Another Mike-less Episode – Where is he?

Welcome to another edition of the Horse Racing Happy Hour.

Not this edition. Don't ever do that again,

Micless edition. Don't ever do any of that part

again. Terrible, terrible clink to

start the show. Louis Robo producer Zach hanging

out with you tonight. Mike is, I guess, in your state

again, which means there's no chance he'll ever come see you

hanging out. He was in Austin, literally a

block from my work and was like, oh, I'm too busy and too tired.

It's 3:30 in the afternoon. I need to go to bed after a trip

to LA. 330 would have been late for Mike to stay up.

I can say that much. There you go.

So there you go. Well, welcome in.

I I am. There's a bunch going on behind

the scenes in my life right now and I am extraordinarily

thankful that I have this outlet to talk horse racing because it

is it is the sport I like the most and and and so I I just

wanted to start with a touch of gratitude tonight because

frankly I'm in a piss poor mood. It's just the nature of the

world right now and so this is a nice room for you from whatever

that that shit is. I'm going to cuss tonight.

Just a heads up and so. Yeah, no, I'm drinking bad beer

out of an Indiana Derby Tom Collins glass from last year and

reminding myself that in 1995 Peruvian won the first Indiana

Derby. So there you go.

Like I said, producer Zach, alongside Zach will be up here

on Wednesday with his entire family.

I was racking my brain, dude. I don't think I've met your

kids. That's wild, by the way.

And so that'll be fun. Zach is going to Dollywood.

I, I, I we need to dive into that at some point.

But that is a it's an interesting, I think Callum,

when you were here for the the when when you were in Baltimore

for Preakness, Callum was a baby and you had met him.

Got it. So he was alive.

Just not conscious enough to say Mr. Louie like he's going to 30

times next week. Oh my gosh, you're going to get

tackled by them. You are their.

Celebrity. Look, I get it.

I I'm A Celebrity to many people.

Yeah, there it is. But I mean they hear about they

hear your voice on the phone for for those of you out there who

who don't know me and and Louie that well Louie I'll I'll be on

the in the car on the phone and the kids won't let us talk is

that Mister Louie on the phone Mr. Louie guess what happened at

school today there. You go it's yeah, no it's it's

good Bleep, man. I'm looking forward to to

hanging out. We're going to do a you're going

to get the full experience. By the way, I'm going to warn

you so it people that have listened to this show for years

and for some reason there are hundreds of you that do that,

but the. Every a lot of you does heads.

Heads of people, the No, but the 11 AM beer walk happens every

Thanksgiving Day. It's oh wow as an accident, but

that will definitely happen a week from today.

So Zach, are we going to do a random, impromptu Thanksgiving

night version of the horse racing happy hour 'cause I think

we should. Oh yes, we are.

OK, good. All right.

So we'll get into that as well. So we'll be around next, three

of us in town together. Yeah, yeah.

No, the real the real thing there is.

And I got to ask Churchill, but next Friday is we're getting

into Clark weekend, so I want to see if they'll let me do the the

show out of 322. Maybe you can bring the boys out

and we'll do the whole thing. They would love it.

Yeah, yeah. And you know we'll maybe do a

barn tour or something get into all that.

But yeah, so maybe maybe if you are listening and you are in the

Louisville area are going to be here for Thanksgiving, maybe

we'll set something up for next Friday.

I did want to open with. So we've been doing this gold

book horse picks on our website. First Gen.

Sports. And so I, I want to get more of

our podcast listeners into that. So this Saturday, we're going to

do one for free. It's all my takes on Churchill

Downs. We'll have a couple of football

games in there as well from some of our football contributors on

the side. And so you'll be able to go get

that gold book bets.com, go get the freebie.

We'll talk through the late pick three at Churchill on Saturday.

And Zach, I, you know, let's go. Let's go ahead and watch the

replays. After that.

I do want to talk about the track conditions and I want to

give Churchill some credit. To open before I get critical,

but Kevin Kirstein who is in their media office, one of the

good guys that helps us with Derby every year is going to be

on this little Lui tomorrow at 11:00.

So if you are interested in hearing from Churchill about a

little bit about track conditions and about the weekend

coming up with the Shaluki on Saturday and then of course

getting into next weekend with the.

With Stephen Foster and all that.

TuneIn tomorrow, ESPN 681057. Here in Louisville you can

listen anywhere in the world. But here is here is Wicked Halo

coming from slightly off the pace.

Here actually to win the oh gosh, what is it?

The dream, supreme. Dream supreme Little the dream.

It is supreme. Here we go.

In Behind needs to find a seam, and there it is.

Wicked Halo finds a seam in between and she takes advantage.

Wicked Halo willingly and easily grabs the lead Little pranksters

up into second as you're so silly.

Gives way. Final 16th Coming Wicked Halo by

two Little prankster chasing her home.

Wicked Halo. Perfect Trip.

Winner Under the Wire by two. So there you go.

We won't We wondered aloud if if Wicked Prankster was going to

give her much of A race there. And and by the way,

congratulations to Wicked Halo. She's going to be home next

year. How about that?

So she's off to retirement. She's going to go be a

broodmare. Should be interesting to see.

I have not seen the plants. Maybe you can Google those right

now. Zach, who she's going to be bred

to. But with her acumen over that

distance, I would love to see like Mottoli or someone like

that who is just an absolute terrific 678 for a long type

horse, good over one turn. See her bred that way and see if

they can't keep that bloodline going.

She just terrific. I do a career, another $300,000

stakes win. No big deal.

And you know Ditto the Twin Spires that she has so many

times and so just a fun one there.

I think there I think we'll see more from little prankster.

You know obviously just a three-year old right now.

I think as a four year old could very much grow into her into her

future self and and and figure those things out as you know she

moves forward as she trains into it.

And so interested to see if she gets better with time and with.

You know with AII imagine they're going to give her some

time off this winter. Many of the the female horses

especially need the the time off in the winter.

So interested to see her back as a four year old.

But yeah Wicked Halo out on top. A little bit of a disappointment

from your so silly who ended up running 4th in that one.

It seemed to trail off really hard at the end there.

I had been really good at Churchill Downs and part of the

equation many many times in those kinds of races.

So a little surprising to see her do that, but.

You know, I think we could Halo Simply put classical in class

and she was just better on that day.

The the other greatest, the other stakes of that day was a

great at stakes and it's the River City and smoking tea.

Got this one done. And Zach will tell you, on the

show last week I mentioned every single horse.

In this one I cut the wrong. The wrong 3 long odds horses in

this one, Zach. So go ahead.

Here's smoking tea at the top of the turf.

Some traffic rock Emperor needs to find a way through.

Just four lengths behind, and it's being kept pinned in by

Harlan Estates, so they're off to turn.

Here comes smoke. So many horses in this race.

Grand Sonata dives to the rail Dominican Pioneer siege of

Boston down the center Rock emperors fading late final 16th.

It's smoking tea in front, in front by two Harlan Estates

siege of Boston chasing. Smoking tea under the light.

Really kind of an interesting one here at you got the feeling

from Travis's call and that's Travis Stone.

And we thank the people at twinspires.com and at

churchilljones.com for the replays there that you mentioned

it. The field was huge, right?

And and that is going to happen anytime there's an actual turf

race at Churchill, which we will get into.

And you know there there are two types of ways to win.

You know route races on the turf, you you get out front, you

stay out front or you make a trip.

Smoking T talker that made a trip.

There were other horses in that race that needed to do a lot

more work and weren't able to do it and that's what we saw in

that one. And so smoking T gets up and and

wins that one. It's a look it it's a grade

three that that felt like an absolute grade three maybe a

grade 3 minus even. But you know, no shame in that.

I mean, timed really well. A really good run the the ride

itself was really. Exactly what Smokin T needed to,

to go ahead and win that race. And so no hate for me on that

one just ran off the screen. And when they run off the

screen, there's not a whole lot you can do.

Like I said, classical class. And so Smokin T did exactly that

at Churchill, hoping in my own personal way that they're able

to keep the late race on the Saturday card on the turf, which

is an optional claimer in race nine.

They do have a Sprint before that in Race 5.

That's an allowance race that I do not expect to stay on the

turf. If you follow the gold book at

all Gold Book bets.com, you'll see that I've been just, I've

been handicapping for dirt. I've just been assuming they're

not going to run on the grass recently.

And like I said, we'll have Kevin Kirsteen on tomorrow from

Churchill Downs and hopefully he can he can shed some light for

us on what that might look like because it it right now, man, it

is doesn't feel good, Zach. It's been years.

Legit years. That they've been having these

issues with the turf course at Churchill Downs.

And at some point, I mean we're talking about Zach, we're

talking about are they going to be ready for Derby weekend,

right, for the for the American turf in.

Different races. I mean are they going to be

ready for that? And that's that's a terrifying

prospect and and I get it, we're in an era where we're more

careful now than we've ever been with horses.

But I would like to think in a town where.

There is a soccer stadium, for example, that has a pro men's

team and a pro women's team playing alongside one another

night after night. And they rip the crap out of

that field and they have the instruments in place to make it

work. And they, you know, the the

grass growers and the lights and all that kind of stuff like

that. They would be able to figure

that out at a facility that's going to do 3/4 of a billion

dollars on Derby day. They would be able to figure it

out in that way. I mean literally, Zack.

A stunning thing has happened this year, which is the only

turf claimer run this year. I think there was one at Ellis

Park, maybe 2. Otherwise you cannot run a

claiming turf horse in the state of Kentucky.

That is not good for businessman.

It's just not. We all know what Keeneland is

and it's and it's oh, we we won't have anything lower than a

20,000 claimer. And and look, they care about

sales. They'll tell you they got a

sales page for their freaking Twitter page.

I mean, like it is what it is, but the idea that Ellis has to

carry the burden of that. And that Churchill can't even

card these races is really troubling and and I don't I

don't want to blame anyone because I don't understand it

enough but I wish there were a touch more transparency on what

the actual issue is if it's still this hey the roots aren't

taking taking hold man that's an issue like a legit serious issue

And and I I just wish like I said there was a little bit more

transparency. So I'm going to try to be

patient, wait for Kevin tomorrow, we'll talk to Kevin

Kersteen and I'll release that on this platform as well, but.

Just at some point, man. Like people make fun of Turfway

and they make fun of Oaklawn and they make fun of these tracks

that just have one surface. At some point you got to admit

the Churchill's falling into this or or the other thing you

can do. If it's a November thing, stop

carting turf races in November and just tell people.

Just tell them. But we're seeing more and more

and and they even tweeted about it the other day.

You know horseshoe Indianapolis is bragging about their turf

course, by the way. They should.

They should. You can actually go up there and

have your horse claimed. You can actually run them.

You can actually. Do it.

It's part of the business here and we're losing that part of

the model. I mean when you run an allowance

Sprint in A2 turn $100,000 optional claimer that does not

include a lot of horsemen that excludes a lot of people and

that's really the problem here. So I'm interested to see if they

can get that figured out. I'm I'm hopeful that they can

because. Look man the turf racing over

over Derby weekend is as good as it gets in the United States.

I mean everybody shows up. It's really good.

Six months away from Breeders' Cup you're removed from the

Pegasus. You know it's it's prior to the

Saratoga meet. It's prior to these other meets

that are turf heavy. I I just, I just hope they can

figure it out across the street at Churchill because man, it

just detracts so much from the cards to not see anything on the

turf. It's nice to, you know, we we've

talked about it. We've gotten, you know, messages

from people who listen. You know which races are the

hardest for you to to handicap. Is it dirt sprints.

Is it dirt? You know routes, turf sprints

turf routes. What is it for you and I love

having those debates. Right now we can't even have

them. We're talking about dirt races

and nothing else and that's really problematic.

So hopefully they can figure it out get things together because

a live you know the long term viability of the of the racing

product that Churchill it needs a turf course and it and if it's

something where you'd say look we're going to run it.

April, May and June, but not in July, not in, you know, and then

you know we'll run a couple races a day during the September

meet, but not in November. Like just tell people.

Because if you keep all your horses at Churchill and you're

paying all the fees and you're doing all that stuff, at some

point you have to you have to just come clean and and and be

transparent with people that rely on you for their

livelihoods, for their business. And I, and I hope they get it

figured out for that reason because you know, we've

interviewed Brian Lynch on on 680.

We've interviewed, you know, other people, you know, Brad

Cox, whatever. They need those turf races, man,

because it's just part of the business.

And if we're going to hold up these purses and we're going to

hold up the field sizes and all this stuff in Kentucky that

makes Kentucky the best racing product, doesn't mean anything.

If we don't use all the surfaces we have, it really doesn't.

It doesn't matter. And so I'm, I'm hopeful, I'm

stupidly optimistic that they'll figure it out.

But yeah, I would say that that's the number one.

I mean, the real #1 issue here in the state of in the state of

Kentucky right now is that turf course at at Churchill Downs.

They don't have an issue at Ellis, they don't have an issue

at Keeneland. We know what Turf way is and and

they have figured out that new surface has changed turf way.

It is, it is, it is totally its own thing now.

We've seen enough results on it and enough races to know what

we're getting with turf way. And so I just, I really do hope

we can figure it out because like I said it, it just makes

the racing that much better. It makes the cards just so much

more palatable, more fun. Dirt racing is great.

I love dirt racing, but you know, there's something about

those grass races too. So hopefully they'll figure that

out as and when you're arguably America's race course for horse

racing, right? Like it.

It'd be like if the Royal at least was like, well, I mean, if

you're I, I'm talking about like worldwide, people might not know

what Gulfstream is, right? But everybody who knows anything

about horse racing knows what Churchill Downs is, knows what

the Kentucky Derby is, right? And if you're going to be that

and then you can't run turf races like you're going to get

passed up. There's a lot of money out there

right now in horse racing that people are at, these smaller

tracks are trying to get going and if you have to keep moving

things to Ellis, people might go elsewhere.

No, I I I think if I had, if I had turf horses, I'd be.

Looking around and I think one of the big beneficiaries frankly

that you're going to see is actually owned by Churchill

Downs. It's going to be turf way.

I think you're going to see massive fields for some of these

races because I think some people are holding their horses

out hoping that they can just run on the synthetic when we get

there in a couple of weeks. So interesting to to follow that

and and I I hope I'm wrong. I hope over Thanksgiving weekend

when you're here we go we see those turf races that are

supposed to be carted and we enjoy ourselves and and get to

watch some great racing on that end.

Louis Rabeau at Radio Louie on Twitter.

Hanging out with Zach Zayner, Producer Zach at Zach Zayner on

Twitter. You can go find him there as

well. So let's get into it.

That Saturday card with the Shaluki, it's a grade three out

of Churchill Downs. But let's talk about the late

pick three and how I've been approaching these races because

there is an option clamour and only in Churchill fashion.

It's $141,000 purse, 100 grand to claim a horse out of this

race. Interested to see if how this I

mean just the general nature of this.

Do do I start looking around at other horses that can win on the

dirt? Do I look at a Big Blue line

who's 12 to one Joe Talamo. Paul McGee who just ran on dirt,

last out at a mile and a 16th. It, you know the exact course

didn't run great and obviously doesn't want to be on the dirt

at Churchill Downs because before that was ran in the

cowboy Jones ran second. Goes to to to Kentucky Downs

almost wins, comes back. They try them back on the dirt

just didn't work and so. Just just interested to see what

Paul McGee ends up doing if that horse stays in the race.

Do we see a strong quality stay in the race who's one for eight

lifetime but has finished second twice.

Ran in the Arlington million this year, ran in the tappet at

Kentucky Downs last out under Flora Giroux really well.

Frankly does a strong quality stay in there.

I I don't know English Taverns in this race 2 for 9 lifetime,

but twenty runs with, you know with with 14 times hitting the

board out of twenty runs. On the on the turf, you know,

does that horse stay in this race.

It's just so hard to know ahead of time who's going to be

running. Now what we can do is look for

at the horses that are entered for the main track, only the

Mtos, they help us out. So the Reds is on here.

The 13 for Tommy Amos and and Edgar Morales, the two of them,

they win one out of every five races they run.

This horse very recently ran in a 50K claimer.

They obviously had sights on a race like this because they

claimed him for 50. They put him in for 100 in this

race. 5 year old gelding, son of tonalist.

I'm an old man. That tonalist is five year old

kids, good God that horse. I think one for six This year

ran 2nd and that was last time at Keeneland.

Could the horse be in better form?

And Tommy Amos? Really good on the First off the

claim. Really good on dirt.

Really good with Edgar Morales. I think that 8 to 1 number is a

real steal. The 13 horse there in race, I'm

sorry, this is race 9, right? Yeah, Race 9 on Saturday at

Churchill. The 14 is Brigadier General.

This is Tyler. I think this is the kind of

horse that really can just come in and pick off this race.

Now some of the wins are at Indiana and other places.

Did win last time in the slop at Keeneland.

We're not going to have any weather like that here coming

up, but did win wet fast. And then or excuse me, ran

second, went fast then ran over dry conditions at Indiana with

no issue at a mile. We're going a mile on a 16th

here, doesn't really change anything.

Horse is 2 for four lifetime at the distance and so interested

if the horse can get it done as well.

But I think if you're going to lean on one of the Mtos on those

main track, only horses, Brigadier General, the 14 would

be the one that I would look at because St.

Ready Tyler's other mount. Has 24 lifetime starts and only

one of them is on dirt so well two are on dirt one of them was

when they were taking off dirt So I think that Mike maker very

likely not to run St. ready in this in this spot and and go

ahead and run Brigadier General with Dallas Stewart and Tyler

instead. So if we're looking at this race

I would look at the 14 pretty heavily in the late pick 3.

The Shaluki like I mentioned is in that one turn mile at

Churchill Downs, that's Grade 3 for Philly smears 3 and up go

for for $300,000 here because that's what they do.

At Churchill love the purses I wish they had the turf course

worked a lot of horses here that are interesting if you wanted to

look for class. I think the three here hidden

connection is pretty clearly the class she picks up.

Tyler here last out under Christian Torres had a real shot

in the Locust Grove behind search results.

There is no horse of search results level in here.

So if if if someone's going to class up and win here, it's

going to be the move to Tyler for trainer Brad Calhoun.

And it'll be Tyler who picks off this race with hidden

connection, the three in this one.

So if you wanted to go skinny, if you wanted to be someone who

played a considerably skinnier ticket, look at the 14 in race 9

and then look at the three in race 10.

There is a horse here in Ovra, which means a book or like a

like a library book in a in French.

Daughter of Shackleford Again, 4 year old daughter Shackleford.

I'm a very old man and a lot of different jockeys at different

places. Was running at Hawthorne for

Chris Block comes down to Kentucky Downs wins the Kentucky

Downs comes to Keeneland wins on the turf and they have her

entered here on on the dirt. And good news Chris Block goes

turf to dirt at 31% so his horses do find switching

surfaces. He and Jareth Lovebury together

25% their last 93 out so they obviously have a good connection

there. So look, if you wanted someone

who's going to be, I think you'll get every bit of nine to

two on an over of the four here and interested to see if she can

get it done. She's 6 for eight this year.

She went seven for 8:00 last year in a bunch of listed stakes

in sprints. So at Churchill she ran fifth.

Before that, though, she won the Mardi Gras fairgrounds.

On the turf before that, she won the Panzaretta odd dirt at

Fairgrounds. So this horse is all over the

place. What I like about her, and it's

something I mentioned on this show a lot.

I just like horses that win, man.

Once in a while you just. I think we all do.

No, but I mean it just sometimes handicapping, we overthink it.

What's the time? What's the speed figure?

What's this right some, some, some Phillies just like to get

out front and win the races and she's one of them.

So sometimes that has a lot of value and I think that over

offers us all of that here in this one as well.

I mean, Goodnight Olive is a is a good example there, of course

that just wants to get out there and just run, run, run.

She's going to pass everybody. Yep, on those races Falconet is

in here. When we talk about this race

tomorrow, I imagine Dan's going to mention Falconet who he had

in the Groupie Doll at Ellis Park, going a mile.

So we're going a mile here. I like that experience because

if you know the the one mile course, you know, on the form,

it looks like a straight line. It's actually a little bit off

to, you know, if you were trying to run a straight line, it would

be forcing you to run a little bit to the right and then when

you come on the track, the main track, it's a little bit of a

drift to the left. At Ellis Park.

It's a a much harder left turn coming out of that mile shoot.

It's a bit like the one at Saratoga.

But that she has that experience at a mile and won the groupie

doll this summer gives me a lot of hope under her Arnold

Corrales that she would get it done here.

What's interesting is they moved to Luis Saez.

I wonder how much less that's going to happen, Zach, now that

we saw her Arno Corrales win a Breeders' Cup race with no

balls, right. And so will he start to get more

of those mounts? I do know one thing for sure.

If you play any day at Turfway this fall and you don't have her

Auto Corrales in your tickets, you're an idiot.

So one for three lifetime at Churchill, 2 for three at the

distance with a second place finish for Falconet here.

She's at 4:00 to 1:00. I'll be honest, I would rather

have over at 4:00 at 5:00 to 1:00.

I just think that she's more interesting in this spot, and I

think the mile won't bother her being a daughter of Shackleford.

And then the other kind of longer shot that I was

interested in. Can the nine get here?

Can hot and sultry get the job done here for Ricardo Santana

Junior. He's been riding a lot for Norm

Cassie. This horse last ran in May.

Ton of time off here. We're going, we're going

sprinter route technically from 7 furlongs back to a mile.

I don't think of it that way. She did win previously, going a

mile at Churchill over this course.

Did it in $1.35 and change. That's a winning time.

She got out front, stayed out front under Tyler, gets Ricardo

here. Carlos having a nice meet, 12%

but only four wins at 34th hits. I'm going to use hot and sultry

underneath. I don't think she's going to win

so I'm not going to put her on top.

I'm going to use her, you know, as second place or third place

in an exact trifecta kind of play.

The 9 high, hot and sultry interested to see if she runs

well or not. I will say there is one horse in

here that I cannot figure out and that is Braganza for Eddie

Keneally and Declan Cannon. The two of them are over their

last 14 at Churchill, but I think this is the kind of horse

that's an absolute. Every other type.

Last time out on the turf at Keeneland finishes 5th by 10

legs. Terrible.

Before that wins a colonial in a 7 furlong dirt Sprint goes to

Saratoga before that on the dirt finishes 5th by 22 legs, but

before that at Churchill over 7 1/2.

So just short of this distance wins under Luis Saez.

So I just, I don't know which horse is going to show up, which

version of Bergonza, but that's a horse that if you leave it out

of your Xacta or your trifecta. The six in the Shaluki on

Saturday, I think you got a shot of missing the Xacta or the

trifecta there. The final race is, is a maiden

special weight and I've been getting my ass handed to me by

these maiden races to close the cards at Churchill for a solid

month and 1/2 so all of them can bleep off.

I don't want anything to do with them on the days when I'm like,

oh, a second timer's going to win.

They all run 7th and then, Oh no, there's no chance that a

first time or the 1st timer just comes bounding home like it did

today. So I'm going to give you four

horses here in the last race that I'm interested in.

Some of them are obvious. Cabernet is in this horse in

this race, Zack. Oh La La.

And this one grinds my gears. Hang on, it is spelled

CACABERNEIJGH. Literally Cabernet.

That is so amazing. Is it?

Is it? So is so the interesting thing

about these races, Zach, and we talked about it on the show as

well. These are two year old Phillies.

This is where you have to really pay attention to try to find the

next dope's winner, right? And so I have to take these

races really seriously because these, this is $120,000 race

with serious breeding. Cabernet, for all the jokes, is

a daughter of munnings. It ain't like she's bred by, you

know, some some donkey, right? I mean super successful horse.

She's not the daughter of Rich Strike.

Come on. Louis pulled him out of the

sale. Boy, they found out nobody was

going to buy that horse, didn't they?

So quick. So quick.

That was fast. That was fast.

They were like, yeah, we'll put them up.

And then like today they're like, yeah, we haven't gotten

any phone calls. No one's visited the farm to

check them out. That's.

Like a guy at a Louisville gas station offered US $25.00.

So we're done. No, I don't need a gift card to

Applebee's. Thank you.

All right, so the copper drops in this race.

Second timer set. I bring up Cabernet because it's

a third time starter in in one that I think has a a legit shot

moving from turf to turf to dirt here.

Excuse me from last time out it ran really well at Keeneland

last time out under Tiago Cadudo keeps the same jock here.

He hasn't had a ton of mounds at Churchill but neither is Scott

Barker the trainer. So I I I just I think

connections there kind of preclude that horse from being a

major factor. Copper drops in this one for

Ricardo Santana Junior and Steve Asmussen.

The two of them have been terrible at Churchill lately,

but it is a second timer and you know, Asmussen does a lot of

things really well. Turf to dirt with this one and

maiden second start, 17 percent, 18%.

This is the kind of horse that could absolutely win the race on

Saturday. But since the first timers have

been chewing my ass lately, I'm going to try to find a couple

for you. Velvet Kisses is in.

This is in this race. That's what Zach and I will be

doing next week when he gets here.

Luis Saez. Eddie Connealy.

The two of them though 23% at Churchill Downs 21% overall.

Over 100 races there in the in the in the old in the old record

there. Saez on a much better tear than

he was. What did he start Zach?

One for 40 or one for 30 something like that.

He's up to six wins and 52 runs so he's over 10% already.

That means he's probably on a hot streak.

So 8 to one there horse has been working at Keeneland does have a

bullet at the beginning of the month going for Furlongs and 47

and change. That's the kind of speed that

can absolutely win this race. So if she's got her game on

she's a daughter of mastery paid almost nothing to breed this

one. So I I'm actually kind of

rooting for her to come out and do her job there.

But Velvet kisses a daughter of mastery and Kinsley kisses.

Where did the Velvet come from folks?

Where's the Velvet from? Can you tell me?

I don't understand the Velvet. Mastery kisses doesn't sound

good. I need a mastery kiss.

What's going on? What's got got to do to get a

mastery kiss? Sounds nice.

I don't know. Maybe it's not nice.

What the hell do I know? Oh, man.

All right, but Sonja doors in this one as well.

That is a very Portuguese name, but we're going to let it go.

And Tyler's aboard for Cherie Devoe.

Cherie Devoe only wins about 8% of her first starts.

OK, so that's about 1:12. But she wins at 14% with two

year olds and at 16% and made special weights.

Both of those are really good numbers.

Like really, really, really good numbers for any kind of trainer.

She's at 18% this year, hasn't won at Churchill in this meet,

but she's got a smaller barn, a daughter of Union rags that paid

$160,000 for this race or for this horse.

Excuse me, out at Black Horse Farm.

This is the kind of race where I haven't trusted Tyler and he

gets it done. Anyway, horses working it, it

worked at Churchill last out. I had been living at Ellis and

Keeneland before that, so the horse has at least been on on

track, so she'll be ready to go outside sort of post there with

the 11. So it'll allow her to kind of

make a mistake on the outside and be fine and not get, you

know, not get totally stuck in traffic.

So interested in her as well. So if I was looking at first

timers I would trust the jocks here.

Velvet Kisses with Luis Saez is the five horse as I burp away

from the mic, 'cause I'm a gentleman.

And then Sonja Dora is the 11 for Tyler.

If you get Tyler Gafelion on a horse at Churchill at 12:50,

that's a win place bet essentially every single time

because in 71 runs he's won 12 * 11 seconds 13 thirds, that's

just a guy who hits the board. If you want to be boring with

with the racing at at Churchill, just bet that guy to place and

he'll probably hit a lot of races with Tyler.

You might not make a ton of money, but at least you will

definitely hit the board in that way.

So I would lean on the the 5:00 and 11:00 here.

I do think that the Ricardo Santana Junior ridden.

What was that copper drop? Excuse me, The six horse has a

legit shot as well, so I would use those three.

I would try to stay away from that 8 Cabernet not because I

hate the the the breeding or the name, but rather because I don't

trust the connections to get it done in that last race.

Again, gold book bets.com. Go check it out.

I'll put out a late pick three based on being on the turf or

off the turf for Saturday. We'll do it totally free.

The only thing you got to do is punch in your e-mail on the

website goldbookbets.com. So there you go.

So what, what do you tell your kids about a trip like you're

taking next week if people don't know, Zach lives in Austin, TX.

I do and has has a an RV that cost a little bit more than my

house. So they are driving to Tennessee

first to do the, I guess it's a theme park, right?

That's what you would call Dollywood, right?

It's a theme park, OK. Are there shows like do you see

like a hologram like Dolly? I'm not kidding.

Like I really. Want.

No, I know. I honestly don't know.

I haven't really looked at it. I heard that, you know, from

irreputable sources that it's more fun than Disney because

it's it's a tighter feel, right? Like they know what they're

doing. What they're doing is country

plus rides and. Dolly Parton is active in

cultivating it and making sure it's looks taken care of and all

that stuff. Plus, you got Pigeon Forge right

there, so that's already, you know, and Gatlinburg.

Yeah, Dollywood purchased the old Six Flags in the middle of

they did. They did.

That, that was, I was about to say that and back in a year, the

customer service went through the roof better.

It's cleaner, it's nicer, like everything, like in a year.

And so if it's anything like that and they've had control of

it for years, it's going to be awesome.

So what do you think? Dolly Parton Bigger Gay icon or

liberal icon, do you think? Oh, Gay.

I don't think she's a liberal icon at all, is she not?

I think she should be but I because she she has done a gay

icon like it's over the top, right I.

Mean. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

But she has done more for. Appalachia, Tennessee, Poor

people like you name it. That woman is the Tennessee

version of Mitch McConnell put together.

Yeah, well, I was going to say she is the she is the Tennessee

version of of Mother Teresa. Like that woman has stayed with

her husband, has been an amazing everything for as long as she's

alive. There you go.

Well, Gay, I can't talk on the Horse Racing Happy Hour about

that. I mean, hey, you know, it is

what it is. I did get pinged by somebody

today, a friend, a mutual friend of ours whose name I will not

mention. But he was very excited.

Because he's never. Is it Mike?

I'm not going to tell you. And he's never purchased a an

American Hockey League jersey. But he found out his his his

local team is going to have its first openly gay player this

week. Oh, wow.

Yeah, no, no. And he's very excited and and it

just made me think of him like, so he's going to that game and

then Zach's going to Dollywood. It's just a bunch of gay stuff

happening. And that's all right.

You know, you got to do what you got to do.

Hey, I am going to buy a knife in Pigeon Forge.

OK, I'm going to forge my own knife.

Wait a minute. Is that a real thing?

Yeah. Yeah.

Really. There's like a culture in Pigeon

Forge. I actually don't know this.

There there are multiple places there you can forge a knife.

Quite literally forge one. Yeah, how about that?

I like that a lot. So obviously they they do all

the work for you. It's like here, we're heating

this up for you now bang on it with a hammer for 5 minutes.

Cool. Like now.

Now dip it in the oil to put it out.

It's like it's like a Baker's mark where you got to dip your

bottle, but in this case you need to dip a knife.

Yeah, exactly. But they're actually for people

who are familiar with the Netflix show Forged in Fire.

One of the winners of Forged in Fire started a knife making shop

there, because Pigeon Forge is literally a hotbed of forges

like. The culture is there, Yeah.

I think one of the cultures in Louisville that people have no

idea about is the glassblowing culture.

Yes, absolutely. Yeah, it's stunningly awesome.

Yeah. But that there are like numerous

stand alone studios that that's all they do.

I think people would be surprised you can I would guess

you can go to a half dozen just downtown in Louisville.

It's just a stunning if they survive.

COVID. I've.

I've seen a couple of them since but but yeah no.

I'm always amazed when people have those interests like the

forging knives or glassblowing or whatever it might be where if

there's the art requires a significant amount of danger and

it also you know it makes something very cool right.

Like making a cool knife is cool right.

Making you know glassblowing is is cool right.

And so it's interesting what what towns get known for and

what they're good at, but. Yeah, I mean, some people might

not know, but Louisville actually has good sports

players. They go to other colleges.

But I mean, not good football players around here.

That's about it. The women's team is really good.

Oh, no. I didn't say they stayed in

Louisville to play. They they go to other places to

play. It's so true.

Derek Smith, Rajon Rondo, they all just bail, man.

It's. They bail.

They play. They play through high school,

win the state championship in Kentucky and leave.

I mean, Nolan Smith's on staff here.

He played at Kentucky Country Day and he went to Duke.

Right. Exactly.

He's like, peace out that's available.

Oh man, love there you. Go.

Yeah. So we leave on Saturday and

we're gonna drive like 8 hours a day, 'cause it it is.

You know, living in Austin, we haven't done a ton of RV trips.

We've done about four. And you don't realize how

Central Austin is to the United States.

So, like, like, it is it. It is only 19 hours to Disney

and it is. 19 hours to California and 16 hours to

Tennessee. Kentucky border 15 and a half.

16 hours to Louisville like we just So what are your kids

doing? So you what?

Your kids are 10 and seven, is that right?

Yeah, 1077, What are they doing during these trips?

Louis, you'll be very disappointed in me.

Is it screens and games? Oh yeah.

They they. Why would I be disappointed in

that? Because Louis, they have.

We have a a 48 inch screen that plays Netflix the whole time and

they're on a couch with seatbelts on watching Netflix

while they play on their Switch. Sounds awesome.

I'm. Jealous.

It is awesome. Not like someone to drive me

around like that. Jealous too?

Well, I'm driving this £24,000 bus and they're all back.

They're playing video games. All right guys, no problem.

My my my ass is is is totally like numb now.

It's been numb for six hours. Hope those video games are fun.

You have a better marriage than I do.

That's all I know. I.

Doubt that I've met Kristen. I have very little, very little

hair. She would have pulled all of it

out, I'm sure. So 8 hours in a an RV actually,

she might like that. I'm thinking about it.

She might like that, no? She totally would.

It it 'cause she would just sit back there and like read a book

at the dining room table and like, like text people.

You are 100% right. I'd get, I'd get to wherever

we're going and there'd be 35 Instagram stories.

You're totally right. Totally would.

And then she'd pop out. She's like, why are you in a bad

mood? Thank you, honey.

I love you too. Thank you.

Thank. You.

Yeah, fortunately for me, Bridget likes to drive, but

there you go. But it it, she's definitely

white knuckles it. Whereas I'm usually a lot more

relaxed when when I'm driving the the RV.

That being said, twice, I almost hit a car that I didn't see in

my blind spot. But you know, who's counting?

Oh man, I saw a I saw it. Oh gosh, I forget where it was.

I think it was cnn.com and and someone said the study was

people in large SU VS more likely to hit pedestrians.

And I'm like, that's why you get a large SUV.

Yes. Oh, no, I I read that.

Yes, I read that article. I was like, well, duh, you know,

you hit someone with your car and your car gets totaled.

You hit them with your SUV. You just keep driving.

Next up on CNN water. Is it wet?

Yes, exactly. Should I just come to the break?

Oh man. Next up on CNN.

Donald Trump has been indicted again.

Oh, thanks. Congratulations, CNN.

You knocked it out of the park. Oh man, Nancy Pelosi made

another $3,000,000. Find out how.

Yeah, we know. By this time, it was because

Paul Pelosi sued the guy who hit him with a hammer.

Oh God Oh no. Oh.

Too soon? Sorry, no, I just.

I don't want to ever get hit by a hammer.

That's pretty. Much Oh no, neither do I I

remember, remember playing catcher when we were playing

baseball out in the street with my brothers and my brother took

a step back to swing and hit me with a metal bat in the side of

the face. That's.

Nice. Oh, is that what happened to

your face? Exactly.

That's what this is. Oh, man.

All right, well, let's get out of here.

It's been 40 minutes. John.

Sherba's. Like, what are they even talking

about? Look.

Yeah. Gold book bets.com.

If you're still listening. Good Lord.

Go get a go get a sheet this weekend and and check us out.

We usually do them for a buck. We're just trying to pay our

bills on the website. So just come help us out.

Gold book bets.com. Go check it out.

And coming soon, we're going to have subscriptions and premium

content. It's going to be awesome.

So the subscription will include the gold Book, which is our

handicapping. It's going to include videos,

some special edition podcasts, and some interviews.

And if you're into college basketball at all, I'm hosting a

show Tuesday's called 40 Minutes of Pod.

It is named after Nolan Richardson's 40 Minutes of Hell.

It includes coach Mark Lieberman, who was on the staff

for the 2013 Louisville national title.

Mark Ennis, who's Co host with me at ESPN Louisville, and then

Jay Davis, who's a basketball sort of a geek up in the Detroit

area. It's a very, very good show and

sort of a kind of surprising number of people already

listening to it. So if you're interested, 40

minutes of POD, it's on Spotify, Apple, wherever you listen to

your podcast, it's already in the Top 20 Basketball Podcast in

Canada. Zach, how about that?

Yeah, Canadians love me. You you should have done a

hockey hockey podcast. The Geo location on the podcast

in Detroit is showing up as Windsor ON so.

I'm not. Sure.

Listen all 5 Toronto Raptors fans lift and listen to you.

Should the NBA expand to Edmonton?

Find out. Next week, Edmonton.

Can you imagine? All right, all right.

We're going into free agency. Yes, son, how does Edmonton

sound as an NBA landing spot? The guy just stares at you

dirty. Look, can I go to Miami, please?

Can I? Can I not go to Edmonton please?

We're going to send you to British Columbia.

Exactly. They tried Vancouver.

Even the NBA guy was like, Vancouver's nice.

The Hudson Bay Moose? God, no kidding, man.

Oh, man. All right, jokes.

I know. All right, play the music.

Let's get out of here. Oh man.

Another edition of the Horse Racing Happy hour.

There you go. Good luck with all your wages

this weekend. I'm Louie Revo, hanging out

producer Zach. I'm at Radio Louie on Twitter.

He's at Zach Zayner on Twitter. You can find us at Horse Happy

Hour as well, of course. And look, people appreciate you

hanging out and and listening to this show.

I we really can't believe how many people do that.

But it's fantastic. And we'll be keeping it going,

hoping it'll be able to announce something that we'll be doing

for the winter. Shows, relative community

tapping as well. Hopefully that'll come through

in the next couple days and then we'll get you ready.

We'll keep you. We'll keep you company all

winter long. I'm Louie Rebut, this has been

the horse racing happy hour. We'll talk to you next week.

Happy Thanksgiving.