TDN Q&A With Kevin Blake

The TDN's Gary King sat down with racing journalist and broadcaster Kevin Blake, who also is a frequent contributor to the TDN, regarding his new role working with Joseph O'Brien.

GK: You are best known as a racing writer, but there have been numerous reports in the press about you having a new role as a race planner and analyst with Joseph O'Brien. Could you elaborate on what exactly it entails?

KB: I've been working with Joseph since Royal Ascot and it's exciting to be a small part of his team. Race planning and analysis are the biggest parts of the job, but there is plenty of variety in the role between researching pedigrees for the sales, sourcing horses in training and other bit and pieces.

GK: I'm sure a lot of it is somewhat confidential. But what are you bringing to the table?

KB: While Joseph very much enjoys race planning, researching pedigrees and the like, there just aren't enough hours in the day for a trainer that is responsible for so many horses to really delve deep into researching these things to the level that they can be. It makes sense to have someone that specialises in those areas to assist in accumulating all the relevant evidence to help better inform the decision-making process and that is what I try to do for him.

In terms of the bread-and-butter race planning, the process starts with digging out every potentially suitable option for each horse and researching past renewals of those races to get a feel for their likely shape and quality. Once the entries are made and assessed, the most suitable target is chosen and after that it's a case of analysing the final field with a view to identifying likely pace scenarios and any tactical edges that might help lead to the right result. For the higher-quality horses, I look to identify stakes races that have historically attracted small and/or below-standard fields and suggest targeting such races, often in foreign countries. It won't always suit to travel horses abroad, but it is important to be aware of all the options that are there.

While the job that Joseph and his team do with the horses at home and at the races is the vast majority of the equation that leads to the results on the track, doing everything possible to try and get the horses in the most winnable races in the right circumstances is very important too. We won't get it right every time, no one does, but I strongly believe that those that are making their plans and decisions based on in-depth analysis are always likely to have a long-term edge over those that put less into their decision-making processes.

GK: Does it mean you're cutting back on some of your media commitments?

KB: I have been very selective with the work I have taken on in recent years with a view to always leaving plenty of room in case an opportunity like this arose, so my work for Joseph has slotted in well amongst what I was already doing.

GK: Your association with Joseph has got off to a fast start. Winning the G1 Melbourne Cup with Rekindling (GB) (High Chaparral {Ire}) must have been incredible?

KB: It was unbelievable! The Melbourne Cup is one of the most difficult races in the world to win, so for Joseph to send a horse 10,000 miles to win it was some achievement. I would generally be a very calm watcher of a horse race, but there was a fair bit of jumping and roaring in the closing stages. It was a serious thrill.

GK: The horse has performed admirably throughout the year. What led Joseph to believe he had a strong chance of success at Flemington?

KB: Given his connections and his profile, the Melbourne Cup was always in everyone's mind for Rekindling, it was just a case of deciding whether he would run in it this year or wait until next year. Lloyd and Nick Williams live and breathe the race and they were adamant that he had the right profile to have a go at it this year. How right they were. Joseph and his team did an unbelievable job with the horse. He was the youngest horse in the field by 11 months and physically isn't the biggest (he only weighs 420kg), so to deliver him there in the form of his life at the end of a very long 3-year-old season was a serious training performance.

GK: And finally, will we see you returning to the boxing ring any time soon to defend your 5-0 record?

KB: I'm ugly enough as it is!