Eclipse Ballots w/ Steve Kornacki

Alright, welcome in a New Year's 2025 edition of the Horse Racing

Happy Hour. This is Louie Rabo hanging out

with you today, Friend of the show Steve Kornacki alongside as

well. We'll be going through our man

our Eclipse ballots which are due I think in 58 minutes and so

we'll get into that with Steve in just a minute here.

Wanted to do a quick shout out to a couple of different people,

but we are presented today by our friends at Amwager.

Get over there amwager.com. They've still got the $150.00

sign up bonus going on. So if you are interested in

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amwager.com, go check them out for sure.

And our friend Steve Kornacki, he's in New York, he's got a

Merrimack College shirt on. Again, seems to be a theme on

this show. Which means I probably owe you a

sweatshirt from the show so you don't have to dress some

Merrimack stuff every time you come on.

How are you, Steve? Yeah, I I this is my admission

that I don't own too many clothes.

I. Guess oh brother, it's like this

and then I have like 1 hoodie from where I went to college and

that's what I wear like I'm just a very simple like the dad thing

I think happens to all of us. Steve Yeah, actually don't know.

Did you go to Merrimack or is it just it happens to be where you

grew up? I didn't not, I just grew up

nearby and it has the added luxury of fitting and and

feeling pretty good. So there.

You go the old the old ice hockey capital of the world that

is Merrimack College. So there you go here on the

horse. That's right, here you go.

Well, Steve Kornacki with us. Steve and I have something in

common and this is about the only thing we have in common is

that we were in the same class of the National Turf Riders.

And if you are wondering, there are three groups that vote on

the Eclipse Awards every year, the National Turf Riders that

Steve and I are members of, people that work at DRF and then

folks associated with the NTRA. So we fall into that first third

that I just talked about. And Steve, you've been doing

this for a couple of years. Does it get any easier?

I felt like there were a couple categories this year that took

me way too long to figure out. Yeah.

I mean, you're really at the mercy of of, you know, what the

different classes look like, how decimated they are, how many

injuries there are. And I think, yeah, we'll get to

it. I mean, there's some categories

out there, I think where the, you know, really if you could

give incomplete the the award, you might.

Some of them a little easier than others.

Let's start with one of the easiest ones and her name is

Thorpeno Anna. Let's just start with her.

She's going to win 3 year old Philly.

We get to horse of the year though, Steven.

Let's just, we'll just RIP the Band-Aid off of this episode and

go ahead straight at it. Are you willing to give someone

who's whose wins? More than not, we're against

other 3 year olds outside of that distaff win.

And is it something like a distaff win that pushes her over

the top? Yeah, I, I am and I, I don't

have really any, any hesitation about it.

I think it's, it's, you know, a couple factors.

Obviously it's the dominance she had in her, you know, in her

class. It's the dominance she had among

three-year old Phillies, but also the ability to go against

the boys and come as close as you can to pulling off, you

know, not just to win, but to win in one of the marquee races.

You know, the, the, the three-year olds, the Travers.

It's something about the that that no one on the male side, I

think really stepped up to grab it, you know, can get into that.

And I think it is just when you're talking about horse of

the year, I I think you you've talked about this, we've talked

about in the past. I think that the award is bigger

than the individual parts. It's sort of a sum of the whole.

And I think what Thorpedo in and representing to the sport this

year was bigger than anybody else.

Yeah, it's not just buyer figures or something like that,

right. It is really what she

represented the sport. I don't know if you got to watch

last week. And actually I did it on the

spotlight show. Friend of the show Matthew

DeSantis, who's with naira bets and different things.

And he he talked about the totality of the award really

this, you know, this desire to to put up a horse that had the

very best year. As far as sorry, Steve, there we

go. As far as, you know, what

Kennedy Peek did with her as far as making her available at

Saratoga, you know, at Clark Day at Churchill Downs, we were able

to watch her parade. And, you know, I was, you know,

even as fans, you could have been about 5-10 feet from her

and she was just hanging out. And I got to tell the story last

week, Steve. One of my favorite things about

it was every time she got near the shoot, the, you know, the

passageway to go out to the track, she would stop it.

She was like, it's time to run, let's go.

She was just ready. She's not in training.

They're actually trying to give her time off and she was just

ready to go. And just it just she's, it's

hard not to like her. She just, she puts in an honest

effort every time. And a guy like Kenny Mcpeak, you

know, just, I mean, just a normal dude from Kentucky.

It's just a great story. Yeah, no.

And I, I, I was listening last week.

I, I love that story. I love that you had the

opportunity, you know, to see that.

And I think that's again, it's part of when we get to trainer.

I think we we can get in this a little bit too.

But I think that the way he constructed campaign and the way

he put her out there, I think again just made her elevated her

that much. Yeah.

And look, I don't mind going straight to trainer.

I don't think there's an order that we have to follow here.

But if we're both comfortable with Thorpedo as Horse of the

Year, if you did give it to someone else, Steve, who else

ended up in your horse of the year before we do make the full

move to trainer, Who did you have in 2nd and 3rd place there?

Because I do think, you know, I do something a little different.

I always include the best 2 year old of the year.

See, Mercer got my third place vote, but I ended up going with

Sierra Leone second because I thought hit the board in every

single one of his races. They were always high end races,

wins the classic really, I don't fractions and different things.

And I talked to owner Brooke Smith yesterday and they'll be

on the Kentucky race spotlight tomorrow.

And he mentioned even that that there was some criticisms of his

year. And I'm like, we're not doing

that here. By the way.

By the way, Steve, I got to ask, when this comes in the book of

your house, you geek out like I do.

You got to, I mean, right? That is one of the coolest

pieces of mail you get all year, right?

We get every every October, right?

Every year you get the voters guide, you know, just for the

whatever the election happens to be.

This is. This is the fun you get though.

What do you think? Who was your second place voter

vote in the in the Horse of the Year?

Yeah, I mean, I don't have the, I don't have the unorthodox

approach you do of going with the two year olds there at all.

But I, I, yeah, I landed the same place you did for second.

It was, it was Sierra Leone and I think it was just this this

discussion you're hearing a lot of, you know, about Sierra Leone

versus fierceness and, and how do you how do you admit that one

out? And yeah, I mean, it was look,

the, the classic win, the classic win and the consistency.

And then ultimately, I think just, you know, the Derby, you

know, again, just these races aren't all created equal.

And, and, and on the stage that big coming that close to

winning, just showing up and, and being part of that photo.

Yeah. I think overall it's interesting

though, when you when you think about Sierra Leone, I mean, you

know, going into the Breeders Cup, obviously we were all

talking about, you know, fierceness can be, you know,

he's finally got it figured out. He's got it turned around.

You know, can you just kind of finish it off here and, and, and

maybe even there was some talk gift Orpedo in a run for for

horse of the year. If I I don't think I think

people have given up on on Sierra Leone as consistent as he

was. I think the idea that he was

going to win one of these because it was it was OK, he's

going to you know, he's going to come running late.

It's going to be too late. He's going to finish third.

You know, maybe he's going to have some issue running straight

in the stretch again that, you know, kept happening.

So, you know, I I think we kind of look at it now.

At least I, I caught myself doing this saying, Oh yeah,

just, you know, consistent, always there.

But I think my opinion in this horse, you know, really took a

significant jump up after that classic in a way that like, you

know, fierceness first or second in that race.

I, I kind of still view fierceness the same way.

But I, I was the, the, the, the, my view of Sierra Leone was,

was, was not that great coming into it.

Yeah, it's fascinating because, you know, I was talking with

Brooke about him, and we saw this twice now, right, where

Sierra Leone just didn't like Saratoga, right?

And so sometimes, you know, we think of it as a graveyard of

champions, all this kind of, you know, favorites or whatever,

where, you know, you know, even American pharaoh doesn't win

these kinds of things, right? And so to see Sierra Leone do

that three times at Saratoga this year, I, you know, it, it,

it always is like this, Steve. We always say we're not going to

hold the Derby against horses and then we do.

And then, you know, like we're doing with fierceness this year,

seriously. And then, you know, we're not

going to hold those high level grade ones against horses and

then we do it. We definitely did it with both

Fierce and Sansi early on this year.

And it's just, you know, it's just, yeah.

And it was fierceness, too. We were in that, you know, is

the boom or bust horse. If it shows up 1, you know, one

race and Canton the next. But and yeah, with Sierra Leone,

it's just that that style, I think you just it's, it's, I

mean, it's so hard to be the deep closure and, and you just

get the sense that this is just, you know, that there's something

there that's going to keep the horse from breaking.

And who knows, maybe, maybe we're going to see Sierra Leone

going forward and he's never going to win again.

You know, we're gonna we're gonna keep seeing this.

Maybe he just picked the right day and it was the right track

and the right circumstances. But at the end of the year, that

win with everything else makes it look like a pretty complete,

pretty complete package. Now, obviously with the election

and everything else with your gig, you were not at the

Breeders Cup. I know.

I I saw you at Preakness. Were you at the you were at the

Derby this year? Yeah.

Yeah. OK.

Is I, I've, I've been very vocal about this.

If you listen to this show, you're tired of hearing about

it. I have good news.

It's it's the new year. I'll talk about do things.

Derby 150 is the greatest horse race I've ever attended.

I don't think it's, I don't think it's even.

I don't know how there would be a debate in my mind.

I've seen great performances, but never a better race than

that. The crowd, every, just

everything. Steve, what was it?

You know, what's at stake in Derby 150, That kind of stuff.

Did you have a favorite race that you attended this year?

Yeah, mine, mine is the Derby one was is it's great.

I, I will tell you like my perspective on it just given how

it all unfolded was a little unfortunate because we we got a

set for NBC that's sort of inside right near the betting

windows. You know, like Eddie Olczek will

be there, Matt Berniro will be there and we basically finish up

like 10 minutes before the race. And I, I used to have someone

there who could who knew a place we could go watch it outside.

And it was like, well, we can't get that this year.

So we all just stayed at the set where you got a small TV.

You know, we would just watch the rest of the program from the

entire floor is empty. It was like COVID all over

again. The entire everybody's out and

we're watching it just on the little monitor here and you're

here in the crowd. But I didn't get the full, you

know, I was there, but I didn't get the that magical.

Can I guess what yours is? Can I guess?

Yeah, I think you know, but yeah, go.

I think it's the Preakness because you're such a fan of

Wayne Lucas and just, yeah, just the I, I thought just a reminder

that doing it the right way is still the right way, right?

You know, horse wins the Pat de Mile.

They bring him back in two weeks.

He's totally fine. Goes on to win the Pennsylvania

Derby later on. I the the job they did with with

with Caesar Gray this year is pretty remarkable.

This is if anybody who's watching it, I don't know if

this comes across, but this is this is the picture I got on my

phone and that is seize the Gray across from the finish line of

the pre. I'm actually, I'm in the far

better. This is like the pic of the it's

the Lucas story too, isn't it? I mean, 88 years old.

This is, you know, the horse is what, 8 to one, nine to one.

I'd seen him break his maiden at Saratoga the summer before and I

I had this nagging thought, you know, there were two Lucas

horses in the race. Just Steele was the other one.

I am a huge Lucas fan. I actually thought, you know,

just Steele, you know, might actually be a pretty good setup

for him. But I had the nagging feeling

they're going into the into the gate.

And I'm remembering that that sees the grade maiden race from

Saratoga where it had pouring rain.

It was like a muddy track. It was kind of it was just like

the Preakness and you know, sees the grades went to the front and

just stayed. And that's exactly what happened

in the Preakness and and and there it was.

And I'm so I'm kicking myself after, but long after I've got

they turned for home, seized the graves ahead.

I had I was not going to win any money in this race that was long

gone. And I've never screamed my head

off like I have in the stretch of the race.

And and it was it was to me that was magical.

Then turn around when you look up kind of in the balcony and

there's Wayne Lucas and he's got his cane and he's going to work

his way down this step. It's like this is fantastic.

I I just love the Preakness we do, you know, road to Pimlico

shows on this on this show, you know, every year and it's just

covering races. There is just such a it's such a

delight going to Baltimore and to have that horse.

And you know, Steve, if you followed me, you would have had

the exact but the, the but no, it, it was the one time I got to

tell Dan Ellman. Hey, I knew what was gonna

happen in a race. And then he was like, you know,

Sierra Leone's gonna be really good in the classic.

And I was like, I don't know if Sierra Leone can win the classic

here. It's a short stretch to tell Mar

and it's like Illman gets the last lap, but that's what

happens on the horse racing happy hour.

But no, that that was a a different Preakness.

The cool thing, too, is in in something I'm sure you

appreciate, the collegiality between, say, Bob Bafford and

the coach, where even Baffert's like, good job.

Like, that was great, good for you, especially when, you know,

that was the last year of the Baffert band at the Derby.

So he had to run in the Preakness to have a classic

wind, you know, for his owners, those kinds of things.

So even for him, I'm sure disappointing to make the trip

across the country and not have a winner in the Preakness.

But he was so obviously happy for the coach.

Every and I talked to, you know, Kenny Rice for for NBC, you

know, and his job right after that race was, you know, get the

winner, He gets Lucas. And he I was talking to him

afterwards and he said just the walk over, you know, for the

trophy with Lucas, every single person, you know, other owners,

other they want to congratulate him.

They want to shake his hand. He said he'd never seen so many

happy losers in his life there. You go Steve Kornacki with us.

This is the horse racing happier.

Thanks for hanging out with us. On a January 2nd, 2025 edition

of the of the show we are presented by Amwager again. 100%

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So Steve, biggest disappointment of the year.

We have this sound. So I, you know, I get to I'm

lucky guy. I get to do a a local sort of

general show of sports, a lot of hoops and a lot of football here

in the in the area in Louisville.

And one of our favorite things to do is play old coach's sound.

So you probably remember Jim Mora from the playoffs,

playoffs, that kind of thing. Well, our favorite sound of his

was after a Saints game, actually, and his offense

couldn't do. Yeah, I couldn't do diddley poo

offensively. That's exactly right.

So what was your Diddley Pooh moment of the year?

I will tell you mine. It's when Brad Cox faced the

media at Churchill and said idiomatic had to be retired and

we didn't get the Adair Manor idiomatic Thor Pedo and a trio

showdown in the Distaff. It was going to set up to be

just one of the great races probably that I've ever gotten

to attend. To me that was the disappointing

moment was when he said she had to stop racing.

Because frankly, I think we take for granted sometimes, you know,

like a horse like Flat Line, he's obviously great.

He races 6 times. Someone like an idiomatic who

just shows up every 5-6 weeks, puts in an honest effort every

time to lose. To lose a competitor like that

in our sport is really disappointing.

So for me that was the the old Diddly Pooh moment of the year,

if you will. I, I, it's hard, I don't think

anybody could argue with. I mean, when I was looking at

this before the show, that was immediate top of my list too.

So I, I, I agree with you. It's #1 the, the other, the

other one. I would just, I, I, it crossed

my mind that I put out there. I don't, it wasn't as

disappointing, but it was a disappointment, especially when

I was looking back at some of these categories in the juvenile

East Avenue. Yeah, so right.

I, I mean, just when I was looking, I'm like, that changes

the whole view of the two year old.

I mean, who knows what East Avenue actually is.

And then, you know, Baffert goes and wins it, but he gets the

classic Baffert trip. He wasn't going to get that

otherwise. So it just leaves a lot of

question marks there, I think. That's a really good one.

Just that moment of him stumbling because Steve, I'll be

honest, like I had a pick three or something and he was my

single and he stumbled and I went, oh, there's that money.

There we go. That's the end of that.

So no, you're right about that. It's so interesting.

Actually just changed the entire complexion of the two year old

Eclipse award, right. I mean, frankly, if E Ave.

finishes even second, you're probably having to debate about

it Even so, no, it's an interesting.

And if he gets, if he gets out there, if he gets out there

early, does the pace change? Does Chancellor Mcpatrick

suddenly get it? I mean, it's, you know.

A lot there. No, you're absolutely correct

about that. So yeah, just the the trip out

of the gate there you mentioned earlier and then we went

sideways for about 6 minutes Trainer of the year.

And I, I will say this, I said it last week by the numbers,

purely by the numbers, the man I voted for last year should win

it this year. His name is Chad Brown.

He wins the most stakes. He is dedicated to turf racing

east of the, the, the Rocky Mountains, etcetera.

And he had the best on paper year.

I voted for Kenny Mcpeak for all the reasons that we've talked

about to this point. I also think Sweeping Oaks 150,

Derby 150 and Clark 150, you know, Brian Hernandez junior

becoming the first jockey since the 1890s to do that.

I those kinds of stories resonate with me.

So I ended up voting for Kenny Mcpeak mortality of the award

coming back in. What did you end up doing,

Steve? A test, you know, too much

agreement here, but I did the same thing, you know, and I I I

look at the award a bit like coach of the year, you know, in,

in in, you know, basketball or football or something where, you

know, my definition is sort of been who gets the most from the

least. And you know, I think when you

sort of look at you know, he just you know, Mcpeek, it's it's

no knocking him. He just he's not dealing with

what Chad Brown or Todd Fletcher or the other guys are dealing

with. And I I think he squeezed more

out of what he had than anybody else out there.

Some really unique special achievements this year.

Obviously marquee wins too, and, and, and putting together Oakes

Derby and, and I again, we're talking about this with, with

torpedo Anna. But again, I just, I think the

way he, the way he handled the success, putting the horses out

there. Again, I just think that I, I, I

think there's a, there's sort of an intangible that goes into an

award like that too. I think one of these human

awards and I, I think he he gets all those points too.

It was an interesting year for the guys who run their horses

into shape rather than the guys who train their horses into

shape. Because you mentioned it, Lucas

wins the Preakness and wins the Pennsylvania Derby with a Seize

the Grave. Who won?

Also the Pat de Mile ran 9 or 10 times this year, goes and runs

on that Breeders' Cup. You know, Mile doesn't work out

for him, but whatever. And then you can make Peeku.

I mean. Torpedo Anna was on the track

like 9 times this year. I mean she and he's got her

parade, she's ready to go again. So it's so clear he gets that

mentality into his horses and different things.

And it's just, it's nice when you know, the guy who, who's

willing to, to fill the starting gate for those of us who like to

wager on the sport, right? The guy who's willing to fill

the starting gate for, you know, for the sport that we love, the

more horses the better for our wagers that he would be the one

who wins this award. So it's good.

I think it's just good all around.

And, and I think the sport needs stories.

We say it needs stars, it needs stories.

It needs, you know, I, I, I, it needs horses who, who are going

to be out there consistently enough where they don't show up.

And you're like, oh, I totally forgot.

I totally forgot about this horse who, you know, five months

ago ran and we said was so dominant or, you know, the horse

wins the race and it's like, oh, OK, great.

Now he needs, you know, three months of rest because, you

know, God forbid he run a, you know, a fourth race.

I mean, there's, I, I understand there's with big discussions,

you know, you could have about sort of the, the modern training

philosophy, the state of the breed, those sorts of things.

But just it's a bit of a throwback and I think it's

anywhere you see it, just give it credit.

All right, so we've gone through Torpedo Anna and and you have

Sierra Leone I assume as your 3 year old of the year.

How difficult of a decision was that on the boys side?

Yeah, I mean, just I was between Sierra Leone and fierceness and

you know, I it's one of those what I'm up against there

quickly though, is just like I again, if you just tell me

there's another race right now in Sierra Leone and and

fierceness are in it, I'm probably going to want

fierceness. But you know, I was my mind was

working for a way to get fierceness, you know, to number

one. I just couldn't.

I couldn't, you know, the, the combination of the Breeders Cup

head to head and then they're both in the Derby and you know,

someone with a chance to win and some no show I mean.

That's the other part of this too.

I I'm glad you said that. I think the Sierra Leone

finishing was it 15 spots ahead of him in the Derby.

I think that matters. I'm with you on that for sure.

He was part of we don't get a great three-way finish without

Sierra Leone, right. And so that's a, you know, I

think that matters for sure. I ended on our mutual

appreciation of Seize the Great in 3rd.

Where did you who did you land on the third?

You agree with me again. Gosh, I, I should, I, should I

pretend to vote for someone else?

He's like, I'm going for something.

I don't, you know, like. All right, so let's go to a

category where we might have something different.

Then let's do that. Let's let's be a little out

there. Let's go to older dirt mail

because you you talked about an incomplete grade for a category.

This has got to be it, Steve. I mean it, this has got to be

it. Who did you land on here and why

did? You land on that horse.

I, and I'm just going to preemptively say I fear we might

actually have agreement here, unless you were more creative

than me, but I'd national treasure.

Doggone it. It's who else?

Who else? I don't think no.

No, he wins a grade one in in the in the Pegasus.

He goes overseas. He comes back immediately, wins

the Met, right? You win the Met mile.

I mean, there's a big boy race. Right.

And that's. And by the way, that's coming

back off the Arabian Peninsula, Steve, I almost always bet

horses to bounce coming off the Arabian Peninsula, right?

And he comes back, he wins the race by 6 1/2 freaking lengths,

by the way. And so, no, I, I'm with you.

He finishes second in that, in that California crown to

substantador. But how bad is the substantador

loss when the horse comes back, You know, would have been one of

the favorites in the in I don't know.

I, I just, I'm with you. National treasure heads up on

the top there. Who are your top three?

This might be where we can have a different opinion here.

Yeah, and I mean, this was the category and I said incompletes

earlier, right, right. This this is, you know, at

various times this year I thought I identified horses that

might kind of take charge of the division.

Skippy Longstocking was my, you know, hope there for a little

bit Kings barns before, you know, things ended too soon for

and him. So where I ended up I, but I,

you know, Substantador is where I landed for 2nd and and I, I

looked at Substantador and Newgate and I, you know, the

resumes are very, very similar. When Substantador lost to

Newgate, you know, it, it was by a head, but it was in second.

When Newgate lost to Substantador, it was again by a

head, but it was technically in 3rd.

That's literally to me, the difference between those two

horses. So I put Substantador second and

I put Newgate third. Just the, you know, very, very

flawed field. But you know, I just it was for

it was for lack of seeing anything else that that that I

could really make a strong case for.

But maybe you can we have some disagreement finally.

I went to post time 2nd and so here's here's where I'm at on

post time. So this is an interesting

conversation actually. So Sheldon Russell rides here,

right? So this is for me at least the

the the Russell Russell connection is interesting #1 #2

the horse runs of the Whitney runs in the Met, hits the board

in both OK before that of course wins the Carter and wins the

General George. OK.

So the horse is traveling all up and down the Eastern, Eastern

seaboard and then runs a really good Smart GAR mile after

running an excellent Breeders' Cup mile.

And so while not a lot of wins on that resume, I just thought

the fact that the horse ran 9 times this year and never missed

the board Steve, and we're talking about great at stakes up

and down his resume. That to me stood out.

As you know, a horse that had a really, really good year made

almost $1,000,000 that that to me was good enough for 2nd place

this year. I, I thought about him a lot and

I've seen a lot of folks making the case for him.

The reason I didn't I, I, yes, I, I said hitting the board and

that jumped out at me first and then I caught myself and I said,

well, a lot of these are pretty distant though, you know, these

weren't photo finishes. These these were, you know, that

met miles. He held second by this much 6

links behind, you know, national treasure and you know, come and

really it's it's I think, you know, you had me on for the the

cigar mile and we were talking about and then and I I think

that was where my mind was then in the in the way that race

unfolded didn't really change. It was it's a little too late.

It always seems to be just kind of too late.

He's fresh at the end of the race.

He passes horses, but is he ever really a threat to win them?

And he won. What did he I think the the one

great at stake when he got was like a four horse field.

So, yeah, it's one of those I've I've I've liked him a bunch of

times in races. I've been curious, I should say

about him a bunch of times in races this year and he just, he

never took to me that that next step.

But but I get what you're saying.

I There's something he said for it.

Older dirt female I think is 1 where we could definitely

disagree. I brought up idiomatic in her.

By the way, I apologize. I have the worst head cold I've

had. Yeah, in a long time.

Steve, I'm, I'm, I'm playing her today.

You understand me? I'm.

I should be on the injured reserve right now, but your boy

is is powering through. I'll probably take a nap after

the show, but what do you who did you land on for our older

dirt female in this in this year?

Well, the the way you set that up and now if I'm remembering

your show from last week, I think we did it agreement here

even on something controversy. I went against idiomatic and I

went with raging C and I think that's what you did.

Oh. OK, Nope, that's not me.

OK, good. We got a disagreement.

Tell me about Raging C All right, How about that?

Hey, good, good, good. Wait, who did you go with then?

A deer Manor. Oh, you?

Oh, you OK? Yeah, yeah.

I have raging C third that, whatever that's worth.

A deer Manor idiomatic raging C Third, Yeah.

So we're both I. Just about raging CI.

Don't hate this pick, by the way.

Yeah, well, I mean went, you know, went head to head twice

with idiomatic won once, you know, lost another time.

And if idiomatic had, you know, run in the distaff and won, it's

a, it's a no brainer to me. Mr. Win is the obviously the

strongest thing is one of the strongest performances you're

going to see, you know, from any of them.

But I just thought, you know, look, you've, you've got, let me

pull out the exact thing I wrote down here because I had a had a

note for how I would describe this, which I am not finding

here. So I'll have to talk anyway.

I, I just, I felt with raging C that you ended up having a more

complete. You had four wins out of six

races. It was three out of five for

idiomatic. Idiomatic had two shots there.

I think it was it was there to have locked up the the category

with with wins and great ones didn't get one of them was in

the personal instant, you know, against raging C And so I

thought it was a category that idiomatic kind of left open for

somebody else to take. And I thought Raging C went and

took it. And I thought a Dare Manor could

have taken it too. Obviously, if a Dare Manor had

run in the Distaff, I think you have a strong case for it there.

But I liked the head to head. I like that Regency had actually

gone there and beaten idiomatic. Yeah, I loved Adair Manor coming

into that California Crown. They're going to run her there,

then run her in that distaff and it just obviously you're ending,

you're ending injury there. But I just thought the holder

win, she goes to Oak Lawn and runs in that Apple Blossom wins

my 5 1/2 lengths. That's super impressive to me.

And so just I, you know, I, I held those races up as the ones

that I would I would care the most about.

I thought idiomatic what you said is totally correct, which

is just too many blown opportunities.

Frankly, if she goes 5 for five, we're not even having this

conversation. I totally agree with you.

And then, yeah, Ragexy. I mean, I thought maybe her best

race, Belle Dam was very good. But I do think actually she was

really good in the distaff. Just no one's touching it.

Torpedo Anna that day, It was just kind of a reminder of how

much better Torpedo Anna was than the other Phillies and

Mares in that class. And that's that's the note, my

askers, my askers in the distaff was if you're only going to if

you're going to lose and your loss is to torpedo Anna and it's

the race that that Idi Mag didn't run.

I'm not going to, I'm not going to make that a big, you know,

strike there. Yeah, I think that's a totally

reasonable thing. His name's Steve Kornacki.

We are talking Eclipse ballots here on the Horse Racing Happy

Hour. I'm Lou Rabel.

Thanks for hanging out with us today.

We just went over 1100 viewers on this episode right now, which

is very fun. So I appreciate people hanging

out here. Let's get into some sprinters.

And I kind of split this one up, Steve, because you know what?

Actually, let's start here first.

Male turf horse. We might actually disagree here.

I landed on Johannes and I just think he was easily the most

consistent all year. I got a very thoughtful note

from a listener to this show making the case for more than

looks in this case and for oh gosh, might have been someone

else. Let me find the note.

It's actually in my in my inbox here.

But I thought Johannes just beginning to end most consistent

horse we had just couldn't keep up with more than looks in the

Breeders Cup in that single race.

Even in a race where we thought at the mile you might have like

a Carl Spackler or something like that.

He was very clearly the best American horse in that race in

that way to me or and and just came back on opening day at

Santa Anita wins again in a grade two.

He was just the most consistent the whole year.

The three runs for more than looks just not enough for me,

especially since he only won one of those.

I know Cogburn set the world record for his friend at

Saratoga this year. I'm not mad if people vote for

Cogburn. I just thought Johannes had the

most the most consistent year. We agree again.

Oh no, I went, I went, you know, highs.

Well, it's one of those, you know, you get a note with the

ballot too, that they they they strongly urge you not to submit

your ballot until you watch the Boxing Day card at Santa Anita.

I which I did and that that win in the the San Gabriel, I think

just kind of put it over. Time.

Same race every time, Steve. Every single race is exactly the

same. It's incredible.

And even even when it's not, you know, even when it doesn't look

like his best performance, he still wins.

So I I thought, you know, and then, yeah, I more than more

than looks on that performance in the Breeders Cup.

It's a great performance. But then you say, well, wait,

Carl Spackler beat him twice before that.

So I ended up giving, you know, I, I, I put Carl Spackler in

second. Then I was thinking, you know,

is it do you go it more than looks in 3rd?

What do you do with Rebels romance?

I we get into the whole conversation about, you know,

the overseas horses. I don't think one star.

Well, let's do that. Let's do that right now.

Actually, is Is Rebels Romance running one race in North

America good enough for you to give them a top three spot?

It's not it, No, it feels like a technicality.

I mean, I, I'm not against, I'm not against top three like a

third place under certain circumstances, but I'm, I'm

certainly not giving the category if I, if there's any

way not to to, to somebody who runs once.

Right, OK, All right. So who did you you ended up

being Ohanas. Who were your other two?

Yeah, so I put Carl Spackler in second again, just the two wins

over more than looks. And then I'm I was between, you

know, more than looks, far bridge, more than Cogburn for

the third spot. And I went Cogburn, you know,

mainly on the straight and I really agonized over it because

the Breeders Cup was such a a a disappointment.

But I did put a lot into that giper and into the just the,

the, you know, the, the dazzling performance there.

Yeah, the Jaipur was incredible. He shows up at Kentucky Downs,

looks like it's Saratoga all over again.

Like it could have been better. Steve, I two things about that

run in the Breeders Cup. I've never seen a horse just

stop like he did. I just just stopped in person.

I've never seen it. The second thing is that was

back-to-back races with Thorpino, Anna and I got to tell

you, Steve, I thought I was about to see the two best

performances back-to-back I had ever seen back-to-back.

Because if he just rips off what he was doing early in that race,

he wins by 3-4 lengths and she wins by two and a half, three,

and they never even, they never even shook the reins on her.

That might have been the best 2 races I've ever seen.

Performances, I should say, back-to-back.

And you're talking about, right, generational talent here.

And yeah, that's right. Instead, I'm agonizing over, do

I put him on the battle knot? Yeah.

Right. It's incredible how how quickly

that changed that way. I made Cochran my top male

sprinter because of that. So I was able to put Johannes in

this category and then put him in for male sprinter.

Who did you land on? I put yeah, I used cogber in

there. I put him in 3rd.

Hey, look at us being different. What's that now?

We're different. Look at that.

The conformity ends with. It's Cogber that's controversial

I. Love it.

And I, I, I don't have a great, you know, this is another

category where I struggled and I, you know, I don't feel too

great about it, but I didn't feel great about anybody else.

I went Mullican number one here, didn't know what to do with, you

know, with Straight No Chaser, 'cause it's, it's two, it's,

it's, it's 2 great wins and then you know, really you know

nothing. So I put him, I put him second

and I did. I put Cogburn third here and I

wanted to, my heart really wanted to do something with the

chosen Bran, but. Yeah, right.

Yep. He was the tough one.

I agree. It is, it's like, you know, a

sentimental pick, but you know, lower level in some cases state

bred and and a bit incomplete. And so I I I couldn't do it.

Such a cool horse though. I really do hope he's able to to

run next year 'cause he is cool and it's nice Steve, it's it's

nice to have those horses in different parts of the country.

So it's like, oh, it's 5:30. I guess I'll flip on some West

Coast racing and then boom, Josen Rod's running in some

state Reddit race 5% like yes, Josen Rod, let's go.

So that's that always works out. I'd love to know, and I'm not

trying to pick on the guy, but what percentage of Hector

Barrios's career earnings are because of the chosen Braun?

And I'm not even picking on the guy.

It's just the horse is so good. He's picking off 100K.

You know, state bred, you know, races all the time.

What a gift, right? If you could have that kind of

that kind of horse in your barn, for sure.

They bred him for 3500 bucks, Steve.

No, it's a great story and it's against which wish it could have

kept going, you know, to the end of the year.

And you? Know I would have loved to have

seen him in the Breeders Cup yes, I agree because he he's

good at Del Mar man. So that that could have been

could have been really, really fun, especially at the six

furlongs there a jockey of the year.

We haven't gotten there yet. Lot made of course Flavia and

Pratt breaks the greatest stakes record most total stakes as

well. I don't think he quite got to

the earnings, so he didn't get to pass that.

I had to vote for Flavia and Pratt.

I thought that one was pretty easy here.

Steve, did you vote for anybody else?

No, yeah, I, I, I went Flavia and Pratt and then I just went,

you know, second place. I did put Brian Hernandez in

there. I just cuz I think that

achievement of, you know, both the achievement of like the

Derby, the Oaks Derby double, but then also the way he won the

Derby with the rail move. You know, I think that was a

jockey kind of winning a race too.

So, you know, I give him kind of extra credit there.

Who's your third? And then I put I read third.

Yeah, when I read second, I went Tyler third.

I thought he had an underrated Goodyear before he got hurt in

November at at Churchill Downs. And so I put Tyler in the third

spot there. I think I think Tyler is the

most overlooked jockey in America.

It's it's stunning to me that that guy wins as many titles as

he does riding both in Florida, up here, of course at Churchill

and and Kentucky Downs, I mean, all kinds of places.

I think he's a really, really underrated rider.

So happy to put him in the third spot on my ballot.

Steve Kornacki with us here on the horse racing Happy.

I want to remind you about our friends at Amwager man.

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They'll be hanging out with us all the way through the

Preakness this year. So there you go Steve.

Is there a category we have not gotten to that we we, oh, you

know, we haven't done the two year olds yet, have we?

So let's talk about Brad Cox and why immersive is the two year

old on the Philly side. How can immersive not be?

The two year old, well, that was easy.

One, yeah, I think the question here might have been for a lot

of people, is Cox going to sweep the the first, second and third

place votes that it didn't, didn't for me.

He did for me. I will be honest.

I voted 123. Brad Cox here and I, but I don't

think you think I'm crazy for doing that.

No, not at all. I mean he he owns the he owns

the the trail, you know, for the Oaks right now.

And I wonder if you could just get that that Brad Cox to win

the Kentucky Oaks right now. What what you might be able to

get that at I I now put I put Tenma in there, you know.

OK. Just done a win in the starlet

and and the Cox horses. I think if you ask me who the

three I, my view the three best 2 year old you know Phillies

are. I mean I I would go Cox Cox Cox

but just based on achievements I put 10 in there.

It's interesting that you went with 10 because she did have it

was so interesting to watch her. They put her in that that Oakley

for Grade 2 at Santa Anita and she's up the track, nowhere to

be found. She comes back and that started

like you mentioned and Kazushi Kimura.

I I think an underrated story actually is how comfortable he's

gotten out West at Santa Anita. Multiple stakes wins over the

last week in their opening week there right after Christmas.

And he I just, I, I got to be honest, I, I was, I was

thinking, why would you leave Woodbine when you've got all the

great mounts up there and you're doing all this stuff and now

it's working. And so I need to shut up.

And hey, good job. Good move.

Because obviously I was way off on that one.

Yeah, I went, I went immersive. I know.

I have Muhema third. Good cheer second.

Yeah. So there you go for my very very

generic 2 year old Philly ballad.

Here Steve and I will spend the next half hour on a cheaple

steeple chase. But first two year old male of

the year. Obviously East Avenue trips out

of the gate. It probably cost himself the the

Eclipse award. Here I landed on Citizen Bowl.

Where did Steve land? Yeah, it's, it's, I mean, when

does the, the, the Breeders Cup champ not get the, you know, the

two year old award inside 'cause I, I, I would have toyed with it

if if Chancellor Mcpatrick had been able to finish more

competitively in the juvenile. I I would have really toyed with

putting him up in first there. But I, but I couldn't get there.

So, yeah, I went Citizen Bowl, I went Chancellor Mcpatrick.

I put journalism third, you know, but that's basically on

the on the strength of of, you know, of beating those two

Baffert horses, you know, in the in the low self futurity.

So who are your top three? Do it again.

Yes, it's Citizen Bowl. Chancellor Mcpatrick.

Journalism. If I gave you $100 to bet on one

of those horses right now, 12:50 in the Kentucky Derby, which one

would you take? Probably Chancer.

OK, interesting. You're really.

High Who would you take? Probably Citizen Bowl, I think,

I think, I think Baffert's going to win the Derby.

This. Year, yeah.

Like he's going the Derby this year.

I do think he's going to have three starters and I think he's

going to win the. Derby this year and he wins it

the exact same way he won the Juvenile.

Just goes to the front and actually gets.

Into them oh, that's right yeah, that's right yeah, the old

quarter horse trainer in Baffert comes back out and you get the

lead and you keep the lead that's exactly right yes, that's

that's what you do and. It's just, yeah.

It's been working. So yeah, go back, go back to

what works for sure with with him to do to owner breeder.

Did you go Godolphin? Godolphin.

Yeah, I Hey, ethical question on owner because I have with a

small, small ownership stake through West Point, you know,

with the OK, Yeah, You know, I'll tell you who I would have I

I would have if I voted in the category because I was looking

at it, I would have given a vote not for.

Did you abstain? Steve, that's actually I think

that's worth mentioning here. Did you abstain from the owner

category Because you do have a, you have a stake?

Good. For you and I would have, I

would have given like a third place vote to my racehorse.

I thought it was, I thought it was kind of a breakout year for

them. So I would have given them a

little bit of a nod. Yeah, I thought the God dolphin

breeder and you know, I was talking with Matthew about this

too. And I thought, you know, I think

it's so easy when when when outfits are doing well to just

assume they're they have money or more resources than everyone

else. I have to remind people all the

time, Godolphin, as far as breeding starters is actually

way less starts than other. You know, some of these other

outfits, actually, they're like 3rd or 4th and they still come

up with this. So whoever's in their office

sending these horses to the particular trainers, getting

them in specific spots is also doing a really good job.

And so I, I would hate to think that there's a bunch of people

busting their hump and everyone just goes.

Well, yeah, he's Steve Kodak. He works at NBC.

Of course, he does a good job. You know, they got all the

resources in the world. Well, no.

Steve has memorized every county in this country.

You understand me, people. And so no, it's a different,

it's a different kind of thing. So I hope, I hope some of those

good dolphin folks feel good when they they do win the

Eclipse award for those things. So how, how long have you been

a, a partial owner there? My friend?

I didn't know this about you. Yeah, no, I it's the the first

horse I bought in on is going to start her six year old season

this whoa this breakdown. So yeah, Eleanor Rush, Clemont

trained Turf Force. She got a Grade 3 at Woodbine

this summer. OK, she had a Gulfstream then?

She's down in Florida. I don't know exactly what the

plan is is yet, but he Clemont's got that winter headquarters

down there, so. Yes, he does.

He's smarter than me. That's right.

And then do you have a strong take on Apprentice Jockey?

Yeah, I, I gave it to and this is, I apologize if I get her

name wrong because I've only ever seen it written, but Sophia

Vivace. OK.

Yeah, who's been up at Wood, but she's no longer an apprentice.

I had, I, I went and actually looked at the calendar for, for

when that ended. I, it was in August, but she had

some, she had graded wins up there before August.

And so I I, I gave Eric Asmus in second, but I gave her first.

Yeah, I went with Gabriel Maldonado.

I thought he's had a really, really nice season.

Eric's in my group as well. And I think we'll, and I'll be

honest, I think I held, I think I held Eric's connection with

the Asmussen family against him a little bit.

I think he got better mounts than some of these other folks

get as apprentice jocks. And so I I held it against him a

little bit. I've talked with many of the

Asmussens on, on different programs and they're great

family. They've been great to me

professionally. But I do think that you get

different level mounts with different a different

apprentices. So I gave Gabriel Maldonado a

little bit of a push there. But I think Vivas is a good

vote. I I think you're right about,

you know, how quickly in the year she was able to shake the

bug, right? I mean that Dee was able to move

into that. So that's an interesting one as

well. And then boy, I think we've

really covered most of these categories, my friend.

What are you looking? At I think that was one we

didn't touch, didn't we? Which one female sprinter?

Did we hit that? 10 That is one that we might be

different on. Go ahead, who would you land on?

Yeah, let me. OK, Right.

Yeah, this is. Oh boy, this was a tough one.

I went with Soul of an Angel. Awesome.

And that's one where I, I think the, the, the Breeders Cup win,

you know, did a lot of the work there.

And then I did the, yeah, I went Ways and Means second with a

note. I I think if Ways and Means have

been really basically sprinting all year, I think Ways and Means

right would have won the category, but wasn't so didn't.

And I put Alva star third with just, you know, sort of, you

know, super impressive and and obviously tragic circumstances.

And I think you know, might have might have been a lot more.

It might have been very different.

I boy, we went very different. I went Ways and Means first.

I went AG bullet second of all things.

I thought her four wins this year were really impressive in

lots of different spots. I thought she was an interesting

winner of different races. I thought she showed up huge and

the matriarch last out at Del Mar as well, going a mile.

So trying different things. She was kind of all over the

place, but in her Sprint races in particular, she was very,

very good in those. And then in 3rd, I ended up on

Emery. And I think a lot of this has to

do with the fact that I saw her win twice sometimes that you

know that that bias of watching horses do it and get it done

probably happened to me between the Raven Run and the Leslie's

Lady. I got to see her in both of

those races at respectively, Keeneland and Churchill.

And I just I thought a good run, a good year for her and I

because you know, 4 out of five, she's not a you know, she ran on

that test. She ran a good second of Ways

and Means and that's AII think a step above what she is is a

horse. And thought you how you talked

about the trainer who did the most with the least.

I think Emery with her talent, actually did the most with the

least as far as a female spreader this year.

That's, that's not a bad, that's not a bad pick.

I mean, there was, there were several here.

I'm just looking back now. There are several here that

yeah. I think, oh, this is an

interesting category, actually. You're right, yes.

Yeah, You know, it's like what society, I, I, you know, three

races, you know, and it's just, it just wasn't enough there.

Vava. What do you do with Vava?

Zeitlos was good, but not great, right?

Yeah. She's a tough fight out there

too, you know. So there were, you know, I was

interested, I was very interested through at least the

middle part of the year and Cela, but, you know, just sort

of, I, I think didn't talk serious.

Yeah. I, I, it's one of those where it

was almost by default, I think, where I landed on, on Soul of an

Angel and then watched her, you know, come in second there in

the, in the rampart last week. And I said I sure I want to do

this and I, I but I I couldn't get myself anywhere else.

There you go. It is now time for our half hour

discussion of steeplechase horses.

How do you decide who you're voting for for steeplechase?

The joke there, folks, if you're new to the program, is that most

of us don't spend a lot of time watching steeplechase or

handicapping it or whatever. But they ask us to vote on it

every year. And I know many people who vote

for this, Steve, who just abstain from it because they

don't watch. I spend about 20 minutes

watching replays of all these horses and stuff, going back and

trying to figure out what I want to do.

You mentioned a horse before we came on air in the steeplechase

category. I landed actually on Snap

Decision. I know you landed on Lepera

Tour. And Oh no, no, I I mentioned the

name because I'm afraid in my mind I've I've snap decision.

OK, cool. Yeah, Yeah, I thought that one

was. It was pretty easy.

Three wins this year, all of them in grade at stakes, 2 of

them in grade ones as well. So there you go.

All right, what are you looking for No2 in 2025, Steven?

I want to frame it this way because you know, I'm watching

right now and I'm I'm the last person defending the College

Football Playoff at this point. Everyone's already ready to

throw it out because the games aren't close and we've played

five games ever in a 12 team playoff.

And you know, the Instagram era, if it's not perfect, we want a

new thing. For years, Steve, the last

decade or so, much of the conversation in the sport is

about how if you're good at three, we never see you again.

On the male side especially. And now we get a bunch back all

the way from Mind Frame to Sierra Leone to Fierceness to

Mystic Dan to all these horses we talked about.

We get them back next year. I asked Brooke Smith about this.

And that interview again will drop tomorrow on this platform.

Why? Why did you decide to let this

horse run? How much were you involved in

the decision making process? And essentially it came down to

them just deciding that it was best for the sport for this

horse to run. It's an incredible thing to say.

I mean, he just, he laid it out that way.

Financially, it doesn't make sense frankly, is what they were

saying, except that I think the trip to Saudi, if he wins, could

make it worth it, that kind of thing.

What are you most excited about? I think for me, it's a little

bit of a restoration of those kinds of horses running as 4

year olds. I mean, we forget Sierra Leone's

dad is gun runner. He didn't do his best running

till he was 4-5. And so I'm hoping you're, you

know, I know you said it in passing and it wasn't a real

statement, but that Sierra Leone does win again and actually

starts to look like his dad a little bit more as he gets

older. Yeah, I, I, I mean, I'm

basically I, I, that is my, you know, optimism for 2025 too, is

an older horse division. I was thinking about it.

You know, we're going to see Mystic Dan and I know

expectations are going to be, you know, low coming out of, you

know, what we just saw at Santa Anita.

But that's when is the by the time.

Yeah, yeah, it was a it was a 7 furlong rates.

I mean, it's just, you know, it's a Sprint, but when's the,

when is the last time we saw a real like 4 year old or older

campaign by a Derby winner? And I, I mean, I, I really think

you got to go back to California Chrome.

I mean, you had a couple race, you know, Rich strike maybe ran

once and I, and I, but I think really Chrome is the last one

who, who had a full. And there's really more at 5:00

and 6:00 too, But you really got to see that horse for a long

time. Maybe we get some of that Mystic

Dan we talked about it with. I mean, again, it's Mcpeak,

Mcpeak Mystic Dan and Torpedo Anna, but kind of in, in concert

with what you're saying about it's good for the sport to have

these older horses running. I think it's good to have them

running and to have him trained by Ken Mcpeak, who again, it's,

it's you're not getting the let's wrap it in.

Let's wrap this horse in bubble wrap.

And you know, OK, you know, we got our three race campaign

plotted out here and, and, and that's it.

I get the sense, you know, he's going to err on the side of

running. Then it is open, you know, I

guess is, you know, is he going to go to the Middle East?

I mean that I, I, I hope not because just selfishly, you

know, it takes so long, you got might get more races in over

here. But I think it's good to have

him training those two horses. And yeah, I think just an active

older horse division. And especially with the

possibility of torpedo torpedo in a coming back and meeting

those males maybe at the end of the year for the Breeders Cup

would make it extra enticing. Yeah, the the invitations are

out for the Pegasus and I can't remember, did Mystic Dan get

invited to that? Gosh, I would hope so that that

that just seems like such a. Natural, how is how do those

work? I mean, do they, is this like

they invite you if they know you're going to say yes or do

they just invite? You.

I'm sure there's a lot of conversations with horses to

make sure they don't look. Yeah.

This is like when you get out, hey?

Sierra Leone, come on down. And he's like, or I could look

for 20 million. Yeah.

Right. Yeah.

Yeah. So, yeah, I got to imagine it's

a little bit like that for sure, but yeah.

All right. Well, he is Steve Kornacki.

When's the next time you and I are going to run into each

other? You think?

What's the what's your, what's your sense of these things?

When are we going to, what races am I going to see Steve Kornacki

at this year? And by the way, I wanted to ask

you this. I thought we could, we could put

a bow on the Eclipse Awards in 2024 this way.

You just covered a very bizarre election where we had a former

president who didn't win re election, then win re election

running against a person who didn't go through the full

primary process. What's more strange, that or the

Derby Oaks and Clark triple by Mcpeek and Fernandez Junior?

Which one? Because that was 1890 stuff.

Which one is more strange? I think it might actually be the

presidential election. Presidential actually, that will

take you to the the the president who loses and reclaims

the office is 1890s. We're we're we're kind of on

par. Although if you want the Trump

the the non consecutive winner of the presidency as a bit of

rebels romance the non consecutive winner.

So maybe maybe that's more recent.

But just and, and then running against someone who didn't go

through the primary process, that's really, I mean, in modern

politics, super unusual, right? Yeah, yeah.

I mean the the, I mean to the extent they had a modern primary

process. 1968 Hubert Humphrey, no primaries became the

Democratic nominee, but there were like 15 primaries back

then. It was really because of that

Humphrey thing that they created all these primaries so it

wouldn't happen again. And yeah, no, this is this is I,

I've been doing these president, I've been doing elections now on

air for about for 10 years. And I, I, I think every, every

time now we say we've never seen one like this.

And then they we we find something new we haven't seen.

So there. It is all right.

Well, probably Derby then Steve is probably the next time I'll

see you. I'm trying to get up to New

York. I need to go to.

I need to go to a prep and aqueduct before they.

Cut them up for the Gotham. Yeah, that's what I need, you

know. Could it get a rainy Saturday

and a mud at Aqueduct? You're not going to have too

many of those left at Aqueduct, you know.

Get them in while you can. Will they let me walk on the

tarp? That's I've always wanted to do

that. I love that tarp and Aqueduct.

For some reason everyone's got the the weird thing in horse

racing they love. I just want to walk on the tarp

and Aqueduct one time. Before.

You do anything here? There are something, you know,

what we miss about Aqueduct is the the start of those Sprint

races in the fall. There's a couple of trees right

by the gate, Beautiful, fallful. It's, it's the only foliage

you'll see at Aqueduct or at Ozone Park, Queens.

Oh, it's great on TV. It's fantastic stuff.

All right, we'll need Steve Kornacki.

We'll let him get out of here here on the horse racing happy

hour. Thank you, Steve.

Happy new Year, buddy. And I'm sure we will be seeing

you soon. So is that, is that the February

prep, Is that what you're suggesting I make it up for?

Is it weird or they usually do like the Withers then they cut

back to the Gotham like in March I think I.

Know, dude. It's it's weird.

They go mile on anything. They cut back to a mile.

They have the. Race this weekend?

Go ahead. Right, Yeah, no.

And we and we got this weekend, we got the Jerome right.

Yeah. So the Jerome is this weekend

and then the Withers is February 1st.

OK, got it. OK, you know what, Steve?

I'm going to do my damn. Just to be there on February

1st, that's what. That's what we're going to.

Do all right, if you're there, I'm going to do my damn.

Just to be there a little after dark time with Steve Kodak.

We're both going to be there. We say why the hell are we here?

Oh, look at this six horse field.

There you go. All right, well, Steve Kodak,

we'll let him get on here. Steve, appreciate your buddy.

Happy, Happy New Year. Happy New Year.

Take care. There you go, Steve Kornacki

here on the horse racing happy hour.

I appreciate him again hanging out with AM wager through the

Preakness at least. So get the AM wager edge deposit

match up to $150.00 dollar for dollar right now.

You need that edge and you need AM wager.

Thanks for hanging out this week on the Horse Racing Happy Hour.

We'll be getting more and more into the Derby preps as we move

along, so make sure that you are here for all of it.

I'm Lou Rebeau at Radio Louie, the show is at horse Happy Hour.

If you want to find us there, we'll talk to you next week.