Breeders’ Cup Limited 2010634 Call Breeders' Cup Report th October 28 , 2020 CNDAL_Breeders’ Cup Limited 2010634 – Breeders' Cup Teleconference, October 28th 2020 CORPORATE P A R T I C I P A N T S Jim Gluckson Aidan O’Brien Josh Gosden Ken McPeek Brad Cox Bob Baffert Jack Knowlton Tom Robbins C O N F E R E N C E C A L L P A R T I C I P A N T S Frank Angst, Blood Horse Beth Harris, The Associated Press Kelly Riley, Brisnet.com David Grening, Daily Racing Form Bill Finley, Thoroughbred Daily News Marcus Hersh, Daily Racing Form Jonathan Stettin, Past the Wire Ron Flatter, VSIN Tim Logan, Albany Times Union Byron King, Blood Horse Jay Privman, Daily Racing Form 1 CNDAL_Breeders’ Cup Limited 2010634 – Breeders' Cup Teleconference, October 28th 2020 P R E S E N T A T I O N Operator: Good day, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Breeders’ Cup World Championship Pre-Entry teleconference. At this time, all participants are in listen only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a Question and answer session. At that time, participants are asked to press star one to register for a Question. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Mr. Jim Gluckson. Please go ahead, sir. Jim Gluckson: Thank you, OliVia and good day, eVeryone. And welcome to the 2020 Breeders Cup World Championships Pre-Entry media teleconference. Thank you for joining us today. We haVe a number of guests lined up on the call. Aiden O'Brien, Josh Gosden, Ken McPeek, Brad Cox, Bob Baffert and owner Jack Knowlton. Tom Robbins from the Breeders’ Cup Racing Director’s Secretary's panel is also on the line and he'll be available to answer any of your Questions about field selection of following the Question and answer session with our guests. This marks the 37th Breeders’ Cup World Championships, Friday NoVember 6 and Saturday, NoVember 7th at Keeneland. Of course, it’s our second one at Keeneland. We were there in 2015, highlighted by the great run by American Pharaoh to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic. This year’s Breeders' Cup will again be televised liVe on NBC and NBCSN. A couple of more particulars. There are 201 indiVidual horses pre-entered for this year's world championships. 39 of these horses are internationally campaigned, 48 horses have earned automatic starting positions into the Breeders’ Cup through the Breeders' Cup challenge series. A transcript of this press conference will be aVailable in for 24 hours. As far as our format again, I will bring in each and ask a couple of questions of the guests and then we'll pause for a second and open it up to questions from for the media on the line. So at this point, let's start with our first guests now and bring in Aiden O'Brien. Aiden, good evening. How are you tonight? Aiden O’Brien: Very good thanks. Very well, how are you? Jim Gluckson: Good. Jim Gluckson here in New York. Good to hear from you, Aiden. Thank you. We thank you Very much. And thank you for your participation in this year and this year's Breeders’ Cup in a difficult year. We appreciate the fine international participation this year and for all our owners and trainers and connections. You pre-entered 10 horses, including group one winners, Magical, Circus Maximus and Mogul. Magical has had a remarkable career highlighted by her 7 Grade 1 wins and she's taken three group ones wins this year. Comment on her progress this year and how she's come out from since finishing third in the most recent start in the Champions? Aidan O’Brien: You know, we we'Ve been delighted with her, obViously this year, Jim. She ran Very well the last day and ground was very heavy in Ascot and she seems to have come out of the race Very well. Jim Gluckson: 2 CNDAL_Breeders’ Cup Limited 2010634 – Breeders' Cup Teleconference, October 28th 2020 Okay. And how – you’ve seen her development. When coming back at age fiVe. Did she surprise you at all? Aidan O’Brien: I suppose she's done Very well oVer the winter from four to fiVe physically, and we were looking forward to a senior race this year and when she started racing, it kind of [inaudible]. It was obVious that she had improVed again. So she was fine [inaudible], I suppose. She's been racing at the top leVel at two, three, four, and I suppose. I know we were delighted and obViously we were hoping that the improVement would be there. Jim Gluckson: All right. Just want to mention about Mogul, was Very impressiVe in winning the Grand Prix de Paris in September. Talk about his deVelopment coming up to the race. Aidan O’Brien: No, he's in good form as well. ObViously, he's had a busy year. But I suppose his last one was probably his most impressiVe and he won at the Grand Prix de Paris, like you said. He loves to haVe a nice ground. He traVels very well and quickens well. And we we're very happy with the way he's come out of the race. Jim Gluckson: Very good. Well, I think now it's time to open up the Questions from the media who are on the line. So let's prepare for this segment, please. Operator: Thank you. If you would like to ask a Question, please signal by pressing star one on your telephone keypad. If you're using a speaker phone, please make sure your mute function is turned off to allow your signal to reach our eQuipment. Again, press star one to ask a question. We will pause for just a moment to allow everyone an opportunity to signal. Our first question comes from Frank Angst with Blood Horse. Please go ahead. Frank Angst: Hi, Aiden. I was just curious, how much more difficult has international travel been this year and why was it important to continue to support Breeders’ Cup as you have for so many years? Aidan O’Brien: Hello, Frank. You know, obViously it has been difficult. In some jurisdictions, the lads had to go a couple of weeks before the horses and all that kind of stuff. And I suppose we weren't able to traVel ourselVes that much because of restrictions here. The policy here is when you come back to [inaudible], you have to go into two weeks Quarantine, so obViously it stopped us from going racing a lot. Obviously, we just [inaudible] that championship races of the whole season worldwide, I think. And the[?] perfect races usually on Very fair tracks. And I suppose it's something that everybody look forward to our new year and we think it's Very important for the whole, entire industry and all the different racing jurisdictions that eVerybody can compare their horses and racing for all over the world really. It's – we feel it's an unbelieVable initiative and we’re was looking forward and hoping that we will haVe horses good enough to compete, really. Frank Angst: 3 CNDAL_Breeders’ Cup Limited 2010634 – Breeders' Cup Teleconference, October 28th 2020 Thanks so much. Aidan O’Brien: Thanks. A pleasure, Frank. Operator: The next Question, it comes from Beth Harris with The Associated Press. Please go ahead. Beth Harris: Hi, Aiden. I just wanted to follow up slightly on Frank's Question. Did you haVe any pause at all, or any concern in in traveling for the Breeders’ Cup? As you may have heard, you know, the coronavirus is surging in seVeral areas of the US right now. Aidan O’Brien: Yeah, you bet. So I suppose we, we did everywhere we haVe been and all over the world, and I think we're the same here in Ireland as well, in most countries in England, France and Europe, it's the same. Obviously we're delayed . So that the Breeders’ Cup in America allowed it to happen and made it possible to happen, but obviously everybody has to be careful and Very respectful of each other's space and have their own space. And there's the most important thing that everybody stays healthy. And we just felt it's important for the industry and racing and everybody in the business to buy and sell and breed and train, and doing everything just … it is the standard of the Breeders’ Cup is [inaudible] and, and we all compete which is very important for everyone to keep making [inaudible] do their best. Operator: Thank you. We will moVe to our next Question coming from Kelly Riley with Brisnet.com. Please go ahead. Kelly Riley: Hi. I was really curious about Battleground since after he had missed the Vincent O'Brien National; the fact that he's coming here now off a longer break than would be typical for your two-year-olds coming since he was last seen in the Vintage [June 28 at Goodwood]. So I was just curious about what is he like as an individual, or what is he showing you to giVe you the confidence to bring him here off that kind of break? Aidan O’Brien: Yeah, he’s a fine, big powerful horse. He's usually a good traVeler. He likes a nice ground, and I suppose he started early in the year. He won at Ascot and then he went and won in Goodwood after that.