The TDN Writers' Room podcast, presented by Keeneland caught up with the Amestoys this week to find out more about their operation, their background and their thoughts on Practical Move. They were the Green Group Guests of the Week.

Their trainer Tim Yakteen, has been a big part of the story.  While he has deputized for Bob Baffert the last two years with his potential Derby starters, he's not normally someone who you think of when it comes to having Derby starters. But the Amestoys believe he has been a perfect fit when it comes to Practical Move.

“One of my old racing partners, Mike Abraham, knew Tim,” Pierre said. “And then another friend of mine, Jaime Gomez from Los Alamitos, knew Tim. I told them that I wanted to go to a nice barn, but I don't want to be with one of those barns that has 300, 400 horses. I want a more on-hands trainer. They both recommended Tim.

“We didn't meet him Tim till last year's Del Mar meet, when Practical Move was running his first race was. He was just as nice as could be. And we could see the operation in the barn. Leslie trained for ten or 15 years. So we knew what we wanted and Tim was what we wanted. He had a great set up and a good operation.”

The Amestoys, who own Practical Move in partnership with Roger Beasley, bought the horse at last year's OBS April sale. They said he was their number one pick among all the horses in the sale, but almost didn't get him. They budgeted $175,000 for the purchase and wound up paying $230,000. They liked the horse enough that they kept bidding until they got him.

“He was our number one pick, which we never get when we got to sales,” Leslie said. “We always pick the number one and can't buy him. We got him and we had no buyer's remorse ever. Oh, we loved him from the start.”

And that's why they named him Practical Move, because, in the end they thought it was a practical move to buy the colt.

As far as the Derby goes, the Amestoys are already thinking strategy.

“I think he's tactical enough,” Pierre said. “Ramon (Vasquez) can put him where he wants him. I would hope we can get a good enough break that we hit the first turn and we have two thirds of them behind us. We want to be up in the first tier or right behind the first tier of horses. This horse has a really good, really strong, high cruising speed so we can get a good spot and then cruise on the backside and set ourselves up. So if we get our trip, I think coming out of the turn, we're going to be close to the leader and then they're going to have to come get us. If his horse switches leads like he's supposed to I think he'll finish strong.”

Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by Coolmore, the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association, Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders, 1/ST Racing, WinStar Farm, and West Point Thoroughbreds, the team of Randy Moss, Zoe Cadman and Bill Finley took a look back at the problems with the track surface at Laurel, the positive results coming out of Hawthorne since that track cut the takeout on win, place and show bets to 12% and the newest additions to the Hall of Fame. Not to be missed, the trio also discussed Proxy (Tapit)'s win in the GII Oaklawn H., and the decision by Jimmy Jerkens, who has been struggling to find the winner's circle the last few years, to start training in Saudi Arabia.

Click here to listen to the audio version of this podcast or click here to watch the video version.

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The 26-year-old bay Thoroughbred (Kris S.–Souq, by Damascus) was found dead in his paddock during late-afternoon feeding. A reason for his death is unknown at this time. Necropsy results are pending to get an accurate cause of death. Bred and owned by longtime Old Friends supporters, Jerry and Ann Moss, Kudos was foaled in Kentucky on Apr. 17, 1997.

Trained by Richard Mandella his entire career, Kudos began racing in 1999, but did not win his first race until his eighth career start as a 4-year-old in a maiden special weight race at Santa Anita on Mar. 17, 2001. He then won his next three consecutive races, two allowance races and the Jim Murray Memorial H. at Hollywood Park for his first stakes victory.

In 2002, he won two more stakes races–the San Marino H. at Santa Anita, and the GI Oaklawn H., which was his first-graded stakes win and the biggest win of his career. In that race, he came back from 15 lengths to win by 4 3/4 lengths.

As a 6-year-old in 2003, he won the GII Californian S., while finishing second in the GII San Pasqual H., and third in the GI Santa Anita H., the GI Oaklawn H., the race he won the previous year, and the GI Hollywood Gold Cup, his final race.

Kudos retired with seven wins, five seconds, four thirds, and $1,238,935 in earnings in 24 career starts. In 2006, the Mosses donated Kudos to Old Friends for his retirement. He was the second horse they retired to Old Friends; the first was Ruhlmann.

“Kudos was one of our first stars and enchanted us for nearly 17 years,” said Blowen. “He was a great symbol of our growth. I can't thank Jerry and Ann and (racing manager) Dottie Ingordo-Shirreffs enough for allowing us to spend all this time with their treasure.”

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The victory was the fifth consecutive for Silver State, who became the first horse to win the Oaklawn Handicap – Oaklawn's biggest prize for older two-turn runners – $150,000 Fifth Season Stakes at 1 mile and the $500,000 Essex Handicap at 1 1/16 miles. The latter two races, Jan. 23 and March 13, respectively, were major local steppingstones to the 1 1/8-mile Oaklawn Handicap.

Asmussen said on the recommendation of Lambert, a noted equine physiologist, Winchell Thoroughbreds (Ron and Joan Winchell) purchased Silver State for $450,000 at the 2018 Keeneland September Yearling Sales. Lambert, founder and president of Equine Analysis Systems in Midway, Ky., also steered the Winchells toward privately purchasing half-interest in Gun Runner and retaining homebred Untapable to race. Both became Eclipse Award winners.

Now, silver is turning to gold for the Winchells, who campaign Silver State with prominent Arkansas breeder/owner Willis Horton.

“It's a horse the Hortons and Winchells purchased on Dr. Lambert's advice, that has continued to develop and get better,” Asmussen said. “We've always loved his talent level.”

Silver State earned a preliminary Beyer Speed Figure of 101, equaling a career high, for his Oaklawn Handicap victory. After falling off the Kentucky Derby trail following a seventh-place finish in the $1 million Louisiana Derby (G2) in March 2020 at Fair Grounds, Silver State returned with two sharp allowance victories last fall in Kentucky before emerging as Oaklawn's top older two-turn runner this year. His Beyer Speed Figures, a numerical representation of performance, have ranged from 97 to 101, during the winning streak. Asmussen calls Silver State, “a gorgeous animal” who needed time to develop because he's “massive in size.”

“This race is significant enough,” Asmussen said. “He'll get the future we were hoping for, and this proves it.”

Asmussen said next-race plans are pending for Silver State, who won for the sixth time in 10 lifetime starts. Silver State ($1,230,094) became a millionaire after collecting the $600,000 winning check.

It was the first Oaklawn Handicap victory for Asmussen and the Winchells and the second for Horton, who also won the race in 2014 with champion Will Take Charge. Horton turned 81 last Saturday.

“The Hortons owning half this horse with the Winchells and how important Oaklawn is to them, the Hortons are to Oaklawn, what a great birthday present for him today,” Asmussen said.

The Oaklawn Handicap was Asmussen's record 95th Oaklawn stakes victory. Asmussen also won the $600,000 Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) for older fillies and mares in 2015 with Untapable and the $500,000 Razorback Handicap (G3) for older horses in 2017 with Gun Runner. Untapable won an Eclipse Award as the country's champion 3-year-old filly of 2014. Gun Runner captured two Eclipse Awards (Horse of the Year and older dirt male) in 2017.

Asmussen has a meet-high 49 victories this year as he seeks his record-tying 11th Oaklawn training title. The Oaklawn Handicap pushed his purse earnings at the meet to more than $5 million. He enters the final eight racing days at $5,072,636 and with a chance to break his single-season Oaklawn record ($5,644,609), set in 2019.

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Sent away at 9-2 odds, Silver State covered 1 1/8 miles in 1:49.56 on a track upgraded to fast after being listed as good much of the day. He paid $11.40 for the win, his sixth in 10 career starts.

Todd Pletcher-trained Fearless, coming off a G2 victory in the Gulfstream Park Mile, finished second, with 9-5 favorite Express Train, who shipped in from Southern California for trainer John Shirreffs, a length back in third in the field of eight older horses. Pacesetter Warrior's Charge was fourth.

“We've always loved his talent level,” Asmussen said of Silver State. “The five-race win streak and putting it all together against such a talented field today, significant race, extremely pleased with him. The horse has been training really well. He's figured out winning. I think what we saw in the two races here previously, he chose to win. They were very competitive. Watching the races, just like today, I think that's made all the difference in him.”

Silver State was coming off a neck win in the $500,000 Essex Handicap and prior to that won the Fifth Season Stakes by a nose – both this year at Oaklawn. He began his streak with a seven-length allowance win last October at Keeneland, then added a November allowance/optional claiming race at Churchill Downs.

In the Oaklawn Handicap, Silver State carried 118 pounds, four fewer than highweighted Express Train.

Breaking from the rail, Silver State saved ground most of the trip racing in mid-pack as Warrior's Charge set fractions of :22.73, :47.06 and 1:11.67.

Santana tipped Silver State five wide into the stretch, and after passing the mile marker in 1:37.23, there were six runners within about a length of each other. Silver State emerged from the pack and went on to victory.

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The well-built bay, second in last term's GI Runhappy Malibu S., followed a breakthrough victory with a career-best 103 Beyer Speed Figure in the GII San Pasqual S. Jan. 30 with a second-place finish after leading in the stretch in the GI Santa Anita H. Mar. 6. John Shirreffs trains the C R K Stables colorbearer.

The rail-drawn Silver State (Hard Spun), second and third in last term's GIII Lecomte S. and GII Risen Star S., enters riding a four-race winning streak for Steve Asmussen. He posted back-to-back, hard-fought local wins in the Fifth Season S. Jan. 23 and Essex H. Mar. 13, respectively.

Owendale (Into Mischief), a close second as the 4-5 favorite in the GII New Orleans Classic S. last time Mar. 20, looks to snap a seven-race losing streak while Fearless (Ghostzapper) ships in for Todd Pletcher following a win in the GII WinStar Gulfstream Park Mile S. Feb. 27.

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The multiple graded stakes winner will make his 2021 debut in the eighth race, a one-mile allowance for older horses that carries a hefty $107,000 purse. The speedy 5-year-old son of Munnings hasn't started since finishing eighth in the $100,000 Ack Ack Stakes (G3) Sept. 26 at Churchill Downs.

“It's obviously the starting point for the year,” Clay Sanders, a founding partner in Ten Strike, said Tuesday morning. “Probably not exactly the distance or race we wanted, but if we could get a stake race at Oaklawn the two options were the Oaklawn Mile or the Oaklawn Handicap. If we want to consider the Oaklawn Handicap, we didn't want to run him not having a prep race. Going a mile and an eighth off the bench is pretty tough. We'll give him a start and kind of see where he is fitness-wise. He's not 100 percent cranked, but we'll see where we're at.”

The $400,000 Oaklawn Mile is April 10. The $1 million Oaklawn Handicap (G2) is April 17.

Warrior's Charge was among Oaklawn's leading two-turn older horses last year after winning the $500,000 Razorback Handicap (G3) at 1 1/16 miles and finishing second in the $600,000 Oaklawn Handicap (G2). Following a subpar performance in the Ack Ack, Warrior's Charge was sent to Florida horseman Paul Sharp for a break. Sharp's farm is the go-to vacation spot for horses connected to noted bloodstock agent Liz Crow, who is also Ten Strike's stable manager. Ten Strike privately purchased then-unraced Warrior's Charge from his breeder, Al Shaquab Racing, after Crow watched the horse train at McKathan Brothers Training Center in Florida.

In 12 career starts, the consistent Warrior's Charge has compiled a 5-1-3 record and bankrolled $836,310. Warrior's Charge also finished fourth in the $1.5 million Preakness Stakes (G1) – beaten 2 ½ lengths – in 2019 and fourth in the $500,000 Met Mile (G1) – beaten two lengths – July 4 at Belmont Park. Warrior's Charge faded to eighth in the Ack Ack after dueling through a demanding :44.85 half-mile.

“We think he was a little over the top, as far as he'd been in training for over a year,” Sanders said. “Obviously, we wanted to go to the Breeders' Cup with him. Obviously, off that result we didn't feel confident going into the race and even at that point, we didn't know Brad had Knicks Go. Exit an allowance race and then kind of showed himself (winning Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile). Probably in hindsight, it (Ack Ack) wasn't the right spot because it was a one-turn race and there was a ton of speed in the race. He went out crazy fast and just didn't have anything left in the tank. Brad had kind of mentioned after the race that he wasn't training as sharply as he was earlier in the year. We wanted to give him a break there so we would have at least some shot of making Oaklawn.”

Warrior's Charge rejoined Cox's Fair Grounds division in January and has had seven published workouts there since Feb. 5, including three 5-furlong moves this month. Warriors Charge arrived Monday in Hot Springs.

“We'd liked to have made the Essex or the Razorback, but time just got a little short on us and didn't get him ready in time,” Sanders said.

The Razorback and Essex are two major local steppingstones to the Oaklawn Handicap, a race Cox said he covets. Cox has never won the Oaklawn Handicap.

Memphis, Tenn.-based Ten Strike offers fractional ownership on its syndicate side (founding partner Marshall Gramm and Sanders are the claiming arm) and “probably 35 to 38” have a share in Warrior's Charge, Sanders said. The majority of the owners are from Arkansas, Sanders said, meaning a victory in the Oaklawn Mile or Oaklawn Handicap would be a big deal for them, too.

“But then you include family and spouses and friends – you saw the winner's circle for the Razorback,” Sanders said. “It gets pretty big pretty quick in Arkansas.”

Sanders, a Mountain Home, Ark., native, said adding a Grade 1 victory to the resume of Warrior's Charge is a goal this year since it would boost his value as a stallion prospect.

“The tricky part with this horse is that probably a mile and a sixteenth is like his optimal distance,” Sanders said. “They don't have any Grade 1's at a mile and a sixteenth, so a mile and an eighth is probably at the tail end of his. But it wouldn't even be crazy at maybe a mile and a quarter, if he could get out on a slow pace, some of these five-horse fields, maybe he could walk the dog on the front end. Those are the things we'll kind of explore.”

In addition to the Razorback and powerful front-running maiden- and first-level allowance victories at the 2019 Oaklawn meeting, Warrior's Charge (via disqualification for stretch interference) captured the $200,000 Philip H. Iselin Stakes (G3) Aug. 22 at Monmouth Park.

Warrior's Charge is the 8-5 program favorite Thursday, with Florent Geroux named to ride from post 6. Also entered are Mailman Money, My Sixth Sense, Home Base, Guest Suite and Final Jeopardy.

Probable post time is 4:40 p.m. (Central).

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RRR Racing's 6-year-old Quip offers arguably the most intrigue on Thursday. A Satish Seemar trainee, the 2019 Oaklawn Handicap (G2) winner makes just his 15th start and second this season after finishing a non-threatening ninth last out in the Al Maktoum Challenge R1 (G2) at one mile. He does have a victory in lofty American company over nine furlongs, but has not raced to that form in three Dubai tries. That said, with his light campaigning, a fitness-building race under his belt and a change of equipment, it would not be a surprise to see him jump back into the win column.

“Quip is training really well,” said Bhupat Seemar, assistant trainer. “He has blinkers on the first time. All the speed horses are drawn on the inside, so it's unfortunately not the best draw in eight. With how he's training and what he does in the morning–if he can bring that in the evening–he's going to go very, very close. Hopefully that's what's going to happen.”

Drawn on the rail is the speed of the speed in the race, Capezzano, who has not shown much prowess beyond one mile since winning the 2019 Al Maktoum Challenge R3 (G1) over 10 furlongs and a speed-favoring course. In fact, his only performance to that level in five subsequent starts was a stakes record-setting win in last year's one-mile Firebreak (G3).

Meanwhile, ultra-consistent 2020 Burj Nahaar (G3) winner Salute the Soldier is racing 200m farther than he ever has for trainer Fawzi Nass and Doug Watson-trained Thegreatcollection steps up after a pair of career-best runs over one mile, including a second in Round 1.

“The post (seven) doesn't really matter too much with him, as I think they will spread out a bit,” Watson said. “I believe he will stay the trip. His dam won over 1800m.”

Blown By Wind is an unknown quantity over these conditions. A handicapper who consistently competed at a mile in the UK for Mark Johnston, he was turned over to Salem bin Ghadayer, who also trains Capezzano and Listed winner Firnas, and rewarded the yard with an overpowering four-length win in the Jebel Ali Mile (G3) in his second local start. Though his rating has inflated to 110, he must back it up while stretching out an additional 300m and against G2 company. He was flattered when the runner-up that day, Secret Ambition, returned to win last week's Firebreak (G3) by open lengths.

Much focus will be on Dubai Warrior, who leads the ratings at 115, but has never been tested on traditional dirt. A six-time winner on all-weather, including the G3 Winter Derby in 2020 over Saudi Cup-bound Bangkok, the John Gosden trainee must overcome a pedigree that appears a bit counterintuitive to the venture.

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In addition, 21 stakes will have their purses raised by at least $25,000, most notably are $150,000 increases to both the Essex Handicap on March 13 and Oaklawn Mile on April 10, which will be worth $500,000 and $400,000, respectively. The purse of the Razorback Handicap (G3) on Saturday, Feb. 13 will be raised by $100,000 to $600,000. All stakes, including ones for state-breds, will be at least $150,000 each.

“We would not be able to once again offer record purses next year if it weren't for the tremendous support we've received from the Arkansas Racing Commission, the horsemen, and our fans in 2020,” Oaklawn President Louis Cella said. “We are excited to continue building on our 'New Level of Excellence,' which will include our new hotel, event center, state-of-the-art spa, and additional restaurants, which are all on schedule to open late 2020/early 2021.”

Oaklawn's five signature races that comprise the traditional Racing Festival of the South will be run over three Saturdays starting with the $600,000 Fantasy Stakes (G3) for 3-year-old fillies on Kentucky Oaks (G1) trail on April 3.

The $1 million Arkansas Derby (G1), a major stepping stone to the Kentucky Derby, will be run on April 10 along with three other stakes. Oaklawn's series for older horses culminates on April 17 with the $1 million Oaklawn Handicap (G2) and the $1 million Apple Blossom (G1) for fillies and mares.

“Once finalized, the full purse program will be released soon,” added Oaklawn General Manager Wayne Smith. “We anticipate it will exceed $700,000 a day.”

Oaklawn's 2021 stakes schedule features a total of 33 races worth $11,000,000. Racing will be conducted Friday–Sunday for the first two weeks of the meet and then shift to a Thursday–Sunday schedule starting in February. There will be racing on Presidents Day – Monday, Feb. 15, but there will be no racing on Easter Sunday, April 4.

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