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JPMorgan, Four Corners Racing’s Anthony Trimarchi Joins Writers’ Room

It was an eventful few days for racing in the northeast, and the TDN Writers' Room presented by JPMorgan Private Bank broke down all of the latest developments in the Monmouth jockey standoff and the raids on Parx barns by the Pennsylvania Racing Commission Wednesday morning. Plus, they welcomed Four Corners Racing's managing partner Anthony Trimarchi as the Green Group Guest of the Week to discuss his experiences as a new owner in the game and the economics of racing from a banking perspective.

“I was exposed to racing at a real young age because I grew up in Albany, just south of Saratoga,” Trimarchi said of his history in the game. “Every year of my life, I would spend a day at the races with my extended family in the backyard at Saratoga and hanging out at the picnic area at the top of the stretch. I loved going to the track as a kid for the same reasons I love it today. It's an amazing, outdoor sport with beautiful horses, excitement, competition, crowds, numbers, colors. As I got older, I kept going, introducing a bunch of college friends to Saratoga. I had my bachelor party at the Travers in 2010. Fast forward to today, I've been involved on the ownership side for about five years and it's all come full circle for me because I've taken my kids to the track. I've got three elementary school-age children who have all been in the paddock at Belmont, Saratoga and Aqueduct. They've been in the winner's circle at Oaklawn Park. I just hope that they'll have the same fond memories that I have from when I was a kid, and I can't wait to make new memories with them over the next 10, 20, 30 years.”

Also a managing director at JPMorgan Private Bank, Trimarchi was asked from an economic standpoint why he thinks racing has struggled to find new owners despite skyrocketing purses over the last decade-plus.

“I think it's just all about exposure and awareness,” he said. “The purses are attractive if you structure your business the right way and have the right partners. And the shot of adrenaline that you get leading up to a race or when you win a race, I wish I could put that in a bottle because I'll be chasing that the rest of my life. The first time I was in the winner's circle, I decided I was going to own a horse. I saw the sport [initially] through clients who were major owners who had dozens of horses running all over the place. I didn't understand what entry [into the game] would look like. I thought it was the kind of thing you needed to be a billionaire to do. It's not. It requires some disposable income obviously, but you can do it responsibly and get exposure. I'm a great example of that. I started out doing small syndicate stuff, I saw the sport, I saw the risk, I understood it, and I decided I wanted to do more.”

Elsewhere in the show, which is also sponsored by Keeneland, West Point Thoroughbreds, the Minnesota Racehorse Engagement Project and Legacy Bloodstock, the writers questioned whether or not there would be any long-term consequences for Bob Baffert from the embarrassment of the Derby and looked forward to Memorial Day Weekend stakes action. Click here to watch the podcast; click here for the audio-only version.

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Michael McCarthy Joins Writers’ Room

Fresh off the first Classic win of his career with his first Triple Crown starter, trainer Michael McCarthy joined the TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by JPMorgan Private Bank Wednesday morning. Calling in via Zoom from his Santa Anita stable as the Green Group Guest of the Week, McCarthy discussed getting Rombauer (Twirling Candy) to run his peak race in Saturday's GI Preakness S., whether he has any regrets about not running in the GI Kentucky Derby, what he learned from former boss Todd Pletcher and more.

“When the horses came to the quarter pole, I started getting excited and I almost had a bit of disbelief,” McCarthy recalled of his emotions Saturday. “The first thought that went through my head was, all right, the horse carried himself to the quarter pole and at least I can say he put up a respectable performance in a Triple Crown race. When they straightened up for home and Flavien [Prat] wheeled outside and they were three across the track, I could see the other two guys inside of him working. Flavien still looked like he was in a little bit of a rhythm and hadn't really gotten after him all that aggressively yet. Then, it was almost like my world went silent from the quarter pole to the wire. When he did strike the front and was pulling away from those horses, it was like an out-of-body experience.”

Asked about what he learned in his eight years working as an assistant to Pletcher, McCarthy said, “If you're around Todd, he leads by example. He shows up and gives it his best every day. He's got some things that I think he does better than anybody that I've been around. His attention to detail. His organizational skills. His big picture kind of thinking. This is something that he set out to do. As I read it, he had said to his parents at 12 or 13 that he'd like to be a racehorse trainer. So when you've got someone that's dedicated their life, like Todd has, to training racehorses, obviously he's left no stone unturned. It doesn't take thousands of races won or championships or Triple
Crown races to see the kind of person he is.”

Elsewhere on the show, which is also sponsored by Keeneland, West Point Thoroughbreds and Legacy Bloodstock, the writers reacted to the news that the New York Racing Association is suspending Bob Baffert and, in the Minnesota Racehorse Engagement Project Story of the Week, debated whether or not the punishment fit the crime for Linda Rice's suspension. Click here to watch the podcast; click here for the audio-only version.

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THA’s Alan Foreman Joins All-Baffert Controversy Writers’ Room

Normally, the TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland aims to touch on a wide variety of industry issues every week. But there was only one story worth discussing this week, so the writers broke down every angle of the explosive controversy surrounding Bob Baffert and the failed drug test of GI Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit. They also welcomed Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association Chairman and CEO and prominent industry lawyer Alan Foreman as the Green Group Guest of the Week to talk about what happens now for Baffert from a legal standpoint.

“I think it's important for people to understand that there are two layers here,” Foreman said about the fallout of this week. “This is a state regulatory matter and the regulation is done by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission. What Churchill Downs did [banning Baffert from the entry box] was more of a public relations stand to protect the Kentucky Derby brand that they covet. Tracks have the common law right to exclude anyone they want, but when you're dealing with licensees, it isn't as broadly based as you would think it is. There's quite a body of law with respect to the exclusion of licensees and what should be appropriate circumstances. The question here legally would be if Bob Baffert and his team wanted to challenge it, whether Churchill Downs really has the right to do so under the circumstances. This is a routine medication violation. If they're going to ban Bob Baffert, do you ban every horseman who has some medication violation?”

Asked about the frequent public appearances by Baffert to talk about a situation that's still being litigated, particularly his revelation Tuesday that Medina Spirit was treated with a cream that contained betamethasone, Foreman said, “I don't know what their strategy is. I don't know if this is what Bob wanted to do or if he was under advice to do it. The information that came out [Tuesday] changes the whole landscape. The first thing that you do if you're a trainer and you're notified of a positive test, is ask your personnel and veterinarian, do we have betamethasone in the barn? You would know that fairly quickly, you wouldn't know it 48 to 96 hours after the fact. You certainly wouldn't go on television and say, 'I don't use the stuff. We don't have it in the barn. I don't know how it got there. It's everybody else's fault.' That's basic stuff. So the strategy makes no sense to me and I certainly wouldn't counsel my clients that way.”

Elsewhere on the show, which is also sponsored by West Point Thoroughbreds, the Minnesota Racehorse Engagement Project and new sponsor Legacy Bloodstock, the writers called out the decisions and behavior that led to the embarrassment this past week has brought racing, debated what can be done now and reacted to the decision to allow Medina Spirit's entry in the Preakness. Click here to watch the podcast; click here for the audio-only version.

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Fresh Off Derby/Oaks Double, John Velazquez Joins Writers’ Room

There's been a lot of attention, rightfully so, on Bob Baffert in the wake of his record-breaking seventh GI Kentucky Derby conquest Saturday. But John Velazquez made a little history of his own under the Twin Spires this weekend, becoming just the eighth jockey ever to win both the GI Kentucky Oaks and Derby in the same year. Wednesday, the Hall of Fame rider joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by J.P. Morgan Private Banking and Keeneland to talk Malathaat (Curlin), Medina Spirit (Protonico), his approach to race-riding, potential plans for when he retires and much more.

Calling in via Zoom as the Green Group Guest of the Week, Velazquez spoke about the winning Derby strategy to put Medina Spirit on the lead, saying, “He's pretty quick from the gate, so we had talked about it, but I got a text from Bob like five days before the race. He said, 'Man, the horse is doing well. He worked really good. I think you should come out of there running and go all or nothing.' I said, wait a minute Bob, I haven't studied the race yet. I had it in the back of my head [Rock Your World] would be on the lead. We talked that night and went through every horse and all their races … I'm inside of Rock Your World, he's far out [in the 14-post]. I'm going to come out running and if he wants to go to the lead, he's going to have to run much faster than me and use his horse going into the first turn. Obviously, he didn't break well, we got to the lead and the rest was history.”

As successful as Velazquez's Derby strategy was, he may have had even more to do with Malathaat's Oaks triumph. Not away all that well, he hustled his filly early to get into striking position in anticipation of a slow pace. Then, in a stretch battle with Search Results (Flatter), Velazquez moved his mount in just enough to intimidate her foe without knocking her off stride, locking up a narrow decision in the closing strides.

“Right out of the gate, it was not what I was expecting,” he said. “She didn't really jump out of there and kind of got squeezed from the first jump. I changed my mind right away. The horses that I don't want to be behind are in front of me, so I had to make a decision and try to get a position that I'm going to be comfortable with. My mind works so quickly and you have less than a second to think. I went all the way back to when I rode her mom [Dreaming of Julia, fourth as the favorite in the 2013 Oaks] and I got squeezed out of the gate and never recuperated. But she responded right away and got me to the position I wanted. Then coming down the lane, it was funny, because I thought it was going to be much tougher to get to Irad [Ortiz, on Search Results], but she got to him so quickly that when she put her head in front, she started waiting and wanting to lean on top of them. So now it's my job to control her and keep it as tight as I can, keep it competitive, but without bothering the other horse. She did everything I asked her to do. It's incredible when you ride these kinds of horses and on top of [their talent], they're giving you everything you ask for and being competitive.”

Elsewhere in the show, the writers broke down all the action from a loaded Derby weekend and asked cohost Jon Green about DJ Stable's experience with their first Derby starter. Then, in the West Point Thoroughbreds news segment, they reacted to federal attorneys' response to anti-HISA lawsuits and, in the Minnesota Racehorse Engagement Project Story of the Week, discussed the impact of Mattress Mack's $2.4-million Derby bet. Click here to watch the podcast; click here for the audio-only version.

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