6th Annual Kentucky Derby Draft

There it is. Terrible music, terrible music.

Fantastic podcast. It's the horse racing happy hour

hanging out with you. 6th annual Kentucky Derby Draft You know

what time it is Sunday before Derby.

Time to get going with our picks here.

State draft through the 24 horses entered in the Kentucky

Derby was out there for the draft yesterday.

You can check out all of our work there, by the way, at Blood

Horse and bloodhorse.com. Sean Collins and I taking you

through the week. Excited to be alongside a trio

of guest pickers with us this year, including a past winner in

Steve Kornacki, who once got a trophy for this thing I got.

We have to go there first. What's got a trophy for this

thing? It's one of my favorite stories

since I got into this, Steve, that we, we, we 3D printed this

thing for you, my friend Zach. By the way, a shout out to

producer Zach, who's no longer on the on the show, but he went

ahead and made this Steve. How far did this actually get

back to New York? And good afternoon.

To you, I that made it to the hotel room and and then it began

disintegrating and I said I'm going to put the remnants in my

bag and then it crumbled completely.

And I said, you know what, I'd rather have the memory than the

trophy. That was the early days of, you

know, a little like old Pimlico Barry.

That trophy was not well constituted at that point, and

it kind of fell apart in Baltimore.

So there you are as well. So, Mac, if you wanted to know,

and Mackenzie Pfeiffer with us from the Maryland Jockey Club,

nice enough to join us on the draft this year.

That's what Pimlico used to look like for you young kids.

I'm not sure you knew that. Believe it or not, I have been

to Pimlico before. I know that's shocking, but.

Oh man, so there you go. We'll take out, we'll take Steve

and Mike get off off the screen there.

By the way, Michael, be my Co host tomorrow before Barry gets

here on the radio there. If you want to join us 11:50

each weekday here at ESPN Louisville, ESPN louisville.com

if you'd like to follow along on that one.

Introducing our panel this year, Steve Kornacki past winner of

this thing as well. That was the mage year actually,

right? No, you did not have mage.

You had yes, you had Mystic Dan. That's exactly right.

So I won last year. I got sovereignty with the 4th

overall pick, but Steve Kornacki from NBC Sports joining us here.

You were pretty excited to get back at this.

I like it. I like it.

Was, although I guess I got to ask you, I mean, is this like

the NFL? Can we trade draft?

I don't like having the first pick in this thing actually.

OK, All right. I'm not against that as as an

idea. However, Steve, I'm not going to

allow you to do it for graphics purposes, and so that part's not

going to work. I give you my pick in a horse to

be named later. That was going to be my my

office. I mean, I don't hate the

concept. Mac Piper with us from the

Maryland Jockey Club, we'll be visiting you at Laurel in about

3 weeks. Excited to get out there.

You get to beat Mary and I'm sure Steve will make the trip as

well. The Kentucky Derby though, what

I mean, what kind of day is it in a place like Maryland?

I've heard so many stories and I'm a spoiled guy, go to the

Derby every year, but I hear these stories around the

country. Our biggest day is Kentucky

Derby Day, whether we're running or not.

Look, I it doesn't matter where you are.

I think cheering on the Kentucky Derby.

Some days I'm rushing home so I can put it on the big screen.

But no matter what's going on, I have a stream following me

around. No matter what, that's exactly

right and you all know Barry Spears from the horse racing

Happy are Barry be your first Derby this year, but I'm making

you work quite a bit. Is it going to be worth the

trade do you think? At first glance, no, but I think

after I'm there, you know a day it'll be all right.

Yeah, you'll be all fitted, justified.

My kids love Barry, so that part is very, very good for him and

his broadcasting career every time he comes to Kentucky.

Yeah. The family does all that stuff.

Had to watch The Simpsons with my 9 year old daughter last time

he was here. That's like spectacular stuff.

Again, the state draft here as we go through the 24 entrance in

the Kentucky Derby. 4 this year. Steve Kornacki's up first.

No pressure on this one. But Steve, go ahead and actually

talk us through. If this were the NFL draft,

would you be waiting the full amount of a lot of time to see

if someone wanted to trade for the pick?

Yeah, You know, I, I, I look at it this way, it's like I'm not

going to get another crack at this till #8 So I, you know, I,

I think I, I, I had a dilemma here where it's like, I don't

think the horse I'm going to give you here is, is the horse

I'm going to end up picking. Like, you know, when I got to

give out a pick on on NBC or something.

But I just think, you know, relative to what's what I'm

going to be down to at 8, I kind of I kind of have an obligation

to to pick so one. Way of saying I.

Want to try this? Hang on Yeah.

From the home studio with everything.

Let's. Go all right here.

You got Steve with the first pick in the looting vote.

I'm 6th annual Derby Draft Steve Kardaki Selects.

I'm going with the number 18 horse.

Further ADO. Nice.

Father Adieu, as we saw on his saddle cloth, was the winner of

the Grade 1 Bluegrass. Barry and I were there for that

one. Boy, if you were looking for the

WOW performance of the Derby Trail Steve, it might have been

that one. Yeah, I mean it look, they've

been two performances by him really I think where you just,

you know, sort of course they were both at Keeneland, which

raises the question of is this going to be transferable?

Also kind of look at some of the competition.

What did he really beat? I've got my outs, but I

basically looked at this from the number one pick standpoint

of I didn't want renegade with that.

I think if they were drawn opposite here, if renegade had

the 18 and if the the the one was further ado, I'd be on

renegade here. But I I felt kind of obligated

to to take one of them with this because I think the potentials

there. I I like this post for this

horses style speed drawn inside Johnny V can kind of work it

out. And if if the Keeneland form

holds up, I think this horse is going to be in a good position

to win it. Well, and Steve, he did win the

Kentucky Jockey Club in the fall, right?

So he does have a graded win at Churchill Downs and and frankly,

we've watched Sovereignty break his maiden integrated stakes in

the Street Sense last year at Churchill Downs.

So maybe we get a repeat there. Yeah, I, I mean, it's same.

I just, I the, there's the buyer regression and everything that I

wasn't wowed by that Churchill performance.

And this was a horse coming into the three-year old year.

I was kind of looking to, to kind of be against.

And then what happened in the bluegrass and just just, you

know, made me say I got to, you know, I got to take this

seriously. All right.

So, Mackenzie, did your big board get screwed up in any way

here with the selection of Further ADO, or Further ADO as I

call them? You know, it actually not too

much. That was a horse who I didn't

expect to go in the first round though, and I did have on my

list. So, grand scheme of things, it's

curious, but man, I didn't. Expect to go in the first round.

Took the first over all. Not coach to.

Be honest, I really thought he was going to take Renegade, so

OK. All right, so we will we will

ask you then. With the second overall pick in

the Horse Racing Happy Hour 6th Annual Derby Draft, McKenzie

Pfeiffer takes. Renegade.

I mean, all we're going to hear about is Renegade from the one

post, right? Someone has to just go ahead and

give him a shot. And I don't know, Ripoli, he's

been chasing the Derby. Feels like this is the right

time and I just thought he was a horse that breathes different

air in that last outing. If he can handle the trip from

there, I think he can work something out here.

Renegade on the rail, Barry, you never like the rail, frankly, in

any of the shows that I do with you.

This is the Kentucky Derby. Do you like the rail for

Renegade here? Definitely not I I learned my

lesson a few years ago with known agenda.

I like that horse quite a bit. And he drew the rail and I think

it was under the new gate too. And he just got slammed and, and

had no shot. So I, I, I, I don't think that

really is a is advantageous, although Renegade is very

talented, talented enough to win this race.

Despite that post, I I'm going to take my chances elsewhere.

And Steve, you said it earlier, would Renegade have been your

top pick if we had swapped the one in the 18 post there?

Yes, yeah. I mean, I feel the same way

Barry does about that. That one post, that was when I

saw that yesterday. I that that was a huge piece of

information. It was the one thing at the

Derby draft that, excuse me, at the Derby draw, I should say

that everyone kind of went. We didn't have one of those last

year. And then this year we had we had

the the Renegade almost very early, frankly in the draw.

Their full effort went to the 20 right after that as well.

Brad Cox's face was, it was perfect today, that one.

All right, we move on to pick #3 his name's Barry Spears.

You know him from hanging out with me on the Horse Racing

Happy Hour. With the third overall pick, the

6th annual Horse Racing Happy Hour Derby Draft, Barry Spears

selects. Well, since I do live in

Florida, which could be considered the jungle, I am

taking the Puma #9 all right. Right, the Puma, of course.

Same connections as Mage Kentucky Derby winner just a few

years ago on this program. Hall of Famer Dan Issel selected

Mage to win. Barry, you are the the closest

to a Hall of Fame basketball player on this day as we have.

Well, yeah, I could say that probably by a lot.

That's. Exactly right.

What do you I hit so happy instead of the Puma and that's a

bad job. I mean, what do you like about

the Puma? I think this horse is coming out

of two really good races, at least Derby trail wise.

I thought Tampa Bay Derby is definitely a live race and the

Florida Derby was was definitely a live race.

The Puma got wide trips in both of those races and and ran on

well. If he gets any kind of trip in a

race like the Derby, I think he's going to be really, really

tough. The Puma wins at Tampa, turns it

around in three weeks. Mac at the Florida Derby, Very,

very good finish there as well. I think the five weeks after

that race really sets him up well here.

It does. I was a little curious what we

would see on a quicker turn around, right.

And for me, I look a lot at this race as getting a horse to peek

at just the right time. So I don't mind taking a shot

there. The Puma, That's my only

question is can we just keep building off of it?

Right now I think it's a reasonable one.

There he'll break from the 9 hole wheel of the Puma.

We saw Ramiro Restrepo the other day, again part of the ownership

team with Maids. They bring him up from that

Florida Derby. Florida Derby of course, one of

the grand grand stages ahead of the Kentucky Derby for high

level success as well. Sovereignty, a second place

runner just last year won the Kentucky Derby as well.

Time for me to go. That's right in the 6th annual

Horse Racing Happy Hour Kentucky Derby draft Louie Robot takes

and I, I'm very happy that this happens to me every single year.

I'm going to take commandment in the four spot.

This is fantastic stuff for me. I'll go ahead and get

commandment off the board there. Top horse on of the points

aboard at this point and four, frankly, for the rest of the

week as well. I've been around Brad Cox quite

a bit this week and frankly, that's a confident guy who feels

like he's got a really, really good shot of Commandment is

absolutely part of why he feels that way.

First place in the Florida Derby, first place in the

Fountain of Youth. And if you all remember back to

those two races, it was Commandment running two very

different styles to get it done. I thought I saw a lot in that

Florida Derby as far as the Gallup out the time after that

race, especially after the 9 furlongs.

Going to need to get 10 here on Saturday, Steve.

And I think Commandment, absolutely.

It's all of that. And I'll be real honest, I'm not

sure outside of Johnny V right now that I like anyone in the

world on my horse more than Louis Saez.

The horse likes to win. I mean, this is, and my only

concern, I guess, with commandment would just be those

fields in Florida, you had like 5 or 6 other horses on the

track. So the horse could kind of take

back a little bit. I, I think traffic could be a

bigger issue for commandment in the Derby, a much bigger issue

than you had to face. And I mean, you showed a ton in

Florida, you know, overcame a lot within those races.

But again, that was in the context of just five or six

other horses on the track to kind of navigate through and

around, which he did brilliantly.

But I think could be a different story.

He could find himself, you know, looking ahead at a bunch of

horses like he hasn't before. One of those things that we have

to watch year to year Mac is the field sizes in different places.

Who would have thought the Ruby in the wood would have the

largest fields coming into this? But commandment overall, what do

you think of? Him, I actually he's one who I

kind of have to agree. I'm a little bit worried about

the trip for him. I think he's done very

impressively and as you said, he's figured out how to win,

which I really respect. But you know from a betting he's

probably going to be a short price in there.

And and so that was I was really leaning a little bit more on

Renegade. I think he has maybe more

tactical ability. Yeah.

All right, so through round one, let me let me kick this thing

out. I think it's playing the older

version of our of the Google Doc that we were using for this

thing. Here we go.

Let's try this one now. Nope, not popping up.

So did you do that? I'm sorry, deal with a return

here. But of course, the top 4 picks

here so far, Steve going with the 18 horse here in further

ADO. Mackenzie went ahead and took in

the second spot. Mackenzie remind me Renegade,

who will break from the one, The Puma, the nine horse will break

for Barry in a pick three and then me pick four.

I will take the top in the point standings with a commandment.

And this is where it gets interesting, I think.

And let me see if that actually updates.

I thought it did not. So this is where it gets

interesting is I think once we get into this kind of level of

thing and I see all of you looking at me right now

wondering who it is that I'm going to go ahead and grab in

this spot. But I'm not going to do anything

that I think anybody is too surprised by.

But I'm going to take a horse that I watched work this morning

and I thought looked unbelievable.

And it's a horse that Barry and I saw in person.

And so with the 5th overall pick, I'm going to take patente.

I'm going to take Bob Bafferts, trainee here, put in a speedy,

speedy work this morning. I think they knew they were in

after the San Felipe and tried new tactics in the Santa Anita

Derby. And I don't think he's going to

have to do that again in the Kentucky Derby.

He's not going to be the fastest horse here.

He's not going to have to be the fastest horse here.

I don't think he's going to have to go like he did with Robusta

with that group last time in the Santa Anita Derby.

I think he's going to be able to sit just off of it.

Bob Baffert's been telling us since this horse, but frankly,

before he broke his maiden, hey, he might not win here at six

furlongs because he's just going to want all the distance.

I've got great news for him on Saturday, Barry.

He's going to get all the distance.

What do you make of Potente? In my 5th pick here.

I like Potente. You know, he seems to be a horse

that is kind of on the rise and probably getting better.

My issue with him is he's very, very big and if he gets stopped

somewhere during this whole journey, it's going to be tough

for him to stop and get started again.

I mean, when he won the the San Felipe, he really had to get

motoring to beat Robusta and he had to get clear and roll.

I don't know if he'll have that ability, but I tell you what, if

he does get the trip he wants, he's going to be rolling late

for sure. You know, I think that's exactly

right. Wander Nandez into ride Steve.

I saw a look, a little bit of surprise on your face for that

one. No, I yeah, a little, a little

earlier than I I thought he would go.

But I mean, the way these this works, I get it if you, if you

have one you like get it while you can, you know, yeah, I think

of the two Baffert horses, that's definitely, that's

definitely the one that I'd like.

I'm a little, I'm a little confused on the intent Baffert

has for both of these. Just sort of tactically, you

know, seeing the blinkers go on, on, on, you know, on Litmus Test

and then seeing that work you're talking about today, you know,

he's not going to have him dueling each other.

Me I I was kind of thinking he wants litmus test to try to set

it up for the 10 day. But definitely, yeah, I think of

the two Baffords, This is Where I'd Be and Price Bafford and the

Derby. That's exactly right.

Good stuff there with Potente going 5th.

We go back to my colleague here, Barry Spears, 6th pick overall,

6th annual Kentucky Derby draft here on the Horse Racing Happy

hour. Barry Spears, Who do you got?

I'm going with Chief Wallaby. Bill what all?

Right, we get it with the Florida horses already, but why

do you like Chief Wallaby? It's another horse that I think

has a world of potential. I'm glad they got into the race

because I think this horse had a little bit of bad luck in the

last two in those steak races. And I think they got a lot out

of the last one in particular in the Florida Derby.

The horse didn't really get a great trip and and kept running.

I think he probably quote UN quote needed that race.

He he came out of it looking very well.

His last work at Churchill I thought was excellent.

He he's sitting, he looks like he's sitting on a really big

race and I think he might deliver it on the next Saturday.

So I, I, I think he has the running style, the versatility.

He just needs the opportunity. I think he's going to get it.

Yeah, total maintenance work this morning too, Barry, and he

looked totally fine. He looked great to me.

I thought he looked really, really good this morning.

Showed that speed last week back.

What do you think of Chief Wallaby in this spot?

I actually really like this this horse as a pic and as he

mentioned, looks like he's sitting on a big race.

Both the Galla bouts from his last two efforts, I thought

really telling. Anyone's going to have a horse

primed at just the right point in time.

It's going to be these guys. But the gallop outs, I thought

really telling, like just building this horse for the

distance. He seems like he's asking for it

all. Right Mackenzie, I asked you

about Chief Wallaby. I am now going to ask you for

your next pick here in the 6th Annual Horse Racing Happy Hour

Derby Trap Back Piper with the 7th overall pick selects.

I have to be honest, this might be a little surprise.

I'm going to go with the other Mott in Incrediblet with Riley

Mott. Riley Mott That's exactly right.

Incrediblet breaking from the 11 hole here as part of the Derby

festivities. What do you like about

incredible winner of the Virginia Derby?

It's a little bit curious, the street sense, right?

Really impressive they put this horse away First off the bench.

I don't know if we really still have an answer about the Holy

bull from this horse. Riley doesn't.

To be honest, I don't really need one.

You look first time out six furlongs, whatever you want to

call it. They called him one paste in the

short comment. I don't think this horse is 1

paste at all. I think he's very dynamic and

the trend that we saw best third off the bench looks like the

timing lines up here and he navigated a ton of traffic.

It was a big congested field in the Virginia Derby.

See how those times hold up? But I think he can sit the right

trip here. Steve, what do you make of a

horse coming out of A1 turn race?

Do you care more about the turns or about the 9 furlongs in that

race? No, this, this was going to be

my pick if if, if what just happened hadn't happened and I

didn't expect to happen. I, I thought I was going to get,

get incredible at at #8I yeah, part of it is the, I mean, just

so visually impressive in, in that Virginia Derby.

Just the way he pulled away, the figure was a little bit light.

But then the fact that he has the win over, you know,

Churchill has A2 turn stakes win at Churchill.

We talked about it a little bit before the Wood Memorial with,

with Albus, whose name will come up here probably much, much

later in this, in this show. But Riley Mott, I think has

really kind of been on a tear, you know, kind of at the stakes

level and you kind of feel like, you know, he's he's going to

have this big breakthrough somewhere.

So I was kind of eye and incredible as a as a as a sneaky

one. How?

Do you feel about that, Mac? To to stealing things from Steve

Kornacki? You like that?

You like doing that how you feel?

You feel OK about that? I don't know.

I would feel good about it. I'm flattered.

Look, I almost took this horse as my first selection, but I

really liked Renegade too, so I kind of just went there.

But that, that's encouraging. Part of me, the GM is being

patient and Mackenzie fight for building that roster through the

draft here. It's our 6th annual horse racing

happy hour Kentucky Derby draft. With the 8th overall pick, we go

back to Steve Kornacki, NBC Sports.

What you got? She's just just the our draft

room has just been thrown into total, total upheaval here.

Binders are being opened up and here's where we're going to go.

So happy. Oh wow, oh wow.

Santa Anita Derby winner Mike Smith aboard I got to tell you

there's a an interview we that Byron King did the other day for

blood horse with Mike Smith, who just laughs through talking

about so happy, just not caring about workouts just doesn't

care. But he gets to race 8.

He's like, let's get going. And so so happy winner the Santa

Anita Derby. Steve, what do you like about

him? Obviously the questions before

the the 9 furlough Santa Anita Derby were hey, your dad doesn't

like to go 9 furlongs, what about you?

Yeah, and I'm still I mean, that gave me a lot of pause here.

Run happy, you know, and should you just kind of dismiss him on

that? But I thought the Santa Anita

Derby, look, if you just told me take the name, take the lineage,

take everything else off it. Tell me a horse in the sand,

Anita Derby who kind of ran, you know, up close to the pace, just

a little bit off of it and then poured it on in the stretch and

put up a triple digit buyer, you know, coming into the Kentucky

Derby. And by the way, put Mike Smith

on board. You know, I think it's I think

it's worth taking a shot on that horse And and given what's

what's on the board here, you know, I'll overlook the run.

Happy for what could be some upside.

Underwhelming for sure when we were out there for the San

Felipe Berry, but boy turned it around in a big way in the Santa

Anita Derby. I think as good a pick as any as

at 8 at this point. Yeah, I think he's fine under

the radar a little bit. I think he's better than what

people expect. And you know, being out West a

little hidden, it's hard to to match these horses up when they

finally meet each other. But I I think that horse is as

good as any in this field. All right, so let's see if I got

that. Look at me.

All right, so there you go with our first two rounds.

Look at me figuring out technology on the fly.

Steve with the first overall pick did take further ado break

from the 18 this year in the Kentucky Derby with his 2nd

pick. You've just heard 8th overall.

He will take so happy Steve will be up next to kick off the third

round of this thing. Mack of course taking Renegade

who will have to break from the one.

But if I think if Mike Ripoli just keeps yelling on Twitter,

that horse will be just fine breaking from the inside.

Incredibles, of course her second pick.

Loved him coming out of the Virginia Derby.

Barry's just probably going to keep picking Florida horses, so

he went with the Puma and Chief Wallaby.

We also had a debate, like when you're in a show, Barry, like

you and me, does one of us have to call him the Puma?

Just to be a little weird, I think.

So you know this. Is like, I'll call him the Puma,

you call him the Puma and people are like, did Barry just say the

Puma? Like what we is that what just

happened here? Like I I'm just wondering if we

have to do that this week. I think I've seen people do that

on everything. I've seen somebody's

mispronounced that name. It's crazy.

I thought it was just a simple 4 letter word, but I guess not a

little. Easier than that and I went

ahead and took commandment and patente with my first 2 picks,

4th and 5th overall in this draft Horse racing happy hour.

Lou Robot, Barry Spears, Mackenzie Pfeiffer and Steve

Kornacki hanging out with you. It is time to hear from Steve

Kornacki once again. 9th overall pick in our 6th and Horse Racing

Happy hour Kentucky Derby draft. Steve Kornacki takes we're.

Going to go with full effort. OK, I cannot believe this horse

made it to this point in the. This hurts my heart a little

bit. Steve, this is the one that I'm

upset about. All right, talk to us about full

effort. Yeah look it's drawn way outside

not too concerned. This is a deep, deep closer look

at the the last couple years in this race, you've been getting a

lot of speed a lot of pace early on.

I think that could be the case again this year.

You got 6 speed coming over from the UAE Derby who has some sort

of summer is tomorrow vibes. I I I think kind of around him.

So the possibility of this thing heating up and someone coming

from way off of it and that I'll tell you, I have learned from

experience, from sort of painful experience, the perils of kind

of dismissing the Jeff Ruby Stakes and the synthetic surface

and saying, boy, whatever, that's not going to be

applicable here. You know, 2 films almost won

this thing. You saw a rich strike come from

out of the clouds in the summers tomorrow year.

You know, that race has not been bad, you know, in the last

couple years in terms of a prep for the Derby.

You know, look, the buyer was in my mind, 94 is kind of like the,

the, the, the mark. You know, I want to see him

above that ideally. And it's right there with that

buyer. And there could be some real

upside here. So I'll go full effort.

I think you're going to get a good number.

You heard him mention there, Mac, the synthetic surface

moving to Churchill obviously with two fills an animal Kingdom

and you know a different surface then.

But rich strike obviously not in the Derby itself, but a horse

like sees the Gray winning in your place there in Maryland in

the Preakness as well. Are we are we slowly gradually

moving ourselves past this. These synthetic horses can't do

it anymore. Talk in in in our circles at

least. I just don't even pay attention

to it. I mean, the horses, some of them

don't take to it and that's fine.

They're all individuals. But the horses who can transfer

back and forth. I also just am not worried about

it. I mean, think Final Gambit that

Brad had, I really like that Wordless last year, was waiting

for him to get onto the turf. I was talking about this

earlier, maybe forget I mentioned that, but honey,

anyhow, I hold nothing against him, full effort, very

impressive. But I might hold something about

Steve because this kind of blew up my like.

So. Yeah, incredible.

It's really making me bad here. The incredible pick now hurting

but full effort. The first pick in the third

round here of our 6th annual Kentucky Derby draft on the

Horse Racing Happy Hour. Mac, you are up next with 9th

overall pick. Second pick in the third round

here. What do you select?

I emerging market. OK.

Dang it. Were you going to take that one

before me, Barry? Yeah, I was OK.

All right. I feel a little better now.

OK, go ahead and tell Barry and me why you just ruined our third

round. Because I love stealing candy.

Truly. Actually, I can't have it in my

house so so this one horse who lightly braced lots of upside,

it really fits the bill for the job here.

Post position works quite well for me, checks a lot of boxes

and I thought very impressive last time out.

I like Golden tempo a little bit, but just what we saw from

this one in Louisiana. Derby had to do quite a bit of

work and for a second time starter I have to give him a ton

of credit. Mile and three sixteenths in

that Louisiana Derby. Second time starting ever.

Flabby and Pratt been aboard for both, will be aboard in the

Derby as well. Barry, if you were going to

select this one, tell us why you were going to select this one.

A lot of upside on this horse and that's that's definitely a

draft word in wingspan. I couldn't fit wingspan in, so I

had to say upside. But yeah, I mean, the source has

22 pretty good races. I mean, 1A Grade 2 second time

out and that's that's pretty tough to do against this caliber

of horse. The Sky's the limit on that

potential there. It's just a matter of whether we

see it sooner rather than later. I loved him too, how he battled

Pavlovian, who's going to be in this field and has the most

starts of any horse in this field, right?

So he's battling a horse that's been tested in races, Steve.

And the other part is, hey, in 2018 I picked Justify and I was

told that, you know, horses that didn't race the 2 can't win in

the Derby. Maybe a third time starter can

win the Derby this year. Yeah, no, I mean, it just it

sort of fits where racing is going, right.

I mean, this is the, you know, it's the fewer starts and the

word upside now replaces experience.

So yeah, no, I, I what I was just going through in my mind

there. This was the third.

I had three horses in mind for those two picks.

This would have been the other one, so.

OK. All right.

OK, So you know what, Steve? You know what that means?

It means your draft room is doing a good job.

It's just you don't get to pick right now.

That's all it is. Yeah.

No, your draft room's doing a good.

Job. Yeah, they're all over it.

All over. That's exactly right.

All right. So of the top qualifiers to this

point, by the way, so we are now is that 11 picks into the draft,

if I'm doing my math correct here, 3/6, 8:10 and 11:00,

that's exactly right. Through 11 picks, I think we

have taken out of the top points performers, all of them except

for this horse. And I'm gonna go ahead and take

him here and his name is Silent Tactic.

I'll take. Silent.

You're just gonna skip me? That's how that.

Goes you're up, Barry. Wow.

So Barry, I'm about to take silent tactic.

Let me take. That's okay, you could have that

horse. I don't like that horse.

Go ahead and got that. Skipped Barry for absolutely no

reason. I'll hear about it all day

tomorrow. What Barry, Who you taking to

this mod? Pick a leather.

Well, you. You.

Referred to it earlier because this is the the time in this

sort of thing in the draft where it gets a little weird where you

got to really kind of make excuses for horses that you're

taking. I'm not going to make excuses

for this horse, but you hinted to the reason why I'm taking it.

This horse has 10 starts lifetime, which is almost double

what everybody else has and I think that should work out in

their favor. I think the source is on the

improve and it's Pavlovian from Pavlovian California.

I was out there today, Barn 41, Steve, when you get to town, go

hang out there. It's where all the cool kids

are. Him, John White with great

white, John Ennis, excuse me with great white, the Intrepido

team, Jeff Mullins are all I hanging out there.

A very chill spot. Southern California vibes there,

Steve, but Pavlovian. So you know, I'll go to Mac for

this one. The the experience factor for

this. How, how much is that worth do

you think in a race like this? This is 1 where I go back and

forth. I mean, I took emerging market,

right? Because I give him so much

credit for facing Pavlovian. He's improved.

He's been very consistent, you know, besides the time he lost a

rider. But other than that, very, very

consistent in my eyes. And I think he stepped up really

nicely in recent weeks. How much does that do for him

coming in here? I just don't really know.

And that's where, you know, betting 30 to 1.

Great. I'll take it, right?

Right. I think that's where you're

going to largely be. As you just heard from me by

picking this spot will be silent tactic.

I'll go ahead and take the mark Cassie Tradie out of the

Arkansas route to the Kentucky Derby and I will be very clear

about this. I, I do not think I will include

this horse in my multi race wagers, but there is absolutely

a world, Steve Kornacki, in which this horse just picks up

the pieces and makes one of those great Derby runs that

we've seen year over year. Frankly with him.

Christian Torres of all things I think of as a patient guy who's

going to be able to make the late move with him.

Silent tactic getting into the bottom half of the Derby field

here, but that Derby run is at least a possibility in in my

mind. Yeah, no, I mean, I think Barry

said it. We're into the imaginative phase

of the, you know, where you've got to sort of conjure, Yeah,

but I mean, look, comes, comes from, you know, way off the

pace. And if if the setup is there and

he happens to be in the right position and, and and definitely

from a betting standpoint, I think this is going to be a very

popular horse to fill out people's super fetus.

What do you think, outside of Renegade Barry about the

Arkansas route to the Derby? This one is going to have to

pull something like a Mystic Dan to win the Derby here.

What did you make of the Arkansas route?

It's it's hard to tell. I mean, from what we've seen, at

least points wise, the horses towards the top, it seems like

there were other better prep routes than going through

Arkansas this year. That being said, we've all been

fooled before. It's almost like the NCAA

tournament where the Big East teams win a lot of games, get to

the tournament when not. So I, I, I think having a horse

that performed well there will be OK and, and silent tactics

seem to have that kind of running style where they'll be

picking up pieces and sometimes that happens.

I mean, we've seen Rich Strike win under these kind of

circumstances. If the pace gets super hot,

Silent tactic would be that horse.

Silent tactic, of course, my third overall pick in my draft.

So we are through 12 picks here, as you can see on screen there.

Who do, who do we think feels best about their draft at this

point? Who thinks they've got the

winner? For sure, that isn't me because

I feel very good about my stuff. You got the Puma there.

You feel good about the Puma there, Barry.

Yes, the Puma is one point. I feel like if man, I almost I

almost did a day Barry where I just went didn't tell you.

We have a Puma outlet down the street.

I was just going to buy you like a Puma head to toe outfit all

one color, something like random maroon thing or something and.

Make it. Yeah, I could.

I could be Usain Bolt for the day.

Boom and just interview the Puma.

Like just talk to a horse for like 3 hours and see if anything

happens. But we didn't do that back.

I feel about your first 3 picks here.

Look, I think from a betting perspective, I'm feeling

comfortable. Would I maybe love to trade with

one of Steve's? Sure, sure.

I'm going to scout out something that might be have a lot of

upside for him. Steve, you've got two Grade 1

winners and a Brad Cox horse in your top three.

You got to feel pretty good. I do, although I will say like

I'm just looking at these on the screen here and, and looking at

berries and seeing the Puma and Chief Wallaby and then just

thinking about that Florida series and how I think it

probably stacks up to the rest of them having those two coming

out of those races. It it versus from my standpoint,

having none who came from those races.

You know, that's I, I think if you take the horses out of it

and just say which, which series was the best?

I think it was Florida and and Barry's got 22 who were right

there. So.

All right. I think now that we're going

into the fourth round and you talk about, you know, oh, we're

getting into this part of the draft or whatever it might be,

it's time to throw 1 downfield and I'm going way downfield.

This is a horse. That I saw today on what?

If you're gonna pick my horse, I'm gonna be upset.

I think you're gonna but. You think so, huh?

Yeah, it's gotta be a Japanese horse.

It is not a Japanese. Well, that's good for me.

I drove downfield back to California with Intrepido, and

here is why. The world is very simple for me

in this case. I don't like any of the other

horses that are still on the board, and I think Intrepido is

just going to have to go from the three.

And I think there's a world in which he just gets the lead and

he just hangs out there and for whatever reason, there's a bunch

of traffic behind him and the things don't work out.

It used to be that we had frontrunners in this race that

performed pretty darn well. I'll take Intrepido and Jeff

Mullins at this point to get the job done.

Hector Barrios going to get them out here.

Hasn't really been great since that Grade One win in the

American Pharaoh last fall, his second start ever.

So he'll have to be a lot better than he was, say, in the

Breeders Cup Juvenile or in any of the other races in Southern

California since then. But he really likes Churchill

Downs, has really been comfortable here.

Seems to be a, you know, in a in a great mood since he's been

here. I talked with his exercise rider

today. Seems to be on the uptick.

I'm simply hoping that Intrepido takes the next step.

Steve Kornacki has never raised his eyebrows higher than he just

raised them. What do you take of what do you

make of Intrepido? Well, no, I was excited that

you, that you took him because I, I have no interest in taking

him. But then I I heard, you know,

Barry's comment and I think Barry's going to take who I want

before before it comes back around for me, Sky.

Well, that's what I get all. Right, so we will remove the

name in Trepido from the board. We go back to Berry for the next

pick here in the 6th Annual Horse Racing Happy Hour Kentucky

Derby. Draft Backfire for Steve

Kornacki, Barry Spears and Louie Rebel hanging out with you.

Barry, your pick here in Round 4.

We are going with Dan and Bourbon to the hoop, my friend

to. The hoop indeed.

Dan and Bourbon, of course, comes out of the Fukurayu Stakes

there in Japan, won that one at Nakayama, qualifying through the

Japanese road to the Kentucky Derby.

And Barry, at some point, I think we all say this, and he

was right. There, of course, was the

Breeders Cup Classic winner a couple of years ago, just in the

duty as well, and forever young that a Japanese horse will

breakthrough in your mind. Dan and Bourbon the most likely

candidate of the three. Yep.

Yeah, you know this horse drilled A-16 horse field going a

mile on the 8th first time out, comes back in in February and

wins at a mile and three sixteenths fairly easily and

then comes back and wins that last stake race there.

I mean last year, I forget the other name of the, there was 2

Japanese horses. One of them got sawed off and

came running late. Probably would have been closer

to the finish as as one of the horses in the top three if they

didn't get such a poor trip. And the thing about the Japanese

horses is I feel like they're very, very well prepared to go

this kind of distance more than our horses here are.

If there's anybody that can get the distance, I would think a

horse like that could. But we'll see.

I mean, they're they're going to be flying under the radar until

they win one of these. But I think they're a lot closer

than people might think. Dan Bourbon, the son of

Maxfield, to purchase at the Keeneland sale.

Frankly, maca, this isn't it. Some, you know, horse that was

bred by a bunch of horses we've never heard of.

Do you, though, make much of the big fields in Japan?

Do you consider that an advantage heading into Saturday?

I do and I certainly can't deny him, especially when he just

puts them away and keeps on going the mile and three

sixteenths. I also like that blast out was

over a muddy track as well. You know, I think it's just one

more thing. He's a lightly braced horse 1 /

a wet track on debut and you never know what the weather in

Kentucky's going to be. So if you have an international

horse that has a few other tricks, just another benefit to

them. Good stuff there.

Appreciate everybody hanging out odd of the program.

It is time to go back to Mack Pfeiffer joining us from the

Maryland Jockey Club. By the way, with her fourth

round pick here. Mack, go ahead and tell the

people who you took in this spot.

I was just trying to make up my mind.

Wonder Dean. OK, Wonder Dean.

All right. Well traveled horse and I have

to be honest, I have nothing against the horses coming out of

the Derby over in the UAE Derby. So I give him a little bit of

chance here and think he's has reason to improve, so I'll take

a shot. He's a cool horse, by the way.

He's been here for the longest of the Japanese trainees as

well, has been working over the course for an extended number of

weeks. Frankly, Steve, what do you make

of the horses coming out of the UAE?

Do you hold a prejudice that Mac doesn't?

You know, I kind of have look forever young, you know, came

out of there, but I view forever young kind of as the exception.

But you know, given where we are in the in the draft right here,

I mean, look at that race. It's a it's basically a mile and

316th. So it's a little bit longer than

most of these preps you got in that race.

The horse who very well could end up being the speed of the

speed here in the Derby, who wandered Dean, you know, ran

down, overwhelmed and and, you know, won, ended up winning

pretty easily. So, yeah, given where we are in

the draft right now, there's and there's just sort of the mystery

around, you know, the overseas horses, the mystery around the

the Japanese horses. It's it's certainly if if I

wasn't in this extended gap between picks again, I probably

would have gobbled this one up too.

Great news for Steve. He's got the next two.

He's. Oh, exciting from.

NBC Sports At this point of the draft, who doesn't want?

2 picks in a row I'd be one shelf with an empty, but here we

go. The shelf may be empty, but

Steve is not. His pick here at the 6th Annual

Happy Hour Draft is. Litmus test.

OK, all right. I think I don't need a reason

other than this is a Bob Baffert trainee, But tell us why you

like Litmus. Test at this point, yeah, I get

the one Baffert, yes. And then I guess if you're

trying to make the imaginative case here, I would say take a

look at the races at the end of the two year old season out on

the West Coast Del Mar. Losal, the figures were pretty

good. The the performances and the

Arkansas series were not good. Maybe maybe you know, you could

say Oakland just didn't agree with this horse.

Maybe Churchill will. Maybe you were seeing some of

that potential last year that can be realized.

The blinkers go on. Maybe somehow the speed is not.

You know all we've seen Baffert do this before, right?

We saw Authentic go to the front.

We saw Medina Spirit go to the front and I DQ D but cash the

ticket, you know. So I'll take that chance at this

point in the draft. Right.

So both Baffert's off the board there, Steve.

Now with further ado. So happy full effort and litmus

test, Mack taking Wonder Dean there out of the UAE Derby

emerging market, the winner of the Louisiana Derby, incredible

Virginia with Derby winner and Renegade, the Arkansas Derby

winner. A lot of winners on your list

there, Mack. How about that?

I like that. And then Barry, the Puma, Chief

Wallaby, Pavlovian and Dan and Bourbon.

Far fewer winners, Barry. Yeah, well, that's that's

debatable. It only matters on Saturday and.

Of course, at the top. Of the point standings for me,

Commandment. I'll take the other Baffert and

Potente silent tactic out of the Cassie barn, of course.

Wild card for me. Intrepido breaking from the

three out of the California scene.

We go back to Steve Kornacki for his fifth round pick here.

I'm sure he is just dying. Tell the American public what he

is going to do here in the fifth round.

Steve Kornacki, NBC Sports horse Racing Happy hour, 6th annual

Derby draft. Who you got?

Golden tempo. Yeah, you.

Do all right, tell us about Golden.

Tempo again, we're we're looking at a, you know, pretty deep

closer here who comes out of that, you know, Louisiana Derby

where you talked about emerging market, you know, the Chad brown

horse, you know, with the potential Pavlovian who you

know, you know, had was the speed there was dogged had the

blinkers on. Seems like a different horse

since they did that And you know, kind of coming up the rail

late was golden Tempo again going this is like that UAE

Derby. It's a little bit I kind of have

liked the Louisiana Derby race just because it's a little bit

longer mile and three sixteenths, you know, than these

other preps. So, you know, and I, I think

earlier in the Le Compte, you know, the 1st in that Louisiana

series, they're just visually the figure was, but visually,

the way that horse closed in the Le Compte, it just blew by

everybody in the stretch, you know, needs, needs to show more,

you know, needs to get faster. But this far, this deep in the

draft, we'll take that chance. Barry, this is the kind of horse

you make the case for a lot, frankly.

First of the little cops, third in both that Grade 2 Risen Star,

the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby. What do you do?

What do you like about Golden Tempo on the spot?

Very consistent runner, kind of does the same thing every time.

Very tough read, especially from that post.

I'm sure Jose Ortiz is probably going to try to land this or

somewhere mid pack and kind of clear, which might leave this

horse kind of out wide. But again, if they're clear,

they don't get stopped, they might be OK.

You know, this horse likes to make one big run.

If they get stopped, they're in trouble.

If not, they have just as good a closing kick as anybody in this

race. We are now to pick 18.

We go back to Mack Pfeiffer for that one, she's from the

Maryland Jockey Club. You will hear a little bit of

noise because this is the 6th annual Horse Racing Happy Hour

Kentucky Derby Draft Mac. Pfeiffer, who you got here?

I, well Steve, took my next one. So.

Dang. I What a great.

Year this I just need to go fight or something it's.

Definitely making me a little bit more competitive.

So the best move for me is to grab Robusta here, OK?

Right. Robusta, second place finisher

in the San Felipe is on the grounds work this morning at

Churchill Downs. Doug O'Neill has said, by the

way, just for your purposes, especially back, he'll be at the

Preakness if he does not draw into the Kentucky Derby here.

But Robusta, yeah, second place finish there in the

aforementioned San Felipe. What do you like about him?

This is fun. I mean, has run the right races,

been in the right company. The outer post might actually

just kind of work things here. There's a ton of speed, but if

this one somehow manages to take another step forward and I can

just kind of forgive that last out, I don't mind looking at the

others. Robusta her pick here.

Steve, you're stealing all of her other picks.

What do you think of this pick? Yeah, I mean, look, I I gave you

so happy much earlier in the draft Robusta, you know,

finished ahead of so happy, you know, 2 back, you could say

right in that in that last race in the in the San Anita Derby,

probably not doing, you know, the dueling on the lead

basically tired out. So, you know, kind of, you know,

sit back just a, you know, a little bit here.

Don't get as caught up in it and you know, maybe you get a

performance much more like you did, you know, in that San

Felipe. With round pick for our guy

Barry Spears, of course you know him from SoCal Saturdays here on

the Horse Racing Happy Hour Podcast Network.

You're round five pick here Barry, right to party, Attaboy

out of of course the wood memorial there in second in that

race. What do you like about Right to

Party? Well, because it's a it's a

Beastie Boys song. Honestly, mostly.

But you know, honestly. That was a good job.

It was a good job running up in New York.

It was a good job, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Where else could they have run? But I thought the wooden

memorial was fairly weak shades of Burbonic a couple years ago

where that race just fell apart and a huge long shot won.

Not saying that Albus is is not as talented as Burbonic, but I

thought the race was was a little strange because the horse

that I thought was the best in there, Iron Honor, just got a

horrible trip from the way outside and and things got a

little wacky. Albus wins the race, but right,

the party didn't get the best of trips and and finished up pretty

strong. I think that's OK going into a

race like the Derby where they can pick off horses late if they

get a decent trip. I don't, I don't think they're

going to be kind of up close to the the horses sort of on the

improve, but definitely need a lot of help, a lot of pace up

front, which they'll probably get.

So hopefully they can get clear and get in the number somewhere.

Right to party Steve in the wood memorial there I thought did

some good running late, but boy, just not a fast race this year,

No, I mean. See, you know, and, and notice

I, you know, I'll be bragging about having, you know, Albus in

the wood for the rest of my life.

But I haven't touched Albus in this, in this Derby draft yet.

So it tells you, it tells you what I think of how that race

went. But yeah, no, I think, look, I

mean, if nothing else, you know, I think Right to Party is a

great kind of superfecta horse, just just given the style as the

odds are going to be. No, I think that's probably

right. All right, get back to your host

in Louis Revo. My fifth round pick will close

out the fifth round here. I'll start the sixth round with

the next one as well. We're at this point, we really

are. We are really, really at this

point in this draft. Steve, I'm going to go ahead and

take Elvis and I'm going to take the Wood Memorial winner because

we, I, I, I have to choose between choosing a horse that's

in the field or one that's not in the field essentially at this

point of time. So I'll take the horse that's in

the field. Steve, I also need to show you

something, I think. You're going to like this, so I.

Steve, Steve's one of these guys comes on the show.

I don't know, Steve. We probably got 6-8 times a year

or something like that. And a couple years ago we did

the Pennsylvania Derby preview for whatever reason.

And of course, we talked about the cotillion and Steve couldn't

get off a ceiling crusher. You know, I can't get off

ceiling crusher. Oh, I know the the weather looks

terrible, but I just, I can't get off ceiling crusher.

I can't do. And she wins.

She wins for fun, frankly. OK, Steve's been out a little

bit of a drought on this show, so we needed him to come back,

come back with something. So Steve, I did something for

you today. I was at the Mott barn today and

Riley was there and he he got some new Elvis gear.

And so I went ahead and had him sign.

Oh my gosh. And Elvis, this is a bumper

sticker, but you can stick it wherever you want, Steve,

believe it or not, I, I you probably don't own a car, do

you? You.

Know I'll put on an Uber around here maybe.

Snap it on there. Signed by Riley Mott at his

first Derby with his Wood Memorial winner that you picked.

How about that that? Is that is awesome.

Thank you. If you had showed me that before

the draft, we was at a very different, very different chain

of events here. But I get Elvis here in the

fifth round, We'll get into the final round here.

I'm not going to pause the show to show you the fifth round.

We're not doing that. So I will take Boy at this

point. I'm going to take Great White in

this spot. I know he has not yet drawn into

the field, but we have seen way, way, way weirder things than the

I bet you did the 21st horse drawing into this field.

John Ennis been in the Derby before.

He is considerably calmer this year, 2 years later.

Mac, you've seen this before as well, Trainers that get into a

big race scenario for the first time, maybe a lot of nerves

around it. A guy like Ennis who has an

operation the size that he does, he owns half of this horse, for

example, going to be a lot calmer here.

Do you think that will have an effect on a great White's

performance? Possibly.

I think when you're able to just kind of get in to a different

sort of headspace, everything around you changes.

Here's another one where if you draw a line through the last out

and just kind of go back to the synthetic, I don't mind

forgiving this horse, especially with him being caught on the

inside in the bluegrass. So but you know, also if there's

a scratch, say you know, one of our favorites goes, you're the

first one to get in. That's exactly right.

I'll take the the 21 horse here in Great White.

Go to Barry for his sixth round pick here on the 6th annual

Horse Racing Happy Hour Kentucky Derby Draft.

High level technology on this show Barry, who you got in round

6? We're going to take Ocelli all.

Right. What do you like about the

maiden here? Right.

You don't know this, this horse hasn't really run all that

poorly. Very competitive, just hasn't

gotten over the hump for whatever reason.

Even even the third graph figs are pretty decent in comparison

to everybody else. But coming off the pace,

hopefully if they can draw and they can grab a piece of this,

but a long shot for sure. A long shot for sure.

Ocelli comes in a maiden. Steve, do you love maidens in

big races? Especially the Kentucky Derby

number. One, you should have taken the

1st overall. What are we doing there?

All right and go to back and for her sixth round pick, we're down

to just a couple of horses left, six beat and Corona Del Oro.

One of them's in the field. Mac, if you wanted to go with

that thinking, I don't know, you could ruin Steve's final pick

here as well. It seems to be you. 2.

I like I like a little rival here, which is funny because I

told Steve I was having someone on from the MJC and Steve has

become the Maryland Jockey Club's biggest fan this year.

That actually happened in 2025. So it's it's it's I like it that

there's a little bit of a rivalry here.

Who you taking with your final pick?

Oh Lord. Well see, I feel like I messed

up in taking robusta a little early, so I do think I need to

take 6 speed in the field just so I'm not with two horses.

Totally Sol. 66 speed of course comes in and by the way, I got

to interview a trainer, Bupatsemar, really nice guy,

really interesting guy. Last time Michael Bartholona,

likely to to make the trip for the Derby as well, was second in

that UAE Derby, first in the UAE 2000 Guineas before that, the

prep race for that one should be part of the early speed and

congratulations, Steve. I can't, I mean, I just, I, I

should have another sounder here.

I don't know what it would sound like, but oh, you know what it

is. Hang on.

I think does everyone, does everyone hear that sounds?

Do you? Do you?

I think I think Barry is going with this.

Poo diddly. Poo diddly.

Poo diddly. Poo diddly.

Poo diddly. This is a show that loves Jim

Mora Sound playoffs. You know that.

Sort of thing we love. Jim Mora on this show diddly poo

you get Corona de Oro Steve. Let's go ahead and do this.

Does this horse run on Saturday? Yeah, this is the mystery

irrelevant pick, right. So I, I would like to petition

for some kind of point in this thing.

If the horse just gets in, I think that's, you know, that's

victory for this horse. I'll allow it.

I'll allow it. I don't like it, but I'll allow

it, yeah. I don't like it at.

All just get in the gate. That's it.

Don't eat it. The one when it opens, just get

in the gate. Oh man.

All right, so let me grab the final rendition of this draft

and I thank my 3 guests, Steve Kornacki from NBC, Mackenzie

Pfeiffer there at the Maryland Jockey Club and of course my Co

host Barry Spears. You'll hear him way too much

this week on ESPN Radio with me. Here I can come.

Yeah way, way too much, but we'll go ahead and put this one

up on the screen. Thanks to producer Tommy hangs

out with me every year on this program puts this graphic

together for us, which I did not properly put up earlier in the

show and it was Tommy's fault. Not just kidding.

It was my fault. But Steve further ado so happy

full effort litmus test golden tempo and Corona del Oro amongst

your picks. Go ahead and do something now

that you've had many rounds to sit around and be angry about

how much time there is between your picks.

Who's your most likely winner on your listed of the longer shots?

Who would you want to put in the back end?

Save a super effect. Yeah, Further ado I think is the

most likely clearly from from what I've got there and on the

back end of the Super effect, yeah, I think it's golden tempo,

you know, potentially come in late here and yeah, full effort.

Well, I've heard of, you know, show.

Me the ads on those two, you know, yeah.

No, that's right. I I'm fascinated by what full

efforts number is going to be because the connections and all

that stuff, Tyler and all that, but Mac Renegade, incredible

emerging market wonder, Dean Robusta and A6 speed here.

Who's your most likely winner and who do you think can fill

out that superfecta? Look, I have kind of an

interesting draft here, how it came together.

So most likely winner, probably incredible, right?

If he builds off of that last out, I think he is the most

likely winner. Renegade.

I'd say yes, but it's the post position.

So, you know, how much do they have to do so early?

Yeah, maybe Renegade, a potential superfecta horse

actually for the back end of that superfecta if he has to

work out a drip from the rail, who knows in that spot, Very,

very California and and a Florida heavy here, the Puma,

Chief Wallaby, Pavlovian, Dan and Bourbon, right to party and

Ocelli most likely to win there. Barry most likely to fill out a

superfecta. I think most likely winners,

probably Chief Wallaby, although I do like the Puma quite a bit.

There may be some question marks there with the distance and

everything with the Puma, but I think Chief Wallaby is is

putting it all together, at least from what I've seen this,

you know, his workouts and things like that after the

Florida Derby. Looks like he's he's really

doing well. And I think Dan and Bourbon is

the one that is most likely to fill out the superfecta.

They're kind of flying under the radar.

Yep. And the horse seems to be pretty

good. So we'll take that one.

Lost in Derby 150. Is that TO password finished?

5th That's the horse I was thinking of.

Yeah, No, but like got thought off really bad.

Yes. Is that TO Password finished

fifth in that race and so we had two Japanese finishers, 3 and

five in that race. No, no, I'm with you, man.

I think Dan and Bourbon, especially with the breeding and

what it just the build, I think he's one of those that can

absolutely do that. I'll go ahead and say, man, I

think Potente is the winner out of my group.

I just think a lot of that horse and I think by the time we get

to this point, Baffert's got the speed in him that he wants.

I think he can be tactical as well.

I think he just wants the distance at the 10 furlongs.

And I also think like Madita Spirit has been brought up I

think twice on this show. I think he's going to be like 12

to one or 14 to 1, something like that in this field.

And so I think I'm going to get Baffert a little little value on

Baffert of all things, and I'll go ahead and I'll take Intrepido

for the back end of my superfecta and kind of double

down on taking him with the 4th pick.

I don't think it will be that he'll come rallying late.

I think he'll be trying to hold on if he gets out front and get

get, you know, passed by a couple of horses in the stretch

if he does end up there in the superfecta.

So there you go again. If you win this thing, we give

you a trophy, but it falls apart as soon as you get it.

So it's really a crappy trophy. It's not as.

Can you eat it? Like is it edible?

It looks like cheese, don't it? I mean, it really does.

I mean, it could be a cake, it could be anything, man, you

know, hungry. It's dinner time.

Steve's the. Steve's the TV, What was it?

What was it made of? I got this weird rash in my

hands afterwards. I don't know.

It was made of Austin, TX. That's what it was made of.

All right, well, Steve Kardacki, NBC Sports, he'll be in town

this week. Which days are you part of the

broadcast? Are you guys strictly Friday,

Saturday this year for your your part of it?

Yeah, Yeah. No, we in the NBC this year it's

the Kentucky Oaks, primetime Oaks for the first time.

Yeah. Yeah, trying the 8:00 start time

there. I got to say, Steve, as a guy

who, you know, follows a lot of college sports, another network

had a lot of success playing college basketball on Friday

nights. Huge numbers, frankly.

And so I am fascinated to see if that trend follows where

Americans since COVID are less out on Fridays than they used to

be and are watching TVA little bit more.

If the Oaks does get a bump that way, no.

Matter what, I'll say it's a good idea, but I think it's a

great idea because it always seems to me you're there at the

track on Friday and they got 150,000 people and then this

race is going on while so many people are still at work.

The build up to is taking place during the work day, you know,

make it an event at night. And I think, you know, it's it's

it's something people could really kind of latch onto.

I mean, Barry and I do this this podcast thing our.

Largest markets are LA and San Diego.

They just are. And people out there love their

horse racing. Mac.

And so I think moving the race a little bit later there will be a

good one as well. What do you got going at Laurel

this weekend? I imagine there's some kind of

Derby party. Is there a costume contest?

There is. There's a Derby watch party and

we have the. OTB at Timon, I mean, you can

always go out to the Big T and watch the races there as well.

That's actually kind of great people watching experience and a

little bit smaller than being at Laurel.

So it's a little closer to my home.

So I usually bounce around watching races on big days

between there. You'll see, you'll see Mac in a

couple of weeks. I've yet to wrangle her.

For extra work around the horse racing happy hour in the

Preakness, but I'm sure she's already figured out that I'm

going to ask her. But Barry Spears, of course,

flying up here tomorrow. Barry, I'm going to make you do

this in front of all the people watching and the other two

people in the room. How excited are you to get up

here for the Derby, Man? Totally.

I've never been to the Derby in person.

Obviously I've been playing the races since I was 8 years old.

This is like a dream come true. So to be working and doing all

that, it's just going to be an experience of a lifetime.

I can't wait. If you are in town Tuesday

night, Barry and I will give the.

Blood Horse seminar Tuesday night, 7:00 at Blind Squirrel

Restaurant. Doors open at 6:00.

I never charge for this thing. Dinner's on me and the bar is

open. Come have fun.

I know the Derby is really expensive.

It doesn't have to be for one night.

Come hang out with us at the Blood Horse Get together Tuesday

night there. By the way, I'll hand you a

cigar when it's done. Like, let's just have fun.

Let's let's do the Derby. Let's do the darn thing.

It's always a great time. I'm so glad Barry gets to come

up for it this year and really appreciate Steve.

Really appreciate Mack jumping on the program as well.

Happy Derby to all three of you. Happy.

Great week. Looking forward to this.

Oh, man. Well, Steve?

Will be here soon. Barry will be here soon.

Yeah, we'll get my trophy in person.

That's right. Oh man.

I don't think that's how this works, but we'll play some

crappy music to get us out of here.

This has been another draft here on the horse racing happy hour

six years in a row makes the Steve Kornack from NBC Sports

Max 5 from from down there at the Maryland Jockey Club and of

course my Co host on the horse racing happy hour Mary Spears

for joining us here on the program.

Happy Derby week to you and yours.

Look for more content throughout the week.

See you.