2023 Bing Crosby and Jim Dandy | Dan Illman and John Piassek join the show!

All right, welcome to the horse racing happy hour, Mike Indofpo

Louie or Beau Dan Ilman, who I guess is like an honorary place

as opposed to the show now. Drops in.

No big deal, actually. That's not a bad idea.

We should just give him like permanent access to the.

Solids we're using solid stipend of two days and he can just.

Pop in when everyone. Triple is a triple is DRF

income. Works for me, man.

I mean, you may get some viewers.

That's how you do that. I just wish we could do video

half as good as you do. There it is.

I mean, I I don't want to put in the work to do videos this half

as well as he does. I think that's really the key

here is the lack of that. That's true.

Yeah. OK.

Yeah. Definitely on my case, yeah.

How's the world, man? Dan, we haven't seen you in a

couple weeks. Feeling good, Haskell Boy.

Some exciting stuff at Monmouth last weekend.

I talked to about four or five people connected with Mage.

Everyone of them said he wasn't going to win.

The whole track knew he wasn't going to win, and he almost won.

He almost won. But what about tappit rice like

that? Tappit rice that there are

problems there. He needs to go about two miles.

He's really. Has no gear whatsoever.

It's just this one gear plodding horse, you know, we used to say

in horse racing, you go twelves, you click off twelves, 12 second

eights, he goes 13 second eights.

That's not going to win major races.

He's the kind of horse you got to ride every step of the way.

He really has no idea what he was doing and it was funny

sitting up in the press box after the race.

I asked several colleagues, did he even get a call?

Was he even in the race? Because he was just not much of

a nonentity in a major race, as I've seen in a long time.

Yeah, it was. It was bizarre.

He needed to run the 14th for longer at Saratoga.

Today is what he needed. He really did, yeah.

I think he had a shot in that field, although the winner today

won by a mile. Right.

Yeah, but I mean, just plod along, keep him in second place

and see what happens. I don't know.

Something. You're right though.

He is a definite plotter. He needs to be put away and

hopefully grow up a little bit and I'm sure Todd will have him

back as a four year old at Gulfstream.

And I think their expectations are a lot lower now, where

instead of being a major grade one horse, they're hoping to

knock out a grade two or a grade 3 before they sent him the stud

with that pedigree. Well, as Zach tries to get the

replay up, we'll we'll continue to talk about your overall

impressions now of the three-year old class, I mean.

Dan should know this time Every year you hate the three-year

old. Well, I usually hate through

class earlier. This one though, Dan, I think

he's justified in a little bit of what are we doing here?

Well, I think he's justified. And I think all year we've been

questioning the quality of the three-year old Quest.

The problem is who are the older horses?

I mean, you have Cody's wish. There's no guarantee Cody's wish

is going to go a mile. And 1/4 in the Breeders Cup

Classic right now. He's a very good mile.

He's a very good mile and a 16th maybe mile and an eighth horse.

Is he going to go a mile and a quarter?

I don't know. We'll see.

Defunded on Saturday in the San Diego Handicap.

I don't think he's scaring anybody in this division right

now. Tabor has dropped off the face

of the earth. I'm not terrified of Art

Collector. Is anyone really scared of

rattle and roll? I mean, let's try to find a nice

older horse. As for these three-year olds,

maybe you could argue there's some upside, but the gym dandy

is going to tell a lot because for a 2 year old champion, a

horse that would have been the favorite in the Kentucky Derby

and a horse that ran second in the Belmont.

Forte needs to win the Jim Dandy to firmly reestablish himself on

top of this division, or else this whole thing's ready to be

burnt down. You talk about going long

enough. I'm a little concerned of mile

and an eighth isn't enough for Forte to rundown, is there?

I mean, we'll get to that race later, but I just, I don't know

what to do with him. The Belmont I, it set up so

perfectly for him and there just wasn't anything there.

Well, I mean it did set up for him, but at the end of the day

he was running a mile and a half off a 10 week layoff and at some

point that had to take some of the star chatter from the fact

that he was still running on at the end of that race.

I think shows the horse has ability.

You know, the horse has chops and he deserves all the praise

he's gotten throughout his career.

But at the end of the day, he still got beat and I don't know

why they're putting blinkers on this horse.

I mean, maybe he lost. I I just think that's a terrible

sign from the Fletcher Barn. Do you think it's an

overreaction? It's a little bit of it's a

almost a panic move. Is that what you're saying?

I don't know if it's a panic move.

Todd's numbers aren't very good with this sort of move over the

years to me. If they want to say OK, he lost

focus in the Belmont, fine. I think he already had a builtin

excuse going into the race though.

You had the layoff OK if you want.

It would have been a herculean effort to win off the layoff.

He ran really well. Why the blinkers?

And again he could easily win the gym.

Dandys the best horse in the race but.

I'm not sure I'd be lining up to bet him at something to five.

Did it catch you off 7 to 5 right now?

Yeah, seven to five. Does it?

Did it catch you off guard that Brad Cox has three runners in

this race and I I had forgotten that Brad Cox had the 3rd and

4th place finishers in the Derby this year.

It's kind of funny because everyone was talking about Brad

Cox in March and April. He had all of them in the preps,

right? They were all going to be Brad

Cox, train runners. And then after the Derby, I mean

Angela Vampire ran fine in the Derby.

But then they just fell off the face of the Earth and Angel of

Empire got one of those weird blinkers on deals in the Belmont

where everyone was saying, oh, he's trains and blinkers, it's

not that big a deal, blah blah blah.

Angel of Empire was really keyed up with the blinkers and I

wonder if that cost him. Going a mile and a half a wide

trip didn't help him either. I hope they ride him a little

bit more conservatively in the Jim Dandy, although this time it

doesn't seem like there's a race with any kind of pace.

Yeah, and I don't think necessarily that Forte has to

come from behind. I think Forte's shown that he

can. He can.

He's had races where he ran from a front.

It's not. He's not.

He's at least done in his talking position.

Proportion. Yeah.

Yeah, right. So no, that'll be an interesting

race on Friday. Let's go back though to Monmouth

Park here, Zach, which race do you have pulled off your

Haskell? It is the Haskell.

All right, cool. So let's go ahead.

We'll look at that Haskell that we were that we're talking about

here on the final term challenge and confronted by Go Rock and

ride with a quarter mile left to go.

And here comes the Derby winner out wider in the center of the

racetrack Mage is now taking the lead up on the outside, but Go

Rock and Ride is in for the fight to the inside.

Arabian Night is back there in 3rd.

It's Go Rock and Ride who's up in front by a length and a half.

Go Rock and Ride. Go Rock and ride.

Hall of Famer Mandela Hall of Famer Mike Smith.

Go Rock and Ride wins the TVG Chris Griffin.

Very excitable. Yeah, Excitable guy.

How about that? Go rock and ride.

Go rock and ride. I think I was one when we talked

last week. Mike was off last week Zach that

I, I, I said this is this felt like a wide open field.

There was I don't think they should go rock and ride for no

reason. Were you a little surprised

there Dan, just because when I saw mage at the top of that

turn, I thought oh here we go, we got the Derby winner.

Here he comes. Oh no, I I think that a lot of

folks though majors going to go by it.

Just that every one I talked to again said he's 90% fit.

He's just as fit as before the Florida Derby.

We're not expecting to win. We want to see a good run.

Let him finish up late and go to the Travers.

They got everything they wanted. But before we analyze the

Haskell, we have to analyze the betting of the Haskell what the

heck was going on there. How is Go Rocket ride?

Three times the price of that Brad Cox Source The one the prep

in New Jersey. Actually liked that horse a

little bit, but what did he accomplished?

At least Go Rock and Riot showed some ability out in Southern

California. Had the connections, had the

upside, had the tactical speed, had the rail to get a good trip.

The betting was odd. Arabian Night at one point was

three to five. I understand the Baffert love at

Monmouth, but this is a horse hasn't run in eight months and

his signature win came on a sloppy track against the

terrible field. Especially when you consider

what majors number was on the. Exactly, Major.

Basically you know the same price as was the same price as

the Brad Cox trained horse. 4 to one was silly betting.

It was an odd one for. Sure, It was for sure on what?

Did that exact independent? The exact paid I'll tell you

what it was a good it was a $64 on the exact.

Yeah, I mean it really paid, right?

Is that $2.00? On two, On a?

On a dollar. On a dollar.

Yeah, 64 to one. There you go.

I mean, like that was it. Was that kind of day at

Monmouth? Like well, the pick four.

I mean every there was all double digits.

And they did. What do you understand the laws?

Maybe it's a law thing or the rules that they didn't have an

all states pick five at Monmouth on the weekend.

Odd. I'm not sure if that's a racing

Commission thing. I'm not sure if that's a track

thing. I'm not sure if that's a thing

where they figured heck. It's going to be too short

because Search results is supposed to win at 1:00 to 5:00.

We're expecting Arabian Night or Mage to win at a short price.

I don't know. OK, that was interesting.

Hey, Zach, let's go ahead. We'll go to, we'll go to the

therapist here in the United Nations, one of my favorite

races every year on the turf. You know what's interesting is I

Is this not is this no longer a Grade 1 Dan?

It hasn't been a great, it hasn't been a grade one in 10

years. Yeah, I appreciate and the folks

at Monmouth appreciate you saying this is one of your

favorite races of the year. I guess you like 30 claimers

going a mile and a half. I do.

I watch a lot. Of Wait a minute, therapist.

Therapist is a very nice source. He's earned $1,000,000 early in

his career. I would have taken him in a step

past 7/8 of a mile. Maker claims him for 50.

He's winning. Great in stakes races at a mile

and a half. Many of these sources you know

are are not that great. Therapist Got a great trip and a

great ride. He got it done.

Yay. Let's go ahead and play the end

of that one. We see the the favorite here,

Red Knight doing what Red Knight does, creating a difficult trip

and not being able to close it. Side limited liabilities down

toward the rail needs a spot. Wide charge.

Therapist is moving three wide. Red Knight begins his bid.

It's a. He's still 4 links behind, but

he's coming on with Cap Nip to catch as they come to the top of

the stretch in the United Nations.

It's Cap Nip on top of the Furlong to run.

Down the outside, trying to come on as therapist in second

Foreign Relations in between horses, Red Knight with a lot of

work to do. Therapist has taken the lead

therapist in front. Close to home Therapist and

Javier Castellano have won the United Nations.

So Dan, you talked about the betting in the Haskell.

I thought the same thing about therapist when he went off in

double digits. I was walking down to the.

Going down to the winner circle, I was covering the race for DRF

and a fan stopped me and asked me who I liked and I said I like

therapist and I looked at the odds board and I I thought it

was the wrong race. I couldn't understand how he was

12 to one. I thought he'd be 7:00 to 2:00

or 4:00 to 1:00. He had just won a graded stakes

race, two starts back. His last race wasn't bad at all.

The betting was weird. The horse that they landed on

catnip was the horse that had never gone a distance of ground

before. Rather odd, he He was certainly

in good form and he ran just a fine race, but there was no

guarantee that he would stay the distance and these kind of

races. It's who's going to stay on the

longest and therapist. This is what he wants to do now.

So did you hammer it? Oh, I I did very well in that

race. Well, good.

There you go. Well, let's go here.

So I thought a fun thing that we could do and I'm putting Mike on

the spot here. Do you have the DRF for this

weekend? I do.

I mean, I got to pull him up. It is there a way for us to put

one on the screen? Yes.

OK, Yeah, because Dan Ellmans from the DRF and he is going to

be our presenter for the second time.

He's the first two time Horse Racing 101 presenter on our

show. All of this of course is

presented by our friends at the Maryland Horse Breeders

Association to join them on Saturday, October 14th.

It's the 38th rendition of the Jim McKay Maryland Billion, a

showcase of all the finest of Maryland's.

Visit marylandmillion.com Stay updated on contenders with the

weekly Maryland Million watch, learn about sponsorship

opportunities, purchase one of those ever popular club tables

and more. We will see you at the Million

in October there at Laurel Park. I'm sure Dan will be down there

for that day. It's always that turns into an

awesome day of racing every year.

It's really. Fun.

So it's a great day of racing. You get some really popular

horses on the local circuit too, horses that the folks down in

the Midlantic area are used to seeing, and they're here now

running for some big purses. It's really a great show.

Usually get some nice fields and again, some popular horses

there. You go.

All right. So Johnny P, Johnny Piazic joins

us here from said Maryland Horse Breeze Association.

Who? Johnny P Who?

Johnny P? Yeah.

And So what we're going to do now is do a horse racing 101

with the form here from our friends over at DRF.

And and so I just, I, I, I, I sent it in a message to Dan and

I said look if you saw that form for the first time you would go,

what is this hodgepodge of stuff all of us sort of take for

granted this sort of stuff. So what have you pulled up here?

This is race two. There we go.

And so lots of information on here.

If you like puzzles, people, I have good news.

That's what horse racing really is, is a giant puzzle that you

have to figure out and then lose money on.

And so let's go to St. Loop There, we'll kind of zoom

in a little bit. Dan When you look at the form

for the first time, when you're looking at races like you like

you did, like in your prep for tonight's show, we'll pretend

that you were prepping for our show, not for other ones.

Usually it's more of a it's more of a doctoral course.

I give you know it's more of a you know, a little course here

but but now I guess we're doing this for for for first time

fans. They're picking up looks like

Hiro Hiro glyphs. I understand.

OK, I think the first thing we need to show the folks is the

race goes to the Swift more often than not.

So take a look at the bold number, you'll see an 84 for

street loop. Those are the buyer speed

figures. The higher the number, the

faster the performance. What I would do is take a quick

scan of the horses in the race and try to immediately eliminate

horses that are way too slow to win.

And I think if you do that, you might be able to whittle down

two or three right away. And the second thing I would do

is then I would look at the running style.

Of the horses you see the 84 buyers speed figure right next

to it is a 26 which is post position two in a six source

field. Then you see a 2 which is where

he was at the exact start of the race.

But look at the first quarter. How does this horse run?

Is the source like to go on the lead?

Does the source like to come from behind and try to find

horses? That might benefit from a good

pace scenario. Let's say a horse that shows all

ones is in a race with five horses that show fives or sixes.

The horse with the ones is probably going to have an

advantage because there's horse is not going to face any sort of

pressure. And conversely, if you have a

horse that is on the lead when there are two or three in the

race, try to pick a horse with competitive speed figures that's

coming from out of it. That would sort of be two things

I would look for and the third would be.

Take a look at the distance stats and the track stats.

You see LRL in the top right distance.

These will tell you how these sources are performed in the

past at the track over the trip. And for a beginner, I think

those three things will keep you going.

Yeah, I think that sounds like 3 very good things to look at now

when I see the track there, Dan, is that on the specific surface

like dirt or turn or is it just the track in general?

That is the dirt Laurel. That is just the Laurel on the

dirt. And how would someone know that

this race is on the dirt? Well, it doesn't say turf and

whatever, but when you go to the top header race #8, it says 6

1/2 furlongs right next to it. It would say turf, or it would

say Tepeda or All Weather or wherever the Poly track would

be. Next to the race and in the

erasing form, you can go and see where these horses have raced in

the past. Like Street Loot has run on the

turf once, we'd probably have to Scroll down to show where it is,

if it's even still on the page in your formulator.

Past performances you get lifetime PPS for a little plug

but next to the six for long or the distance sort of.

Which is what the once 2-3 fourth column to the left right

next to would be a T for turf there.

You go. All right.

Let me ask you a couple questions because you mentioned

first. The equibase speed figure and

then I think there's one of the. Wait a minute.

Sorry, the buyer speed figure. I'm sorry, buyer, buyer.

I know the gold standard. Please, yeah, yes.

And then that's but that's also important for people to know

that there are several different of these speed figures with the

DRF is the buyer and that is the gold standard when it comes to

speed figures when you. See speed.

Figures that are like, Are you looking for the consistency of

the speed figure? Are you going just the past?

Three to five races, are you looking like like we're now half

of the year, so would you only look at the speed figures for

2023? So what are you?

That's a really good. Question and I'm surprised you

asked it. What I'm saying is that I would

like to go back to the horses last win.

On. The page and then I would like

to move up from there. I think the horses last win

might be it's sort of representative best performance.

So we go back to St. Lou, what do we see, a win at

Delaware? And now we move up.

Has the horse improved? Has the horse regressed?

Has the horse stayed steady? I think at that point we can

sort of get a gauge of what street loot really is.

Now you might get fooled. A horse like begin the number

two. If we Scroll down a little bit

there, you're going to see a gigantic speed.

Figure two or four starts back. And it's a race that just sort

of comes out of nowhere and you look and you see, hey, it's on a

wet track, good, which is on the 3rd column to the left.

Maybe this horse likes a wet track and then you look two

races above that over a sloppy track.

The last one was a what is it 92 / a sloppy track.

So maybe you can create circumstances that horses might

benefit from, race conditions, race tracks, etcetera.

But I that's what I like to do. I like to go back to the last

win, work my way up and. He tried to figure out how did

the horse earn the number? Did he earn it over a wet

tractor? Do you earn it when he had a

easy lead? All these things, which might be

a little bit too much inside baseball for a newcomer.

That's right. No, the other thing that I think

that I think it's an easy thing for a newcomer maybe to

understand is a horse that is either dropping or going up in

class. Explain that a little bit.

Well, nowadays there are so many conditions out there that it's

very, very hard to actually know which horses are going up and

down in class. And the great thing about the

buyer speed figures is it sort of takes class.

Out of the equation and that a horse that runs a 92 in a first

level allowance race should be better than a horse that's been

running in the 8th and graded stakes races.

But let's look at begin. Look at the last company line.

It says Bed O Roses G2. That's the name of the stakes

race at Belmont. It was a grade 2 today.

If we go back to the header of this race, you'll note that this

is not a graded stakes. It's the Alma N, but it's not

the grade two or Grade 3 Alma North.

And it's sort of a pyramid in racing, a class pyramid.

G1 is the top, G2 is second. G3 then sort of the listed

stakes races like The Garland of Roses that the game ran and

three starts back and then we go down to allowance races, which

are horses that are sort of trying to get into the stakes

class. Then we have the claimers

sources that you or I could buy if we so wanted to and then

there are million sources that have never won.

But the way to look it up and down, that's kind of an

interesting. I would love to have that sort

of pyramid in the form or online where people can sort of take a

quick glance at it, especially first timers.

Yeah, now good stuff. I do agree with that.

We can create it. Oh, we can also create it.

Yeah, you're Yeah again. marylandmillion.com October

14th, 38th rendition of that Jim McKay, Maryland million.

Make sure you go check it out. Going to be a great day of

racing down there at Laurel and I will go ahead because on this

show once a month we talk about a library.

John Piazza tell people about a library.

Yes, it's the Maryland Voice Library and Education Center

located in Reisterstown, about 20 minutes or so northwest of

Pimlico in a in in the heart of Maryland voice country.

Visit marylandvoice.com/library. Keep keep up to date on all of

our events. What's?

New new on the shelves. Just published our library

catalog recently, so it's looking for any specific title.

You can see that there coming up soon.

We have the 2nd installment of our Bender educational series at

5:30, cosponsored by the University of Maryland in in

which a different equine topic is discussed every few weeks.

And if you can't make it live, those are always posted on

YouTube. A few days afterwards, so be

sure to check that out. And then August 17th we're

having an author talk by Mark Schrager, who recently wrote a

book about the first Derby and Eristides.

It's called The First Lucky Derby.

That'd be August 17th at 4:00 o'clock.

And August 28th, Fran Burns for the Maryland State Fair is.

Gonna be by discussed Timonium and the history are racing at

the Maryland State Fair. So if you're in the area, lots

of good stuff. If you're not in the area, hope

you don't get too much FOMO. It's all happening at the

Maryland Voice Library, Timodium, by the way.

You get a. You get a paused video.

Is that what we're offering? If you go to Timodium, you get

to see the horse racing. Happy hour on pause.

You get you get kettle corn and tape delay.

There you go. Listen, we'll stick with that

eighth race, the Alma N the $100,000 eighth race at at

Laurel. And since we already started

handicapping this a little bit, Dan, tell us about who's going

to really win this race. I can tell you two horses that

aren't going to win this race St.

Loot and Princess Kokachin. And the reason they're not going

to win this race is because they're not running.

And I talked to Jerry Rod earlier this morning and he's

just not happy about these rules running horses without Lasix,

especially in the heat wave. And he's scratching both of them

out. So he said the owners wanted to

run. He talked them out of it.

So now we've taken this down a little bit.

I want a price. I like response time, a horse

that has some races in the back and who John and I've talked

about in the past because she wears this piece of equipment

that I usually don't like. It's called the blowout patch on

the inside of her left Hock. And it looks like, you know, she

hits herself a little bit. I've never really seen a horse

succeed with those sort of pieces of equipment, but

response time is one with it before.

Her last race wasn't as bad as it looks.

She missed the break. She rushed up to push Princess

Kokochin. This time around, I think she's

going to let the others do The Dirty work.

I think she had a price, and she's a giant price on the

morning and she won't go off anywhere near that price.

I think she's worth a shot. And then you got gunning in this

race who's Major's older sister? And I think the source has a

shot if she gets in for Kenny Mcbee.

John, who do you like here? Well, there was a two second

stretch in between when Dan said I don't like street loot and

they're not running where I was like wow, you know, I I didn't

think Princess Coction had a shop, but I was curious as to

whether you take on St. Loot was well, there you go.

So I did like street loot a little bit, but obviously that

changes things up. A little bit, and that also

changes the pace quite a bit, because for this coca chin was a

major pace factor in this dealer.

I did not think that you'd go 6 1/2 for long some.

Unless she was riding in a golf coat and she was going to take a

lot of money and now that changes up things up a little

bit and I think it makes begins job a lot easier.

As Princess Coco Chin was going to professor come to the outside

now she's going to have things a little bit easier on the front

end. Did get caught up in a peace

duel last out in the better roses that backed up that was

against much better horses. Then these whoever it is going

third off the layoff and huge First off, the layoff 2 starts

back at Belmont and I'm not too worried about her not being on

Lay six as as a Gen. race well without lay six in the final

start of 2022 came in second in the Garland of roses.

And Aqueduct. All those things #7 dreamster is

worth looking into, also at a of a price. 12:50 on on on the

morning line. Based in Florida, this one ran a

career top figure, at least on the Brisnet scale.

Last time out. Had a great trip off the pace.

Kicked away to win by 4 1/2 lengths.

She's lightly raced. Has a good tactical speed.

Should improve a bit. Second off the layoff.

Has been working pretty well. Think she's worth using at good

odds. I I agree with Dan that if

you're going to price chase in a race, it's going to be this one

with those defections especially.

I like the outside horse here Moody woman.

I think that she's got at least a very, very good chance of

hitting the board at very worse. And so I think you're after

defections probably 6 to 1 on this horse.

Dan do you think and just a horse that it is just a Laurel

specialist. A couple of wins this year

already ran off the screen at Pimlico.

If we do get some precipitation here, the horse is capable

running over a wet track as well, and so I think I'll look

outside at Moody Woman. Horses price should be fine.

I mean, begins the horse to catch and beat.

As John mentioned the quality of competition she faced last time

out she was in against the Breeders Cup winner and Good

night Olive. And now she might be low and

speed and if it's a wet track it obviously helps her chances.

But I'm with you Louie. Let's let's find some prices in

here. All right, we'll move on to the

race now. We'll stay on the dirt of oral

and we'll do another Sprint. This is the Frank J de Frances.

Memorial Dash. A lot of Francis in there.

Frank and Francis. Frank and Francis.

I like that. 6 Furlongs Historian John Piazza Q was

Frank Jada Francis. He pushes Laurel Park in the

bed, 1980s. They're on the track very long,

but while he did, he. Really restored the track to a

place of significance at the time it it it was kind of run

down, was kind of falling apart. He really invested a lot of

money into its infrastructure, into its post structure and in

fact at the time Wall, Pimlico and Buoy were all owned by

different people. He was pretty instrumental in

bringing all the tracks under one ownership.

Of course Buoy made rest in power currently owned by nobody,

but of course Pimlico and Wall still under joint ownership,

which I think is. A lot better for tracks in in

each state to be owned by one person.

I think it would have done a lot of good in Florida, for example.

But but I digress. And when he died in 1989, the

track inaugurated the Francis Dash the next year, and the

first ever running was won by a Maryland threat, Northern Wolf.

There you go. So you own the track for a short

time, you get a short race. Right.

If he had lasted and you know a few years longer could have had

two turn layers like that, that's a good and synthesis is 2

to one when I think lightning layer is a lot better than

synthesis. Dan, I think lightning Larry's a

lot better than synthesis, especially at six for a long

since the synthesis is this kind of.

You know, big robust tourist who's just seems better to me at

six and a half and seven. He needs a lot of pace help in

order to win this race and it'll be interesting to see if he gets

it with wonder where Craig is and Sir Wellington likely to

provide the pace. Personally, I don't have a lot

of holes in lightning. Larry, I thought his last race

was very good. He went after Sir Wellington.

When that horse said a really moderate pace, he just went

right by him. The key to this race is which

wonder where Craig is. Will we get, will we get the

good one? Will we get the one that

sometimes shows up and goes blah?

Let price be your guide. How about you, John?

Is there anybody kind of off the board that you like here?

I will say first of all, just to go back to the Almond North for

a SEC, I should realize something was up when the odds

are finalized this morning and there were no jockeys on either

Jerry, Rob Post, I think that should have been a clue to me.

I agree. I mean, I think is is going to

be. Very tough and he he really

hasn't done anything wrong. All you showed a two different

dimensions in his last two stars in the mission of prospect that

came from off a very fast pace and one going away.

Then in in the Alpocas run he sat a a thick closer to the lead

off a fairly slow pace. Opening quarter was only 22 and

four fifth seconds. Fought with Sir Wellington, who

he'll see here. And got fired.

A win by a length and 1/2 with a crew.

Best figure on the Brisnet scale.

So Wellington also in great form.

He's run a lot of big figures between Delaware Park and

Oakland Park. And Kevin Gomez, who has been

writing at Delaware full time this meet and is on an absolute

heater. He's.

Or something like nine of his last 14 or or 15 mounts is

coming down for this mound. So I think that's a pretty

encouraging sign. I will absolutely fade wonder

where Craig is in the spot. I think he's he's a bit washed.

He was all out to win his season debut.

He he lost, always in a hurry. Cap his. 2022 season and no

respect to always in a hurry. A fun local sprinter.

But wonder Craig is sort of beating him pretty easily then

in in Maryland. Sprint.

I mean, he really had no chance to be straight, no chasing,

nobody did. But he just completely, That was

unbelievable. Stop late lost by 10 lines.

Pretty dull like food. I mean Britney Russell is on

such a cuter this me who who horses can't be totally thrown

out but he's gonna take take take a lot of money because of

his backlash and because he's trained by Britney Russell think

he's almost unbeatable from a win from a win point of view.

And he he's going to make everyone else's odds a lot

better. I wanted to ask too, because if

people are unfamiliar with Laurel or maybe with, you know,

horses on this part of the country, Dan, is there a horses?

If, like a lightning Larry with the Monmouth wins the Delaware,

is he likely to like the track at Laurel like the surface?

At times, Laurel can be a little bit funky.

We've seen it over the last few years with the track could be a

little bit chopped up, but I don't think it's really going to

bother a horse like Lightning Larry.

I think you basically made the point.

This horse doesn't move to a certain racetrack.

He can go from Delaware to Monmouth and just have success

and he's had success. At Pimlico as well.

So I'm really not too worried about that.

I'm more interested in how the surface plays from a day-to-day

standpoint, from a bias standpoint.

That's something to watch early in the day.

Our speed horse is tiring and there are some surprising

results which make you make you think that being on the lead or

being on the rail isn't good. All right, well, let's move on

to the show. She was out of order.

I'm just gonna say, you know, no, it's not.

Zach brought John in before I was ready to talk to John.

Oh, is that what it was? Yeah.

Well, so we moved the deputy testimony to the to the end.

No, I I I I wasn't just talking. Louise flustered.

I don't even know what that was about.

All right, seventh race there is.

It's about John Pyosik having great hair, and I don't.

OK? That's what it's about, All

right. That's what it's about.

You know why I'm wearing a hat then?

A little little faded, actually. You know why I'm wearing a hat?

Let me get new ones. Do you know why I'm wearing a

hat? Because you have no hair.

I have no hair. Yeah, it's embarrasing the TV

thing, Dan agrees with me. And I don't like it.

Louie, everyone on this show has better hair than you.

Not just John, everyone. Hillman always wears the hat,

too, man, you know. I'm just doing it to try to make

him feel better, I was about to say.

I've seen Hillman tear. It's fine, lustrous.

All right. The seventh race, which we

skipped. I hate all of you, by the way.

The, the, the, the disputed testimony.

You know who he is. I do not.

He is the last horse to win the Federico Tessio in 1983.

So it's again. And they on the dirt.

We'll start with you. I Was I right about 1983?

Do I know? That yes, you were, yes.

And he and he's also the the last moments read to date.

To win the fitness in general. OK, Got it.

Yeah, I see. I don't know my second son's

favorite color, but I know that deputy testimony won the

frequency. There you go.

I mean, you know, yeah, So anyway, so this is a great race.

I mean, lots of voices who are very familiar to local race

fans, including #3 nimitz class who absolutely blew through

lower parties last winter and spring, won four straight stakes

race on this track, three in the My Open langs, and I was quite

excited. To see him in in great stakes

company and he finally did so last out in the Salvo tour mile

and even though he came in second, he ran a pretty big

race. He broke him post 6 going a 2/2

mile at Monmouth. Short run into the first turn.

Got caught wide. Couldn't back up because.

Was a horse to his direct inside hang up up the back stretch.

Was staying out and so Gebion Toledo really had no choice but

to move him into the teeth of the pace.

He got caught three wide on the front end.

Everyone else who was on that pace and there were four across

the track going 1/2 mile. All of them backed up and then

it's class hung in there, opened up a clear lead and lost only to

a horse who got a great trip Covered up off that pace battle.

So so. Even though he came in second

that way certainly noticed grace.

This race is going a mile and an eighth longer run in the first

tone better post. Obviously he adores this track

and he should get a much more ground saving trip.

And even though it's a very strong field, including voices

like Be Better coming off true straight allowance wins our

nation on parade who won the Maryland Million Classic last

year and riding with Biden? A.

Folks Loving, Butchery Cheney. Don't start off the layoff who

who ironically lost in Delaware last time out.

The nickname's class is much better than them.

Hopefully we get a bit better than his seven to five.

More and more I have a question for Dan Toledo off to a four for

48 start at Laurel Park. Not a number that I'm very used

to with his last name at any track in Maryland.

Any explanation for that? Or is it just the spell where

this is just happening? Guys and gals go through streaks

in this game and now that Sheldon Russell is back, Jamie

on is not exactly Britney's first call rider anymore.

So when Britney's winning 30% and Sheldon's on the shelf,

Toledo's picking up the scraps. Toledo's still a great rider and

and one of the leading the factors in Maryland racing.

I don't really put too much stock in jockeys to be

personally perfectly honest with you.

So I noticed, but I really didn't.

Really mind it that much. I think Toledo will show up.

Who do you like here? Do you think it's class?

Is the class here. He's the class and he's the

horse to beat. I'm a little bit concerned that

all the racing he's done is finally starting to take its

toll as figures, or maybe tailing off just a little bit.

He's going to be a big favorite in this race and again, he's the

horse to beat simply because he has tactical speed.

I'm not sure he's a slam dunk cinch.

I think there are two other horses that I might use it

better odds, I think, be better for the aforementioned Brittany.

Russell is very, very dangerous. When Todd Fletcher had this

horse early in his career, you could tell he was big.

He needed distance, he needed time to fill out, and he's done

that in his last few races for Brittany.

I think he's ready to jump back up into the stakes ranks, and I

don't think the distance will be a problem for him.

And then if you really just want to go for kind of a Crazy Horse,

how about one of the two? One of the two Jamie Ness

trainees and that'll be Yodel E Hey who horse who's been a

sprinter for most of his career and Jamie's just decided to

Sprint to stretch him out recently and he got it done with

a really nice wide, sweeping move.

He's a horse that needs a little bit of pace.

He's a question mark in a distance, but he'll be a price

for a top barn. So yeah, Nimitz class is the

horse to be, but if you want to take swings, be better and Yodel

EA who or somewhat interesting. What a great name that is.

By the way, I don't disagree. Question for you to more likely

Brittany Russell winner be better or wonder where Craig is?

I think be better. Although, listen, nothing would

surprise me. I'm not gonna fade wonder where

Craig is as much as John is. I'm against him in the Rays and

then lightning. Larry's better.

I think be Better is way more upside, you know?

I think Be better might be a more likely winner.

Are we scooching in on Brittany? Russell is entering Linda Rice

territory where she just can't miss it.

She can't miss at Saratoga right now.

She's getting just the Top Stock of horses.

I mean, she's getting horses from Baffer out in Southern

California. She's getting horses from

Fletcher, which means she's getting horses from Mata Cat.

She's getting Rapoli, She's getting Stronach.

She's getting already, you know, quality owners like the Elkstone

Group for Stewart Grant here in Maryland.

I mean, she's got the top owners, the top bloodlines, and

she knows where to place her horses.

So you know, it's rolling on. It is alright.

Right. I mean it's no and and and let's

add to dance point. It's not it's not the kind of

thing where she's claiming hoses and booming them up.

I mean she never claims she she just gets the best stock.

Like earlier today, earlier in the car.

She has its Viper in the ** NASCAR and Elkstone homebread be

better as you mentioned and ex pledge boys, nobody else.

On the circuit is getting at X pledge.

Of course it's they're going to Brittany.

And in fact I would not be surprised if in in the next year

or two she opened up a bigger string in New York and tried to

compete with the big boys and girls.

All right, release John Piasik at their off on Twitter.

John, one more push for stuff at Maryland.

Go ahead. Once again, we're at

marylandhorse.com/library. For all library themed stuff,

check us out at marylandthoroughbred.com as they

updated on all things related to Maryland dreads.

There's also two Maryland bread stakes on the undercard, the

Miss Disco for Phillies and the Start an aspect of the Boys,

both featuring some of the All Stars of Maryland Circuit.

I know all those names by heart. That's only because I'm crazy.

That being said, if you don't follow up a circuit, those

raises are definitely worth taking a look at or cuts going

to be great. And I also do want to note it is

going to be hot on Saturday as Dan mentioned earlier.

So take those listen post times with a grain of salt because it

would not advise me if they really rushed through this card,

and I think short and post times are also pretty much a

guarantee. Got it?

So you think maybe moving the card up and less time between

races is a real possibility here?

I don't think they'll move it up.

I think we'll put maybe 25 minutes in between races and

send them out of the paddock. Like 2 minutes to post something

like that. Sounds good.

All right. Well, John, Thanks, man.

I appreciate you jumping out. We'll talk soon.

Always a pleasure. Take care.

We're. Going to head out to Delmar and

we're going to talk a little. You know we talked a little bit

about before the San Diego Handicap great two $300,000

purse while. In a 16th, is that what this is

or yeah, on 16th. This of course, it's the entry

into the previous step dirt model I believe is the winner is

what this actually when you're in the sport.

But we've seen classic horses come out of here in the past and

the fund, it's going to be one of those horses who's going to

have that decision to make, right.

So it'll be very interesting to kind of see what happens here.

Pretty, pretty decent feel here. Dan, who do you like in this

race? Well, on paper to fund, it's the

horse to beat at a short price, isn't he?

I mean, he's the best handicapped horse out in

Southern California. I don't really think he has a

decision at all. I think he's using this as a

prep for the Peak Classic. I think if he wins that race, I

think he's going to the Breeders Cup Classic.

Looking at the depth or lack thereof of the three-year old

males and older males, he's the worst to be.

I won't be surprised when he wins it, even money.

I'd like to try to maybe find somebody else in this race at a

price. I was looking at over the PP's

and I was surprised to see this horse, American Admiral.

I think it's a Tim Yacht Teen Horse.

He sold for what, $1.3 million is a yearling and it's taken him

what, 19 starts to get into a stakes race.

So obviously things haven't exactly gone to plan, but I

watched his last race and I can understand why they spent that

much money on him. He is a big, gorgeous looking

horse and as a yearling he must have towered over everybody

else. Now he's still big and he's

still gangly, but I think he's starting to mature.

That last race was pretty good, where he looked the favorite in

the eye and he kind of grinded it out.

I'm worried that he's the horse that needs a little bit more

distance against top horses to be at his best, but I have a

feeling we haven't seen his best yet.

The light bulbs just starting to go on the fund.

It's the horse to be. I'm curious on playing that

horse though. I do think slow down Andy is the

wild card in this. Race the One.

Horse here when he runs his race, Dan, he's terrific.

I mean, he really is. He's a top horse there.

Son of Nyquist, of course. Was on the Derby trail last

year. Ran in a bunch of those races.

Well, S maturity there isn't star etc.

Won the Sunland Derby on on that path so I had a good three-year

old year for sure more than that frankly.

Won a grade two in the awesome excuse me, in the Delmar Derby

last year on the freaking turf right.

So I mean this is a this is just one of those sources such a Doug

O'Neal thing. Let's go ahead and win the

Sunland Derby and then win Delmar Derby on the turf.

That's such a Doug O'Neal thing to do.

I do like his entry here though. Comes out of that mile that he

was never going to win because a horse and Cody's wish was in it.

I understand trying to pick up a piece of that because it's a big

old purse in New York. But essentially second off the

layoff here, they gave him a little bit of time to shift back

get comfortable with Southern California again.

I'm looking for slow down Andy, to be the sort of the the horse

that if he fires this is the one that could cause a lot of

trouble for defunded, especially that mile in the 16th.

I think he, I think Doug thinks he's a miler.

Maybe a little bit more than that.

So I think he thinks that Mile on the 16th is about right.

OK. He's one of the more underrated

horses in training because you remember he won the low, the low

Sal Futurity at two. You mentioned his successes on

turf and dirt at three, ran in the Breeders Cup.

I understand the Met Miles a big purse Boy, that's a tough ask

off a long layoff to run against those horses and then caught up

in his speed. Do I think he gained a lot of

fitness from that race? He draws inside.

I like him a lot better at two turns than the one turn at

Belmont. He might be on to something at a

nice price. He's a good horse.

It is a good horse and frankly that Milefield now looking back

at it, the fact that Cody's wish just wiped the floor with Zandin

and White of Barrio who are not believable finish and I just I

didn't. I went there off the layout.

That was a big ask for that horse.

All right, we'll move on to the Bing Crosby, the grade one Bing

Crosby $4000 on the on the line here for the six for long

Sprint. Who do you like in this one, Mr.

Elman? Sensational betting race I think

big fields, not like the old four horse graded stakes races

at Saratoga. Hey, I mean we're actually

getting some big fields here at Delmar and good betting races.

Listen, Dr. Shivels, a really nice horse.

He's sort of like the slow down Andy of the Sprint division.

He's so underrated. It's a Grade 1 winner at 2.

It's a Grade 1 winner at 3 where he beat older horses.

He took one of the worst beats in Breeders' Cup history when

Aloha W ran him down at the Wire.

And he's come back from injury and he ran a really fast race to

starts back. And how can you hold the men

against him where he's up battling on the lead against

Cody's wish at a distance that's too far for him.

And I still don't like him in this race.

I think Spirit of Mecana is pretty good and I love the way

these connections have handled him.

You could tell because he's so lightly raced that he's had his

share of issues and they've kind of just nursed him along and

nursed him along and give him time between races.

His last two races were a carbon copy.

He set off the speed he blew right by and he looked good.

He's got to cut back to six against top horses, breaking

from post two. Maybe he gets shuffled back a

little bit, but I like what I've seen from this source so far.

I think there's still some upside.

You know, it's interesting. Joe Bravo rides him.

He was on the winner last year in American Theorem, a horse

that I really liked last year who's in this race under Omero.

Ross Folio, at this time out, hasn't been as good since I have

him in the second spot, Dan. So you and I definitely see the

race the same way I do think. I think Doctor Shivel's a horse

can be here for sure, just Southern California 3 for four

at Del Mar he gets, he gets Juan Hernandez here, who I really

trust. You know the other horse here at

the end that I looked at, if I would look at my notes, was the

four horse here in the chosen bronze.

And he is absolutely the wild card of this one, because he's

the only been running in state bread races and so he is a

Calbred. He's out of.

He's Vibronski. Excuse me.

And so to me, that's a horse that's one-on-one 2-3, not one,

not 2, not 3. He's one like 7 races in a row.

And I'm not kidding, he's 12 for 16 lifetime.

He's taking the board class one. But this is a massive step up.

He's never run against a horse like Dr. Schifel.

He just hasn't. And so he's the one you get

Hector Barrios. Speaking of DRF, why does Hector

Barrios get his whole name in the?

The forum, but guys with last names like Smith don't.

You know, that's that's that's a really good question.

I'll bring that up to my superiors in the the IT

department. I have no idea.

Dan has. Superior.

That's very easy. I I wonder how many H berios

there is out there. There are out there.

Maybe they know they had to get Hector in there.

There it is, maybe, but interested to see him step up

here. If you look at his, the times of

his races, he's very fast and can win.

But again it's a class question here with him and I'm interested

to see how he does here. If you're looking for a longer

price by the way that's going to hit the board.

I think off of a a little bit of a freshening here for Peter

Miller is get her number, the six is 15 to one.

I think that's the kind of horse here that can absolutely do

that. They lost building.

Just hung up. I guess he got her number.

Oh, that's great. Oh man, He's like, I'm done.

I'm not talking Saratoga, I'm out.

That's great, Zach, just patching back in when he gets

here. But it is fun.

It is fascinating to see. And there's Dan.

It is fascinating to see in these kinds of fields.

Dan, I was just saying, Yep, how they can have a solid and look,

is this a Grade 1 field? Probably not for the Bing

Crosby, but as you mentioned, as a betting race, having you don't

think so, do you? Think it's a great one.

You got American theorem in here.

You got OK, Yeah, I think. Sebelius is a nice horse, right?

Yeah. You got grade one.

This is a great one. I think, I think, I think it's a

grade one level field. Certainly there are some class

horses in here that are going to be big prices.

You've got the last two winners of the race.

I think you made a good point about get her number.

Maybe this horse is just a little bit off form, but isn't

he just going to get the right race shape?

He's a closer in a race packed with speed and he has the back

class to win this race. Maybe Anarchist is another horse

you might want to consider because when you look at him,

all he does is run big. Well, I think he's a graded

stakes winner on Sinth, graded placed on turf, graded placed on

dirt and he ran into the top swinner in the country Last time

out was far from Disgraced in the true North.

He's kind of lightly raced. I like his running style.

He's a stalker. He's a horse at a price you

might want to consider as well. I mean, I think you can kick

Corleone hit the board. Yeah, so OK.

I mean you guys, I was just saying I think betting wise this

is great because like I mentioned Sebelius here could

could absolutely hit the board for for the O'dwyer bar for

sure. You know, coming out of out of

Dubai wins in Dubai, a Grade 3 or grade one over there, excuse

me, $2,000,000 race at six furlongs comes back, gets that

first race back in North America at Churchill in June and then

it's going to ship out and run that race here now for at

Delmar. Yeah, I mean, all right.

It's a tough. One No.

It's a good race, man. Bing Crosby typically is.

It's. I think it's it's always one of

it's a race that I've seen live actually, and I miss kind of.

Going out fun drink people. It's humble back.

There you go. Let's go out to Saratoga or

let's go come back to the East Coast of Saratoga.

And we're going to start with Race 8, which is the Grade 1

Alfred Vanderbilt 6 furlong on the dirt 3 year olds up $350,000

purse, another Sprint race here. We've already talked about how

we. I mean we talked on previous

editions of the show that the sprints classes for the Breeder

stepper seem to be very loaded. It's going to be loaded this

year, yeah. So who is coming out of this

race is going to join that Sprint class?

Yeah, you know, it's interesting Dan mentioned earlier, who are

those good older dirt horses like a Lee Power going two

turns? There aren't a lot of them, but

the older Sprint class, it's fine.

It's just fine. I mean, you got the four and the

five. Here, I mean I think you're

looking at a class where Doctor Shibbole, let's say he wins the

Bing Crosby and then runs in the fall.

That horse could be 7-8 to one in the Breeders Cup, no

question. Oh yeah, and still and still

have a chance to absolutely win at Santa Anita.

So that's where, I mean that's how good the class is right now.

This race though I I did, I do think it's a 2 horse race.

I'm interested Dan, if if it rains because they're talking

about some rain possibly at Saratoga on Saturday, is that

when Gunite can jump up and win this race?

He is 3 for five at the distance.

He's shown that he has the speed comes back from the of the

Arabian Peninsula. Usually a play against for me

Dan, when horses are coming back say from Saudi Arabia from

Maidan, but comes back wins the true north.

Excuse me, Gunite comes back when Sierras Nighty's at

Churchill Downs and frankly, against Bango, who is an

absolute Churchill specialist. Those are very impressive.

Back to the United States win in the Asmussen barn.

I also think of Asmussen as a six for long specialist.

As a trainer. I hate this.

I hate the box guys up. But man his when his sprinters

are going dude they are going and so we're going to try to

beat elite power here which I think is a mistake.

You're going to have to use a horse like Gunite.

Dan, do you think elite power rolls here?

No, I think Gunite's going to handle him.

I think that I don't think he needs a wet track to beat this

horse. I think Elite Power is very,

very good. His record obviously speaks for

itself. I think I've I've just been

waiting for Gun Night, a horse that's done some really good

work at Saratoga over the years to kind of just figure the game

out. He's always was a little bit

goofy. His race at Churchill Downs was

very, very good last time out. I loved how he just, he treated

that race like a workout. He settled in behind the three

horses in front of him east to the outside and blew by him in

the last quarter mile. I think he's sitting on go for a

big race and. This is the kind of race where

you know if you're playing a multiple race wage or they're

gonna be a lot of folks out that they're gonna say, well, I'm

just gonna use them both. That's not what you do.

You know you're using it. You gotta have, you gotta pick

one and I think this is a gambling game.

I would pick gun. I'd let Elite Power beat me and

knock me out. All right, We're gonna move on

to that large. By the way, if you want a second

or third horse like someone to pick up the pieces, I think Dean

delivers. The six here has a serious shot

to pick up the pieces in this field.

They they're flying in Hama Rio for this one as well coming out

of that. The Sprint at Gulf St.

Park last time out we had a big nice 1109 and one there in that

race over the six for longs, over a little bit of a wet track

there before that one steak red in the big drama.

So I I think that's the kind of horse that can pick up the

pieces if it does get too fast out front.

I do think the Jim Dandy which is the 10th race small and 8th

on the dirt at Saratoga, It's the great you Jim Dandy is

interesting just because even though Forte did not get to run

in the Kentucky Derby gets to go against Disarm who finished

fourth in the Derby, hit show who finished fifth in the Derby

and and of course Angel of Empire who we talked about who

finished third. Plus this new shooter and Saudi

Crown who is being very heavily placed here at 5:00 to 2:00 with

Frenchie aboard Bright Fox, The trainer 5 horse Bills might be a

little disappointing, but this seems to be very, very very, you

know, five quality horses. You know, it's it's interesting,

Dan, because last week when we were looking at the Haskell, I,

I, I sit on the show. This is exactly what I want in

the Haskell. I want the Derby winner, I want

the new shooter. I want the the tap of trice.

That's like we can't figure them out.

And then I want a couple of horses that you know have come

along. And so we got extra naho because

we've been trying to figure out what that horse is.

But it's also that. Yeah, but it is.

It was the exact field we wanted for that race.

And you get the West Coast shooter who ends up winning,

right? I thought the Haskell was

perfect. Mr. Dandy is is a weirdly

perfect five horse field. Yeah, it really is.

You can make a case for all of them, can't you?

I mean, they all can win this race.

You can make a case that Angel of Empire, if he runs back to

his Kentucky Derby, can just steamroll this field in the

stretch Forte. Well, you know he can.

He obviously win this race. Disarm is just a horse that's

come to his own in his last two. He's run some extremely fast

races and is tactical enough to work out a trip.

I think you can make a case for all of them in this race.

The new shooter in here is sort of the the horse that's that's

giving me headaches because I just think he's as loose on the

lead as he wants to be. I mean just look at the

fractions from that last race. So one turn mile in the Dwyer,

they went 22 and change for the opening quarter then he threw in

another 22 second, second quarter.

So he's real fast. He doesn't have to do that to

make a clear lead in here distance.

That's the big question mark experience.

He's given up a lot to these horses, but sometimes pace makes

the race. And if this source gets loose

and the other jockeys, you know the Fortes and the Angel of

Empires, they start watching each other.

When's that one going to move? When's that one going to move?

Maybe this horse on the lead sort of scoots away, so I would

need more than the odds on the morning line, but if he drifts I

would be very curious to take him at a price as a pace play.

The interesting thing about Brad Cox's choice of jockey here is

he had Javier Casalano on him in the Dwyer and he didn't run

poorly, Right? He's there.

He loses to Fort Bragg, who's a Baffer train horse.

Who's probably going to be a mile or forever, right?

And so he loses support. Brad BIA knows he takes Javier

Kesselano off the source and puts Floran Drew back on him.

The two of them, the best when it's a horse that is, is on the

lead, that is what Floranzer Root does the best.

So I think Dan's totally right here.

I think they just assume this is a get out front, stay out front

and kind of race for them. If he gets the two turns, great

and very few, very few people go sprints around as well as Brad

Cox. And I know we're not going

technically sprints around here, but we are going two turns for

the first time. And I do think he can absolutely

do it. It's interesting, he's is sire

always dreaming. We haven't seen a ton of him at

this, at this kind of level, Dan.

But this is a it's a real chance for that for the old CHC folks.

That's a great opportunity. They haven't been very good just

yet. The Always Dreamings.

Obviously he won the Derby. You would think it would be

distance. I'm not even sure that's panned

out yet for the Always Dreamings.

If you look at the pedigree on this source, we gotta go back a

couple of generations. There's some distance.

But maybe he's simply too fast for his own good.

I just think they're looking at this race and saying, hey, what

do we have to lose? If he could win this race or run

really well, we go to the Travers and if the distance is

too far we cut him back for the HL and Jerkins and he's a prime

contender. And either one if he runs well

in the gym, dandy again, you have to let Price be your guy.

I think 5 to 2 is just too light on a horse considering his lack

of experience, his lack of two turn experience and the quality

of competition he's facing. But if he drips again, he gets

loose. Saratoga's the graveyard of

favorites. Maybe he steals it.

Biggest surprise to win? Would it be hit show?

I think to me it would be the biggest surprise.

And you know, how surprising would it really be?

Because the horse looked so good taking the New York Trail to the

Derby. And I just think he was ridden

incorrectly in his last two. In his last two races, the

Derby, I think the rail post got to Manny Franco's head and he

rushed that horse out of there and that pace was very, very

fast. And he, he really wasn't

embarrassed in that race. And last time on the Belmont,

they made a conservative effort go out there after push, the

Preakness winner, National Treasure.

And they went pretty fast. So I think they're gonna settle

him this time and try to make one run and he has that grinding

style that'll work in a distance.

Yeah, I think he's the most surprising for me, but I

wouldn't be that surprised. That's how good this race is.

Yeah, if he runs back to where there's he can win this race.

I mean you know, making the change Elise I is I would

probably help in this. You know, I think that's very

intentional as well. Yeah.

So it'll be interesting. I look, it's got to be the first

three-year old race where we, you know, a field this short

where we have four horses with 100 buyers.

I mean that that's very unusual this year for some reason and

his show has a 99. So it's not like we're talking a

bunch of bums. So no, it's an interesting race.

I don't know in this late sequence Dan and I think

actually. Their their Grand Slam bet,

which they have, actually ends in Race 11.

By the way, if Floral Park people are still watching, I

need to talk to you. I thought we thought we had done

this the last. Race Wait, this last race is

super nice little turf Sprint. You got inside stunt.

He's got some problems with his tootsies, but the horse has got

a lot of early speed. He's going right to the top in

that race. All right, so who wins the last

race of Laurel? I like inside stunt.

OK, you're gonna you're. Gonna look at the trainer with

the no stats and say how can I use them.

I'm saying that's how you use them because guys like you were

gonna throw them out. I agree.

I agree with Dan. Yeah, that's that's what I'm

gonna do. Yeah, that's right.

Cloudy boys winning that race just so everybody does.

He's, He's. Math time was the time for

Cloudy Boy. OK, Dan, thanks again for

joining us. It's always a pleasure to have

you on and you know, I'm sure it won't be too long before we see

you again. Yeah.

Let's let's just end the show, yeah.

All right. Because I have a question for

Dale Minute. They know one that I can't do on

here. How's that?

All right. No music, really.

We're gonna end it. No, I need music.

All right, we'll see you next. This is the horse racing happy

hour.