SATURDAY, JUNE 23, 2018 TDN Q&A: AHMED ZAYAT LASIX DOMINATES CONGRESSIONAL DRUG REFORM HEARING By T.D. Thornton Thoroughbred industry witnesses representing both pro and con sides of a federal bill requiring a uniform anti-doping and medication control program testified before a Congressional subcommittee on Friday, marking the first time that proponents and opponents of HR 2651 have been able to voice arguments while facing questioning from politicians who will decide if the measure advances. No clear-cut “winner” emerged from the June 22 proceedings before the Digital Commerce and Consumer Protection subcommittee. The most salient points of the two-hour debate came near the end, when questioning drifted away from the cumbersome subplot of Lasix usage and drilled down to the more specific issue of whether Congress needs to step in and impose independent oversight based on the fact that the sport Ahmed Zayat with 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify crosses state lines during the course of everyday wagering, Sarah K Andrew breeding, sales and racing commerce. Cont. p4 (Click here) A new chapter in the career of American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile) will begin July 10 in Lexington, Kentucky when his first IN TDN EUROPE TODAY crop of yearlings sells at the Fasig-Tipton July Sale. This is not CENTAURI RISES FOR HARRINGTON just another first-crop sire, but a sire who became the first Triple The Niarchos Family’s Alpha Centauri provides trainer Jessica Crown winner in 37 years and took owner Ahmed Zayat and his Harrington with a landmark first Royal Ascot win in the family on the ride of their lives. G1 Coronation S. Click or tap here to go straight to TDN Europe. Zayat was a recent guest on the TDN’s podcast, presented by Taylor Made. Excerpts from the podcast appear below. TDN: You are obviously not objective, but we have to ask you anyway, who’s the better horse, American Pharoah or Justify (Scat Daddy)? AZ: Everyone thinks their kids are the best. I think they are very different horses. American Pharoah, arguably, had the most incredible, super, dynamic mechanics. He had size, sheer power and an ability to move and float. Eighty or 90% of his race he actually spent in the air. He also had a demeanor that people will be talking about for years. He was so kind. He was pet-like. That distinguished him from a lot of regular horses, let alone Triple Crown horses. Add to that he was incredibly fast and he was dominant in his wins, winning by five, six lengths. He defined what a special, great horse is. Where does he fit among the 13 Triple Crown winners? Who cares? Is he better than Justify or is Justify better than him? I can’t answer that. They’re both special. I’m happy for Justify. I’m happy for any horse that wins the Triple Crown. Cont. p3 PUBLISHER & CEO Sue Morris Finley @suefinley [email protected] V.P., INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS Gary King @garykingTDN [email protected] EDITORIAL [email protected] Editor-in-Chief Jessica Martini @JessMartiniTDN Managing Editor Alan Carasso @EquinealTDN Saturday, June 23, 2018 Senior Editor Steve Sherack @SteveSherackTDN Racing Editor Brian DiDonato @BDiDonatoTDN News and Features Editor Ben Massam @BMassamTDN Associate Editors Christie DeBernardis @CDeBernardisTDN Joe Bianca @JBiancaTDN ADVERTISING [email protected] Director of Advertising Alycia Borer Advertising Manager Lia Best Advertising Designer Amanda Crelin Advertising Assistants Alexa Reisfield Rachel McCaffrey Amie Morosco Photo Editor/Dir. of Distribution Sarah K. Andrew @SarahKAndrew [email protected] Social Media Strategist Justina Severni The dogs are up. Trainer John Kimmel and his canine companion Peanut celebrate Director of Customer Service National Take Your Dog to Work Day at Belmont Park on Friday morning. | Susie Raisher Vicki Forbes [email protected] JUSTIFY CHASERS HEADLINE OHIO DERBY Marketing Manager 6 Alayna Cullen @AlaynaCullen None of them were able to make a dent while trying their luck at undefeated Triple Crown winner Justify, but a quartet of this spring's Director of Information Technology Classic also-rans will look to start fresh while kicking off their second-half Ray Villa [email protected] campaigns in the GIII Ohio Derby Saturday at Thistledown. Bookkeeper Terry May TODAY’S GRADED STAKES [email protected] EST Race Click for TV 1:58a Tattersalls Tiara-G1, DOO -------------- ----- WORLDWIDE INFORMATION International Editor 10:05a Hardwicke S.-G2, ASC -------------- TVG/NBC Kelsey Riley @kelseynrileyTDN 11:20a Diamond Jubilee S.-G1, ASC -------------- TVG/NBC [email protected] 4:57p Singspiel S.-GIII, WO TJCIS PPs TVG European Editor 5:10p Ohio Derby-GIII, TDN TJCIS PPs TVG Emma Berry [email protected] 6:11p Chicago H.-GIII, AP TJCIS PPs TVG Associate International Editor 8:28p San Carlos S.-GII, SA TJCIS PPs TVG Heather Anderson @HLAndersonTDN Newmarket Bureau, Cafe Racing Sean Cronin & Tom Frary [email protected] 60 Broad Street, Suite 100 Red Bank, NJ 07701 732-747-8060 | 732-747-8955 (fax) www.TheTDN.com TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 3 OF 10 • THETDN.COM SATURDAY • JUNE 23, 2018 Zayat Q&A cont. from p1 Zayat and American Pharoah | Coglianese Photo TDN: Three years after Justify, we had another Triple Crown winner and both were trained by Bob Baffert. That can’t be a coincidence. How is Baffert able to get so much out of these horses and, frankly, accomplish things with them that even the greatest trainers in the sport can’t? AZ: Bob literally speaks to his horses. I watch Bob every morning at Del Mar when he works his horses and I see him calling audibles. He is so in tune with every little thing about the horse, their demeanor, their weight, how they are moving. He has such focus that he knows exactly what to do with the horse, exactly how they should be trained. What do I need to do today? What can I get out of them? He has it down to an art. I think Pharoah helped him with Justify as he had a dry run. He followed exactly exact the same script. When I went to visit him the day after Justify won the Triple Crown and I asked him, ‘Is it the horse or is it the trainer?’ He looked at me and just smiled and I said, ‘Bob, I think you just gave me your answer.’ He said, ‘No, no, no, it’s the horse.’ You really have to have the right trainer to get the most out of special, talented horses. TDN: As yearling sale season approaches, what are you hearing about American Pharoah’s babies? AZ: I believe that American Pharoah has all the qualities to make it as stallion. If he doesn’t, I don’t know who does. Intellectually, only 11% of all stallions become real successful stallions, meaning their progeny are runners and can produce a Grade I win. You look at the weanlings and the yearlings and you look at what American Pharoah has been throwing and they are all athletic, they have the same demeanor like the father, they are beautiful looking. Cont. p4 TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 4 OF 10 • THETDN.COM SATURDAY • JUNE 23, 2018 Zayat Q&A cont. The sign of a good stallion to me is his ability to move up their mares and that was the biggest thing I saw in Pioneerof the Nile. He wasn’t bred at first to the best broodmares and all the babies looked and acted the part and were fast. American Pharoah babies look unreal, they look athletic, they look correct. I myself have 12 of them and they all look the part. He was bred to as good a book of mares as you can imagine. Coolmore bred 40 mares of their own. All signs point to him being a very good stallion. TDN: So what can we expect at the yearling sales? The weanlings sold phenomenally well. Are we going to see plenty of American Pharoahs sell for seven figures? AZ: Oftentimes, price has nothing to do with getting a good or bad horse. Price is based on two bidders who both badly want a horse and bid against one another. I have bought horses for $80,000 who became Grade I winners and I have bought horses for $1 million who end up being $5,000 claimers. You hope you know what you are doing, you hope you are paying up for what everybody sees. But it is a guessing game when they are yearlings. You are looking at conformation, you are looking at pedigree, but it doesn’t mean that when you put the saddle on them and break them that they will be runners. But everybody tries to develop their own system to be able to maximize the probability of having a runner. When you look at the probabilities, and consider all the factors that made Pharoah so special, the chance that he throws runners is very high and we Congressional Hearing cont. from p1 are certainly hoping that will be the case. Testifying in support of HR 2651 were Stuart Janney III (chairman of The Jockey Club), Craig Fravel (chief executive of the Breeders’ Cup), and Kitty Block (acting president and chief executive of The Humane Society of the United States). That trio was opposed by Alan Foreman (chairman and chief executive of the Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, Inc.), Eric Hamelback (chief executive of the National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association), and Ed Martin (president, Association of Racing Commissioners International). The issue of Lasix usage percolated to the top of the discussion very soon after the start of the hearing, with supporters of the bill expressing a common desire to end the race-day medicating of Thoroughbreds, while those against it explaining the therapeutic benefits of the anti-bleeding drug.