Podcast Playback: Quotes of Interest From Oct. 14-20

The Show: BloodHorse Monday, Oct. 19 The speaker: Michael Banahan, Godolphin USA's director of bloodstock The topic: How the reigning Horse of the Year Sovereignty is doing heading into the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) Oct. 31 at Keeneland The quote: "He's doing well. (Trainer) Bill (Mott) is happy with the way he has got over the foot issue. You don't want to tempt fate, but it was always day by day, and you know that he had this foot problem, and it could resurface at any time. But, at the moment, everyone's very happy with him. He's had a couple of nice works up in Saratoga. Obviously, missing the prep race was a blow because we really wanted him in there and needed him in there, and it just put a little bit more pressure on Bill and his team to have to come in from a longer layoff to prep him into the Breeders' Cup, which is never ideal for any horse. He sort of had his races lined up from early in the year and hit all the races that we wanted to hit. Maybe we didn't get all the results we wanted, but we certainly got the races we wanted up until the Jockey Club. And disappointed that we didn't get an opportunity to run in a mile and quarter race, which is what he really wants to do. But he's doing well. We're happy with him." The Show: Nick Luck Daily Podcast, Oct. 19 The speaker: John Gosden, co-trainer of Ombudsman (IRE), winner of the Champion Stakes Oct. 17 at Ascot Racecourse The topic: The decision to come to the United States to run Ombudsman in the Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T) Oct. 31 at Keeneland, just two weeks after the horse won the fifth group 1 race of his career The quote: "He has been training back in January in order to run, and went down at the end of March in Meydan down in Dubai. But then we let him down, and he came back with a prep and into Ascot, then let him down again, and then up to York, and then two months between races again. So, for a horse who's been on the go all year, he's relatively fresh, if you know what I mean and, to that extent, it made sense to take a look at it. I know the situation there well. It is three tight turns. I just hope that the rain doesn't come and we don't wind up with as we did with Golden Horn all those years ago, when you might as well run a horse in a wet sandpit. We don't want that scenario for sure." The Show: At The Races With Steve Byk, Oct. 15 The speaker: Tom Ludt, who resigned as president and general manager of Turf Paradise earlier this month The topic: The current shutdown of Turf Paradise The quote: "The state wants racing. It's healthy for the state, the revenue, the jobs, and the tourists. … We had built up to 41 OTBs and, unfortunately, those are closed right now. So, you've got 41 local restaurant/bars that are irritated. It's overwhelming when you look back and think about this because I've had to sit there and say, 'If we do get the call, what's first and how do you start running?' It's sad to see the staff leave after I left. I respect why they did it; they made a personal decision. But we've communicated, and if there's any chance, and I think the state really wants to, it's just going to come down to some of the legal questions and how can you move forward. We would immediately get to work with everybody and try our best to put together a nice meet. It's really unfortunate. It's really challenging, and it's frustrating."