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Bobby Flay: ‘Royal Ascot is the Pinnacle for Me’

Celebrity chef Bobby Flay is excited to swap his apron for a top hat and tails at Royal Ascot and described his bold bid for G1 Coronation S. glory with Breeders' Cup-winning homebred Pizza Bianca (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) as “an experience of a lifetime.”

The Coronation S. has been the main aim for Pizza Bianca ever since she stormed to victory in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Del Mar last November and Flay has said that next week's royal meeting is the pinnacle.

“I feel like I have won already just by participating in a race like this,” the television star told TDN Europe on Thursday. “It's one of the things that I love about this game, being able to participate in big races, and no matter what, we are going to have a great time.

“We have big races at home in our back yard worth a lot of money but Ascot is the experience of a lifetime and we're so excited,” – Bobby Flay

“Royal Ascot is the pinnacle for me. The pageantry of it all, the quality of the horses, the food and beverage, the building itself and the royal family. It has everything that you could possibly want at a horse racing event.”

Flay didn't become one of the most successful owner-breeders in America by simply wanting to take part. He bought White Hot, a half-sister to G1 Derby winner Pour Moi (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}), for 1.25 million gns out of the 2014 Tattersalls October Book 1 Sale. Pizza Bianca is her first foal.

She has proved an outstanding addition to Flay's broodmare band, which is said to have numbered only 10, with Pizza Bianca flying the flag for the family with that Breeders' Cup success representing an important first for her trainer Christophe Clement.

Flay said, “Christophe is incredibly talented and extremely knowledgeable. He's got a great team and is meticulous. They love what they do and are great communicators. It's been such a fun experience having a horse with him and I was so happy for Christophe to win his first Breeders' Cup race with Pizza Bianca. We have big races at home in our back yard worth a lot of money but Ascot is the experience of a lifetime and we're so excited.”

He added, “Pizza Bianca has an incredibly rich pedigree and it's mostly European. To be able to showcase her talents on the biggest stage in Europe is a privilege. I have 10 mares. The philosophy behind the operation is that we try to breed the best to the best. We try and leave mediocre to the side and everything we breed is of a very high quality.

“My bloodstock agent, James Delahooke, is a bit of a legend in European racing and helped create a lot of the good Juddmonte families. If you look through some of their great horses, James would have picked out the third or the fourth dams in the pedigree, so having somebody who can see into the future is a huge help.”

Flay has surrounded himself with some of the brightest minds in racing in order to give himself a fighting chance of succeeding but he does a lot of the matings himself and selected Fastnet Rock for White Hot, with the resulting foal turning out to be the now famous Pizza Bianca.

He explained, “Fastnet Rock has been an amazing sire in Australia and when he shuttled to Europe he got a lot of good horses over there as well. Galileo might be the best sire of all time but, the problem with him is, he has a lot of sons at stud. When you have a Galileo mare, the choices are not there at the highest end, and when I was looking at what stallion to go with for White Hot, Fastnet Rock just seemed like he would be a really good choice.”

Flay added, “He was a very fast racehorse and I felt like White Hot needed some speed. As everyone knows, 95% of these things are guesswork, but one of the things that I really believe in is, if you have a mare with good blood, it will show up at one point. You don't know when, but if you breed well, she is going to produce something special. I just didn't think it would be with her first foal! White Hot has an Uncle Mo colt yearling and a Not This Time colt foal. She is in foal to Into Mischief so hopefully there is a lot to look forward to.

“I spend a lot of time on matings and have a couple of rules that I follow. I don't go to unproven stallions. I just don't do it. When I think about sires in the United States, I think Curlin, Uncle Mo, Quality Road and Into Mischief–the top of the food chain. Not This Time and Constitution, they are going to take the lead at some point, but I am very careful with my breeding choices.”

Not only has Flay enjoyed a great deal of success with Pizza Bianca in recent times, he remains a shareholder in GIII Pimlico Special S. winner First Captain (Curlin), a horse he bred, and recently bought into GI Belmont S. contender We the People (Constitution).

An unrelenting ability to make good and informed decisions has led to Flay's outstanding run of success, according to Clement, who says he is no such believer in luck.

Clement said, “I am a realist and Bobby is an optimist–and thank God he is an optimist because this is a tough game and he has done very well. When I was an assistant trainer for Luca Cumani, we trained horses for Gerald Leigh, and Bobby Flay will be the next Gerald Leigh.

“He has a small broodmare band, is very disciplined, sells his colts well and keeps his mares in training.”

The trainer added, “The main thing that makes him successful is that he is amazingly disciplined. He has a wonderful broodmare band and you need to give him credit. Many people have tried to do it but not many have done it as well as he has.

“Bobby has surrounded himself with very good people in his own business and in racing as well. He has bought into some of the top pedigrees and is now involved in racing at the top level.

“I don't believe in luck whatsoever and Bobby is successful because he had a good plan and it's working well.”

Flay's yellow and orange silks will be carried by Pizza Bianca in a race that features Homeless Songs (Ire) (Frankel {GB}), representing Moylgare Stud in Ireland, the Cheveley Park-bred Inspiral (GB) (Frankel {GB}) and a host of Coolmore-bred blue bloods. It may seem daunting, but Flay is relishing the challenge.

He said, “I don't buy a lot of horses because I don't have the resources that some of these people I am competing against have. Some of these people own countries. I mean, they have extreme wealth and can just fire away as they please, but I have to be very clever and save my powder for the moments when something special comes up.

“When White Hot was in the sales, I knew she wasn't going to be cheap, but it's like buying a piece of real estate to me. I would never buy a colt like that. I can't afford to try that. If White Hot was a colt, she'd be worth zero [once she never raced] but, the fact that she's a filly, you still have a chance.

On the race itself, he added, “William Hill has Pizza Bianca at 10-1 but everyone else has her odds at 16-1 so maybe the guys at William Hill took a bet.”

Pizza Bianca is not the only horse that Clement runs at the royal meeting with the rapidly-progressive sprinter Slipstream (More Than Ready) due to line out in the G1 Commonwealth Cup as well.

Speaking about his chances of landing a royal winner at the first attempt at travelling horses to Britain, Clement, who was once based in the United Kingdom, said, “I worked in England for four years as assistant to Luca Cumani and have been lucky enough to train for Her Majesty in America. To have runners at Royal Ascot is a lot of fun and I actually like that they are not favourites.”

He added, “Slipstream was very impressive when he won at Keeneland in April. He has a good mind and has a lot of talent. He is still improving.

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Op/Ed: The Triple Crown Woes…Maybe It’s the Purses?

Though not a proponent of “fixing” the Triple Crown by spacing the races further apart, I can't deny that the series has a problem. GI Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike (Keen Ice) passed the GI Preakness S. Preakness winner Early Voting (Gun Runner) won't be running in the GI Belmont S. this Saturday and not a single horse will contest all three Triple Crown races this year. The Triple Crown ends with a race that is good but could be a lot better. Lining up the best horses possible for as many Triple Crown races as possible has become immensely difficult.

But maybe the biggest problem isn't the spacing of the races but that the purses for the races, especially the Preakness and the Belmont, are not what they should be and haven't kept up with the times. If you want your races to always get the best horses and to be considered to be among the most important, most prestigious races on the calendar you're going to have to pay for the privilege. The Triple Crown tracks haven't bought into that premise.

The purse of the Kentucky Derby is $3 million. The Preakness and Belmont are worth $1.5 million each. While that may seem like a lot of money, in a sport where purses have exploded over the last 15 years or so, it's not. There are nine U.S. races that have a larger purse than the Preakness and Belmont, eight of them Breeders' Cup races and the other the $3-million GI Pegasus World Cup. That's not to mention the riches thrown around in Saudi Arabia and Dubai. Or that the Preakness and Belmont are worth only $500,000 more than four Kentucky Derby preps, the GI Blue Grass S., the GII Louisiana Derby, the GI Florida Derby, and the GII Rebel S., and just $250,000 more than the GI Arkansas Derby.

The Triple Crown races, as important as they are, should be the richest races run in the U.S. or at least the equal of any other race. To make that happen, they should all be worth $6 million, the equal of the GI Breeders' Cup Classic. It can be done. Let me explain.

With $6 million total now paid out in the three races, the Triple Crown tracks would have to come up with an additional $12 million to be able to pay out $6 million in each race. That probably wouldn't be much of a problem for Churchill Downs or NYRA, but, at Pimlico, it would be a lot to ask for them to come up with that kind of money. Simply asking the tracks to increase the purses on their own isn't going to happen.

So, why not copy what the Breeders' Cup has done?

One of the reasons why they can give away so much money at the Breeders' Cup is that, in order for a horse to be eligible to run, their sire must be nominated and they must also be nominated as foals. If not, the owners must pay a hefty fee to supplement them into a Breeders' Cup race. It costs $400 to nominate a foal. To make the progeny of a North American-based stallion eligible, a payment equal to 50% of the horse's published stud fee is required.

In the fiscal year that ended on Jan. 31, 2021, the Breeders' Cup took in $8.4 million from domestic stallion nomination fees and $2.7 million in fees for foreign stallions. Foal nomination fees added up to $4.1 million with 9,822 nominated foals. That adds up to $15.2 million.

The Triple Crown is not going to equal those numbers. There would be little incentive to nominate fillies or foreign stallions. But could asking owners and breeders to pay fees similar to what they pay to make their horses and stallions eligible to run in the Breeders' Cup yield $10 million or so? Probably. Finding another $2 million out of the track's pockets to bolster the purses and get to the $12 million figure wouldn't be asking that much.

There's also the matter of what it currently costs to make a horse eligible for the Triple Crown, a payment now due in late January of a horse's 3-year-old year. Not only would that payment still be required under this proposal, but it should be increased. It currently costs just $600 to nominate a horse to the Triple Crown. There were 312 noms this year, which adds up to only $187,200. You could raise another $500,000 or so by upping the fee to $2,500, which doesn't seem unreasonable.

The days of owners being sportsmen is long gone. The owners who dominate the top levels of the sport are businessmen and businesswomen and no matter what they may say, their decisions ultimately come down to money. The end goal is to maximize their profit on their horses and the way to do that is to create a stallion who can command a large stud fee. It is not to win as many races as possible. To get there, you need only have to have a horse with a strong pedigree who has won, perhaps, a single Grade I race. Trainers believe that the best way to have a horse primed to win a major race is to have plenty of time between starts.

A Kentucky Derby win is important, but not the be all and end all. Wins in the Preakness and Belmont are less important.

But there has to be a tipping point somewhere, where the purses are so large that the right business decision becomes running in, and not passing on, the Triple Crown races. Put up $18 million for the series and $6 million per race and people will run, even if the three races take place over a five-week span. That's how you can fix the Triple Crown.

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Breeders’ Cup Members Elected

A total of 20 individuals were elected to serve as Breeders' Cup Members, it was announced Tuesday. Voting for the 2022 Member election by Breeders' Cup 2021 foal and stallion nominators was concluded at 5:00 p.m. ET June 6.

The following individuals, listed alphabetically, received the most votes from the Breeders' Cup nominators to fill 20 Member seats. Each Member will serve a four-year term: Rory Babich, Antony Beck, Gatewood Bell, Case Clay, Alan Cooper, Everett Dobson, William S. Farish, Jr., H. Greg Goodman, Jonathan Green, Fred W. Hertrich, III, Jak Knelman, M.V. Magnier, Pope McLean, Jr., Gavin Murphy, Garrett O'Rourke, Mike Pons, Daisy Phipps Pulito, Jaime Roth, Tom Ryan and Shunsuke Yoshida.

“It is my pleasure to congratulate our new and re-elected Members who will be serving the Breeders' Cup over the next four years,” said Barbara Banke, Breeders' Cup Chair. “In concert with current Members, we will be seeking their insights and expertise in our continued efforts to enhance the Breeders' Cup World Championships, our racing programs, and the safety and integrity for all those who participate in Thoroughbred racing.”

The Breeders' Cup Members are elected every other year by Breeders' Cup foal and stallion nominators through a proportional voting system based on the level of nominations paid to the organization. There are a total of 39 elected Breeders' Cup Members. The Members meet each July and elect individuals to the Breeders' Cup Board of Directors, which oversees the activities of the organization.

The online portion of the Breeders' Cup Director election will begin on July 1 and conclude on July 8. The voting results will be announced following the annual meeting of the Breeders' Cup Members on July 14.

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Breeders’ Cup Challenge Races Highlight Santa Anita Fall Stakes

The 18-day Autumn meet at Santa Anita will feature a total of 26 stakes races, including five 'Win and You're In' qualifying races for the 2022 Breeders' Cup to be held at Keeneland Nov. 4 and 5. Fifteen of the stakes are contested at the graded level.

The meet begins Friday, Sept. 30 and the opening weekend is set to be highlighted by 11 of the stakes races, seven of which are graded. The Saturday, Oct. 1 program includes the GI Awesome Again S. (WAYI) for older handicappers headed towards the GI Breeders' Cup Classic, as well as the GII Eddie D. S. down the hillside turf course, the GII John Henry S. at 10 furlongs on the grass, the GII Santa Anita Sprint Championship, the GII City of Hope S. at a mile on the grass and the Unzip Me S.

A total of five added-money events are on offer Sunday, Oct. 2, including the GII Zenyatta S. for GI Breeders' Cup Distaff-bound horses, the GIII Chillingworth S. for female sprinters, the Speakeasy S. (WAYI) for juvenile turf sprinters, the Tokyo City Cup for dirt marathoners and the Senator Ken Maddy S., a downhill turf sprint for fillies and mares.

The second weekend of live racing features three 'Win and You're In' challenge tests–the GI American Pharoah S. for juvenile males; the filly counterpart, the GII Chandelier S.; and the GI Rodeo Drive S. for distaff turfers.

Four California-bred restricted races for total purse money of $600,000 are also programmed. The Golden State Juvenile and Golden State Juvenile Fillies have had their purses increased from $150,000 to $175,000, while a pair of restricted stakes–the Swingtime S. and the Lure S.–carry purse money of $80,000, up from $70,000 last year.

The entire stakes schedule will be available soon at santaanita.com/horsemen.

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