Eric Wing:             Welcome indeed to today’s NTRA Communications National Media teleconference.  Obviously the focus today will be the 139th Kentucky Derby taking place a week from Saturday at Churchill Downs in Louisville.  Of course, NBC and the NBC Sports Network will have all the television coverage of Derby Day, and the Kentucky Oaks, and all that good stuff.

We’ve got three excellent guests to talk Derby with us today.  A little later on we’ll check in with trainer Eddie Plesa.  He, of course, is the conditioner of Itsmyluckyday.  We’ll also talk to Todd Pletcher.  He’s got probably five maybe as many as six horses who could conceivably run in the derby; those being, in alphabetical order, Charming Kitten, Overanalyze, Palace Malice, Revolutionary, Verrazano, and maybe Winning Cause, we’ll see about him.

First up, though, we’re delighted to have with us the trainer of Goldencents, Doug O’Neill.  And Doug does have to go to an appointment in about 15 or 18 minutes, so we want to ask you to limit your questions to Doug one per person, and if we have time after we cycle through, we’ll certainly be happy to take your follow-ups.  But, Doug, it’s Eric Wing in New York.  Thanks so much for being with us today.

Doug O’Neill:      Thanks for having me, Eric.

Eric Wing:             Always a pleasure.  Thank you.  And first of all, Doug, just kind of the 30,000 foot view question.  What’s it feel like coming in as something of a defending champion trainer of the Kentucky Derby?

Doug O’Neill:      It’s an incredible feeling.  I mean when you think of the names like the Fitzsimmons, and the Jones, and just the history that goes along with this great race in the Kentucky Derby, and to be able to walk down that hall with some just real greats, it’s unbelievable.

Eric Wing:             Yes, I can imagine.  Doug, Goldencents is clearly a high octane horse.  Kevin Krigger just looked like he was loaded the whole way around in the Santa Anita Derby.  What’s your confidence level about Goldencents being able to harness all that talent and ability and get the mile and a quarter?

Doug O’Neill:      Well, it’s a lot better now after watching the Santa Anita Derby.  But, you know, he’s a horse that’s always shown us a lot of talent, and, you know, he won his debut so impressively.  And he never gets tired, so he’s always shown us that he’s got the speed and the stamina to get a mile and a quarter.  But, you know, I’d be lying if I wasn’t worried.  We were all a little bit concerned with the race prior to the Santa Anita Derby, but we did some adjustments and it really paid off and hopefully it’ll keep paying off.

 

 

Danny Brewer:  Is the dream you’ve been living this year any different from last year, and are you trying to keep it the same?

 

Doug O’Neill:      Wow, you know, it just—the dream seems to be getting better, Danny.  It’s unbelievable.  And, you know, I think last year with I’ll Have Another, we were all fired up after winning the Santa Anita Derby, but really still thought in our minds that the Kentucky Derby was so far fetched; you need such a great horse and so much racing luck to get it done.  And so I think having got it done, this year’s dream just seems more real, like we could possibly do it back to back.

 

Ron Flatter:         Kevin mentioned in the interview after the race on HRTV that you had done something to get Goldencents to relax at least insofar as in that race something going on in the mornings.  What’s—what was the secret there to getting him to relax for that race, and does it carry over to the Derby?

 

Doug O’Neill:      Ron, I’d have to kill you if I told you.  Okay, no, you know, I think the biggest thing with these beautiful horses is they’re all individuals, and I get caught up probably like everyone else does sometimes where you let them train themselves and you let them do their thing.  I mean you really—you try to stay out of their way.  And it was working like that up until the San Felipe, and then it just really seemed like I needed to make some adjustments.  And the adjustments we made, we just haven’t let him do as much in the mornings as he was doing prior to all his other starts.  And, you know, I wasn’t sure if that was going to leave a short horse, or if it was going to leave a horse with more energy, and it sure left a horse with a lot more energy for the Santa Anita Derby.

C.L. Brown:          I was just wondering if you could kind of give me the quick back story on how you guys selected Kevin to the be jockey?

Doug O’Neill:      Well, Kevin, you know, was real successful up in Northern California prior to coming down to Southern California.  He’s represented by a really good guy in Tom Knust, and I’ve been friends with Tom for a long time.  So, you know, Tom said, listen, I’d love to bring Kevin by the barn.  And I had known of Kevin a little bit prior to that moment, and one thing led to another.  He worked Goldencents maybe six weeks or so before his debut, and he got off him, and in his best U.S. Virgin accent just said, wow, man, this horse can really run.  And I had Kevin and Tom start planting the seeds to the owners of Goldencents, and they fell in love with him right away, too.  So that’s kind of how it all worked.  And the, of course, no matter how much you love a person they’ve got to have some chemistry with the horse, and thank God, not only is he a great person, a great rider, but he’s got great chemistry with Goldencents.

Tim Wilkin:          Do you see any similarities between Goldencents and I’ll Have Another?

Doug O’Neill:      You know, I think the biggest similarity, they’re both very mentally tough.  You know, they’re—they both seem like they handle the crowds and the shipping with not a problem.  You know, Goldencents in his short little career has already flown to New York, he’s flown to Louisiana, and handled both of those without an issue.  So I think that’s probably the biggest similarity is they’re both very competitive and mentally tough.

 

Ryan Goldberg:                   Just wanted to ask you what your thoughts are on the point system this year, and how it affected plans for your horses throughout the season, not just Goldencents but He’s Had Enough, who, you know, probably would’ve got into the Derby off of, you know, his juvenile run last year.  So I was just wondering what your thoughts were on the point system and how it’s turned out.

 

Doug O’Neill:      Well, it’s turned out good for us, so I like that end of it.  You know, I think there’s something—there are some reasons why this point system could really play out better in the future, and I think they’ve talked about making some tweaks to it.  And, you know, obviously some of the top fillies not having any points seems wrong, so they probably have to tweak with that a little bit, and—but, you know, I—you do feel bad for a horse that wins the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and he’s not automatically in; that seems something’s wrong with that.  But, yes, I think they really want you not to rest on your laurels of your two year old campaign, and really work hard as a three year old developing and earning that trip to the Kentucky Derby.  So I think it’s added some intrigue and some strategizing to everybody.  And knock on wood, it hasn’t really been a huge factor for us, but we’ve been blessed that, you know, we felt pretty comfortable going into the Santa Anita Derby that we just needed to kind of hit the board to get in there, and in reality, if you didn’t hit the board, we weren’t going to go anyway, so it worked out okay.

 

Bill Finley:            Hi, Doug.  I was wondering, last year you took a pretty unusual route where you bypassed the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile off the good performance in the Champagne; instead went to Delta Downs.  Obviously now you can look in the rearview mirror, and it’s working out pretty well for you, but could you talk about that decision, why you made it, and how it has worked out for you?

 

Doug O’Neill:      Sure.  You know, he wasn’t nominated—he wasn’t a Breeders’ Cup nom, so it would’ve cost the client a lot of money to run in the Breeders’ Cup, so that really was an instant knock on that choice.   And, you know, we just kind of used the Delta Downs race as, you know, that was our Breeders’ Cup—you know—our big race as a two year old, and that worked out perfect.

Debbie Arrington:             What sort of personality does Goldencents have around the barn, and does he have any nicknames?

Doug O’Neill:      Well, Champ.  We call him Champ.  You know, he’s real laid back.  He’s got that perfect way about him where he’s really quiet in the stall.  If somebody comes to the stall, he’ll walk right up to the front of the stall and interact with you, but if not, he’ll just stand by the side of the wall, and, you know, lay down.  He’s just a real—real easy on himself in the stall.  And around the barn he’s got good energy, but not, you know, very controlled and not at all wild or skittish.  You know, he’s just a class act.

 

Beth Harris:        Last year you went on quite a rollercoaster ride through the whole Triple Crown, whether it was with the media or a lot of other things.  What are you expecting going this time?  Do you feel like everybody’s moved past that or are you bracing yourself that you’re going to have to kind of deal with some of that again?

 

Doug O’Neill:      That’s a good question.  Yes, you know, I think last year for every couple pats on the back we got like one kick in the groin, so this year we’re expecting maybe like four or five pats on the back before you’re getting the kick in the groin.  But, you know, like last year,  we’ve got a tremendous team going with us and we’ve got a great support system, and we’ve got a lot of owners/friends/supporters that, you know, it’s all part of it.  When you’ve—I would rather have a good horse and answer the tough questions than a slow horse and nobody asking anything.  So I’m excited and couldn’t pick a better horse and owners to go with than Goldencents and his owners.

 

John Pricci:            You talked about changing up things and making adjustments going into the Santa Anita Derby.  This is a little different; this is tougher, this is longer.  Are we making further adjustments from there, and, you know, how does that play into the added distance a week from Saturday?

 

Doug O’Neill:      Good question.  I really think a horse, they either have it in them or they don’t, and I really believe this horse has got a mile and a quarter in him.  And the adjustments we’ve made going into the Santa Anita Derby really seemed to add energy to him, even though to watch him in the morning  you might’ve—it might look like, you know, we were training less hard than we were into the previous races.  But I’m going to keep—it worked so well there, I’m going to keep going with it.  He still gets out there and he stretches his legs and he gives us a good mile and a half every morning, and he’s, you know, he brings 110% to the track every day, so we’re going to keep with that same approach.  He had a good breeze the other day, and if all goes well he’ll have another six furlong breeze this Thursday, and then he’ll gallop right into the race.

C.L. Brown:          I wanted to just kind of ask about Kevin.  And I was just wondering from a historical perspective, there hasn’t been a black jockey that’s won—only the second one to compete and won since 1921 I think; something like that.  I was just wondering if from a historical perspective if you could talk about, you know, has Kevin talked about how all big, you know, how big this could be potentially, and just how big his presence is going to be in general?

 

Doug O’Neill:      That’s a great question.  Actually it was 1902 when Jimmy Winkfield won it, and the irony is that the trainer was an Irish guy named Thomas McDowell.  So Kevin’s going to be playing Wickfield and I’m going to be playing McDowell here come May 4th.

 

But, you know, one of the great things about Kevin and just about every jockey that is lined up in the race here come May 4th is these kids are just phenomenal the way they handle all the pressure.  And Kevin is no exception.  He’s just got ice running through his veins, and, you know, he’s got that let’s bring it on instead of the—in awe of the whole thing, even though it is a pretty amazing historical fact that it’s been a long time since an African American has won the race.  So I think it’s time to make it—to have it happen again, and I’m hoping May 4th that Kevin and I are both part of a great history of this great race.

Dick Downey:     Hey, Doug.  I was just wondering if you’ve thought about your preference for post position?  Would you want number 19 again this year, or what do you think about all that?

 

Doug O’Neill:      You know, it sure worked good last year.  It does seem like the farther out you are the less chance of you getting caught up in that soup going into the first turn.  But, you know, whatever happens, the great thing is Goldencents has a lot of natural speed away from the gate, so I don’t think it’s as crucial as it seemed like it was for I’ll Have Another.  But that’s one thing I’d love to see in the point system, you know, whoever had the highest points could choose where they wanted to select, and then work your way down.  I think that would be pretty interesting, and the one with the least points gets whatever remaining post is left.  But I’m sure that will never happen, but that would work well for us this year.

Eric Wing:             All right.  Well, Doug, really appreciate you taking the time to be with us and talk to us about Goldencents on the dark day of racing there.  Hope it didn’t feel too much like a kick in the groin today, but thank you again, and we wish you and Kevin and your whole team the best of luck a week from Saturday.

Doug O’Neill:      You’re the best, Eric.  Thanks so much.

Eric Wing:             Thank you.  That’s Doug O’Neill, trainer of last year’s Derby winner, I’ll Have Another, and trainer of this year’s Santa Anita Derby winner, Goldencents.  He’ll be looking to make it back to back Derbys for team O’Neill in the run for the roses on May 4th in Louisville.

Okay, that will bring us to our next guest.  It’s Eddie Plesa, and he trains the fast son of Lawyer Ron, Itsmyluckyday.  And I understand we’re still in the process of reaching out to Eddie, so we’ll ask you to just bear with us for a couple of moments, and we expect to have Eddie on very shortly.  Of course, Itsmyluckyday has made three starts in 2013.  Interestingly, he was up a track behind Goldencents in the aforementioned Delta Jackpot.  He was sixth, beaten seven and a quarter lengths in the Delta Jackpot, but he sure did turn it around in 2013 starting on the first day of the year with a big win in the Gulfstream Park Derby, then a big win also in the Holy Bull before his runner-up finish in the Florida Derby.

Eric Wing:             Eddie, we were talking about—just while you were joining in, all of his exploits this year, and he’s clearly one of the fastest three year olds in 2013.  What’s the key to him turning the tables on a horse like Orb as he stretches out to a mile and a quarter?

 

Eddie Plesa:        I think the key to it is for us to hit our best day, and improve off of our last race.  The Florida Derby, as nice as it would’ve been to win, it wasn’t my main focus.  If it would’ve been, I would’ve done things differently with the horse.  The main focus is the first Saturday in May.  And with that being said, I think he had 62 days off between the Florida Derby and his race previous to that.  We gave him a little easy light training time during that course, and then started to crank him up with the idea of the first Saturday in May.  Not going to take anything away from Orb’s performance; it was sensational, no ifs ands or buts about that, but, again, I don’t think we were at 100%, and he’ll have no excuses coming into the Derby.  He will be 100%.

 

Eric Wing:             Eddie, you’re an outstanding and accomplished horseman, but I feel it only fair to point out that where your family is concerned, perhaps Derby bragging rights go to your brother-in-law, John Servis, who, of course, won in 2004 with Smarty Jones.  Since 2004, this will be your first Derby starter since Smarty Jones did his thing.  Since then, has John offered up or insisted upon you any advice or comments that might actually be helpful for you this time around?

 

Eddie Plesa:        Listen, we come from a very close knit family.  Needless to say, John’s an outstanding trainer, as is his brother Jason, and John has experienced this so he’s there for me if I have any questions.  You know, he’s rooting like the rest of us, just like I was rooting for him when it was his day in the sun, so to speak.  He’s there if I need him, no question about it, and the only thing is if we’re lucky enough for me to follow in his footsteps, that certainly will put a lot of pressure on his brother Jason.  So we’ll see what happens that way.

 

Debbie Arrington:             This has been a really contentious Derby class.  What do you think of this Derby group, and how would you handicap it?

 

Eddie Plesa:        Listen, I think it’s an excellent Derby group of horses.  I think you have a lot of individuals that you’re going to hear a lot about later on.  Needless to say, we’re all pulling for the same race, and I think it’s an exciting time, and only time will tell as far as the quality of this class.  But my first impression, not just because of my horse, but just because of the horses that are in there, I think we’re going to find out it’s a very, very competitive and good class.

 

Debbie Arrington:             And do you think that the Eastern horses have an edge over the West or vice versa, or—who are you looking out for?

 

Eddie Plesa:        Well, I’m looking to the Eastern horses because those are the ones I’m most familiar with.  Needless to say, there’s a track record coming from out West with Bob Baffert  and all he’s accomplished here, so you have to  be leery of him, so to speak.  But all in all, from my experience with the East Coast horses, I think they’re going to be right at the top of the class.

 

Ron Flatter:         Eddie, just looking back on Delta Downs, after that race you then—coming back, you took him to the turf.  What was the thought there?  I mean did you think he was going to be a turf horse, or were you still just sort of looking for where he was going to find himself?

 

Eddie Plesa:        Well, I had to put a line for the race at Delta only because it’s the configuration and the trip that we had in the race and the inexperience not only the horse had but the rider that I chose had.  So, you know, we came out of that race in good order.  He had run on the turf before.  He had run well.  The race was there, and so we—you know, he was kicking down the barn, so to speak, so it was a spot for us to go ahead and run him.  And I’m a big believer in horses off of turf and then next start running to dirt.  I think that’s a plus and it certainly turned out that way as far as I was concerned.  But, you know, this horse can handle any surface I believe.  I don’t care if it’s at Calder, which is unlike any surface; Monmouth Park turf, Gulfstream Park and hopefully Churchill Downs.  I don’t think surface is a problem with him, and I think maybe we’ll find at a later date that he’s—he would—he could be competitive enough to win a stake race on the turf, though that’s—I mean not in our plans right now.

 

Ron Flatter:         Eric also had mentioned the fact that this is just on paper such a fast horse or such a speedy horse.  I mean among the contenders for the Derby, Verrazano and then Super Ninety Nine who zoomed off the trail, and yours are the only ones with two triple Beyers Figure.  Do you put much stock into the buyers and look at it and go, okay, wow, we’ve got something here, or do you use your own eyeballs to figure that out?

 

Eddie Plesa:        Well, certainly I rely on my own instincts and experience in this.  Beyers I think are a useful tool for a lot of people.  I think you can fine tune them with other things; the Thoroughgraph and certainly the Ragozin numbers.  And when you look at the Rag numbers or the Thoroughgraph, you’re going to see that he’s equally as impressive, maybe more so with their numbers.  I’m not choosing them because they’re flattering to me in this time, but all the people that I know when they’re buying and selling horses depend on those two systems rather than the buyer numbers.  So, you know, does he have outstanding numbers?  Absolutely.  I’m just hoping he can duplicate it on the first Saturday in May.  If he does, I think he’ll be an extremely tough horse in the race.

 

 

Danny Brewer:  With a name like Itsmyluckyday, is he destined to win this thing?

 

Eddie Plesa:        Well, listen, it’s part of the—it’s part of the process.  I mean we didn’t name him.  We bought him with that name.  Certainly we like the name; we kept it, and I’m just hoping it proves out to be Itsmyluckyday.

 

Danny Brewer:  There you go.  Listen, when you talk about getting the horse ready and having him at 100%, what have you done—or have you done anything differently to get him to peak on May 4th?

 

Eddie Plesa:        Well, again, it sounds ludicrous to say that we used the Florida Derby as a prep.  In some ways we did.  It was a race that came 62 days later after his race before that.  Was he 100% fit in that race?  No, I don’t believe he was.  I believe he was close.  I believe he was 95% or thereabouts.  But when you’re running against a horse like Orb in the Florida Derby, you’d better be 100% fit.  So with that being said, he’s gotten a good mile work into him since then.  I think he’s as fine-tuned as I can get him.  I think he’ll be 100% fit because of the reasons I just said, and I just wish it was this Saturday.  You know, just let—come on, let’s get it over with and let’s do it.  And, again, he’ll have no excuses going into this race.  He’s just 110%.

 

Carol Holden:    You mentioned that there’s so many racing folks in your family, and obviously the success of John.  But what’s it like, because you’ve had a great deal of success yourself, but this is the first time in the national spotlight for you and I believe your other owners, so I’m wondering if you could just give us some of your thoughts and feelings on that?

 

Eddie Plesa:        Well, the first thing I want to say is the people that are involved with this horse, David Melin and Marion Montanari, are certainly the kind of people that support racing, and what racing is all about.  You know, we see big people coming in and buying horses and they’re in the business for five, 10 years, whatever it is, and then you don’t see them again.  These people have been in the business—I’ve trained for them for over 22, 23 years.  They’ve owned horses approximately 30 years.  So it’s really exciting for me to be able to bring them to this venue; them being part of it.  I truly wish that everybody that owns race horses would have an opportunity to experience something like we’re experiencing right now.

 

You know, I was at the Derby before and it was exciting, and you see when you’re there why people are willing to spend any kind of—any amount of money to get back there.  It’s a very difficult process.  You have to have a tremendous amount of luck.  And it is—it’s a taxing thing for the horse, it’s taxing for the people that are associated with the horse, but it’s well worth it.  So it can be intoxicating and certainly we’re experiencing that now and we welcome it.

 

Carol Holden:    Do you get any special instructions from your wife Laurie, part owner?

 

Eddie Plesa:        Well, she doesn’t pay her bills on time, that’s for sure.  No, listen, she’s experienced it with John.  She was at the Preakness, so she experienced that part of it.  She was at the Belmont, so she experienced,  the disappointment.  Like you said, we’ve been doing it for a long time.  Her father was a jockey; my father was a jockey.  They rode with each other back in the fifties.  She grew up in it; I grew up in it.  I’m certainly a lot more hands on than she was.  And with her brothers and everything else, it is a way of life for us.  And, again, everybody’s on the same page; we always root for each other.  And I’ve always said I’m very jealous of her father, because between John, Jason and myself, we have a number of horses.  He always has somebody to root for or watch almost every single day.  So, you know, it is what it is.  It’s exciting for us.

Jay Privman:       I was wondering if you could sort of elaborate on what you think the advantages are to staying at the Calder as long as  you have, and—as opposed to any—if you see any sort of things that you’re not going to get by going into Churchill any earlier?   Compare those two aspects.

 

Eddie Plesa:        Yes, well listen, first of all, I get to stay home.  That’s a big plus.  Second of all, Calder’s racing surface I think will prepare you for any other racing surface, so I think that’s a plus.  The third thing is we do not have to deal with weather conditions that may be happening or may arise in Kentucky.  So I just think it’s—for our horse, it’s the right thing to do.  He will be up there Saturday, and all his work will be done.  He will be familiar—get familiar with the race track; probably will not work there.  But, again, for us, it’s—it just seemed to make a lot of sense because of—Calder’s an unusual surface.  And I know that you’re aware of that.  Again, it’s a deeper surface that really gets you fit, and I just wanted to take advantage of that and just keep things as normal as I can for him for as long as I can.

 

Jay Privman:       And is he going to breeze once more before you leave there?

 

Eddie Plesa:        If I do it will be Thursday.  I’m in a Ocala right now with a sale.  I’ll be going back there tomorrow.  Needless to say, I get daily reports from the barn, and the rider that gets on him every day told me, he says, listen, usually we rate everything one to 10, he says this is a 12, a 13 or 14.  He says whatever high number you can come up with, that’s what it is.  I’ll get down there and I’ll get a feeling for it.  If I do work him, it’ll be easy.  If I don’t work him, it’s only because I don’t think there’s anything else I can do to prepare this horse from a physical standpoint to get him any fitter or to do anything any differently than he’s going to do in the Derby.  So, you know, from my standpoint, do you go ahead and work him because people expect you to work him?  Do you work him because you think it’s the right thing to do, but at a cost where, you know, when you put horses under pressure they’re more apt to have something happen to them?  And, you know, we’re this close, so it’s like I’m leaning towards not working him only because we’re this close, and I—he doesn’t need it.  So it remains to be seen.  If he does work, it’ll be Thursday.

 

Eric Wing:             Eddie, Itsmyluckyday ran a big number in the Holy Bull and then you gave him