October 31, 2015
An Interview With:
MICHAEL DUBBS
SOL KUMIN
MIKE CARUSO
DAVID SIMON
THE MODERATOR:
Ladies and
gentlemen, the winner of the TwinSpires Breeders'
Cup Filly & Mare Sprint was Wavell Avenue, and
we are very glad to be joined by, in the center,
Michael Dubb, as well as David Simon on our left,
and Sol Kumin on the right of Head of Plains.
Congratulations to you all. Incredible run there.
Michael, I think I'll start with you and just
ask you to tell us how you saw the race from your
perspective and how you felt when you saw your
filly charging on the outside like that.
MICHAEL DUBB: Well, the dream trip for
her is seven furlongs with pace in front of her and
no trouble. We clicked on all three cylinders today
and it worked the right way. So we're just over the
moon.
THE MODERATOR: A little bit more about
Joel's ride from your perspective.
MICHAEL DUBB: Perfect wouldn't be a
good enough adjective to describe it.
THE MODERATOR: We'll go with perfect
then. That sounds great. And then in the Winner's
Circle, you said with Chad all things are possible.
So when you look at this filly's campaign, this is
her first stakes win and she gets it in a Breeders'
Cup race.
Talk about the job that Chad did getting
her ready for today.
MICHAEL DUBB: We bought her a year
ago last July at the Horses of Racing Age Sale
from the Melnyk disbursal.
Steve Young had seen her breeze. Steve
Young pointed her out to us. We discussed it with
Chad, and we went ahead and bought the horse.
The nice part is she was slow getting started, a
little confused out there. And we ran her for
$40,000 one day and none of us wanted to go to
the Winner's Circle until we knew she wasn't
claimed. It's all great.
THE MODERATOR: Thankfully, nobody
took a chance on her that day. I'd like to hear from
the other two gentlemen about the campaign this
year and what gave you confidence coming into
this race that you had a big shot in the Breeders'
Cup.
DAVID SIMON: Her last three races have
been dynamite, including this one.
She ran
second to La Verdad closing and another few
steps, she would have beaten her. She just has
improved almost like day to day. Really, you could
tell from Chad and from the workout she was really
getting better from over the last month or so.
She really came to blossom today. It's
been quite a dream. I've been an owner since
1978, so it's been a long time for me to get back to
a situation like or to get to a situation like this. It
just feels wonderful.
THE MODERATOR: Fantastic. Now we
have also been joined by Michael Caruso of
Bethlehem Stables. Thanks for joining us here.
Mike, if you wouldn't mind, tell us a little bit
about how this partnership came together.
MICHAEL DUBB: Mike and I met several
years ago at the track. We owned some horses in
common together. And more importantly than
winning races together, we are best of friends,
became best of friends over time.
When you look in the dictionary under
class, you see Mike Caruso's picture. That's what I
tell people.
THE MODERATOR: Anybody else?
MICHAEL DUBB: Sol's been an owner
now of just about 30 years less than David. But
Sol is very, very smart, very, very successful, very,
very cagey. Sol approached us about buying into
the horse recently and here he is. So don't
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underestimate Sol Kumin of Lady Eli fame.
THE MODERATOR: Sol, can you tell us if
you all have been communicating with Chad over
the last few weeks what you've been hearing and
your expectations coming into today.
SOL KUMIN: Chad said the horse has
been training great and felt like she was really alive
coming into this race. Again, these guys have
been on a ride with the horse. I'm the new guy to
the table. Obviously, thanks to all of them for
allowing me to buy in. Mike and I own a bunch of
horses together. It's a treat to be partners with
these guys.
Chad's liked the horse for a while and I
watched the last race and felt like the horse easily
could have won the race and felt like if we got a
little bit of pace, we'd have a shot here. I
approached him to try to buy some and they were
great. We couldn't be happier. Great cast.
THE MODERATOR: How recently, are we
talking about?
SOL KUMIN: Oh, less than a month,
yeah.
MICHAEL DUBB: We'd been talking about
it for quite sometime. We're all family up here. We
really are. It's not about who owns what. It's just
about sharing the experience together.
THE MODERATOR: Well done. Do we
have questions in the room?
Q. You made the statement she's very
good when she has a pace to run at. Before
the race, analyzing the race, did you think the
pace would be quick and she'd be able to come
on this strong, this late?
MICHAEL DUBB: We did think the pace
would be awful quick. There were a lot of horses
in there that were suspect at seven furlongs, we
thought. And we thought seven furlongs hit her
right between the eyes.
So a horse is -- I'm a huge fan of La
Verdad, a fellow New Yorker. Suspect at seven
furlongs, Taris, the California horse.
There
seemed to be a lot of speed.
I was even
somewhat suspect of the three-year-olds in the
race because I watched those races in person at
Saratoga and they were favoring the tracks there.
DAVID SIMON: No three-year-old has
ever won this race, so that gave us a lot hope.
MICHAEL DUBB: The other thing about
her, she's versatile. She can run on turf. She can
probably go long.
SOL KUMIN: Poly.
Q.
Michael, did you expect to be
wrestling with La Verdad inside the 16th pole or
did you think she would be done by then?
MICHAEL DUBB: Oh, I expected to be
wrestling with La Verdad every inch to the wire.
No question about it. La Verdad is a special horse.
So it was our day today.
Q. You race a lot of horses in a lot of
different partnerships with a lot of different
configurations. You don't own, I think, any
horses strictly on your own. What do you see
is the appeal of partnerships, other than the
minimizing of financial risk?
MICHAEL DUBB: Well, one thing we're
clearly not into is syndicates. I mean, we're not a
syndicate. We're just three or four guys, usually,
that partner up on a horse when something comes
along. You might own 25 percent, but they put 100
percent of you in the Winner's Circle picture.
We're in this first and foremost to have fun,
to be with friends, to be social. I think if you said to
me would you rather own horses alone or own
horses with friends, it's a no-brainer.
Q. How many horses do you all have
together?
MICHAEL DUBB:
Total, in different
configurations?
Q. In this particular group, I'm sorry.
MICHAEL DUBB: Sol and I probably have
10, 15 horses together. We'd have to count it up.
Mike and I probably have 80 horses together.
MIKE CARUSO: Try a hundred, Mike.
MICHAEL DUBB: Sol and Mike, by virtue
of that marriage, probably have 15 horses
together. David and I and Mike and now Sol have
a handful of horses together. So it's -DAVID SIMON: Maybe some more after
this.
MIKE CARUSO: Mike never met a horse
he didn't like.
THE MODERATOR:
Very good.
Congratulations, gentlemen. Thanks for joining us
down here.
MICHAEL DUBB: Thanks for having us.
THE MODERATOR:
Wavell Avenue,
winner of the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint.
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