2023 Haskell & United Nations – TK Kuegler & Brian Skirka Drop by!

The World's Most Ridiculous Intro on the World's Most

Ridiculous Horse Racing Podcast Welcome in Horse Racing Happy

hour. I'm Louie Rebeaux Solo tonight,

hanging out with you, Mike and Elfo somewhere in the woods of

Wisconsin. My guests they don't.

Care for Italians where he is and he's not ever coming back.

So that's where all what's going to happen here.

We bring you in on this episode ahead of the Haskell of course

and opening day at Delmar tomorrow.

So a lot going on actually in the horse racing world, given

that it is mid late July. We'll be joined today by TK

Coogler from Wasabi Ventures, from Wasabi Stables of course on

the horse racing side. And then I will have our guy

Brian Skurka stop by again from Monmouth Park.

We'll talk all things Haskell, United Nations, Monmouth Cup,

etcetera going on there. And how I would bet the sequence

all of those sorts of things. But we'll start as we always do.

We'll go back to those replays that we had last week at at

Saratoga is where we went last week for for all of the

happenings. Casa Creed does win that Kelso

was a horse that we talked about on the show.

Zach, Producer, Zach hanging out of course with us tonight that I

thought was really well placed to get back into this kind of

win at a place like Saratoga in graded company.

With other quality horses in this field, frankly thought the

second start here it back in North America after right

running in the Arabian Peninsula would get him into that good

spot. So let's go ahead Zach, go ahead

and play the replay for me here. If you've got it ready, this is

last week. We're looking here at a Casa

Creed in the in the. Annapolis will go even wider,

white cap far outside as the field turns for home.

It's still big. Everest clinging to a narrow

lead. Casa Creed right to him on the

inside English Bay. Farther back.

Annapolis has a lot of work to do.

Casa Creed A2 length lead coming to the 16th pole.

Annapolis finding his best stride.

But it's Casa Creed. Casa Creed.

What a classy individual. So able to come back after

running in that japer at six Furlongs at Belmont.

Behind, of course. Caraval.

No shame in that. Comes back, stretches back out,

does a great job there. Great ride, great trip as well.

Talk about these older geldings that are still running along

doing the thing on the show, We remind you fall in love with the

Phillies. They run longer, but you can

always fall in love with those turf geldings who seem to run

forever. And Zach?

I'm seeing someone's knocking on the door here, so let's let them

in. Maybe he wants to watch replay

with us. Ohh, there he is.

There's TK. Hey buddy, how are you man?

I'm good. How are you?

Look. Long time coming that we get to

hang out and so thanks for joining us here on the horse

Racing Happy hour Could find you at TK.

Did I pronounce your name properly?

You crushed it. How about that?

I'm living it. I'm living a whole life of

crushing things, TK. Yeah.

It's beautiful. Yeah, yeah.

So good to have you in. You are on all different sides

of the the horse racing spectrum.

Here you are a Pick 5 monster, but also love the ownership side

of things. We'll get into that with you

later on in our Horse Racing 101 segment presented by our friends

at the Maryland Thoroughbred Breeders Association.

But Costa Creed there, man, sometimes we get those older

gellings that just they pick off those races at the longer turf

distances. That's unbelievable, right.

I mean that's that's the beauty. That's often there's two things

there. You talked about the gelding

aspect of it, but there's there's also the turf aspect of

it too, right, Right. I mean all you got to do is look

at Europe and yeah, it's not unusual to see a seven and

eight-year old running 2 1/2 miles somewhere.

In Europe. So that's exactly right.

Yeah. His last race was at 3-3 miles

and three quarters in France, and now he's running in Ireland

at 2 1/2 miles exactly. Exactly right.

He's using the speed and the cutback is that's what it is.

So. He last ran during the Ford

administration. Yeah, exactly.

So we did see a massive upset TK last week and I'd love to get

your thoughts on how you play 2 year old races because we are in

2 year old season now as we get into the summer fall here.

So yo-yo Candy, Zach, let's pull up the Sanford win here for

yo-yo Candy finished behind the favorite the previous time out

of Belmont by 10 by 10 lengths. Excuse me, turns the tables here

in the Sanford at Saratoga. Lengths to make up for lengths

clear of his rights, they pass the quarter pole and turn for

Home and Market Street On the outside, challenging as yo-yo

Candy is rallying Dickens along the inside.

They're a furlong from the finish.

Gold Sweep still has plenty of work to do, but he's starting to

make up ground alongside Triple Tray, 16th Pole, yo-yo Candy

with a 2 1/2 length lead and yo-yo Candy.

Has won the Sanford. So we see this at this time of

year as I mentioned TK, we see these horses growing up right in

front of us. Another time that I always think

of when we get to watch these horses grow up is going from

those October, November high level juvenile races into that

hard you know set up Derby prep schedule essentially where we

see those horses become. You know the great three-year

olds that they can become? Or maybe they were great as two

year olds. Essentially really great at

basketball at 8th and 9th grade, but they get to their junior

senior year of high school and they're just not as good, right?

Maybe they were taller when they were younger.

Whatever it might be. yo-yo, Candy obviously had tried it at

Belmont previously. Loses by a double digit lengths

last time. How?

How would someone have seen this horse last time out?

Well, it depends on how you're what have you bet right a little

bit because you you mentioned I'm a pick five guys, so I.

I'm playing a lot of horizontals, so if you look at

the sequence there and how you think about the sequence, when

you see a 2 year old race, anything can happen, just it

doesn't matter. And if you watch that race and

you watch the replay just now, the heavy favorite is probably

the best horse in the group, right?

Just you know how it finishes. It breaks badly and it gets

everything that goes wrong. Well, that's what happens in two

year old races, right? I mean that's just the nature of

especially in a place like Saratoga where everybody's

gearing to go run, right. So you're, you know, so you

could even have a first time starter in a race like that that

could have jumped up and won and you wouldn't know very little

about the horse. So and we saw that on Friday by

the way in the, in the excuse me, on opening day in the

debutante, right. So I mean there was 100% on the

Philly side. Yeah, Yep.

Yeah. And so you know, so you as a

horizontal player, I'm looking for a big price in that.

In a race like that I'm going to go skinny somewhere else, really

skinny singling. You know, I'm going to try to

find a single when I see a race like this in the sequence,

hoping that happens. No, I can tell you I didn't hit

the pick five in this case but but, but that was but I had

yo-yo candy. In my pick five.

Why? Because I was very wide there

just as a personal thing, the owners of Yoyo Candy, great

people, they had the box next to us at Tampa.

So super nice people. So it's always nice to see

operations like that get a nice big win.

So but but yeah it was in my mind when you see a race like

that or or you see another one that at Saratoga to think about

this very similar estate. Bread allow straight state bread

races cuz you got all kinds of weird stuff happening yet you

know I hit the pick 5 yesterday, the late pick five it at at at

Saratoga yesterday and it ended with a state bread race and.

New York. Challenge.

Exactly. And so, and it was a little bit

of a price that got home, but I was so wide.

It wasn't like I was a genius and I knew that horse was going

to get there. It's because I had already hit

two singles to get there. Oh, nice Okay there.

Well, there you go. So that's, that's some good

advice. I agree by the way on the two

year old thing, especially expecting a 2 year old horse to

have back-to-back great races with no issues.

It's just unrealistic and you're in ownership.

But we'll get to this. The fact that any horse ever

gets to the starting gate to me is still a remarkable

accomplishment of of man's desire to have a horse racing.

So Zach, let's go ahead. We'll get to that final race

that was there on Saturday at Saratoga.

Of course the Grade 1 Diana, the Chad Brown Invitational.

We got the Grade 3 winner in white beam jumping up in a very

competitive end of this race. Yeah, there's some momentum now

within four of the lead, as in Italian now has to fend off

white beam 111 and four for six furlongs.

They're at the top of the stretch white beam firing a big

shot on the outside of in Italian.

In Italian a length white beam on the outside.

Market segmentation trying to get by.

FEV Rover for 3rd coming to the 16th poll in Italian set down

white beam trying to get her in Italian ahead white beam.

Big effort from FAV Rover in Italian white beam.

A final try, white beaming in Italian in a photo finishing.

Still getting used to Frank Miramati, but the.

Incredible splits there, by the way.

We're 135 1/2 essentially at the mile there.

So they're flying. I mean, in Italian was

absolutely flying. I think if you look at her at

the end there, you think she's slowing down, but really she is.

She's done all the work. She's got a huge pace there.

We get white beam at the end. We're seeing Flavia and Pratt

prove that he is really one of these absolutely elite riders in

the stretch. You get a full example of that.

I will be very honest. This was a race that I did not

bet because I thought this kind of outcome was possible.

I just didn't know which one of the other four horses might hit.

100%, a 100%, It's a race like that.

You have two choices, you take a stand with one horse or don't

play it, in my opinion. So those are your two choices

when you have a field like that and a situation like that, if

you say I'm gonna play it. Take a stand with something and

you know and and you got to and you can't take away anything

from an Italian. I thought the Italian ran a

great race right. You know but that's that's what

makes this game wild is a better right you can have if you had an

Italian there and and you're like boy I had the horse ran

great I knew the horse was going to ride great and it still

wasn't enough. You know you still go throw away

all the tickets if you if you don't have it so.

Chad Brown has now won a 77 straight renditions of that

race, so Congrats. Relations to him I'm.

Sure. I'm sure he's very proud of

that. We were interviewing Brad Cox a

couple Fridays ago ahead of the Indiana Derby and we said, hey,

if you win the Indiana Derby, what are you going to do?

And he said, I don't know, get my car, go home and go to bed.

All right, great. That must be nice.

Win a Grade 3 and with one of your three-year olds and just go

ahead and drive home and watch workouts the next day.

All right, Well, yeah, just of those three races, who do you

think's the most likely to bounce back and have another

good race? 3 Casa Creed yo-yo candy.

Yeah, I'm gonna say Casa Creed because I I just think Casa

Creed is the, you know, a little bit depends on you know where it

goes and what not. But I but I would say if you

had, if I had to pick one of those three, I'm taking Casa

Creed. I'll take white beam here just

because I think a little bit more experience in the trad

brown, whatever it's going on up there in New York with the with

the turf trading it's a little more time in his barn.

I think she'll she'll really appreciate and I think that

she's the kind of horse. Especially if she can keep

getting a Flavian Pratt or whatever super high level amount

she's going to get, I think it's a chance that she ends up

picking off another major, major race before the end of the year.

And of course we have TKN. He is our guest for racing One O

one with the Maryland Breeders. And of course, hey, this Sunday,

the Maryland Horse Breeders Association.

They're going to host their 89th annual Yearling show live from

the Maryland State Fairgrounds at Timonium, a place I haven't

been on my bucket list, TuneIn as some of Maryland's future

stars. They're going to be showcased to

judge by longtime trainer Ned Allard.

And all of the winners will receive cash prizes.

That show starts at 9:00 o'clock Eastern Time on Sunday.

tunein@facebook.com Maryland Thoroughbred.

So go ahead and check them out. Great partners of RSTK.

I know you have a large ensemble of horses in the state of

Maryland. How many do you have currently

in Maryland? We 26 broodmares right now.

So you then you start throwing it in the yearlings and you know

it is our base of breeding operations.

So I think we're easily one of the two or three largest

breeders you know sort of in Maryland.

And we, yeah, we've been hanging out with them, but, you know,

we. We try to do the Preakness as

often as we can. It seems to TK coincide with my

kids First Communions, unfortunately, because they try,

they try to avoid the Derby here, right?

So they're like, oh, two weeks after Derby, we'll just have

we'll have First me and I'm like, can we do it three weeks

after Derby? Is that through moving?

I love my family, but what are we doing?

Did they not understand that's a dark weekend?

That's a. Dork, come on guys can't do that

to me. And so, so we were there this

year. It was actually a gandolph was

first trip and I think we had properly prepped him for

Pimlico, which was. It's not Churchill Downs and so

just it's, it's Okay, by the way.

You're going to have a great time.

People are in a terrific mood. It costs something in the

magnitude of 90% less than going to the Derby.

And so there's going to be a lot younger people, the the crowd.

That's the thing that Zach and I noticed this year is, you know,

they've really stretched out that Derby weekend at Churchill

from just being on Saturday when I moved here 15 years ago.

You could go to Oaks for 60-70 bucks.

Go sit in the grandstand, have fun with your buddies and and

whatever else and now it's all grouped together and all those

kinds of things. They pushed a lot of that crowd.

They had like 5556 thousand people on the Thursday before

Derby and that crowd was very young.

It was very interesting to watch and everyone was dressed like

they were going to the Derby, but that was their Derby day,

was that Thursday because you could go for 50, sixty, $70.00.

And so we've watched that change, but the Preakness still

has some of that feel where you get the younger crowd but you

still get. Man, I have a selfie on Twitter.

I put up, I think the guy's been a 41 straight Preaknesses, you

know, that kind of thing. And so Maryland has its own

thing, but there's a lot of pride and what I like TK that

I've noticed is their progression of how they build

their series up to the Tessio and then up to the Preakness.

It's so logical. It's 7 furlongs and then at

Laurel you have the one turn 8 for a longer, then you go nine

and then you, you know, the Tessio's 9 and then you run the

Preakness. I mean, just it all of them make

sense and there's so much logic to it.

So that's a really good state bread program there.

Have you benefited from it? Very much.

Like I said, we're we're, we're pretty, we may even be the

largest breeder in the state of Maryland.

You know, I'm not sure but we're pretty close.

We're the fighting distance of it.

So you know I had a I had a horse win the other day where

you got we got a state bread breeder about us we sold the

horse. It's been gone for a year and a

half but you know yeah. Cuz you're getting.

You're going to get 30%, right? You're going to wind up getting

your 30% as a breeder? You know, and without any bills,

which is you know, can't you can't hate that as well.

Yeah, So this is horse racing 101 and we've had on, you know,

we've asked different people. So our first, our first was was

Jenna Antonucci. So no pressure, no pressure.

Follow, no follow. Hello, Jenna Antonucci.

The Dan Hillman, of course we asked him, you know, if somebody

wanted to be a DRF guy, if they wanted to be a public

handicapper for a living, how would they go do that?

What does your day look like, Dan?

We asked him about that. You do a lot of different things

and I know that horse racing ownership is not maybe it's

becoming your number one, I don't know, but it isn't how you

started, at least in business. What is your, what is your

approach to horse racing ownership?

Do you do you know, cuz I, you know, if people were looking at

wasabi from the outside and what should they know about it?

Yeah, I think, I think it's, I'll do 2 pieces there cuz it's

a one-on-one piece. So, you know, without being much

of A plug, our approach is a little different than probably

anybody else, you know when I started off in this.

I had the dream of building more owners.

That's what I wanted to do. I wanted to educate people to be

good owners and then they could go off and be owners on their

own. They don't have to stay with us.

That was the dream. And so to do good education, we

spend a lot of time as a community.

We have an incredibly about 1400 people actively talking to each

other all day, every day, so and so we have a platform where

people sit there and talk all day.

About all kinds of things, from wine and food to, you know,

horse racing and handicapping and you name it.

But sprinkled in there is a lot of education and I think it

would be if you, if you think about like how they treat

ownership in Europe, you you actually have to take some and

get some education before you can get a license.

You have to prove that you can pay for the horse that you're

buying. You know that you can support

it. These are all things that I

think. Make a good man.

It's hard to do that in the way things are regulated here, but

it would be interesting. And So what I did with Wasabi

was let's do that education and let some people go off.

And sort of how we do that is I do it.

We're probably the only people. The only syndicate in the world

that does this, but if you buy into a horse that we claim and

you get your, you buy your 1% you you're basically paying what

we paid for the horse, the 1% and you have no ongoing bills

and no risk of loss. So if the horse loses money,

it's on me. You're not paying anyone ongoing

bills. I just do it so that there's a,

you know that education piece and I think not everybody can do

that but but but we do and. You know, and the last piece I

would say bringing it back to sort of ownership 101 is that I

would strongly urge anyone before you jump in and say, hey,

I want to buy it and run my own horse, simulate it, go ahead and

pick a horse that's already been running, take just pick it at

random. Any horse in the program, don't

pick the one that looks the best, just pick a horse in

random in the program. And figure out how what the

expenses were and what the revenues were for let's say a

year or two years or some period of time and do the math on it.

And then you'll quickly realize that it's probably lost money if

you did it right. And if you lost money, could you

afford to lose that money? Because that's one of the key

things that I think people, you know, it's most of the time guys

with egos, they jump in, they go to off sale, they buy whatever

expense a 2 year old they. They're told that they should

buy and the horse can't run. And lo and behold, lo and

behold, now they're way underwater and all this game's

crooked and I don't want to be a pride.

Well, if they had got a little of that education and taking the

time to do what I just described, they may not have

that feeling. What's more exciting?

Hitting the pick five or a random horse you claim?

Picking off a low level claimer at Laurel?

Oh, it's just totally winning a race, right?

Is there's nothing like and and I love the claiming it.

We're big in the breeding and so we raced the breed you know

breed the race and all of that. And that's wonderful and that's

got its own thrills that you have a horse that you breed and

then it runs and it wins. And all of that fun stuff there

is that's a great joy too but it's a different joy.

But the idea that you can claim a $25,000 horse at Tampa.

Who now probably ran the fastest buyers figure last week in the

country that means you did something right when you claim

it as a 25K maiden a year ago and ran in the Haskell.

You know we're going to talk about the Haskell a little here.

You know that was a 25K claimer we picked and was in the lead of

the Haskell as a turn for home. So you know that's that's

there's a pretty big thrill in that.

How did you get into horse ownership?

When did you? When did you see your first

horse race? Are you are you one of these

guys, Same last name as someone else, like everyone in horse

racing? Or are you like me?

Close, but not quite so close. My great grandfather was a

trainer and so I fell in love and he lived to be like 95 years

old. So I got to hear all his stories

and no one between him and myself.

Had anything to do with horse racing in the family, right?

So they they they all fell out of it, just.

And so I promised myself when I had made enough money in my

life, I would go off and started racing.

You know, I'd started stable. I'd started racing stable.

And the deal with my wife, This is true.

Family lore here, this is, and it's very true.

Was that we have four children and I could not start the racing

stable until the youngest graduated because if we were

going to travel around my wife wanted to go with it and she

didn't want to just sit at home while I'm off at you know, Santa

Vita watching some horse run, right.

So. So that was the deal and.

Family lore, which is almost exactly true.

As my youngest daughter is walking across the stage.

I'm claiming a horse and and all that.

That's close to true. It's it's it's me, you know,

might be a little apocryphal, but it's it's not too far from

the truth. Owning horses and and having an

operation means you have to trust a lot of people.

Yeah. Who?

Who is it in the industry that you think you have to trust the

most? Is it a breeder?

Is it a? A bloodstock agent?

Is it a trainer? What?

Who? Who's the person that you're

trusting the most? Here I think it, I think it's

both. And you know, what I did was I

basically in both of those cases like a bloodstock for the

bloodstock agent and the and the trainer.

In both cases I basically made them employees, you know, so I

took them over and made it private.

And that was, you know, just like employing anyone else in

some ways. You bring them in and you, you

know, so Jesse Cruz is our primary.

Mary Trainer, we use a couple others, but Jesse Cruz is and he

and I have been together, you know, four years now.

And you know, we spent a lot of time together and it's like any

other employee, right? You know, I got a couple of

other hundred other employees and other businesses.

You know, it's like anything else you you you learn to trust

them and you learn how they work and what they do well and don't

do well and help them where you can.

And the same thing I have George Adams on the on the Bloodstock

side, you know, really runs a lot of our breathing operation

and you know, but that took a lot of trust to your point and a

lot of conversations and observing and all of the things

you would do with your hire. That's one of the crazy things

like in this game is that so many owners come in.

And they just start firing away, right?

It's like. The Jerry Jones approach, right?

Yeah. Did you interview anyone?

Did. You actually spend time with the

trainer. Did you watch their operation?

Did you go in the morning and just observe how they treat

their own employees? All these kind of things.

And you know, and most of the time they're like, no, I had no

idea, You know, I just, I just picked one up, you know, I saw

he was there, he was drinking and I like to drink.

So next thing you know, he's my trainer.

I'm like, well, that's fantastic That I said, is that how you,

you know what Most most people come into this business, right?

We're successful in something else, right?

It's not right if they're an owner in this game.

They were, they were doing something else 1st.

And it's amazing to me they come in here and they lose all of

their business sense. Right.

It's like, it's like you hired someone to run and in some cases

multimillion dollar business for you.

And you did that because they're good, you know, they're fun

people to be around. Well, you wouldn't do that with

any other business. Why would you do that here?

Interesting. All right, well, we're going to

look at a sequence at Monmouth this weekend.

TK that is an all stakes pick. 5T K plays lots of pick fives.

Is your preference a? Claimer and allowance Kind of

pick 5A mix of stakes and allowance of claimers or an all

stakes pick five. What's your preference?

I think it depends on what the sequence, where the sequence is.

And what I mean by that is if you're playing like an all stake

sequence where the handle is gonna be really really large,

then that's great because. Because then there's you've got

a chance, even if it's a little chalky and you hit one bomb that

you could still get a nice payoff if it.

If it's a normal everyday pick five sequence, then I'm I'm

going to want something somewhere in there where the

crowd is not picking what I'm picking, you know?

And I'm so I'm going to have to have maybe two races where I'm

where I'm going against the crowd to get the payoffs that

I'm looking for, so. So I don't know if I answered

your question, but I think it depends.

I think it depends. I think it's easier in some ways

to handicap a stakes thick five. I agree, right, because because

you're dealing with better horses, right, when you do a

$5000. And usually more consistent

horses. Consistency, I think, is really

the toughest part, yeah. Yeah, yeah, A $5000 claimer at

the bottom at most tracks, you know, or whatever the bottom

claimer is in the track at any given week.

Any of those could be not running well and you won't know

it until it's too late. Yeah.

Whenever I hear at Horseshoe Indianapolis, for example, where

we do a lot of work that it's a state bread race and it's a, you

know, it's a 12/5 claimer, I go okay, how many can I grab, you

know, because it's going to be, I mean.

They run every 2, 1/2 weeks and you just said they just trade

wins and it is what it is. And my favorite though I think

for sure is that a Sinnaboya Downs, there's a there's a

condition called Manitoba, Saskatchewan, North Dakota,

South Dakota bread and I think not even close.

That's the best condition in horse racing I don't think.

It's close. No that could, you could,

absolutely could. Manitoba.

Saskatchewan. North Dakota.

South Dakota. I just.

I think it's. It it tickles me, TK.

It's what it does. All right, so we will go to

Monmouth. Did you did you get a chance to

look at the Oaks on Saturday? At Sarah Took a by chance.

I did, but only in passing, but I I I you know.

Definitely. I mean, just me see the return

of wet paint. You know, Sacred Wish is here.

She's an interesting horse to me, gambling girls in the spot.

She almost picked off the Kentucky Oaks this year in that

that pretty mischievous. And gambling girl 1-2 we've

obviously seen pretty mischievous back that up with a

great comeback in the Acorn. So she showed that she belongs

every bit of 10 to one and and more on Oaks day reminded me a

little frankly one of the first Oaks that Mike and I work

together I think it was in 20/19 was when Serengeti Empress won

and she was the she was the horse that when we saw her in

the mornings we went oh whose colt is that and then we found

out it was Serengeti Empress and she's just jogging by and I'm

like good God. I'm betting on that.

And then we watched the number tick up and she got the 13 to

one she gains. She's in the lead on the first

turn in the Oaks and I'm thinking it's too soon.

Here it is. OK, never mind.

Terrible choice. And she just gallops home

beautifully. That's kind of what pretty

mischievous. It feels like this year she's

really, you know, shown that she belongs in that group.

But we also get Hoosier Philly, who came back in that Monomoy

girl over that that one mile kind of 1 1/2 turn thing at

Ellis Park. Interesting race here.

I'm not sure it's a Grade 1 field, but it's at least an

interesting race. Do you have a favorite here, TK?

Well, I've got a rooting favorite.

I'll say that wet paint. We have a broodmare that is very

closely related to wet paint. So it would be.

It's always nice cuz that that makes that up, makes our brood

go up in value. So just like we root for disarm

because we have a full to, we have a provedmare that's a fold

of disarm. So you always root for that, but

from a handicapping standpoint, I think you're spot on honestly.

I think you're gonna see, I think this is a pretty wide open

race because it's because you can make a case for four or five

of them sure. And I think that's that's really

that's always a good especially. Younger horses again you know

it's anything could happen a little bit there and but I, I,

I'm, I'm, I think this could go any I, I I'm going to be rooting

for wet paint so it's always hard not to It's because that's

going to line my pocket more than probably if I hit the big 5

candidly. So okay got it all right well.

You get Flavia bread at Saratoga, which lately has been

a very good idea to choose. So I I am really interested at

at the amount of time off that they've given.

To gambling girl I think that there's a very clear there's a

very clear path with this may be a warm up for the Alabama I'm

not sure. But Pletcher I praised on this

show many times I think places as horses as well as anyone.

I I don't know that Hoosier Philly is good outside the state

of Kentucky. She was fine in the Black Eyed

Susan. I thought she ran a fine race

but I I just I I really do wonder if she's a little more

captive to running good races in Kentucky.

But yeah I. Again it is a lazy a lazy man's

take on that race. I don't know that I'm touching

that one. I just.

I was man producer Zach will tell you I love wet paint.

I mean starting in the mouth. Martha Washington, we we we

leaned on her very heavy and then she let me down big time in

the Kentucky Oaks. By she I mean she got a terrible

ride from Flavia and Pratt in the Oaks which was really

disappointing but. You know when you finish fourth

by three lengths in a major race like that, I usually don't hold

it against three-year old horses.

So she's definitely got a shot on Saturday.

Zach, go ahead and pop on the screen for me.

I want to make sure that I'm. Is Brian here, man, If he Cuz if

he is, let's get him in here. How about that?

I have no idea. Who knows who here, but Zach,

let's go ahead. We'll take those logos off the

screen so I can see T K's beautiful face.

As we get into the handicapping here, Brian Skricker joins us

from Monmouth Park. He is not from Louisville, as we

learned last time. He was very offended that I

would ever even ask that he if he was from Louisville.

And so I will make sure not to do that today.

Brian, how are you, man? You doing all right?

I'm doing great. I decided to give you a pickup

and I'm back again. But proud New Jersey in here.

There it is, All right. Little New Jersey on the

Thursdays names Brian. Circuit Skirk.

Excuse me. Find all their stuff this

weekend Really excited for them. One of my very favorite days of

the year and I actually might like the United Nations race

more than I like the Haskell, but no one needs to know that.

Luckily, I didn't say that out loud on a podcast.

All right, so not on the show sheet, but the matchmaker is

Race 5. Why is the matchmaker Race 5 and

not Race 9? Brian go?

Line line. Actually don't make sense in

here because it actually gets a Sprint into that that pick five

sequence which is very helpful actually later on Brian was nice

enough actually to send me TK the takeout rates at Monmouth

Park. Sometimes takeout rates a little

hard to find. Cool thing at Monmouth pick

fours, pick fives both 15%, very playable.

So if you are playing a longer wager this week and at Monmouth

there maybe wanted to play a couple different tickets and

press a couple different ways depending on who you like and

who you don't. Very playable and that

matchmaker will end the early pick 5.

Which starts in race one gives you an opportunity between some

made and special way, some optional claimers and of course

that grade 3 and race 5 as well. So Brian will go to race eight

though the Monmouth Cup here you were on last month for us with

us excuse me a little bit of a preview ahead of some of these

races. We're seeing some of those

horses that we did see last month who ran those really good

races. We're going for $400,000 here.

Mile and 8th on the dirt. This is for three-year olds and

up in the Monmouth Cup. This is essentially the older

horse version of the Haskell. Brian pretty prestigious race

here, who we see Proxy here in this spot, a Grade 1 winner

outside of Proxy, do you think there's someone who's a real

threat to him? It's it's tough.

I mean proxy has all the back class.

I mean he's going to be every bit of 1 to 5 two to five based

on his past credentials. He he is a horse that I have

been on proxy for a while he's that horse that let's say that

I've I've. You know, bet him five out of

the six last his last races. He lost the five that I bet on

him and he won the six. He's like one of those horses.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, we.

All have him. You know, he runs in spots a

little bit like he needs to be on the outside.

Well, he's one of those horses. Like he'll be under a drive at

the half mile pole dropping back and then you'll just assume that

he's, you know, not gonna run his race that day and then he'll

come flying at the end to get beat of nose.

So he's kind of a weird horse. He's a horse at no, you know, at

2:00 to 5:00 that. This is a race that I might try

to beat him in just based on, you know, we kind of runs in

spots and he, you know, he doesn't give you his best 24/7.

But then you look through the field and you're kind of like,

who am I gonna beat him with And there's not really a horse that

jumps off the page that the one thing I would say is proxy is

one of many closers in here I don't see like a confirmed speed

horse. I'd probably say the horse to

outside to Proxy's outside Waylon Springs is probably the

low and speed in this race. He wanted yeah to he he won an

allowance last time out so you know he's never been in a stakes

going two turns. He ran in the chick Lang the

Sprint race you know last year so he definitely does not class

up to proxy. He he would be the only horse

that I would maybe take a shot and just really hope to get

lucky that he's left alone on the lead proxy decides that hey

I'm not going to you know run my a race today but I I proxy's

going to be awfully tough at a very very short price.

There are listeners around the country who are tuning in to

check out the Haskell this weekend.

In the in the past performances, a couple of horses here ran a

mile at Monmouth. Is that one turn or is that two

turns over the track of Monmouth?

Two turns. So we don't run many flat mile

races. Usually they're a mile and 70

yards, but a mile is 2 turns and it's literally start at the

finish line, end at the finish line, and it is a pretty short

run to the first turn. That's kind of why we run a lot

of mile and 70 yard races just to give a little more room to

the to the first turn. But a mile is 2 turns at Mama.

The other horse that was not mentioned there that was in that

race was anti gravity. The the one horse here for Dan

Ward and Nick Juarez will be coming out of the one hole

there. Dan did you Dan, I host with a

guy named Dan for 10 hours a week in the mornings and so

that's why I called TK Dan for no reason at all.

TK outside of proxy to you. Well you get to be a Hall of

Famer for Dan to be fair. You 8 times he's an 8 time hall.

I work with an 8 time hall of. Famer, I know, I know.

What do you ever do with? That anyways.

And he's nice. Whatever.

Get out. I know.

We're I mean proxy man class that we have a stay in classical

and class on this show. Boy see top class here.

Totally. I mean, I think Brian nailed it

spot on on this race. But like Brian said, I have a

hard time betting the source two to five, You know I'm going to

try to beat it here and. The one horse I'm going to try

to beat it with this calibrate is is the horse and I'm going to

I'm going to probably throw it's another horse coming.

You can make a case that it's dropping down in class as well a

little bit here so and ran ran a decent run in the Brooklyn so I

mean I think you could you can make a case for possibly how's

that. He calibrates the was that

definitive or what was that maybe Ness who you know very

well from the Maryland circuit of course is is training there

and so calibrate would be there man I I just I think you lean on

proxy in this spot I think Adolphin very rarely misses with

these kinds of horses Michael Stidham sends him out here he

made proxy made me look Brian you were talking about when you

bet him he made me look really smart the Clark last fall so I'm

a little worried I'm biased about about me having said no

the the layoff really doesn't bother me about.

About him and the Clark and then he runs out there and he runs a

great race of course that we were we're lucky to be at at

Churchill Downs so we'll we'll go on to the next race here

which of course is the Wolf Hill and the Wolf Hill is a 5 1/2

furlong turf Sprint it's over one and one third turns there at

at Monmouth who has the has a pretzel of an of a turf course

there. It's very cool for three and up

it's $100,000. Here it's a listed stakes.

And TK, I'll go to you here first a little bit.

I think a couple more horses we could bet in this one than the

last race A. 100% I personally am gonna if you put a gun to my

head and said you gotta pull the trigger and you're only gonna

get picked one, I'm gonna pick nothing better as my one horse

to pull the trigger on. But this is probably a race.

It's a first of all. It's a turf Sprint.

Is there anything? There's nothing better in the

world than a turf Sprint we should have. 3 Turf Sprints

Every card is what? If I was king of the world, We'd

have 3 turf sprints every card. And you could do it right

because you just you just move it around.

You're not even working the same part of the track.

You could you could get creative here and make it work anyway.

Change the finish line. Let's go, people, Yeah.

Exactly. You know, I digress.

I digress. So.

But I you know, but I so. But I think you could make a

case for at least. Four or five horses here.

And when you have that situation, once again, if you're

playing a horizontal and you don't feel really strongly about

one of them, this is a race that I'm probably going to spread and

I'm probably going to be looking three or four or five horses

here with a couple singles somewhere else.

Nothing better. Dropping out of the Grade 1

japer at Belmont last time out. Is the seven horse here for the

Duarte barn. Louis Size picks up the mount

here, which I wrote in my notes. I have nothing better in the

second spot here, Brian. I think the addition to Louie

size is a major positive here. Horse does have five wins in the

last 10 starts, four of eight lifetime at Monmouth Park, so

likes the course. Brian, for you, you've worked

there for a while, You're a Jersey kid.

Do you look at how horses have have performed over that turf

course at Mama? Does that matter to you?

Oh, 100%, Yeah, I do that at any track, really.

If a horse is, you know, 3 for 30 and all three of those win

these three for three at a track, you know that that means

something. So yeah, so nothing better.

Definitely is a Monmouth. Probably the few horses in here

that love Monmouth Park, you know midday image.

The two is 3 for eight at Monmouth Belgrano.

The four loves Monmouth 8 out of 12 in the exact and and nothing

better for for 8:00. So yes, I do, you know, factor

that in for sure. I like for Harp here, the 9:00

for sure. I have him slightly ahead of

nothing better in this spot, 97 on top for me.

I think the addition to Paco Lopez is a major positive.

Paco knows the course. As well as any jockey frankly in

the country right now that layoff of the course, that

layout there where there's kind of an indent coming into the

track and then you take a slight left to get onto the main turf

course. I think that once in a while for

horses that aren't used to the track and we don't have too many

of them here, that could set up for for a closer if there's a

little bit too much speed on the front even the one horse here is

10 to one. I'm gonna include that horse

here coming out of a 5 furlong handicap at Gulfstream Park.

I think that. The sub 57 five prolongs is a

winning time even in this group, so if it gets too hectic up

upfront, Joel Rosario in the mouth there might be able to

carve out a trip for this horse so that one hole hurts less.

I think for this horse a long term.

I mentioned midday image in my notes.

Is Whitty going to win again is really my question here.

Is that 5 horse going to be something that is worth

including here? I have six horses in this field.

I included in my ticket 97124 and five.

But I think you can make a lot of cases for a lot of different

horses. But I'm interested to see if it

gets so out of control up front that maybe a horse like Eamon

gets to the front and takes over.

In this one we go to the next race.

It is the great three Molly pitcher, by the way.

If people are wondering, yes, the the, the, the purses are

massive. The last, the last winners of

the the Monmouth Cup. By the following horses, highly

motivated Dr. Post global campaign war story are the last

four winners of this race. It's a very serious race, Brian.

Can you name the last horse to win it two years in a row?

No. OK, it was Braidster in 15 and

16 for Eddie Kennealy and two different jockeys there, Cory

Landry and Joe Bravo as well. So an interesting old jersey Joe

there. How about that?

But we do go to the 10th race, which is the Molly Pitcher.

Another one of these races where you've heard.

Of the winners it's a half million dollar race.

Phillies and Mayors a mile in the 16th.

A little surprising. It's a grade 3 to me because of

who shows up in this one. We get some serious high level

class in this one and search results coming in for Chad Brown

obviously a daughter of flatter Ley DaVita coming out of that

win in Cleveland. At Thistle down in the Lady

Jacqueline we get another, a horse that came out of that very

productive Alair DuPont at at excuse me at Pimlico couple back

Interstate Daydream came back, ran second.

In the Indiana Oaks and then we get Misty Vale coming back,

running in that in that Lady Jacqueline.

But of course Laid Aveda or Misty Vale excuse me, runs

second and that comes back here. Laid Aveda comes back wins in

the Lady Jacqueline. Very productive race there.

TK again class going class. A little hard to look past

search results. I'm interested in a couple of

new wish shooters here. I think love is an interesting

horse because she breaks her maiden as a four year old that

Keeneland goes to Churchill wins in an allowance race.

Goes to Ellis in the slop wins by 685 lengths, which is really

impressive. So I'm interested to see if

we're going to go outside of search results.

I might try one of the newer shooters.

She comes up as one of them and then the three horse in this

race is distinctly possible. That's a brown sized combo.

If I had to lean on one, I would go more with with that.

With the six horse, they're in love.

Where would you land? Take care.

It's so funny you mentioned love because I actually watched a

bunch of, I watched the replays on a bunch because you don't

have a bunch. But I watched the replays today

of the of the last couple races and there's something about that

horse that it kind of explodes when it hits the ground, right.

Kind of, you know and and I honestly, you know Tyler stays

on here, you know, so and is there anybody.

Training better than Brendan Walsh right now.

Yeah, he's winning all over the place.

So. So I think it's a really

interesting because I think, I think what you're going to get,

you know I think the Chad Brown effect here is going to get even

money bet on it. Yeah, I mean you're going to get

even. It's going to go 4:00 to 5:00 to

even money or somewhere in that range and and that's what you're

going to, that's what you're going to see on search results.

So once again if you're in these situations.

Yeah, maybe that's maybe that's the way it's going to go.

But as a gambler, you should be looking for value somewhere

here. And making a case for love is is

a case that I can make. Is really the story.

Brian We also see laid. Avita, like I mentioned, she's

coming out of this Falcon net is another horse that ran in that

DuPont. I think Pletcher had ideas for

her earlier in the year, ran her at a bunch of those, those

listed stakes. We find her back in a Grade 3

here. A horse like Falcon at a horse

like Misty Vale or a boy. Are you gonna lean on that class

and someone like your searchers also?

No, I'm leaning on the two that you said.

I'm a huge search results fan. I always have been.

She tries hard every time, and she just falls so short to

either, you know, a champion like Latruska or, you know,

finds the distance just a little too far.

I think that's why Chad Brown is here with her.

He brought her here last year. I think like a mile and a 16th,

around two turns is absolutely perfect for her.

And there's not many, you know, all.

Big races in New York and Breeders' Cup they're a mile and

an eighth which is probably like 50 yards too far for her.

So I think this is his kind of you know race of get her kind of

a relatively you know more easy race than those grade one bears

are in New York at her perfect distance.

And then you know bring her back in the personal ends in it at

you know the longer distance and just have her run her eyeballs

out and she just, you know whether it's Clarier or Malathad

or. Her Latrusca, like I said she

just runs some unbelievable races and finished second and

third so I'm a huge fan of hers. She's going to take a lot of

beating and the only horse I think can beat her is is love

just cuz she's a she's an unknown she's never running

stakes company but as you said she's just trouncing horses that

she she's been facing and to me she's the only speed horse in

the race as well so so you know even though she doesn't class up

to search results she might have in a you know paper so far.

You know, she might have a pace advantage and you know, she she

could be anything. She's she's, you know, slow but

surely improving. I think, I think that's the key

Brian is, is that with love is that we don't know.

Nobody really knows, right. I mean she may be the class you

started later, right. And you know this could be the

coming out party or something you know here.

So I, I, you know if I'm going to look for value, I'm going to

try to pick that because a lot of the other ones if you try to

make value, you're stretching, right, I mean.

You're really stretching to make a case for some of the others on

this on this in this particular race.

Last five trainers to win this race Brown Pletcher, Mod Asthmas

and In Motion. You may have heard of them with

past winters. Includes search results

Horologist Midnight Bizu How this is a great three, I don't

know but here we are. Search results of course.

The winner last year reentered here with Chad Brown in this one

and you know would be nice if loved one here you know.

Good dolphins. Such a mom and pop operation you

would just feel really good for. OK, I almost got it up.

Absolutely. All right, so the United Nations

is the next race. It's grade one.

So this one's a grade one and and should be a grade two.

And the Molly pitchers are grade 3 and should be a grade two.

Don't listen to me, Brian. Hundred $600,000 a year 3 and up

go to mile and three days we're going the nice, the nice, neat

11 Furlongs there. Three turns at Monmouth.

One of my very favorite races of the entire calendar year here in

North America. We see the old dog in in Red

Knight, one of my favorite turf horses.

Frankly since I've watched, started watching horse racing.

I really love that horse. We have two horses in here

Brian, that I I'm a little concerned we're entered just

because of their names. Foreign Relations in the United

Nations. I'm just saying and Planetario

in the United Nations. I'm just saying geography names

and and space names. It's a little much, but I'm

gonna allow it. I happen to think that both of

those horses actually have a shot here.

Where did you land? Well, if you read the very, very

fine print of the rules of the race, the descriptions of the

race, it does say that there's a significant discount both in

weights and entry fee if the name of your horse does have

something to do with the United Nations.

So maybe the. Maybe that could be but but I'm

with you. I I love the United Nations.

It's one of my favorite races of the year.

It used to be I'd say this is probably the 5th or 6th year

maybe even more that it's it's been run on Haskell.

They used to have its own separate day.

It used to be you know United Nations day and that was one of

my favorite days of the year. But now to be able to bet a UN

Haskell double is a very cool thing.

This is a spectacular running in my opinion.

There are there are many horses that can win this race.

I'm gonna focus in on Catnip planetario.

I'm with you. I actually have been a big Red

Knight fan for a long time. The horse that I'm using at I

don't have the morning line here, but I'm hoping for for

large odds Is Yamato this. Is 15 one?

Yeah. He's a horse that you know he

was claimed what is that 32 race three races ago by by Mike

Maker. He used to be trained by Marat

son call you know he only has a few horses at Breeders' Cup

winning trainer you know does a very good job.

Was running in like starter allowance races and allowance

race here or there for some reason just in one of those

races he caught my eye so I followed him and like the lower

level he ran at Kentucky Downs I think a few times and one like

going long at Kentucky Downs. So the day that that I saw Mike

Maker claimed him and obviously Mike Maker is just known for

claiming horses. And you know boom, they win a

grade one and a mile and 1/2 in their next race.

I I kind of earmarked in the back of my mind I said this

horse is going to win like that mile and a half race at Kentucky

Downs or some some big race so. So maybe it's the UN you know he

probably would not be my top pick.

You know as as you said earlier if you put a gun to my head

probably catnip is my top pick but your your motto is

absolutely on the ticket and I and I like that Saez is a board

here. Back in the days when he was

trained by Marat Song Call and I first started, you know,

following the source, Luis Si has wrote him all the time.

You can only see one of those races in his PPS, but if you

had, you know, all of his lifetime starts, I'm gonna say

Si is has ridden him 5-6 times. So to be reunited I think is an

interesting little price play there.

But Catnip ran incredibly well last time in the in the prep

race was sitting close, had traffic basically dropped back

to last and still came on. He's an improving horse too.

That's two for two at Monmouth going back to the topic we

talked about earlier, horses for courses.

So I think Catnip is going to be the top pick, but Planetario

Yamato have to be on the tickets from.

Yamato lose size in the Irons TK6 races at Monmouth this year.

Three wins in two seconds. Not been on 6 races there, so

obviously getting good amounts of doing a good job with them.

My guy, Red Knight. Say something nice about Red

Knight. I think Red Knight has every

chance to win this race, but I always am worried about singling

a horse that comes from the clouds in a race like this,

absolutely yes. And that's the problem because

anything could happen, right? You know, horse gets in the way

on the in the in front of it, slows more meds on it, it all

falls apart and and we. Unless a miracle or a lightning

strikes or you know somebody comes down with tablets from the

mountain or something, it's going to be he's that's what's

going to have to happen here right?

And so I can't I I struggle, struggle, struggle the single

horse in a in a horizontal play that runs like that on a in a

race. So especially when you're once

again probably going to be short odds here.

So a lot of money is going to flow in horizontal bets to that

horse I. I'm like Brian, I I like catnip.

If you put a gun to my head and put it, I had to pick something

on top. I'm picking catnip.

But I I think you can. This is another one where I'm

going wide and trying to get a big price here when all the

money's flowing to Red Knight. There you go, No Chad Brown

horse in this race. He won at the last two years

without Amo last year trip of on the year before Aquaphobia, the

year before that for Mike Maker. And then Hunter O'Reilly won the

race in 2019. Paco Lopez aboard Flavian Pratt

has won the last two as the jockey.

I'm a huge fan of Red Knight of very open about that on the show

here, man. Planetario is an interesting

horse that did love the distance in the San Juan Capistrano last

time at Santa Anita, first win in the US after eight starts in

Brazil. So I'm interested to see if

trainer Richard Mandela sort of has the feet under this horse

since that, since that race. I don't think that Richard ships

that horse for no reason here. And so I am going to.

Use that horse. I'm really interested in

therapist here who were in a really, really good race last

time at Ellis Park. Over a mile and a quarter needed

a little bit more distance. And I have great news.

That horse is going to get a little bit more distance here.

So it just didn't see that horse didn't get it done in the

Louisville. That was a surprisingly

blanketish finish for ten horses there.

I think all of them were within four or five lengths here at

Churchill Downs on Preakness weekend, and that Louisville has

come back to show some pretty good horses.

And that's why I think we're Foreign Relations has a real

shot here. Declan Cannon by the way, too is

out of his mind right now. That percentage has gone from

somewhere in the 1112 range to 15 in just the last couple of

weeks overall for him. And so he's having a great time

the last couple of weeks as well.

So I think I'm with you wide open race.

If you did want to lean on Red Night, you needed a reason.

He isn't every other type and this is the every other race.

All right. So let's get into it, guys.

The big race of the day that isn't called the United Nations

is the Haskell. Smile and an eighth.

This is the jersey Derby. Even though they have a jersey

Derby, it's a mile and an eighth of, like I mentioned, 3 year

olds. Of course 1,000,000 bucks here.

There is a late pick three starting here.

If you're out of all your tickets and you wanted to play

the last two races afterward, obviously there are two getaway

races here. Brian, what kind of crowd

numbers wise do you guys expect on a Haskell day?

I would say anywhere. So in a given year anywhere

between 25,000 and you know 60,000 was the highest with

American Pharaoh there. So if we had, you know, the

worst Haskell field of all time I would say and horrible weather

I would say we would have 25,000 people.

It's still a party. It's still the biggest event of

the year. People are still going to come

out. What really drives and pushes

the attendance over the top is the horses we get in the Haskell

and thankfully you know to have the Kentucky Derby winner as we

do this year, you know that that again I think I used this line

last time, but like I run the marketing department at the

track. No one is going to sell more

tickets than being able to say the Kentucky Derby winner is

coming to run in the Haskell. So that kind of help didn't help

do my job for me. So I, you know, I, I would say

we should be in the 35 to 40,000 person range this weekend.

Supposed to be good weather, knock on wood.

So yeah, I saw that should be a good time for everyone.

There you go. Well Brian, I'll let you pick

your your Haskell winner. At least a couple that you would

end your your sequence with. I have to say when.

When we get to this part of the season and we are traveling the

country for the derbies, this is the exact field that I want.

I want the Derby winner. I want a horse like Papa Trice

who's shown it on the big stages that he belongs in those groups.

Even if he looks a little, a little distracted, he's a little

immature, extra nieho. We saw him in October at Keelin

and oh man, all of our, our, our eyes all lit up.

And then of course he had to go to the bench and not run until a

Derby weekend. Unfortunately you get the

Baffert Shipper in Arabian Night $2.3 million purchase.

I gotta say, man, this is exactly what I want in a Haskell

TK. 100% my friend, 100%. And you get Go Rocket Ride,

who's an absolute wild card. You get Salute the Stars who won

the prep race coming in the Pegasus last month.

Brian. Go ahead, man.

Who you got here, man? Yeah, to your point, this is one

of my favorite Haskell fields in a very long time.

We've a lot of, we've had a lot of good haskells, a lot of not a

lot of times. But sometimes we get the, you

know, the overwhelming superstar, the Rachel Alexandra

who with all due respect couldn't lose.

American Pharaoh couldn't lose. Big Brown couldn't lose.

So it's kind of that battle between the, you know, a huge

crowd comes out to see Rachel, Alexandra.

So that's great for onsite. But in terms of a betting race,

you know it's who's gonna finish second?

You know, this race, who's gonna?

You know, you could ask. It's an 8 horse field.

You could ask, you know, six different people who's gonna win

and they can give you 6 different horses.

This is a phenomenal race, as you said at this point.

So we obviously have the Kentucky Derby Winter Mage.

You know their camp has been pretty honest and outspoken that

this is a prep for the Travers, you know, doesn't mean he can't

win the Haskell. Obviously he's a Kentucky Derby

Derby winner and should be respected.

But I think this is a stepping stone to their their main goal,

which is the Travers. So might be an opportunity to

play against Tap it Trice, like you said.

Is a horse that looks like he should just be dominating these

races and for whatever reason didn't run great in the Derby.

And then you know, finished third with his best buyer in the

Belmont. But that race should have suited

him in terms of the distance. So the only to me, the only

reason to like tap it Trice is for my own opposite of

selfishness. I've liked him all along.

He was my Derby pick. He's my Belmont pick.

He's not on any ticket for me in the Haskell, so just for that

reason he'll probably win. Yeah, yeah, the needless

Besmirchman of Tappettrice begins on Thursday.

There it is. Exactly.

So I'm I think, I think extra and Aho is going to be my my top

pick. I'm going to use them with Go

Rocket Ride and Salute the Stars and just saying that out loud

you have to pause because by saying that out loud that means

that. Arabian Night trained by Bob

Bafford who's won this race 9 times who has an undefeated

horse is at best like my 4th pick which how is that possible?

But that shows how deep the field is.

My opinion this year with the three-year olds is I think

they're this isn't to say that they're not any good, but I

think this is a year that they're going to take turns

beating each other like mage One.

You know we saw three different horses when three different

Triple Crown races. So what one of the new faces to

me is, is the horse that I'm interested in.

Arabian Night is going to be on. You know, I'm not letting Bob

Baffert win his 10th Hascle and beat me.

So if that horse wins, I'm going to have something, but I think

extra and a hoe. I saw him today on the backside.

He is a massive, massive animal he's building his way up to.

This. You know his last race was was

quite visually impressive. The burst of speed that he had

the his connections are talking about him with with a lot of

confidence. I I think he's going to be the

top pick but go rocket ride your point with planetarium in the

last race. You know Dick Mandel is not just

coming for a vacation on the Jersey Shore.

He's pointed this horse to the Haskell for two months.

I think this horse is going to run well and and Salute the

Stars is a horse that I think is going to get overlooked a little

bit. He won the Pegasus, we talked

about that last that race last time.

He's a little quirky too, you know, he he threw his head

around in his last race. He was very ranked early but he

still came flying late to run down Kings barns.

I think he has a shot at a big price here as well.

There you go. Well TK, is there any chance

that the Haskell mimics the Preakness and Johnny Velasquez

is on the early pace and just rocks everybody to sleep and we

just get Arabian Night out front and he stays out front?

No. I've got I got a nice cold

exacta of extra Nejo and salute the Stars I echoing a little bit

of what Brian said. I we ran we ran in the Haskell

last year and yeah and we and I will tell you this field of in

this Haskell is way better than the field we ran against last

year. Way better, top to bottom.

There's you can make a case for all every single horse in this

race you it's there's no horse that you could just cross out

and say there's no chance and you definitely had that with the

Haskell last year but but in this what I would I like extra.

And Aho, when you have those situations I'm looking for some

value. Once again I'm looking because I

think a lot of the money's going to gravitate into a couple

different places. Money's going to gravitate to

Mage. Money's gonna gravitate to

Arabian Night. That's the way it goes, right?

So. Derby winner and Baffert They're

gonna get money. That's exactly.

And so when you have a situation where any of the horse you

believe as a handicapper you can make for a case for any of the

horses, narrow it down and leave them out is kind of one of my

logic. So I'm gonna have just those two

on my pick five. That's all I'm gonna have out of

this race. And and I'm, I'm heavy on an

extra, extra an A ho because I like it spicy.

I was going. To ask you with wasabi, do you

enjoy wasabi? I do.

I do. The name came because the the

big sushi fan that's you know 20 some years ago when I landed the

name. So but yeah.

Brian Do you enjoy either spicy food or sushi or both?

Both. I am a I'm a big spice I've

always liked. I am a big fisherman, so I go

fishing all the time. So it actually it actually took

me I I've only eaten sushi probably the last let's say six

or seven years I had. I had a mental block with raw

fish as someone who goes fishing all the time and it.

Stops me, yeah. Yeah, it took me a long time to

get over that. But yeah, now sushi pokey bowls

I'm at, I'm at. There it is.

All right. Well, good.

All right. Well, I want to ask if you're

sake people. That's really not fair.

But we'll get, we'll get out of here on that.

Brian, we talked about the The CCA Oaks earlier.

I'm totally putting out on the spot.

Do you have a pick in that race If you don't totally understand,

you work at Monmouth, not at a different place.

I absolutely would have one if it was any other week but

Haskell Week, I would know who was in the field.

I, other than the horses that you mentioned that I may or may

not even remember now, I don't know who's in the race.

There you go. I'll give you three horses.

You tell me who wins wet paint? Gambling girl.

Who's your Philly? Not wet pain.

I feel like she's been disappointed if memory served.

I know you know she was the favorite in the oaks.

If if memory serves, and I think she's lost two in a row without

having the pee pees in front of me, I'm going to go with who's

your Philly? I feel like she won her first

couple races and then lost a few, but she bounced back.

She won last time or did she beat wet paint last time?

Were they in the same race? That's a great question.

Now I'm putting. Yes, she did she.

Yeah, she beat it by 3 1/2 lengths, yes.

Right. So I'm gonna go with her do.

Maybe she had a little lull sometime early in the year.

Maybe she's back to her top form and keep the winning ways going.

We watched her here, man in the fall as a 2 year old.

She was I I as far as two year olds go, she's as good as I've

seen maybe ever. I mean, she was unbelievable

last year. Go ahead.

I'm sorry. I was just gonna say, yeah, I

think Brian's better without the Pp's that we are with the Pp's.

Just I just want to put that out there.

Yeah, it's embarrassing. Thanks for saying that a lot on

my podcast. Appreciate that.

These brights. Where should people what I mean

if is there something, you know, that that is a Monmouth

tradition that I can replicate at home.

So you know for example in little Woman it's Derby day.

You know, even if you're not at the track and you're just at a,

you know, grocery store in town or you're you're you're popping

to the corner to pick up a six pack or something.

There's a guy in a, there's a guy in a bow tie.

There's a woman in a hat, right, Because they're on the way to a

party or whatever. If I wanted to do Haskell at

home, which by the way you should be marketing and you're

welcome. We did.

Darn, darn COVID. That's exactly what we did.

You should do it anyway for guys like me who are watching the

Haskell and can't just go to Jersey cuz like TK.

I have 4 kids but none of them have walked across the stage yet

for graduation. What should I be doing at home?

Is there a drink in the Haskell or anything like that?

There is. We have a drink called the

Summer Wind. Now you're gonna have to make me

remember what's in it. It's vodka, triple SEC, maybe

like Sprite, something like that.

But I would say it's very similar.

This is our Kentucky Derby, so the same bow ties, the same hats

that you guys wear to the Kentucky Derby, same thing.

And then it doesn't have to be the summer wind, but a Haskell

tradition is drinking heavily. So whatever your, whatever your,

you know, booze of choice is, it doesn't have to be a mint julep.

It can be a beer. Whatever.

If you're doing that, you're doing what?

People are doing it Haskell Day, so you're you're part of the

crew as far as I'm concerned. Well, there you go.

Well, he's Brian's Kirk. He is with Monmouth Park.

We thank him for hanging out today.

What is the, what's the website? Where can people go just to kind

of get the the lay the land with with Mama.

Yeah, monmouthpark.com. We have a couple Haskell pages

with everything that you'll need.

Everything from, you know, BIOS on the eight horses that are in

the field, to if you're coming, day of all the event information

where you can buy your tickets, dining options.

Pretty much anything you need is at monmouthpark.com there.

You go and. I I was on the site again on the

spot. Is there a contest online at all

that's going on this year that people can get involved in?

There is. We have two different contests,

actually, on Haskell Day. So we have a paid, you know,

live money, you know, quote UN quote, actual handicapping

contest. That's $1000 to enter play

through TVG and express that they can contact me anyone who's

interested in signing up bees.kirk@monmouthpark.com.

But then a cool kind of tradition that we do every year

on Haskell Day is we do a free online handicapping contest.

So it's it's kind of pick and pray every race on Haskell Day.

So if you go in you have to pick one horse in each of the 14

races. On Mama day you get the mythical

payouts for $2.00 across the board and then whoever has the

most money at the end of the day.

After the 14 races, we do cash prizes to the top three,

completely free to enter. It's pretty I'm pretty sure the

website is the Haskell game.com. Cool.

It might just be haskellgame.com, but I think

there's a there but all that informations at monmouthpark.com

too. You just have to be signed up by

the first race on Haskell Day, but it's all free to answer, so

you might as well take a free roll.

You're handicapped in the races anyway, so you might as well

take a shot. There you go.

Cyber Knife, Mandaloon, authentic, Maximum security,

good Magic, Gervin, Exaggerator, American Pharaoh and Byron, the

last winners of this race. When you talk about grade ones,

that's a grade one list. Brian, really appreciate the

time, man. One, when's the last time we're

going to next time we're going to bother you?

Do you have any idea? Whenever you want.

We got a couple great at stakes left the meaning of the air, so

just reach out. And even if it's not about

racing, we can talk about geography or something,

whatever. Well, there you go.

Little New Jersey talk on a Thursday.

Why not? All right, There you go.

Thank you, Brian. We'll see you next time.

Buddy. All right.

Sounds good, guys. Thanks.

All right. See you then.

All right, TK. All right, so we've gone through

the Haskell card. I love that they have the same

takeout for pick fours as they do pick fives.

I think that is for anyone who really wants to either take a

stand with that pick four or if you get bounced from that pick

five you could play the pick four and not have honestly in a

lot of places like 910% higher to play the.

Maybe sometimes double the takeout rate to play the pick

four if you get bounced with the pick five, I think that's

probably why they do it, but it's nice to have those options.

So yeah, how many pick fives will you play at Monmouth on a

day like high school? Usually my go to number is 2,

sometimes three. I'm not one of those guys that

does like 5. I'm I'm usually A2 for a big day

like that and if I'm and if I'm actively handicapping right so

but I'm not I'm not I don't tend to be I usually get my beliefs

and you know my big strategy I I've hit 268 pick fives since

the beginning of 2020 that's that's my number and so and what

I usually look for is I look at the sequence and I look.

Who is the most likely heavy favorite that I don't like And

then that's where I start from and I build the ticket around

that and you know trying to find some wacky ass price and so and

that's kind of how and that's kind of how it plays out but but

what I what I find myself and it's a mental thing because I

know some really great handicappers.

And great betters who do multiple on a horizontal many

multiples four or five. I always just believe.

I gotta believe what am I gonna do, root against myself.

So I just can't get past that mental state so I just don't so.

There you go. All right, well, yeah, that's

like the guys who have like 3 fantasy teams.

And they're playing against their own guys.

And I'm like, how do you do that, bro?

Like, I don't. I can't do that.

Stuff. I don't know.

First of all, who's got the time?

I, you know, he's got time to do 12 different fantasy leagues,

so. I'm with you, brother.

All right, well, he's TK Coogler.

You can find them online. Hey, what is?

I know you're at TK Coogler on Twitter.

What's a good spot for Wasabi? Yeah, wasabistables.com is the

easiest way to find us and check out what we're doing.

How often do people do? Do people sign up with you guys?

About three a day. You have 1000 people sign up a

year. Yeah.

How about that? How about that?

Producers actually like that. How about that?

I love. That all I've been waiting for

this whole time is like TK. What paperwork do I need to sign

to join the ownership? Group well, the problem is.

That's the beauty of having a software guy build a website.

Yeah, build a. No, no, TK, I want you to hold

me by the hand. I want you to sit next to me and

cuddle while you while I sign up.

OK. And.

You're almost my type. I would have to tell you that

you're almost. My.

Type yes. I told you, Louie, I told you.

You did tell me that's that's my that's a blind spot for me.

That's what that is. All right.

Well, he's TK Coogler. He's with the Wasabi Stables.

Thank you for being part of our horse Racing One O 1 segment

with the folks at the Maryland Thoroughbred British

Association. They're hanging out with us all

the way through Breeders' Cup this year, which is awesome.

We're going to be announcing a new partnership tomorrow with a

local group, honestly Louie on ESPN680.

So if you're interested, our guy Kevin Kilroy dropping by

tomorrow, we'll be talking Haskell Oaks.

And then every Saturday we'll be picking one race that we really

like, get a Kentucky track, Ellis Park, of course, this

weekend. And so we'll be doing that.

As well, TK, don't be a stranger my friend.

We'll have you back soon. OK all.

Right, sounds good. Thanks.

Zach, let's play the. Music and just for the The

advertisement for Hissful and Louie, you can find that by

saying ESPN Louisville into any of your smart devices.

Yeah, that's exactly right. 10 to noon Eastern.

Every day Monday through Friday, you can listen to me talk about

college basketball, which is its own adventure.

How about that, Zach, Go and play that music.

We'll get out of here. Thanks, everybody,