5th Anniversary | Mike Gandolfo and friends

All right, welcome to a fifth anniversary show.

Anniversary show of the horse Racing happy hour, Louie and I.

How? About that five years, look at

that. But what year did you do your?

Did I get you out there? 2018 Derby was our first. 2018

you know you're out there for Derby and then.

Our first major race together was the Oaks Bottom Boy girl.

Not a bad first race, not a bad. I love the fact that, again,

that I also four years ago yesterday, we were at Churchill

Downs for the Derby in September.

Yeah, well. It's it's September Derby

anniversary. That's right.

Hopefully never again. Yeah, So it's a special day

always that we're that we're celebrating the show.

We are not shirtless today. I know there's a lot of people

who are disappointed about that. Are you going to go shirtless?

We got a clip on mics now. Dinnerman asked me not to do

that anymore and I respect Matt Dinnerman.

He's called a grade one now. I can't tell that guy.

No, it's oh grade one caller Jackman.

How about that? 3 cold tables that.

On Join the show Arkansas Little Little Monmouth Little Montana.

Yeah, right. Matt Dinnerman I mean, there's

probably no person who can speak to how this show can elevate

someone's careers and you don't care about it.

Thanks for joining us today, by the way.

I guess we should explain why we have all these guests.

Well, it's the 5th anniversary for sure.

Yes, but it's also someone's last show on the Happy.

Hours yes, it's going to be my final show I'm moving on to just

do some other things that are kind of more in the scope of my

of the industry where I actually work and and and I got some just

big some big goals and some big aspirations and we're we're

going to we're going to start hitting hard so.

And like, all of us, family stuff, right?

I mean, yeah. Family stuff for sure, but at

the same time, like my kids are a different agent here.

They've very often your kids and stuff.

Well, but you got 1 going to college soon.

Well, the one's in college and my last one's going to.

College. Going to college now.

You're a busy dude now. What they doing?

I did for sure. The empty nest piece is coming

in, which is pretty cool. So Matt Dinerman joins us.

If not our most frequent, you know, so like Road to the

Preakness shows, we get those guys once a.

Month, you know, like. Random guest jumping on the

show. I think it's Dinnerman man.

How about? That he definitely came on,

started to come on early and came on often.

So you know, the Golden Gate Fields days had him on right

around the same time the guys people were laying on the track

out out there in San Francisco and now he's doing the thing Oak

Lawn and in Monmouth. Are they laying on the track in

protest in Arkansas? They would never do that.

If they did that, they'd be dragged out.

Dragged out. We would have people from the

bar across the street with pitchforks and that would be

that. That's right.

I mean, from from having cocktails to handicapping with

your shirts off. What a strange trip this has

been. So my.

Congratulations on a five years. And just because you're leaving,

this doesn't mean you're leaving.

Racing, that's the. Good thing.

No, I'm sorry. I'm sure.

Yeah. I mean, I, I definitely, I, I

missed out going to Monmouth for the high school and I was really

bummed about that. The videos were awesome with

the, with, with you guys up in the and around all the ducks and

oh, it's fantastic. Yeah.

That was great, man. It's good, good stuff, man.

So I appreciate you popping on what's what's coming up in your

world, Matt. Well you know we got Monmouth at

the Meadowlands after the last four racing days here at

Monmouth. We got Saturday, Sunday, the

next week, Saturday and Sunday ends things and then I've got

two days a week for five weeks of Meadowlands.

So no harness racing. It's an all turf meet for the

thoroughbreds and then I'm going to drive to Kentucky.

You're guys in neck of the woods.

Take a few days there and then drive to Arkansas from Kentucky,

drop the car off, go to the Breeders Cup and spend a month

with mom and dad in San Diego before back at Oaklawn.

So man, that's just just living. The dream over here guys living

the. Dream tell you what you're going

to get all the Louis rebel you can handle so I don't know if

that's you know it's OK by the way like I.

Don't you dare do what you're about to do, but go ahead and do

it. I just take a spray box model in

those early days and just kind of spray them and just keep them

at, you know, keep them at. So where is Louis?

Where are you in Kentucky? I live in Louisville.

Yeah, we're in Louisville. OK.

And then I'll be in Lexington then.

Perfect. Not hard.

Yeah, it's kidding. I'm totally.

Yeah, it's by an hour, so if you wanted to see people in that

place, I'll be. Visiting people.

I'm sure I'll see you. Yeah, it'll be mid-october, so.

Good, nice time in the state. Yeah, just living the dream,

guys, as as you guys are, I'm sure too with everything going

on. You know, I, I got to say

though, in, in, you know, on shows like this, when we

actually get to pause and celebrate people, Matt, you're

one of the people. We're so, so glad that we got to

meet early in the show and watching the progression from,

you know, Golden Gate, which we enjoyed.

We love having you on talking those races, but it's different

when we're talking Oklahoma, when we're talking Monmouth.

And we're just we're so glad that you've allowed us to be

part of that journey from California.

I mean, I had, I remember meeting you and you were like,

hey, the California guy. If I end up Golden Gate rest of

my career, it's going to be awesome.

This would be a great career. And then bang, you're calling

grade ones, you're calling my favorite turf race, the United

Nations, that kind of stuff. And so thanks for including us,

man. It's been fantastic watching

your road to to both of those places.

Yeah, well, I appreciate you having me on.

And what can I say? I've been very lucky, you know,

worked hard and, and got some luck on my side and a lot of

people that helped me along the way.

So. You know it, it's been, it's

been 1 heck of a ride and I'm loving every minute of it.

So when you work hard and you achieve your dreams, once you

get there you're just trying to keep doing the best you can and

improving, but at the same time, you might as well enjoy it.

Man, it's, it's been awesome. So Congrats on all your success

and then and hopefully we'll see you see you soon.

Thanks a lot for dropping in today, Matt.

I hope so. Happy five year anniversary and

Mike, don't be a stranger. We'll be.

Here. All right, see you guys.

See. All right, that was Matt

Ginnerman again tracking out. Cavalcade has begun.

You got a. Cavalcade, a friend stopping by

Mike, how about that? And we'll go out to Maryland

because this guy wants to get his.

He's got, he's got. No, he's going.

To be. A block and this delay.

I mean, Scott Wyckoff is he's got to watch this football game.

He's hoping that the Ravens have it blown out by halftime and go

to bed. Well, no.

I think he's hoping the Ravens lose so his Browns can move to

the top of the North. I think that's what we're I

think that's what's really going on.

He can't say that out loud. No, because he.

Lives where he lives, but I think that's what he's really

hoping for. Welcome.

Scott, how are you? Great.

Congratulation on five years. I mean I found you guys a couple

of years ago. You found me and kind of changed

the way that I the been covering horse racing.

You guys have given me some real ideas and some different

perspectives and it's been a great run.

Great having you guys here at the Preakness every year.

Mike Well, I know E Baltimore is going to miss you next.

Year. Well, I'll tell you what I mean.

My Trip My travels to Baltimore with the just the the scenic

living conditions that we got to enjoy while being involved on

boat trips. Your fellow worked the first

one. Yours worked.

You're welcome. That's friendship I got.

Contact high going through the hallway, you know.

But tell me when you guys hooked up, hooked up with Jimmy's

Seafood, man, that hit it out of the ballpark.

I knew you guys were legit when you told me you were You were

doing your seminar at Jimmy's Seafood.

We'll be. Back 150, man in the spring.

Yeah, for sure. Happy on this, right?

Yeah. You know, And Scott, by the way,

you're, you're just, you're a true, true pro when it comes to

media and just it's just awesome that you have embraced us the

way you have. And so it was, I really enjoyed

having dinner when we got to you in Baltimore last year too.

So thanks so much for everything you've done for the show and,

and being a fan and, and being a guest.

It's been awesome. So yeah, you guys, you guys have

done a great job and it's really neat how we kind of do.

Horse. Racing media a little different

than kind of the old days. We're not old school.

We're not, you know. Turf riders were.

People that were drawn to the game for a lot of different

reasons and I think. The.

Stories we tell really bring other people into the game.

The stories of not only the people that are involved in all

aspects, but the stories of, of how to bet and, and not to be

afraid to dive into the deep end of the pool and, and to enjoy

that end of the game. I, I, I've, I've enjoyed that

with you guys especially. I would love it, man, have a

hunch bet a bunch, as our friend Danny Burr says and and last

year the blackout season day man is the biggest bet I've ever

hit. So, and and it's probably

because mostly because of the next, the next guest we're going

to have coming on here in just a second, but.

Yeah, Scott, no, for sure. You know, the, the Preakness is

something that I I love going to.

I I love, you know, you're, you're a Cleveland guy.

I'm a Detroit guy and, and there's something familiar about

Baltimore, even though it's not familiar.

Every time I go and, and getting to go and cover the Preakness

hang out with you and and your crew there at WBAL, it's been,

it's frankly, it's a real honor. And, and so thanks for including

a couple of weird guys in Louisville in your broadcast and

in your circle. We really appreciate it.

Oh, there. And there's nothing like

watching you guys do your show from high atop the roof in the

press box in the dining room. Let's.

Go. Yeah, man, you guys stay close

to that food. Let's go.

And this is going to be it fruit, this, 150, then that,

then they're tearing that place down so.

It'll. It'll be a little bit weird

hanging out with you at Laurel Park, but we'll make do.

This ridiculous show outlasted Pimlico.

How about that? I love it.

Oh man. Yeah.

All right. Well.

Scott, we love you, man. Thanks so much for jumping on

tonight. It really does mean a lot to us.

And I'll be there in in the spring.

Maybe we'll drag Adolph out to Maryland.

Women enjoy the enjoy the football game tonight.

Mike. Congratulations, we'll miss you,

but we know you're moving on to to bigger and better things and

we will live our lives vicariously through you.

All right, man. See you, Scott.

I don't know if we can get much bigger than Scott Wyckoff,

though. I mean, you know.

We're wrapping up then. Are we done?

Yeah. 10 minute show. 10 minute show.

I mean, we got someone, well, like 6 more people plan, but

yeah, no, I mean, you know, whatever.

Yeah. Do we need to stop?

No. Are you going to thank people

for big bets? Because that might be something.

Well, I mean, look at look at Sweeney popping in.

Why doesn't Mike admit Baffert push them out and Sweeney

popping through Amy Sweeney man like I would be so.

Happy, if that's why you were leaving the show, that it was

Baffert. That was like, yo Louie, you got

to get this guy out. I mean.

I would do it for sure. By the way, Bob, you just asked.

I'll get rid of this this guy in a second.

You just tell me what you need, buddy.

You got a little rainbow action going on.

Man. Yeah, so there you go.

They're getting the rainbow. How much you going?

To enjoy not having to do this and just watch football.

I mean, I have it on sometimes I think, you know, I think I'm

just going to enjoy probably more than anything else, just

being able to start my Friday with a little, you know, little

better rest and stuff like that. Yeah.

But you know, it's going to be a hole and I'm going to miss for

sure because like I've got to have guys that I think you'll

become really good friends. I mean, everybody who's been on

so far has been awesome. But then there's there's certain

people that like start becoming part of our Rd.

Crew like you know who we share a house with, we share living

conditions with we're going they.

Have the same show on their credential.

Yeah, these sorts of people. And and you know, I I can't

imagine a really another world where me and John Kazak even

like come close to having a friendship.

I'm with you. And and now like, you know, like

you know, he's he's. He's got a nickname in our

group. He's Johnny P He's Johnny P Like

this is it, Man, This is great. So John, what's up man?

How you doing? I am doing well, you know, it's,

it's in a busy week over at my new employer of Yonkers Raceway.

It's the Yonkers went up this Saturday, but I had to make time

for the final show. And you know, it's funny because

Louis texted me about two, three, 2-3 weeks ago.

And he's like, hey, like, oh, oh, you're around on the 5th.

It's Mike's last show I'd like to have you on.

And I was like, yeah, I mean, I'd, I'd love to come on.

And it, it didn't really sink in at that moment.

And then when I was backstage and Mike actually said, you

know, like this is it, you know, it's, it's a weird feeling

because I've been doing the show, you know, for about 3 1/2

years now. I watch you guys pretty often,

even even when I'm not on and, and, you know, got great

chemistry together and I really enjoyed being on.

And it's, it's, it's, it's gonna be weird not have Mike on, you

know? Yeah, for sure.

Well, you know, Louie Louie's got, you know, I, I think one of

the things that's been so much fun for me is just to kind of

watch Louie came into this and he had no career media at the at

the time. And, and just to see where he's

elevated and, and knowing that Louie, both Louie and I are

visionaries and, and so Louie's been able to take his vision and

continue to push and innovate and do all the things he's going

to do with this show. It's going to be so special and

it's going to be amazing to just sit back and watch.

So like know that he's going to in, you know, in some way it's

like we've had the conversations in the past like where I've

always said, Hey, if I'm holding this back because, you know, the

goals sometimes didn't always line up right.

So, and that's not what's happening here, by the way,

people like we are on really, really good terms.

I don't want to allude to like there's any kind of like.

I texted so many people ahead of time to make sure they knew so

that I didn't get the text. Like are you and Mike OK?

Because when Isel hung it up but he legit he.

Legit stabbed this on the back. Shut up.

No, but you. Know but yeah, I mean I think at

the end of the day, like Louie, Louie has taken to this media

world and put himself in the middle of it and he innovates

he's getting connections and and that's from from awesome people

like you, Johnny P to sponsors and whatever else and just you

know he's going to continue to push the envelope the show's

going to continue to just grow and be better and better so.

Well, and frankly, it's it's on the the insights of people like

John who got us connected in Maryland, right with Maryland

thoroughbred and with different folks, you know, around the

state. In one of the things we've come

to really enjoy on this show is the regionality of horse racing

right in the different different pockets of the country, the

different traditions around there.

And John was certainly one of the guys that introduced us.

I mean, long before we met that coastal elite.

Dan Hillman. Yes, you know, we met John

Piasik. He was the foundation of our

Maryland time. Now he's got great hair.

I hate him and it's a whole thing.

How about? That yeah, you're done, Mike.

Always had a lot of great comments.

Comments on my hair. You know, next time I I go on,

Louis, you got to pick up the slack, Mini.

Oh, man. I see you still haven't got a

haircut, though, so, you know. Yeah.

Listen, while he's here, I let's we got to pull.

We'll leave John on. But we we got to leave the we

got to bring the Maryland people up.

There's the illman right there. There he is.

Iron Will Danielman with his. Is that an Ace Hardware shirt?

Is that what that? Says, well, it could be.

OK. Oh man, damn it.

Oh, but look at this. I'll tell you what there's.

The road to the Preakness crew right here.

Yeah, the road to the Preakness crew.

Is it your favorite photo we've taken doing this show?

It was definitely special, Yeah. And I know that, you know, just

because we spend so much time together.

So yeah. And we get together like that's

always when it becomes fun when you got a group of guys like we

were. And we can, we can kind of jab

at each other and know it's all in good fun and, and just enjoy

it. So.

I mean, it was for all of us except for Illman, who was being

very serious. Dan, how are you?

I'm. Doing well how are you guys

doing Louis you know you finally got what you've always told me

you always wanted to be the star of this show you always wanted

to be a solo an act and I'm. Not sure.

Handle it without Big Mike, I think.

I thought he was the glue that held the show together.

That's just the fact. Yeah, right.

We're going to do it here. Yeah.

That was that was always the role for sure.

The glue First to the gym, last to leave.

Coaches kid. Sneaky applet.

That's the. Equipment, turn it down.

Yeah, so Louie. Louie still doesn't even really

know what a microphone is. I really don't.

Yeah, we put this on tonight. I'm like, is green up or down?

That was lower top. Yeah, that's right.

Does the light go to the top or the bottom?

Oh. Man, Dan, do you have a favorite

Mike Gandolfo story? I'm just kidding.

You don't have. To do that, do I have a favorite

Mike Gandolfo story? No.

I have Mike Gandolfo story, maybe not a favorite, but I have

stories. Well, like I said, I'm John.

John Piazza's the reason why I got my biggest hit ever on on a

race. And so there you go.

I appreciate that. And and then Elman just gives me

shit for taking other people's picks.

So. You know, that's fine and.

Listen, if you're scoring, that's all well and good, but at

the end of the day, don't you get satisfaction, you know,

making your own opinions. Oh yeah.

With analysis and and all of a sudden when your horse runs a

terrible 10th, you say, well, it was the jockey's fault.

I also blame the jockey. Whichever one blame the jockey

for sure. Well, fellas, thank you guys for

joining us on on a special night for us and being a huge part of

the show for the last couple of years.

It's been awesome. John asked me if we're doing a

Maryland million show and Dan the answer was yes.

So get ready for that friend. Can't wait.

Maryland million. My all time favorite day of the

year. Other than the Preakness

perhaps, but looking forward to it.

Chance. And and and I will say on

Wednesday at Delaware Park, possibly the favorite in both

the Maryland Million Lassie and nursery will be running.

But be sure to second-half. We got Caprice in the I believe

the Small wonder and then workably also on the code you.

Turn off man, you know that going to do this anymore No,

you're not going to hang out with Johnny PV like you know I.

Can talk down. It's not every show is going to

tell you about Delaware poke on a Wednesday afternoon.

And that's right, absolutely. That's right, Caprice, And

remarkably on Wednesday. Does Ilman have any nice words

for Mike Gandolfo as he moves off the show?

Well, Mike, I mean, you're going to succeed no matter what you

do. I mean, you've got a big mouth

and you fooled a lot of people for most of the time.

So I have, I have no surprise. No, wouldn't be surprised at all

if you. Continue to fool people.

And. Climb the corporate ladder, so

to speak. Yeah, that's actually what I

don't want to do so. But is that though to speak?

So to see what you wanted to mean, yeah, that's right, yeah.

Yeah, It's like, no offense. And then you offend someone.

That's right. Yeah, right.

You'll have to be rude. I mean, yeah.

Bless his heart. How about that?

Bless his heart. Well, guys, we really, we mean

it. The, the, the Preakness shows

are so fun. We really enjoy them and, and

getting to know the folks in Maryland and the trips and the

back and forth for sure. It's it's been a a serious,

incredible positive on the show. So we really do appreciate you

guys. Well, we had a lot of fun and

again, Mike, we always wish you the best.

Thanks, Dan. Thanks, John.

Appreciate you guys for being on.

Hi, guys. Hi, Louis.

So that was Dan Ellman and John. Yeah, I think that's our road to

the previous crew right there, but.

We'll do it again next year for sure.

That'll be fun. I should probably get my

battalks out to an actual Maryland million at some point

because he's going to do so much good stuff for us, so much free

content from those guys. But man, man, the next one's for

you. I'm I'm really.

Well, it's not just for me. I mean this.

Yeah, no, no. But this one's for right now.

This one's for you. Bring them up.

This is this is our dude. We're going to go to What hat do

you have on EJ? I've got horse racing happy

hour. I got a roll.

Yeah, I got Kentucky winter circle hat on so.

Well, I saw that and I I was going to wear this anyway, so I

want to make sure it's coming through there, you know?

Right, it looks good. Adjusting that there, how you

guys doing? We're good, man.

This is the man in the myth, the legend, EJ Clark.

Let's go. He knows.

Everything. On the backside of Churchill

Downs and, and I'll tell you what it's special of EJ on and

we've told the origin story before and EJ has been on our

Airways several times, but like none of this app doesn't none of

this ever happened without EJ. And so just the whole, the whole

way that everything kind of came about.

And I'll let EJ kind of tell it from his perspective too.

But man, I tell you, I keep on trying to think what year it was

and it has to be like 2010, 2011 in that in that realm, maybe

maybe even 2009, I bet. I don't think it was that early,

but I I was on a lot of sports radio broadcast talking about

basketball, recruiting, whatever else.

And this, you know, Dugan Ryan asked me, Hey, you want to help

us cover the Kentucky Derby? And I was like, sure.

And I didn't really know what I was doing.

I was a Derby fan. I wouldn't say that I knew a

whole whole lot about horse racing, but I was AI was a Derby

fan and and being a part of that was huge thing.

And man, EJ, there were some days that for those the Oaks in

the Derby weekend where I think I did like 14 hours of radio

between your show. My show.

We both had we both had independent shows and then I

would hop on your show and then we did the post show and it it

got pretty crazy. We did that both days, you know,

and it was special, man, it was it was great.

We got to do that all the way through, like, you know, maximum

security wasn't our, was that our last one that we did

together? We did one after.

The last one, maximum security, we actually started around 2012

something like that, Mike and, and you, you know, you would

come on the show and then for about 5 years we did the recap

and on on maximum security. Security.

I love to tell the story because they asked us to go on 30

minutes early. Normally we would wait to Horse

Racing Radio Network was over and then we would then we could

come on on ESPN Louisville and our original host station, which

was WXVW. So we had five stations with a

recap for those years and they asked us to go on early.

So we did in 2019 and the rest is kind of, you know, we've,

we've talked about this several times, but as everybody knows,

maximum security came way out, drifted way out at the top of

the stretch, there'd been some rain.

There was an idea that maybe he, he, he saw a flash of light on

the water or something. I don't think we ever got a

really specifically reason why he did drift out, but he could

have taken down about 5 or 6 horses for sure and it could

have been catastrophic. And so immediately when they got

back, the jock objection sign went up, the jockeys objection

sign from two of the jockeys and it said about the situation of

22 minutes while the stewards were looking at the film to

decide not to take it down. In that 22 minutes we did not

have a front end view. In other words, we didn't have

the head on shot. All we had was that the the, the

replay of the Derby that you see on on a side view.

So we, we couldn't see the head on at the top of the stretch.

That was the problem to really to really get a good sense.

But we, we soldiered through, didn't we Mike?

We did. And actually my part, that's

where it's like, so I would watch the Derby from the press

area in 3/23/22. EJ watches it from the track,

which he showed me how to do this year, which was fantastic

and awesome to be on the, on the freaking track for Derby 150.

And then EJ goes and gets sound and stuff like that in the

winner's circle and you had your, your rain gear on and all

that stuff. And, and so I'm race is over and

we find out we're going on early.

I'm booking it down to where we're doing the showdown in the

parlay and you're getting sound on the, on the track, if I

remember correctly. And I, I'm going on the air

thinking maximum security won the race and like, and then I'm

just, I'm, and again, you're doing your thing, Lane's doing

his thing. And I've got to figure out you

did jump in with me for a little bit and, and we're, we're trying

to kind of explain what's going on live on the air.

And it's, it was probably the most authentic, just reactive

instant reaction radio you could possibly have.

We probably should have submitted it for an Eclipse

Award DJ, but you know, but at the end of the day, like I all

the things that you've taught me about horse racing because

you're a freaking encyclopedia. And whether it was the Stormy

Daniels jokes that we would always have in that, well, we

had fun. With the short and Lane and I

Lane and I got off 11 Derby weekend, I think it was Friday.

We started with Stormy and we did about, we did about 10

minutes and just, we really went off the, you know, went off the

road there. But it was a lot of fun because

every once in a while you got to kind of break it up, you know,

and just, you know, kind of, you know, be a little bit loose

there. Yeah, and I.

And I hope that's what I brought, that's what I was

trying to bring to your all show in the 1st place when it all

started up so that you know, to make it a little loose, give a

little fresh voice and and and well.

You did, Mike. When you came on board, you

added some things that people don't realize that Lane does

double duty on Oaks and Derby Day.

He works with tail off. He, he's, he's getting quotes

and he's also doing the radio show.

So he has an assignment for all the stakes races usually.

So we're on and then we come back on for the last right after

the the the Kentucky Derby has been run basically or 10, 10 to

30 minutes afterwards for a recap.

We're going to sit there for two hours.

We're going to bring you the live post race interviews from

the Oaks and the Derby. And it was a lot of fun doing

that. But there was a lot of other

things that we were able to cover.

You were able to reek get get the figures for us, the the

payouts and prices for talk going back because both days

have a tremendous undercard. And that's so important because

a lot of times people are leaving the track and they're

going, they've made some bets and they've they're interested

in a particular race and you're able to go back and recap some

of these. Great stakes races that are on

the undercard and I think that's just as important.

It was just as important with that recap, Mike and you're and

Louis, you too. We grabbed you a time or two,

especially for the maximum security broadcast that we were

doing. And it was just good to have the

the information there again for the better and the fan and to be

able to, you know, fill in the other things that were important

about the winner and the connections of those of those

races. You win a, you want to race on

Derby day and that's like hitting a home run, no?

Question like when we're still race?

Yeah, but if you win a stakes race on Derby day, you know what

I'm saying, with the crowd and everything.

And on the Oaks day is just a, you know, it's just a special

win and that kind of thing. And you really have a lot to

talk about because you see the best horses in the country

coming in and the the the the major connections and, you know,

the best horses, the best trainers.

Everybody wants to have a presence on Derby week on on

Kentucky Derby weekend and especially for the Oaks and the

Derby. So it's always a lot of fun to

do that. And you know, you guys added a

lot man. And, and Mike, I thank you

again. You know, Mike and and Louis

both we, you know, we, we just all hit it off real good and

chemistry is very important. I know you guys realize that and

I'm sure you talked about that, but to be able to, you know, to

be able to to work with with different people and you know,

just to get that flow and there's no, you know, there's no

hierarchy. We just got on there and we just

started doing it. That's important.

Yep, Yeah, I totally agree with everything EJ said.

And Eji, just I, I wanted to speak just a little bit here

because I don't, I don't know how much Mike's willing to say,

but just your influence on him, how much he respects you, I

think it's really difficult to measure because it's it's

extraordinarily high. He really holds you incredible

esteem. And so thank you for frankly

getting him into this because he got me into this and it's been a

tremendous ride. And we were, I'm so glad that we

got to start the ride with you. So thank you.

Well, let me let me say this again.

And you know, we talked about this on Derby Week and what an

incredible week that was. You know, not only Derby 150,

but me personally and, and you know, you 2 guys have, have sort

of come along and been a part of the Kentucky winner's circle.

You went on your own, you created the horse racing happy

hour and and your own shows on the radio and on podcast and you

took you took it up to another level than what we were able to

do. We we we took it so far and Lane

and I both have, you know, have never done this full time and

Mike, of course you haven't done it, but Louis, you're almost

full time and you're doing a great job by the way, And but

you guys have taken it to another level.

That makes me proud that, you know, that, you know, you got

started with us and, and that makes me very happy for you guys

that you could, you know, take this show, make it a podcast

that's heard worldwide with with racing fans out there

everywhere, and then add to it. And Louis, of course, you know,

you're, you know, you're, you're doing several radio shows right

now. And so, you know, you're, you're

sort of, you know, picking up and, and Mike, I know you've got

other things and you're doing a great job with your own

business. So want to wish you the best and

everything, but but going back to, you know, what we were able

to, it was a lot of fun. Just sit there and and do radio

and do it live and you know, it's that.

That's the most exciting thing for me.

Well, thanks a lot, EJ, I appreciate you joining us and

you know, we'll, we'll stay in touch man, for sure.

We'll stay in touch, Mike. All the best.

You know, you did a great job for us.

Can't thank you enough, Louis. Thanks for putting this together

my man. Of course.

Yeah, of course. Up to you.

Yeah. Thank you, EJ, I appreciate it.

Thank you so much for jumping on.

We appreciate it. So EJ like so we had, you know,

I think the thing about those post Derby shows and post Oak

shows that the reason why they kind of came about, that was

back before Churchill had the shuttle system, right?

So people were parking on site. Or in the neighborhood or

whatever. They were just stuck.

That's right. And so like, we got to give them

something because they're everyone's going out to dinner,

right? It's like the latest dinner

anyone in Kentucky ever eats. And so everyone's going to

dinner and you, you, our job was to give talking points to those

people when they were heading to dinner.

And, and especially, I think the one that was more important than

anything was the Oaks Post show, because we could talk about what

happened to Oakstay, but then we could start really hammering in

on what that Derby field is. By that point, we've had pretty

much almost had all the scratches.

Of course, we've had some surprises over the years on

Saturday morning, but but typically things were kind of

done by then. And yeah, it was, it was really

special. And then it just reminds me too.

And I, and again, I have no idea who Louie is lined up for today,

but so, but before there was a Louie, we had a Road to the

Winner's Circle podcast with me, Kimberly Greenwell, and a guy

named Brian the inside. Yeah, Brian.

Yeah, yeah. So those guys, man, shout out to

you. We we did our podcast there for

two or three years. And so it's five years here for

with with Louis, but this is. Frankly, like you mentioned,

we've been doing this since Derby of 18.

Yeah. Right.

So really just it was when we decided to sit on the floor in

your office and do this show in September.

It wasn't 20. Or is it?

Yeah, 2819. Excuse me.

So. Oh.

Yeah, there you go. Good time zone and and you know,

we talked a little bit about how.

What I love, by the way, is why we started doing this.

Do you remember what you said to me?

I mean, I know why I wanted to start podcasting in the 1st

place was really just so I could keep up with the horse racing

counter throughout the year. Like I don't want to sound like

a dumb ass at Derby anymore. Like that's a good idea.

And at the end of the day, like and when EJ was just talking

about that other part like you when you follow horse racing

throughout the year and you get an A true appreciation or that

undercard of those other 12 stakes.

Races Pat Day Mile or the turf races, whatever.

Yeah, that's exactly. Right.

And you and you start to realize like the derbies of the show,

it's what everyone's coming to see, but it's not usually the

best horse race and it's not usually the best horses, you

know, because. And so and it's, it's true.

I think, you know, the old ads that people in Louisville tend

to be Derby fans and people in Lexington tend to be horse

racing fans. And, and I had to learn how to

be a horse racing fan. And that's kind of what we do

through the podcasts and, and then along the way we elevate

things kind of like the Indiana Derby.

I mean, we just made the Indiana Derby so much bigger than it

was. Oh God, Rachel, how I would

survive without you. Rachel loves what I do.

This. I wanted to give out our numbers

since we started the podcast. Are you ready?

OK. All right.

So I love numbers, but. Not only.

Let's just make sure everyone does.

It's not 4th grade math. I just realized you both have

kids. 4th grade math? Not for me.

Force facing analytics my my jam.

I have literally taken a break from 4th grade math to jump on

here for you Mike. Thank you very much, Rachel.

I. Appreciate that.

We are now in 73 countries with with subscribers and of course

every state around the country, 262 cities just in California.

How about that? Oh my gosh, that's.

Amazing 87,000 individuals have downloaded at least one episode

of this podcast That's amazing Everything or friends at

Caesars. I mean all.

Kinds of stuff. Landscape.

Manscape. Manscape read You have to like I

think Rachel should do the manscape.

I'm just. I would.

Text it to me, right? Now code horse racing if you

have this going on and don't want to pay a Barber because you

shouldn't check out our friends at Manscape.

They've got the new Dome shaver go check them out nice and easy

that way Just take care of it at home.

Use our promo code HORSE RACING 20% off free shipping to your

house as well manscape.com you. Know what happened to me two

days ago? Don't tell me I.

Got a little e-mail that said hey cuz I have it set up.

So like once every six weeks it sends me my deodorant, it sends

me my beer conditioner. Like automatically they package

it up, they send it to me. Gotta keep that stuff nice.

Yeah, it looks good, right? It does looks wonderful.

Thank you. I appreciate that race and

Rachel from Rachel. I wrote down like big memories

on here. The DQ has already been talked

about. OK I mentioned our first oaks

together being Monomoy girl, which is not a bad oak.

That's. Not a bad Oaks, right?

No, that was a good. One our first Indiana Derby was

2021. Yes, OK.

And something very special happened that day, Rachel.

And I'm not at all sure you know how special it was for Mike.

And I'm not trying to be, I'm not, I'm not being funny or

anything. You were like, yo, go into the

paddock, we're going to pick race four or something, right?

One of the early state ride allowances, Race 5.

Thank you. I appreciate that very much.

And I give a pick, Megan gives a pick, you give a pick.

And we get to Mike and he goes, I, I don't know, I actually

think Big Fudge is going to win here.

What happens big? Fudge goes rumping.

Oh my God, I remember that. Now our joke is Mike's nickname

is. Big fudge, big.

Fudge so. Was that your first time ever on

simulcast? That was my first time ever

doing a Patty Pig and ever being on simulcast.

Absolutely. Wait, when was what did I do?

Was my last. Time being on simulcast.

Oh, honey, I wouldn't know. It was your last year.

This this last year I would have made, I would have done a

special handicapping with you and you.

Didn't even know, frankly. Yeah, I was.

I think it was actually at the Indiana Derby this year where I

was. I was just like starting to like

something. There was a conversation that I

had at the Indiana Derby that kind of made me start thinking

it's like, OK, well, maybe maybe it's time.

And, you know, that's neither here nor there.

And. And it was.

I say something. Nope, not with you at all.

Interesting. Yeah, Was it?

Me. It was not with you.

It was not with. It was not with either one of

you. I wasn't even.

Honestly, I don't even know the person's name.

So how about? Somebody you're that is I will

give you guys. I literally got a little, I

didn't even like have anything to do with DJ obviously, but

that was so sweet. Like he was talking about you

guys like you were his kids. Sort of like a proud dad.

I mean, we kind of were, EJ. EJ talks about us carrying.

Out. His work and Rachel, it

overwhelms me it. Really.

Yeah, me too. And I don't get emotional, but I

was like I was cheesing to the point my face hurt because I was

like, this man is so proud of them and I am like really proud

of you guys too. Not sound condescending, but you

guys are been in horse racing probably longer than I have, but

I swear that was like the cutest thing ever.

Like you. Know what, Rachel?

You have followers. Than we do and so we appreciate.

I'm old. I people don't realize.

I mean, I've been around for like 13 years and people don't

get it. They think that I've yeah.

So I mean, I've played my old. I mean, yeah.

I agree. Yeah, that's the thing.

Yeah, I just, I, you know, Botox.

I do know that's right. I don't have to.

I have lots of collagen AKA fat. Yeah, beautiful.

And then my cousin the hat. But so.

OK, Big fat. Yeah.

You got a full head in here. Big fudge, though, that was

your. And Louis, when was your first

time on the simulcast? That day.

With you and Brian Spencer. He used to do fairgrounds his

first time, Sarah. Yeah, very first time.

I was. I love, I'm gonna be

inappropriate followers. I love popping people, simulcast

cherries. It's my.

Thing it's. Like love, because this is what

if anybody follows me on X Twitter, whatever, Jenna, I call

her baby shark because the first time she ever got there, she was

and her sister's Jessa, Jessica Otten, she had never done TV.

She had never done anything on TV.

And she was nervous. And I said, listen, I was like,

baby sharks are born swimming. You can either get on and you

talk and if you don't, I'll take the microwave from you and save

your life. That's the end of it.

And it's like, you know, you get a baby sharks are born swimming.

So I love, yeah, I love giving people their first shot on on

the Sound guest. I will tell you this though,

that year. Give us the real letter grade

now that Mike's quitting. How did we do on the Indiana

draw this year? The Derby draw.

Dude, you guys are crushed it. And Louis, if I have to come do

it with you this year like this next year, we're doing that

again. Rachel, I'm not going anywhere.

I have a disease that's called loving doing.

This Rachel, what happened she's.

Gone. That's all right.

That's so Rachel. Man, that's fantastic.

Her phone died. Her computer.

Or her kid ran into something. Yeah.

That was it. That's probably what happened,

but. Oh man, Steve.

Oh man, man, there he is. Yeah, he was.

Well, you know anyway. Was it Steve it?

Might have been Steve. How about that?

Yeah, so. Oh man, the moment post brewing

in your career. How about that so.

No, no, no, no. Rachel's back.

I wanted to say, by the way, it was a lot.

Of I'm so sorry, I don't know what happened.

I'm glad and really for us to do that draw was so important

because and you know, you and I called, talked on the phone

about doing it, but hey. Yeah, it was your idea.

I'm going to give you 100% credit because you were like,

dude, let us come back there and do it.

And I was like, yeah, and it was your idea to move the table from

the 2nd floor, but there's like a private event down to the

awning, which was, I don't even know why I didn't think about

that year. And at the end of the day,

though, the, the thing about us was, you know, I wanted to give

back because I think when we went to the Indian Derby in

20/21, it was like my, I think the imposter syndrome before

that was really, really big. And then that was the first time

of all right, you know, we're, we're people know who we are.

We're, we're catching on. We're getting some waves.

And like, I think I don't know if that was the first year where

you were really trying to blow, blow it out from the social

media podcast. That was a Wednesday.

Derby people. Yeah, yeah.

I think our first Wednesday Derby.

Well, 2020 was our first Wednesday Derby, wasn't it?

I, I, we couldn't come up. There we were.

I don't know 2020. One, yeah, but that but your

first Wednesday Derby, Yeah. And we got frustrating.

That was that first time. So yeah, that was a good one.

And so I just felt like you kind of, you brought us up there and

you put us in the spotlight and you had all these other guys who

were up there just kind of visiting and whatever else.

And they're like, you know, we kind of felt like kind of the

big deal around there. So hell.

Yeah, I gave you guys like your own table, like I treat my boys

right. Yeah.

Man, no. And it was good.

It was good. It was awesome.

And also just to see how you've turned that in an event into

like, oh, where you get this collection of, of horse racing

media degenerates that come out kind of come up and hang out

together you. Know what it really is?

I mean, it's it's. It's a, it is a homecoming now.

I mean, you know, a year like, you know, Derby's in the spring,

Breeders Cups in the fall, like the summer if people can't get

to Saratoga, like Indiana, Derby actually offers that kind of

environment. I'm not, I'm like really proud

of the friends that I've made in this industry because and you

know, and I'm very, very blessed to have Eric as the boss, Eric

Hallstrom, because he gets that like that the, you know,

connection of friends and people that you meet like on social

media or whenever like Bremont from Stable Duel came out.

Ed and I are, are really good friends.

And, and even Sarah, you know, came out there and I gave her,

you know, some time on this simulcast.

So yeah, dude, the people that I've met and you, you guys are

my most favorite, you know, just all the people I've met and

stuff. But you guys are both my

favorite. Thank you very much.

Don't tell the others though. It's a very unpopular podcast.

Don't tell. Don't tell Joe.

Joe and I have been friends for like a decade, so don't tell

him. I'll tell you this, so too,

Rachel, it's been awesome to get to kind of know you and and be

with you and hang out with you over the years.

I think you're actually more likely to go to the Indiana

Derby this year as a spectator than you are to go on this

pregnancy. Or something.

I can't go the pregnancy. It's graduation week weekend.

For us, anything else, frankly, I I can see you.

Yeah, yeah. But I think, hey, but you know

what, people need to realize they're still racing out there.

Tell us what's going on. Yeah, no up in Indianapolis.

Yeah, yeah, it, you know, it does kind of slow down a little

bit after Derby, but we have a lot of really good handicaps.

You know, we got rid of the stakes name so horses can run on

Lasik's and, and now they're handicaps.

But they're the same races, same conditions and everything and

they're really, really good. The we've got October next

Wednesday we have a couple Empire and I can't remember,

I've been drinking and then but we have next Wednesday we have

we have handicaps and then we do have October 20.

It's the Empire and the. You know it took.

Two really good things. All you had to say was we're

racing on this day, this, this day, come on up, you can go

best. Listen, I worked all day today,

all day, and I got home. My kids are running around

screaming, doing homework and I came in the bathroom to talk to

you so you can take me having a cup of white clothes.

What day are you all racing? In in horseshoe Indianapolis.

We're racing. This is tomorrow's the last

Friday. We had two Fridays for the rest

of the meet pretty much were Monday through Thursday and then

we do have the India Champions Night which is October 26th that

we have 4. Breeders' Cup.

For everybody, yeah, yes. And we always and Eric's smart.

He always puts it right there. So it's a really, it's a really

good day to run at night and it's like 1/2 coral bred half

quarter horse. Nice.

Pretty, yeah. And you guys line it up where

you start when Keeneland finishes that day.

No, exactly, Eric. Yeah, Yeah, Eric, Eric Tullstrom

and Louis is really good at handicapping quarters.

I'm going to tell you that right now.

Maybe you should come out on Maybe it's like how we handicap

all. These Quarter Horse Saturdays

and no emails. How about that?

Oh, I think preference is about that either.

I know I'm not. It's not for lack of love, bro.

But how much does it cost to go to Horseshoe Indianapolis?

Zero doll hairs. $0.00 it's right there.

Go it's listen, I'm telling you right you, it's good racing.

The casino's right there. They got restaurants like and

Shelbyville's really kind of gross.

It's a full time now. It's.

Fantastic. So yeah, downtown's really.

Fun town, Yeah. No for.

Sure. I will say I saw someone on MX

like after this whole debacle happened that they were saying

like the people were horrible. They're never, that is a bold

faced bite. There is not one person that has

ever come to our track that have said that.

The, the, the one thing they say is your track is so nice because

they think it's going to be a podunk track in cornfields.

I mean, let's just be honest. And it's so nice and the people

are wonderful. And I will take a lot of

criticism, as you guys know, but I will always stand behind my

people. Like all of everyone that works

there and you guys can attest. And it's not just 'cause we work

together. They're really, really awesome

people. Everyone's super nice.

We have had such a great time when you guys come and I'm so

happy to work with you guys and I'm very sad.

Mike, I love you so much. Yeah.

Yeah, you got to be around if you want to come next year, you

know a girl that can hook you up.

Thank you, Rachel. It's.

A nice. New love you guys for.

The free race. Thank you.

Yeah. Well, there you go, you can.

Come on. There she is racing Rachel.

I mean, she was a big part of it too, again.

Well. Early on, she followers and.

Viewers, yeah, Dinerman jumped on.

She jumped up like people at these kinds of tracks, these

were the people that would jump on with us and.

And it's been great and I thought an appropriate final

live guest. Would be someone who who did

never ever helped us get a follower.

Stop. It was our first ever guest.

First ever guest right? Our first ever guest at

Breeders' Cup here at Churchill Downs and his name is John

Sherva. How about that?

He even put a shirt on for this episode.

There he is. Oh man, John Sherva joined the

show is. His last name, one of the words

like top ten that we've said all time on this podcast, every

week. Every week.

Yeah. Welcome in, John.

Good evening. Thank you.

You know, you do say it a lot and it's it's, it's usually with

derision, which it should be. So I think, I think that's,

that's, that's good. But yes, I was your first.

I think I I was your I wasn't your first live guest.

I think you were. Were I?

Well, I, I, Jenny Reese had turned me on to the newsletter,

OK? And I started reading it just

because, I mean, frankly, any you did a good job.

How about that? You did a good job, Don.

It was interesting. And I and I enjoyed it.

And it was a circuit that I wasn't terribly familiar with.

So I was learning a lot really quickly.

And I I emailed you. I think you got back to me

within 45 minutes. Yeah.

I'd love to come on something like that.

You know, I'd be happy to do something like that.

So no. I thought an appropriate final

live guest for Mike would be John Shirt.

I mean, someone who we've broken bread with many times, we like

definitely consider a friend, no question.

Even though he feeds his dog better than what I eat in a

week. You know that's.

It's all it's not the dog's. Fault but listen, I I mean just

really like for more than anything else about elevating

the show. I mean serious horse racing

journalist John Cherva serious sports journalist just covered

all these Olympics and NBA championships and all these

other things. But you know, you kind of gave

Louis a little bit of a platform that kind of helped us test

legitimacy and yeah, LA Toms. I don't know if you all have

ever heard of it, but but to help for Louis to be a part of

that newsletter and just take the the the Oaks rankings which

were. Fine.

And I don't have it on here. The Oaks rankings turned into

like very predictive, like the model really worked.

I mean, I think all five of the top five finishers were in my

top 6, John. And so, yeah, that actually got

some decent feedback. I know that was here, you had to

shut things down, but I think you got some good feedback.

People saying like, oh, I love the Oaks Derby, double that kind

of stuff. Yeah, yeah, they do, you know,

and the, the newsletter was really nice when it, you know,

when, when it was going. And I, I always get people who

still come up to me and say, hey, gasp, I'm sure they missed

the newsletter. But you know, things, things

change, things, things progress. And so here we, I mean, Mike,

what's you know, I, I didn't see, I did catch a little bit

earlier part of the show and I think EJ is still talking and.

Oh, man, you know, but you know, EJ, that's that's kind of a

good. Point Yes.

He's never going to run out of things to say no.

So. So it's going to be.

Bottomless pitted information video.

So my my investigative report, of course, is it going to just

be a solo show with with Louis or?

He wants to know what's next. Do you do you have anything

else? I don't know.

I don't know the answer. You actually don't know the

answer I. Do not know the.

Answer John The plan is solo through Breeders' Cup and I've

had I've had no conversations with anyone about filling this.

Yeah, well, intentionally, like people haven't reached out, you

know? I have not had conversations.

But they want to know what the pay.

They want to know what pay is or whatever.

Well, OK, I've I've got it figured out.

OK, OK. What you're doing is you're

doing something so that you have to remodel your logo with just

one horse or put like one of those big red XS with the line

through it over. The I like the red X the red.

X is such an idea. What are we acting out?

And then and then when you do that, you get to sell all new

horse racing happy hour merch there.

You go. Man, if this were a

merchandising push, wouldn't that be amazing?

If you're like, I want me to make a couple bucks here, go

ahead and just have a solo horse.

Yeah, right. That's actually a good idea for

a logo. I'm not going to learn.

Yeah. I like it.

Oh man, I but John, honestly, I think you probably of anyone

listen to the most episodes of this show.

I think that's probably true. We've got it better.

We've evolved. I doubt it, but the the but I

think that's true. I think for sure you're the most

mentioned person who went while not on the podcast.

And look, I'm sure you know what, I'll let you talk.

I mean, my, you know, John was fair to us right away.

Rachel was one of those people as well.

I mean, it's just, it's amazing how many, how lucky we've gotten

to run into people like John. Well, I think for me, number

one, you got someone who writes does horse racing for the LA

Times, right? I mean, so and right off the

bat, I never got the sense that, you know, John felt like he was

better than us or he didn't have time for us where I was like.

And then it it kind of even to me, as we would cover races

across the country and whatever else we walk in the press box,

we would see John, we would almost like elevate the entire

spirits of the press box just by like, like because it was the

only cheerful conversation that was going on in there, you know,

between and if you're throwing flatter in there too, you know,

and. Then it was not cheerful, right?

But my, that's probably my best memory right there is Flatter

Flatter and Sherva trying to do tech support with these

millennials during the Preakness this year.

Slider's like you idiot. Well.

Sheriff was online trying to turn his phone into a hotspot.

It was great. It was fun to.

Happen. OK, let let's let me that's a

wonderful segue in two some of the things that I will miss

about Mike Gandolfo and and the the first one is to have someone

there at the at Pimlico when the Wi-Fi went out and I didn't have

a phone that had a hotspot who who just like I didn't even ask.

He just was overhearing and says, here, use my phone, plug

it in, Here's the and I should probably give out what the

password is. Actually, I, I think it's, it's

Rabo. No.

Anyway, so, you know, just his generosity, his kindness and

just being a good guy. I'll, of course, miss the

history of how virtually every stakes race was named, which

you've. Yeah.

I like. That part of the show, I think

that was. Good, I like that.

I did too. I did too.

And finally, what I'll miss is there'll be no one to stop

Louise. This sort of girlish little

laughs every once in a while. Maybe Louie won't laugh as much.

You know, You ever think about that?

Somber no from here on out. To do that.

No, it's just actually, do you want a serious question?

Sure, you'd go for it. OK, now you know, for those who

don't know, and they all do probably if they watch the show

from the beginning, is, is, you know, Mike's a big real estate

guy. You know, like he's like one of

the top guys in 6/4. Over 300 lbs.

Yeah, I'm. Big he's.

Done. So is was your decision to pull

back in any way related to the new real estate rules that went

that, that, that came in that is going to occupy more of your

time or whatever and and the rules are a change in a flexible

Commission I guess? OK, so I'm going to answer this

not in the way that you probably think, but.

I. To give a very real honest

answer by that, when I when we started doing the show, I was

also doing some a lot of real estate content, pushing a lot of

real estate content out, helping a lot of other agents.

I'm a coach at heart. That's what I enjoy doing.

I'm not, I am not becoming a real estate coach.

That is not what I'm doing. It's not, but I am going to make

a an effort to to put out there more content to kind of help

elevate the professionalism and the real estate industry.

I think that's going to be a big part of what I'm doing.

I'm putting the final touches. I've I've got a chapter and a

half left of a book of that I'm writing right now that I'm get

to send to Daniellman as soon as it's done.

And then? And.

Put it on that. If that's on the shelf next to

his maid no longer, I will lose my mind.

But you know, I'm, I've got a, I've got a, an event that we're

hosting here in Louisville that we're probably going to have a

couple 100 people attend live. And then we're going to have

close to 1000 people streaming across the country.

And we're just going to help, you know, we, we talk about,

man, I don't want to get too fast for an hour.

I do this thing with Realtors where I tell them to pill out

their phone and go to a search bar and type in Realtors R and

they let it auto fill. It auto fills with like Realtors

in crisis. Realtors are crooks.

Realtors are. It's all these negative things.

The only one that's ever good is Realtors are good neighbors and.

Sometimes. Good looking and I and I really

have kind of delve dove into like why that is and, and, and

why that exists. And Louis has experienced first

hand what it's like to deal with a terrible realtor on the other

side of the transaction. By the way, we did everything we

possibly could. He'll attest to that.

Hopefully we're still friends. But Louis literally had the

worst real estate transaction out of any real estate

transaction I've done in my 18 years.

It was awful. And we're, like I said, we're

still friends. He's still very.

That you're still. Remarkable, yes, yeah, I mean,

we just dealt with terrible human beings.

And I think it actually probably started there where I was like,

you know what, I've got to make sure that I'm.

I'm a voice of positive change and what needs to happen in the

real estate industry to increase the professionalism.

But so not as much as like most of the news outlets are getting

what's happening in the real estate world, they're kind of

they're getting it wrong. And the only, oddly enough, the

only good media coverage I've seen of it was on CNBC.

There was a CNBC piece that was that hit it dead on that was

perfect with it. So yeah.

But you are you are shifting this amount of time and focus on

to that. I'm focusing my content creation

on on improving the real statements.

Yeah, and you're, I mean, on top of this, not just happy hour,

you were doing Kentucky post games and you're as big a

Kentucky basketball fan as I know.

So to give those up as well is not a small.

A small, that's the thing like that picture and you know,

that's where I can speak intelligently and and it's

that's a big thing too. But I felt, I felt after the

lawsuits especially like I was probably, I had this idea and I

didn't act on it and I felt like a responsibility to act on it.

And I think now too. And hey, by the way, if you need

an agent anywhere in the freaking country, I know people

who work at that level of professionalism and I'm happy to

hook you up with them. Just send me something on

Twitter and I will connect you with an agent in your market.

But yeah, this is it. I mean, that's that's really

where my content creation is going.

And and then we're going to try to aggressively grow our company

here too. Like we're going to try.

We've been a small boutique real estate brokerage and we're going

to try. We're not going to try.

We are going to become a much bigger brand in our marketplace

and I've got a three-year time frame to get that done.

OK, well I'm glad I asked. Yeah, there it is.

So. Plus, we don't like each other.

That is, that's really the deal that.

Is hardcore journalism to get this this straight answer?

No, they always say about John Sherbet.

He gets people to admit things they wouldn't admit to them.

I guess that's that's JC. But hopefully from people

hearing me talk about that, hearing the passion in my voice,

they could see that why I why I'm doing what I'm doing.

There you go. I I've given up things I enjoy,

truly enjoy and that I love to do to go.

So the real question here with John Stallone is what is the

percentage drop in mentions of Sherva?

Because I feel like you mentioned him.

Do you feel like this? Mike says your name more than I

do. I've not really done a an

analysis of that. Sherva's now.

Sherva's like, I gotta get mentioned.

It is what it is. I'm John Sherva.

It is. I get it.

I get, I also get it. I mean structure.

I just anticipate that Cheryl will stop travelling to these

big races. Ignore 'cause he's not.

Going to Yeah, If you're not going to be there, why go?

I'm not. Yeah, yeah.

If I go to Del Mar, you can watch it on TV.

You guys can FaceTime and watch together.

I mean. So I need the photo of the

screenshot of you doing a FaceTime during Del Mar's

Breeders' Cup and John Stick with the dog.

That'd be great. I will be actually, I'm actually

going to make the trip to San Anita at the end of the month

for the California crown. Look at you.

I hope it's I hope it's better than the the Pacific classic,

which was like the dog of all dogs.

I mean once a dare mannered. Scratch, yeah.

Anyway, I'm not sure if we're allowed to talk about actual

horse racing here or just or just our our adoration for Mike

Gandolfo. Mike and G did let me ask you

this question. Did fierceness?

Is fierceness now your 3 year old the force of the year when

it comes to the close voting which I guess that's still on

the cold side. I'll I'll I'll I'll do MacBook

one last vote yeah yeah is is well fierce's get your vote for

three-year old colt of the. Year, you know, we need to see

the Breeders. Somebody has to stand out in the

Breeders Cup, you know, door. It's door knock or fierceness.

Right. What if City of Troy comes over

here and looks freaking incredible?

Well, we'll see that if it happens, you know.

Is one race enough for John Sherman to move in Eclipse

support? No.

OK. And then one of the four young

came over and looked. Incredible.

I think that one's better, actually.

It's, it's a, it's a year. It's it's an award for a year,

not an award for a day. OK, All right.

There we. Go.

I think that's all very fair. Yeah.

You'll be at Delmar though, yes. Oh yeah.

OK, I'll. Be at Delmar and you can.

Eclipse the vote. It's unreal.

Well that's the most ridiculous part of this show is they let us

in the perp. Right.

But it's because of John Sherman.

Let's be. Let's be real.

Well, well, Mike, you can vote this year too.

Yeah, I'll get to vote this year.

Yeah, because I mean you've got the preponderance of time you've

actually been to a horse racing than I am.

So there. You go oh, man, all right.

Well, John, we mean it. Thank you.

I'm not going to stop talking to you just because Mike's gone.

But you know, I, I hope you enjoy the mentions and we mean

it. Thank you for all of the

opportunities, frankly, and thank you on top of that for,

for downloading the show. It doesn't mean something.

Else and you make sure you put that filet extra.

You know what? Actually, one more thing, one of

these things. By the way, our guy Roger, we'll

get to that in a second, John. John actually, when he was

covering one of those Olympics, intentionally downloaded our

show in China so it would ping. That is true.

That is true. John did that for us, I and I, I

still remember that. I really, really appreciate it.

So. That's one of our every three

countries because of Sheriff. No, we actually now in China

have AI only did subscribers where we've been downloading is

way more. OK, we got actually I guess

that, but maybe he he cut through the Chinese government.

Yes, right. Oh yeah.

So that our life and life. Let's be honest about what this

is I. Mean, Yeah, actually we had a

our own pipe. Whenever we go to places like

China or Russia, we dedicate our own pipe and they can still get

to it, but it's not as monitored.

You know, the pipe back to the to the States.

Oh boy. There you go.

All right. We're pipe talking John Sherba.

How about you saying? Take care, hey?

Buddy there. He is John Sherba we got.

A couple messages coming in from some special people.

We got Rogers and good luck Mike.

I hope he's still coming in. Very hope to see you at

Churchill. Roger is this incredible horse

owner of Indianapolis Poultry Indiana.

Just really kind of put that place, keeps that place going

so. Well, yeah, he's part of that

group and all those, you know, if you have a track breeding

programs there, all that stuff you need guys like Roger for

sure. The other thing with with Roger

is just how how welcome he well, he doesn't work there.

No, he's just super nice to us and felt like I go up there

right before Derby and I'm just like, hey, let's get dinner.

And he's like, sure, you know, I got this stuff.

So it's fantastic. It's.

Fun. We have a mom about that coming

on too. But.

But yeah, it's nice that my mom's proud of you.

Thank you very much, mom. But the best part about my mom

chiming in is the fact that my mom went to go get her

mammogram. You remember this?

I do. And they said, do you?

Are you related to Mike Gandalf and they all were horse racing

happier and the place for my mom had her mammogram.

They did that to my wife one year.

Is is your husband Louis Rabo? Yeah.

That guy was ridiculous. Yeah.

The other, we were out of Churchill and I can't remember

what it was for, but it was earlier on and, and it was like,

you know, and there was a couple other horse racing guys that are

kind of around. But when we were out there the

first time, when people came up to us and recognized us and like

wanted to take pictures and stuff like that, that I wasn't

expecting that either. The one that caught me off guard

was we had started doing the video version of this show.

Yeah. And then I went to the Arlington

Million a couple weeks. Later.

Oh yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

And I got stopped as soon as we walked in the building.

And I'm like, good Lord, like the video's working.

All right. There we go.

So now that's fun, you know? And we do like now we.

And now tons of people show up for seminars and different

things that we got to start doing.

I mean, chef's cut, man. I mean, you know, with John.

And love you, Chef. Yeah, with all those things and,

you know, blind squirrel this year getting to do it at Jimmy's

Seafood. And I mean, we're going to be

doing one at Delmar. I'll not sit next week, but

yeah, no, I mean, just the best man.

Getting to meet people's been the best part.

Of this, it really has it. Really.

Has. That's why I wanted to have

somebody. And it's been very special.

We got one more guy who wants to say something.

Are we going to end the show with this or or what?

No, I I have other things I need to say to you do.

You want me to play this now play this.

I've not seen. This already?

Yeah. I do not know what is going on

here. And five years for Mike on the

Horse racing Happy Hour. He is hanging it up.

Do you have a message for him? I do.

I want to congratulate Mike on his five years of the Horse

Racing Happy Hour. You know, I, I commend him for

lasting for five years because I work with Louis and retired

after a year and a half. So you've done you've done a

great job, Mike, on your retirement times that I have

been on with you and Louis. I I really enjoy it.

You both are so knowledgeable about the game, of course, and

Louis and the horse racing happy hour followers are all going to

miss you. Even though you're going into

retirement, I still want to remind you that you owe me a

lunch because Mage won the Kentucky Derby.

I don't know what the future will hold for you, Mike.

None of us do. But I wish you all the best of

health, happiness and success. Congratulations, Mike.

Hey, man, that was awesome. I I mean, one of the thrills of

doing this show is that a a Kentucky boy is friends and and

can have jabs and Dan Issel. You can have lunch anytime

anymore. We won't even go through the

drive through. It'll still.

Stop Moby Dick. It won't go.

No. He's next time he's in town, Dan

let's we'll grab lunch. I'm sure Louis will make sure

that happens. And but it's just, it's, it's

incredible to be, to know that Dan Issel is someone that I

could pick up the phone and call and he would answer, you know

what I mean, you know? Something I I appreciate about

what we've done with this show is when we say friend of the

show, we mean friend. Yeah, we just do.

When we've gotten to meet people and you've seen a lot of them

denied, and I mean, there's lots of people not on tonight too,

and I had to cut it off at some sure for three hours.

Kornacki, you didn't make the cut, Okay?

Kornacki, I know you're upset about it, but it's okay.

You're actually right. But like Barry and other Zach.

Years, yeah. Producer Zach, by the way, by

the way, people that listen to this.

I know he's crushed, by the way. Producer Zach is.

Exactly. Debating right now because he's

running for school district board where he lives and his

kids go to school, which by the way, I commend him, good for

him. But he calls me a couple hours

goes, oh, crap, dude, I forgot I'm so focused on this debate

and I was like, yeah, I got it figured.

But yeah, there you go, man. When we say friends of the show,

we really made friends. No one said no, by the way.

Yeah, everyone said yeah when it was right away for you, man.

So you feel. Great.

I really do. And I really appreciate it.

And like, I'm also gonna just, you know, say I'd be remiss if I

didn't thank Megan. Honestly to you, of course,

Megan, you know, it was awesome doing the show with her the

first couple years and how important it was to be with her

and. How much we?

Learned and just, yeah, I mean, she's, she's just in just a

wealth of knowledge and just, she sees it so much differently

than anyone else that I've ever been around.

So. And then that introduced us to

Cody, which then I got to do my, my, my habit.

My. Picture in the Breeders.

So, so you talked about this like moment at Indiana Grand and

it was Indiana Grand of like people recognizing us walking

around. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

My moment was when we got credentialed and we were radio

row and that's it for both the Derby and the and the Breeders

Cup that year. Yeah, that was the year, dude,

when we were. When no one else was.

There, when GD Hieronymus goes, hey, we're going to drag some

pub tables from inside outside because I can't have you inside.

That was the moment, dude. That was it.

It like driving to Lexington with you to get COVID tested at

the end of October so we could go to Breeders' Cup.

Going back to Breeders' Cup in 2022 and almost dying because

you're driving my car because my eyelid stuck to my eye overnight

and I couldn't see it. I had a headache.

And we almost a semi headache. Was parked in the worst possible

place for us to turn into Keeneland and Mike.

I'm not going to lie, only time in my life, life flashed before

my eyes. You hit those brakes, bro.

We're still here. We're still here.

Oh man, ISIL came with us on that Breeders' Cup.

It was so windy you had to sit on the tent to stop it from

flying away and you still got lifted off the ground, both of

us landing on. We got to see.

We got to see the man. There we got C flight line

that's right, Serengeti Empress wins the 2019.

That's a huge one. The two of us man were like

that's it and we came to it independently.

I love that part, right? So that was a fantastic.

One that that woman that you helped, like hit that big bat

because Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Was it 13 to one on Santa Ania?

Or something like that. Yeah, 12 to one something.

Like that. So that was awesome.

The big fudge moment, though, was really because how you still

talk about it, right? No, no, no.

Like, like not just being on a simulcast or being on TV or

whatever. Getting it right.

Yeah, there's nothing like it, man.

But no. That's don't get me.

Hit it. Boom, let's go, let's go.

And so and before that, 2017. OK.

At our school fundraiser. Together, that's right for

Breeders' Cup. Breeders' Cup weekend and we

really, that's when we discovered one.

Another that's exactly right. You we had a they decided to do

a suburban cigars area outside. I brought ATV and you're like,

what are you bringing the TV for?

I was like, I want to watch the Breeders Cup and you're like,

and you were into it at the time too.

And that's kind of where it's like.

And then I think a couple weeks later said something to you in

the school parking lot when we were picking up our kids and.

Don't try Derby radio. But you said you want to try

Derby Radio. That's right.

And then that was the. Quickest answer in my life.

Now you've been coast to coast with me.

There you go. And then of course, Breeders'

Cup this last November Derby that that picture in front of

our Airbnb in Baltimore in front of the Kia Forte.

Dude, it's not going to get better than that.

So the show is peaked. I understand that people will

trudge on without Mike, but it a lot of greats.

We didn't mention JD stableboy Kevin Gilroy.

Seth went to the Jeff Ruby Stakes with me the Wednesday

COVID hit that Saturday, I should say, COVID dropped.

They cancelled everyone's tickets on Wednesday.

He and I went to the Jeff Ruby Stakes that Saturday, man, just

wild. And so, I mean, but yeah, I just

weird wild stuff. Going through a National Guard

gun post just to go to the Derby standing on a 76° day four years

ago. No one there.

You, me and Tim Sullivan in the media section.

That's pretty much it and. No one else until like the

finish line, right? That was it.

Man, it was so weird to be at that Derby.

And then, like, you could like, literally hear conversations

that were happening. Oh.

Literally a half five. 5 sections away.

Yeah, right. That's exactly it was nuts.

Yeah. So no, I I wouldn't man.

I wouldn't change a freaking minute.

Of this no. It's been a lot of fun.

It's unbelievable. And so no, this, I think it's

meant different things to both of us.

Yeah, I mean, I think for me, like I, you know, you've always

heard me say like I always wanted to keep this as something

fun and a hobby. And it's never been about making

money for me. It's just been about like

letting me have kind of a release and, and, and so that,

you know, it was always that for me, it was, it was I never

wanted to see this as a job, right?

Like I never wanted to think of this as like going to work.

I never wanted to come to this and feel like I have to do

something. Like I always wanted to feel

like I get to do something or, and every single year you're

getting those Derby credentials or whatever, you're getting

credentials for whatever else. It's like I get to do this.

Like I get I get an opportunity to be here.

I get to make an Eclipse vote. I mean, I think that's another

thing. Again, we.

Yeah. Be part of the zeitgeist of the

sport. That's right.

Right. And then and so you know for me

that I know that was it for you. Now you've taken this and and

you've got a legit opportunity for this to be a career.

Like if anyone's out there and is looking for someone for on

track talent OR whatever else, this is your dude.

I mean, there's no question. No one's going to work harder,

study more, come up with interesting angles then what

Louis can do. And I think that for you, like

you've opened up this, you've opened up this pathway where

like you could really just elevate to be one of the the key

media members in this sport, like at the very, very, very top

level, that of the kind of, you know, the kind of guy that gets

an award name back from so. Do you know what I think about a

lot actually is? I think about whoever's going to

do what we do, but way better. That's kind of what EJ said,

right? Yeah.

No, but I, I'm, I'm already excited about that person.

I think there's a chance that that person's out there.

I don't know what they look like, where they live with

language they speak, whatever. There's a chance right now they

haven't even watched a horse race and in five years they're

going to be doing this better. I think that person's definitely

like, I hope they aren't for for sure, for sure.

And I like EJ talked about, you're right.

And I don't, I'm, I'm not trying to sound arrogant when I say

this. We did some cutting edge things

that other people then took and said, hey, they're onto

something. Like there's no question there

was things. That, oh, the Derby draft got

copied as soon as we. Did the Derby draft the even the

happy hour kind of concepts about, you know, got got copied

right off the bat. You know, there's a lot of

things that we were doing that people have realized and this

was we haven't talked about this yet.

This is important. The other, you know, we talked

about why did I want to start the show, and one of the reason

was so that I didn't sound like a dumb ass at Kentucky Derby

day, which I'd never accomplished.

That I still sound. But mainly there's the.

Benazel mastery to the show. Yeah, I wanted to make sure that

we made a show that was fun and approachable because every

single piece of horse racing media was so in the weeds and

serious. And the reality of the the

person who was listening to show are the people who are trying to

learn the sport and understand what's going on.

And they really needed it. You know, I, I'm no insult to

the listener, but they needed it dumb down.

They needed the sport to be approachable.

That was the main goal. That was the main objective

always of the shows, to make it approachable, to never be in the

weeds, give some people some good tips, but make sure that

they became fans of the sport and hopefully we did that.

All right, job well done, friend.

We're out here. Thank you guys very much.

I hope you all continue to listen to Louie.

Oh, by the way, new segment starts on Monday weekend,

reaction show on Monday, so we'll be watching for that.

All right, thank you guys very, very much.

And you know, catch him next time on the horse racing happy

hour. All right, I guess you got to

play music, you know. No glasses, nothing like that.

Welcome to horse racing One O 1 with the horse racing.

As listening, there's another great you guys.