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THE HASKELL MEDIA CONFERENCE

August 2, 2007

LARRY COLLMUS: Welcome to the press conference and post position draw for the 40th running of the Haskell Invitational. My name is Larry Collmus. We're happy to have you here for the post position draw for the Haskell, presented by Vonage.
In the 40 runnings of the race, this certainly looks to be one of the finest fields we've ever had. Not only do we have the Preakness winner in Curlin, also the Kentucky Derby runner-up, and Imawildandcrazyguy. The impressive Any Given Saturday, and an unbeaten New Jersey star named Cable Boy.
Another local hope named Reata's Shadow, and Xchanger. In all this outstanding group has accounted for 10 graded stakes wins and 24 in the money finishes in graded stakes competition.
Before we get to the draw and talk to the connections at the race, let's hear from the president and CEO of the New Jersey Sports and Exhibition Authority, Mr. George Zoffinger.
GEORGE ZOFFINGER: Thanks, Larry. It's certainly a great field. We're so excited about not only the race this week, but after the event today, we're going to go downstairs, cut the ribbon on this patio terrace. Hopefully everybody has had an opportunity to see it. We're making real improvements here at Monmouth Park in order to get ready for our October event.
I think the field today really does tell us that people are interested in Monmouth Park. We're going to try to keep it that way. I want to thank Vonage as our only sponsor. I want to thank all of you for coming. We're going to have a great day on Sunday. The weather looks great. The field looks great. We'll be moving towards October 27th for the Breeders Cup.
LARRY COLLMUS: 26th and 27th. Breeders Cup at Monmouth Park this year, another reason to be very excited about 2007 here at the Jersey Shore.
Before we get moving, I just want to take a moment to recognize a special guest here today, Ms. Nancy Byrne, executive director of New Jersey Travel and Tourism. Welcome to Nancy. Pretty soon I'll call up Mike Dempsey and Mike Melendez to get right to the post position draw for the 40th running of the Haskell.
We have eight horses. You have all your draw sheets on the table. We're going to get started here with our post position draw. Eight of them in the box.
Curlin has drawn Post 6.
Stormello is No. 3.
Post position one, the rail, goes to Any Given Saturday.
Post Position 4, Imawildandcrazyguy.
Hard Spun has drawn Post 7.
Post 5 for Reata's Shadow.
Cable Boy is No. 2 in the race here.
One more to go. Xchanger, and that's Post 8.
Third choice on the Morning Line of 3-1, Any Given Saturday.
No. 2 Cable Boy, trained by Pat McBurney, Jose Valez, Jr. Morning Line odds 8-1.
No. 3 is Stormello, trained by Bill Currin, Eddie Castro, 20-1.
No. 4 is Imawildandcrazyguy, trained by Bill Kaplan. Manny Cruz is the jockey. 30-1.
No. 5 is Reata's Shadow, trainer Joe Orseno, jockey Joe Bravo, 50-1.
No. 6 is Curlin, trained by Steve Asmussen. Robby Albarado rides the Preakness winner at even money on the Morning Line.
No. 7 will be Hard Spun for trainer Larry Jones with Mario Pino. The Morning Line second choice, 5-2.
No. 8, Xchanger, trained by Mark Shuman, ridden by Edgar Prado, 15-1.
That is the field including the post position and Morning Line for the 40th running of the Haskell presented by Vonage.
Now we're going to be talking to some of the participants in the race on the phone lines. First we're going to go to the trainer of Any Given Saturday, the runaway winner of the Dwyre, on the line with us is Todd Pletcher. Todd, how are you?
TODD PLETCHER: Very good, thank you.
LARRY COLLMUS: Thanks for joining us. We just did the post position draw. Any Given Saturday drew the rail for the race. What did you think of that draw?
TODD PLETCHER: Well, I guess it depends on which Monmouth Park racetrack we have. Are we going to have the run that is really fast and inside speed favoring or the one we had last year for the Haskell when Bluegrass Cat was on an outside post and it worked to his advantage?
I guess really I don't know for sure until race day. I would prefer to have drawn a little further outside. Should be fine. He's a well-seasoned horse accustomed to being in large fields, so it shouldn't be a problem.
LARRY COLLMUS: Todd, you have several very good three-year-olds. Did winning this race last year with the same owners have any bearing only the decision to bring the horse to the Haskell this year?
TODD PLETCHER: I don't think it really played a huge role. Obviously we had a good feeling from last year's Haskell. The main reason that we felt like this was the right spot for Any Given Saturday is that it's a great race, and we felt that was the most important thing.
As far as deciding between the Jim Dandy versus the Haskell, you know, you're sort of splitting hairs when you're running against a horse like Street Sense or Curlin. You know you're going against the best three-year-olds in the crop. That part we felt like was a wash. The fact that the Haskell is a $1 million race and a grade one was sort of a tiebreaker.
LARRY COLLMUS: How about the Breeders' Cup being here, did that play a role?
TODD PLETCHER: Not really. I think it's difficult to look down the road that far and decide. I mean, for me, horses either like a racetrack and they don't. Getting a race over is not going to make a big difference.
LARRY COLLMUS: Last race in the Dwyre, he was really impressive, beat an outstanding field very easily. Any worries or concerns from you that that race could have taken too much out of him?
TODD PLETCHER: Well, we've given him plenty of time since that race. I think the way this horse has trained since then, I couldn't be more pleased. This is a very different horse than the one that ran in the Wood Memorial and the Kentucky Derby.
He's gained weight, become stronger. He's very focused in his training. I thought the Dwyre was a breakthrough performance for him. If we can build on that, which we will need to outrun a horse like Curlin, you believe he's a better horse than he was earlier this spring.
LARRY COLLMUS: He's certainly been a consistent horse, shown some versatility in the past. Any idea where he might be fitting in the race as far as the complexion of it goes?
TODD PLETCHER: You know, looks like with Stormello and Hard Spun, there's going to be plenty of pace. Cable Boy, looks like most of his races he's up close. I would think there's plenty of pace to run it. We'll try to work out the smoothest trip we can, see how the racetrack is playing only the day, take it from there.
He's a very seasoned horse. We shouldn't have to worry good betting a certain kind of trip for him.
LARRY COLLMUS: You shipped him in earlier in the week on Tuesday. He's been out in the paddock schooling a couple of times. Does that acclimation to Monmouth get him to relax a bit only Sunday? What's the reason for bringing him here a little bit earlier?
TODD PLETCHER: He's been training at Belmont ever since the Kentucky Derby. We had the benefit of being able to paddock school him routinely, which he seems to enjoy. I didn't want to ship him all the way to Saratoga and then bring him back to Monmouth because of that. We left him at Monmouth for his last work, and then shipped him down to make sure we got plenty of paddock schooling in. Just to make it as easy as possible only him.
LARRY COLLMUS: When will we see you here for the race, Todd?
TODD PLETCHER: I'll be in sometime Sunday. Just kind of depends on what races we're going to enter, some of the other races, kind of when they're carded. Probably train at Saratoga that morning and fly in later only with Gary Gomez most likely.
LARRY COLLMUS: Thank you very much, Todd. Best of luck on Sunday with Any Given Saturday.
Now on the phone is Steve Asmussen, trainer of the Morning Line favorite for the Haskell, Curlin, the winner of the Preakness Stakes. We also have assistant trainer Scott Blasi. Welcome, Steve, thanks for joining us.
STEVE ASMUSSEN: Absolutely.
LARRY COLLMUS: You have drawn Post Position 6. What do you think of the post?
STEVE ASMUSSEN: It will be a fine draw for him.
LARRY COLLMUS: Obviously a very talented horse. You've had some really good horses and have had a lot of success. Would you say this is the best horse you've ever trained?
STEVE ASMUSSEN: I think that would be very reasonable.
LARRY COLLMUS: As far as his running style throughout his career, it seems like he's shown a little bit of speed, but he is also running very well from off the pace. It's probably a good deal of speed in this race. Do you think that's going to help his chances only Sunday?
STEVE ASMUSSEN: I think that's the main reason we're running him in the Haskell. The Breeders Cup is his major objective to the second half of the year, coming off of a mile-and-a-half race how much we can let him settle. Talent-wise, he's capable of doing anything you want him to do.
LARRY COLLMUS: The Triple Crown can certainly take a toll on any horse, especially for a horse that ran in such a thrilling stretch run in the Belmont Stakes. How has he responded to his last couple of months off coming up to this race?
STEVE ASMUSSEN: The horse has definitely spoiled us with his consistency throughout the Triple Crown races as well as his subsequent works.
LARRY COLLMUS: He's coming along pretty well as far as physical -- since the Belmont Stakes, his development?
STEVE ASMUSSEN: Very pleased with him. When you mention development, I think that would suggest him being better at sometime than others. But the remarkable thing about him has been his consistency.
LARRY COLLMUS: When are we going to see you here, Steve?
STEVE ASMUSSEN: I will come in only Sunday.
LARRY COLLMUS: Best of luck. You're even money on the Morning Line with Curlin. We look forward to seeing you here and Curlin only Sunday. Thanks.
STEVE ASMUSSEN: Thank you.
LARRY COLLMUS: Now we're going to go to Larry Jones, trainer of the second choice on the Morning Line, Hard Spun. Larry, welcome aboard.
LARRY JONES: Thank you, and good morning to you.
LARRY COLLMUS: Good morning to you. Post position No. 7 for Hard Spun, a horse that has been doing most of his running up and near the early lead. What do you think of the post position for him, No. 7?
LARRY JONES: I think it's kind of familiar. I think we've been in there a couple of times in these Triple Crown races. We're right where we're used to being.
LARRY COLLMUS: Speaking of the Triple Crown races, a jockey that has had some success in the past with Hard Spun is back in the saddle Sunday, Mario Pino. What prompted the decision to go back to Mario for the Haskell?
LARRY JONES: Well, we didn't see any improvement when we changed. We was just trying to keep everyone happy. The owner said kind of, you know, requested a little bit of a change. We did. They decided now we'd like to keep our team together. Mario is on our team and we're back.
LARRY COLLMUS: Now, there's a decent amount of speed in the race, of course. We have our local horse, Cable Boy, who has done his racing on the front end. We also have the late addition of Stormello, a lot of early speed. Is that going to affect your strategy at all for the race only Sunday?
LARRY JONES: Well, as we've always said, we try to take it according to how the horse breaks from the gate and where he puts hisself. He's raced successfully in the lanes, setting right off the pace. He's gone to the front and run well.
Hopefully somewhere we'll be stabled in there, somewhere between Cable Boy and Imawildandcrazyguy. Hopefully we'll find us a spot.
LARRY COLLMUS: We asked Steve Asmussen about the rigors of the Triple Crown. You went through the same thing. How has your horse developed since running in all those races with his little bit of a break for this one?
LARRY JONES: He's done well. He's put on some pounds. You know, he came through it well, but I was glad that we got to the point we could give him a little break. We had gone into the derby off of a six-week layoff to help make the Triple Crown easier for him.
The time off has been good. We've had roughly I'd say eight, nine weeks now. Not a lot of difference in the way we went into the derby. He's doing well.
LARRY COLLMUS: What is Hard Spun going to arrive here at the Jersey Shore?
LARRY JONES: Sometime early tomorrow afternoon. We'll leave Delaware Park here after training hours and hopefully be in there early afternoon.
LARRY COLLMUS: You're going to be coming with him?
LARRY JONES: I'll be arriving in there, as well, at the same time.
LARRY COLLMUS: All right. Larry, thank you very much. We appreciate your time. Good luck with Hard Spun on Sunday.
LARRY JONES: Thank you very much.
LARRY COLLMUS: We're going to bring on the trainer of Imawildandcrazyguy, Bill Kaplan. Bill, how are you?
BILL KAPLAN: Good.
LARRY COLLMUS: We did our post position draw, and you have drawn Post 4 for Imawildandcrazyguy, who has done most of his running in the back of the pack. What do you think of the post?
BILL KAPLAN: Really doesn't mean too much to Imawildandcrazyguy. Obviously we don't have a good foot lead in the gate. As long as we get out clean, I'll be happy.
LARRY COLLMUS: Your horse comes off of a big win last time at Calder. Was that a big confidence boost leading up to this for him?
BILL KAPLAN: Actually it was. It was preparation for this race here. Want to make sure we get a little more speed back in him, let him get back in the winner's circle. So it worked out perfectly.
LARRY COLLMUS: What made you choose to join us for the Haskell?
BILL KAPLAN: Well, we were invited. We wanted to take one more chance at the big boys. I know the track there might be considered a little bit speed favoring, but we got so much speed in this race, might play into it for us, if we get a pace a lot more fair than we had in the Belmont.
LARRY COLLMUS: What would a Haskell win mean to your career?
BILL KAPLAN: It obviously would be the biggest race I've ever won. A fantastic experience. The other two guys you just mentioned, coming off minor injuries, they'll be back in action soon. Most of the horses are right up there in talent with Imawildandcrazyguy. Only exception is Imawildandcrazyguy has this amazing endurance ability.
LARRY COLLMUS: Have you been to Monmouth before?
BILL KAPLAN: Yeah, I raced in the Red Bank probably about seven or eight years ago.
LARRY COLLMUS: We're looking forward to having you here. When are you shipping in?
BILL KAPLAN: The horse is there. I'm coming in on Saturday afternoon. Mike is leaving right now. In fact, the reception isn't good because I'm in the car going to the airport.
LARRY COLLMUS: We'll see you Sunday.
BILL KAPLAN: Thank you.
LARRY COLLMUS: That's Bill Kaplan, trainer of Imawildandcrazyguy.
We'll go on to Bill Currin now, trainer of Stormello. How are you?
BILL CURRIN: Good morning to you.
LARRY COLLMUS: Great to have you along. Bill, of course, you drew post position No. 3 for the race with your horse who has a lot of tactical early speed. What do you think of your post?
BILL CURRIN: I love my post better than my odds (laughter). I'll trade.
LARRY COLLMUS: If you bet on him, you get more.
BILL CURRIN: You can put me in the 20 box, make me 3-1, I'll show up (laughter).
LARRY COLLMUS: Obviously one thing this horse won't have any problem with is crisscrossing the country. He's done it a bunch of times already.
BILL CURRIN: He's got more travel miles than me, you bet.
LARRY COLLMUS: I remember in Florida he did that for the Fountain of Youth and the Florida Derby. He must be a pretty good shipper.
BILL CURRIN: He's a very good shipper. Years ago I had a horse called Out of Here. The same. Go to Tokyo, Dubai. When this horse sees the airplane coming, he gets excited, thinks he's going to a party.
LARRY COLLMUS: I know it took a while to get the flight arrangements. When are you going to get this horse on the plane?
BILL CURRIN: Well, I'm watching him pull out this morning. He just galloped in Delmar. Supposedly 1:00 this morning. Hoping that he didn't hear his morning odds, because if he did, he probably had scratch. But we leave at 1:00 in the morning, be there sometime around, oh, 4:00 or so tomorrow afternoon.
LARRY COLLMUS: I know he's almost got the distance before now down in Florida.
BILL CURRIN: I thought he had it in Florida.
LARRY COLLMUS: I did, too.
BILL CURRIN: The post position is good. It's right where I want him to be. Assuming he breaks alert, he typically does, looks like he'll be where I want him. Looks like I am going to have to scoot and go and believe what they tell me, that this track is good for my horse. If that's so, we may have some fun. If it's not so, we're in deep, deep trouble.
LARRY COLLMUS: You say scoot and go. We got Cable Boy just inside of you in Post Position 2. We have Hard Spun coming out of the 7 hole. Are you going to try to get in front of them, sit with them?
BILL CURRIN: Where my horse breaks is where he's going to be. I'm not going to predict where that's going to be because, as you know, a race can come up in way in how it comes up. Typically he likes to break on the lead.
To quote the Hall of Famer Kent (indiscernible), he says this horse is almost too fast coming out of the gate. He has quarterhorse speed with his tail on fire. That's what Kent says.
LARRY COLLMUS: We are looking forward to seeing you here. When are you arriving?
BILL CURRIN: I will show up tomorrow night, sometime tomorrow night.
LARRY COLLMUS: We'll have to introduce you to our Morning Line guy.
BILL CURRIN: I hope he's not a big guy because I'm going to smack him right in the face (laughter).
LARRY COLLMUS: He's a nice guy.
BILL CURRIN: Okay.
LARRY COLLMUS: Thanks, Bill. Appreciate it.
BILL CURRIN: You're welcome.
LARRY COLLMUS: Quite the character. Great guy. Here happy to have his horse here for the Haskell Invitational.
Those are the folks that aren't with us here in the room. We do have a lot of people here with us in the room. We want to start out with the connections for Reata's Shadow joining us here, Joe Orseno and Joe Bravo. Come on up, guys.
By the way, I've just been handed something that hopefully Bill Currin is still on the phone here. Xchanger, apparently this was done before, we got it wrong before, Xchanger is 20-1 and Stormello is 15. I don't think we just changed it because of that phone conversation, but...
BILL CURRIN: Don't cancel yet. I might go. My assistant was ready to cancel, but they changed it. So the whipping did good, okay.
LARRY COLLMUS: I think that was a typographical error.
BILL CURRIN: That's good. Tell him to be more careful.
LARRY COLLMUS: Thanks very much, Bill.
Joe Orseno is here with us today. Joe, glad to have you along. You've been down the road with the Haskell. You're going to try it again with Reata's Shadow. Post position No. 5, what do you think of the draw?
JOE ORSENO: The draw was good. I don't think it really mattered where we drew 'cause we have one style, and that's coming from way out of it. It's basically why we decided to take the chance because, you know, we know there's going to be some speed in the race. I love my horse's style of running. We know Monmouth puts together a great race here unfortunately for us. When you run against these likes, anything can happen.
I've always been a believer you have to be in it to win it. We're going to take a big chance here. Again, I love my horse's style of running and he'll be making up some ground.
LARRY COLLMUS: Any edge in the horse living here on the grounds?
JOE ORSENO: I always believe if you're where the race is run, you're better off. Train here every day. Run here a few times. We have schooled him in the paddock like trainers like to do. But he's been in there enough. He goes to the gate here. When you can just walk him over, it has to be a big edge. We're glad to be in the race.
LARRY COLLMUS: Your jockey here has won the race before a couple years ago. You did that up on the front end. This time probably a horse that's going to be definitely coming from behind in the race. Joe, what do you think of all this speed in the race, does that make you happy?
JOE BRAVO: Everybody knows the Haskell is one of my favorite races. Joe came up to me the other day and put this idea into my head. It works out great. This race has really turned into a big dogfight. Three, four legit speed horses in here.
Really sets up really nice. I'm not going to lie to you and say Reata's Shadow is the best horse in the race. But watch him down the lane. There's going to be running.
LARRY COLLMUS: That will be him coming up on the outside. Good luck, guys.
Now if I can get my notes back here. We're going to now go to Pat McBurney and Jose Valez, Jr., who are the connections of Cable Boy who is our local star, three-for-three lifetime, trying to make it four in a row for the Haskell. Pat McBurney, how are you?
PAT McBURNEY: Good.
LARRY COLLMUS: Pat, Post Position No. 2 for Cable Boy. I know we got down to the last two and it was either going to be two or it was going to be eight. You must have been pretty pleased it was two.
PAT McBURNEY: Very happy to see No. 2.
LARRY COLLMUS: How about the fact that this horse has shown so much speed in those three races? Is he going to benefit from being inside of Stormello and Hard Spun? Do you think he'll be only the lead?
PAT McBURNEY: We don't think he needs the lead. He's just been much better than his competition and we really don't want to be in a suicidal pace. Like Mr. Currin said, we'll play it by the break and see what happens.
LARRY COLLMUS: You and John Forbes have been together 30 years. 10 years ago, it seems like this is almost a carbon copy, had a horse named Tail of the Cat here, a local star, went on to become nationally famous. Can we compare the two? Cable Boy and Tail of the Cat?
PAT McBURNEY: Cable Boy is a much nicer horse to get along with. Tail of the Cat would try to hurt you. Cable Boy is pretty businesslike about everything. In the other respect, they're both very, very fast horses. Just feel great to be around them, so...
LARRY COLLMUS: Talk about fast horses. A mile and 70 yards. We run this race quite a bit here at Monmouth Park. This horse not only broke the track record for this distance but he ran the second fastest mile and 70 yards in the history of this track. Do you think he just loves this racetrack or is he a very, very special horse?
PAT McBURNEY: Well, he definitely loves the racetrack. But Jose has told us both times he has had plenty of horse under him in the race. Very fast horse, for sure.
LARRY COLLMUS: What would a Haskell win mean to Pat McBurney?
PAT McBURNEY: I think I might pass out. A dream come true for all of us. We'd love it.
LARRY COLLMUS: Your jockey is here with us, Jose Valez, Jr. Were you excited when you heard No. 2 instead of No. 8?
JOSE VALEZ, JR.: Yes. Like I said, my horse got plenty of speed. He can be off the pace or in the lead. I think he had race. But we got to go by the break.
LARRY COLLMUS: You've ridden in this race before. Would you say this is the best shot you've had at winning this race?
JOSE VALEZ, JR.: No question about it.
LARRY COLLMUS: What would it mean for you to win this race?
JOSE VALEZ, JR.: It would be the biggest highlight of my career. I mean, today the Haskell for me is like to be the Kentucky Derby. I got my family here, my wife and kids. That's what I work for.
LARRY COLLMUS: I think there will be a lot of people in the stands cheering for you guys. Best of luck only Sunday with Cable Boy.
JOSE VALEZ, JR.: Thank you.
LARRY COLLMUS: Now we'd like to bring up Mark Shuman. Mark is the trainer of Xchanger, who is coming off of a win in the Barbaro in Delaware. You were only the other end of that last draw, either two or eight. With your horse's style, didn't quite mean as much as it did to the Cable Boy camp.
MARK SHUMAN: No. Actually I prefer the outside. I think with all the speed, there are some deep closers, hopefully we'll be sitting in a comfortable spot in the middle. I think the outside for him will be definitely an advantage.
LARRY COLLMUS: This horse won the Sapling last year. In fact, he's going to try to become the first horse to win the Sapling and Haskell since Bet Twice did it 20 years ago. An advantage to having a horse that has shown an affinity to this racetrack?
MARK SHUMAN: I would hope so (laughter). You really don't know till you try it. He's 2-2 for the track. Broke his maiden here. I think traditionally this has been a racetrack that horses can ship from anywhere and really like it. I don't think it will be that big a factor, but I hope it is.
LARRY COLLMUS: You certainly have a great jockey in Edgar Prado. Do you think that will help things, too?
MARK SHUMAN: Hopefully. I mean, the horse is really doing good. He just rode a super race on him last time. I think if everything goes our way, he runs his race, hopefully somebody else doesn't, we'll see what happens. Definitely an advantage.
LARRY COLLMUS: Thanks very much, Mark. Best of luck in the Haskell only Sunday.
MARK SHUMAN: Thank you.
LARRY COLLMUS: That's about it. I think we've talked to all the connections involved for the race. The gates open at 10:00 only Sunday. First race is at 12 noon. We're going to have 14 races with the Haskell as the 13th race at post time of 6:12. Live coverage of the Haskell and the entire card will be only TVG this year. We're excited about that. We're also going to have a $200,000 late pick four only races 10 through 13, a $500,000 guaranteed pick five starting in race five and of course the Haskell drink being served here today and only Haskell day is the Smirnoff Summer Wind. Hopefully you'll be able to enjoy that.
Thank you very much for participating in the post position draw. Lunch is served. We look forward to seeing you all only Sunday. Thanks.

End of FastScripts

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