Laura Moquett’s Search For A ‘Good Fixer’ On The Eve Of The Arkansas Derby

Counting the well-mannered colt's strides as she takes him to the seven-eighths pole on a brisk Wednesday morning breeze this week at Oaklawn Park, Laura Moquett knows precisely where she wants to be. She understands how much throttle to let out and what visual markers are presenting themselves. Clocking is useful, but it is more about listening intently as she moves forward.

An accomplished horseman like Moquett relishes the routine; everyone does, but as an assistant trainer she is never shy when it comes to a good equine conundrum. In a vocation such as hers when you spend your time breaking and training Thoroughbreds to race the trade demands it.

Time

Hot Springs's own Harry T. Rosenblum, who co-owns Time for Truth (Omaha Beach) with Cheyenne Stables, has entered that well-mannered colt this Saturday in the GI Arkansas Derby and Moquett has played an integral part in 'Truth's' development.

The road to the track's signature race has not been a cakewalk. Remember, it's horse racing. A case in point, the 3-year-old was spooked during one of those routine workouts one morning, but according to Moquett, in situations like these what seems to be a problem can turn into an invitation for growth.

Laura Moquett breezing Time for Truth | Coady Photography

“Jogging backwards a rider got dropped,” said Moquett. “It really made him [Time for Truth] fearful because it was a surprise and it was keeping him from moving forward, so we needed to figure out a way to address it by teaching him not to be afraid. He figured it out with a little help.”

What Moquett did, along with fellow assistant Greta Kuntzweiler, was put a horse in front of the 3-year-old and show him how to move around obstacles. It seems like a simple fix. But it's not.

The social cues and mechanisms from the saddle come from a long line of trial and error, which are based in the fundamentals of exercise riding. Moquett knows this; she's studied it through countless hours of developing her own horseman's database. It's a hard drive full of experiences. In her line of work, you have to consider anatomy, kinesiology, a dab of psychotherapy, and most of all, a heavy dosage of patience to solve a horse's Rubik's Cube.

“You don't get on them and just steer with your hands,” explained Moquett. “It's about knowing their tendencies, listening and feeling their body movements. All of that comes from your legs and it has a lot to do with your weight distribution.”

Listening

The tried-and-true Socratic Method–asking a question and then receiving a response– works just fine in your garden-variety academic setting.

However, when it comes to preparing Time for Truth for Saturday's career-defining race, what you really need is someone who understands a horse's language.

Laura Moquett on her shedrow rounds | JN Campbell

Someone who whispers to them? Sure, but it's equally important to know how to listen. Laura Moquett is one of those listeners.

With an intuitive sense for animals which she had from a very young age, Moquett has honed her skills over the years working with Thoroughbreds around racetracks and after they have retired.

As an assistant to husband Ron Moquett, Time for Truth's conditioner, the question she asked when the Thoroughbred first arrived as a juvenile last year is the same one she issues to any member of the barn: “How can this colt move forward?”

“I like a good fixer,” Moquett said with a smile. “Maybe Ron understands that most of all, but what I am trying to do is guide energy. Horses can feel a fly, so what we do is help manage their senses by listening to what they tell us.”

Origins

Ron Moquett met his future wife on the backstretch while the two worked under trainer Bernie Flint in the mid-1990s. He understood early on what a natural gift for horsemanship she possessed and how equine athletes responded to her.

“Laura can find ways to get along with some of the toughest horses,” Ron Moquett said. “Instead of making them perform a task, her connection to them–all animals really–is just incredibly special and she gets into their psyche by adapting to their own ideology.”

Time for Truth with groom Jose Espinoza | Coady Photography

Laura Moquett says there's a complex and evolving dialogue between the horses and the humans who care for them. Grooms, hotwalkers, van drivers, and of course, exercise riders all gravitate to a certain type of equine athlete.

“Oh, we've all got a type, everyone in this barn does,” she said. “For me, I like a big-ass colt with an attitude.”

Assistant Greta Kuntzweiler agreed, but she works well with a different sort.

“Give me the nutty filly or the cranky old gelding,” she said.

Truth

As an integral member of Moquett Racing, Kuntzweiler guided Time for Truth, along with her mentor Laura Moquett, over the course of the past several months as the colt prepared for each new obstacle. Once he broke his maiden on the last day of the year, the dark bay out of the Lookin At Lucky mare Shape Shifter had to endure time off due to a frozen second half of January, which caused his workout regimen to be altered.

An unlucky stall accident the week of the GII Rebel S. waylaid his next start, but the team behind him kept him on course. Time for Truth successfully traversed the two-turn conundrum against optional claimers at Oaklawn earlier this month, which set up the opportunity to enter the starting gate this Saturday.

“Working with Laura and Ron over the years, I've learned to take on challenges one step at a time, really watch how she develops the ones who need the most help,” Kuntzweiler said. “Ninety-nine percent of the time, the answer is to go forward.”

Already at Churchill Downs for the coming meet, the assistant trainer credits Moquett with teaching her everything she knows. That's a high compliment coming from a former jockey who rode competitively, and continues to evolve.

“When my business [as a jockey] began to dry up, it was time to start thinking about a new direction and watching Laura work has really helped me add a whole new dimension to my own bag of tricks,” she said.

Greta Kuntzweiler aboard Time for Truth | courtesy of Robert Yates

Tricks

Moquett began to expand said bag when she started show jumping with OTTBs–like MGISW Whitmore (Pleasantly Perfect)–who can start new careers once their days racing and breeding are over. What she learned through this whole other universe was a different kind of problem-solving, which got her to look more inwardly at the horse–like a football player who takes ballet.

“Education in the jumping has helped my training by understanding body mechanics,” she said. “That has made me rethink how I approach 2-year-olds when they first hit the track, and it also makes me think about how we communicate with our own riders.”

Moquett is especially in-tune when it comes to checking a horse's legs every morning for any issues and looking for social cues during training. Communicating those observations to her husband and also to the jockeys, like Time for Truth's regular rider Rafael Bejarano, is an essential part of the conduit of information. It only adds to a jockey's toolbox.

“Greta is the one who has done such a wonderful job of talking to jockeys and doing it in such a way that is constructive,” said Moquett. “That really shows her attention to detail. Rafael was the first to hear about Time for Truth's new ability to pass, and that will give him the confidence to make the right decision during Saturday's race when the moment comes.”

Time for Truth with Rafael Bejarano up | Coady Photography

Saturday

Can someone with Moquett's background and training history over decades of development lead Time for Truth to a win in the Arkansas Derby?

Moquett offers a practical response.

“All we can answer is the question of is our horse ready?” she said. “Everyone in this barn is forward first and what this is about is running his best race. What we have done is get this specific horse to run in a specific way. He has the mind and the temperament. The rest is up to him. I will tell you though, Saturday can't come soon enough.”

Laura Moquett might be a self-described creature of the backside much more than the front, but what she has continued to showcase with her professionalism and penchant for solving equine puzzles makes her a horseman through and through.

She will keep searching for the next good fixer or, like in the case of Time for Truth, another big-ass colt.

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It’ll Be Time For Truth Come Oaklawn’s Rebel

When considering the speculative nature of America's financial future, President Harry S. Truman famously exhorted his aides to bring him a one-handed economist.

“All of my economists say 'on the one hand'…, then 'but on the other hand'…,” the plain-talking Missourian from Independence famously quipped.

To put it another way, convictions matter, not the pros and cons. You are either in or you're not. Horse racing, or more specifically preparing for the 150th Kentucky Derby is no different. It's about possessing sterner stuff.

Another Harry Truman, Harry Truman Rosenblum that is, knows this all too well. His father, Dr. Hyman Rosenblum of Little Rock, Arkansas named his son after his close friend 'Give-Em Hell Harry', and the former chief executive served as the boy's godfather.

Harry T. Rosenblum | courtesy of Harry T. Rosenblum

Bitten by the racing bug before he attended Hendrix College, Rosenblum has spent 39 years owning Thoroughbreds. He has dreamed of Derby glory–both the Arkansas and the Kentucky variety–not just for himself, but for what it means for his state.

“I've been in this position before, coming into a big race like the Rebel with a horse and it just conjures so many emotions because of the spirit we have in this state for racing,” he said.

On Saturday, the path to 150 rolls through Oaklawn Park as the Cella's storied track once again will play host to the next leg in their Arkansas series–the GII Rebel S.–a race which offers 50 Derby points to the winner.

A senior investment manager in Little Rock, Rosenblum couldn't be more pleased that his colt Time for Truth (Omaha Beach–Shape Shifter by Lookin At Lucky) has made the Hot Springs starting gate. As a 15-1 morning-line shot, the 3-year-old will face 12 others, including a pair of 'TDN Rising Stars' in Carbone (Mitole) and Timberlake (Into Mischief).

After hearing about the horse's smart :9 4/5 furlong workout during the Under Tack Show at last year's OBS April Sale, Rosenblum purchased the juvenile bred by Dominique Damico as a late April foal through the auction house for $47,000 after the dark bay RNA'd. A minor vet issue didn't deter him, especially when he watched the gallop out from the show.

“I was just very impressed with that performance, the year that Omaha Beach had last year as a first-crop sire contributed of course, and once you see just how intelligent he is, it confirmed early that we had something special going,” Rosenblum said. “So, then it was time to send him to Ron Moquett and his team.”

Naming his new acquisition after a book by American businessman William E. Simon, Rosenblum already knew that the Arkansas-born Moquett, whose stakes victories include a win in the 2020 GI Breeders' Cup Sprint with the irascible, but supremely talented Whitmore (Pleasantly Perfect), was the perfect fit.

Team Moquett saddles Time for Truth with cotton in his ears to keep him calm before his debut | Owney Creative

“Ron and I won the Smarty Jones and [GIII] Southwest together and there is no one in the business who I trust more than him to make sound decisions,” he said. “His staff is just first class and everyone takes such great care of whoever you send to them.”

The pair watched as Far Right (Notional) swept the 2015 Smarty and the Southwest, but running into eventual Triple Crown champ American Pharoah in the GI Arkansas Derby was a tough break. Far Right was 15th in the Kentucky Derby.

Flashing forward to this year, a win by Time for Truth in the Rebel would have several levels of meaning for Moquett. As an Arkansas guy, he's immersed in the history and culture of racing in his state. It's never lost on him about what big races mean.

“The history of the Rebel, who has won it and obviously how it propels a horse's career is why we enter,” the conditioner said. “Nice horses belong in the Kentucky Derby and for us here, there is no greater title than the Arkansas Derby, and that is where we are trying to get with Time for Truth.”

Every owner and their trainer have target races. The way you ready your horse for something like the Rebel is to back into it. In other words, you figure out the best path by working in reverse.

But you can't push a position–as horsemen understand it–because plans go awry.

Like Rosenblum explained, “You have to manage risk constantly in this business, horse racing is no different, and preconceived notions can get you into hot water very quickly.”

Once Time for Truth posted an 89 Beyer when he broke his maiden at first asking by 1 3/4 lengths at Oaklawn Dec. 31, it was time for Rosenblum and Moquett to sit down and have a conversation about the Rebel and the Arkansas Derby.

The meeting between the two was one of those junctures where practiced apathy and risk management mixes with aggressive moves. If you are lucky, then you might be able to employ a touch of strategic planning.

Time for Truth with hotwalker Roxanna Lopez | J.N. Campbell

“I prefer the word nimble,” says assistant trainer Chance Moquett, Ron's son, who spent 15 years in the corporate world before returning to be a part of his father's operation. “We grapple with unpredictability all the time here at Oaklawn because it is what we're used to.”

Unlike other tracks whose surfaces benefit from chemicals which help keep them stable, Oaklawn's is devoid of such agents because of the park's rules designation. Thus, the setup, the training, really every aspect around the dirt oval, is constantly subject to change.

Winters especially can wreak havoc on Derby Trail planning and that is precisely what happened with Time for Truth's preparation during the second half of January with a blast of frigid temperatures that sent the thermometers to the basement.

In situations when the weather intervenes, keeping a horse like Time for Truth on the muscle falls to Moquett's crack team of grooms and exercise riders. Jose Espinoza, who has been with Moquett for a dozen years and served as Whitmore's groom, manages the colt's daily care, while Roxanna Lopez hotwalks him every day. Both did countless circuits with him around Barn Whitmore on the backside, as everyone waited for the sun to come out.

By the time it did, the Moquetts were resolved that they had two choices for Rosenblum, who in the interim had sold a 30% stake in the horse to Cheyenne Stables in what he calls “a business decision to help mitigate risk.” After a couple of four furlong sets Jan. 29 and Feb. 3, there was an allowance race that Time for Truth could make or the other option would be the Feb. 10 running of the newly minted Ozark S. The team opted for the latter and though it was a runner-up ending to Valentine Candy (Justify), objectives were met.

“In lieu of a big breeze, that stakes race took on the part,” Chance Moquett said. “I mean it was a muddy track, facing a much more experienced horse like the winner, our colt went off as the favorite and this is what you do when you are backing into a race like the Rebel.”

Time for Truth breaks his maiden at Oaklawn | Coady Photography

A favorite among anyone who has sat on him, Time for Truth's mild-mannered Clark Kent style has impressed Moquett's staff. Exercise rider Greta Kuntzweiler called his way “incredibly unusual,” which coupled nicely with what veteran jockey Rafael Bejarano said, “when you ask him, he responds.”

Chance Moquett added, “Our plan last Sunday was to go 50 flat and that is exactly what Greta did with him. She's just that exact with everything she does, if you need a lick going :50.13, then that's what you get. Now, we are going to find out if this colt can take us where we want to go.”

Being nimble and looking for key moments of progression leads his connections to enter their 3-year-old in the Rebel.

Time for Truth may have never traveled two turns yet, but his Arkansas-based principal owner and trainer certainly think he has what it takes to get them to the Arkansas Derby and beyond.

For Rosenblum, the Moquetts and their stable, there is no indecision and only one course. President Truman would be pleased. So, now it's just time for truth come Saturday.

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