Road to the Preakness >>> Private Terms

All right, welcome to a Louie Less edition of the Horse Racing

Happy Hour. Let me see if I can.

Like you can do it like a chomp thing.

That's weird, right? It's all, it's all I had.

It's all I had. It had two water bottles, you

know. So yeah, Louie is not here

because it is his son's birthday, Thomas's birthday, so

happy birthday to Thomas. I do believe that Lou Gehrig's

streak has ended because where I miss shows all the time, Louie

does not hardly ever miss. And he never wants to miss his

road to the Preakness shows. Because I mean, not only does he

just love the road to the Preakness and loves the

Preakness itself and his natty bows and all that stuff, but he

loves he loves Dan Illman and John Piazzic.

You join me today. So fellas, how's it going?

It's going very, very well, Mike.

I'm not surprised, though, that he's off because of his son's

birthday. I mean, watching you guys every

Thursday has become a guilty pleasure.

And for the last three weeks, all I've heard is that

Tennessee, Tennessee, Tennessee is Brad Cox's Jeff Ruby Steak

Source, and Tennessee is apparently pulling a plow

somewhere. He's not running in the Jeff

Ruby steak, so maybe that's the reason we're not seeing him a

little crow. And that could be it.

Louis is doing his show from for ESPN Louisville live from

Turfway tomorrow. So he was, he was beating his

chest pretty pretty heavily, like you know, that he broke

Brad Cox, that he figured it all out and then lo and behold, 3

year old horses are going to do what 3 year old horses do, I

guess, you know, But I think you're, I think it's a very

astute observation. That's kind of like saying, you

know, that Shohei Ohtani wasn't betting on sports or something

like that, and he's just going to blame it on as an

interpreter, so. I think, I think, I mean, Shohei

Otani, have we ever seen a guy bet on sports before Like, I'm

Phil Mickelson has never gambled on a sport.

Charles Barkley. Never.

Never in Atlantic City. Never.

These guys clearly and you know it's it's funny because I think

on it was like Tuesday the NBA announced that that on their

league pass you're going to have like in game odds and fops like

on the screen while you watch and people were saying boy you

know is it so bad for sports. The gambling has has become so

evasive. You know it's only a matter of

time till there's a big sports bang scandal and lo and behold,

2 days later, here's one. I I hate to interrupt, but I

mean you know I know NCAA March Madness is in full swing

Louisville. When did they become AD Two Team

A? Long time ago, so that was OK.

All. Right.

I I will tell you, I'm one of those Kentucky fans that number

one, I'm a Kentucky fan that graduate from University of

Louisville, which does happen #2.

I'm like one of the very few Kentucky fans, though that wants

Louisville to be good because it's way more interesting when

you know, and college basketball's just better when

Louisville and Indiana are good. So, you know, so hopefully they

figure it out. This next hire goes really well.

Like, I I honestly think that, you know, Kentucky fans are a

little upset that they're, they have not been as good as, you

know, fans think they should be since the last several years.

And it kind of coincides with Louisville not being good.

I mean, when Louisville's good, it, it pushes Kentucky to be

better. You know, I mean, I it's like,

it's just like a it's like a horse race, right?

You know. You know, I kind of have that

for the Yankees and the Red Sox because I'm a the Yankees fan

and the Red Sox have been, you know, irrelevant for the last

few seasons. And you know, on one hand you're

kind of like, man, you know, it's it's great.

Boston sucks at the bottom of the division.

It's awesome for the small podium.

It's kind of like, you know, it would be nice if they were like

Yankee Red Sox games than Madden, you know, because it is

an energy to them when both of them are good.

And I've been to a Yankee dress house game when they've

mattered, and I've been to a Yankee dress house game when

they don't matter. It's not nearly as much fun when

they don't matter. Not at all.

And again, it was like when the old days when Steinbrenner

senior owned the Yankees and he and the Mets, you know, we're

always at it, going after free agents and he had to make the

splash. And that's the same thing, I

guess, with Louisville and Kentucky.

But hey, good luck to you. Well, I appreciate that and you

know I don't have a whole lot of confidence in the Kentucky team

right now. So you know this, it is what it

is. I wouldn't say the team, it's

more on the coaching side, but that's what it's.

So I my my question I guess, and then we'll get off the baseball

thing, is Shohei Ohtani and then firing the interpreter is that

the modern day example of like all of a sudden Sammy Sosa can't

speak English in front of? Our oldest Chapman can't speak

English. Yeah, after giving up the home

run to to lose the the playoffs, I guess.

I mean, I don't know. I mean, isn't that the best job

in all of baseball, though? The interpreter.

You get to sit on the bench, you go on the road.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, right.

These two guys are like best friends too.

Like they were friends even beyond just being his

interpreter. And you know, he, he had a

chance to be with this Moki team, you know, in a chance to

go to the World Series. And now he he's not.

But he couldn't control, he couldn't control his gambling

instincts. And that's it, yeah.

The question will be, do the Dodgers have enough starting

pitching to get them to the World Series?

That'll be the. That'll be.

It's a big if, you know. It'll be a lot of 10/8 wins for

them, I'm sure. Well, Yamamoto didn't exactly

like things on fire. Unless he bet against himself.

The. Other guy, I gotta tell you

what, if he was a Yankee or a Matt, it would be just like

we'll be in like DEFCON 5 right now with the New York media, I

mean. You remember Hideki Arabu?

Oh, well, I was kind of at the end of him, but I I do remember

Kate Igawa, when he was a Yankee, and that was a trader

remembers. Kate Igawa He was Kate Igawa, at

least pitched through his contract in the minor leagues

for 20 years. He still might be there.

And the clubhouse. Attended it.

They're still paying him. 15,000,000 There was a great

article about Kei Gawa and the times where he lived in this

giant penthouse in the city. And every day, a driver would

pick him up and take him down to Scranton, where he would be

either pitching that day or just hanging out in the clubhouse,

and then they'd drive him back afterwards.

Can you tell Louis that we're going to, we're going to take

this show and it's going to be now baseball and horse racing

together. And I mean, I, you know, he'll

never go for it. I'd be all about it.

So I don't think it's, I don't think it's going to happen

though. All right.

We kind of did last week. If you all watch the show, which

I know you did, because you guys are huge fans of ours and we're

more into, you're way more into our content than we are into

your content. That's not true.

That's not true. No, it is true.

It is true. I have to be admitted.

It's become a guilty pleasure the last few weeks.

And I. Couldn't just waiting, man.

Just waiting. I couldn't figure out why and

and John will know what I'm talking about because it's like

listening to Paul O'Neill, you know, broadcast Yankee games

didn't really know anything about anything and he doesn't

really give you anything, but he's such a likable dolt that

you want to listen to him constantly.

That's me. Well, both of you guys.

Well, thanks. Yeah.

I mean, Louis goes a little bit at the end of the day though,

like the just it's going to get off the rails the next couple

weeks. I'm just, I'm just warning you

all right now because we just got sponsored by Manscaped and

oh. Baby look.

At that. We just got, he just got the

product in the mail and I'm like, what am I supposed to do

with this stuff? And so it's going to, it's going

to be interesting, yeah. At least Louis doesn't need it

on his head. And he does not need it on his

head. So that's that's for sure.

Listen, if Yazik doesn't get a haircut before we get to

Baltimore, he might. He might.

We might have to hold him down. Well, you know, The thing is and

you know, mom's back to watching this.

So I can say this. I'm going to see my parents over

Easter weekend and I've already set the over under as to how

many comments we'll get about it at like like 3 per day, probably

something like that. So 12 just.

Tell your mom that we'll just cut your hair on the rooftop of

Pimlico. We'll just.

I'll tell you what. If a Maryland bread makes it to

the Preakness, not wins, but makes for the Preakness, I'll

get a. Haircut.

Will bar right. Well, there's one in this in

private terms that we'll get to and possibly two, I think who

could be Preakness voices, but we'll see.

Not necessarily Preakness tenders, but Preakness starters.

You gotta be you better be careful there because there's

always the local runner. He'll run if he's 300 to one or

not. You might be a bald headed geek

sitting on top of the Primlico grandstand, so you better be

careful with that we. Didn't say bald, I I said just

get a haircut and I'll say a length and I'll specify I'm on

the records and a haircut and it's in the it's, you know,

archive now. Sponsored by landscaped.

All right. So we kind of, you know, we did

our little, you know, now that the 50 point races are over,

just our preview of where the Derby field sits, what say you

all, do you all have maybe a quick top three or anything that

you want to that you want to share on the field or it's just

very it's a very interesting year because I do think it's

going to make for a very interesting betting race.

And would you rather have it be an interesting betting race or

would you rather have just like some absolute superstar studs

out there? I always prefer to be a better

betting race. I know a lot of the fans want to

have the next Secretariat show up and just blow people away and

everyone will get excited. But to me, part of the

excitement of the Derby is you get a 20 horse field, the

favorite is five to one. You can, you know, poke holes in

a horse like that, play with a superfecta and all of a sudden

you're getting a 5-6 figure score if you're lucky.

That's to me what the Derby's all about, trying to get big

scores in big fields and that's what racing fans complain about.

Your all year, isn't it? Big fields, You get it in the

Kentucky Derby. Top three again.

I like the Japanese horse. Louis put him what, number one

last week. It was a very intelligent

opinion. I noticed the name dropped me.

He's starting to figure this game out a little bit.

Also, Sierra Leone I think is very, very good.

I think he's going to appreciate the extra distance.

I think he's going to to really continue to to blossom down the

line. And As for #3, I think it's kind

of still up in the air, isn't it?

I mean, I know everyone loves Door Knock, John.

What's wrong with me? Why am I not in love with Door

Knock? Because his big win came on that

rail by his track on Cigar Mile Day.

And then he beat a watered down field in the fountain of youth.

And now all of a sudden, he had his reputation, even though he's

proved in my book, less than nothing.

I'm going to throw out a crazy name that no one's been talking

about and I don't even know if he's still around.

His name is Liberal Arts and he ran at Oak Lawn last time out

and I think it was a race where it was either local on a

fairground I can't remember anywhere.

Southwest takes the last time out.

And he actually made-up some lake ground in that race.

And to me he looks like the kind of horse that has some

experience as a 2 year old, looks like a horse that wants to

go long. He's been very patiently handled

under the radar. I could see him sort of sneaking

into the Derby and maybe maybe livening things up at a big

price. That'd be an interesting play.

I mean, I think you, you know, obviously now with the Arkansas

Derby coming up next weekend, you know, and that's going to be

a really good field. And if he if he were to have a

pretty impressive showing there and you know, who knows, right?

You know, So there you go. All right.

So keep an eye on liberal arts. I love, you know, love the

Arrogate play and we'll see what happens there.

So what about you, Mr. Piazik? Well, I think Timberlake is is

going to end up being a Derby favorite and not without Ruiz.

I mean, he really hasn't done anything wrong.

He did what he had to do in The Rebel when he won Easy.

Long as he doesn't totally embarrass himself next time out

he he should win. I might have to be suckered in

giving fierceness another chance.

Yes, his holy ball was not that good, but going in, he just

looked so dominant compared to his peers last year.

I feel like I I can't write him off completely based on one

race. If he goes into the Florida

Derby and and again at least runs well, I think he'll go off

at a bit of an inflated price on Derby day and I'll give my crazy

late running Derby longshot. And he is a Mid-Atlantic grid so

I don't want to be accused of Mid-Atlantic buyers.

I do genuinely like him. But Uncle Heavy, I loved his win

in the Withers a lot. I mean he looks like the kind of

horse who's going to love more ground, a kind who could peak at

just the right time. I know he had a gap in work tap.

However, that is explained away because there was a quarantine

on voices coming from aqueduct to park.

So he was shipped to a off site farm butchery, kept him in great

shape that whole time. He didn't lose too much

training. He's still on track for the wood

and you know, he just has that vibe of a horse is going to go

up at a big price and at the very least mix up a super

factor. And if he swoops them all and

wins, I'm not be shocked at all and I might have to have some

money on him just in case that happens.

Love it Uncle Heavy pick. You know the the wood has not

been a very good indicator very success lately.

But you know who? Who knows what Any any stabs you

want to take of this Ruby Stakes.

Even though Lou is going to talk about tomorrow, you look at that

at all. I haven't really.

I don't want to drop it on you because we.

Well, I know there is a Maryland bread entered in that race, but

he's also entered on Saturday at Laurel.

I'm not sure where he's going to go.

That is Circle P on the AE list. I will be cheering for him, but

it's going to be A tough task breaking from post 12 in your

two term debut against these types.

I think endlessly has a big shot, but I can't take a low

price in this kind of race so my topic probably end up going to

end up being seized. The grey he he ran a huge figure

First off the layoff last time out at Oaklawn Park sat the

trip, dobbed to win, showed a bit of guts in the stretch and

won by a length on the first end scale.

Ran a career best figure of 92 and it would be nice of course

to see Wayne, Lucas and Nick was who I saw back when he was a

youngster riding at Monmouth Park get a Derby shot.

Yes, it's Dewayne Lucas needs a Derby shot.

For sure. He's.

Well, you know. No, I'm just messing with you

when he won the Oaks a couple years ago.

Man, that was pretty cool at the.

Conference that press conference was an all timer like it was

like an airing of grievances and and I mean it was everything.

He had no heart holes bars like it was the I just don't, you

know, GAF at all. And I it was great.

It was fantastic, you know. And I think anyone who's ever

spent time on the backside and knows how he can be pretty

approachable if you catch him at the right time.

And you know, I just remember one time just sitting in that,

you know, wooded deck area in Churchill Downs and he comes up

and just starts talking to me. And then all of a sudden I

notice I'm like, it's him and Stafford and Romo Ket and like

we're all just like sitting up there shooting.

And I was like, why? Why am I here?

And and and I think I and and I have to imagine that if Seester

Gray is in the Derby, Wayne is going to make some history as

the first great grandparent to train a Derby starter well.

There you go. As his grandson, Brady had a kid

fairly recently. And yeah, so I and I doubt

that's ever happened before. So there you go.

All right, well, I'll be I'll be pulling for a Gate Rd. doing the

See if he can pull that off and we'll see.

I mean, it's crazy to think that you got to take the Ruby pretty

seriously as a Derby, as a Derby prep, But, you know, history

tells us you do so. I don't know if that'll hold

true this year or not, but I don't know what's going to hold

true this year. I really don't.

This is, it seems pretty crazy to me.

Let's get into our our handicapping day there at Laurel

Park though and get into our late pick four starting with

Race 7 and that is the main special special weight $47,000

purse for 5 1/2 furlong Sprint. John, we'll start with you

because I'm sure you have this field pretty much nailed.

So let's Who do you liking this? First of all I will say at least

as of time of according be sure to bring an umbrella on

Saturday. The trip it's supposed to rain

all day so we're likely than not we'll have a sloppy track and I

know Brittany Russell kind of has founded in here.

I mean Brittany having Roman first was in Maryland is a

pretty common story. In fact, on Friday she is

debuting a $1.7 million 3 year old, which is pretty

interesting. We'll see how that goes.

S Voices in here are #3 Lottie Dino, who started off working at

Saratoga last summer, joined Brittany's Bone in late December

and had and has had a pretty steady tab since then.

And number six get to the story, I'm done.

A home bread for the commissioner who was at Palm

Beach Downs for a while. Came up to Maryland in late

February and has had three local works.

If I had to pick one of those two I'd I'd I'd probably pick

#3. You know she's had a bit more

time in Britney's bone. Has a very solid pedigree half

sibling. The four winners fairly win

early family but I think she'll be over bet as Britney for

courses I want to do. So I ended up taking #2 Hot

Dance on top of the ones with experience.

I think she has a best shot. Ran well in her local debut back

on February 10th after starting her crew at Woodbine.

Battle on the pace held second after a very wide trip behind

Rini 6 who came back to win her next start.

Then next time out lost to a very impressive winner in stick

with the callers who is making her second start earlier on

Saturday. Card Hop Dance has has run big

figures both times, has a good recent workout since that race.

Think if she takes a step forward, either of those well

man are going to have to run really big in order to beat.

It and Michael Trimbetta is the trainer there for Hot Dance, the

number 2 horse. And he's he's hit the board 40

out of 90 starts. So there you go.

Not too bad. And I can't stress enough that

horses that have raced the experience edge is just

tremendous. You very rarely want to take a

first time starter into the teeth of a horse that has shown

the ability to run. That being said, both of

Brittany's horses are very well bred.

The one that John prefers seems a little bit more speed bred

Lottie Dino. This races at 5 1/2 furlongs.

I have to admit I guess wrong with Brittany 90% of the time.

So let me guess, wrong again with the other one.

Get to this story. I'm done.

You look at his pedigree and you think he wants to go 2 miles.

He's by curling out of 1/2 sister to vino.

Rosso of course, won the Breeders Cup Classic.

It's the family of commissioner who won the Pimlico special and

wanted to run all day long. I wonder if maybe a wet track

though is what this horse wants. His half brother delegated

wasn't very fast, but at least he won on a wet track.

There's pedigree here for a wet track.

I'm just curious to see what we get from this source.

If you're looking for a bomb, keep an eye on Bay St. the horse

that's only raced once on the turf.

His dam was a multiple stakes winning sprinter.

She made her debut on turf, couldn't do anything, then

second out showed up on dirt and wanted a big price.

So maybe they'll try to do the same thing with Bay St.

It's an interesting race to kick off the pick four.

I agree with John. I think Hot Dance is a very

strong contender of the Brittany's.

I'll go with the Ripoli one and maybe that Bay St. livens things

up at a price all. Right.

And we're going to get to the Phillies Main event, the Beyond

the Wire Stakes $100,000 race. One mile on the dirt.

Who's the top feeling this one, John?

Well, I do want to know. We had a bit of a scare this

afternoon. We had about a four hour

quarantine on parks strippers coming into Maryland.

However, that has been lifted as of time of recording.

So park strippers are now welcome.

And that's good, because there's two of them in here in #3 KISS

for Luck and #4 eva's Magic, neither of whom I picked on top

or like that much in well, actually do like kiss the luck a

little bit. But anyway, we had.

To work on asking if they got social distance.

Is that what's? Going to happen?

No, I think. I mean, I'm not sure what

happened. Perhaps we'll find out in the

coming days anyway. I know a tournament driver is

the chalk, but she's the deserving chalk.

I'm not going to try too hard to beat her.

She we're in very well. First off a long layoff. 2

starts back on February 9th was her first start since the

Timonium meet beat. A pretty nice first level field

kicked away and one easy with a much improved figure.

I'm not quite sure what to make up for the last start to be

quite honest. Yes, it was a career top figure,

but I do feel like she could have run down Miss Harriet.

She had a lot of chances to catch that freewheeling leader,

couldn't quite do it. Ended up losing by three parts

of length though as noticed she did run a career top figure and

Miss Harriet did not exactly flatter who last Saturday when

she couldn't make the front in the cicada and ended up well

beaten. That said, it's not that great a

field. Think determined driver is going

to keep moving forward. Third off the layoff.

She has very good tactical speed for us boys is having a solid

meet. I think she'll get the trip set,

sit on on the outside, and as long as she duplicates, I think

the last race figure, she'll be tough to hold off on the

stretch. It's going to be a single in

this sequence here if you're going to bet the sequence.

I kind of think so because you know it's it's it's a six horse

field. She'll be the favorite.

It's kind of one of those things where you can't spread too much

because if you go like 3 or 4 deep and she ends up winning,

you feel like kind of a puts. So I think she's kind of a

single a toss. All right, all right.

I I sort of disagree with John here and that I do like the

Parks horses. I think EFA's magic is the horse

to beat and I won't be surprised if she actually goes off

favorite here. She was unbeaten at 2, albeit

against Pennsylvania breads, but look very good in those races

and they tested her in her first start of the year.

They ran her in New York against Jody's Pride, who ran second in

the Breeders Cup, juvenile Phillies, and she was far from

embarrassed. It was a really sloppy track and

if you just watch the races that day, and I was at Aqueduct, it

seemed like the jockeys were trying to stay well off the rail

and this young rider was down inside with the source.

I think on the deeper footing still ran on at the end.

This time around I think she's going to be up close to the pace

and she's, I think, a very strong threat dropping in class.

She was supplemented to this race.

A kiss for luck though is going to offer a better price for

Butch Reed who trains Uncle Heavy.

She's a half sister to V Quist who was a champion 2 year old

Philly a while back and if you look at her last couple of races

on a sloppy track or wet track, she is really put it all

together. She got wired by a stablemate

that got that, really got loose on the lead and showed a lot of

potential off the layoff last time out at Parks.

Was trying hard at the end. She's going to need a little bit

of pace luck in this race. I'm curious to see if she can

run them down as the best price of the big three.

Sort of with KISS for Luck, EFA's magic and determined

driver. All right, we're going to move

on to the private Terms stakes. Private terms was quite the

horse, by the way. 13 out of 17 starts E1, including the Wood

Memorial which we mentioned earlier in the show won the Wood

Memorial, the Gotham, the Gray 2 Massachusetts Handicap, the

General George and the Tessio. So very absolute, you know,

named race here. And we're going to get another

one of a great, you know, well, maybe not a great one.

I don't know. We're going to get a great

showing on on Saturday here In the private terms, John, who do

you like in the private terms? Peck #1 copper attacks on top.

I think his form hasn't pretty valley obscured by his last two

starts. He made his three-year old

finale in the Remsen back on December 2nd, which as we noted

at the towards the beginning of the show that's a very well

biased track. That day he was wide every step

really had no chance. Then he was scratched out of the

spectacular bid back on January 27th at Laurel in an attempt to

stay on the Derby trail in the Sam Davis at Tampa.

Might have been in a bit over his head that day as he once

again got caught wide around the turn and proved no factor.

Now he he comes back to his home base, faces I think a lot more

realistic feel. Has a few good workouts under

his belt. He's already won over this

track, he's won around two turns, so he had some huge

figures last year. I think the drop in class is

going to better fit him big time.

And as I also noted at the top of the show on this two there's

3 million reads in the field total.

Two in particular I'm really interested in.

In one is number six Celtic contender, a home read for Fred

Lewis and also Maryland, sired by Northview Stallion.

Irish Warcry, who of course with the jersey bred Derby starter.

This one stretched out to a mile last time out.

Ran a gigantic race, stalled at the pace, kicked away 1 by 10

and ran a huge figure that day. Earned a 94 on the prison at

scale right around where he needs to be to win a stakes.

And he did that in it was a mainly claimer.

On paper, however, he was not in for the tag Celtic Katie is Dan,

where the stakes winner go in two turns, so I think the extra

distance should not be a problem.

And and of course Irish work right, a multiple greatest

stakes winner around two turns. I am really excited to see him

at third asking and #7 speediness.

Also a Maryland bread, A home bread for Jamie Ness.

This one also by a Maryland stallion Northeast Great Notion

has run four big races in his last five stars.

The last time out he got a real test because every time before

the last time out in the Miracle Wood when he was pressed on the

lead, he would back up and when he had an easy lead he would

stay on in the Miracle Wood he got pressed on an early pace.

Many observers might have thought, oh man, he's kind of in

trouble. But he kept on going.

Run by a length and a quarter ran another big figure.

Has a good workout since then at Parks.

Got a figure. Jamie Rodriguez is going to send

him to the early lead. Lewis is absolutely loaded.

His pedigree. His line is all Mares Dred by

Robert Meyer Hawk including a bevy of two turn greatest ace

winners. So I don't think distance is

going to be a problem. Think as long as he breaks well

and gets to the front, he'll be a tough customer on the early

lead. The two keys to the race, Mike,

are the two horses that John mentioned.

They're the most accomplished horses in the field, copper tax

and speediness. But there are questions

handicappers have to ask. Whether you want to take these

horses at short prices. One can copper tax run anymore?

Yes, he had an excuse in the Remsen.

It was a wet track. He was wide, he was steady.

The little bit on the turn after that race, Gary Capuano sent him

to the farm. He wanted to run him in the

spectacular bid. The weather wouldn't cooperate.

He decided to go to the Sam F Davis, as John mentioned.

Gary told me that he breezed the source down the track with a

Wednesday before the Tampa Bay Derby and was Sam F Davis and

was stunned that the horse didn't handle the track at all.

And then when he didn't pick up his feet, he said he just thinks

the horse hated the track. He wanted to run him in the

Miracle wood. He decided he's a little bit of

a light horse. He wanted to give him one more

try now in the private terms going two turns.

So here he is, but it just seems like nothing's going right.

His source is one on a wet track.

I was talking to Gary today. He's not happy if the track's

going to be wet again and on Saturday we'll see how it works

for Copper Tax. Was he one of those early 2 year

olds and have they caught up with him?

As for speediness? So I think is the horse to beat.

He has been a big surprise for Ness who thought this horse was

going to be a sprinter. He's won all of his one turn

mile races. John's absolutely right, he

overcame a lot of pace pressure last time out, but this is going

to be his first start going two turns and I just wonder if

someone's going to try to put the heat on him this time

around. A horse like Point Doom just

might try to break and make this source run going into the first

term. Can he sit and finish?

That's a question as well. Of the two, I prefer speediness.

I think Speed Runner is a horse you have to consider.

For Todd Pletcher, coming down from New York, this source last

ran in a graded stakes race and the trip just didn't work out

for him. He moved up along the inside at

the half mile pole and just when it looked like he was starting

to run, he steadied and was shuffled all the way back to

last. Against those kind of horses, he

can't give up that sort of ground and win.

He's getting class relief here. If Point Doom or someone puts

pace pressure on speediness, this pace will be hot.

And while horse sources like speediness and inveigled, we

don't know how far they want to go.

I know this horse wants to go two turns.

Yeah, I was actually going to ask you if you didn't bring him

up. I was going to because every

single time Pletcher places a horse that's kind of outside of

his norm it always to me like he's he's so calculated right

with that kind of stuff you got to to me you got to pay

attention. So and we know that he probably

doesn't have the most Preakness starts out there of it out of

any trainer. So it's not really his his

thing. So when I saw his name on there

I thought the exact same thing. I was like man I that's that's

something you got to pay attention to.

And then not only that, but him getting Sheldon Russell, who

obviously knows the track, I mean.

I just wonder, Mike, if if if Todd realizes that this horse

really isn't a Triple Crown horse.

He's kind of green. He's still learning.

He doesn't have a lot of early speed and maybe you know, the

path of least resistance so that he gets to a summer campaign

will be OK for a horse like this.

He reminds me a little bit of a a poor man's tappet trice.

You remember him last year? Oh yeah, he had some really big

races, but boy was he a goofball.

You know, he had to if he could be stopped in races.

Sometimes he showed no speed, and I think this horse is kind

of like that. I'm not sure if he has that kind

of very immature, but I think that's why Todd's running him

here instead of really throw him to the wolves again in a major

100 point prep I. Like it?

All right, well then let's let's move on to our last race of the

day. We're going to we're going to

finish the pick four sequence with his with a $23,000 bank

claiming race. Louis Favorite thing to do?

6 furlongs on the dirt You know so main claim race.

Who do we like here? Who's going to finally break

away from the pack and get a win?

I got #1 Colts Magnolia on top. Ran really well on a wet track.

Two starts back at second, asking foul on the pace the

whole way. End up losing by just three

parts of length with an an improved figure.

Thinks you tried to go up a little bit too far.

The last time out it was at a mile on the 16th.

Set the pace while under pressure.

Held on and finished third in what was relatively speaking a

solid bottle level. Made in claim of the 1st and 2nd

place was in that field. Finished second and third in in

same race in the prior start and the winner is back at Lorimar.

So we'll see how she does think this one is going to benefit

from having the rail and cutting back in distance.

I can't argue anything with that.

I think the Source is a very, very strong contender off a game

effort last time out. Two horses that I want to look

at though. How much money am I going to

continue to lose on Peach's Sweet Notion?

Well, we'll find out on Saturday because I'll lose again.

Sweet Notion is the kind of horse that has some back races

that make him competitive against this field.

And I like the fact that she's got a little bit of early speed

where maybe she can sit off of Cole's Magnolia and they can

sort of turn it into a match race.

Turning for home. I I'm not willing to completely

give up on this horse. She's shown me some some hints

in the past that she can run a little bit.

I'm interested in Ria Formosa, also at a big price.

This is a horse coming off of a lengthy layoff with a new barn

moving from synthetic and I've been following her for a while.

She's had some tough trips in her races where she breaks slow

and she makes big mid moves and then she falters.

Maybe she's using this as a prep for the Presque Isle season in

the spring and the summer, but it's not like she catches a

great field and she's going to be double digit odds for low

profile connection, so you might want to throw her in there at a

price. I guess Final jump is the horse

to beat, and I like the fact that John and I are going to try

to beat her at a short price. Yeah, I was.

I was actually going to ask about that.

It means six to five morning line odds, and it didn't really

seem like either one of you were too high on that.

What? What do you not like about final

Jump? Well, first of all I will say

that while I think she'll be the favorite morning line maker at

Laura Brian Adele very sharp handicap.

However, I I do think he sometimes overvalues courses on

the morning line. I've seen many courses who he's

set off at six to five or seven to five from the morning line

and going on for like 5 to two or three to one which is not the

case at most tracks. So even though she's six to five

on the morning line, take that. Yeah.

That being said you know, no she has a shot she she's dropping in

class, ran some big figures going shorter last time out

trying to go I think a little bit too far last time.

Got it caught up in an early speed duel going a mile and

ended up well-being. Now goes back to six footlongs

which I think is a bit more her speed.

That being said she's not as lightly raced as some of the

others in here. I I always have her voices in

bottom level maiden races who have had generally about 2-3

four starts under their belt. I think is about that sweet spot

she's had six and even though I I I don't think she'll be six to

five I I think she'll still be favored and in these kind of

races I am also inclined to be the favorite if I can.

And on the class drop, she's a very logical contender.

But because she doesn't have to be extra heat to beat this

field, she just has to be a living, breathing, sturdy member

of the thoroughbred family. And she should be a living,

breathing, sturdy member of the thoroughbred family.

But as, as John astutely said, she's going to be a short price,

and she's coming into this race off a subpar effort.

Although the horse that beat her last time out, if she ran

against this field she would be barred from the wagering.

There you go. All right, well, it should be a

good day out there and anything you want to pub pub about it,

John. Anything else you want to add

about the the day out Saturday besides bring a bring an

umbrella? Yeah, bring an umbrella.

Bring any waterproof sneakers You're following me on Twitter.

My personal accounts at they're off for all the news in

Maryland. Bread World, Follow us at

Maryland TV. Go to marylandvoice.com/library.

If you're in the area, see what's going on at the Maryland

Voice Library and Education Center, and also if you if

you're in the area, the Renaissance Champion Awards are

coming up on Wednesday, April 17th.

Tickets are now on sale and you'll get to see both me and

Dan there. So if you are going to be if you

live in Maryland or if you're going to be in Maryland on that

Wednesday night, swing by. Go to marylandthurbit.com to

learn more. What is the rain gear of choice?

I have a raincoat like a N space style windbreak I usually wear.

It gets the job done. I had a big Tampa Bay Downs

umbrella that I think I've misplaced somewhere along the

way, but it was a lot. Or in Laurel.

Does it rain a lot at? Laurel I don't think you can

bring an umbrella into Churchill Downs, I don't think.

You're allowed to. You're allowed.

At Laurel. Yeah, all the free fall.

You know, it's free admission, free parking.

It's, it's whatever. Whatever you want to do.

Yeah. And what else?

Yes. And I have a pair of waterproof

sneakers and I'm actually not going to be at Laurel on

Saturday. I'm going up up to New York City

this weekend and I was upstairs 2 Saturdays ago as well and it

poured all night. I did not bring my waterproof

shoes and they got just beyond something like the foot, the

point where I had to put them in my dryer to get them wearable

again. So I am making so I have made a

note to myself because it's going to rain again this

weekend. Bring the waterproof shoes that

way, like when you cross in the street, you know, step on a

puddle and get frostbite because you'll she'll be so traveled.

Lose a tow or two. Helman, do you have AI?

Have a feeling I know what your favorite ring gear is.

Oh, what? What?

What would that be? Mike, I'm going to walk into

this. The press box.

That's right, the press box is at At my stage of my career, I

don't feel like I should have to get wet or I can let someone

carry an umbrella for me. You all know EJ Clark.

Yeah. So EJ, man, even at his this is

going to be his last Derby covering the the Derby and he's

basically who got my help me get my start.

But man and I would always go and we would we would go on the

radio as soon as the Derby was over and he would try to go get

sound. And you know, of course, you

know half of them are just muddy messes And he just he he's like,

man E JS like you've been doing this for 50 years like go find a

young buck to go do this thing, man.

It's you know. But I would go with the press

box would be my best ring gear. I'm a frog talk guy just for how

cheap and disposable they are. But they still get the job done.

I don't know if you've ever done the frog talks and the Gore Tex

shoes are a must though for sure.

Gore You can't. Go over Vortex, It's no, it's a

George Costanza. 'S favorite.

That's George Costanza's favorite.

There it is. I'll be there with the umbrella,

you know, interviewing the winners and losers of these two

major stakes races on the road to the Preakness.

There it is. And you can follow, of course,

Dan Ulman. Dan, give away and give your

Twitter handle there. At DRF under score Dan Ulman

Head on over to the Daily Racing Forum, YouTube Channel Stakes,

Previews coast to coast Racing coverage all week long.

Louisiana Derby, Jeff Ruby Stakes, etcetera.

Do you do all your who does your video editing?

You have someone on staff or do you do it?

Well, no, we have, we have, we have.

This is a professional organization.

What do you mean that's? A big deal, man, I understand

that, but your videos are better than everyone.

Else we have, we have an absolutely sensational,

sensational lead producer. She does a wonderful job and I

could not give her enough credit.

All right. Well, there.

You mean she makes you look good, right?

So. Well, that's that's the easy

part. All right, fellas.

Well, thanks again for today, Louis.

We missed you, but we survived without you.

Be and he'll be back next week when we will be manscaping it

up. And there it is.

So this has been the horse racing happy hour.