Nashville Derby Winning Trainer James Owen Joins The TDN Writers’ Room Podcast

[Wandering Eyes]

British based trainer James Owen had never been to Kentucky Downs prior to his visit last week for the GIII $3.5 million Nashville Derby. Actually, he had never been to the U.S., period. Now he can't wait to come back.

The versatile trainer who has trained flat horses, jumpers and even Arabians, won the Nashville Derby at Kentucky Downs with Wimbledon Hawkeye (GB) (Kameko), who out-gamed GI Blue Grass winner Burnham Square (Liam's Map) in a thrilling finish.

To talk about his impressions of Kentucky Downs, the biggest victory of his career and his future plans for Wimbledon Hawkeye, Owen joined this week's TDN Writers' Room Podcast, which is sponsored by Keeneland. He was the Gainesway Guest of the Week.

“We had a fantastic weekend,” Owen said. “I had never been to America, let alone come over with a horse and win such a big prize. But of that nature, we were welcomed with open arms and it was a great experience for me and my owner as well. We had a great time and the result was just the icing on the cake.”

Owen believes that European horses have an edge at Kentucky Downs because they are used to similarly quirky tracks back home.

“The track at Kentucky Downs is very unique,” he said. “And it probably suits our horses. We've been to Goodwood, which is a very up-and-down track. You've got a gallop downhill, gallop uphill. Go on your left lead, go on your right lead, which I think probably gives the European horses an advantage because they've had to do it before. He definitely gave our jockey (Frankie Dettori) an advantage. Frankie is obviously another step ahead on that track. He's a world-class jockey, but he's definitely a step ahead on that track as well. I don't the European horses are massively better than American turf horses. I just think our horses are used to this sort of track more.”

One reason more European horses don't come to Kentucky Downs is, unless they are Kentucky breds, they race for a smaller purse. Still, Wimbledon Hawkeye made $1,109,800. A solid Group II/Group III horse in the U.K., such a payday over there would be way out of his reach.

“We would have loved for him to be Kentucky-bred,” Owen said. “It would have been nice. But it's a fantastic purse when you weigh it. He would have been running for an extra million if he were a Kentucky bred, but it's still a fantastic prize. Wimbledon Hawkeye is probably a Group II, Group III horse at home.  I do think he's improving all the time. So I do think he can still upgrade, but to be running for that money, you can't turn that down.

Owen plans to be back in the U.S. as soon as November as he is pointing Wimbledon Hawkeye to the GI Breeders' Cup Turf.

“We're very keen to take him to the Breeders' Cup Turf,” Owen said. “This race is a little shorter than the Breeders Cup, but I think he'll upgrade going the extra distance. He's very nimble. He'd go around a tight track. Fingers crossed we'll be coming again early November.”

The “Fastest Horse of the Week” was GI Jockey Club Gold Cup winner Antiquarian (Preservationist), who got a 109 Beyer figure, the highest Beyer figure any horse has ran in the Gold Cup over the last 10 years. The Fastest Horse of the Week segment is sponsored by WinStar.

Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by 1/st TV, the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders' Association, West Point Thoroughbreds and the KTOB, the team of Bill Finley, Zoe Cadman and Randy Moss touched on the GI Pacific Classic and the roughly run Gold Cup. The name of the winner of the GI Hopeful Stakes, Ted Noffey (Into Mischief), who is named, sort of, for Spendthrift Farm's General Manager Ned Toffey, had Finley tied up in knots as he couldn't get the names straight. The discussion also included the Kentucky Downs phenomenon. Moss said the purses there are “bonkers.”

 

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