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Len Green Joins the TDN Writers’ Room Podcast

Who better to be the Green Group Guest of the Week Than Mr. Green Group himself, Len Green. Green joined the 'TDN Writers' Room' podcast presented by Keeneland to discuss the latest goings-on with his DJ Stable as well as to offer advice on how those in the Thoroughbred industry can best prepare for the upcoming tax season.

The best horse DJ Stable campaigned in recent years was Wonder Wheel (Into Mischief), who won the 2022 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies on her way to being named champion 2-year-old filly. She did not live up to expectations this year, going 0-for-3. But Green said that, as much as racing is a hobby to many, it should also always be considered a business. The Greens bought Wonder Wheel as a yearling at Keeneland September for $275,000 and sold her at this year's Fasig-Tipton November Sale for $3.2 million. It was, Green said, the proper business decision to make.

“If you decide that you want to run this as a business, and I think it's very, very important that people see this as a business, you have to make business decisions,” he said. “And the business decisions are that when a horse is no longer a racing horse, it's time to cut bait. I might have said it's not worth taking a horse out of training after a tough campaign. Instead, wait several months and try to get her back into racing form. Maybe with other horses, it works. Now was the time to sow it as opposed to racing on. So that's the difference between people who are in this thing for a hobby and not as a business. Businesses, you make business decisions.”

Green believes he knows the tax business when it comes to racing inside and out because he has owned so many horses himself and has been active in the sport for decades.

“I know these things having owned 200 horses every year myself,” he said. “I know what the expense is. I know what the ratios are. I know what you're missing. Have you donated any horses? Where is this horse? Where did you buy it? Well, I bought it, but I didn't pay for it yet. It doesn't make any difference when you pay for it. It's when you take a title and when you put it in use, that's when it's deductible. Whether you use me or somebody else, you have to have someone who is knowledgeable. Someone who can look at your expenses and tell you, okay, here's the way to do it.”

Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association,https://www.kentuckybred.org/https://www.nyrabets.com/ West Point Thoroughbreds, Lane's End, WinStar Farm and XBTV.com, the team of Zoe Cadman and Bill Finley reviewed last weekend's races at Aqueduct where the fare included the GII Cigar Mile H. and a thrilling rendition of the GII Remsen S., won by Dornoch (Good Magic), the full-brother to 2023 GI Kentucky Derby winner Mage. The focus turned to Del Mar, where Chad Brown added to his incredible record at the seaside oval, winning two Grade I's, including the GI Matriarch S., where his quartet of starters finished one, two, three and four. Cadman and Finley also gave their take on the latest developments in the scopolamine case from the 2018 GI Santa Anita Derby, that has, at least for now, resulted in the disqualification of Justify (Scat Daddy).

Click here for the podcast video, or here for the audio version.

The post Len Green Joins the TDN Writers’ Room Podcast appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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White Abarrio Owner Mark Cornett Joins TDN Writers’ Room Podcast

It's been a roller coaster year for White Abarrio (Race Day), but it ended on the highest of possible notes, with a victory in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic. To talk about the Breeders' Cup, future plans for the horse, the decision to hire Rick Dutrow as the trainer and more, co-owner Mark Cornett was the Green Group Guest of the Week on this week's TDN Writers' Room Podcast, which is presented by Keeneland.

With the status of Saffie Joseph, Jr. in limbo after he was temporarily banned by Churchill Downs when two of his horses died in the lead-up to the GI Kentucky Derby, Cornett, who owns White Abarrio in partnership with his brother Clint and Los Milagrosa Stable, needed to find a new trainer. He said he narrowed the choice down to two, Dutrow and Chad Brown. In the end, he thought Dutrow was the perfect fit.

“I had Rick in my mind all along,” Cornett said. “I've known him for a long time. Paul Pompa and I were really good friends. I put numerous horses in Rick's barn through some partnerships with Paul and had a lot of success. I know what a good horseman he is. He's one of the best, top five in the world, in my opinion. He was trying to rebuild his stable at the time. We were basically being forced by Churchill and NYRA to make a trainer switch. It's hard enough to manage these horses without having politics and racetracks and state vets and everybody else try to step in and make you do things you don't want to do. It was a bold move to hire Rick and I don't know too many people that would have done what we did. We have all the confidence in the world in Rick and his abilities and it all worked out.”

So far as next year's racing schedule goes, the $20-million Saudi Cup is definitely on the schedule. Cornett said there's a possibility White Abarrio could race beforehand in the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational.

White Abarrio's Co-Owner Mark Cornett Joins Writers' Room from Thoroughbred Daily News on Vimeo.

“The main goal is going to definitely be the Saudi Cup,” Cornett said. “If we were designing the perfect race for this horse it would be one turn at a mile and an eighth. And then they put the $20 million behind it. The timing of the race is a question mark. It's about four months after the Breeders' Cup. The only thing we really have to figure out is how to get him there at a peak. Do we run him in between? Do we send him over there to acclimate? Those are things that Rick and I will talk about and discuss what's the best way to win that race.”

White Abarrio's first big win on the year came at Saratoga in the GI Whitney S., but Cornett saw signs as early as May that the horse was about to take things to another level.

“I went to Churchill Downs in May and I hadn't seen him in 45 days, 60 days before that,” he said. “I couldn't believe my eyes on the physical maturity of this horse. He had probably gained 200 pounds. There was a physical transformation, from a boy to a man, which is what you want to see. He matured at the right time.”

White Abarrio | Benoit

So far as the race for Horse of the Year goes, Cornett realizes that Cody's Wish (Curlin) will likely earn the honor over White Abarrio.

“Whatever the voters decide is fine,” he said. “We're going to be around next year so we can take another shot. Maybe for Cody's Wish, it's meant to be for obvious reasons.”

Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association, West Point Thoroughbreds, WinStar Farm, XBTV.com, 1/ST Racing and Lane's End, the team of Zoe Cadman, Bill Finley and Randy Moss touched on the heartbreaking loss of Cody Dorman, the inspiration behind Cody's Wish, who died the day after the Breeders' Cup at age 17. The team reviewed the entire Breeders' Cup program, the dominance of the New York and European stables and the poor showing by the California barns, and gave their opinions on Horse of the Year, all agreeing that it should be and will be Cody's Wish.

To watch the Writers' Room, click here. To view the show as a podcast, click here.

The post White Abarrio Owner Mark Cornett Joins TDN Writers’ Room Podcast appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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George Krikorian Joins TDN Writers’ Room Podcast Breeders’ Cup Preview Show

George Krikorian has been around the game of racing for a long time and has owned a lot of good horses. But a win in the Breeders' Cup has eluded him. He's 0-for-11. But he has two strong candidates this year in Just FYI (Justify) in the GI Juvenile Fillies and War Like Goddess (English Channel) in the GI Breeders' Cup Turf, where she will tackle males for the second straight year.

Will this be Krikorian's year? Those were among the questions our team asked Krikorian on this week's TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland. He was the Green Group Guest of the Week.

“I'm pretty excited to be here and to have this opportunity and with two horses,” he said. “This is the first time that's happened for me. So it's going to be a pretty special weekend.”

In War Like Goddess, Krikorian owns one of the biggest over achievers in the sport. She sold for $1,200 as a weanling before RNA'ing for $1,000 at Keeneland September 2018. She showed up next at the 2019 OBS June Sale, where bloodstock agent Donato Lanni convinced Krikorian to take a shot on the filly. He bought her for $30,000. All she's done since is earn $2,495,184 and win eight stakes, including three Grade I's.

“You have to give kudos to Donato Lanni because he called me one day and said, 'I've seen this horse and she should not be in this sale and she's going to be overlooked,'” Krikorian said. 'He said, I see in the future that she could be a very special horse.' I told him that I knew that he didn't mind taking the time it takes for a horse to develop. And so that's exactly what we did. We took our time. Just as he predicted, she turned out to be an incredible horse.”

George Krikorian Joins the TDN Writers' Room from Thoroughbred Daily News on Vimeo.

Just FYI is 2-for-2 and coming off a win in the GI Frizette. Despite her strong credentials, this might be a tough spot for her and only because she'll have to take on Tamara (Bolt d'Oro), considered by many to be the most likely winner of any Breeders' Cup race.

“I know that Tamara is going to be a tough, tough horse,” Krikorian said. “The bottom line is you're challenged by any horse that's in a race like this. I think that Just FYI has shown to be a incredibly talented horse and I think that she's going to be a very tough competitor in that race.”

Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association, Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders, West Point Thoroughbreds, WinStar Farm, XBTV.com and 1/ST Racing, the team of Zoe Cadman, Bill Finley and Randy Moss went through all the Breeders' Cup races, offering their insights and handicapping opinions. Both Moss and Finley loved longshot Roses for Debra (Liam's Map) in the GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint. Moss had a less positive take on the GI Breeders' Cup Classic, calling this one of the weakest Classic fields ever assembled. Yet, everyone agreed that this might be the best field ever assembled for the Breeders' Cup Turf. Moss also made a compelling case why Elite Power (Curlin) should turn the tables on Gunite (Gun Runner) in the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint.

To watch the podcast as a video, click here. For the audio version, click here.

The post George Krikorian Joins TDN Writers’ Room Podcast Breeders’ Cup Preview Show appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Michael Banahan Joins the TDN Writers’ Room Podcast

The mighty Godolphin stable leads all Breeders' Cup owners with 16 wins, a testament to both the quality of the horses owned by Godolphin and its commitment to the Breeders' Cup. Godolphin won four Breeders' Cup races last year and is sending a strong contingent of U.S. and foreign-based horses to Santa Anita for this year's event. To find out more about the Godolphin runners for this year's Breeders' Cup and why the event is so important to the stable, the TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland called on Godolphin Director of Bloodstock Michael Banahan to give us answers to our questions. Banahan was this week's Green Group Guest of the Week.

“We embrace the Breeders' Cup because it is championship racing,” Banahan said. “That's what we're trying to do. It's the biggest race day at the end of the year for us. And if we can be fortunate enough to get horses to compete at the Breeders' Cup, we know we're competing with the very best horses not only in America, but across the world. That's where we want to compete at, at the very top level. You see only the very best horses at the Breeders' Cup and we know by the Eclipse Award voting that people put a lot of emphasis on those races at the end of the year.”

While Banahan deals primarily with Godolphin's U.S.-based runners, he is well aware of the success trainer Charlie Appleby, Godolphin's head trainer in Europe, has had in North America. Since 2021 in North America, he's had 56 starters, 24 winners, 23 stakes winners and 15 Grade I wins. His winning percentage during that period of time is 43%. For his career, he's had nine Breeders' Cup winners. How does he do it?

“Charlie is an excellent trainer and a very good horseman,” Banahan said. “He had been with Godolphin for a long time before he took the mantle as the head trainer and would have traveled all around the world and would have seen firsthand the type of horse you need to bring to different destinations, whether it's America, Australia, continental Europe, or wherever it might be, or Dubai itself. He understands that very well, understands what his horses like and which ones will perform well in a race in America where there might be a lot of pace and the race is run over a flat track. They're good horses as well. But sometimes they look like they're elevated a little bit when they get to America in the pattern of a race and the style of a race. Obviously, he's got plenty of them, but he's identified the right horses and you don't really see him just throwing horses in a race and hoping that, you know, some of it'll stick a little bit.”

Godolphin owns Cody's Wish (Curlin), last year's GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile winner. He was named for Cody Dorman, who was born with a rare genetic disorder called Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome. Banahan said the Dorman family is hoping to be at Santa Anita to see if Cody's Wish can repeat in the Dirt Mile.

“When he ran in the Whitney in Saratoga, when the family was going to the paddock people were giving them a round of applause and cheering them when they went by,” Banahan said. “I think it's even goes further than racing itself. It's hit people outside the industry, just the general public. People who don't have any interest in racing or just a marginal interest have really caught on to this great story. Hopefully, they'll all make it out there and be there to cheer Cody's Wish on in what will be his last race.”

Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by 1/ST Racing, the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association, WinStar Farm, Lane's End, the KTOB, XBTV and West Point Thoroughbreds, the team of Zoe Cadman, Randy Moss and Bill Finley discussed the story of trainer John Pimental, the 68-year-old trainer who had won just one race this year but is facing a possible suspension of up to three years because a horse he trained tested positive for methamphetamine and because investigators from the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) found a container of Levothyroxine on his truck. Finley called for HIWU to begin to employ common sense when it comes to its decisions and, especially in this case, not upend the life and career of a trainer who quite clearly was not trying to dope his horses with performance-enhancing drugs.

Live from Santa Anita, Cadman gave her report card on some of the workouts she had seen during the week from Breeders' Cup horses. She was so impressed with a seven-furlong workout by Arabian Knight (Uncle Mo) that went in 1:24, she declared: “They're all running for second money behind Arabian Knight in the Classic.”

It's too late for 'TDN Rising Star' Nysos (Nyquist) to make the Breeders' Cup, but his 10 1/2-length win in a maiden race at Santa Anita on Saturday was a worthy topic of discussion. And why did trainer Bob Baffert choose to ride Kyle Frey on the colt? Cadman has the answer, and it might surprise you.

Click here to watch the podcast as a video or here to listen to the audio file.

The post Michael Banahan Joins the TDN Writers’ Room Podcast appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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