Penelope Miller: Hi, everyone, and welcome to the NTRA national media teleconference. Please note that the Belmont Stakes television coverage will begin at 4 p.m. on Friday, June 7th, with Belmont Classics shown on NBC Sports Network from 4 to 5 p.m., and Belmont Stakes Access airing on the same network from 5 to 6 on Saturday, June 8th. The Belmont Stakes pre-race coverage kicks off on NBC Sports Network from 3 to 5 p.m., transferring to NBC from 5 to 7 p.m. for race coverage. The post-race show will air on NBC Sports Network from 7 to 7:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Today’s guests for the teleconference will be Todd Pletcher, who has a possible five trainees entering the Belmont; Terry Finley, whose West Point Thoroughbreds will start decisive Peter Pan winner, Freedom Child, in the Belmont; and Hall of Fame jockey, Gary Stevens, who piloted Oxbow to a resounding victory in the Preakness Stakes.
Up first we’ll have Todd Pletcher. The horses he has confirmed for the Belmont Stakes are Palace Malice, Overanalyze, and Revolutionary. He has a probable starter in Unlimited Budget and a possible starter in Midnight Taboo. Todd Pletcher has amassed numerous training titles in New York, Kentucky, and Florida, including five consecutive titles at the prestigious Saratoga Race Course summer meet. He has received several Fourstar Dave Awards for Special Achievements at Saratoga, as well as Woody Stephens Awards from the New York Turf Writers Association. Todd also received the Eclipse Award as Outstanding Trainer in 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007. Todd has started 11 horses in the Belmont Stakes so far, including a landmark victory in 2007 with Rags to Riches, who was the first filly to win the Belmont since Tanya won 102 years prior to that. It is worth noting that Todd’s probable Belmont starter, Unlimited Budget, is also a filly.
Jennie Rees: Todd, could you just go through your probables and your possibles and your maybes, and what characteristics they bring in that you and/or the owners feel that a mile and a half against this field is, you know, attractive? And, yes, I guess if you could just run through them and talk about their characteristics.
Todd Pletcher: Let me start with Palace Malice. I mean, he’s a horse that’s always impressed us a great deal in his training, and he’s shown hints of that in some of his races, although he hasn’t completely followed through and won a big race that we feel like he’s capable of doing; certainly got very close in the Bluegrass. You know, he’s the son of Curlin, who is a horse that obviously stayed the distance and was (inaudible) short head in the Belmont, so we think he’s, pedigree-wise, well meant for this race, being by Curlin out of the Royal Anthem mare, who is—Royal Anthem was a turf specialist going mile and a half-type distances, so certainly pedigree suggests this is within his range.
Revolutionary, I think based on the strength of his races this year and a very good finish in the Kentucky Derby and galloped out in front of the field that day that we feel like, with the five weeks rest, that he’s an improving horse. Certainly strong bottom side suggests he could handle the mile and a half as well.
With Overanalyze, a horse that has two mile and an eighth wins, so winning a mile and an eighth as a two-year-old, coming back to win the Arkansas Derby, we’re hoping that that shows that he can get the trip as well.
The filly, Unlimited Budget, she’s run very well in every start of her career. I’m a little bit concerned about the bottom side of her pedigree. She’s a daughter of Street Sense and that certainly is encouraging, however, the bottom side of her pedigree maybe not as quite as deep in stamina as Rags to Riches was. That’s a concern, so something we’re looking at closely and weighing into the decision-making process of whether or not she will actually start, but we’ll see how the work goes this weekend.
Midnight Taboo, my biggest concern with him is just that he’s lightly raced and inexperienced. But from a pedigree standpoint, stoutly bred being out of a Thunder Gulch mare, and Thunder Gulch, of course, won the Belmont himself. So we’ve got a lot of pedigree on our side in all cases. We’ve got horses that are consistently running well and, you know, bring some very strong credentials. But, you know, like everyone going into the race, you’re always concerned about how they’re going to handle the trip and, obviously, that’s a huge key in who’s going to be successful in this race.
Jennie Rees: When was the last time you had a horse with a work like Palace Malice that, like, wowed you like his work did the other day?
Todd Pletcher: Well, I haven’t had too many horses gallop out the way he did, and I think the track was very lively on that day; we worked quite a few horses, but—and the track was maybe less demanding than it will sometimes be. But even saying that, the five eighths in a minute and change, we see that all the time. What really, really impressed me about it was what he did in the three furlongs after the finish line, in galloping out in 138 and change. We monitor our gallop-outs very closely and feel like they’re a big part of our training. That was about as good a gallop-out as I’ve seen in maybe forever, but certainly in a long time.
Jerry Bossert: You mentioned it briefly there, but could you just expand more on the comparison or the difference between the two fillies unbridled (ph), Budget and Rags to Riches?
Todd Pletcher: Well, both have accomplished a lot, with Unlimited Budget being undefeated coming into the Kentucky Oaks, difference being Rags to Riches was able to win the Kentucky Oaks. And like I said, the biggest thing about Rags to Riches and the reason why we decided to run her in the Belmont is her pedigree was just so stoutly—she’s so stoutly bred for the Belmont. Being a half-sister to a Belmont winner and being by a Belmont winner, we always just felt very, very confident that the distance would suit her well. Like I said, they’re both big, strong fillies, which I think is important. When you look at running against colts, you want to make sure that physically, you know, you’re going to stack up; and in Unlimited Budget’s case, she’s a very strong filly, she carries a lot of condition, she’s not going to stand out in the paddock as being, you know, the smaller filly of the group. She’ll fit right in from a physical standpoint, and I think that’s always important.
Jerry Bossert: And also with the—do you have jockey assignments for any of these horses yet?
Todd Pletcher: Well, we know that Javier Castellano is going to ride Revolutionary, and we know that Mike Smith is going to ride Palace Malice. We have some pretty good ideas of how the other ones are going to shape up, but we haven’t finalized them yet.
Jerry Bossert: Yes, I know I heard Rosie was going to ride the filly. I was just curious if you could comment on that or not?
Todd Pletcher: That’s very, very likely.
Jim Chairusmi: Hi, Todd. More about the filly. Explain, like, what are the effects of a filly running against a colt, and what’s the decision-making process in terms of this filly can take on the boys, and et cetera, like that—handle that?
Todd Pletcher: Well, first of all, you have to have enough talent to do it; it’s the most important factor, and when you look at Unlimited Budget’s races and her speed figures, her prior races, I think they match up very competitively against the colts. And then, you know, in the Belmont, the key factor is getting the distance in the mile and a half. She’s been successful at a mile and a sixteenth this year twice, and she was successful as a two-year-old going a mile and an eighth, so that’s encouraging. But, you know, it takes a very talented filly to compete with the boys, and I think, based on a couple of her wins, it certainly suggests that she could do that.
Jim Chairusmi: And do you think that running Rags to Riches in that Belmont in ’07 took a lot out of her in retrospect, because she only ran, what, one more time?
Todd Pletcher: I think probably what compromised her more than anything was the stumble at the start. You know, she took a pretty nasty fall down to her nose at the beginning of that race. If there was any negative effects, I think it came from that; it wasn’t the mile and a half distance.
Jerry Izenberg: Yes, thanks. Todd, a quick question about Revolutionary. What we have seen of this horse so far, what are the qualities that could make him a threat in this race from—off of what we’ve seen?
Todd Pletcher: Well, you know, I think if you see the—I thought he finished very well in the Kentucky Derby. Like I said, he had his legs underneath him pretty well at the end of the mile and a quarter and galloped out past the wire in front of the field. That suggests to me that the added distance is going to help. We like the fact that, coming back out of the Derby, he’s had five weeks rest. That seems to have worked well for him in the past. I think based on the strength of his Withers win and his Louisiana Derby win that he’s certainly shown that he’s one of the leading three-year-olds of this crop. If we can improve a little bit off the Derby, we think, you know, he’s arguably as good as anyone in this generation. So excited about the way he’s doing, the way he’s training, and we’re hoping we just have a little move forward this time.
Jerry Izenberg: One other question a little bit off the beaten path, but were you and Dallas Stewart—were you both working for Wayne at the same time?
Todd Pletcher: Yes, we were.
Jerry Izenberg: And what is it like now the three of you are in this race? Do you have any thoughts about that?
Todd Pletcher: Oh, yes, Dallas is a very good friend of mine and, you know, we’d worked for Wayne for quite awhile together, and yes, I think there’s a certain camaraderie between the group of us that worked for Wayne. Dallas, me, Randy Bradshaw, Kiaran McLaughlin, Mark Hennig, I think, you know, we became lifelong friends because of that experience with Wayne.
Danny Brewer: Let’s talk about Revolutionary for just a second. The way he closes through the lane with—he seemed to have an extra burst of acceleration. Is that one thing that makes the Belmont attractive for him?
Todd Pletcher: Well, I think, you know, the one thing that’s always tricky about the Belmont is the deep closers are generally reliant on a solid pace up front, and sometimes if the Belmont unfolds a certain way and you don’t get much pace, I think that can compromise the deep closers. The thing with him is I is think in a race where there’s not a lot of pace, and if this race unfolds that way so that they go a half in 49 and 50—or 50, I think he’ll find himself a little closer. So he’s not a horse that has to drop way back; I just think when the pace is strong, he can do that, but I think he’s adaptable enough to adjust to a slower pace. So where he’s laying in the early part of the race will be dependent on what kind of fractions laid (ph) down, but I think he’s versatile enough to handle either situation.
Danny Brewer: The rider change, going from—taking Calvin off him, was there anything in that decision-making process, or just you liked the other rider better?
Todd Pletcher: Well, it was a tough decision because I thought Calvin gave him a beautiful ride in the Kentucky Derby. And the one, you know, the biggest reason that we went with Calvin in the Kentucky Derby was Churchill was Calvin’s home track. That’s his home base and he rides Churchill extremely well. He rides all tracks well, but that being his home base and the fact that he’d won the 2010 Derby for us on Super Saver, it seemed like a logical move. But coming back to Belmont, Javier has had success on the colt in the past. He won the Withers and the Louisiana Derby, so we felt like, back at Belmont on Javier’s home track, that we would try that.
Danny Brewer: Lastly from me, Rags to Riches, does that play any factor in Unlimited Budget, whether she runs or doesn’t run, or is she totally on her own on that?
Todd Pletcher: No, I mean she’s on her own, but it certainly gives you added confidence knowing that it’s been done with a filly, you know, in the—somewhat recently. And, you know, I think the success that other fillies have had kind of following Rags to Riches, when you look at Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta and some of these other fillies, they’ve certainly shown that the best fillies of their generation can sometimes compete with the best colts.
John Pricci: I was wondering if you could maybe amplify on the pace a little bit that you anticipate. I mean, in a perfect world, would you like to see something like a half in 48? Would that be reasonable enough for you? And another one from me would be I know you’re a great observer of the races and, you know, you probably had a pretty good view of the Preakness. I’d like to get your read on how you thought the—everybody knows the pace was slow and all, but how did you read the track that day? Did you think the inside was as negative as everyone seems to think? And also, in terms of Orb, was that him or was he a victim of circumstances? Was he more of a case of a horse that might have reacted to the Derby coming back in two weeks, or was it strictly a slower pace and perhaps the worst part of the track?
Todd Pletcher: Well, I think, as far as the first part of the question, it’s going to kind of depend on where my horses are positioned. If (inaudible) have one loose on the lead, that’d be great if they were going along at a comfortable pace and, you know, if a horse like Revolutionary is to fall way back, then he’d obviously benefit from a faster pace. So I think really, with more than one starter, hopefully, we’ve got those bases covered and can adapt to a couple different pace scenarios.
I think what we saw in the Preakness was sometimes how the luck of the draw or luck of the conditions can affect your outcome in these big races. And, you know, sometimes it rains and your horse loves the slop, and sometimes it rains and your horse doesn’t like the slop, so those things can greatly impact the results. And I think post position can certainly impact the results as we kind of felt last weekend, or on Monday, we took the worst of it in a couple of post positions with Crossed Traffic and Kauai Katie and I think those things can certainly affect your chances of winning these big races. And I think, in light of the way that the track appeared to be playing at Pimlico, the inside part of the track wasn’t where you wanted to be, and certainly everyone knew that by the time they ran the Preakness on Saturday and stayed well off the rail and kind of put Orb in a difficult position, being stuck down on the rail the whole way.
Marcus Hersh: If I can be so bold as to completely change the subject, you have a couple of really nice horses in the 10 mile on Saturday, if I could briefly ask you about them? Regarding (cross talking).
Todd Pletcher: Absolutely. I said, absolutely, Marcus. I’d expect you to be bold.
Marcus Hersh: Jack Milton had strike me as an unusually talented grass horse. I mean, his final times and figures aren’t off the charts, but what I’ve noticed is all of his finishes seem to be really fast, and he strikes me as a horse who might have some upside. I wonder what you’re seeing from a, you know, like on a daily basis, and just the way this horse is coming along?
Todd Pletcher: He’s really impressed us since the very beginning. He’s not a real big horse; typical of a lot of the (inaudible) fronts, but he’s very well made, very well balanced. He trained very well for us prior to his first start, and I thought he delivered a very professional debut. In his second start, we were a little bit disappointed that he didn’t win, but got a little bit of rain right before the race and it was a turf course that seemed to just have a little bit of cut to the top of it, and I don’t think he handled it nearly as a well as he did in his first start. But we were still confident enough in his training and his ability to go ahead and try a stake in his third start, and he came through with a big performance.
And so we had a minor setback. While we were at Churchill, he had a slight muscle pull that cost us a few days of training, but since then has responded very well. Training great and we’ve kind of been focused on the Pim Mile since, you know, over the last month when we realized we weren’t going to make the American Turf at Churchill.
Marcus Hersh: Did he make a lead a little early at Keeneland? I mean, it seemed like he might’ve idled slightly after he got to the front in the middle of the stretch?
Todd Pletcher: That’s kind of what John Velazquez felt like, that he kind of made the lead and then felt like that was the end of the game, so something that John’ll keep in the back of his mind. And, of course, against a field like this, we’d be lucky to make the lead at any point but certainly try to time it right, and if he does make the lead, he’s the kind of horse that you need to keep his attention.
Marcus Hersh: Yes, and Charming Kitten, I mean he’s obviously run some really big races too. I mean, would you—is it fair to say he may be a little more exposed than Jack Milton at this point?
Todd Pletcher: Well, he was certainly more precocious. He came out and won in the summer at Saratoga and ran in some big races as a two-year-old, has run competitively basically in every start of his career. He’s—you know, that unfortunate trip in the Breeders’ Futurity was kind of one of the only few times that he’s really not shown up and hit the board, with the exception of the Derby, but I actually thought his Derby run was quite respectable. He—first time on the dirt and on a sloppy track to boot, he continued on and stayed on pretty well and kept fighting to the end, and I think that’s kind of his style. He’s a consistent sort that shows up every time and gives you what he has.
Marcus Hersh: And when he ran against Rydilluc, it didn’t seem like a very fair fight given the pace in that race.
Todd Pletcher: Well, any time a horse of Rydilluc’s quality can get loose on the lead, they’re always dangerous, and we’re hoping in this particular race that, you know, there’s someone to entertain him up front, and that would certainly help Charming Kitten’s chances.
Marcus Hersh: You don’t have anything in Epsom Derby, do you?
Todd Pletcher: No, not this year.
Penelope Miller: Up next, we have Terry Finley of West Point Thoroughbreds. Terry is the Founder and President of West Point, which was begun in 1991 by Finley and was named as a tribute to his alma mater. Finley earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from West Point in 1986, as well as a Master of Science in Business Analytics from Boston University in 1990. He served as an artillery officer in the army for eight years and left the army in 1994 with the rank of Captain. West Point Thoroughbreds has had two Belmont Stakes starters in the past; the first being High Finance in 2006, who finished tenth, and the other being Macho Again in 2008 who finished fifth. West Point Thoroughbreds’ Freedom Child recently romped in the Peter Pan Stakes at Belmont Park, besting the rest of the field by a whopping 13 and a quarter lengths and hopes to make his next start in the Belmont Stakes.
Terry, thank you so much for joining us. Can you tell me how it felt to have a horse named Freedom Child win the Peter Pan Stakes? Was there a lost boys joke in there somewhere?
Terry Finley: No, hi. Really great to be on with you, but no, there wasn’t. We—I did have some people comment on that, but it was a very, very good day and, you know, this colt, he, you know, he had a very good day on the right day on the day of the Peter Pan, so we were very happy with that. And right after the race, we turned our attention to the Belmont Stakes, so so far everything’s worked out well and we’re very excited as a partnership group for next Saturday.
Penelope Miller: Excellent. And can you tell me a little bit about how Freedom Child is doing at the moment?
Terry Finley: Yes. Actually, you know, one thing I wanted to say is when you own horses, whether you’re in partnerships or you’re doing it yourself and you have a chance to run in a big race like this, it’s really humbling and really super cool. You know, it’s—these are the opportunities that really get us all out of bed in the morning. So as it relates to this colt, you know, he’s really given us a good vibe overall. You know, he’s a May 18th foal, and he’s gotten really better and better in each start, aside from the Wood Memorial that I think we’ll talk about on this call. But, you know, you look at his figures and they’ve improved, and all-in-all, you know, with a guy like Tom Albertrani, he’s not a guy to really tout his barn, but I know Tom is very optimistic and his confidence level is very high, and as a result, all the partners, their confidence levels are very high as well, so I think we’re in good shape.
Jennie Rees: Hi, Terry. Let’s talk about the Wood Memorial and what—could you kind of give us a blow by blow of what is going through your mind and what is going through your stomach when you’re watching that race?
Terry Finley: Well before or after the start, Jennie?
Jennie Rees: Both. Both, and after you see the replay, perhaps.
Terry Finley: You know, we looked at the odds board, and you know, in our minds, we didn’t think we should’ve been—I think we were 45 to 1, so we thought that we were going in with a loaded gun and, you know, it’s just a bad luck incident. You know, I really—I felt bad for the starter, or the assistant starter, I really did, because I know he took some heat, and I know he felt, you know, just as bad over the situation as we did. And, you know, we really tried to put it out of our mind as quickly as possible. I mean, stuff happens in the world and in life and especially in this—in the business that we’re in every day. So, you know, right afterwards, we knew that he pulled out fine, and the next day, I remember talking to Tom Albertrani and we just—we vowed to really put it out of our minds, and we put a circle around the Peter Pan and it—obviously, it worked out really well.
So, you know, those kinds of things you just kind of shake your head, you know, and it just was a bang-bang issue. In the starter, he pressed the button just as the horse on the inside of us, you know, broke through the gate, and as a result, our starter reached down and really kind of tightened up on our strap and, as a result, when we broke, you know, he was holding on for two or three strides. So not the best thing to have happen at the start of a million dollar race but, you know, so be it. And we really thought that there was a reason why we didn’t go to the Kentucky Derby, right? And, you know, we’re hoping that we run well in the Belmont and we have a really good second half of the year and everything will be made right.
Jennie Rees: Yes, well speaking of the Derby, I was wondering, because in these partnerships, so much—I’m told by people it’s the number one goal; this is what they want to see, and to really not even get the chance at—I mean, that race just meant so much at the Derby.
Terry Finley: Yes. Yes, I would say, Jennie, we—I know some partnerships do, they focus—and, look, if you’re in the business and, you know, you dream about having starters in the Kentucky Derby. We don’t really focus on the Derby as much as some others. Just our cup of tea, and I think it works for us, because I think sometimes you—you know, we’ve all seen people—we got that Derby fever when we ran a horse in the Kentucky Derby in 2006 and it’s very easy to catch, and I think sometimes, you know, we make bad decisions and we put horses into the Derby when they might not quite be ready, and it causes them—it impacts them going forward.
I really feel great that we’re in a position where we got a shot at the Belmont, and then, you know, at the Travers and going forward. So we’re happy with the spot that we’re in, and you know, the Derby, it comes and goes and you just got to kind of roll with the punches as you’re owning horses like this.
Danny Brewer: The Peter Pan, you know, Freedom Child, he just like kicked some booty in the stretch. Talk about the stretch run and your thoughts, and how nuts you guys had to be going at that time.
Terry Finley: Yes, we thought that he’d run well, and obviously, we didn’t know that he’d really take to the slop that day but, you know, in every race that he’s run well—and he’s pretty much run well every time except the Wood and his first start. We actually took a testicle—one of his testicles out after his first start, so I think that’s really been a big help to him in his career. But we thought he’d run well in the Peter Pan, and he took—and he’s got such a cool middle move. He kind of runs horses off their feet. He did it when he broke his maiden at Gulfstream. And so, you know, going into the far turn when he kind of opened up, you know, he was three in front and then, in a blink of an eye, he was five in front, and you could see, you know, them starting to scrub behind him; we thought that we were in pretty good shape and he turned for home and he just kind of widened. So all in all, that was a darn good day as a horse owner and as an owner of Freedom Child.
Danny Brewer: Is his style made-to-order for the Belmont Stakes, do you think?
Terry Finley: You’d like to think so. You know, they talk about horses; you’ve got to be fairly close to the pace, if not on it. It’s not a race where real deep closers have done well, so in that respect, yes, we’d like to feel that we’re in pretty good shape. But, you know, you just never know, you know, who is going to—what’s going to be thrown at you the first part of it, and I think that’s going to be the key, right? We don’t know which one of these horses want to go a mile and a half, so that’s all. And two, you really—you have to have a good first, like three eighths of a mile, especially with a horse like us. We’ve got to get into a good rhythm, we’ve got to get our air, we’ve got to get framed up, and we can’t be running off going into the first turn or down the backside, and we’re hoping that he’s able to really relax as quickly as possible and kind of throttle down. And if that happens and we can get the distance, I think we’ll be a pretty, you know, strong foe at the top of the stretch; at least we hope so.
John Pricci: I was wondering if you could expand a little bit on