absolutely convinced that was the right thing to do. That’s what had to be done to put the horse out there right. He wanted that kind of work, and he might be unique in that respect, but he wanted that kind of work, and when you gave it to him he thrived off it. Now if he had backed up off it, well then I would’ve figured, well, I’d done the wrong thing.
Danny Brewer: Okay, and the last question I have is for Jean Cruguet. As far as getting Slew to the front, is the key to winning the Belmont knowing when to say when; when to hit the gas because it’s a mile and a half? So is that—do you think that’s the key to wining this race, knowing when to say when as a jockey?
Jean Cruguet: Yes, probably. You know, if I wasn’t (inaudible) a horse (inaudible) and ultimately, you know, getting (inaudible). I think he can win. He’s got feel (ph) and he’s (inaudible) fast to me. I’ve actually been to, you know, to see him. He’s got (inaudible).
Darren Rovell: This question is for each of the owners. The syndicate value in current day value, obviously in ’73 Secr