Brook Smith | KY Racing Spotlight 1/3/25

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We are ESPN Louisville. Welcome to the Kentucky Racing

Spotlight with Louis Rebeau, presented by the Kentucky HBPA.

Now here's Louis Rebeau. All right, welcome in.

It is a January 3rd edition of the Kentucky Racing Spotlight

with Louis Rebeau. I'm Louis Rebeau, Thanks so much

for making us part of your New Year week, the new year of

racing. Whatever it is that you're

hanging out and doing today, this weekend, whatever it might

be, thank you so, so, so much for making us part of it.

Again, I'm Louis Rebeau, You can find me on socials at Radio

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But of course we we've in the horse racing as well.

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well. Just check out the great photos

and different things that you can see from around the great

Commonwealth of Kentucky and our great sport of horse racing.

I've been doing sort of year in review shows the last couple of

weeks, both in this format and on our podcast, the Horse Racing

Happy Hour and I recorded with Steve Kornacki today.

You can go find that anywhere you get your podcasts over on

the happy hour. But you know, last week we had

Matthew DeSantis and he is not an Eclipse photo.

Matthew works for an ADW for an advanced deposit wagering

company and therefore is essentially in a very specific

jurisdiction, by the way. So it is something that Matthew

up there in New York cannot do is vote on the Eclipse Awards.

And I consider myself very fortunate to be able to do it.

And it's something that I spend probably a little bit too much

time on. But those votes were due today.

We talked about it last week and so we're repeating ourselves a

little bit here. But I was so happy to hear after

a conversation with Steve, who also as an eclipse vote, he and

I were in the same class of the national interpreters, the

Torpedo Ant is probably going to win Horse of the Year.

And I think that what people are going on here is that it's it's

a totality of the vote. And to me, everything about what

she did this year, everything about what she brought, every

single time she was on the track that we got to watch her was

special. It was special every time.

And I think I've told the story on this show, but I certainly

told it in other places. I I didn't know who she was

before the Oaks. And I remember and you know,

that week you can watch the future bets come in.

And I watched her name pop up, pop up, pop up, pop up.

And I thought, you know what? Everybody else knows something

that I just don't know. I'm going to throw this torpedo

in. I'm going to throw this Candy

Mcpeek in. And I remember, excuse me, I'm

sorry, I had such a terrible head cold this week.

I remember seeing Brian Hernandez Junior the week of

Derby, and he's usually a pretty reserved, quiet guy, but even he

had a very serious face on during the Derby week.

And I should have known that Thorpito Anna was going to be a

horse to beat. He knew what he had and that if,

as long as he gave her the right trip, she was going to win the

Kentucky Oaks. And she did.

Then he comes back the next day. I see him in the morning, he and

I cross pads going off of a a local TV set with Fred Cowgill

and Vicky and all the folks at WLKY.

He had the same look, man. He had the same look.

He was totally and completely dialed in.

And I so appreciate it. One of my favorite things of the

last year was after the Derby. And we talked to Brian about

that on this show. And you can go back find the

podcast at esp@louisville.com of of previous episodes of this or

at the Horse Racing Happy Hour podcast dot Network as well.

But he talked about studying tape.

He's talked about studying Calvin Burrell and what it was

that made him successful in the Kentucky Derby.

What that cutting the corner meant in a mile and a quarter

race for the first time ever for those horses.

What it meant to shorten the total number of feet traveled

for a horse that might never go a mile and a quarter again,

right. And we saw it.

It was a perfect trip. So it was awesome to get to vote

for Throw P to Anna. And frankly, I also got to vote

for Kenny Mcpeak first on the trainer line.

I think if you sweep the Derby, the Oaks and the Clark, that's

good enough for me, man. That's good enough for me.

Of course, Thorpeno Anna went to his staff as well.

It's so it's not as though he didn't have successful way from

Churchill Downs as well. I think if you got into the into

the trainers and you really wanted the nitpick and I think I

saw David Aragona from Naira. He's a he's the morning

linemaker. Naira does an incredible job, by

the way. I think I saw him vote for Chad

Brown. I voted for Chad Brown last

year. And I think that's total by the

numbers, by the way. I think that's the right choice

if we're going purely on grade ones.

If we're going purely on grade at stakes wins.

Chad Brown really cares about the grass program essentially

all up and down the East Coast. He's very good at it.

And the time he comes West of the Appalachians is here for

King Letter Churchill. And of course, he'll run a

couple of Kentucky downs. Just the purses.

But it is it is interesting to watch because I, I think what

Mcpeek did for the sport this year by making Torpedo Anna not

just a star, but an accessible star.

Those of you that were at Clark Day got to watch her parade in

the pack. They didn't have to drive her

all the way in from the farm for that.

But he knows it's the right thing to do the sport.

My daughter has a torpedo and a pink hat.

I mean, news flash, she doesn't have a hat for another horse.

Nowhere in the world she's 7. She's now a fan of a horse.

She's a fan of a Philly that's going to run as a four year old

in Torpedo Anna. And if you're looking forward to

2025, you have to smile because all of the top 2 year old males

and all the top 2 year old Phillies.

All of which, by the way, were out of the Cox barred for me on

the Philly side. But but Citizen Bowl, Governor

Sam, Chancellor, Mcpatrick, East Avenue, all those great 2 year

old males. Hopefully, hopefully, but almost

certainly we'll see a huge majority of those two year olds

run in the spring. Heck, we may not have really in

a substantive way, met the Derby winner yet.

But then you get Thorpino Anna coming back, you get on the

three-year old side, Sierra Leone, you get fierceness, you

get those horses back, you get a mind frame back.

You get a Mystic, damn, the Derby winners going to run as a

four year old. What if, and hear me out, in a

sport where everyone is so negative all the time, where

everyone's looking to say, hey, how do we fix what we're doing?

How do we get more people's eyeballs on this sport?

Something substantial and something important happened

this year, which is that those horses didn't run off to the

breeding shed. We're going to get Sierra Leone,

we're going to get fierceness and look, probably the Arabian

Peninsula, there's a ton of money there and there might be a

lesson there. There might be a lesson that if

we run enough races for these kinds of horses, they'll

actually stay in training. What if we've done a bad job

filling the book for older two turn horses, especially on the

male side? Filly's a marriage.

You can only have one. He can only have one a year,

right? But if you put a stallion and

stud, it's very, very different. And I wonder if we didn't see

the reversal of a trend this year.

You'll hear a bit about this. I asked in the next segment,

we'll talk with Brooke Smith, one of the owners of Sierra

Leone, about his decision and their decision collectively to

run him as a four year old. What went into that?

Is there a risk? Do you think of it as a risk?

What does that look like? It's an awesome conversation, by

the way. Brooke's a great guy.

You'll hear about his charitable work.

You'll hear about all the things that make him go.

It's one of the easiest half hours of radio that I've ever

done. They did it on New Year's Day at

11:00 AM just because that's when we both could get together

with a guy. But he went to see Sierra Leone

today there down in Florida, taking some time off this

winter. It's cool, man.

It's cool that we're getting those horses back.

And I think it's OK to be really, really happy about it.

I talked with Steve today, Kornacki on the on the podcast

about his favorite moment this year.

And I'll be honest, mine was the Derby.

It's not very hard. It's not very hard.

It's the best race I've ever been to.

I don't think it's close. The crowd reaction, what it was

on, you know what's on the line in the Derby.

The finish, of course, but just that gasp with that first one

across the finish line, that gasp when they showed the

replay. You still couldn't tell who got

there first. Ask Brooke about that as well.

He'll tell you how he was feeling in the box, in the

owner's box with Sierra Leone. But what a year, man.

I think the only disappointment was on the older dirt female

side that we didn't get any manic in a dare manner and

Torpedo Anna all in that distaff together.

We didn't get that. We were robbed of that this

year. And I remember when trainer Brad

Cox walked out for that announcement to say the Torpedo

Anna had to be retired. That one took me out a little

bit. I really loved her.

I loved watching her run. She ran 14 times the last two

years. Never finished worse than

second. She was always there at the end.

She was always giving honest effort.

And frankly, as you get further into this game and, and you, you

meet more horses and their habits and everything else,

isn't it? Isn't it just the honest effort

that we want? Isn't it just knowing that

horses will show up every time for you?

Isn't that what we want at the very top of our sport?

And like we saw with Thorpedo Anna this year, we got that with

idiomatic over and over and over again last year and this year.

Not afraid to run her. It was a great year for those of

us who just beg trainers to run their horses.

Dewayne Lucas wins the Preakness, was seized the Gray,

who before that wins the past a mile 2 weeks before runs back in

the Belmont. None of the races in Saratoga go

his way. They could have closed up shop.

He's a son of Arrogate. Arrogate ain't around anymore.

They could have put him out in the breeding shed immediately.

In the summer they do that. They went to parks.

They won the Pennsylvania Derby, the grade one, another grade one

for him. They run him in the Breeders

Cup. It doesn't quite work, that

happens, But they ran him, he was there and yes, he's off to

stud, but so many of those other contenders for older dirt male

are going to be back this year. Boy, oh boy, I hope you're as

excited as I am. It's also Derby prep season.

We got to talk Aqueduct, the Jerome, of course, this weekend.

We got to talk Oaklawn. Smarty Jones is this weekend.

We'll do that in the last segment, but first, it's about

1/2 hour. It's worth every minute of your

30 minutes to listen to Brooke Smith.

Up next, owner of Sierra Leone Rocketship Racing.

All the good things with our guy Brooke Smith.

I'm Lou Rebeau. This is the Kentucky Racing

Spotlight. This is ESPN 680-1057 were

presented by the Kentucky HBPA. Welcome back to the Kentucky

Racing Spotlight on ESPN 680 and One O 5 Seven.

Now here's Louis Roubeau. All right, welcome back into the

Kentucky Racing Spotlight. I'm Louis Roubeau.

We're broadcasting from my house today.

It is New Year's Day. As I record with Brooke Smith.

He is from a rocket ship racing and lots of other things.

Of course, people most recently know him from his affiliation

with Superstar Sierra Leone. Happy new Year, Brooke, I when

you said, hey, can we record on New Year's Day?

But I thought, Oh my gosh, thank God that this guy's available on

New Year's Day because I am too. How about that, Brooke?

How are you, man? Fantastic and happy New Year.

I just kicked the year off with the song.

All These Things That I've Done by The Killers.

Which is a. Classic The first big deep dig

of a track to kick off 25 and Let's Go I.

Love it. All right.

Well, you are a look, you know, in horse racing, it's

interesting. We always think of Kentucky,

Kentucky, Kentucky. But for so many decades, the

best of the best went to New York, they went to LA, they did

those things. You're a local guy.

You grew up around here. You get to be in ownership with

local horses. Now, how did you get into horse

racing in the first place? Well-being from Kentucky, I

mean, you're around the Derby. You're around a lot of it,

though. I was not one that grew up kind

of going to the track on my dad's hip or anything like that,

but obvious obviously always watch the Derby went to

Churchill down sometimes. But but when I graduated from

school at Clemson, I came back to Louisville and I packed in,

you know, one of these houses that's kind of been broken into

apartments lived with a handful of other guys.

We're all kind of starting our first jobs and it was it was

mayhem. I got stories to tell you about

the house. But anyway, and one of the one

of the fellows in there, great guys, still friends of today,

his father was in a syndicate and they was like that.

I was like 30 people in this horse.

The horse's name was Laura's Pistolette and and she was

running in the Humana Disk staff.

So that kind of dates that race or the time when when the horse

was running, but she went off at 30 to one and of course she won

and I was in and around it and I think that's like 5 bucks across

the board and was losing my mind and I was like what is going on?

If I ever am at a point in my life where I could do something

that would just be raw and enjoyment, it's this.

And just never kind of never I met that moment never left.

If you know how it is, what the race track in a long shot wins

or or or you know your first time you maybe step foot in a

winner's circle, it's it's contagious.

I, I use this job as an excuse not to own horses, you know, Oh,

no, I can't, I can't be biased against other horses in Eclipse

voting and they get all this kind of stuff.

But I, I, I get to be in the owner's circle because I, you

know, the winner's circle, because I get to know people

like you and I get to know, you know, people in different

places. And it doesn't.

And and it that's the cool thing about the sport you bring up,

you know, the Distaff Stakes. Well, man, if you win Race 4 on

a Thursday, who cares, right? There's something about that

winter school feeling. It doesn't matter.

Yeah. Yeah, we we won a the $12,500

claim right now at Gulfstream the other day with this horse

named Freakazoid. And it was sweet, trust me.

Maybe not quite classic sweet, but every bit as exciting.

How many are in your? How many are in your personal

stable at this point would you say?

So at one point I had as many as I'd say, low 20s in rocket ship

racing. I kind of changed the name

around different things, but I settled on that, a bunch of

bunch of yearlings. And also then we did some pretty

aggressive claiming, worked with a number of trainers, work with

Jeff Howes to kind of get rocket ship up off the ground and he's

a good claiming trainer. And we had some success and some

fun. Then the couple couple trips to

the sale with my longtime friend Bill Denzik used to train horses

and the official racing manager of rocket ship racing.

Anyway it's yeah. So now I'm probably down to

maybe 6:00 or 8:00. But they're they're good six or

eight horses and rocket ship and then own course with the the

cool more contingency own Sierra Leone and another nice colt.

We bought the same sale Hall of Fame who's come back after a

long layoff and had a big run at Churchill and and his headed

somewhere. Hopefully he's starting to get

us excited again. How?

About that well, he is Brooke Smith.

He's the owner of a part owner at least of Sierra Leone who won

the Breeders Cup Classic. Of course, the last time you and

I saw each other, Brooke, we were yelling in each other's

directions right after that pretty lovely at Del Mar.

But let's go back through just the process of you getting

involved with this owners, right?

So obviously, you know the cool more folks you've got Chad Brown

in this group as well. How did you get involved in the

first place? Well, I guess I'm an

entrepreneur, the psycho entrepreneur as I like to put

it, which probably is on point. Anyway, I've I've been involved

in a lot of different businesses.

My main, my main business has been insurity, which is this

interesting facet of insurance. It's more like bank credit and

you know, there are bonds that guarantee things like

construction and mine reclamation and landfill

closure. I won't bore you, but I, I got

hooked up with some folks in their mid 30s in London through

relationship by actually hadn't surety and became partners with

Charlie Pearson, who's John Magner's son-in-law and a couple

other folks, Matt Mealy and others.

And we, we were really working to build an insurance broker

based in London, blah, blah, blah.

And through the conversations, you know, got to know Charlie

and Charlie's like, hey, wait a minute, you know, you like race

horses and my family's, you know, big and horse racing.

And one thing led to another. I met the folks at Ashford, all

wonderful people in particular work with Adrian over there and

they were like, well, do you think you might want to

participate in the purchase of a few super high end Colts

yearlings that would be potential sour candidates if

they could pull it together. And I'm sitting here thinking,

well, you know, I own a lot of my own, but maybe own a smaller

percentage of some phenomenal horses.

Be interesting because I've tried just about everything in,

in the horse racing and, and so, so they, they invited me, which

I did not take lightly. Granted, their structure, they

work with partners, but they're, they're pretty selective.

And I was like, wow, what a great opportunity.

It's an honor. It'd be great to learn from you

guys. Let's take a shot.

And I remember it was the Saratoga Select sale a couple

years back where Sierra Leone was purchased.

And I was actually on a flight across the pond and was texting

some. I had Wi-Fi, I was texting with

Adrian Wallace there at Ashford. And you know, he said, look,

these horses could go a million 1,000,005, you know, are you all

right if you're in for your rough 20% or whatever it is?

And I said, yeah, that's fine. So somehow one of the with

Sierra Leone came in the ring. We were texting each other and

he's like a million, a million four, a million six 1,000,008.

And I'm like, he's texting me. He's like, are you still in?

Is this going to work for you? And there's like a delay.

And I'm like, yes, yes, yes. And the next thing you know,

there was like a dead spot. And then.

Bam, you know, 2.3 million, we got a cult and I was like, all

right, is that a good thing? Or why don't you go back to the

plane? So anyway, it is is, you know,

it's just like the first crack at something like that.

Like I've been in the horse business long, long time.

But to take the first shot at like something at that level and

to have it work is really almost hard to process, unimaginable.

Wow, sorry. Yeah, wow.

The idea of that happening and they're being.

Just any kind of. Technological delay on a phone

like I think broke my heart, sank a little there, you know,

like. Oh, yeah, Yeah.

And then, then I had the rest of the flight to ask myself, holy

crap, you know, let's go. So, yeah.

And then we, we bought, bought Hall of Fame at the same sale,

Right. And, you know, it's been an

incredible relationship with those guys.

I continue to work with Charlie, the insurance business and

they're flourishing. But to get to know everyone at

Coolmore and to just, you know, Peter and the other partners,

it, it's just it's, it's, it's phenomenal.

I mean, how often do you kind of get the inside view in a locker

room of the of the Los Angeles Lakers or the New York Yankees

or, you know, the Kansas City Chiefs?

Because, you know, that's kind of what you're we're dealing

with here. And I've been around the sales.

They're very hospitable. Incredible.

We'll take a question. You know, I don't, I don't try

to be a nuisance. But yeah, I mean, it's just

like, it's like I woke up and I was in the middle of it.

Crazy. Sorry, I had.

Muted myself for no reason there, Brooke.

That's a bad thing to do in a in a spoken conversation.

No problem. Let's go back earlier in.

The year, I'm always the guy that does that.

Go ahead. I'm living that dream for sure.

Let's go back earlier in the year, though, with Sierra Leone,

a a race at the time that I remember so many of us being

excited about him was the Remsen just a, you know, a December

ago? Describe your sort of emotions

with that race, that stretch run with Dornik.

You know, I was just thinking about that because I, I knew we

were going to be chatting. And if you think about it, it's

really only been, you know, what, 14 months since his first

race. And so, you know, we were at the

Breeders Cup, we watched his first race and he kind of swung

wide and showed that he had some talent.

Manny Franco wrote his first win.

But Aqueduct. And then I have a son that lives

in New York and actually flew up there for the race.

And it was one of those typical kind of December, you know,

Aqueduct, New York, kind of afternoon, spitting rain, almost

kind of sleety. And of course, Aqueduct's a

glorious place, but there was nobody there.

And it was just this Gray, big behemoth structure next to the

the track. So anyway, Adrian and my son Mac

and I were there and and we watched the race.

And I swear early in the race, you know, he was just so far off

the screen. He wasn't even even the number

didn't pop up on the the video monitor.

And I looked at Adrian and he was he was looking at me and

then he kind of looked down and he looked at me again.

You know, we all had that feeling of well, we felt this

many times in horse business. We might have a dud on our

hands. And then here he comes chomping

up the mud, through the mud, swung wide and then made the

lead and was all over the place like you did at an early age.

And to me that was his, that's his most impressive race.

I mean, I, I can't take away from any of his wins, but I've

just never seen a horse closed ground like that a second time.

2 year old out there in a slop to make up that kind of ground.

I I just I was like this is not normal.

Yeah, I, I mean violent an eighth for the first time, go

with two turns, all the stuff, right?

I mean, it was it was a remarkable a thing that he puts

together. You head down to New Orleans for

the Risen Star. He wins that in another furious

rally in similar conditions. And then of course comes up here

for the Bluegrass and you get to be in the Keeneland winner's

circle, right? And, and some some of these very

different things. And it comes, it comes true.

You know that you have this horse that you saw in the ramps

and you know, the raw ability is there.

He puts it together in the Bluegrass, I'm sure.

Was it that moment or a moment before that, that you allowed

yourself to dream about the Kentucky Derby win?

Winner's circle. Well, yeah, it was it was new

territory. And as we all know, you know,

one day the horse business could change everything.

So I've always tried to keep myself pretty guarded.

But when he won the Remsen on, you know, I was looking around

like, whoa, that was pretty impressive.

He did it again then. Then of course, the Bluegrass

like from last to 1st and, and yeah, I that, that, that, that

experience was unbelievable though that particular day,

because it was at Keeneland in Kentucky.

There was a bunch of friends and family and, and you know, when

he wouldn't load, I mean, it, it, it feels like the, the

starters were being awful generous because any other race

he probably would scratch a horse that wouldn't have gone in

the gate like that. And that was traumatic.

I mean, it's like peaks and valleys within minutes with

these, with this guy. But to win that race, you know,

great respect for Keeneland, the history.

It was the 100th running of the Bluegrass Stakes.

I mean, these are things that are hard to process even now.

But it was just unbelievable. And we we knew we knew this guy

was going to be doing some stuff.

And then he had a real shot to win a Kentucky Derby.

Let's go to Derby Day. I want to start with this

question and we don't, I don't know where we're going to go

from this, but I want to start with this question.

You know, it's called the fastest 2 minutes of sports, the

greatest 2 minutes of sports, whatever.

How long does the Derby actually feel when you have a contender

in it? Are you talking about the?

Race, are you talking about the morning, the day, I mean, so I'm

sure the. The day is a bit like the day

you get married, and the whole thing's a blur.

Right? Like, I'm sure it's like that.

Exactly. Well put.

OK, yeah, but I have to. Imagine.

The race itself, so the the starting gate opens to that

three, that three horse photo finish.

How long did that actual moment feel like?

Well, I haven't watched a a Derby gate open and not have

just my stomach drop and goosebumps pop off of my arms

because that's just, you know, and then, yeah.

And you know, it's a frantic race, so there's a lot of

people. There.

You know you're looking at the track, you're looking at

monitors. The first thing you're trying to

do is just sort out where in the hell is your horse?

Because it's just melee and then they go, they go flying by and

he's he's in his typical spot. But I'm telling you, there will

never be a time to get used to how far back that horse is.

So he he, you know, like I just read the other day and I'm not

repeating anything. Everybody done already know.

But you know, of the last 15 Derby winners, only 10 of come

or five come back and won another race.

It's just that race is different and it's right.

There's a lot of racing luck and he, you know, he did his thing.

He Tyler wrote him phenomenal, as good as a, as a, a, a jockey

could ride, you know, a kind of a wild horse like him.

And then to watch him come around the turn and looking more

at the monitor than the track that you're like, it's like when

you're watching, you have a bet on a horse and you're like, and

it's in 3rd and it's closed. And you're trying to look in it

at the line and looking where the horse is in the track and

going back and forth. And then you're like, is there

enough room? Can the horse get there?

What's the momentum? And I didn't really think he was

going to make the ground up to even hit the board, but then he

did because he was forever young, tangled up and to watch

all that banging and right in front of you.

You're like. What just happened?

I mean, and I immediately knew that I didn't think he won, but

I was. I was screaming dead heat just

for sport. Because I hope that maybe

somehow, maybe somehow a nostril got tangled.

I was, you know, dead heat, dead heat.

People are looking at me like, are you all right?

But yeah. And.

To answer that. Question by the way, no.

Brooke is not all right. Just so people know.

No, they're. Not especially in that.

Moment. No.

Brooke's not all right. Yeah, no.

What? But you know what?

I it's not like everything you worked for and you fell short

or, you know, finished fourth, fourth in the Olympics and you

didn't get a medal. I mean, it didn't really feel

like that It, it really was just like what just happened.

That's unbelievable to see a horse race like that and to

have, you know, to be a part of it, to be that close to it.

I never, I never was like to go home my life.

I'd never get a horse in the Derby.

And he finished the second. You know, that'd be worse than

finishing 10th. But it's not true the horse, but

still just our amazing guy and. You know, it was probably.

Tougher watching him go off at the as a favorite in in the

Belmont, the Jim Dandy. I think he went off as a

favorite of traverse and to does not not get there.

Those were pretty painful races to watch, which also made the

classic that much better, you know?

Let's go back to right. After the Derby and you

mentioned it, you know he and forever young in the stretch

back and forth. To me, it's race riding.

To me, it is just what happens in the stretch in big fields and

these kinds of things. When you saw some people's

reactions to, you know, Sierra Leone's running style or went

after Tyler or whatever they were doing at the time, did you

have a reaction in the moment or, or were you able to process

it as this is just horse racing and heck, it's the Kentucky

Derby, so people are going to have these kind of comments.

Yeah, I think that's it. I mean, I would say that if he

had finished first, you know, they may have looked at a little

closer. Again, it's hard to handicap.

That's a thankless job to try to figure out, you know, when to

lodge a claim and that type of thing.

But but yeah, you know, if there's, you know, Chad made a

change after the Derby, the the Flavian and, you know, even said

a few things about the ride. But but obviously Chad respects

Tyler and there's no blood or bad will there.

But but I just look, anybody can make it through a race like

that, just just racing luck. I mean, you can't, you can't.

And and they should allow that race to have a lot more action

because that's the race is all about.

So I, you know, like. There's been there's been some

changes in the past, you know, and it's just, I'm glad they let

it let it lay, to be honest. But but it was, I mean, you

could have, you could make all kind of cases for this, that and

the other, you know, and then they're talking about, well,

Sierra Leone covered, I don't know, 23 more feet than Mystic

Dan. And then Forever Young covered

41 feet more than Mystic Dan. And look, Forever Young is every

bit as good as fierceness. And Sierra Leone, you know, just

kind of had some of the Sierra, Sierra Leone look at the big

races. Hey just won a Grade 1.

In Japan, he's obviously showing his medal.

That three-year old class man, is it just, it's turned out to

be just a spectacular 1 this way, including your runner

Sierra Leone, who then heads up under Flavian Pratt to Saratoga

for three races. You mentioned them, the Belmont,

the Jim Dandy and the Travers. And I got to say, I've been

doing this for a little over 1/2 decade, Brooke.

And I can't remember a horse in my life that hitting the board

at every single one of his starts is not good enough.

Like the people just know how talented this guy is.

It's the running style, it's the luck like you talked about,

whatever it might be. Tell us.

What your your thought process is is he goes third, second,

third in those races at Saratoga?

Is it just, OK, maybe it's just Saratoga, OK, it's the, you

know, maybe it's the Ted Furlongs, I don't know.

But do you start to lose hope that maybe he's going to be able

to pick off one of these races? I don't think.

There was ever any help lost because he was developing

through all these races, even though it may not have seemed

like it. I mean, Chad said he didn't like

the track or surfaced up there and that's probably on point,

but he he, he was just getting into more of himself.

You know, you could just kind of see him growing up.

But but finishing those seconds and thirds, I mean, it is

because you know how it is, you're there and you know, and

there's a lot of people that are horse fans that love the racing

that get excited just like we do.

But you know, when you have a horse and they know you and your

horse finishes second or third, even though it was in the deck

on Belmont or the Travers, it's almost like you've let them

down. You know, they're like, they get

like, you know, their shoulders kind of shrug and and you know,

and it's just like if you feel a responsibility, I think in some

kind of weird way when you're in this position with a horse like

him, that when he doesn't deliver, it's like you feel like

a little bit like you've let some the crowd down or

something. It's it's strange.

And then you got to deal with the emotions of, you know, a

favorite again. And how does that happen?

And my son Grayson, and it's been a lot of the races with me.

And I mean, if I had a picture of his face after the Travers,

the Jim, after the Belmont, the Jim Dandy and the Travers, you,

you all, you would have to look at his face and say, yeah,

another second. Oh, that would look like a

third, you know, Anyway, but it's all part of it.

It's all part of it. Do you?

Do you believe that? Do you believe that it?

Makes the Breeders Cup win that much sweeter because he did have

just taking a. 3rd place at. Saratoga, yes.

He completed the circle with that win.

And they can say what they want about the fast fractions clearly

suited him. But you know, he he ran his race

that day. But yeah, it really did.

I mean, like if you asked me before any of these races

started, hey, you can finish second in the Derby and win the

classic. I mean, most people would say,

OK, I'll take the Derby over anything.

I'm from Kentucky and that that's the race.

But. Man.

When he, when he won the classic in his typical closing style,

it, it almost made all of it better.

I was like, it's almost better in a sense.

He didn't win the Derby. I can't say that it'd be great

if he'd won, but I don't know if that makes any sense or not.

I think it makes sense in the in the.

It was that much sweeter when it actually happened.

It it, you know, it, it you think of, you know, trying a

business or something in your case, and it just doesn't, you

know, the first concept doesn't work and then you try this the

second or third one, and it does that kind of thing.

No, for sure it would be more gratifying to hit on the second

or third try because you knew what it was like to fail with

another one. No, no, I think that's yeah, but

the. Kentucky.

Derby, man. I mean, it's just got a special.

It's on a pedestal. Well, you corrected yourself.

You said that no, you would want to win that.

Let's not. You don't have to mix words

about that. It's the Derby.

It's OK. I mean, no, we all understand

that for sure, but the emotional part of it, yes, it makes sense

that that, you know, puts the the bow on the season for him

for sure. You mentioned something I've

always wanted to ask an owner about.

So I'll I'll give a for instance, you just mentioned the

after the Breeders Cup Classic. People said, oh, he needed the

torrid pace and blah blah blah. So I was at the Haskell this

summer. OK, so that was the Dornick and

Mine frame rematch from Belmont, right?

And. And the all the doorknock.

Guys are there and I got to know Danny Gargan a little bit this

summer. He was really kind of us during

Derby week. He's awesome, right?

And, and so we're all there and. There's a couple guys in.

The group he wins the he wins the Haskell, right?

And he looks great doing it. Doorknock had an incredible

year, right? And.

Incredible. He goes out, he wins.

The race and one of the guys comes out and he looks at me.

I've got because I got my credential on and he goes.

You go upstairs and you write nice.

You write nice things about my horse.

What? And I just.

Cracked up and you just said no, no, hang on.

And you just said, you know, we get out of that race and I have

to hear from people. Oh, we needed the fast

fractions. Is there something is there like

a bunker mentality of these horse racing ownership groups?

I don't know, I mean. Our group is very stoic,

somebody said. And it's true.

We just roll with it. If you do things the right way

with the right product, it should work out.

But but yeah, I mean, and and it's just, it's just a weird

thing. I mean, look, if you're at the

track and you don't have a bet on a horse, then you probably

don't care about the outcome unless your horse wins.

Now that's the average, you know, horse fan, which is great.

I get it. I mean, why are you going to

root for something you don't have your money on?

But. I just.

Like this sounds kind of strange.

I was just excited to watch these races, OK, let alone have

like a, a, a small stake in in the outcome.

But I I couldn't wait to watch the classic.

I was just like, that's the first thing.

I just want to see this race. How is this thing going to

unfold? You know, and we have

international horses, we have the city of Troy factor coming

in. You know, there's a few of those

other horses that were kind of on the uptick and, and it's just

that's what's so exciting. It's like going to a duck pond

and you pull the duck up and see what prize you want.

You know, it's just like what's going to happen.

And then I saw him moving on the back, back stretch there and the

fractions. I thought, well, he can't have

any excuses today. What's that feeling like?

He he passes. Fierceness in the.

Stretch. What's that?

What's that? What's that like?

Well, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm glad that there probably weren't too

many cameras around because it was just like, it was like a

Primal Scream. I mean all of the, all the

seconds and thirds and this is a match.

It's like a past a kidney stone the size of a golf ball.

And we were all just like, yes. And I, I actually, this is the

greatest story almost about the whole race.

There's all put, you know, there's a whole bunch of cameras

and stuff. And it's, it's kind of a lot,

you know, But it just so happened that there was a young

woman and her dad. They might have been from

another part of the country. And they were there with a media

pass, I think. And they were, they have a small

publication or something. And it just so happened that

this girl's father was standing next to our box with his, I

guess his cell phone. And he took a video of our box,

which was myself, my son's a lot of the Kumar folks were all, you

know, the friends from from Charlie and Matt Meely.

And anyway, and he sent me this video and it was it's the most

priceless thing. I'll, I'll send it to you after

this. But like you, if you were

putting this on television, you'd be bleeping out the F bomb

because it was just like F yes, F yes, let's have it yes.

And everybody's jumping up and down and it is just, it's, it's

an amazing. All right, so.

Sierra Leone, going forward, you make the decision that he's

going to keep running. And for those of us who do this

or those of us who are just fans in general, one of the gripes

the last 5-10 years and you know this.

That older two turn dirt. Male division and what's going

to come of it and blah, blah, blah.

You make the decision to run him back.

What was that like? You know, how much of A say did

Brooke Smith have? And in your mind, was there a

real question about going to stud or not?

Well, again. I've said this many times, I

will always defer to my partners because I'd be a fool not to.

They've done this forever and they've done it well.

They're in the breeding business and you know, I kind of assumed,

you know, you win the classic that the body of work, you know,

those guys, they, they would say it's time.

But the amazing. Thing is, you know, even though

that's their business and there is some risk and can can

thinking about, you know, the horse continuing to race,

they're also in it for the love of it.

And, you know, when you look at Derek Smith, it's like, you

know, let's keep this going. And Peter Brandt, you know,

let's go. So, you know, a a a few days

past a week or so and it was kind of decided, I mean, if you

were going to do it with a horse, he'd be the one.

I mean, he just has been knock, I'm knocking on wood.

He's been sound. He's just, you know, he got his

routines and he's the one that you could go on with.

And yeah, it is important to watch these horses race.

That's what the sport's about. So I think he's headed to the

Saudi Cup. I'm actually in South Florida

and I'll see you tomorrow at the pacing.

But I think that's the plan. And again, I don't, you know,

it's a long way to go. And a lot of people have a lot

to say about traveling that far and coming back from it.

But I get defer to them and, you know, why not?

Maybe a big showdown with the Forever Young or something

Again, you know, yeah, it could be a lot of fun.

He is a son of Gun Runner. We watched Gun Runner do much of

his best running after his three-year old year.

Have you allowed yourself to imagine it even better?

Sierra Leone in 2025, he won race at a.

Time, but yeah, I mean everybody, you know, he I, I

wouldn't be surprised. I mean, he, he'll probably

lighter race, obviously, you know, run 3 or 4 times maybe if

he can keep it together, everything works back at the

classic, which would also be exciting.

I I'm excited that he's racing. I mean, I'm a little anxious and

worried just because of the travel and stuff.

You know, I just want to make sure he's, he's, he's, you know,

all good. But again, I'm like, I'm like

the, I'm like the horse fan. I'm, I'm looking at it and

saying I just want to see this next race so.

Brooke, you do a lot of charity. Work and and I.

Know you really believe in it as well, including the Backside

Learning Center at Churchill Downs and different, you know,

entities like that. Can you just speak to, you know,

something that if you wanted someone listening to this right

now here in Louisville to know about, you know, an important

charity in your heart or you know, A cause within the sport

itself, what would you tell them about?

Well, there's. There's some great organizations

around the industry. I was greatly honored when I was

asked to join the Toba board this year.

And I was most interested in in that kind of from the

philanthropic side. So they immediately put me into

the TCA, which is an incredible organization that that funds all

different types of other organizations kind of within the

industry. You know, the Backside Learning

Center. I've talked about a lot in these

types of conversations. It is the, where it all starts

and happens. And it's really the, it's, it's

everything. It's the place to be.

It's the, even, even though we're racing our horses, it's,

it's, it's always great to be pulling into the backside of any

track. And those folks, you know, they,

they need support come from all over the world.

And, and they've got young families and so organizations

like the Backside Learning Center, which you guys as a

journalist recognized this year as, as the kind of the nonprofit

of the year, which was just incredible.

And it means a lot to those people that work hard.

So I don't know, I mean, as you, as you look at like the things

that happen around you, you know, and, and you have some

good fortune, you know, not everybody's that fortunate,

whether you make it or whether you had some luck or a

combination. But when you do, you have to

spread it around and share it. And, you know, not just throw it

in the street, but but talk and learn about some of these

organizations that you're interested in and, and give them

some time to. I mean, I don't have as much

time as I used to, but I can write a check and I, I try to do

it. And, and I'm excited that the

Sierra Leone was in the Purses for a Purpose program with him,

the backside. And because he's been so

prolific, you know, he he developed $100,000 contribution

of his purses to the backside and that's going to go a long

way there in the process of buying a building and doing some

exciting stuff. That's awesome.

Well, he's Brooke Smith. In the ownership group there

with Sierra Leone experiencing better weather than me.

I'll put it that way. That's all I could really get at

here on this New Year's Day. Brooke, don't be a stranger, my

friend. We'll catch up with you down the

line. I appreciate you jumping on the

Kentucky Racing Spotlight. Hey, thank you.

And I hope I didn't wear your ears out, but it was a real

treat. I appreciate it.

Very much. There you go.

That's Brooke Smith. We'll wrap it up with a little

bit of handicapping. We've got some Derby preps to

talk about this coming weekend. I am Louis Rabo.

This is the Kentucky Racing Spotlight presented by the

Kentucky HBPAKYHBP, a.com, a great organization for all those

great horsemen and horse women in our great Commonwealth.

The great sport of thoroughbred racing as well.

One more segment to go and we do it next.

Welcome back to the. Kentucky Racing Spotlight on

ESPN 680 and one O 5 seven now here's Louis Rebeau.

All right, welcome back in. Final.

All right, welcome back in final segment on a New Year's edition,

January 3rd edition of the Kentucky Racing Spotlight.

Hey, I'm Louis Rebeau at Radio Louie on the socials.

You can find this show all over. You can find us on Twitter at

Kentucky Racing Spotlight. Of course, we've got a Facebook

page, all kinds of things for you to interact with the show.

We'd love to hear from you here in 2025, especially as we dive

into the Derby trail, which we're going to do in this

segment. We are presented by the Kentucky

HBP AKYHBP a.com. Apologize again, terrible head

cold this week. So I apologize for my voice or

anything you might hear and Solaria at the background.

Oh my God. But we do have two Derby preps

this weekend. We're looking at 10 pointers

both in New York and then of course in Hot Springs, AR, the

Jerome up in New York and of course the Smarty Jones.

In Arkansas. Different distances and

different, frankly, race setups as well.

I think the field that are in Arkansas is considerably better,

for example. And during Spirit, the one horse

here for Jose Jimenez in the Jerome, it's Race 8, by the way,

starts the late double at Aqueduct on Saturday.

Doesn't belong to this race. So there's already someone in

this race that doesn't have a speed figure out of above 31 in

his last three races. Broke his maiden at Churchill

Downs. To be fair, really, really well

over 5 furlongs. But boy, just hasn't been

himself at all, either at Churchill Downs or in the Ellis

Park Juvenile. And then after that, of course,

at Indiana, an allowance company, finishing fourth by a

bunch of legs that way. But I do wonder if we don't have

an opportunity for something different in this race.

We see a horse coming out of wood by by the way going 6

furlongs. And a reminder, this is A1 turn

mile at Aqueduct. Yes, it is a sweeping big place,

but could a horse like Mancetti stretch out?

This is son of collected Sky Mesa on the damn side with this

horse like a mile. Well, the horse tried 7 furlongs

in the display. It's a Listed Stakes at Woodbine

back in October and was a bit up the track there but came back in

a Listed Stakes again. Excuse me, a black type in the

Clarendon 4 Ontario Breads and won that race.

I'm going to go ahead and pass on the two Mancetti in New York

this weekend. I'll let that horse beat me out

of the Kevin of Tarn barn. Interesting to see Kevin trying

so many horses now on the Derby trail.

I think that's only a real positive for our sport.

I can is the third. I like this horse a lot coming

out of the Dutrow barn. Finished behind Cyclone State,

who's also in this race and we'll talk about in just a bit

for Chad Summers in the 6th hole.

This is a horse I think you'd get better.

Tried a mile for the first time last time after breaking his

maiden at Indiana. They kept the horse up there at

the Belmont training track. So the horse has been on Long

Island. You get Richard Duntro and of

course you get Manny Franco. Interesting to see him aboard

and not Joel Rosario, who's obviously not in New York for

the day. He and Duntro hitting at 20. 5%

together and it's a one to keep an eye on, probably more of an

underneath play. In other words, an exact or

trifecta kind of play for the three.

I can Omaha Omaha's in this race as well for Maina and for Gorham

one last time in an optional claimer in the mud going two

turns at Laurel over a mile in the 16th before that did win in

a mile, breaking his main at Delaware Park.

So this is a horse, if you don't follow the East Coast races has

been running really, really well and it's one frankly that has

been training reasonably OK at at Laurel.

I don't think this horse is fast enough to win this race.

But the four Omaha Omaha is a son of audible obviously ran

really well in the Kentucky Derby in 2018 and the damn side

includes kitten's joy. So I I wonder if this isn't a

horse that can't get better. 75 speed figure in the mud last

out. Maybe this is the kind of horse

as we get into this weekend that can actually hit the board and

or win. Of course, they're dealing with

a Gale warning in New York. And I got to say, but the

weather coming to Kentucky soon, I'm just not jealous of a Gale

warning. Just doesn't sound very, very

pleasant at all. But they are looking at a cold

day, a windy day, but no rain on Saturday.

So maybe a horse that's run recently well might have

something to do with it and that would be Cyclone State early

December on Remsen Day on Cigar Mile.

Day goes ahead and wins his second race coming out of a

maiden win at a mile at Aqueduct.

That's what this horse does. Frankly, he took a step back

last race and should be a little bit better here.

I'm going to put the six Cyclone State on top in the Jerome.

I do think Studly do right will have something to say about it.

He finished up the track in the Remsen, finishing fourth under

Xavier Perez. Who gets them out here again for

John Robb? They make the trip up from

Laurel. Worked him over six furlongs

last out. So obviously trying to keep that

up. Didn't love the two turns last

time, gets back to one turn here.

I think he'd be crazy not to use the seven studly.

Do right in your longer tickets if you want and the absolute

wild card here. Is the 8.

McAfee on the outside, a son of cloud computing.

You may remember him from his Preakness Win of all things.

Bred him for 3500 bucks, a $40,000 purchase at the

Keeneland September sale last two about a year and a half ago.

Excuse me And look, I don't know quite what to make of this

horse. He obviously won one of the

restricted races at Churchill. You know the 5050 thousand or

less for breeding price or claiming you know for, you know

sale. Price, that kind of stuff.

But I think McAfee is an interesting one as well though,

so I'll go 678 all outside horses in the Jerome there.

We do get a couple of very big favorites in Arkansas this

weekend in the Smarty Jones $250,000.

And this one's interesting to me because we are going a mile in a

16th. We're going to two turns the

same day. By the way, we're running a

Philly race over six furlongs. So clearly they think the boys

are way ahead and we get coming out of an absolute monster show

over a turn over a Sprint. Excuse me for Peter Miller is

Kale's Angel. Well, the horse had previously

been running in California. I don't think I needed to tell

you that with a reference to Kale, but I'll do it anyway.

He's a son of complexity. They bought the source for a

bunch of money, 150K in April of last year and so obviously they

think a lot of him Malibu Moon on the on the mom side so he can

get the distance. My only issue is that was his

first try on dirt. Can he go back-to-back and can

he stretch back out to do it? He gets Ramon Vasquez, Ramon off

to a very good start. Ten wins, 69 starts in his early

part of the season there at Oakland, knows the track really

well. He's been there for many years.

He and Pitter Miller overall only hit an 11% but much better

23% at Oakland. I think he's very, very live

here. And then you get the second time

starter for Brad Cox in hot property, the 6th.

Flavia Pratt's going to be at Oakland on Saturday.

He broke his maiden under Marcelita Pedroza at fairgrounds

last out. That was around Thanksgiving at

the fairgrounds and they started him in a mile and a 16th.

He's running a mile and a 16th again.

Here is this three-year old son of Medallion Dora Milwaukee Brew

on the damn side. 84 speed figure immediately out of the

gate and the springboard mile and so absolute include if he

takes a step forward here. He's been working at

fairgrounds, He's been working OK at fairgrounds.

Let's let's be very clear about it.

Not anything that you would get excited about, but I'm not

worried about that. Frankly, no one in this group is

a good worker as far as the past performances are concerned,

everybody's a 49. I think Bolt, all the four, is

the best worker in the group, but he's clearly a maiden who's

going to do his best running as the son of Bravazo over shorter

distances. But outside is the 8IN Coal

Battle won the Springboard Mile. And I want to remind people at

Remington Park that is A2 turn race.

We're adding a half a furlong here.

This horse is going to try to do his best running a little bit

later. So I think on the lead, you're

very likely to get Kale's Angel because Ramon Vasquez knows his

best chance is to try to take advantage of that shorter

stretch at Oaklawn. Hot property is going to be

right off. I think hot property did get the

lead right away and kind of ran away perfect trip from Arcelita

Pedroza goes without Lasix here, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

But I think cold battle on the. Outside is the real thing.

We saw that horse run without Lasix last time before that 1A

black type at down in Louisiana and Delta Downs, Excuse me,

Vargas keeps them out here. I kind of like that for Lonnie

Briley. 9:00 to 2:00 there, I'll go ahead and play against.

I'll let that horse beat me here a minute. 39 was the time on

that. Here's what I do like though.

That horse closed into that speed.

I think he's going to have plenty to close into here and

that makes him very, very interesting.

There is a Kentucky bred in Corvino for Francisco Arrieta

and Peter Miller who is going to run in the 7th hole, son of Hino

Rosso. I'm interested because took him

a long time to break his maiden in that Miller barn.

Miller not afraid to try horses on different surfaces just to

get them to win. He wins over a wet track at

Oaklawn Park last time, so he finishes up by heading to

Oaklawn to run 12 to one of this horse ran a 75 speed figure last

time out, has already run the mile on a 16th and one.

Could he be part of the closing speed as well in this race?

Much faster fractions at hot property had to run last out.

He'll have to pick up the pace if he's going to win here, but I

think just an absolutely spectacular running of the

Smarty Jones down there at Oaklawn this Saturday.

Well, I'm Louie Robot that has been the Kentucky racing

spotlight for this week. We hope you'll be back with us

next week. More Derby preps to start

talking about and of course, try to sneak in something about

Turfway Park next weekend as well.

If you enjoyed the show, go ahead and find us on social,

Twitter, Kentucky Racing Spotlight and of course on

Facebook as well. Kentucky Racing Spotlight.

You can look for me as well. 11:50 on ESPN 681057.

Otto Rabon Ko want to thank our friends at Kentucky HBPAKYHBP.

A.com articles, photos, oh man, the sound from around the

Commonwealth, The great people that make our great sport.

Go go check them out. Man, they got great stuff over

there. Our friends Jenny and Alex and

all the folks over there at the Kentucky HBPA doing the darn

thing day in and day out. I'm Lou Urbout, thanks so much

for hanging out with us. Good.

Good luck with all your bets this weekend.

And hey, I hope you don't have a head cold.

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