Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:03] Speaker B: The following program is brought to you in living color on Dell gazette.com or wherever you get your podcast.
The Daily Gazette Company presents the parting Shots Podcast.
Now here's your host, Daily Gazette sports editor Ken Shot.
Thank you, Scott Gezy, and welcome to the Parting Shots Podcast, available wherever you get your podcast. Subscribe today. Thanks for joining us joining me from the Parting Shots Podcast studio in Schenectady, New York. It's a special edition of the Parting Shots Podcast because it's Belmont Stakes festival time once again up at Saratoga Springs. Racing gets underway Wednesday, of course, highlighted by the Belmont Stakes on Saturday. And our man Mike McAdam at at the track with Mac. He'll be up there covering all the races up there.
Mike, year two of this?
Yeah. Are you excited?
[00:00:58] Speaker A: Sure, why not? I mean, it's not as historic as last year, but it's certainly historic to have this, you know, this ancient one of the most prestigious races in North America up here at Saratoga, which is used to, you know, having big races and important things going on up there.
But this is the third leg of the Triple Crown, and so it doesn't get bigger than that.
[00:01:17] Speaker B: Yeah. Unfortunately, for the second time at Saratoga, there will be no Triple Crown on the line, but fans will be treated to the next best thing, a big rematch between Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty, Sovereignty and Journalism, who was second in the Derby, then won the Preakness while Sovereignty sat out that one.
How cool is this matchup?
[00:01:36] Speaker A: Very much so. And the New York Racing association had to be thrilled on Sunday when and I was up there when Journalism breezed and they were on the fence because he's run, you know, twice in the last four weeks.
And meanwhile, everybody else skipped the Preakness besides him. So he's going to be running against fresh horses. Everything had to be perfect for them to give the, you know, the thumbs up for the Belmont horse. Looks like a million dollars. He's an absolute beast. So right after the workout, trainer Michael McCarthy said, I can't find any reason not to run in the Belmont. They were also prepared before the Triple Crown season even started with the idea that they were going to try to hit all three races no matter what happened. Now, what happened in the Kentucky Derby was Sovereignty and Journalism hooked up at the eighth pole and were nose to nose every stride until the 16th pole.
And then Sovereignty just got a little bit of an upper hand, won by a length and a half or whatever. It was just an absolute. They were the two best horses coming into the race. So that's what you want to see. You want to see them knocking heads down the stretch. And it served up exactly what everybody expected and wanted.
So the aftermath of that sovereignty, very quickly, their people. Bill Mott, the trainer, decided, we're not going to go to the Preakness. I don't think they ever had any intention of going to the Preakness, no matter what happened in the Derby. So some people were a little mad that there wouldn't be a chance for a Triple Crown this year. But in the meantime, journalism did go, and it was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen in my career. I've been going up to the track since 1987. The way he just kind of like banged. Bumper car banged. It actually looked very dangerous. Bang between goal oriented and clever again, which was one thing just to get through there somehow through this amazingly tight hole. It looked like it was less than the width of a horse because. And he made it into the width of a horse to get through there.
Larry Kalmus call. I was watching the replay again this morning.
He said he's back into second. He might even win it.
At that point, he was still five lengths away from Goskar, a long shot, who looked like he was, you know, get the up, gonna get the upset. And then Journalism tracked him down and got him in the last stride. And so it was like two parts of it that were amazing. One just blasting through those two horses and getting just all kind of turned sideways and stuff.
But then to be able to make up that much ground in the final 16th and catch that long shot to win was just absolutely thrilling. So now we get these two going against each other again in an eight horse field on Saturday in the Belmont. And with no Triple Crown on the line for the second year in a row, this is the next best thing for fans to have, like, kind of this cool rivalry. I mean, you can't put them in the category of Affirmed and nollied are who ran against each other in close battles in all three legs of the Triple Crown.
But this is a pretty cool thing to see if there's no Triple Crown on the line. And I think it'll.
It's already generating a lot of hype and interest in the race.
[00:04:51] Speaker B: Yeah, I was going to ask that.
Obviously, last year being the first time that the Belmont Stakes was run at Saratoga, obviously it was a lot of excitement, a lot of fans there.
Do you sense that now that maybe even though we've said no Triple Crown, that with this matchup is starting to attract fans and maybe they Want to come up and see this?
[00:05:10] Speaker A: Yeah. And I think they really needed it because you were seeing signs that this one was never going to live up to the fever pitch hype of last year and interest because that was the first one and people were just going crazy last year leading into this thing. I mean, it's way more subdued the lead up to this year's race, as it should be. It's never going to be like it was last year when it was the first one. And people, you know, probably wanted to just go to be able to say that they went to a Belmont Stakes at Saratoga. You know, the novelty of that is gone now.
I will say another cool thing about this race is for the first time since 2013, we're going to have the top three finishers of this year's Kentucky Derby running in the race. We will talk about the third place horse a little later. But so that's kind of a good element that the field they've assembled, you know, there's some star power, there's eight horses.
You know, it's an interesting field, even beyond the top two.
[00:06:08] Speaker B: Well, Belmont week kicks off less than two weeks after longtime New York trainer Christophe Klamal, who won the 2014 Belmont with a tonalist, died of cancer at the age of 59. How will his presence be felt at Saratoga this week?
[00:06:21] Speaker A: Well, I'll tell you in one real tangible way it'll be felt is his son Miguel, who is his longtime assistant and now takes over the stable for Christophe.
They've got horses entered up and down all week, all five days or at least four days. We don't know. The Sunday hasn't been drawn yet, including some in some of the bigger stakes races like the Manhattan on Belmont Stakes day. And I guarantee if one of these horses wins, it's going to be a pretty emotional scene in the winner's circle. Because Christophe Clement was so well loved and well respected for a long time on the New York circuit.
He's from Paris, France, but he basically set down roots a couple decades ago in New York and became one of the top trainers on the circuit. And so he's greatly missed. It came as a surprise to those of us who didn't even know he was sick. He actually revealed the news in a pre written tweet that his son posted that began with if you're reading this, I'm but total class act, did things the right way. I don't know that he's ever had like a drug penalty or suspension or anything in his whole career. Just like one of the cleanest trainers, but also, you know, top level with horses like Gio Ponti. You already mentioned Tonalist, who won The Belmont in 2014.
A little story I tell about that is that year, California Chrome was trying to win the Triple Crown, and Tonalist missed the Kentucky Derby because he got sick. So he ran in the Peter Pan at Belmont park and won it came back in the Belmont and won that to deny California Chrome the Triple Crown. And people were upset about that because there had not been one Triple Crown winner since affirmed in 1978.
So a lot of people were mad and everybody was looking forward to Crumb winning the Triple Crown. But I went to, I remember distinctly going to Christophe Clement's barn the next morning to do follow up stuff and asking him, hey, a lot of people, whenever this happens, they're going to say, the horse that won is kind of like they're going to look at those people and that horse as the villain because they spoiled the big story that everybody wanted. And he said, hey, you know what? My clients race in New York all the time. This means a lot to them. So I'm sorry. He didn't apologize, but he said, you know, I know a lot of people wanted the Triple Crown, but this is like the biggest moment in the like that my clients can possibly experience. They're New York people. They race on the New York circuit.
So that kind of illustrated a little bit of, you know, what strong roots he had in New York. Class Guy had a bunch of really good horses. Kind of another story I tell is he commonly, after he won a stakes race, we would go down and talk to him and inevitably somebody's going to ask, okay, so what's next for this horse? And he would kind of cut it off and say, we're just going to enjoy this moment for now and think about that later. Which kind of illustrated how much he loved life and embraced every day that he lived it.
[00:09:25] Speaker B: So while the Belmont itself is the highlight of the week, there is plenty of other interesting and important racing action going on over the five days of the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, including the undefeated Philly Good Cheer running in the Acorn on Friday and the Met Mile on Saturday morning. What are some of the other races you're looking forward to?
[00:09:42] Speaker A: Well, Wednesday, the opener is kind of fun because it's restricted to New York breds. They actually have a steeplechase in the first race on the card. It was a little unusual.
So Wednesday is sort of designated for New York breds, which is kind of a Lot of fun. A lot of those horses have been bred like in our readership area were born in Saratoga county and there's some farms down in Hudson and stuff.
Let's start with Friday. I love the Ogden Fifths is always a great race. That's the longer dirt race for Phillies and mares to kind of illustrate how wide open this is.
There's seven horses in there and five of them are at odds of from 5 to 2 to 9 to 2. So we have no idea who's going to win this thing, but whoever it is is going to be a pretty good horse. You got randomized for Chad Brown who won it last year. You got Raging Sea from Chad Brown who won the Personal Ensign at Saratoga last year. You got Candide who was second in the Alabama at Saratoga last year. And you got Leslie's Rose among others.
The only thing she ever got wrong was being born in the wrong year.
She's racing as a three year old Billy last year against Torpedo Anna who beat her three times.
So those four.
So the Ogden Phipps is a very good race. Also on Friday you already mentioned good cheer. She's seven for seven lifetimes. She won the Kentucky Oaks by two and a quarter lengths.
She's won her seven races by a combined 44 and a half lengths.
She's kind of under the radar because of the Sovereignty Journalism matchup, but in the meantime she's one to two on the morning line, which is the shortest odds of anybody the whole week.
So it's going to be fun to see her. The Met Mile is always one of the best races on the Belmont card.
I don't want to exaggerate too much, but there are years where the Met Mile is almost more interesting than the Belmont and this is not one of those years. But that said, the Met Mile is amazing. The simple fact that you've got Fierceness, who won the Travers last year, he's an even money favorite and you got White Abarrio 9 to 5.
He won the Whitney a couple years ago and this year he finished first in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup. Then he won another race at Gulfstream Park. So those two are going to be butting heads in the Met Miles. There's only five horses in there, but it's a good field and just to see those two go against each other is going to be very interesting.
[00:12:15] Speaker B: Well, we already talked about the Journalism Sovereignty rematch, but the Belmont Stakes is not a two horse race. Far from it. Who else should we watch for?
[00:12:24] Speaker A: Well, the two most prominent ones of the remaining six, besides Journalism and Sovereignty are Rodriguez and Baeza. Baeza's getting a ton of love based on his third place finish in the Kentucky Derby.
And again, I was watching the replay a couple times and he actually was gaining ground on Journalism every step of the way in the last like four or five strides.
The California based horses are very good and Journalism, Baeza and Rodriguez are all from California, so they're going to have a big impact on this race. Rodriguez won the Wood Memorial by three and a half lengths on the front end. Kind of the fear there with Rodriguez is he's a typical Bob Baffert horse who likes to go straight to the front right out of the starting gate and then it's just a matter of if he can hold his speed all the way around the track. So he's got a little bit of wise Guy action behind him based on the fact that if he gets to the front and nobody's going with him and then he can maybe relax for an early like the third quarter mile and turn it into a mile race as opposed to a mile and a quarter, he could run and hide and nobody catches him. So there's those two round and out the field. Chad Brown has Hill Road, who's pretty I already mentioned how Tonalist had gone from the Peter Pan to the Belmont to win it.
So Hill Road is he's coming off a win in the Peter Pan, so he's kind of interesting.
Crudeau is very interesting. I saw him win the Sir Barton by seven and a half lengths at Pimlico on the Preakness undercard and he immediately looked like a Belmont horse out of that.
His sire is Justify, who won the triple crown in 2018.
Crudeau. I had to look this up, but the horse is co owned by celebrity chef Bobby Flay. And Crudeau apparently is some thinly sliced raw fish that you put with vinegar and salt and some other things.
Apparently a tasty dish. So that's where that name came from.
You have Heart of Honor.
Heart of Honor. He finished fifth or fourth in the Preakness and they shipped him up to Saratoga from Baltimore, like right away with the idea. He's interesting because his trainer, Jamie Osborne is from Great Britain and his daughter, who I believe is 24, Saffy Osborne, is the horse's jockey. So that's a really cool story.
And then rounding it out is Uncaged, who I'll write this in my column later this week. But he's sort of the it ain't a rumble unless I'm here Kind of, you know, a rumble ain't a rumble unless I'm here. The Matt Dillon line from the Outsiders, because his owner, Mike Rapoli, who's from New York, his horse, he desperately wants to win the Belmont because he's from New York. And he basically looked down the shed row and said, which of my horses in Todd Pletcher's barn am I throwing into this thing? So he grabbed uncaged.
He's 30 to 1. So that's the biggest bomb you can find.
So there's some other stuff in there. And Baeza is kind of the wise guy, one that everybody's focusing on, just based on how he ran in the Derby and was flying at the end.
[00:15:43] Speaker B: Big question.
Will the Belmont be back at Saratoga next year?
[00:15:47] Speaker A: Yeah, you can book it. It'll be back.
I think they could have announced it by now, but I think what happens, as these things usually go, is they'll wait for, like, a soft spot in the news cycle just to kind of remain in the news. And so you'll hear about it then. I mean, nobody has said anything officially, but Belmont park isn't going to be fully reconstructed until September of next year. Belmont, obviously, is in June. For practical purposes, they could run the Belmont at Belmont park next year, but it doesn't make sense for them to hold their biggest event for the first time in their new place until the place is ready for its close up, basically, and is 100% ready for public viewing. So, just based on that philosophy alone, if there was a future wager out there, I would put a lot of. I would bet the farm that it'll be back in Saratoga next year for a third time.
[00:16:44] Speaker B: Well, Belmont park gave us some news last week with the announcement that the Breeders cup will be there in 2027. It's been a while since the Breeders Cup's been in New York State. How big is this?
[00:16:54] Speaker A: It's very big. The last time it was in New York State was 2005, when Belmont park was still in the regular rotation for getting the Breeders Cup.
In recent years, it's been restricted to California and Kentucky, but, I mean, it's a win win for both sides to have the, you know, Belmont hosting the Breeders cup in 2027. Belmont wants to kind of like, show everybody national TV, whatever, what they look like and what they're about with their new redesigned facility. And it's good for the Breeders cup, too, because it kind of generates buzz, just the fact that it's a new.
I mean, it's an old site, but it's a new building there. And, you know, everybody's seen the artist's renderings. It kind of looks like an ocean liner. So I absolutely will miss the old Belmont Park. But like I said, it's a win win for both Belmont, Naira and the Breeders Cup.
[00:17:49] Speaker B: Do you have a pick for the Belmont stacks? Do you want to wait till your column on Saturday?
[00:17:54] Speaker A: Yes and yes or no. And yes.
I don't have a pick, actually.
You know, I was at the draw on Monday and talking to Jack Knowlton, who was, you know, the managing partner of Sacatoa Stable, who, of course, famously owned Funnyside, the winner of the Derby in Preakness before he got beaten to Belmont. And he and I were kind of saw eye to eye on this. As I already mentioned, that Rodriguez is kind of scary just based on the fact that he might get away with this thing and just run and hide. I'm not gonna pick Rodriguez, so I can't give you that much.
But journalism is such a monster. I've seen him out on the track several times, as is sovereignty, and Baeza kind of has the buzz. I think you can see where I'm leaning toward one of those three. I did pick journalism correctly in the Preakness.
I have not made my final call on who I'm gonna pick on top. It'll be one of those three that's not very revealing.
So that's.
[00:18:56] Speaker B: That'll make people buy the paper on Saturday for my pick, if that's the case.
[00:19:02] Speaker A: That's money well spent, my people.
[00:19:05] Speaker B: You can follow Mike's coverage online on xikemcgaddon, of course, the print edition, as well as dailycazette.com for all the stories coming out of Saratoga. It'll be a lot of fun covering the balance. Sakes once again and enjoy yourself.
[00:19:20] Speaker A: Thank you.
I neglected to mention the weather situation.
[00:19:23] Speaker B: Oh, yes.
[00:19:24] Speaker A: It's gonna be hotter than hell on Wednesday and Thursday. It's supposed to rain overnight on Friday, so there might be some moisture in the track on Saturday, but it kind of looks like right for now, it says showers possible or something like that on Saturday.
[00:19:41] Speaker B: It's a typical spring Saturday rains every Saturday in this.
[00:19:45] Speaker A: There was no springtime this year. It was, like, gloomy for three months and raining. And now it's going to be 89 on Wednesday and Thursday. And then Sunday's supposed to be really nice.
Today's beautiful.
[00:20:00] Speaker B: Yeah, amazing.
I mean, I was June 1st walking my dog, and I'm wearing a jacket like, no, this can't be June 1st. Doesn't feel like June 1st, but no. So hey, Mike, appreciate you doing this. And of course we'll do it again once. Of course we have a bonus racing at Saratoga, like first week of July.
[00:20:16] Speaker A: Yeah. There's actually nine extra races outside of the 40 day annual summer meet. They'll come back here for the July 4th Racing Festival. And a lot of that is we may have talked about this already. They moved it just because instead of having it at Aqueduct the way the calendar fell with Labor Day on September 1, it's as early as it can possibly be. And they work backwards for the Saratoga schedule, which means the start of Saratoga on July 10th is banging up right against the July 4th little festival that they do. So they decide what the heck, we're just going to run it at Saratoga, take three days off and then go straight into the summer meet.
So that's four more days.
People have been asking me about ticket sales and things like that and I think they've been lagging. I don't think Naira even really cares that much about it. I mean they do, but it's not like panic button time. But I think people see those nine extra days of racing outside of the meet and they can kind of wait and bide their time and maybe, you know, day before check the weather report and say okay, let's go or not based on that.
[00:21:23] Speaker B: So we obviously will talk more as we're doing Saratoga meet. So Mike, appreciate a few minutes. Thanks a lot.
[00:21:27] Speaker A: Thank you, Ken.
[00:21:28] Speaker B: All right. Coming up on a podcast Wednesday, it's a finals preview of the for the Stanley cup playoffs and the NBA.
Mark Kesser, the voice of the NBA on ESPN Radio and Tim Reynolds covers the NBA for the Associate Press. And a member of the New York State Basketball hall of Fame will join me when talk about the matchup between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana pacers. And Pierre McGuire makes his appearance once again. We'll talk the Stanley Cup Final, a rematch of last year's final between the Florida Panthers and the Edmonton Oilers. And I know as must be killing you, Mike, that Brad Marchand is playing for Stanley cup for the Florida Panthers.
[00:22:03] Speaker A: Edmonton Oilers back in the Gretzky Messier days. I never believed that there would come a time when I would say that. I'm saying.
[00:22:14] Speaker B: I have no Rudy, but I'm gonna watch anyway. So yeah, so that'll come up Wednesday and please enjoy that and we'll talk then.
Views Express on the Parting Shots podcast or not necessarily are those of the Daily Gazette company. The Parting Shots podcast is a production of the Daily Gazette Company. I'm Daily Gazette sports editor Ken Shot. Thanks for listening, and I'll catch you next time from the Parting Shots podcast studio in Schenectady, New York. Good day. Good horse racing.
