Behind The Gate (2013) | Full Movie | Joe Pesci | Horse Racing | Documentary

[Music] yeah you know about the sport of kings you know about the tracks the jockeys the horses and even some of the people but what you don't know about is what goes on behind the [Music] gate it's as much a religion as it is a sport [Music] [Music] they're everything to me and they've so much heart they give you so much and they ask so little in return [Music] there's just so much power and athleticism to the horse and you can just put a little piece of string around its neck and then you you have control of all that power i actually named a horse spectacular sight because i couldn't believe how beautiful she was and i just find it to be incredible incredible creatures that are both calm and powerful all at the same time when you see these racehorses they're built different they're built to run and they're beautiful and to see them walk you know getting ready to go you know around the track to the gate it's pretty amazing it reminds me of getting ready to to go out and play and they have a i believe they do have a sense of yeah today is the day if men could live with the grace with which a horse runs we'd all be kings unfortunately every man is not a king and no man can ever hope to live for just an hour with the passion power and heart of even the horse in last place running his heart out in any number of races that take place around the globe her mother was good to be home when her dad is good journey and we raised her and we still have her mother and we have a full sister to her also she's a very competitive philly that shows uh we hope a great degree of talent we know she's got talent how much she has you know time will will will let us know mark gerardino racehorse owner lover of the sport and executive producer of behind the gate yeah we've read her on this farm on this farm she's been we have her mom born and raised here she's been here for two years over a little over two years and she's in her last process of getting ready to leave her first and only home to this point to go down to the racetrack she's been broken they do that in a round pen get them used to having a saddle on them and tacking them up getting used to being handled getting used to be handled and then they start to get on them once they get through that process they bring them out here to the track first at the track they get kind of a little new to all the surroundings and they look around and don't really gallop straight and they'll get into it and then they start turning into screws a little bit to them and start to get a little bit more focused if she galloped with other horses she wouldn't want to let them in front of her if she jogged with other horses she didn't want him to do something that looked like she could do it better she gave us the impression that she was going to be athletic and very competitive that's that's the thing you never know i mean a horse is going to have it and she showed it very early that she was going to try hard you're on your way to kentucky how does that happen it's uh well you know it's it's proof that it can happen to anybody and that's a great thing about this game we always talk about you're only one horse away from getting back onto the big stage how'd this one work out for you what's what's the history of this one this one was bought by paul redham and my brother dennis uh was an advisor to paul last year in florida at the obs sale paid 35 000 for them which is relatively inexpensive when did you know you had a runner you know we always train good but you never know till you run them because so many of them will handle the morning's good but once you have the paddock and the post parade and the gate they come on blue a lot of horses don't handle that stage and uh so when we won first time out the way he handled himself we knew right away he was special there they go the history of the horse and man are the same they've never been apart horse racing has existed since the domestication of the horse in the mid 5th century in central asia thoroughbred horse racing became recognized as a professional sport in great britain in the early 18th century in 1750 top breeders owners and supporters met and formed the jockey club [Music] you know you can go back in history without the horse we wouldn't be anywhere you know the horses from the comanches to the comancheros whatever the horse was the keith element you needed that horse to win the battle the whole thing started 250 years ago with three stallions the darley the turk and the godolphin and those three stallions were sent to the queen of england as a gift and those three stallions brought her coach horses and every thoroughbred alive today goes back to one of those three stallions in america thoroughbred racing grew out of interest in patronage of british settlers the first american race track was built in long island in 1665 within 30 years there were over 300 tracks in operation throughout the states horse racing flourished and expanded until the 1900s prohibition and anti-gambling initiatives were seen as solutions to many social issues as a result horse racing suffered horse racing has seen glorious highs and incredible lows horses of great reputation and athletic ability have led to some of the most exciting sporting events in our history joe hernandez called the 1937 running along came the horse who put the stamp of approval on this race for all time sea biscuits on the inside when that horse turns for home and it's your horse and he's right there and you think he's going to win [Music] the rush that comes over you is so huge in the beginning i used to really when pesci ran i mean you too i mean our hearts started pounding i can only imagine what it would be like to have a horse running in the kentucky derby god you'd have to take a valium or something if most of us saw ourselves while that was happening they couldn't believe how childlike and how idiotic we might act during that moment it's the fulfillment of much effort by everybody in life everybody in the barn the trainer is successful to know that you've succeeded i remember my father taking us to santa anita every single weekend to watch the horses i remember just wanting to live that experience with my father because his passion is horse racing and i just wanted to be there with him and live that experience with him number four funny every year it seems like the horse that come from california do very well uh as a as a head east and uh bodie meister is no different secret circle ran a huge second as well so those are two strong horses and uh but you gotta struggle but we gotta all have another he's super strong i agree with you but it's thank you carrie said it out loud it's not really that's our big day in racing though of course that wins the san anita derby will be one of the probably favorites for the kentucky derby yeah this is our big stepping stone in santa anita [Applause] right now i'm setting up the saddle for each race that i could set up and uh so that way i won't get back up on later on in the day and i got get ready for the saturnina derby this is the saddle for the saturn in the derby i got it ready then uh he stretched out of the seven it would have been the same saddle yeah because it comes back with the same weight yeah now this is for the eighth phrase for alex bisono and gomez and then there's this one for uh for gomez and flores for the temperature so i got all my saddles ready almost the riders get ready for each race in the jockeys room where they change to the appropriate silks and make sure their weight plus equipment coincides with what their horses have been assigned i took off four pounds that morning and i guess i took off a little too much although it paid off sure did i love riding horses but it was difficult because of my weight i had a lot of problems keeping my weight down and there is a lot of pressure to in shape all the time and and the pressure of winning and losing when things are not going well for you it's tough if you win things are a lot better believe me second only to the shoe is lafitte ping kai jr in 1970 finkai received the coveted george wolf memorial jockey award given annually at santa anita in talking about jockeys the man among men at santa anita has been william lee's shoemaker how's your horse how are you well i'm fine man the horse has been training really well he's coming to the race as good as he could ever be in my opinion but gary stevens and bill schumacher tonight going after it from us ferdinand caught four wide but those four pastors we pray for the safety of the writers every day you read something for the bible and then the preacher is going to say it in spanish writing saddling or doing any activity that we're doing here today i say i need a racetrack so let's pray and ask god to bless us to keep the animals safe and to keep the horses safe and i push that horse out of the way quickly i push everybody out and i'm gonna get clear because then i shouldn't win last time ever i ride a bunch today yeah i know no i just have to get him to ride my horses it's not easy well he's getting he's getting ready to ride in the big chav one right now man you know yeah who's the trainer oh bob baffert oh grappler source my bathroom is he gonna be here today or is he uh still staying no he'll be here yeah okay so this is your chance to go to kentucky today this is it it's a long shopper i'm optimistic hall of fame trainer bob baffert also has a horse in the santa anita derby a race he has previously won a lot has happened in 12 days what's this roller coaster been like well i'm just glad to be here i'm very fortunate to be here so uh i just hope my horses run well now but i feel much better although he has yet to win the triple crown he has won all of the individual triple crown races during his career yeah if i would have stayed with border wars i probably wouldn't have had a heart attack hey no stress started getting nervous when they're only going 400 yards hopefully he's not overthinking it like uh [Applause] i'll have another sanity to derby i mean dream about that happening if you own fiona horse it puts you on a path to go to the triple crown races if you have a horse that does that and certainly a lofty goal to have [Music] [Applause] when you see your horse run and when it's like your son hitting a home run you know it's just you can't explain the excitement you get out of that it's proven to be a goal that was very attainable for all have another who not only was impressive in the lewis he did the same thing in the san anita derby now and so it's off to kentucky and the excitement of having maybe that one special horse that everybody who's in the business yearns for and dreams about and sometimes a few of them become a reality how's our horse doing you're doing great you're doing great she's coming right along and we're going for the 13th of october on cow cup day i've been wanting to give mike a horse for a while and this in my mind just felt the appropriate time to do it yeah yeah i'm hoping for good things i know you've you've been uh pretty proud of the way she's been what she's been showing has been pretty pretty nice yeah every work's been good and each one better in the next and she's looked good and it's been hard to look good over this track because the track's been so heavy and deep and she seemed to get over it pretty good the other day so she's um small but she'll continue to grow until she's probably she's five years old and you know it's all new to her i do not like to race two-year-olds at the beginning of their two-year-old season because i think it's too hard on them i think their legs need to develop a little better and i think they need more time i actually would prefer to wait till they're three to run and so by the time she's ready to run she will almost be in her three-year-old year she's a cow bread which means she was bred in california so a cow bread horse has kind of some financial advantages if you run them on uh in cowboy races and you work her in company usually right yes and how is she does she show a competitiveness oh yeah absolutely she's been the aggressive one of every work every time we've worked here she seems to to want to get it done and can hold her own with everything we put her up against see if we can win a couple races today here's hoping yeah [Music] santa anita is the oldest race track in southern california and was opened on christmas day 1934. within a year of the state legalizing power mutual wagering several groups formed to open the track santa anita with its lovely paddock gardens is indeed a park and the infield a splash of color against a dazzling mountain backdrop is a great attraction for the casual race goer welcome to santa anita have a great day and good luck and i'm looking forward to seeing you in the winter thanks there are a number of people who work behind the scenes prepping every aspect of every race you'll never meet them you'll never see them but without them there would be no race on race day the runners are walked from the stable area to the receiving barn where they are checked by a veterinarian and horse identifier horse identifier we look at the horses one time before they ever run or the first time they're entered and then we'll inspect them every day before they race young horses first time that they run at the track before they can run have to be tattooed and it's it's right the tattoo when a horse is right under here that identifies the horse forever i'm sorry i'm so sorry i'm one of the clockers and when the horses are going to work the trainers come here and report the horse's name in the distance to me and then they come back and ask for time and sees gets 101 and 2. 101 and 2. thanks thank you all right and debbie is in charge of the turf club she makes all the reservations when you call in to get a table you're talking to debbie right here and she's been doing this for how long did he um i've been here 17 years but i've been in this job for about six years fantastic wow what is the front runner it's one of the restaurants up at uh clubhouse yeah on the fifth floor what's your official title again amy racine office manager and first church ladies and what does that entail all day all day make sure everyone here is happy yeah everyone daryl ann lindley giardino is as close to horse racing royalty as you can get writing since she was a child she also holds the pedigree of being the daughter of the great actor cowboy artist and advocate of the sport slim pickens i broke my first collar bone got bucked off a horse at three so my whole life has been with these animals it doesn't take a wager or a racetrack to prove this point you can just take a child to see a pony for the first time lift the little boy or girl and place them on the saddle and watch them walk together both a little closer to heaven than they've ever been before i used to train ponies i actually broke the ponies you know uh they used to use sandbags on some of them you know just put sandbags on the ponies running around but then when they had crazy ponies uh some shetlands and a couple of stallions uh they needed little little kids to get on them well it's like i tell the jocks you know before a race i usually tell them i'm riding every every step with you it's like i'm on that horse with them the relationship that the jockey has with the horse there's a communication there we might speak different language languages but there's no doubt that there's some bond that exists between uh a jockey and a horse a trainer and a horse an owner and a horse i think that team is very important to the success of uh the horse as well i i i mean it's they're a team it they're they're one they should be one so what happens don't you think i do i would say probably forty percent of the hearts that i race i've never sat on um see and that amazes me you guys can do that some horses were just easier to adapt to than others with home journey i'm glad i got to know her she's you know she wants to be aggressive and you know you know that that's just it's good energy it's not anything that's being overly aggressive so i'm glad that i know her and know know what's underneath me because she's a very talented philly that i think as a team she can move forward daryl anne has always been involved in the care breeding racing and advocacy of horses for nearly a half century racehorses don't really handle like a lot of you know like horses handle i mean you know they don't really know how to side pass back up you know they don't do a lot they just kind of run and so um you know there's not a lot of steering mechanisms on on a lot of the racehorses and and that's why like when i took my horses from the track i gave them time off and then i reprogrammed their brains and um you know i can open gates i can do this i can do that on them and you also have to remember too the jockey's legs are up so high and when i'm like on my horses my legs are down lower so that means i'm better able to control them and move them around with my legs and legs are real important when you ride but the jockeys legs are up so high they don't have that ability i mean you never see a jockey with spurs come on what good would it do up there horses must be trained to use the starting gate and this is just part of the routine that takes place daily in the quiet hours starting at daybreak at every tract trainers draw on learning experience and often a special intuitive sense to map out the conditioning of each individual at some point every horse is schooled at the starting gate during training and approved by the officials prior to racing caroline i've been starting uh 29 years i've been working on the gate 38 years wow i started here in 1971 for mrs marge ever she hired me we're really busy in the morning uh we have anywhere from probably 75 to 100 head of horses up to the starting gate and what what they do in the morning there there's uh we grade horses from uh uh okay to a fair plus to a fair to a slow a horse has to be okay to run otherwise they cannot enter in the race but how about my little philly home journey yeah yeah she's nice and gate uh she run the other day and she never made a move perfect in the gate that's those horses they're ready to rock like i've seen it where horses are all nervous and something will happen we'll have to back one out and all of a sudden everybody relaxes and all those horses relax when they're relaxed they're gonna run better when do you make a call to reload if one acts up in the veterinarian he might want to take a look at and make sure he's not scraped up i noticed that my horse was getting ready to you know act up a little bit so to get the break i went ahead and reached up to go ahead and pin him down it was just a little bit too much for my horse to handle so he just kind of reared up just i just lost my balance on my back i went you have to be just right your nerves gotta be just right you have to be calm and an alert and you have to be in a in a position where you want to make a decision you got to be quick you know and and when you're in shape you can do the right decision most of the time it's approximately an hour before the race they give them a 20-minute call within 20 minutes all the horses are required to come in here to the receiving barn and they get inspected by the horseshoe inspector he checks the shoes and makes sure if it's a turf race they're not running with toe grabs then i'll id them and make sure it's the proper horse being presented to run and then they'll take a vet tech or a veterinarian will take blood for the tco2 testing to make sure there's no milk shaking or anything like that going on illegal substances so milk shaking is drugging milk shaking is more like kind of like um blood doping where they're just boosting the oxygen levels in the blood right before the race and that's illegal and it's baking soda yeah a lot of times they use uh yeah baking soda or sodium bicarbonate once um all that's done they we put a head there's a head numbers guy he puts the head number on him and gives the groom the vest showing the correct number and then we send them to the pack the maiden race you're running against other horses they haven't won yet and so if you don't win your maiden race you usually don't win any other races oh really well because if you can't beat maidens horses that have never won your likelihood of beating horses who have one it gets tougher the thing you understand about racing is the deeper you go into racing the tougher it gets and if you can't compete then you have to decrease and level so when you have a good horse you think you have a real good horse and i always say the better your horse is the deeper the water gets you run against other very good horses so that seems like a big challenge when you take on breeding and it seems like it's very expensive we had two phillies that both were very good racehorses that careers were cut short by injury and we we wanted to try to pass on their bloodline and develop some offspring that maybe could be as good as their mothers and be better what are the odds of getting getting a i'll have another story going you know they can be very long and they could be very short you know if you find the right horse it doesn't look like did you ever have that right horse in your opinion uh i've had a couple that were showed that they might be those horses it's a business there's no question i mean it's expensive to own a horse and you know but as i said before the excitement you get from owning that horse you can't explain it and you can't pay for that you cannot pay for the excitement you get when you see your horse walk out on the track in your colors here all the silk there's like 8 000 in here well when we leave to go to hollywood park i got a hand pick just through memory what's running the last year and i leave probably about four or five thousand here take about three thousand well there's your colors that's your you know it's your piece of uh that horse and uh it's showing the whole world that you own this horse it was an unbelievable feeling it was nine other buddies we put 10 guys together to own a horse and we're probably 20 years old and we got nosed out by o.j simpson's horse my first horse i think was maybe 1990 and again it was kind of through family a gentleman named jude feld who was an in-law who was a trainer here and got me involved in my first horse um i think maybe my third or fourth horse i bought with kevin costner i remember that it was funny it was a horse named proud to be together and i was with whitney houston on the set of the bodyguard and we're in a trailer we're on a phone and we're making an auction call so when i was going into the paddock as an owner that was the most exciting ever i went to del mar it was the first race i had a horse named lady kell and i own part of this horse what normally would be an uneventful race was made all the more exciting when a fan in the paddock spooked home journey and the horse reacted wildly knocking a couple of women to the ground in the process the expertise and calm of veteran jockey aaron grider brought home journey back under control usually a horse burning this kind of energy before a race is an indication that the horse will have nothing left for the competition ahead when you were on that racetrack it's deadly serious business out there and i there's million dollar horses out there and you better not you better know what you're doing or or you're in trouble i thought oh no you know she's used all her energy up it's not good she's she's not going to be able to do well in this race and i think mark kind of thought the same thing all of a sudden she started to rear and buck a little just to play a little but she started to come towards me i don't know if it was the color of my dress a little frisky and she showed me that she might hop a little bit but when i was getting up on her and i'm halfway there she started to lunge and at that point you can either bail or you can try and hang with them and you know there's uh i don't know if i'm such a good cowboy but i sure don't like falling so i hung him well i'm with her yeah she was good and you know she bucked a few times but once she did she settled down and just said okay what am i supposed to do and let's get out of here and be professional the horse one of the most magnificent animals that god ever created if you doubt it go down to your nearest track and put ten dollars down on any horse then listen for the beat of your own heart as it matches the thunder brought down to the earth as their hooves find the ground you'll feel the shortness of breath as the race begins and if that race is close and you have a chance at turning your ten dollar bill into a 20 trust me you'll pray you'll scream you'll cheer and most of all you'll want to see your horse your new best friend cross that finish line first and uh [Music] oh my god and so it's home journey and sophie's secret come into the quarterback together on the inside heart and pleasing taking third global warming ron obama's on the extreme outside jose kiss nearly never got involved today they come to the top of the ladder [Music] you won't care if it's by a nose and head or ten lengths you're going to want to be right and see your choice standing dead center in that winter circle proud happy and triumphant and you're going to want to win quite a bit of money was made on home journey that day at odds of over 25 to 1. the horse had become a magician and turned 2 bets into nearly 60 dollars long-term owners are guys who are just tough because if you're an owner and you're a good owner you don't arm chair quarterback after the race you just take your punches and you keep going you just got to have that staying power good owners like you know not the guys who come in for six months buy a horse lose they're out or the guy who buys a horse wins and the next horse loses he's out it's the guys who have the stain power you gotta have stain power actress greer garson fogelson and her husband buddy were chosen racing's outstanding owners of 1971 the first year of the sports eclipse awards for their campaign of the horse of the year ack act oh my god what happened well i'm still recovering um our philly one first time starter i've never had a first-time starter win ever as long as i've been in the horse business racing i i have to tell you it's the highest high you could ever be on in your whole life after she used so much energy i thought i thought well she can't win this race and then when i saw her and it's like holy cow she's got so much speed the one thing you can't buy at a sale or by looks is what somebody has in their chest she's a race horse she acted like a racehorse she performed like a racehorse there may be horses bigger and maybe appear to be stronger but there's not a lot of horses that have a bigger heart and i'll take heart over size any day of the week everybody has told us that this philly has done everything right but you know sometimes it's kind of hard to believe because you don't see her do everything right but i guess they were right she does do everything right while home journey was busy making believers out of skeptics i'll have another was busy winning the kentucky derby the first leg in the possible capture of the elusive triple crown a feat no horse has been able to accomplish since the great affirmed in 1978. many have come close but very few have ever realized the dream you know the derby the lead up to the kentucky derby i've never been part of that kind of energy we had two run in 2007 but they were real outsiders and this year bringing the san diego derby horse in there you know we had some attention on us leading up to the race and just the energy and the excitement going into the race was just second and i've never experiencing like that horses are athletes yeah they have to be in good shape to win if you train hard if you train properly if if if you're winning your fights and and you're confident uh yeah that's that's one thing but if you have that it factor that one little thing that only a few can have then you're gonna be great world champions are a breed apart oscar de la hoya has defeated a record 17 world champions won 10 different world titles in six different weight classes and has generated more pay-per-view revenue than any other boxer in history de la hoya knows a thing or two about winning you look at the horse in the eye and there's something you feel there's that instinct that that you cannot train for you cannot buy you cannot make up it's just there it's a feeling that that that you get and only from a special horse only from a special horse a nationwide panel of turf experts voted this list of the top thoroughbred stakes winners during the quarter century of racing at santa anita seabiscuit who climaxed his famous comeback by winning the 1940 big cap i keep harping back to secretariat and horses at like zenyatta i mean they're so special you know it's like a gretzky or lemieux and hockey what's secretariat it's one of the top 50 athletes yeah of all time so to me they are unbelievable athletes they jog every day i've been on them before and the power the explosiveness is amazing it truly is paul laduka is a former major league all-star baseball player he has owned thoroughbred racehorses and is currently a tvg racing analyst they love to do what they're doing and you can see your horse's demeanor change soon as you put the bridle on it would be like me putting on my cleats their game face does go on and it's pretty amazing to watch they're just phenomenal athletes and i mean to go through the stress and strain of training that they do and to be able to run a mile and a quarter mile and a half whatever it's it takes a special animal four-time pro bowl selection and two-time super bowl champion dwight hicks talks about what it takes to be a winning athlete and how he sees the jockey and horse relationship it basically comes down the will to compete and with the better athletes that go above and beyond number one you have to be blessed with great talent then you have the discipline to train and with the training and the discipline and all that i think it takes all of that to have a champion but then the stars have to fall in the right place too because there's other guys you know trying to compete and you know want to beat you just as bad as you want to read them i was an exercise physiologist i trained a number of world-class athletes in different sports and they said if you can make us run faster why don't we get a horse see what you can do with a horse you can train human athletes a lot harder than you can a horse of course you pretty much have to baby you have to be gentle and get the most out of them by being kind to them human athletes you can just drill it to death and they'll give you their best they're they're high high potent animals that have a lot of energy they have fragile you know bodies that you have to take care of and they're taken care of like every other athlete there is racehorses rank up there with the greatest athletes on the planet just like michael jordan joe namath or muhammad ali these animals are trained cared for and given every opportunity for success human being can go to so many other ways to develop his body horses have to do it with their legs everything is about their legs and if you were to design a horse in a think tank you probably wouldn't design them the way they're built you got 11 to 1200 pound animal who's on four legs that are smaller than ours with very little muscle them mostly tendons ligaments and bone with feet that are not directly below their legs that have to take a lot of shock in pounding when they're running and they can run at 40 to 45 miles per hour so it takes a lot of effort to get them into the physical position for them to be competitive against their peers at a high level these are athletes and they are taking care of it like they are they get their legs rubbed down whether it's with ointments with with mud wraps or whatever it might be they get their ankles wrapped and just for support like michael jordan always did when he was playing basketball our stars get treatment they cannot believe i mean the treatment these horses get and i think they think like these trainers send them out they're tough on them i mean these trainers are the biggest animal loving freaks that i've ever met in the economy we live in now i think a lot of people don't realize that some of these horses live better than probably 30 to 40 percent of america and that's a harsh truth but if you went to some of the farms in kentucky and some of the farms released horses that you could eat off the floors anybody that's that's a high society might call them and they've got good horse they pay big money for the horses and so you have to be careful and not just for that but [Music] just being a horseman you take precautionary methods you know to make horses last in 1982 john henry at age seven would try that route assigned 130 pounds the most weight ever carried to victory in a big cap john henry was readied by trainer macanally for his attempt to become the first horse in history to win the handicap twice ron macanally is one of the greatest and most respected trainers in the history of the sport known best as the trainer of the great john henry mcinally has over 2500 wins as a trainer and shows no signs of stopping now well of course john henry was a horse that i trained he was one of you know my favorite horse three of them across the track with three-eighths of a mile to go it's the one on the outside high council at the rails no matter what their point of view experts spectators trainers and owners all agree on one thing the racehorse is perhaps the greatest natural-born athlete on the planet gaining ground they turn for home on the outside here comes john henry john henry on the outside between horses perro it's the one third at the rail and down the stretch they come on the road john henry on the outside those two are going to battle the wire john henry on the outside [Music] i just love the competition and that it's an event and watch these beautiful powerful animals compete if you compare the records of some of the most successful horses in history to the greatest athletes in any sport the horses usually come out on top in order for any modern day athlete to match these records you would have to look to boxing mixed martial arts or tennis to find athletes who get close to success in their fields to equal that of the best horses what's the most exciting part for you winning the horses are number one because those without them were done the gamblers are the ones who support the game and without the gamblers this game is over january 16th 1989 i picked nine winners in a row about a 3 840 pick nine ticket and won a million sixty five thousand dollars you gotta promote what goes on between these gamblers because everyone's competing against each other and then at the end of the race somebody's a genius because they won i do three things mainly okay i come out here in the morning and i watch horses train and i obviously talk to horsemen the second thing i do is drudgery and that's two two and a half hours of statistics and re uh watching replays on the replay machine and third what i do and equal is important if anything is paddock profiling the horses in the afternoon when people say oh wouldn't it be nice if the horse could talk to you or straight from the horse's mouth doesn't come from their mouth it comes from their body language horses do speak to you they tell you how they're feeling good bad or indifferent depending on their body language and i've been incredibly blessed to be around extraordinary horsemen for the last 27 years of my life here in southern california and i'm a pretty good paddock profiler everyone has their own way of reading a form you know you can go by breeding you can go buy trainers you can go buy jockeys and there's the people that just like to pick a number and then there's a million girls we know that pick the color of the horse my best friend's father was a professional racetrack uh better and uh avid follower of horses and he would study five six hours a night he would chart every horse he would write down what happened to him whether it was a horse he bet or didn't bet or was watching he would have extensive notes and i was infatuated with how i began to root for certain horses that i saw over and over again it's almost like inside they became my horse whenever i introduce people to thoroughbreds once they get bit by the bug they they don't go back it's uh it's it's a very special thing but it's hard to actually explain it's hard for me to just stand here and explain to me you got to come out and check it out for yourself it's like nothing else it's it's just captivates you it's a disease once you get involved there's no turning back going to the local store in the neighborhood and picking up the racing form paying 25 cents and he would give me an extra nickel to buy a candy i mean those are the best moments of my life you can pick who you root for and who you're betting on so it's really a thinking man's or women's game there's no greater value on your gambling dollar than a horse race if you're willing to keep your hands out of your pockets and wait for the right opportunities there is nothing anywhere in vegas or sports or poker or any other form of gambling that even comes close to the opportunities that horse racing presents you with only four other races had ever had purses as large and none lasted skeptics predicted the same for the big cap especially since the country was in the midst of the great depression but many big stables sent their horses even delaying retirement of some the big cap was launched with a full field of 20 starters to me it's like it's like a science and there's a little bit of competitiveness you know reading the form taking a look at the horses you know i'm a competitive person and it's just the way it is that's the thrill of it for me it's not always for the for the rich i hit the long shot on the marathon race i almost retired last week i'm sorry to say i just missed that mega millions by six numbers it was very very close i could feel it yeah it's definitely a social event we've met a lot of people along the way and uh it's you know meeting new friends and you know owners and trainers has been a blessing too so yeah i think this is one of those kind of races where i think anybody can win it's not there are no givens here we've got to work hard and my experience has been the harder you work the luckier you get it's never true every day you find something new in this business give me one let me do it just once even on the gallops so you feel sorry for poor little bullet trade but it's that kind of affinity you have with horses and and with those who train them those who own them it's a great activity that brings people together you talk about it and you reminisce and you think what might be in the future and you have your hopes and your dreams when you buy a horse a lot of money can often be spent often a little money so what but to the person who buys it for a few thousand dollars nevertheless it means a lot to them these animals give their lives for our pleasure it came directly at my finger it looked like a carrot apparently did you tell mark you're sorry for biting him we know he's got good teeth yeah you like the most huh want some more emotes [Music] [Music] we can't forget the people who spend their lives following the horses from track to track these people have built their lives around the care and love of these four-legged athletes and they give them their all rosie how long you been working here 32 years oh my goodness you've seen it all [Music] here whatever i hear here i'm just like a priest i can't open it maybe i'm gonna have a friend i'm gonna make a i'm gonna write a book what happens the doctor's owner stays in class don't even have to ask i know what they want when they get invited the hall of fame in here huh yeah john henry up there right here is bob backford i came here and i think 47 as a player and that's not working since 1972. everybody loves me i love them frank and mary are sisters and brothers sisters and brothers yes wow what's it like being a family team out here i like it and then you have the tours during the uh the races so you see more children it's infectious i think it rubs off on you because you see you know their enthusiasm and it makes you appreciate you know that you're here and you're actually you know around these animals you need to see people come in even if they're not gamblers you know the people that are here to see the animal and they appreciate just the beauty of them and the but every now and then you have someone that just doesn't understand that there's a reason that this is blocked off from the public we try to make sure all four legs are showing and then the horse is looking at us so we can see the head marking and the leg markings and then if something's wrong and we need to apply for a correction then we'll have to take more photographs and rewrite the workbooks a lot of times the markings are up for interpretation on how someone looks at one star another person might describe it a little different and kim is a steward she's the policeman yes i am she's the policeman and she's very strict yes one of three and daryl anne knows how strict i do i've seen her yeah yeah we've i've gone in and she understands and i understand yes i do it's all about safety and it's all about not only the safety of the man but the force also and and we have to enforce the rules and regulations yes and safety is a big part of it yes and and if there's a discrepancy or dispute over uh who won the race whatever who infraction who if there's an inquiry called if there's a jockeys objection owner trainer objection that we review it and make a decision is this a 24 7 operation you know because anything can happen middle night you know i have a guy get a call i have a guy at the barn all night you know when we're in the home his horse gets sick or something like that one mistake can make him be a life to horse and then you're back out here you know the horse can get car like or something in the middle of the night and you want to be on top of it you know because an hour it can make a difference within the horse racing world the precautions that most people don't have any sense or have any knowledge of are pretty immense on these horses i always try to do what's right for the horse the horse comes first you know and without the horse you know run them in the wrong spot and run them the wrong time it's not going to do me any good it's not going to do the horse any good it's not going to be the owner this is phenylbutazone the runners for tomorrow will be getting boot shots and what does this do for that horse it's an anti-inflammatory just like human athletes run on advil ibuprofen it's an anti-inflammatory sometimes certain trainers seem to jive better with certain characteristics in a horse we breed these horses they love running they race we take as good as carrots when we can these horses are very well taken care of and they get the best of everything the best feed best care they're very well taken care of [Music] this medication is called gastrogard and you give it to horses to help with ulcers because they get ulcers this is like 50 or 60 maybe more a tube and a lot of these racehorses get it because they get ulcers just like people that's john henry as a little old man horse right here and see how uh ron's bridles dan is meticulous and their brow bands are all even you know they're all hung perfectly [Music] when you go outside everything's hung up perfectly again it's meticulous trainers take quite a lot of care to bring them along to make sure that they can get the talent out of them uh without injuries prior to racing which in itself is the hardest spot once you get them racing they're pretty much in condition and it's more of a maintenance program but getting there is stretching those limits each time to get them farther along and closer to the reality of becoming race ready and developing their ability to its fullest training have to sometimes get to know the horse get to know what the horse really wants get to know when he wants to be work when he doesn't want to be work yeah home journey is doing great you know there was a very nice horse that she was working with and she just wanted to make sure she stayed in front of her which shows me that she's she's got great uh great skills but she's also got great heart and that's what wins racers [Music] good girl while home journey was preparing for her second race i'll have another was busy winning the preakness the second leg of the triple crown affirmative santa anita for the 1978-79 season after winning the santa anita derby and triple crown and being acclaimed 1978 horse of the year [Music] a firm won the triple crown i said oh okay next year we have another one we came within a neck of winning the triple crown one that won the uh kentucky derby in a hard-fought battle won the preakness in a hard-fought battle and looked like he was going to win the belmont easily and he got nailed with about two strides left to go but a year later we came back and won the world's richest race in the dubai world cup was four million dollars and that horse trusted me and and i trusted him and he would give me everything that he had and i he knew that i was given everything i had to encourage him to be there a firm was put through his paces by laz barrera who later in the year would collect his fourth consecutive eclipse trophy as trainer of the year san anita derby kentucky derby preakness did the pressure amp up from the derby to the preakness yeah the excitement amped up you know after winning the sandia derby i didn't think it got any better than that it was like afraid to retire thank god i didn't retire because i was ready to do that and uh and then the kentucky derby went in that and then one of the freakness are you kidding me how's it getting better than this and uh it's all about the voice as long as the horse continues to do well the first day i laid eyes on him i knew he was just a derby winner the odds to accomplish the feet of a triple crown there are probably a million to one if not more do you think would i ask to be able to get a horse to do what you've gotten his horse to do uh up to now it becomes so much more difficult at each race and the development of the horse and the horse's personal development is just built along in such a great perfect pace yeah he's peeking how do you do that well yeah i think we're extremely blessed so first of all he's a brilliant horse but secondly paul read him chose to run him into bob lewis off a five-month layoff you and i wouldn't have done that i you know and that's something that uh he wanted to see i he kept saying to me uh you keep telling me how good this horse is training why not put him in the bob lewis and just kind of get a gauge where we're at and i said all right that makes sense and and we did it and he won impressively and by doing that we gained some more graded earnings we were able to give him a nine week break and that all kind of set in the motion where we are right now so i think if we hadn't run into bob lewis we wouldn't be here we'd be talking about some allowance race at hollywood park i'll have another doesn't have the problem wins the triple crown do they race him again more than likely he would have been retired even though the owner uh from what i heard on the television he's not a breeder he likes to run horses so in that case he might have kept them around for another year like the mergers but he would have been worth maybe 20 million dollars and he wanted to triple crown so 20 million dollars the insurance companies aren't good he goes out there and breaks a leg you know he's out he's dead yeah yeah even in the san diego derby and kentucky derby in the preakness he probably sat five minutes in the winter waiting for all his knuckleheads trying to get lined up to take a picture and he just stood there after running his butt off and just stood there yeah waited on us i mean he's uh he's obviously a very special horse the single day attendance record at santa anita which had stood since 1947 was broken when 85 527 fans came for the handicap in 1985. if history is to be believed then horse racing is just like every other major sporting event that has seen highs and lows 25 years ago american race fans wagered over 9 billion dollars during the 1989 season and approximately 50 million fans attended live racing events over an 8 000 day racing season across the country today while the wagering might still be keeping pace live attendance interest in the sport and even the number of breeders and owners has begun to suffer the fan attendance is down because of the tvg and all the home betting but uh they're still leaked on saturdays and sundays you'll get some people that not like to used to we just don't have people who have enough vision i just think you got to compete and we don't have anybody who wants to compete i mean me included i think if if i saw what i was lacking right now is we still got to get out there and compete because in order to beat the lakers or in order to compete with the movie theaters we got to put on a better show and it's just like i think we lack that i think we lack that kind of like the fighting thing you know we lack peter comes out against us everyone runs even though the everyone's an animal lover sometimes you forget when you for so long people want to come out want to come out now it's like how do we get them out here instead of they're not coming how do we get them out here back in the day we were the number one spectator sport in the united states we didn't have uh competition from major league baseball we didn't have competitions from the nhl the nfl or major league baseball nascar any of that and we failed to promote our sport we don't get any young blood in the game the future is dismal gambling in general is hard to do you're gonna suck a person drive for two more days let him refuel his bank account and go to work and then he'll be able to come out on friday saturday sunday with his family instead of coming out on wednesday and thursday and maybe not going to work too many people love when other people lose it's like it should be we're all together i mean we're all on the same page and i think until we get that it's going to be a tough sledding but we're getting there the world is changing constantly uh our society is changing there's so much more to do and if you look at boxing boxing to me isn't what it used to be [Music] and maybe horse racing is is changing in that respect too um but because our world continues to change you know i mean we'd like to keep the things that we love and then we know and have it perpetuate and keep going two sports in this world that are dying one is boxing one is horse racing two things they have in common no commissioner that's the bottom line to me this sport has rubbed people the wrong way for a long time and i'm not saying every partnership out there and this and that but there's been a lot where taking people over the barrel it's the bottom line i mean buying a horse of a sale for 150 000 and by the time you sell the shares of the horse it's 250 000. and you know what they got away with it for a long time and now it's over with now um and things need to be regulated the drug rules need to be the same and everything i know it's different because it's different rules from state to state but somehow someone needs to get this all together and i just i don't get it it's a it's a sport that eats its own it's a sport that wants to be big yet when you criticize or you are a little critical about something that goes on in the sport they don't like it there's just so many different things that need to be done and because we're losing the generation if you look at the generation that comes to the racetrack they're my age i'm yeah and i'm 40 now and you see a lot of guys my age but from 40 and below you don't see a lot of kids i mean unless you're at keeneland unless you're at del mar but at your local racetrack and it's it's just tough to gauge but to me i think there's just too many different rules too many different things too many people with their hands out and not enough people giving back for the fan uh i blame it on the not taking care of the customers and fans that we've had we've let them get away from us if they come once or twice and they win they'll see it if they come here and they lose their savings for the week you might not get them back again and in baseball and football and basketball i used to tell everybody the guy that sells the team or i mean owns the team signs your check but the people that come through the turnstiles are the people that are paying your check it's the same in horse racing unless you're not coming through the turnstiles the purses are going to go down and everything else is going to go down the breeding program is going to go one thing after another and and it's just it's really tough to see and to watch now some of these great race tracks that might be closing soon or the way the sport is going i think just a love there's not a love for it it used to be a love people would want to read the paper the newspapers just don't print us because there's not a love for horse race and so they got to change that public perception there's not a love of the animal just not there professional sports horse racing it's all about money it's all about economics and you have different people going to the these events and somehow you know maybe as people grow old and die off and they're not taking their families or kids showing the nuances of horse racing and kids are getting into other things people aren't passing it on kids aren't as interested and if you don't have the fans i think the dopey and the drug thing comes up all the time and it's just not promoted where people are saying i mean you know the right things everyone says drugs and then i don't see how that would ever help us i think if there was a controversy it'd be the jockeys going at it or different trainers not liking each other the competition i think that's the only thing but as far as the drug thing i think that's something just putting another nail in the coffin i don't think the game is of all the problems i mean we still have these phenomenal animals and the horses there's nothing more amazing to watch run than horse and the fact that that has to interact then with a human being i think it's extraordinary so we have the man we have the beast and it couldn't be more beautiful it is the bravery certainly of the ripers all horses aren't brave you know they're like human beings there's cowards there and there's some try their best and no other sport do you go around with an ambulance following you in racing you go out there you're 35 40 miles an hour this is not a sport for the faint of heart there are a million things that can go wrong with a horse or with a business of racing so to be a part of it you have to love not just the horses but the business as well what goes through your mind when your horse goes down like it did last week it's just basically you're on the floor saying whatever is going to happen is going to happen let it happen now fast did you do a quick roll and i was trying to try to pull the horse away from the accident or you just it happens so fast [Music] it takes that special talent to to to bring back the masses you know to the sport of boxing and uh you know it takes a special horse it takes a special jockey you know to rekindle that fire [Applause] that's the one huge challenge of course of the triple crown is you got three taxiing races on three different type of dirt surfaces three different states and then you could see why guys want to go there every year you know want to try to um be part of the triple crown series every year because it's so much excitement and there's nothing better uh that comes along with winning than winning with friends and family and then thank you guys for being there through all the highs and lows we're [Music] as o'neill preps for the triple crown trouble is brewing for him and his horse amid controversy and speculation o'neill and his partners pull i'll have another from the belmont stakes ending his chances for the triple crown the reason for the scratch was noted as tendon injury but other issues came up and then at that case it could even break down to the point where the establishes got to be such a shock for this horse to be you know so primed and ready to run and now it's so let down pretty good or sweet uh yeah getting that close and uh and you know what you can't stop appreciating the horse wins the kentucky derby to anyone's breakfast [Music] [Music] a lot farther than most people ever get an opportunity to and they didn't beat them yeah they didn't make it they didn't beat them you know early enough if it's just a tenant injury yeah they can with time off that can heal um it has a very poor blood supply so it takes a long time to heal but it's potential there is a good potential that it will heal up and be fine um as you get into more dispensary ligament issues uh they can be definitely somewhat life-threatening what degree did hell have another one um it was actually white from what i'm told it's quite mild i haven't seen the horse but from what i'm told it was on the milder side um but it was uh still the horse would probably not compete at the top level of race anymore when it does heal it they come back at a lower level usually yes yeah there's very few that that will do better after that injury well i i i think it showed a lot that that they scratched the horse you know because they probably could have of course i don't know who would have gotten by the fence yeah potentially not potentially not but it was definitely the the soundest move for the welfare of the horse yeah yeah and it would have affected the performance in that particular race most likely yes it would have um yes no way of knowing that yeah there's no way to be sure but yeah but if you're likely good the likelihood is yes yes okay i was disappointed but i didn't want to see the horse get hurt we feel that we feel that way about all of our horses her family you know i'll have another the super horse with the super story that started san anita derby kentucky derby preakness every day something can happen physically to an animal to impair their ability to move forward and or even remain at the level that they're at we you know come out with a thing going oh doug o'neill's suspended he's cheating it's like it's so dumb but nobody wants to say guys what are you doing this is the dumbest move in baseball a manager never gets fired before the world series football there's never a coach getting fired before super bowl golf tiger woods he's the most fine golfer there is nobody knows that they find in-house nascar but instead horse racing decides to come out and make a negative statement it's just it's terrible naira new york racing association has been under a lot of different audits and there's been a lot of stuff going on there so now the the state has basically been running the place over there and uh you know it'd be like the dmv coming here and running hollywood park it'd be a challenge unfortunately i think every conversation or every interview with doug was so how do you feel about your suspension he's like well what do we have i was innocent how do i feel i feel terrible so and i feel bad because i think the chrb thought they were doing something right but they just did a huge huge fumble the people that were wanting to take it negative were all people that didn't know me didn't know paul didn't know the horse didn't know our barn this isn't a tragedy you know and that's what we kept saying it's like it's not a tragedy it's a bummer it's terrible yeah it's a tragedy no i mean 9 11 was a tragedy these issues tarnished the season but could not diminish the greatness of the horse his record or the excitement he generated for the fans and racing as a whole [Music] and all it takes is one athlete one special athlete or one special horse to rekindle that fire that passion that people have towards racing sometimes you have a very competitive horse that unfortunately doesn't have a lot of talent sometimes you have a very talented horse that's not very competitive we've so we've had both uh i'd rather have a competitive horse that's got a limited talent than a talented horse that we had we definitely have had that yeah that have talent but they just won't give it to you they're not competitive oh i yeah i spend a lot of time at the barn with my horses um they're it's time consuming it's a time consuming no matter what discipline you do something with a horse it's time consuming and you really have to watch them because things happen i mean accidents it's just amazing how much trouble they can get into i could wrap them in cotton put them in a stall and they'd still find a way to get themselves through i mean you know every morning when i go to the barn for my own saddle horses it's like oh please be okay yeah home journeys she's a philly that for as little as she's done so far uh competition wise she's really smart she knows what she's doing and you know i don't think you can teach a horse to be competitive i think you either have it or you don't and and she does you know i get flustered when i talk about these animals because i love them so much um when you when you're around them and you see them as a baby and you watch them come to the races and you watch them come to the track and you know i mean it's like i can see my horses out there and i know what they're gonna do i mean i just know what's gonna what how they're gonna react to something yeah you know you don't you hate to see them go you know i mean it's same thing with pesci when she got hurt you know it's not just that she had my name but we didn't want to let her go you know that and we sold half of her at some point or a quarter of her and uh but i still wanted to hang on so we started breeding that's what we were doing you know we're still breeding when we first retired him at the horse park led him out to the center of the paddock where he was going to live the rest of his life and he slowly eased the shank off of him and he started backing away he's standing there in the middle of the paddock i've seen horses and i've seen him when he hollered for his feeders he let out the biggest yell you know he started hollering and the thought came to me uh he's thinking all i've done you know all my life and you're leaving me above his grave is a stone with the following poem if tears could build a stairway and memories elaine i'd walk right up to heaven and bring you home again if we could just produce more heroes you can't always give you can't give them what's inside their heart inside their chest they have to have it or they don't have it and some horses have it more than other and it further uh makes them accomplish what they're physically able to and whatever level that is where sometimes you'll get a horse which we had several years ago horse storm and lucy who we bred and if you were to see her in a sale no one who knew horses would give ten dollars for uh she won allowance races and everything she had a heart bigger than this in this room she just wouldn't quit home journey is doing great she you know she won first time out and then she's really settled good they gave her a little bit of time and didn't rush her back into her morning workouts right away just to ease her mind and let her relax and enjoy the victory and she's doing great she's full of energy you get on her she's very playful and it's it's nothing that she's doing that's wrong it's just that she's she's got so much inner she's dying for you to let it go so sometimes it's a little interesting on your way to the track today home journey will race to see if she has what it takes or if the first time out was just a fluke the horse has had some incredible workouts and it's time to put her speed to the test [Music] [Music] [Music] all right here is vic stauffer with the call live race number seven from pet fair hollywood park they're off warren sugar buzz made a mess of the break home journey broke very well goes to the front from tribal gal and oh happy gray at the rail goes awesome annie then golly molly and wink and wish followed by a crisp for a rose and sacred delight and warren sugar buzz at the back of the pack home journey up the back stretch it's a two-length advantage now more than that to the half-mile pole home journey fast and leads by three tribal gal is second three quarters of a length from awesome annie who moves through at the rail oh happy gray has five lengths to make up and so does wink and wish and it's another three and a half back two ah golly molly and a kiss for a rose sacred delight has ten lengths to make up and 10 links last warren's sugar buzz home journey has been in charge since they sprung it home journey to the quarter pole now just a length in front home journey goes to that quarter mile marker and again opens up two home journey just took a brief breather but now opens up a big lead and home journey is pouring it on at the top of the stretch suddenly six or seven links in front asamani a kiss for a rose to the outside wink and wish sacred delight and dog dolly molly all battling for second there's no doubt who's going to win it's home journey and aaron greiter and they have run up the score home journey yes all journey won by wow nine and a half how good is home journey that's a rhetorical question obviously very very good two for two now in her career and by daylight over the synthetic eventually off at five to two it is eight one three nine wow two two times she's run two wins wire to wire both times uh unbelievable when i when i saw her run the second time it was like i you know you almost can't believe your eyes because she just ran so fast there's something about when you raise a horse a homebred horse you've got the mayor you know you you've been with them since they've been born i mean all horses are special but i don't know there's a special tie to them when you've raised them and you've watched them grow and then you see them win and i i wish i had the words i don't to tell you what the feeling is but it's the highest high that i've ever been on in my whole life it's it's a little bit more special in some ways and i'll tell you why uh one is because we bred her so she's definitely like our own child we've seen her from the day she was born up through now and i've been very excited about her since she was a yearling she really showed a big race today did she worry when she took that breath before she re-broke as they turned for home no i wasn't too worried she pretty much sewed up the race by the time they hit the turn of the seven was under a ride in there and still had horse so it's been a heck of a week and i couldn't be happier with the way things have gone and no matter what the agenda holds in store first we got a lot to look forward to last year when turbulent descent was a favorite and had a tough trip did you think that was sort of your chance and it maybe passed you by and you had to wait the full year it's funny how things come full circle yeah you never know how this game will treat you just keep your head down you keep working you keep digging and that's what i've done was it true that you were up at 2 30 the day after raiders come back to the mart unfortunately it is true you know once that race is done it's off to the next ones you got to get the next horses ready it's it's tough game you always got to be ready [Music] i just i just am so excited for this philly it's it takes a long time to get a really good horse and we've had a lot of horses and um they're all special but she loves to run obviously so just hope it continues [Music] there's a lot of legends and stories and untruths out there but for those of us who love the horses the sport people all that goes with it i'm joe pesci and now you know what goes on behind the gate [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] and i want people to see how much the people behind the gate care for their horses i want people to see that i want people to know that it's a passion for them and it's not just a nine-to-five job it's encompassing all encompassing jobs for these people well i want people to realize that this industry is american and it's now bigger in other countries and it is here and we know how it grew here we knew the importance of it and how it affected such a large percentage of our population and i think we need to get back to this because these horses are what our life

Channel: Indie Rights Movies For Free

Views: 162,745

Keywords: horse, horse racing, racing, de la hoya, Joe Pesci, Oscar De LaHoya, Bobby Flay, Bob Baffert, horse breeding

Id: wVjv9iXD3hM

Length: 84min 29sec (5069 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 07 2021