TDN P HEADLINE NEWS • 10/9/08 • PAGE 9 of 13P

NEWS TODAY P

IT’S OFFICIAL: CHURCHILL TO HOST 2010 CUP
Officials from Breeders= Cup Ltd. and Churchill Downs
Inc. confirmed yesterday that the historic track would
host the Breeders= Cup World Championships for arecord seventh time in 2010. The 27th Breeders= Cup isset for Friday, Nov. 5 and Saturday, Nov. 6 with $25.5
million in total purse money. AWe are delighted to be
returning the Breeders= Cup to Churchill Downs and toour great supporters in Kentucky and throughout theregion,@ said Breeders= Cup Chairman William S. Farish,
Jr. AChurchill Downs has proven to be an outstanding
Breeders= Cup venue and is extremely popular with ourhorsemen and fans from around the world. Churchillwill also provide an extraordinary site for our expanded
two-day program of the Championships.@ Home of theKentucky Derby, Churchill has previously hosted racing=s championship day in 1988, 1991, 1994, 1998,
2000 and 2006. The latter event was witnessed by
76,132 fans who accounted for an all-time record foron-track handle ($18,259,971) and worldwide betting
in excess of $140 million. Added CDI President andCEO Bob Evans, AThe return of the Breeders= Cup toChurchill Downs in 2010 is wonderful news for ourtrack and Kentucky=s signature horse industry, as wellas the business owners and the state and local governments that will benefit from the economic boost thismajor international event will provide to our city andregion. Our state, industry and our Churchill Downs
team take great pride in the unparalleled record of success of the Breeders= Cup at Churchill Downs.@

Breeders= Cup-Winning Siresof Breeders= Cup Winners
A.P. INDYAWESOME AGAINCAPOTECHIEF=S CROWN
CHEROKEE RUN
COZZENEROYAL ACADEMYTIZNOWUNBRIDLEDUNBRIDLED=S SONG
WILD AGAIN

Tempera (>01 Juv. Fillies)
Ghostzapper (>04 Classic)
Ginger Punch (>07 Distaff)
Round Pond (>06 Distaff)
Wilko (>04 Juvenile)
Boston Harbor (>96 Juvenile)
Chief Bearhart (>97 Turf)
War Pass (>07 Juvenile)
Tikkanen (>94 Turf)Alphabet Soup (>96 Classic)
Val Royal (Fr) (>01 Mile)
Folklore (>05 Juv. Fillies)
Unbridled=s Song (>95 Juv.)
Anees (>99 Juvenile)
Halfbridled (>03 Juv. Fillies)
Unbridled Elaine (>01 Distaff)
Elmhurst (>97 Sprint)

Ahmed Zayat
ZAYAT REFOCUSESOn Tuesday, Zayat Stables chief Ahmed Zayat announced that he was launching an annual offering of aportion of his racing stock. At the upcoming Keeneland
November Sale, Zayat will send some 90 horses--primarily those currently in training--through the ring via
Eaton Sales. That includes GSW & MGISP BaronessThatcher, among other intriguing prospects.
The stated reason of the sale is to trim numbers.
Zayat currently has a vast stable that includes 170
horses in training, and more are on the way. Zayat
recently purchased 30 yearlings at Keeneland September for $6,732,000, pushing his portfolio to more than
270 horses in all.
Few operations have made a greater impact on theracing and sales industry over the past two years thanZayat. His runners have included Grade I winners Point
Ashley and Downthedustyroad, as well as Saturday=s
GI Shadwell Turf Mile hero Thorn Song. Others to carry
Zayat=s yellow and turquoise silks to victory in stakes
races include Massive Drama, High Again, Got the Last
Laugh, Marcavelly, Belgravia, Forefathers, E Z Warrior
Mushka, and J Z Warrior. Shortly after the announcement, Zayat talked with the TDN about his reasons forselling, his reasons for keeping, and his ultimate goal inracing.
When did you make the decision to offer a good portionof your older horses?
It=s something that=s always been in our businessplan. We=re a fairly young stable; I only started this in
2005, and it=s now 2008. Therefore, it=s like a businesscycle. We are a stable which is not in the business ofbreeding. Our business is racing, and racing young
horses, trying to create stallions or the rightbroodmares.
Realistically, not every horse you buy will end up
being a sire, and not every filly will be a Grade I orGrade II winner. So what do you do with the older
horses that no longer fit your business plan? There has
to be a way where other people can continue to have
fun with, and continue to race, those horses.
I looked at different models and different countries tosee what they do. There wasn=t a concept, so to speak,of a sale of developed horses-in-training anywhere,
though they do have a little one in England. Cont. p10

TDN P HEADLINE NEWS • 10/9/08 • PAGE 10 of 13
Zayat cont.

I consulted with operations like Coolmore. I said,>What are you doing? You have tons of horses--what doyou do with the horses you don=t stand yourself?= Andthey said that they sell privately or they put themthrough a sale.
How did you decide on a venue?
I consulted with Fasig-Tipton and Keeneland in early
May, and I told them my plan. I said that I=d really liketo do it differently. I=d like it to be more sophisticated,to have my trainers talk to prospective buyers about ahorse. I=d like to have Ragozin Sheets available. I=d liketo show videos of their performances. I=d like to have aspecial catalogue.
They were very excited about it and both wanted to
do it. The concept started to take on its own life. Because of the timing of things and the way the market
and economy is, we weren=t able to get it done in theappropriate time with Fasig-Tipton, and Keeneland wasmore aggressive and eager, since they=ve never had
something like this in their catalogue.
We=re not selling claimers, we=re selling horses thathave won stakes and graded stakes--allowance racesand up. A lot of owners I know of--like IEAH--love buying ready-made horses without the risk of buying yearlings. And there=s a market with new owners just getting into the business who want to do that. We=ve had
people constantly approaching us about buying ourhorses. Now they=re all in the sale, and people cancome look at and inspect them and see what suits
them. I=ve been approached by people from Turkey,
from Russia, and there is a need for an American saleof horses of racing age.
What was the determining factor between who stays
and who goes? Will you be keeping any older prospects?
Yes, of course. Let me give you an example. We have
178 horses in training. We have about 70 racing prospects in the catalogue for November, and I assume
there will be some scratches. So, maybe we will sell
50. So to give you a sense of magnitude, we=ll still
have 120 horses in training--and I=m not counting thetwo-year-olds or the yearlings. So by any measure,
we=ll still have a very sizeable stable. I=m just trying not
to be a jack or all trades, master of none. I don=t want
to be the guy who breeds them, races them, stands
them. I=d like to stick to the heart of our business, ofwhat we know.
An example of a horse we=ll keep is Alaazo. He=s anA.P. Indy out of Atelier--he=s royally bred. We justbought his brother out of the [September] yearling salefrom Helen Alexander--he=s by Distorted Humor. Anyway, the A.P. Indys are late developers. Not all of them
have achieved everything they=re going to by three, as
you well know. So he=ll be racing for us at four. I also
have Z Humor, who=s by Distorted Humor, who hasn=t
realized his potential.

He was a brilliant two-year-old, but he hasn=t met ourexpectations this year. But he=s coming back and it
makes sense for us to keep racing him as a four-yearold.
Another example is Maimonides. We all saw the way
he broke his maiden at Saratoga--it was breathtaking.
He won by 11 1/2 lengths, totally without being asked.
There was actually a standing ovation. At Saratoga, fora maiden? It was an incredible feeling. In the Hopeful,he bucked his shins, then hechipped an ankle. I wanted
to give him the time. Hewas supposed to start inMay, but we didn=t like theway he was going. So I
Maimonides A Coglianesesaid, I=m going to be very
patient, because this is aheckuva good horse. If you treat them right, they=ll doright by you. Within a week, he is supposed start training again.
You mentioned not wanting to be a jack of all trades,
master of none. What do you see as Zayat=s specialty?
Kentucky Derby-type horses?
Obviously, everyone wants to win the Kentucky
Derby. Is that our particular goal? No, because it comeswith time and if I keep chasing it, it will never happen. I
could be doing this for 30 years and never do it. My
aim is to buy young, very nice horses, and see them
fulfill their potential, and have fun with them as twoand three-year-olds. After that stage, it=s not reallysomething we consider as part of what excites us.
Listen, all of us are obviously thrilled to see Curlin race
as a four-year-old, but he=s an exceptional horse. Not
ever horse is like that.
Here=s an example. We=ve got a horse named Premium Wine. He=s incredibly talented and has done everything we=ve asked of him. He almost won a Grade I,
he won the Gallant Bob H. But he=s not bred to be astallion, to be quite honest with you. He=s by Prime
Timber. I=m not going to stand him, and I don=t know ifothers will. But he=s got a lot of racing left in him, and I
hope other people can have the same fun we=ve had
racing him. They can take him and go to Dubai and run
in the sprint [the Golden Shaheen] or the mile
[Godolphin Mile]. For us, it=s a business decision--weneed to stick to a plan that makes sense.

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TDN P HEADLINE NEWS • 10/9/08 • PAGE 11 of 13
Why would a horse that didn=t fit in your program fit insomeone else=s? In other words, why should people
want a horse you don=t?
Everybody has different appetites and different needsin the market. For instance, not everybody is buying apedigree because they want to make a stallion. Somepeople are buying certain horses to compete at certain
levels. It depends on where you want to compete.
For a lot of people, a win is a win. Believe me. I havehorses that I=ve had to drop, and I=m as thrilled they=rewinning [at a lower level] as much as I am for anotherhorse. I=d be lying if I said, >Wow, it=s as financiallyrewarding,= but I=m having the same thrill. I root for myallowance horses as much as my Grade I horses. I justwant my horse to win--I=m competitive.
There are outfits, again, like IEAH, who have beenvery successful buying horses that aren=t particularly
well-bred, like Kip Deville. We have different programs.
It=s worked extremely well for them and others.
Is it emotional to see some go?
Of course it=s emotional. You become attached tothem, like your kids, and it=s hard to part with them.
But sometimes you have to look at it from a businesspoint of view. This is the one of the largest stables in
America--probably the second-largest. We have hugeoverhead, and you have to be prudent about it if you
want to treat it like a business, and we are. I didn=t
enter this industry just because I love horses alone. I
do, but I also want to make a business model thatworks. It can be very daunting. People say that you
can=t make money racing, that you have to be in breeding. That remains to be seen. I am racing to create
stallions for others to breed. It=s a different angle. It=sharder, but it=ll be much more rewarding, I believe.
How much time do you put into the stable each week?
You=d be very surprised. I=m putting probably 70 or 75
percent of my time into it, because I=m running it like abusiness.
What are some of the lessons you=ve learned since you
started in the business? Who are some of the people
you=ve learned from?
That=s a very loaded question! Well, first of all, it=s avery humbling business. Think about it. I=ll be a hero in
the racing world if I=m batting 25 percent. So by definition, I=m losing 75 percent of the time.
I=m a very competitive person by nature. I=ve always
prided myself on being very successful in whatever Ido.

So the first adjustment I had to make was gettingused to losing 75 percent of the time--and being happy
about it! It=s amazing. Someone told me once that only
three percent of owners ever win a stakes. That=s avery daunting statistic.
Every year you have a crop of, what, 39,000 to
45,000 Thoroughbreds? From that, you need to comeand take the 20 of them that will start in the Derby.
Think about how incredible that percentage is. For me,
in my first year of having a full three-year-old crop, tohave two horses in the Kentucky Derby, is so lucky. It
was very rewarding. And that, to be honest with you,is what keeps me going.
But to answer your question, I=ve learned things everyday--from my trainers, from my vets, from thepinhookers and from the consignors at sales. It=s a
learning curve, and a constant learning experience. The
beauty of this industry is that it=s constantly evolving
and changing. Every day, there are so many variations
thrown in your face. We=ve been dealing with the [synthetic] tracks for the last few years. It=s a completely
new variant. You=re buying horses, and you don=t know
which horses will like the surfaces. And now we havethe Breeders= Cup, two years in a row, on the Pro-Ridesurface. And all the synthetic tracks are different. It=spart of the challenge, and part of the excitement.
What is the ultimate goal of Zayat Stables?
I think that these horses are so majestic and so beautiful. I think I would like one day to be in a position to-there=s no such thing as a perfect horse--but to have ahorse that has the looks, and has the conformation,
pedigree and durability. When I look at the horses in thepast that used to race 12, 15 times as a two-year-old. I
can=t even get a decent horse to run five or six times.
Whatever happened to that special athlete that had thedurability and was running all the time?
I think Sheikh Mohammed is doing an incredible job-an incredible job--investing in this industry, and trying
honestly to do it the right way. In terms of breeding,he=s restricting the size [of stallion books], so instead of
300 mares bred the first year, it=s 100. He=s trying topick the right mares for the right stallion. He=s trying todevelop a well-balanced athlete that will have a chanceof competing at the top level. I want to contribute andto compete at the sport=s highest levels. We=ve been
lucky. I think we=ve won around 26 stakes; I think wewere number one in the country last year by stakes
winners. I=ve already had three Grade I winners, eight
Grade II winners--I=m very luck and very happy. But I
want to get better. -LM

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