Jon Lindo | Bing Crosby Day 2024

Won't make him wait at all here. His name is John Lindo at John

Lindo 60 on Twitter. Go find him there.

He is part of the great folks that run thoroughbred LA every

Saturday and Sunday out there on the West Coast.

Just did radio in Las Vegas. John, good morning my friend.

It's been way too long. How are you?

It's been a while, Louis. I'm doing great.

We're down at Del Mar and you know it's going to be high 70s

today right by the water. So, you know, things could be a

lot worse. I have to ask because as a guy

who lives in this part of the country where the weather sort

of just decides what it wants to do without asking, do you do Do

the California tracks list the temperature and the weather just

to make the rest of us jealous? Well, if you notice at Delmar,

if you watch any of the of the satellite signal about the hour,

hour and a half before they run, they have a a standard shot from

the end of the grandstand facing the beat.

And all you see is the waves crashing and the people playing

in the ocean. It's a pretty good Chamber of

Commerce message that this is not a bad place to be during the

summer. My Co host on the happy hour.

Gandolfo be out there next week. I'll be out there John.

I have to admit, never been to Del Mar.

I will be there for Breeders' Cup this year, so they'll have

to put up with me in San Diego. Fantastic.

You're going to love it out here.

And, and I tell you what, the, the fall is a great time of year

down here in, in the San Diego area.

And they've done it right the last couple of times they've had

the Breeders Cup at Delmar. So they'll, they'll limit their,

the crowd size a little bit to keep the grandstand from getting

too full. And it's a, it's a great

experience. The ones that they've had here

I've really enjoyed. We had a wonderful time at Santa

Anita, so if it's anything like that, I'm sure we'll have a

great time down there at Delmar's name is John Lindo,

John Lindo 60 on Twitter. Go find him there.

Thoroughbred LA thoroughbredla.com as well, fun

day out at Bing Crosby day, the San Diego Handicap also going

on. You and I have talked about this

over the years. Now, John, believe it or not, we

talked for years at this point, but has the has the Pacific

Classic replaced the big cap, the San Diego Handicap, as the

big race in Southern California? Yeah, I think so.

You know, unfortunately for the San in the handicap, which is

still my favorite race of the year in Southern in Southern

California because that's where I grew up and that was always a

big event. But you know, with the Pegasus

and before that and then you have the Saudi Cup now and the

Dubai World Cup, the San Anita Handicap kind of gotten lost a

little bit the shuffle. So this is a 1,000,000 event,

the Pacific Classic at Delmar. So that really is the marquee

race and it takes on more meeting years like this when the

Breeders Cup is in California, especially at Delmar.

You know, hopefully we'll see some horses, maybe try and get a

run over the surface to see how they handle it.

Obviously the San Diego Handicap this weekend.

Leading into that, How is the track playing so far this year

as far as the dirt course itself?

Is it speed favoring? Are the front runners winning?

What's happening so far? Del Mar.

Well last weekend was a Saturday, Sunday were the first

two days and speed dominated on the main track.

Yesterday it was still, you still want to be close.

We did see a couple horses come from off the face.

The first race winner, Great Heart was sitting right behind

the speed and cut the corner and indispensable.

I forget what what race he won, but he was sitting three wide

about 3 lengths off the lead off a pace tool and he kind of wore

them down. But if you can get anywhere the

front end and get any kind of breather, they're they're tough

to pass right now at Delmar. The San Diego Handicap is the

eighth race tomorrow mile and a 16th over the dirt course there

at Delmar. Obviously the play, this is the

last prep before that Pacific Classic we see the return first

time running this year for the three to five favorite in

Arabian Night. I think it's very fair to say

that he is the class of this field, John.

Do you trust him off the layoff in a spot this difficult?

Well, he's the defending champ of the Pacific Classic and this

and he wanted as a three-year old.

So this is his prep. And in general, you know, he's

fired fresh before. He's a very talented horse.

But I'll, I'll tell you, Louie, his, his works have been really

good, but they they haven't been spectacular.

You know, he's he's been good in some team drills and a couple

others where he was kind of all out to hold, you know, to better

horses in the morning that he would have handled before.

I'm a little bit on the fence only because he's going to be

three to five or or two to five or something in that race.

He does look like a controlling speed.

We know he likes Delmar and he's got a lot of class.

So you know, all those things are in his corner.

But does he absolutely have to win on on Saturday?

I'm not sure. So you know, I if he, if he's

vulnerable, I think #3 Doctor Venkman making his, his first

start around two turns, He had a good 7 furlong prep in the

triple band. But this is a horse that's two

for two at Delmar. And the horse for course Angle

is strong always at Delmar. If you like this course, they

tend to repeat that and he'll be the one that's going to get the

first run at Arabian Night and he'll test.

I mean, you know, again, he's got a little fitness edge and we

know he likes the course and he'll make that run at Arabian

Night. If he's good enough, we'll find

out that the quarter pulled, but he'll be a lot better pricing

3:00 to 5:00. Yeah, it's an unusual scenario

in which you do have a horse like Doctor Venkman stretching

outgoing those two turns as you mentioned for the first time.

But he's also really comfortable sitting right off the pace,

right? So it'll actually be Arabian

Night who will want the lead and has experience going two turns,

setting it up for a course that we don't know if he can close

yet. Exactly.

Yeah. So there's a lot of questions

for a small field and there are a lot of questions at San Diego.

And we we tend to have a lot of that at Del Mar.

You know, can they handle this track?

It's different than Santa Anita. And and we'll see, you know,

things change and you get you get a few upsets that way.

But those are the two horses that that you know, on their

best day, they're the best horses in the right.

This is part of the late pick six.

You know, the pick six, the the late pick five, pick four,

etcetera. If you were playing that

sequence, is Arabian Night a single or is this the chance,

frankly in a smaller field, to actually get some value and try

to beat him? I'm going to use both of those

horses in that in that late pick 5 just because if you beat

Arabian Night, the payoff goes up exponentially.

How good is Antonio Fraser right now?

He was, you know, last year was his first summer at Del Mar and

he was in a top three. He was fantastic.

He had a great winner at Santa Anita.

And to be honest with you, he was awful last week.

He a lot of poor rides. And you know, I kind of keep a

ready to fire list. I think four of the horses he

rode made the list from last week because they just got in

terrible trips. But in general, he's a, he's a

good, solid rider. He's a good finisher and I'm

just going to mark up last week as an aberration because he's

better than that. Yeah, a lot of travel before

that, too, that he might not be used to.

I mean, people forget, you know, when you travel to the East

Coast and then have to get back to San Diego, man, that's a it's

a bit of a, it's a bit of a travel issue for sure for him.

But hopefully gets back into the swing of things.

John Lindo with us out there. Are you in Carlsbad?

Is that where you are? I'm in Carlsbad, about the 10

miles north of Delmar. I can be in the press box in 12

minutes. Do I have?

To how about that he is in Carlsbad joins us here Audra Bow

in Colorado, ESPN 681057. The big Crosby has race 10A win

it in for the dirt Sprint in the in the Breeders Cup, which will

also be at Delmar. Does that does that mean

something to you because you just said, John, you know, horse

recourse does matter at Delmar. Will you be watching the winner

of this race more intently than maybe in other years?

Well, absolutely. Again, a good race over the

track means so much and and you can see, you know, one horse in

the race at number six, close the game.

Sugar comes out from Churchill Downs who won the Kelly's

Landing and the Aristides out there and he looked good doing

it. He beat a good horse and Skelly,

but you know, he's here for a reason to get that winning

you're in and to get a race over the track.

So he could check a lot of boxes with a big race and it's not

going to be an easy race. This is a grade one race and

we've got a Grade 1 field, a field of nine and and that's an

unusual number in Southern California these days for graded

the steak sprints because we just don't get that many.

You've got the defending champion here, the chosen Ron,

and all he does is win. He's 18 for 23 lifetime.

I think he's won thirteen of his last 14 starts.

An unbelievable Cal bred. You've got happy Jack whoever

since Doug O'Neill has cut him back around one turn.

He's found what he wants to do. He comes off a big win into

triple bend straight. No Chaser had a prep race at

Aqueduct. He's back in Southern California

and he's the speed of the speed. He's really fast on the rail.

Anarchist was second by a head to the chosen run in the same

race last year. And an interesting horse on the

outside jacks down for Bob Baffert, who came off, you know,

almost two years on the bench. Yep.

And just just blitzed an allowance field and he did it

under wraps. And now he goes from a first

condition allowance race into the grade one Bing Crosby.

And these are connections that aren't known for, you know,

throwing things out there and hoping it stick.

There's a reason why this horse is in the race.

So it's a terrific field. Yeah, no, it's as good of a

field as I can remember. By the way, the Chosen run last

twelve runs has run against nine other horses or more just once.

And it was in this race last year.

And so he is used to 8 or less in his fields.

Talk about the Chosen run because this is, look, this is

the son of Ronsky, $3500, home bred here.

I mean, just a cool story for for this ownership group.

I mean six year old gelding, you know, was in those state bred

races forever. They try him in the Bing Crosby

last year. He steps up, he wins.

He wins the San Carlos this year.

I mean, what a cool horse, right?

I mean, what a cool, cool story. Eighteen wins and 20 three runs.

He's probably my favorite horse on the racetrack in Southern

California. He's a, he's not our gigantic

horse by any means, but he's a beautiful chestnut that the

trainer Eric Kojak was the Co breeder of and he's been so well

managed by these connections. He's a gelding so he doesn't

have to go, you know, into the great, great ones all the time

to try and get glory. It's not going to help his

breeding value. So they're having fun with the

horse and then he's a Cowbird. So they take advantage of the

Cowbird stakes races. Every once in a while they get

into open company and get a graded stakes and they've been

pointing to this race all year. They wanted to defend their

title, so you know this is a major goal for them.

And then after this would be the Breeders Cup.

They want to try the Breeders Cup friend again.

We know he loves Del Mar and he's drawn and post eight out of

nine and outside post. He likes to be outside of

horses. Hector Barrows, who rides and

rides them with so much confidence.

And I tell you what, if you're going head and head with that

horse down the lane, you're going to run second.

He just wants to beat you. So I have all the respect in the

world for that horse. I love the connection and like

you say, it's a great story and the way he's been managed.

He's six years old now and he doesn't look like he's anything

close to going backwards yet. I don't want to.

This is not criticism of a morning line maker at all, but

Jack's Town 15 to one in the morning line.

My expectation is that the horse is somewhere around 5:00 to 19

to 2:00 tomorrow. What says John Lindo?

Yeah, I, I agree. I, I, I think I made him five or

six to one, one of those two, you know, just because again,

Bob Baffert and these connections, they know a good

horse when they have one, they have them all the time.

He doesn't have to run in this spot, but the way he won and he

is trained like an absolute beast coming out of that

allowance win at Santa Anita and drawing an outside post.

He's got really good tactical speed.

He'll be sitting on the outside lap on the early leaders and if

he if he moves forward at all, he's got a big chance to pull

the upset here. He's the horse I picked in this

race in my handicap. I like him and I saw 15 to one.

I don't, you know, Jeff Siegel is a new morning line maker down

here in Southern California for the retirement of John White and

just got a pretty good opinion. But I think this is just too big

a price on this horse. If I if I get half the price,

I'm going to play. And again, for me to bet against

the chosen brown, it's not something I like to do.

But you know, we're here to gamble and and try and make a

score And I, I can be friends with the other horse later, but

I want to make some money. I agree about Jackstown, by the

way. I've got him on top of my

handicapping as well, just for value, just to try to beat the

chosen Brown in this spot. Another thing that might solid

criticism, and it's not man east of the Rockies, it's Kenny

Mcpeak for me. I cannot figure out because he's

willing to run his horses into shape rather than just training

them, whether his horses are going to fire in a race or not.

Doug O'Neill is that guy for me. West of the Rockies and happy

Jack is in here. Man, does he put it together

again. Do you think?

He has run really, really well as a 5 year old.

I, I think he's the one to beat. I, I, I picked him second in the

race and I love this race coming here, cutting back where he was

beaten 3/4 of a length by the chosen bronze that was in the

Kona gold stake. Then he went 7 furlongs in the

the triple band that he looked like the winner every step of

the way. He won by almost 5.

The key to me is cutting back to six for long.

This might be a little bit sharp for him, but with the pace in

this race, they're going to go fast early.

I just think that he can work out that trip.

He just sits back and if the racetrack lets him finish up, if

it's a fair race track, he's going to be tagging a lot of

horses, not last 16th of a mile. Close the game.

Sugar does make the trip. You mentioned him in his last

couple of runs, the Kelly's laying the Aristides here at

Churchill Downs. Do you give him a serious shot

here as well? If he transfers that form to

Southern California, yes, you know, he ran down a really fast

horse and Skelly 2 races back and last time he was sitting

close to a pace that was 43. And I mean, Skelly's going to be

the favorite in the Vanderbilt, right?

I mean, this is that's a serious horse.

He's very fast. He's had trouble breaking out of

the gate lately, and I think that cost him last time at

Churchill Downs. But just close the game, Sugar.

He was very, very sharp and I, I do think he fits in this field

and we'll find out, you know, the time before 2 races back

when he won the university, he was 18 to one, but he validated

that when he won the Kelly's Landy.

We have to find out now. Is he just strictly a Churchill

Downs horse for the course or, you know, again, that's why you

get to Del Mar and you have to, you have to prove it over this

racetrack. Anarchist.

Is he a must include in say exact or trifecta place?

Yeah, I don't think he's a horse that's going to win.

He's got a lot of seconds, 3, three wins, 7 seconds.

But he was beaten ahead in this race last year.

You know, he likes the race course and he had a prep race

chasing close the game Sugar last time at Churchill Downs.

But he likes this race track. And then Kazushi Kimura picks up

the mountain. He had his very first winner at

Del Mar yesterday. You know, he's spending the

summer here for the first time. He's the leading rider finally

up at the Woodbine. So he's passing up on a lot of a

lot of wins that to establish himself in Southern California.

And he's kind of known as a turf rider, but he's got a live 1

here. If he can work out a trip from

the rail and anarchist, he can definitely get in the

prospectus. Jim Dandy tomorrow as well at

Saratoga Field of 6 heading to the gate.

How much do you trust fierceness?

How? How much can you trust

fierceness? So that's the question.

You know, if you go by his pattern, good, bad, good, bad,

tomorrow should be a good day. And to his benefit, he draws the

outside post to six. There is speed in there.

Obviously sees the Gray who wanted to break up seats.

We know he's fast. The horse coming from California

for John Stanford Pony Express, he is very quick.

And I think those two will be in front.

And I think first, this works out the right trip.

I think Johnny Velazquez can just sit outside and 3rd

stalking and get first run with the fast pace.

Obviously, Sierra Leone's got to be the one to beat.

Yeah, again, how much can you trust him?

You know, he's the way he lays in on horses and thinks, I'll

give you this so that Claudia and Pratt got a chance to know

him in the Belmont Stakes. And now that he knows his horse

and his quirks and he gets a little bit different rides than

he had last time. But I think it's those two.

But I'm expecting Pierces to run a big one.

It's an important race for him to kind of re establish himself.

The The San Diego Handicap is for three and up.

Were you surprised to see Pony Express ship for this one?

Yes, I I was shocked. You know, he comes up a nice

win, but I know he was always well, well regarded.

Something happened last year and he just didn't run in the

afternoon like he had trained in the morning.

He finally looked like what we had seen training last time out.

But you know, there, there are a lot of places you can go.

Sometimes you go looking for trouble.

You find it. Well, there you go.

Well, he's John Lindo. He's with Thoroughbred LA.

Tell people how they can find you.

Well, back on the East Coast, you can catch us at our website,

thoroughbredla.com. We're on from 9:00 to 10:00 AM

Pacific Time tomorrow. On Sundays we're on from 8:00 to

10:00 AM Pacific and Mike Willman, the publicity man that

for so many years that Santa Anita, he hosts on Sunday.

Bob, Ike and I will be on tomorrow.

We'll go through what is a really good card, 11 race cards

both days on tomorrow's show and and we'll talk about everything

in general. Obviously we'll talk a little

Saratoga for the morning and and get right to Del Mar for the

afternoon stuff. All right, John.

Hey, I appreciate it very much. I promise we'll talk ahead of

the Pacific Classic and not not make you wait five months to be

on this show. Not a problem, you're a busy

man. Enjoy your show and then best of

luck out there and I'm looking forward to seeing you out here

at Del. Mar yeah, it's going to be

awesome. John, Appreciate you very much.

Have a great weekend. Good luck today.

All right, there you go. John Lindo joins us.

John Lindo, 60, on Twitter.