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BREEDERS' CUP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPSNovember 7, 2009Michael MakerKenneth RamseyARCADIA, CALIFORNIA ERIC WING: Joined by the winning connections of Furthest Land, winner of the $1 million TVG Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile. On the left is trainer Mike Maker, and to our right Kenneth Ramsey, who along with his wife, Sarah, the owner of Furthest Land. I'll start with you, Ken. Everybody knows you claim a lot of horses. This one you got for the now very bargained price of -- what looks like an extreme bargain -- $35,000 just a little over a year ago. What was it about Furthest Land that caught your eye last October? KEN RAMSEY: Well now he might be voted Claimer of the Year. I like his breeding by Smart Strike, the mare that Sheikh Mohammed stood. So the breeding was impeccable. The horse was 3 years old. He was young. I used my claiming methods primarily from the rag sheets. He had improving rag sheets numbers. Mike checked him out. Said he was clean, clean leg and all that, so we decided to go for it. And now you know the rest of the story. Q. I'm sure the folks in Minnesota are happy. First claiming Crown winner to go on and win a Breeders' Cup race. Mike Maker, it seemed I know this horse was taken from Christophe Clement, and those first few races you had him, it seemed like you claimed him for the grass, and you ran well on the grass it seems like synthetics are a much brighter world than what you expected on the turf. MICHAEL MAKER: Not necessarily, when we ran him at Keeneland, he was very impressive. Downside was Keeneland was over, and there was nowhere to run him on the synthetics unless we came to California. It's a little tough to talk Mr. Ramsey into running the horse and ship him 3,000 miles. It was the grass day he came off, and I was anxious to get him back on synthetic after he didn't fire too well on the dirt in Minnesota; and we gave him the time after that trip and ran him and he didn't let us down. ERIC WING: I suppose Furthest Land gives you a nice problem to have. You do most of your racing in Central Kentucky. Churchill Downs is dirt. Keeneland meets are very short. Not that many races a turf way for a horse of Furthest Land's stature now. Where do you think -- this is a horse you can pretty much go anywhere as long as it's synthetic. Can you give any thought to what may be ahead down the road? MICHAEL MAKER: Santa Anita and Dubai. KEN RAMSEY: I'm going to second the motion. I figured if we can get a mile, he was closing today, we should get a mile and a quarter in Dubai and, the Turf Course is going to be $10 million, I understand. So maybe we can somehow finagle an invitation from Sheikh Mohammed to take him over there. ERIC WING: Well, if they didn't know you before, they know you now. KEN RAMSEY: I want to another one other thing, the saddest part today and what makes it bittersweet is the fact that the wife was here yesterday in a wheelchair. And today she was here and suffered a little minor setback, nothing major. But really breaks my heart that she wasn't here to participate in one of the highlights of our career. ERIC WING: Well, hopefully today's win will help her feel even better at least for the short term anyway, for sure. This is the first Breeders' Cup win for both Mike Maker and Ken Ramsey. He had ten Breeders' Cup starters coming into this year. A whole bunch of them, most of them who had Kitten in the name this year. But he wins with a non-Kitten. Mike, I nose you had this is the first Breeders' Cup win in your name. But you had been associated with some nice Wayne Lukas horses as well, like cash run, and cat thief. Nice to get one in your own name? MICHAEL MAKER: Yes, it sure was. It was a long time coming, but well worth the wait. KEN RAMSEY: I want to take my hat off to Mike, without him we certainly wouldn't have been here. He has really developed this horse from a $35,000 claimer to a Grade 1 Breeders' Cup winner. You got to take your hat off to him. He's probably a future Hall of Famer just like his mentor, D. Wayne Lukas. Q. I happen to overhear a conversation right after Furthest Land won the Kentucky Cup Classic. You were at the University of Kentucky football game against Florida. Had the result relayed to you, and the first words out of your mouth were was this a win and you're in race, and it wasn't. But clearly you had high hopes for this horse. And you didn't go into the Classic. You cut back to the dirt mile, but did you make up your mind right away as soon as you won the Kentucky Cup Classic that you were coming to California with him? KEN RAMSEY: Mike encouraged me to come, and he did not have to twist my arm. ERIC WING: We'll congratulate once more trainer Mike Maker and co-owner Kenneth Ramsey on the big win today with Furthest Land in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, and best of luck to you as you plan a course for your gelding next year and beyond. KEN RAMSEY: We hope to turn him into a Kelso or a Forego. We have a motto, if you're not in the dance, you have no chance. So he was in the dance. Although we didn't pull it off with any of our Kittens. I think when we stretch out with them, it will be okay. So they were all running in the end except one today. So we're very pleased at what happened out here in Santa Anita. We love California. Q. Do you think this horse will be back next year for sure? KEN RAMSEY: Will he be back? I'll answer the question like this. Is the Pope a Catholic (laughing)? Q. And the trainer thinks he's okay? MICHAEL MAKER: I hope I'll be back next year, too. KEN RAMSEY: We're not planning on switching trainers. We do have one little criteria on trainers. They must win 20% for us over a one year rolling period. But Mike is well above that, and I think this would give him quite a bit of leeway in case he drops down to 19%. Q. Smart Strike is a good sire? KEN RAMSEY: That's a very good sire. He stands at Lane's End Farm. We've claimed two or three of his. I've got two or three broodmares by him that we bred to Kitten's Joy. This is an excellent horse. Very good pedigree. In other words, the gene pool was correct. Q. Something on the frivolous side. I suppose you arrived in Los Angeles a day or two early. Didn't take a private jet and arrive two hours before the race and win two group races? KEN RAMSEY: We came early. Mike wanted to come early. Let them get acclimated. This horse loved the Poly track out here or the Pro-Ride as you call it. It really took to him. As well as the William's Kitten did today. William's Kitten ran a heck of a race. Though he finished 8th. Ramon Dominguez said he would have had a much better finish. He was 8 wide, he would have had a much better finish if he hadn't gotten bumped. So we're proud of the Kitten's Joy. And we're well pleased with today's outcome. This was our last shot today, you know. Q. I wanted people to know about the Retama experience. That's what I was talking about? KEN RAMSEY: We chartered a Lear 40 jet. And Keeneland was very magnanimous. They escorted Steve Bass, that's Leparoux's agent. We were waiting on the tarmac at Lexington. Flew off. Got landed in Texas, they pulled the limousine right up to the plane. And my friend Dave Hooper welcomed us into Retama, and we were treated like celebrities. The stewardesses even waived the one-hour requirement for the jockeys to be in the jock's room. Won both races. Couldn't have been nicer. Only thing was it took a little bit out of our horse to run back on two weeks rest. So that qualified us to get in. So two weeks rest, we did the best we could. ERIC WING: We're not able to be joined by Julien Leparoux who has a full dance card the rest of the way. But Patrick Biancone kind of got him started. Getting him to that next level, you were a big part of that. He won many a nickel claimer for you at Turfway and elsewhere. Can you comment on Julien's talents as a rider as we saw so clearly here with that perfect trip you gave Furthest Land? MICHAEL MAKER: As everyone knows, Julien's patient, nothing excites him. So our personnel he goes head and hand. We don't have too much to say, neither do I. We kind of let our horses speak for us, and Mr. Ramsey. But, no, he's great. And I look forward to a relationship for years to come. Hopefully he gets the Shoemaker Award today, and the Eclipse at the end of the year. KEN RAMSEY: Julien said he'd go to Royal Ascot with us if we wanted to go. So we have horses, will travel. ERIC WING: Very good. And travel very successfully if today's any indication. Mike Maker, Kenneth Ramsey, congratulations again on your horse's performance, Furthest Land Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile. KEN RAMSEY: And Cannonball who ran third today, we've been invited to go to Hong Kong with him. So we're looking forward to going to Hong Kong with Cannonball. And from there we're invited to Australia. And we're hoping to go back to Dubai, if Sheikh Mohammed will invite Cannonball back. So we're going to travel around with some of these horses. He's also a gelding. ERIC WING: Mike, make sure your passport is current. MICHAEL MAKER: Thank you so much. End of FastScripts |
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