Eric Wing: Thank you very much, Michelle, and welcome, indeed, to today’s NTRA Communications National Media Teleconference. As usual, we’ll have both a transcript and a podcast of this call up in about 24 hours at ntra.com.
Obviously, another big weekend of Triple Crown prep races ahead and, again, the NBC Sports Network will be bringing it to households nationwide live. This weekend’s telecast, Saturday, from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. Eastern, again on NBC Sports Network, and on that program will be the live runnings of both the Wood Memorial and the Santa Anita Derby. We’ll have guests that will discuss both of those races with us a little later in the call. We’ll check in with Bryan Sullivan of Let’s Go Stable and that operation, along with Mr. Tabor and Mr. Magnier will be saddling the likely favorite in the Wood Memorial in Verrazano. We’ll also focus out West later in the call and check in with Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer. He’s got the San Felipe winner, Hear the Ghost, ready for an encore in the Santa Anita Derby.
First up, though, we’re delighted to welcome in with us David Wilkenfeld. David races under the name Pick Six Racing, and with good reason, but David and the whole Pick Six Racing team will be saddling the undefeated Vyjack in the Wood Memorial.
David, it’s Eric Wing in New York. Thanks for being on with us today.
David Wilkenfeld: Great, Eric. Thanks for having me.
Eric Wing: Okay. David, first things first – Pick Six Racing, I know that’s more than just a name; it’s a way of life for you. Tell us about how the Pick Six has been good to you over the years.
David Wilkenfeld: Well, I think that everyone probably has read about that, and when I named the—when I bought the horse out of auction and named the stable Pick Six Racing, I didn’t really think it would, you know, end up being about my handicapping, but here we are, and I’ve had some successes over the years in playing the Pick Six, and what can I say? I mean, I hit a few Pick Sixes, one at Santa Anita and one at Churchill Downs, and it’s something I’ve been, you know, practicing for a long time in terms of the learning curve that it takes to be a good horse handicapper and I was fortunate enough to get lucky a few times, so I thought I would hopefully bring the same good luck to the stable.
Eric Wing: Now, my idea of a big Pick Six, David, is one that, you know, is like 25,000 split two or three ways, but I know that that’s relative chicken feed compared to what you’ve done. I’ve read at least one that you had solo for $3.3 million; is that correct?
David Wilkenfeld: Yes, that’s correct. That was back in 2008. It was a multi-day carryover at Santa Anita and that was the number.
Eric Wing: That pays for a lot of losing Pick Six tickets, obviously.
David Wilkenfeld: Absolutely.
Eric Wing: Well, David, clearly you’re a player, and I know you’ve played in the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge as well, but there’s another aspect to your background that maybe horse players and horseracing fans can’t relate to quite as easily, and that’s your role as the head of PromGirl.com, a very successful business that specializes in mainly prom dresses but also special event wear. How did you get into that business, which seems so disparate from your down-and-dirty horse playing?
David Wilkenfeld: Well, outside of my horse playing, I’m an entrepreneur. I’ve had other businesses, and I still do have other businesses, but most of my time revolves around my e-commerce company which I founded in 1998, and we have two web properties; one is PromGirl.com and one is SimplyDresses.com. I came to start that business, one, because I was dealing with another project that was dealing with streaming video and DVD, and so I became fascinated with the Internet when everything, all the streaming video was going over to the Internet and away from—and into digital platforms so—and my family, my father’s been in the garment sector for 60-plus years and I thought it was an interesting way to possibly try and sell, you know, family dresses, and that was in 19—the first season was 1999 and now the company has over 120 different vendors that we represent, and we do a very large prom business, but we specialize in all special occasion dresses for the teen market and also for an older audience.
Eric Wing: Well, it sounds like a great idea that you were probably ahead of the curve on and that is a big part of its success, so well done there. David, I want to ask you about your horse, Vyjack. I know the horse was named after your parents, Vivienne and Jack, but Verrazano’s not the only undefeated horse in the Wood; Vyjack’s four-for-four as well. You’ve both come into the race, the Wood, with 50 points, so you’re both in good shape on that score. Obviously, you want to win, but if that weren’t to happen, are you basically hoping to see your horse gaining ground late on Verrazano regardless of the result?
David Wilkenfeld: Well, obviously, you know, I go into every race with the expectation that we can win. This race is no different. The horse is very fit. I’m not looking at this really as a prep race. He’s a very durable horse. We gave him time between the Jerome and the Gotham. I think the Gotham was a really good learning experience for the horse. He’s worked terrifically in between since that race and we’re expecting him to run well. I don’t think the distance is going to be a problem, and we really have—if we don’t win, we have no excuse except that we’re beaten by a horse than ran faster than us.
Eric Wing: All right, David, I might ask you a question or two later, but we’ve got a number of media on the call with us, so for the first time today, I’m going to throw things back over to Michelle and she’ll canvass the media for whatever questions they might have.
Operator: Thank you. If you would like to ask a question, please signal by pressing the star key, followed by the digit one on your telephone keypad.
The first question comes from Danny Brewer of Rutherford Reader. Please go ahead.
Danny Brewer: Hey, let’s talk for a second about Derby Fever and how it has gripped you. Obviously, you’ve got a lot of background in the horse playing, but as a horse owner, is the Derby Fever a little bit different?
David Wilkenfeld: I would say it’s actually a lot different. You know, my handicapping, it’s a lot of hard work and a lot of preparation, and it’s something that is not really inclusive of friends and family, to a large degree, and this has really been a great opportunity to enjoy the experience with my parents and my extended family and my friends, and anyone that’s seen the Winner’s Circle at the Gotham could see that, you know, we’ve had a lot of people at the races with us and I think that the crowd will hopefully continue to grow and I can enjoy the experience with people that are very important in my life, so it’s been a wonderful experience to date.
Danny Brewer: Talk about Rudy Rodriguez and what kind of job he’s done to this point training this horse.
David Wilkenfeld: I’m just thrilled. I think I made a terrific decision in handing the horse over to Rudy. I wanted a trainer that could be very hands-on in terms of getting on the horse in the morning because the horse was very, very difficult to train at Fair Hill. As everyone I’m sure knows, you know, we had to geld the horse as a two-year-old and it’s something that most horse owners would prefer not to have to do, and even when he first got to Rudy, he was really difficult and, at times, he didn’t even want to go on the track and train. So it’s been a long process.
And the second part of that was just getting the horse to learn how to relax once he did train. So that was always the plan, you know, to teach him how to relax because he really—you know, he’s built like a a distance horse, and when he did train, there was always the feeling that he could, you know, had the lung capacity to want to run all day, and the way he gallops, he doesn’t want to come off the track. So, you know, the transformation from the way he ran in the Jerome and what you saw in the Gotham, I think, is a big credit to the training job that Rudy and his team have done with the horse.
Danny Brewer: Appreciate it and I certainly wish you the best of luck.
David Wilkenfeld: Thank you very much.
Operator: Thank you. The next question comes from Debbie Arrington of Sacramento Bee. Please go ahead.
Debbie Arrington: Thank you very much for coming on this morning. We have a new system for getting horses into the Derby this year, a point system. What do you think of the point system so far, and did it influence your decisions at all and where the horse should run?
David Wilkenfeld: I think the point system seems to be working very well, and it’s really creating large fields for the prep races and it’s getting the best three-year-olds into the race. I know a horse like Shanghai Bobby that had a terrific two-year-old campaign and is an excellent horse, but he really hasn’t proven himself to be competitive with the—you know, in the three-year-old prep races. So I think what the intention was, was to get the best three-year-olds into the Kentucky Derby, and to that end, I think it’s working, and for the most part, I think it’s going to line up for the earnings, with a few exceptions. So I think it’s—I have no issue with the point system. They need to refine it a little bit as they—you know, after this year in terms of how many points are allocated to what races, but I guess that remains to be seen after all the prep races are finished with.
Debbie Arrington: Did it influence any decisions with your horse at all?
David Wilkenfeld: Not really. After his maiden race, you know, I kind of was thinking about the Kentucky Derby, and I just figured out a schedule with Rudy and Gustavo, his brother. I would say no, because we ran in the Jerome which had no points and we could have waited for the Withers which did have points, so we just mapped out a schedule that made sense in terms of timing, and so far, it’s worked out well.
Debbie Arrington: Very good. Best of luck.
David Wilkenfeld: Thank you.
Operator: Thank you. The next question comes from Dick Downey of The Downey Profile. Please go ahead.
Dick Downey: Hi. Mr. Wilkenfeld, I was just wondering what your shipping plans to Kentucky were going to be after the Wood Memorial.
David Wilkenfeld: My thoughts are to ship the horse fairly early, I would say probably at least three weeks prior to the race. I think if—the horse hasn’t shipped before, so I think it would be good to get him settled in early, and I find that horses that have a chance to, you know, gallop over the Churchill track and train over that track tend to run better, so that’s the plan right now. Give him probably, you know, five to seven days after the Wood and then ship him from there.
David Wilkenfeld: Thank you, sir.
Operator: Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, if there are any additional questions, please press star, one at this time. The next question comes from Ron Flatter of RSN. Please go ahead.
Ron Flatter: Hi, David. A question about the jockey situation. Is Joel completely committed to you right now? Is there any kind of flux there going forward, and what does that look like right now?
David Wilkenfeld: Well, I know he’s committed for the Wood, so past that, I haven’t had any discussion direct with him and we don’t have a multi-race commitment. If the horse performs as I think he will, then I think it’ll make his decision very easy, and I respect the jockeys for whatever decision they make. They’re going to obviously choose whatever horse they think gives them the best chance to win the Derby, and if he doesn’t think it’s Vyjack, then I’m sure we’ll find another capable rider, but we’re hoping that we don’t have to cross that bridge.
Ron Flatter: What did you think about—I mean, he’s had an interesting winter. He had that two very different rides on Animal Kingdom, where he was heavily criticized, and then he goes down and wins the world’s richest race during the weekend. What are your thoughts about how his winter has gone?
David Wilkenfeld: Well, you know, it’s easy to criticize a jockey in hindsight and—you know, first of all, I’m not one that’s in the camp of criticizing that race because it was a very good horse, Point of Entry, that was—and it was a slow-paced race. If he didn’t challenge the front runner, they would have went slow in front of him, and I’m not sure that he would have won that race anyway, and I think he probably—you know, in getting him the race early, it probably set him up better for the race in Dubai, where he showed more pace than he usually did, and on that track, I think, you know, from that post, he had to get good position. So it’s—I’m not going to second guess the jockey on that move, and he’s always been—I’ve been watching Joel ride from his California days and I always thought he was a top-notch jockey, and I think he’s proving that now that he’s moved to the East Coast and everyone’s getting a chance to see him.
Ron Flatter: Finally, from me too, with Verrazano liking to be out in the lead, but your horse has shown two different styles; any thoughts about how this is going to go Saturday for Vyjack?
David Wilkenfeld: Well, from the probable entries that I’ve seen, it doesn’t look like there’s going to be a lot of pace in the race, so that probably favors Verrazano, and we’ll just have to see how the race unfolds; and if Vyjack has shown, you know, multi-dimensions in terms of running style, so I’ll leave that up to Joel to determine what the best tactic is once the race unfolds, and hopefully it’ll be an honest race track and that’s really all we can hope for, but I don’t—I’m not one to tell a jockey—to give them too many instructions because that can only tend to backfire on you.
Ron Flatter: Thank you, David.
Operator: Thank you. The next question comes from Jennie Rees of Louisville Courier-Journal. Please go ahead.
Jennie Rees: Yes, David, are you greatly looking forward to taking on Verrazano and see, among the unbeatens, which is the best of the unbeatens?
David Wilkenfeld: Yes, I think it’s very exciting and it’s good for the sport. I think it’s one of the top prep races, if not the top prep race, with how the field is shaping up. You really don’t want to have too hard a race before the Derby, but it is what it is, and like I said, this horse has proven to be very durable. His races don’t really take a lot out of him. He ran three times, I think, within a short 57 days or something like that, his first three races, and he ran well in all three of them, so I think it’ll be a good test for both horses. I think, obviously, Verrazano’s the best horse that we face, but I think Vyjack is also the best horse that Verrazano has faced to date, so I’m looking forward to the challenge.
Jennie Rees: Your horse has gotten a lot of attention, but no horse has probably gotten the attention that Verrazano’s gotten. Do you feel like your horse has been slighted at all, or do you think, well, you know, when you win by 14 lengths, maybe the hype goes up a bit?
David Wilkenfeld: No, I mean, I don’t feel that at all. I mean, Verrazano has been very, very impressive and he has top level connections. He’s run at Gulfstream, which is the premiere meet, so maybe we’re a little more blue collar. I’m just looking forward to the race on Saturday, but it’s all positive for me.
Jennie Rees: Yes, and a final question. I wonder if you have any thoughts or reaction to, you know, your trainer is doing a suspension for an overage of a therapeutic medication. It was suggested on, I think the New York Times blog that maybe because of this, the horse shouldn’t be in the Derby. I was just wondering if you happen to have an opinion on that.
David Wilkenfeld: Well, maybe that’s good for selling newspapers but I don’t know what it has to do with my horse. I mean, hopefully, this situation can be used in an educational format and not a sensationalistic format to understand, you know, medication, performance enhancing drugs and the differential. We all want to see the game cleaned up – I think we all agree on that – but I think the understanding—and I did my own research, you know, on Banamine and it’s a legal therapeutic anti-inflammatory. It’s used by, I think, all trainers in the country. It has a place to help treat horses.
I think this is way sensationalized and, hopefully, all the facts will come out and it’ll be fairly covered by the press and not sensationalized, and maybe this will be an opportunity to educate the public and come up with some type of fair and equal standard in terms of how the game approaches medications, legal and illegal, and has a standardized way of how this is treated, and also in dealing with security issues because even with the latest infraction in question, that it was in a barn that did not have security cameras. I know that Rudy’s been trying to get security cameras in that barn, but they don’t own the barns, and they were trying to get electricity to run there so they could have security. The levels on this supposed positive are like 10 times the therapeutic level, so it makes no sense at all, and I think when all the facts come out, which hopefully they will, and everyone will wait for all the facts to be uncovered, and maybe this could be used as a springboard to deal with this issue in a more fair and equitable way. We all want to see cheaters eliminated, but I think, you know, jumping to conclusions and sensationalizing a situation is not the right way to do that.
Jennie Rees: Thank you very much, I appreciate it.
Operator: Thank you. There are no further questions at this time.
Eric Wing: David, as a handicapper, aside from Vyjack, who has particularly impressed you thus far among the three-year-olds?
David Wilkenfeld: I would—well, I was most impressed this past Saturday by the filly actually, Dreaming of Julia. I thought she ran a spectacular race, so I thought she was most impressive that day, and I guess Verrazano, of the colts, has been the most impressive to date. I thought Revolutionary ran a very nice race, winning the Louisiana Derby. The Florida Derby I thought was a little disappointing. I thought it would be a more competitive race, and I thought the race came up a little slow; and the winner did everything he needed to do, but I thought the—I just thought—I expected more out of the group that was running in that race. So—and I don’t think there’s any one clear-cut, except Verrazano has, I think, been the most impressive.
Eric Wing: Now, if you were to be filling out a Pick Six ticket Saturday, how deep would you go in the Wood?
David Wilkenfeld: Well, I’m always looking for a single when I play the Pick Six, so I think I would single my horse and hope for the best.
Eric Wing: And use the race as a little bit of a separator?
David Wilkenfeld: I’m not sure exactly what that means.
Eric Wing: Oh, to get rid of some of the competition that are all using Verrazano.
David Wilkenfeld: Well, if you could beat the favorite with a single, you’ll always—that’s always a positive and that’s how you—that would be my little secret for hitting a very large Pick Six, is to single a race when no one else is singling that race, so that would be my tip of the day.
Eric Wing: Well, we always appreciate the game theory and, David, we really even moreso appreciate you taking the time to be with us today and we wish you and everybody associated with Vyjack the best of luck on Saturday in the Wood.
David Wilkenfeld: Great. I appreciate that. Thank you very much.
Eric Wing: Thank you. That’s David Wilkenfeld, owner of the undefeated Vyjack, four-for-four and his gelding will be looking to make it five-for-five Saturday in the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct, part of a stakes-laden card at the Big A on Saturday, and again, NBC Sports Network will have the live runnings of both the Wood and the Santa Anita Derby live from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. on NBC Sports Network.
And, Michelle, do we have Bryan Sullivan on board?
Operator: Yes, he is, sir.
Eric Wing: Very good. Bryan, it’s Eric Wing. How are you today?
Bryan Sullivan: I’m doing well. Thanks for having me.
Eric Wing: Bryan, we were just talking to David Wilkenfeld, of course, and with Verrazano, you and Vyjack both have 50 points, by the way, so you’re good in shape regardless going in, but it seems like you’re in slightly somewhat of a unique situation with your horse, and here’s what I’m getting at. If Verrazano loses, then the racing world will be shocked, you know, oh, the super horse lost. If he wins by too many lengths, the experts will say he did too much too soon. Are you among those hoping to see him win by, like, that one-to-three length window?
Bryan Sullivan: Yes, well listen, I mean, it’s a tall task on Saturday. I mean, you got Normandy Invasion is a really nice horse, and Vyjack and some others as well. So, you know, I try not to get caught up in it all, and I think we’re taking the approach now that, you know, we’re just concentrating on our horse and how he’s doing. He’s done tremendously well since the Tampa Bay Derby and we’re just going to take it one race at a time, like we have, and, you know, Johnny knows the horse well and he’ll take care of him and do whatever he can with him, and we’re just looking for a good run on Sunday—excuse me, Saturday.
Eric Wing: Bryan, what pleased you more about the Tampa Bay Derby? Was it the fact that Verrazano successfully stretched out around the two turns, or that he overcame a couple of other bona fide stakes horses taking shots at him during the early part of the race?
Bryan Sullivan: It was a probably a step up in class and the fact that he had to ship up there and handle a new surrounding and surface. I would say that was probably what was the most pleasing. I mean, we’ve never had a doubt that he would go two turns. I mean, he just—if you see him train in the morning, watch him gallop out in his works, I mean, he never indicates that going two turns would be a problem. He actually—it actually probably would benefit him. So, to us, it was more, you know, just being able to handle the paddock scene, new surroundings and obviously stepping up into deeper water, so to speak, and this is the season where you got to keep stepping up, and you anticipate that these Grade 1s are not going to be easy, and the Wood will definitely not be that, and there’s some really nice horses in there.
Eric Wing: All right, Bryan, more I’d like to ask you later, but we’ll give the media their chance now, and once again I’ll throw things back over to Michelle and she’ll see what the writers and broadcasters have for you.
Bryan Sullivan: Okay.
Operator: Thank you. Once again, ladies and gentlemen, if you do have a question, please press star, one at this time.
The first question comes from Dick Downey of The Downey Profile. Please go ahead.
Dick Downey: Hi, Bryan. How are you?
Bryan Sullivan: Good, and you?
Dick Downey: I’m doing well. What are your plans as far as shipping Verrazano after Saturday’s race?
Bryan Sullivan: If everything goes well, I think the plan is for him to hang in New York for about seven or eight days, and I believe the ship date is the 15th of April.
Dick Downey: To Churchill Downs?
Bryan Sullivan: Correct.
Dick Downey: Thank you, sir.
Operator: Thank you. The next question comes from Danny Brewer of Rutherford Reader. Please go ahead.
Danny Brewer: Bryan, how’s it going?
Bryan Sullivan: I’m doing well. Yourself?
Danny Brewer: Great. Is Verrazano freakishly good to the point that seasoning is not a factor for him? Because, you know, Big Brown was kind of like that.
Bryan Sullivan: You know, I think we’ll find out how good he is over the next four to six weeks kind of thing. You know, I’ve been lucky; I mean, I’ve been around Todd and been friends with him for the last 15 or 16 years. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a horse train like him and carry the kind of condition that he does and handle things the way he does, so everything that I’ve seen from him is something I haven’t seen before. So we just need to keep moving forward, to a certain extent, and, you know, at some point, we’re going to need some luck, but he’s a tremendous animal right now.
Danny Brewer: You know, you and Eric talked about the Tampa deal. The shipping to Aqueduct, is that any kind of concern for you, and how do you think he’s going to handle that surface?
Bryan Sullivan: Yes, I think he should be fine with it. He’s going to ship, then he’ll be at Todd’s barn at Belmont Park for two or three days before shipping over the day of t