2024 Year In Review | Matthew DeSantis

This is living proof that there can be life beyond cancer.

At Baptist Health, we've treated more breast, colon, and lung

cancer patients than any other health system in Kentucky and

southern Indiana. Learn more at

baptisthealth.com/cancercare. Hi, I'm attorney Alex White,

we're proud to be local and getting back to our community is

very important. If you want good representation,

visit suedistracteddriver.com. This is legal advertisement.

Let me tell you about my good friends at Thompson Brothers

Plumbing. Thompson Brothers Plumbing

offers experience dependable and affordable plumbing services

from new constructions and remodeling to general repairs

and maintenance they're rated A+ by the Better Business Bureau.

They do kitchen remodeling, bathroom remodeling,

installation of tankless water heaters, commercial plumbing,

residential plumbing. If you have a plumbing problem,

call who I call Thompson Brothers Plumbing Dependable

Louisville plumbers thompsonbrosplumbing.com.

Follow the leader ESPN Louisville, your home for the

College Football Playoff, NFL, the Final Four and the best

sports stock. We are ESPN Louisville.

Welcome to the Kentucky Racing Spotlight with Louis Roubeau,

presented by the Kentucky HBPA. Now here's Louis Roubeau.

I welcome in a season ending version of the Kentucky Racing

Spotlight with Louis Ribbo. I'm Louie Ribbo at Radio Louie

on Twitter. Find the show at KY Racing

Spotlight. We've got a Facebook page, all

kinds of places that you can interact with the show.

Go find us there on the socials if you are so inclined to do so.

We would really love to have you there.

A little interaction with fans. We'll be doing some down some

some road to the Derby stuff on the socials as well.

So if you want to get involved with that, now is as good a time

as any. I'll be joined today by my

friend Matthew DeSantis. He is for with with the Naira

Group. He and I will talk about our

favorite moments from this year, our horse of the year, our

favorite race disappointments, maybe even that came out of this

year. But we will talk about all of it

for the frankly duration of the show.

That's what we're going to do today.

We're going to look back, we're going to reminisce.

So go ahead, grab a grab a beverage of your choice, kind of

hang out, sit back and just enjoy the next hour of radio or

so. We are presented as we always

are by the Kentucky HBPAKYHBP a.com.

We are broadcasting from the studios of ESPN Louisville.

So thanks to everyone who hangs out with us on this show.

And I so I, I have a real, it's a real pleasure.

Every year I remember the National Turf Writers and

Broadcasters Association and I get to vote in the Eclipse

Awards because of it. And so I sat down last night,

decided to put my Eclipse ballot together after not a ton of

procrastination, but enough. It's, it's due in about a week,

about 8 days, nine days, something like that.

And decided with the conversation with Matthew today

to have all of my prep ready for that.

And, and we'll get into some of the horses that made it go.

But boy, I think I'd be remiss not to talk about what happened

to Santa Anita yesterday as far as the racing and and the

outcomes and those sorts of things.

And, you know, seeing a Malibu Stakes with the return of the

Derby winner and, you know, just not getting the performance

almost certainly that we wanted from Mystic Dan.

You know, you see the tweets from the Mcpeek connections from

the Mcpeek barn, if you will, about, hey, we'll be back.

You know, it's just one day. It's just a blip on the radar.

And I tend to agree. I think one of the great things,

and I'm sure we'll talk about it in the next coming segments

here, is that we can be excited about the two turn dirt thing

next year between Torpedo Anna on the Philly side.

And frankly, aren't we just spoiled on the Philly and mare

side that we just have horses that stick around.

You know, those the ladies of our sport, the Phillies and

mares, they just stick around longer, right, Because the

breeding, you can only only have one a year, right?

In those stallions. They can run off and and have

hundreds. But the we'll, we'll, we'll meet

the next group, I'm sure by the time we get to the spring on the

Philly and mare side. But it is on the men's side with

fierceness, with Sierra Leone, with Mystic Dan, with Mind

Frame, with all those horses coming back for their sophomore

campaigns, at least frankly, in many of their cases, their

junior campaigns as 4 year olds, we should really, really be

excited by that. But you get a winner, frankly,

out West in Raging Torrent. Now.

He's one to watch going forward because I don't think he's off

to the breeding shed this year and I think he's won, especially

as we watch races on the West Coast.

And a reminder that the Breeders Cup goes right back to Del Mar

next year. And if this year was any kind of

harbinger of what's going to happen at Breeders' Cup 2025,

you got to watch out for those California dirt horses.

So right, maybe right now isn't a bad time to start paying

attention to who those might be. I think lost in the shuffle

yesterday and losing by about half a second or less.

What am I saying? A quarter second was Stronghold,

the Santa Anita Derby winner. And I think we forgot about him

because he comes up over, you know, he comes to the Midwest,

he loses to Dragoon Guard in the Indiana Derby.

He they sent him out for the Pennsylvania Derby.

He finishes second behind sees the Gray.

Well, he comes back. I thought he ran a really nice

race. Frankly, he was in fourth

position for much of the race. Does his best running in the

stretch and gets right there with Raging Torrent at the end.

I will be very honest, I did not have Stronghold as my second

place worse than that race. So this 3 year old class man,

just a bit of a celebration before we get into it in more

detail with Matthew, just kind of a celebration.

It doesn't have to be that we have a Triple Crown winner for

us to have a fun group of three-year olds.

I think we had an unbelievable group of three-year olds this

year. You get Anna, you get this, this

group. I mean, cripes almighty.

I mean, think about this. Their aging Torrent and

Stronghold were sort of just in a side.

Winning a Grade 1 Sierra Leone, winning a classic, Forever

young, running his heart out in both the Derby and the Classic,

Fierceness running the race of his life in the classic.

We got so many great moments from this 3 year old class.

It'll be exciting to watch him next year as well.

As I mentioned, we are presented by the Kentucky HBPAKYHBP a.com.

Go check them out for all the great articles, the photos, the

videos from around the Commonwealth, all the great

equine athletes, all the great people that make our great sport

go. His name is Matthew DeSantis,

he's with Naira Bets. He joins us next year on the

Kentucky Racing Spotlight with Louis Ribow on ESPN 681057.

At U of L Health Brown Cancer Center, we pioneer clinical

trials and new cellular therapies that save lives so you

can face cancer with New Hope. That's the power of you.

Visit uoflhealth.org. When it's time to replace your

heating and air system, we know people want options.

That's why they'll always get a free second opinion on

replacements with BJ Heating and Cooling.

Plus, for limited time, get up to $2000 tax credit with a new

Bryant system. Call the experts you can trust

at BJ Heating and Cooling. Hey everybody, we just got word

the Tailspin Elfest is cleared for takeoff at Bowman Field on

Saturday, March 1st, 2025. More than 70 breweries pouring

more than 250 beers, rare brews, live music, San disco and much

more returns. Learn more at

tailspinelfest.com. That's Tailspin elfest.com.

We are ESPN Louisville. Download the ESPN Louisville app

today, delivered by UPS Jobs Kentucky.

Welcome back to the Kentucky Racing Spotlight on ESPN 680 and

105.7. Now here's Louis Rabo.

All right, welcome back in. This is the Kentucky Racing

Spotlight with Louis Rabo. I'm Louis Rabo in the studios of

ESPN 680 and 105.7. Thanks for making us part of

your horse racing weekend. A holiday edition of the show

means that we're doing a retrospective.

We are presented by the Kentucky HBPAKYHBP a.com.

Many of the horses that we're going to talk about were on that

website at some point this year. So go check them out for all the

great videos, all the great photos and of course all the

great articles and interviews from around the Commonwealth.

All the great people and all the great equine athletes that make

our great sport go here in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Up there in the non Commonwealth of New York is Matthew DeSantis.

He joins us from Long Island. He's with naira bets.

He's at failed to menace on all of the socials.

So go find him there and enjoy whiteboards and a man in a hat

with a beard. Matthew, how are you?

Doing well. I think that's a great way to

describe me, and that might become my new profile on XA.

Man in a hat with. A beard.

A man in a hat with a beard. He is indeed.

Well, you and I cover at least at home, different circuits.

Certainly one of the great things about horse racing,

Matthew, is its regionality, that each place has its own

traditions, has its own really great stuff.

You know, in Kentucky we, you know, you throw a stone, you hit

a breeding farm. You know, in New York you've got

the Long Island thing and obviously Saratoga out West,

you've got things like Clockers Corner at Santa Anita.

It's all very, you know, it, it's it's a spectacularly

regional sport that way. But we get to the end of the

year and it's kind of nice to look around and say, hey, who

had the best year? Who had the worst year?

We'll we'll stick to more of the positives, I think during this

segment, but allows, you know, our jobs at least meet on the

happy hour than you getting to do your naira bets sort of, you

know, work. You get to look at everything,

right, because a 5 to one horse at Oaklawn pays the same as a 5

to one horse at Churchill Downs, right?

So, you know, we're looking all over the country trying to find

value and, or just interesting stories or interesting horses or

races or anything else. But, you know, just in general,

you know, how was the year in New York?

There's no Belmont Park. Everything gets shifted to

Saratoga. And, you know, I, I, I, I don't

think they've reached the, the breaking point was Saratoga.

But boy, they're going to find out what it is, right?

They're going to find. Out where where they can.

Push that and I think that's kind of a talking point going

forward. Absolutely it is.

And I think, you know, we're very conscious of that up here

and we know that there's a there's a price point, there's

breaking point for Saratoga, as much as people love it.

And I think that was one of the big takeaways from this last

year was just obviously Belmont Stakes being up there.

And it was, I mean, they can say there were 50,000 people there,

man alive. There were a lot more than there

that day. It was packed.

It would be energy, incredible. And you know, it was, it was an

amazing weekend. That whole Belmont Stakes Racing

Festival weekend was really special to have it up there.

Obviously we're going to be back at Saratoga again this year, in

addition to also spending another weekend up there with

Stars and Stripes Festival over the 4th of July, adding that to

the racing calendar. So you know, we're obviously

very excited for the new Belmont Park to be finished and that's

going to then return things to a sense of normalcy up there in

Saratoga and it can kind of go back to the traditional eight

week meet that we have. And you know, this year though,

up in New York was really special.

Obviously it started actually before 2024 when we had an

amazing renewal of the Remsen and those horses.

Then Dornak and Sierra Leone and domestic product and, and all

the horses that came out of that race and being able to follow

them throughout the year racing either up here in New York or

wherever they ended up going. And obviously then producing the

Breeders Cup Classic winner in Sierra Leone.

So really special year and you know, some great turf racing.

Got to see some great horses coming over from overseas for

Charlie Appleby and that was a lot of fun as well.

And obviously, the special summer that Flavian Pratt had up

at Saratoga is one that I don't think anybody's going to forget

anytime. Soon, Matthew DeSantis with us

from Naira Bets. I you know, the, the, the

Saratoga experience for Belmont. And I know it was busy and, and

you had a very specific role in that day.

And so maybe you didn't get to just be a fan.

But yeah, you know, one of the things that actually came out of

the last couple of years, Matthew, which I'm I'm so happy

is happening is that people are actually admitting they love

Belmont. And what are the no, No, because

from outside looking in, if you look at, for example, just the

naira social media and the people there, everything is a

countdown to Saratoga, you would think.

That it was. That Belmont is like the mean

parent stopping everyone from going to Saratoga.

I'm not kidding. And so it was, it was nice to

see people say, yeah, this is cool, but man, I miss that

place. And man, I love that tree by the

paddock and man, I miss this or I love this or blah, blah, blah.

I, I got to say, just as a guy outside looking in, that's like,

we get it, you're going to Saratoga.

It was nice to actually see people admit they like, go to

Belmont Park. Absolutely.

And, and we're all so excited to go see the new Belmont Park and

what that's going to be and what that's going to look like.

I can't wait for it. And yeah, Saratoga is so

special. But I, you're right.

Like you reach your breaking point in Saratoga.

And I will say I felt like and and this was, you know,

something that I think a lot of us at Naira have openly

acknowledged and talked about in meetings and even afterwards was

there was so much buzz around the Belmont Stakes being there

that it took a little bit of the wind out of the sails of

actually opening week when we came back a month later.

So that's something which, you know, you just have to navigate

the next couple of years while, you know, or next year at least

while Belmont's getting, you know, finished up.

And so, yeah, it's it is nice to appreciate what we have here in

the city and very excited for the new Belmont Park.

I, you know, I was, I was reading an article the other day

and it was the anniversary of the closing of Hollywood Park.

And I got to admit, 15 years ago, if you had told me they'd

be renovating Piblico and they would have ripped down Hollywood

Park and made it an NFL stadium, I probably would have lost that

bet. And.

So. I bet no, but that that all

three of our Triple Crown sites are are undergoing significant

renovations and improvements and that Maryland is trying a new

path that they're actually trying something, you know,

Matthew, for a sport that claims how do we get more people

involved and what are the steps forward?

Maryland's just doing it. New York's just doing it.

Churchill Downs, everyone complaints about Churchill

spending money on track. What do you want to do?

Go to go to a bum track? Do you want to go to these

places that are just not nice? What do you What do you want?

People want. People want nice.

We're going to have nice and horse racing.

And by the way, it's OK that we have nice and horse racing.

It it's very OK. We have nice and horse racing

because I've been to Pimlico many, many times and complained

about Pimlico many, many times. I love Pimlico, you know, it's,

it's one of the tougher places to see a horse before the race.

I mean, paddock is just atrocious.

And yes, it's not great. And I'm so glad that they're

doing something about it. And hopefully it leads to some

economic revitalization in that the surrounding area as well.

And you know, Baltimore is a city that's very near and dear

to my heart. I grew up outside of

Philadelphia. My parents would take me down to

vacation in Baltimore. I was a huge Orioles fan growing

up, used to go down to Old Memorial Park and then Camden

Yards. I love Baltimore and I want to

see that city thrive. And so, you know, I'm excited

that Maryland Racing is doing what they're doing and kind of

taking a little bit of a page out of what we're doing up here

in terms of renovating Belmont Park and kind of moving

everything to one operation there.

Yeah. And I think the by selecting a

training center in the country and having the races in the

city, it doesn't preclude them from that still rural sort of

feeling that I think so many people in horse racing won,

right. So you.

Know. Like Jose Ortiz flips his his

mount, you know, his his tack out to Kentucky.

He didn't buy, he didn't buy a condo downtown here, right?

Like, you know, that kind of thing, right?

Those guys want that. They want that connection to

some, you know, they want some space, you know, that kind of

thing. And so I think that allows that

in Maryland as well. All right, so you mentioned the

Belmont, you know, and obviously we mentioned the Triple Crown.

Did you have a race? And let's start, let's make it

as personal as possible here. The race that you attended in

person. Yeah, that was the best race you

saw in 2024. That's a great question.

And I, I or best? Performance.

I guess I I either way, yeah. Yeah, no, best race in person

that I saw all year. And I'm going to kind of hold

the Breeders Cup out of it just because I didn't get a great

chance to. Like I didn't get a great

viewing experience necessarily for all those Breeders' Cup

races out of Delmar. But the best experience by far

was the Travers being on the rail in the winner's circle that

day. All right, back with Matthew

DeSantis here, naira bets, of course we were talking best race

that you got to attend this year and I I you, but of course you

get the Saratoga thing every summer with your job.

And so I, you know, we mentioned the Belmont, we mentioned the

Triple Crown. Where did Matthew DeSantis land

on his favorite race of the year?

Yeah, well, listen, I'm gonna maybe not try to be too

creative. The Traverse Stakes, which is

absolutely amazing experience to be on the rail in the winner's

circle when for Peter, Anna is making that late run trying to

track downstairs that's getting so very close to it.

The atmosphere was absolutely electric in the paddock meeting

up to it and you know the performance.

You couldn't have asked for two heavyweight champions to go at

it and give the performance that everybody's going to remember

for decades to come. Yeah.

It's one of those efforts we're going to talk talk about

forever, I think because Torpedo Ana is just going to keep doing

great things. And I think one of the things

that comes out of that race as well, Matthew and Matthew

DeSantis with us is just the the fact that the the three best

horses in that race are all going to race next year, right?

And and. So we get.

This we get Torpedo Ana back, we get, we get, you know, fiercest

back and we get Sierra Leone out of that race as well, right.

So the top three, you know, sort of talented runners of that

race, we're going to get them all back.

Yeah, I think that's something that after this year we realized

how badly we missed because the older division was so depleted,

particularly on the male side, that we really needed this

influx of Sierra Leone. And and then you have a horse

like Blocked who's coming off the Cigar Mile Victory.

You have Mystic Dan who's coming back.

You have a horse like Mind Frame who is training and is coming

back for Micropoli. So, you know, I think it's going

to be great to see this older division next year have a.

Yeah, it should be. That should be a fun one for

sure. What's funny is it was very easy

to make the case for a lot of different 3 year olds for

three-year old of the year, but older dirt male was not, for

example. So it'll be nice to have to make

those decisions again next year. It took me forever, Matthew, to

decide on older dirt male for sure.

But I'll go ahead. I'll go with mine.

Very, even less creative than yours.

I was at the Kentucky Derby this year.

It was 150 and it was packed. It was lively.

It was a spectacular finish. It was two things I'll never

forget. And it's it's crazy to say the

finish and then the crowd reaction and just the the

collective gasp when they all hit the line together and then a

second collective gasp when they show the replay.

And you still couldn't tell that was that was as good as it gets

that the feeling was incredible. I will carry that with me

forever. I've been to thousands of horse

races easily that one. Everything, all things

considered, what was on the line, the players in it, the

fact that we have, you know, you have Mystic Dan in those in

those sort of awe shucks connections of Kenny Mcpeek and

Brian Hernandez Junior, the guys that make it at Fairgrounds and

Oak Lawn and these sorts of things.

And they go ahead and they win the Kentucky Derby the day after

winning the Kentucky Oaks. All of it just set up Matthew as

just an unbelievable weekend. And of course, I didn't have

Mystic Dan in my picks. So there you go.

How about that? Yeah, well, you and me both and

yeah, it was that was an incredible and I was gonna, I

thought you were gonna say there was gonna be 1/3 gasp.

When they showed the head on replay, everybody started saying

maybe Sierra Leone should get disqualified.

So. I don't think about 125,000 of

the people here would know anything about that, so that's

OK. But Sierra Leone does win that,

does finish second in that race. Excuse me, ends up coming back

and shows what I think many people saw and many of us

assumed he had. Which was the class enough to

win something like the Breeders Cup Classic?

Was the Breeders Cup Classic enough to make him 3 year old of

the year for you? By a very slim margin, yes.

It was really tough between him and fierceness.

Those two have very comparable resumes in terms of both winning

a big Great One Fierce's the Traverse Sierra Leone, the

Breeders Cup Classic after winning Great One in the

Kentucky Derby prep field. I think the difference for me is

just the consistency that Sierra Leone has shown throughout the

year. Fierceness is poor.

Kentucky Derby probably docked him just the slightest bit, but

man alive, that was for Fierceness to run second in the

Breeders Cup Classic. That was a huge effort.

I absolutely have no have a problem with somebody who wants

to vote for Fierce Smith in that position and but for me, the

vote will go to Sierra Leone for my top three-year old now.

Who would you put you think at the third position in that spot?

Because I think there are a lot of candidates, frankly, that

would fall well within that, that if you told me you were

voting for that horse third, I'd have.

No problem. I think Dornick is a really

obvious one. I think that Belmont and then

Haskell double, he is very, very good.

But at the end of the day, the horse that he beat for that is

mind frame and mind frame, for as talented as he is and all as

green as he certainly is, is not the best horse in the three-year

old crop. So I ended up going with Seize

the great because he wins the pad day mile 2 weeks later,

turns around, dominates the the Preakness there in Baltimore,

not good. Showings at Saratoga, let's call

it what it was. It was not good.

He gets up there, the Belmont, he's tired, it's not good.

He runs the Traverse, it's not good, comes back, he wins the

Pennsylvania Derby and he has his way of doing it.

So I went ahead and put him third.

Who would you have in 3rd spot here?

I would have no problem with that.

I will say the most fun winner's circle all year.

Let's see, winner's circle at parks on Pennsylvania Derby when

there were about 10,000 my racehorse people in attendance

when Zis the Gray won that race. That was a blast.

But yeah, I would probably lean slightly towards Dormick, but I

absolutely understand the argument that you know, the

horses that he beat in terms of the number two horses, mine

frame both times. The field he beat at the Belmont

obviously very impressive, included Sierra Leone who we

both agree on as the top three male.

So I think Dornick is a horse that it just really showed a

lot. He's a gritty horse, he's a

tough horse and he really is reflection of Danny Gargan.

I feel like in a lot of ways. And he was a great story of

Jason worth bringing a lot of excitement and new faces and new

eyes to the sport. So I I definitely could see the

argument for either of those from me.

Dornix the number three, though. OK, there you go.

I think they're totally, totally, totally acceptable

there. His name is Matthew DeSantis

joins us from Naira Bats at failed to menace on all the

socials. You can find him over there.

Let's go ahead and we'll keep it in the three-year old category.

Certainly Thorpedo Anna's going to win 3 year old Philly of the

year and I don't I I can't remember boy, it might be bricks

and mortar was the last horse in my voting where I didn't even

have to think about it right where I I just he had such a

great year on the turf, you know, the Arlington million, the

Breeders cup. I mean like he just he won

everything. If he showed up, he won.

Torpedo Anna will win 3 year old Philly.

Would you have any problem with someone who votes her horse of

the year? I certainly hope not, because

I'm voting. Her for the horse.

Of the year and I don't have a vote, but I I vote for the horse

of the year. And the reason I would say is

she dominated her sex obviously dominated the other Phillies.

And then we saw what she did in the Breeders cup, this staff

beating the older mares as well. And she came up a nose short

against fierceness in the Travers and she beat the horse

that we both think is the top three-year old male in Sierra

Leone and out finished Sierra Leone that day.

And so to me, I also think Horse of the Year needs to be

understood a little bit more holistically than sometimes I

feel voters tend to think of it as which is the best male dirt

horse that can run a mile and a quarter, which I feel like is a

very specific definition that really doesn't get to who is the

best horse. And I think that when you think

of it more holistically, I think we saw that laster Cody's wish

that horse said the Miller, you know, and who yet didn't run

great when he stretched out a little bit longer.

But I think looking at the body of work that a horse has

accomplished, it's hard to go against somebody like Torpedo

Anna who just I again, part of the reason the Travers was my

favorite race I attended in person was the amount of buzz in

the stands and in the crowd. That horse single handedly

brought Saratoga to life that day and it it is all about her

and what she's done to the sport and credited Kenny Mcpeak in the

way that he has campaigned her and marketed her throughout the

year. My 7 year old daughter has a

pink torpedo and a hat. She doesn't have hats for any

other horses. She doesn't.

And it is, I'm being serious right now.

This is, you know, I mean, I, I get why you're getting it, but I

just, you're right. We need a, we need a holistic

approach to these thing. And, and she was easily the best

story how the Mcpeak connections handled her, made her available,

etcetera. Spectacular.

And I use that word on purpose. Spectacular making her available

to the general public when she was here on Clark Day on that

Friday after Thanksgiving, they paraded her here and it was

wonderful. Matthew Matthew, if you, I'm

sure you meet people in your life that you knew in high

school or something and you haven't seen them in a while.

And they say, hey, what are you doing these days?

And you tell them you work in horse racing and they say, man,

do the horses even know they're running?

And they make comments like this.

Do they know they're in a race? Do they know blah, blah, blah,

Torpedo Anna would get to the portion of the paddock where you

would walk out of the tunnel to the track and they would have to

get a second person to tell her no, no, we're not going racing

today. Yep.

And pull her back to walk around a parade again.

She didn't have a tack on. She'd have nothing.

She was just ready to go run. And it was so beautiful.

It was such a an authentic moment of just a great racehorse

that loves being on the track, that wants to compete, that can

get the lead and keep it, that can push through traffic, that

can do whatever you ask her to do and just having that moment.

I'm so glad I was there and made the decision to walk to the

paddock to see her. She was ready to race.

The poor, the poor girl, frankly, they went around 5 or 6

times the all half dozen times she was like, no, no, we're

going racing right now. This is what we're doing.

They had to really pull her back.

I'm telling you, man, it was great.

It's crazy, I saw her. They you know, Kenny had her

paddock schooling, I guess a week before the Travers and my

only hesitation picking her on the Travers was she looked so

ready to run on the a week before when she can go paddock

training. I thought, thank God the source

looks like she's ready to run right now and dominate the

Alabama. And it was and she would have

obviously, But like seeing her, she you're absolutely right.

She loves her job. She knows when it's race day.

She knows when the people are there.

And she also has this ability that I've heard, you know,

people like Bill Nack and other great racing historians talk

about with Secretariat where she looks square at you when you're

taking a picture of her. And I've never had a horse where

I feel like I get great pictures of her.

And then I realized, no, everybody got great pictures of

her because she looks square at every single person with a

camera or a cell phone. And it's it's really incredible

to see her awareness when when she knows the lights are on.

Yeah, she saw that crowd on Clark Day.

She's like, oh, OK, cool, let's go do it.

All right, I haven't been training.

Who cares? Let's go this.

It was totally ready. It was.

It was so. It was so fun to see that and

that's where I got my daughter's hat by the way, they were

handing them out that day. So that's where we ended up with

that. So she'll win to a three-year

old Philly probably horse of the year.

In my voting every year, Matthew, I, I include who I

think had the two best years of the most impactful years and

then I always include a 2 year old who I thought was the best 2

year old this year. When we come back, Matthew and I

will talk about the two year old candidates this year, both on

the Philly side and on the on the cold side to give you an

idea of who our favorites were. And of course we got to get into

older dirt female, which I thought ended up being an

incredibly interesting category, but also by far the most

disappointing as well. You're listening to the Kentucky

Racing Spotlight here on ESPN 681057.

He's Matthew. I'm Louie.

We'll be back right after this. Welcome back to the Kentucky

Racing Spotlight on ESPN 680 and one O 5 seven Now here's Louie

Rabeau all. Right, welcome back to the final

segment of the year on the Kentucky Racing Spotlight with

Louie Rabeau. Louie Rabeau at Radio Louie on

Twitter. You can find the show at KY

Racing Spotlight and of course the station at ESPN 680, ESPN

louisville.com for all of our programming around here.

You can catch me 11:50 on Rabeau and Co on ESPN 680-1057.

We do weave in horse racing, but largely it is hoops and football

talk that we do on that show as well.

I'm joined today by Matthew DeSantis.

He's with Naira Bets at failed to menace on the socials.

Go find him there. The professor, the man with a

hat and a beard is what we were calling him.

Starting with this show for no reason at all, Matthew Wheat.

We closed up the last segment talking about Torpedo Anna, the

year she's had, the impact she's had, which is what a cool horse

she is. She next year will qualify for

the older dirt female category. And this year we came in and I

kind of just thought it was over.

And we have an idiomatic and she's going to do it and she,

you know, she's going to run every six weeks and we're going

to get spoiled again. And this is how it's going to

work, my friend. I did not vote for her in the

top spot for older dirt female this year because I thought

there was actually a better horse this year who won a couple

of grade ones. And her name is Adair Manor.

And I know she did it out West and she did those things, but I

am going to hold the couple of losses against Idiomatic this

year. I thought that just a little too

much playing with fire in her running style this year as far

as letting horses get into races with her.

Now I want to be clear, if you watch idiomatic, this is how she

won races in her career, right? Was by half a length, by 3/4 of

a length, this kind of thing. But it got to be a little bit

too much this year. And this is where the

disappointment comes. We did not get to see the

Thorpino Anna Idiomatic matchup in the distaff.

And that was to me, far and away the most disappointing thing

that happened as far as racing is concerned in a matchup or a,

you know, a, a, you know, 'cause we got the classic, we got the

Sierra Leone moment, right? This was either going to be one

of two things. This was going to be idiomatic

going out on top. Hey, she's the GOAT for right

now. She's like, you know, whatever.

Or the mantle was going to get past a Thorpino Anna and we

didn't get to have that moment right.

Or or cripes, neither them wins and the ticket blows up

Whatever, but no, but the but we didn't get that.

So to me, that was the disappointing thing.

I ended up going a dare Manor idiomatic.

I went Raging Sea in the third spot, by the way.

Yeah, Raging Sea makes a lot of sense there and it's interesting

I had to kind of to toss up with the same 2 and a Dare Manor, I

think, you know, unfortunately also got retired a little bit

early. After this point, that's right.

And you know, they're really dominating the Clement L Hirsch

and I give her a lot of credit because she shipped to Oaklawn

and won the Apple Blossom to start the year, not to start the

year, but after running second and the beholder mile.

And so if you look at their resumes, each have two Grade 1

victories. And Adair Manor has a grade 2V,

whereas Idiomatic has a grade 3. Now, I think the other question

that you have to ask, and again, we're I'm going to try to stay

positive here is idiomatic cannot control the ride that she

has given all the time. And I and there were definitely

sometimes where I thought that's interesting when I watched

idiomatic's races. So I don't know how much I hope

that against her necessarily, but like you, I thought I was

going to zig and you were going to zag, but we all both ended up

on their manner as top older female.

So I I that's the way I went. I just thought, you know, she

was, as much as I was disappointed about idiomatic, I

was also equally as disappointed about Sierra Manor retiring,

because that would have been just a tremendous three-way race

in the Distaff then between those three Phillies and mares.

Yeah, that trio would have been unbelievable.

We would have talked about it for a very long time.

That's one of those matchups that we're all hoping we get

next year, right? That by the time we get to

November, it's Sierra Leone, it's fierceness, it's mind

frame, it's Mystic Dan. All of them have had good

campaigns. We get all of them again back at

Del Mar, right? That's that's.

Really what we're hoping. For this year, yeah, go.

Ahead yeah no, not not even to forget it where it's like

forever young. He's already said you know

they're coming back over so I can't wait for that as well.

So and then let alone maybe some promising 3 year olds for next

year as well. Yeah, no, that's right.

So let's get into those now with two year olds and I went ahead

and I, I apologize to the connections here because this is

not usually a good angle for this horse as their career moves

ahead. But I put Immersive in the third

spot for horse of the year. And obviously then I put that

horse at the top of my 2 year old Philly vote as well.

Am I? Is that too much of A zag for

the zigzag crowd? Putting Immersive in my top

three horse of the year? I think it's listen, you, you

got to have hot takes here, Louis.

I mean, it's a it's a Stephen A Smith hot take for sure.

But I will say she is absolutely my top three, two year old

Philly. And one of the things that I'll

just be excited to see is just how good these Brad Cox 2 year

old Phillies are when they all are on the Oaks trail next year.

Because you have Immersive, you have good cheer, you and Muhina

and those three are freaking special.

And what's so interesting is that each one of them has a

different jockey. So you got Manny Franco on

Immersive, you got Louis, I think on Louis is in good cheer,

and you got Florentaru on Muhina.

And it's almost like those three have decided, OK, this is my

Philly in the Oak. And it's going to be really fun

to see how Cox manages those. He'll inevitably keep one of

them up here in New York, probably one at the fairgrounds,

one at Oak Lawn, and they're all going to end up in Churchill

Downs. I would imagine I'd have a hard

time seeing their efforts derailed to get to Churchill

Downs the 1st Friday of May. So that's going to be a lot of

fun. So you met some immersive good

cheer in Muhema? They happen to be 123 for me and

the two year old Philly vote. I've never done that before

where one category is completely slept by a win trainer.

Never happened. Yeah, I mean, it's hard to make

an argument otherwise. I mean, I, I, I do like a horse

like quiet side, but she just doesn't win yet.

And I but I think she's going to win a big race at a decent price

at some point. Sure.

And so I like her a lot and I know the connections are very,

very high on her and she's got a lot of talent.

I think Tom Amos's Philly is kind of interesting.

When we finished second to immersive quick kick, that's a

kind of an interesting Philly as well.

But yeah, it's hard to go against.

Cox clearly has the three best 2 year old Phillies in in the

country, right? Now, yeah, vodka with A twist is

in that group. Probably Lacara is another one

in that group as well. But yeah, no, it's it's a it's

certainly a Brad Cox heavy group there.

But I think that, you know, like many years, we will discover the

next great breakout in the spring.

I don't think at this point, for example, like we knew who she

dare as the devil was like, you know, I just.

Don't think we did. And she, you know, rolls through

the fairgrounds and ends up in, you know, the rest is history

there, for instance. But I mean.

We even saw, yeah, we even saw, you know, last year torpedo Anna

coming in off of the loss, you know, to finish her two year old

campaign. So you never know.

That was one man. I I didn't know who she was to

the extent of who she became before the Oaks.

And then I just started watching the future bets and I was like,

I'm missing something. I'm just going to throw that

horse in my bets. Everyone else sees it and I

don't somehow shame on me if I don't follow at least what other

people are informing me of here with those with those numbers.

Let's move to the guys side of things.

I put a Citizen Bowl in first here and I and I, yes, it's at

least partly Breeders' Cup, but I think just in general the

horse had a very, very fine campaign this year.

Do you agree with me on Citizen Bowl on top there?

Yeah, I do. I mean, I think that, you know,

it's unfortunate that, you know, the I feel like that Breeders'

Cup juvenile had a lot of hype and it ended up just being a

little bit of a merry go round race.

And so but Citizen Bull, I agree with you.

I mean, that horse was really impressive at the race before.

And I think he's a horse that has physically matured so much

during his two year old campaign.

He's a big horse. He's got a big frame on him.

He's one that I think has that ability to make that jump from a

really good 2 year old to a really good 3 year old,

obviously trained by, you know, Bob Bafford, who is now back

running a Church Downs. And so I think that makes it all

the more exciting looking ahead the next year to see which of

these fabric runners ends up being kind of the goods, if you

will, and maybe ends up at Churchill Downs running the

Kentucky Derby. So Citizen Bowl for me, got the

vote. And I thought that that was a

pretty dominant performance at the Breeders Cup Juvenile.

You mentioned, you mentioned the Breeders Cup Juvenile and, and

the Breeders Cup in general. I, I agree with you, by the way,

I think Citizen Bowl lands in that spot When we get to stuff

like male turf horse of the year and this, and I'm kind of trying

to wrap up my horse of the year conversation part of this.

I think if Cogburn wins the Breeders Cup Turf Sprint, I, I

think there's a legit argument between him setting the world

record and running a sub minute 5 1/2 furlongs is hard to

describe. It's hard to describe and I want

to ask you because you were there for that, I want to ask

you about it. But the second thing is, had he

won the Breeders Cup, I, I think there's a case for him as horse

of the year wins in Kentucky down, sets the track record at

Saratoga, then goes out and beats the Euros in the Sprint.

Like I think there's a case for him just on quality, not on the

totality like we talked about with Torpedo Anna, but just on

quality for him to be horse of the year.

He didn't win there. I have a different horse for

male turf horse of the year, odd top.

I don't think I'm going to to be in the winning camp camp for

this one, but I have Johannes on top.

I just think what he did this year was so bleeping consistent.

He wins again yesterday in his race on the on the opening day

Santa Anita card. So he closes the season in a

time of year when many horses just take the time off.

He comes back and he does runs the same race every time,

Matthew, every time he runs the same race.

It's incredible. Frankly, the consistency is

remarkable. And so I voted him on top.

Yeah, Cogburn in second. But I'll let you talk about

Cogburn because that's a horse you got to see quite a bit at

Saratoga. It is any I mean, they was so

incredibly impressive that day. And he is I agree with you that

if he had won the Breeders Cup Turf Sprint, I think he's the

top male turf horse because I've always had a little bit of an

issue with voting for and and not I shouldn't say an issue,

but I do would I would give him a nod over rebels romance, who

ultimately gets my top vote as the top male turf horse.

But it was only based off of 1 victory, obviously here in North

America, which is the Breeders Cup Turf.

And then, you know, obviously did a lot of great work and he's

kind of a world traveller too. And he's won a bunch of

different places, won three different countries over the

span of the last year. And but yeah, I mean, listen,

Cogburn, it was incredible to see that horse make that

transition because he was a good dirt sprinter and he became one

of the most elite turf sprinters we'd ever seen once Steve

Asmussen switched him to the turf.

And man, I caught him at 8:00 to 1:00 on the undercard of the

Derby. And that was maybe the best bet

I made all year because, I mean, I had a feeling he was going to

run really well. And man, he did and I did.

But I didn't even see the sort of freak that he ended up

becoming just to see a horse run to that level of perfection.

You just don't see it very often.

I mean, people talk about the way the secretary ran the 1973

Belmont. You talk about these kind of

different performances. I don't think a horse could run

a better turf Sprint than Cochran did that day.

And so it's up with Saratoga. So that was incredible to be

there in person four. And you know, it was unfortunate

his year ended the way it did, but I mean, good Lord, I mean,

halfway around the turn, I thought, Mike, is he going to

win this race by, you know, 10 lengths, you know, and and then,

of course, everybody else caught up to him and just went too

fast. Well, to we.

We got robbed of one thing that with that race, I I'm with you.

It's like he hit a patch of quicksand.

Yeah, I I can't remember a horse just stopping at a race like

that outside of like a claimer since I started watching horse.

It was stunning. Torpedo Anna ran next.

We could have had those performances back-to-back and

that would have been, frankly in my life, probably the best two

performances I had ever seen in person in back-to-back races

because she was perfect in the distaff.

No mistakes at all. He could have won.

I mean, had he kept his pace going, he wins that race by 3-4

legs, something like that. I think it would have been the

best back-to-back races I've ever seen in person.

Performances, yeah, it was incredible.

And from a betting standpoint, I think a lot of people went

single, single on their, you know, pick 5 circuits and you

know, I was, I was against Cogburn that day.

I, you know, every once in a while, you know a broken clock

is right twice a day. You know, I really like Star

Bluff in that race. Unfortunately, I did not like

Soul of an Angel in the Filly and Mare.

Sprint, so it didn't really matter.

It was all academic at that point anyway.

So, you know, hitting four out of five doesn't really get you

any brownie points. So it was.

But, you know, listen, I think the one thing you could say

about Cogburn in terms of maybe knocking him as a potential top

male turf force of the year would be there wasn't he didn't

necessarily beat the most elite competition in the turf sprints.

And just because we don't have great turf sprinters necessarily

here in the United States. But when you compare to just the

records that he smashed and the way he did it, that's what made

it so impressive. But I I do think there were

maybe some slight density armor that you could see going into

that Breeders' Cup. But yeah, just it it's

interesting because I like I said, I ultimately landed on

Rebels romance who came over and ran one race.

And that was an incredible effort too, to come back and I

think. So.

Too race with a year in between after really a pretty poor 2020

to come back and run of an amazing 2024.

A very different running style for him in that race as well,

right? Went to the lead early, way

earlier than usual. And that was clearly a move

based on, you know, the layout of the track at Del Mar and all

those things. But they went way earlier than

usual, close at the end. And he still holds on to win

that one. It's confession time.

Matthew, Are you ready? It's confession time.

You're ready for this. I think you're ready for some

confessions. Let's do some confessions.

This name's Matthew DeSantis, by the way.

I'm Lou Urbo. This is the Kentucky Racing

Spotlight. We're presented by the Kentucky

H BPA KYHBP a.com. I think one of the reasons I was

able to vote Johannes is male turf horse is because I do have

congregate as the top male sprinter this year.

Sure, and I think that that offers different things.

I think Johannes was if outs he and Thorpito Anna were the two

most consistent horses this year.

I think that I think it's almost and idiomatic to be fair I mean

she's there at the finish line every single time in her races

right. So maybe those 3, but I think

those two for sure the most consistent.

So yeah, I put did you, I'm sorry I lost it there.

It is Cogburn straight, no chaser in the second spot, just

his two races in North America, both near perfect wins the

Breeders Cup of course. And then I had Mullikin in the

third spot of all things. And I know Mullikin's a horse

that you got to see a couple times.

Yeah, Mullikin's a really interesting horse and one that,

you know, really kind of, I think has developed into a relax

horse for Rudy Brissett. And obviously, like you kind of

mentioned with Johannes, came back and ran the Cigar Mile

after the Breeders Cup and ran a really good race, ran second to

Lock. And so I think really validated

what a lot of us thought about Balakan, who won the

neighborhood and who won the four go.

And so, you know, one of some really nice races up here at

Saratoga in New York this past year.

Yeah. Best mail sprinter.

I absolutely also have Cogburn in that spot, mainly because I

didn't feel like, you know, Straight, No Chaser on the bench

a lot and it there wasn't a huge body of work there.

Obviously very impressive to see him come from off the pace,

which he had never done before to win that Breeders' Cup

Sprint, much to my chagrin, because I had been tornado at 28

to one curses. And so you know that that was

one of those moments that was really thrilling and to see

obviously the connections and everything going on there.

So that was a lot of fun. But yeah, listen, Cogburn put in

the body of work for the whole year, showed up, danced every

dance, ran his race every single time and and put forth just

incredible effort. Dazzled people every time.

And I thought, you know, maybe the dirt Sprint division was not

quite as deep as it had been in previous years, you know, with

Elite Power and Gunite and some horses like that being in this

division in years past. So I I ultimately went Codburn

as my top selection as well. We'll get to your top

steeplechase horse in a minute here, But you know the, you

know, there's an outfit that really had a breakout year this

year, Matthew, that I think, you know, in this sport, it's so

dominated by the big outfits and and you know, the mega trainers

and all that stuff. It's so nice.

I I'll be honest, I I got to be careful.

I don't know that I know how to say this word.

Is it goldo fiend? Good, good, good.

Dolphin. Yeah.

Oh, good. Dolphin good.

Dolphin. I I, you know what's incredible?

I'm not sure that I've ever seen their name before.

And I voted for them both for owner and top breeder.

How about that? How about that?

The sarcasm is dripping to the point that the studio is

completely flooded. Like just completely flooded.

It is absolutely not to see the dominance when you see those

you. Just.

Forget about it, right? I mean, it's just, it's

absolutely incredible to see just how just how dominant they

are on every surface with so many different trainers.

You know, obviously you see the Appleby horses coming over for

Godolphin from overseas, but then you have the Brad Cox

runners, you have Bill Mott runners occasionally you've seen

some Owen Hardy winners over the last couple of months, you know,

coming out of Godolphin as well. It it it's just impressive to

see the operation they have for a breeding standpoint, from a

training standpoint, and then the production on the track has

just been absolutely incredible. They, they can, they're, they

can be career makers for people. You know, Owen Hardy gets a

couple of these horses and and then all of a sudden, you know

he's on the Derby trail. You know, you mentioned Straight

No Chaser earlier. And you know, I, I'm, I'm lucky

Matthew, I get to interview a lot of trainers on this show and

I ask all of them the same question.

What matters more, your training style or great horses?

And not a single one has mentioned their training.

Not one. Every single time it's about

horses. And and I so I use that to

preface this comment because if it comes across as negative, it

simply isn't what I'm trying to do.

But Dan Blacker as a trainer, for example, is a fine trainer.

He's a very good horseman and he finally gets a horse of

straight, no Chaser's ability. And what does he do?

He wants a freaking Breeders' Cup race, right?

It's that kind of stuff. It's a nice reminder that you

know, people like Godolphin, frankly, there's added to that

is not just sending their horses to different trainers and trying

different things. It's what you mentioned.

They win on all kinds of surfaces, different circuits,

different parts of the world, and there's to underrate.

The ability of their office to send horses to the right spots,

I think is a mistake. The people who are running that

operation deserve credit for how well run it is.

Absolutely cannot agree more. And you know, it's interesting

to be said about, you know, trainers training style.

I think so often, not only is it just quality of horse, but it's

about how a trainer knows how to manage a horse's campaign.

And that's really, I think where trainers can set each other

apart from each other sometimes. And you know, Dan did a great

job with Straight No Chaser knowing that this is a horse

that needs some time occasionally and can have these

setbacks. And we're not going to try to

push this horse. We're going to do right by the

horse all the time. We're not going to even though

it's a my race horse horse, which, you know, you imagine

there's maybe a little bit of pressure on the horse like that.

We're often we're going to do right by this horse.

Those are the sorts of decisions that trainers make that that do

make all the difference. And yeah, Dolphin just, you

know, between Cox and Hardy and Phil Modico agingly, and, you

know, these other trainers who have the Dolphin horses, yeah,

they just know how to spot these runners in realistic spots time

in, time out, whether it's a grade one or whether it's a

listed stakes or an allowance race or an optional claimer,

They know where to put them so that they have the best chance

to be successful. Matthew DeSantis with this, he's

with Naira Bets at Failed the Menace on Twitter and all of the

things. Go find him there as well as we

wrap up our sort of year in review show here on the Kentucky

Racing Spotlight. Let's get into trainers.

And I think, you know, you talked about Thorpedo Anna and a

horse like Sierra Leone or or whatever it might be.

As you know, in the horse of the year, the totality of the

argument and all of these kinds of things, odd numbers, odd

numbers. The man that I voted for last

year, his trainer of the year should be trainer of the year

this year. His name is Chad Brown.

As far as stakes winners, as far as earnings, as far as

percentages and all of the things, Chad Brown had the best

year in the United States, but he didn't train the Oaks winner,

he did not train the Derby winner and he did not train the

Clark winner and do all of those in the same year.

First jockey to do it since the 1890s and Brian Hernandez junior

and the first ever jockey and trainer combo to do it.

Those races are 150 years old now, Matthew.

So I voted for Kenny Mcpeak for trainer of the year.

I think once in a while in horse racing, we kind of take for

granted that we're about to run Belmont Stakes.

What, 157 or something ridiculous that we're about to

run Preakness 150 and that is the youngest of the Triple Crown

races that we just take these things for granted.

I wish we wouldn't. And I think it does matter to

win big races. I think it matters to win big

races when they are in anniversary years.

I'll share this. We we made a bunch of jokes.

There was no signage for Derby 149.

It was all for Derby 150. It was so hyped.

Up. It was so different I.

Remember being on the Backside Derby week doing our shows and I

saw Brian a couple of times and Brian is usually a very jovial,

very nice guy. He's a little bit of an

introvert, but he's a very nice guy.

He'll shake your hand if you ask.

He was all business that week. He knew what he had, he knew

what he had and for them to show up like they did.

Kenny Mcpeak got my vote for trainer of the year.

I wish Chad Brown second. I gave Brad Cox the third.

None. Yeah, I mean the same top.

Three for me and and. Just to put the order of Brown

and Cox, but it was, but I know no argument, but Kenny Mcpeak,

listen again, it's holistic. It's about looking at the total

body. There is not a trainer who

brought more eyeballs to the sport than Ken Mcpeak this year.

I mean, just flat out. And you could argue that there

was not a trainer who help get more money wagered on.

I agree with that too. And so and then you.

Add to that winning the signature rates for both the

males and females, for the three-year olds in terms of the

Oaks and the Derby. Absolutely incredible to be able

to do that, to then manage for Pedo Anna the way that he did.

Again, you can't understate that.

I mean, just the access you mentioned earlier, the access

that people had to her was terrific, whether in person or

through social media. Constant update.

The campaign was aggressive but realistic.

The fact he ran her back in the gazillion after the traverse was

fantastic. And he just made sure she was on

the track. He realized he had a superstar

and he campaigned her like a superstar.

And I wish more trainers did that.

And I feel like that's why should reward him for being

trainer of the year because he did it the he did it the old

school way, quite frankly. And that's the way we want to

see horses run a little bit more than three or four times a year.

2024 was. A year that I hope eventually we

remember 510 years from now for the following things.

All of the horses that are going to return in 20. 25 and the fact

that. Two of the big winners.

This year are guys that run their horses into shape rather

than training them into shape. Between Kenny Mcpeak and Wayne

Lucas. Sierra Leone or excuse me, Cesar

Grey ran freaking everywhere. And thank God he did because he

won a bunch of them, right? He won.

He won greatest stakes at Churchill, Pimlico and at parks

in the same year. That is nothing to sneeze that

man. That is really, really hard to

do. And can you peek?

Obviously I as a handicapper, he frustrates the bleep out of me

'cause I can never tell if the horse is totally turned up or

not. It's just one of those things.

But I, I, I, I would put his attitude and how he approaches

the sport up against anyone. Do you know what sealed this

vote for me, Matthew? Was that he brought Mystic Dan

back, back in the Malibu yesterday.

He had to do that. There's no.

There's no, There's no. Reason to do that outside of

just it's the right thing to do now I now do I think he was

shooting for an Eclipse award. Hey, my horse won the Derby and

he won the Malibu. Sure, sure, sure.

But you know what great great because he gave us another horse

in the starting gate and by the way, another very good horse.

I don't care that he ran last by the way that that affects me not

at all talking about Kenny Mcpeak this year, the fact that

he was willing to take the Derby winners ship him out West to do

that. I it's totally right by the

sport. He gets my vote and I think it.

Also speaks to doing. Right by the horse in the long

run because I think he used that race as a prep for what's going

to be a big 2025 campaign and starting with the Pegasus in all

likelihood. And this way now he's you know

he's got 1 Kenny likes to run his horses into shape you know

and everybody knows that so you know this idea well Mystic Dan

ran poorly. I didn't expect him to run.

Well, maybe he hadn't run in a long time.

Kenny's not known for getting horses ready off the bench.

It was a 7 furlong Sprint. They clearly are going to go two

turns with this horse next year. They're not going to turn him

into a sprinter. So it was just get him out in

the track and let them work out basically and you know, get some

reps under him before the big races come next year.

So yeah, I, I hope that people remember that.

And what I will say is the two biggest personalities in the

sport this year were by far and away Kenny Mcpeak and Mike

Ripoli. And you can think about either

of them the way you would like. They both bring eyeballs to the

sport. They broke, get attention to the

sport. They both love their horses and

they both exude a sort of excitement that we surely need

in the sport. After the Clark, by the way,

they're. In the winner's circle,

Churchill gave us a very nice seat for that day, so we're very

close to the winner's circle and that the rattle and roll

ownership group rolls in. They take their picture,

everybody's excited and Kenny's first.

Words after the picture. Art, Congratulations.

Great job. Let's go have a drink.

No, No, they were. Who's coming to Miami Pegasus?

Bro he didn't that like not racing.

Wasn't even in he no, no, wait, he ain't cut that way right.

And I appreciate that so much. That mentality is what can keep

this sport just absolutely not just not just growing but

flourishing. Frankly, his guys with that kind

of mentality and I love that those two men had great, had

great years this year. I do.

Yeah. I got to stand right?

Next to Mike Ripoli and Kenny Mcpeak right after the Travers

in the winner's circle and I will never forget Ripoli turning

to Kenny Mcpeak as Kenny is congratulating Mike on winning

the Travers and Ripoli looking at Kenny Mcpeak and goes I never

want to see your bleeping horse again.

And he has his hands full with torpedo Anna.

And that was one of the funniest things I saw.

And it was two guys who loved the sport who who do things the

right way and and put a lot of money and and time and effort

into the sport. And you know, for them to both

have big years, it was really great this show got nominated

for. An Eclipse Award.

Say something nice about this show.

Not this episode, not this episode, but something nice

about the Kentucky Racing show. So now you're thinking about all

the windows. This is.

Easily, easily the only show that I listen to about horse

racing and that is 100% true. This is it.

Believe it or not. Hey, Kentucky Races Bottle has a

baller show. What are you talking about?

All right, well, you it's fantastic, but got my vote.

Got his vote. Oh man.

I did offer. I'm hoping they'll take me up on

it. You know, Matthew, I'm a lucky

guy. I, I, I speak a couple of

different languages. Spanish is one of them.

And we're trying to to get more Spanish language entries in in

the Eclipse balloting and I was asked by a couple of different.

People. You know, hey, would you be

willing to, you know, serve on a panel with some of the media

stuff to, you know, especially for Spanish language?

I said, my gosh, yes, that would be spectacular, 'cause you, you

and I both know this. You have Darwin, this guy up

there with you in New York. But just the amount of very

good, you know, you know, I think of Roberto with ERF and

all those guys, like just how good the programming is.

I mean, if you don't speak Spanish, obviously not too much

we can do. But just in general, like how

much good stuff is going on in Spanish.

So hopefully going forward, yeah, I'm looking forward to it.

I really hope, hope I'm involved in that.

I think it'd be a lot of fun. Yeah, no, absolutely couldn't.

Agree more. Some of the sharpest

handicappers I think. My goodness, yes.

And and it is something which I feel like what we're trying to

do up in my rebet is we're going to be leveraging Darwin a lot

more in 2025. So we're going to be having a

lot more Spanish language content because I feel like we

don't speak to some of a core group of our players sometimes

because we have English only content.

And I feel like that needs to change the sport to really

continue to grow and thrive. Who wins the Rob tomorrow?

Well. Louis, I haven't even looked at

that. Race.

What are you doing to me, man? I got the week off this week.

I'm I'm trying to take it easy here.

We're not just going to sail Grande.

O and Dylan Davis and give you the easy one.

You can go off in the sunset. Fine.

OK again. Fine.

I guess we're not doing that then.

How about that? All right, you know something.

Call me up, Dylan. By the way, that was a great

storyline this year, General, was Dylan Davis.

And so I certainly for Dylan, I hope he ends on a high note up

here before he goes down and starts running a lot at

Gulfstream Park this year. He should be all right.

Where are you and I running into one another?

Before we see each other a moment.

Oh. Goodness, that's a good

question. I'm actually.

Going to be down in Kentucky Keeneland right before the

Kentucky Derby too. So I'll be down in Kentucky

around kind of end of April ish. So I'm sure I will see you then.

And then I'm also going to be at Tampa Bay for Tampa Bay Derby

and I'll be at Oak Lawn for the Apple Blossom as it's likely the

race for Pete O Anna comes back for that means I got to get to.

I got to get to aqueduct for a prep then that's what that

means. Sorry honey, I got to go to the

York. You're the.

Withers. Yeah, Jerome.

Yeah, what number one, little little Withers talk on a Friday.

Let's go little. Withers, all right, he's Matthew

DeSantis. He's with naira bets we're going

to get him out of here. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year,

all the things Matthew, and I hope you have a great holiday

season and enjoy the tarp at Aqueduct.

Thank you so much, Louis. Same to you and yours.

All right. Thank you to Matthew to send.

Us that failed to menace there on on Twitter and all all the

things of course I'm Louie Rabeau.

This is the Kentucky racing spotlight.

Thanks to Matthew for hanging out with us ahead or excuse me,

after what was a very eventful year in 2024.

By the way, third largest crowd that they've had in a long time

for opening day at Santa Anita yesterday and a 17% increase in

handle from year over year. So maybe we're going to get off

to a great kick off for 2025. Maybe it started out West for

all of us. Of course, still in action in

the state, looking at Turfway Park tomorrow.

So if you are so interested, a bunch of great stakes, excuse

me, great stakes, a bunch of great races out there, including

the old 10 furlong race at 9:25 tomorrow night in an.

Fernand 2 lifers as well. I love the a mile and a quarter

races up there. They seem to be such a nice

niche of what they do at Turfway Park.

Of course our guy Tony Kalo up there don't sleep on Boquina

tomorrow. The five horse up there in race

8 has one at the distance before and hit the board three times

and all three trips at the distance.

Loves, loves, loves going two turns and longer.

Just needs as much distance as possible.

I'll make that my top pick there for Darren Miller and his crew

up at Turfway Park, but I'm Louis Rabeau.

Happy New Year to all of you. Thank you so much for making the

Kentucky Racing Spotlight part of your horse racing every

single week. We'll be back next week and we

hope you are as well. Good luck with all those wagers

this weekend. No matter where in town you're

headed, you've. Arrived at your destination?

Cox is an Evergreen Liquors is your go to liquor store and now

we're even easier to go to. Just go to our new app or online

E store for virtual shopping at home.

Then pick up your order or have it delivered from our store to

your door. Go to coxslouisville.com,

download the app and let the good times come to you.

Cox is an Evergreen Liquors you know where to go.

If you're like me, you like your bourbon for breakfast, lunch and

dinner. Now I can have it on my wings

too. Introducing Wing Zones New Sweet

Bourbon Blaze Sweet Bourbon Blaze combines the sweetness of

molasses, a hint of bourbon, and a touch of spice.

It's delicious on our bonus Original and our hamburted

tenders, but it's only here for a limited time.

Order now at wingzone.com to satisfy your bourbon crazy.

Wingzone.com You guys, do you want to grow your business?

ESPN Louisville wants to help take it to the next level.

But ESPN Louisville assist through the best sports talk and

much more. e-mail us at partnerships@espnlocal.com.

That's partnerships at espnlouisville.com.

Become a partner of the sports leader ESPN Mobile.