KY Racing Spotlight for 1/17/25

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Follow the leader ESPN Louisville, your home for the

College Football Playoff, NFL, the Final Four and the best

sports stock. We are ESPN Louisville.

Welcome to the Kentucky Racing Spotlight with Louis Rubbo,

presented by the Kentucky HBPA. Now here's Louie Rubbo.

All right, greetings and salutations and welcome in to

the Kentucky Racing Spotlight with Louie Rubbo.

I'm I'm Louie Rubbo here in the studios of ESPN 680-1057.

Thanks for making us part of your horse racing weekend.

We've got you For the next hour. We'll talk with two guests

today. The first up will be our friend

from the HBPA, the national HBPA.

In this case, his name is Eric Hamelback.

He joins us. He is the president of the

national HBPA issues in the sport sort of in general.

So if you are wondering about decoupling in Florida, if you

were wondering what happened at the Global Symposium on horse

Racing and just sort of other general topics that Eric and I

like to banter about throughout the year, please stick around

for that. That'll be up next.

And we'll close with some manicapping.

We'll look at 2 Oaks preps and a Derby prep.

We're into the 20 point part of the trail as we head to the to

Long Island, Excuse me for the Busanda and we head down to

fairgrounds, of course, for the silver bullet day and the little

cop to close the card down there as the Bree.

Of course, the the Derby prep that it is.

We'll talk with my friend Matthew DeSantis from Naira Bets

we'll do that to close the show here on the spotlight.

But I kind of just wanted to go positive today.

I'll be really honest. I'm not having a great Friday.

So I wanted to wax kind of poetic about what we get to

watch tomorrow. And that's a field up of nine in

the Busanda and then we head down to Fairgrounds and in the

Silver Bowl a day race, 9:00 tomorrow.

It'll start that late. Pick 4 down there, we'll get a

solid 8. So we got 17, three-year old

Phillies running for a spot in the starting gate in the

Kentucky Oaks tomorrow. That's awesome.

Sometimes, you know, you feel like you're lucky to have 17 at

one track and we get him in two different spots and a lot of

interesting runners as well. You hear about that in the last

segment and Le Comp drew 14. Let me say that again, the

Lecomte drew 14 and God bless. The people at Fairgrounds are

going to run them all. It's great for us who like to

wager on these things. And I talked to Joy Christafeck

the other day. He's on the simulcast boat, the

Churchill Downs. And of course, right now at

Fairgrounds about this race, what it means and all those

things. And the week before that, I got

to talk to Jason Beam on the podcast.

And if you've never checked it out, Horse Racing Happy Hour,

you're welcome to hang out with us every Thursday.

And Jason, I asked him, I said, hey, you got a Derby horse.

You know, just kind of one of those questions you ask a guest

on a horse racing show. And he said, no, I don't really

pay attention to the Derby trail until they hit the Lecomte.

And I wonder how much, you know, how true that is for so many of

us. Is it the 20 point races when we

get here to January when the calendar actually flips over?

Just from experience, just from some of that PTSD of watching

some of our horses be so great at 2:00 and they just don't come

back at three. We don't get Nyquist all the

time. We don't get American Pharaoh

all the time. Of course we get those in 16 and

15 in back-to-back years. But man, I just, I'm so excited

about tomorrow to watch these races, to watch these fields.

Cripes. Just in the late pick 4.

Just in the late Pick 4 at Fairgrounds, we mentioned that

group of eight in the Silver Bullet day, you get the Colonel

Bradley after that 14 runners, you get the Louisiana older dirt

males, by the way, two turns 10 runners and then you get the Le

Compte. Incredible, incredible.

It's great. And so we're just going to have

a fun day racing tomorrow, man. A bunch of great stuff to wager

on. And so I'm keeping it positive

with that. And by the way, if you're

getting excited, you should be join us on our Triple Crown

challenge. Go find the Facebook page for

this show. Go find the Facebook page for

the for Rabo and Co on ESPN Louisville or find us on Twitter

at Kentucky racing Spotlight. And you can join for absolutely

free our Triple Crown challenge. So go in you pick an A horse.

If they win or hit the board, you get points and the points

are assigned during the Derby preps based on what Churchill

Downs assigns for those races. And then once we get into the

Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont, those are 200 point

races. So they're worth double, say,

the Florida Derby and the Ruby and the Arkansas Derby, those

kinds of races. So get in with us again, Go find

us on the Socials. You're gonna have to go look for

it a little bit. And I'm at Radio Louie on

socials if you ever want to go find me as well.

But in a time of a lot of change in our sport, in a time of a lot

of movement in our sport, when we get days like tomorrow, don't

stop. Don't forget, at least to stop

and smell the roses. It's absolutely worth it.

And tomorrow's one of those days.

And thank goodness for that. Eric Campbell backs up next.

He's the president of the National HBPA.

And this show, of course, is always presented by the Kentucky

HBPAKYHBP a.com. Go check them out at the website

for great videos, photos and articles from all the great

people who make our great sport go in the Commonwealth.

Up next, Eric Campbell back. We talked to him here on the

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Kentucky. 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 second segment on our weekly version of the Kentucky Racing

Spotlight. I'm Louis Ribow hanging out with

you. Of course, the studios of ESPN

Louisville were presented as we always are by the Kentucky

HBPAKYHBP, a.com, and not for that reason, but not a bad spot

to bring in someone related to the HBAHBPA.

Excuse me. His name is Eric Camelback.

He joins us from Lexington, from the national offices of the

National HBPA. You find him on Twitter at Eric

the Tiger. Go say mean things to him there.

Don't bring up LSU football. That is really the key right now

with Eric Camelback. If you want to make him very

upset, praise Brian Kelly on his timeline.

Mr. Eric Camelback, how are you, Sir?

I'm. Doing great up until that part,

yeah. I got to say I was laughing.

I was laughing Eric cuz I was like, you know what?

I haven't talked to Eric in a minute.

And I tried to, I tried to talk to you about 3 * a year.

I won't lie to you. I'll, I'll actually throw my

playbook in front of you. I like a beginning of the year

talk. Obviously you're always there

for Derby week and you come hang out next to the media compound

with me on ESPN Radio here. And then I like to catch you

sometime in the fall when we're kind of, you know, in those fun

parts of the year where we're like, oh, really?

That's right. We go to Kentucky Downs and

actually do this thing for a couple weeks and talk to you

around that as well. But Eric is involved at the very

highest levels on behalf of his horsemen's organization.

And so I wanted to get him in here.

Of course, we have so many great friends at the Kentucky HBABPA

right across the street. They've got a nicer office than

you locally here, Eric. I don't like that, I got to say.

I tell you what, it's it's. Nice to have.

The house there and being right there at the track, you know,

it's, that's a special little spot, that's for sure.

You know, local news for us is, is a, is a, an elevation in

position within the organization for a guy named Dale Romans.

And I'm I'm sure in your case, just the very best thing that

could possibly happen. You know, a guy that grew up

right around the track there knows the scene in Kentucky, in

New York, in Florida, at, you know, New Orleans, Arkansas, as

well as anyone else. So certainly going to do a great

job here. I talked to Dale last on the

record, I should say, at Kentucky Downs and he he let it

slip that, I mean, look, go to Saratoga's fun and he likes it.

But I mean, Ellis Park's doing such a good job with her two

year old program, for instance, that he's going to be doing

those things. So I was not surprised to see

him move into the new spot with the Kentucky HPA.

Eric, you got to be excited, though, to be able to work with

him. Yeah.

Extremely, extremely, you know, it's it's been AI.

Don't think anybody would be surprised by me saying this, but

obviously the entire racing industry looks to Kentucky and

which direction things are going, right.

And it's such a positive space right now.

What you know what Rick Hiles and the board have done for

many, many years to tee this up. And obviously Dale's been a part

of that board. He's been vice president along

with the late Frank Jones, the late great Frank Jones that

they've just done an amazing job to get us in the space that

we're in. And, and now, you know, it's a

new time, it's a new era. I think with Dale's leadership,

as you said, you know, he's, he's definitely that hometown

guy and he has an understanding of, of not only Kentucky racing,

but being in, you know, all spots across the country.

He knows what's going on in the industry and he's he's an

excellent person to have in that spot right now.

Yeah, I, I just can't imagine a better person that knows the,

the spots around Kentucky any better than Adele Roman,

certainly the history of this place.

And, you know, his family's been involved in horse racing for

more than half a century for sure.

So one of those guys that you would absolutely want on your

side going to a very different place.

But you know what? Let's not do that.

Let's start with the positive stuff.

Claiming Crown happens at Churchill Downs.

We haven't talked to you since that day.

I got to see you a couple times there in the paddock, of course,

at the claiming crown. How many of your HBPA reps from

around the country did you have in?

I think we counted that day. Was it 13, 14, something like

that? Oh, gosh, yeah.

You know, and there were there were affiliates that were

represented by by more than than one person there.

But yeah, I think we had about 14 on site representation from

affiliates from, you know, across the country.

And, and it's a great time. You know, we have our meeting

that that Friday and Saturday morning.

And then for those who get to come in, it was a great day.

And, and again, thanks to Churchill, they just did an

amazing job this year and 2024. And so it was, you know,

honestly, with the weather, couldn't have been a better day.

Yeah, no kidding. Gosh almighty, we have.

We have been through some weather.

It's almost as though the claiming crown knows, you know,

the weather knows what the claiming crown is some years and

you know, you go to New Orleans and it's you get a Hurricane

Katrina on the day of your races.

It seems to happen to you guys. But just a real positive day

with the claiming crown comes back to Churchill this year.

Are you guys changing it up at all?

Are you going to try anything new?

I don't know that we'll try anything necessarily new about

the card. It was, it was, you know, the

cards kind of been set for a while as far as the claiming

crown races itself and, and they seem to be very well

represented. I mean, I think, you know,

again, at the end of the day, we had 240 eligibility request

still had 118 eligible. So we, we had a great, you know,

receivership as far as people who wanted to be there.

And I think that, you know, if we do some changes, I think the

modifications are going to be to the experience.

One thing that we are definitely going to do and I've confirmed

this both with our partners at TOBA but also with the NTRA, we

are going to host a a handicapping tournament there on

site. Most likely it may even be on

site and online. We're still putting together

particulars on on the logistics, but I think that's going to be a

great thing. And it's also going to bring

some more spotlights, especially if we are able to get it online

as well. Because you know, at the end of

the day, our success is driven by handle.

You know, we were pretty close to 11,000,010.10 point 810.7,

something like that, that you know, in 2024.

So you know, I'd love to get on up there.

One of the other things that we're kind of kicking around is

maybe having another spotlight race somewhere on the card,

maybe not a claiming crown race or definitely not a claiming

crown race, but but you know, bringing us a stake race of

something that that also brings a little, you know, a bit more

of the viewership and certainly from the horse player

perspective would be positive. So I'm actually super excited

about that. We did NHAC, I'm sorry, an NHC

qualifier, I think it was 2017. We had a conference in Las

Vegas, so there's no racetrack to go to for the meeting or

after the meeting. And so we hosted the tournament

there and it was great. The guys from horsebills.com

won, won the seats and so that that went over great.

So I'm Michelle Ravencraft with the NHAC.

She's just absolutely amazing and putting the program

together. So I talked to her.

As soon as the Eclipse Awards over, we'll get our heads

together and get some action plans laid out.

Eric Camelback's with us. He's the president of the

National HBPA. This is the Kentucky Racing

Spotlight on ESPN 680-1057. Louis Rubbo hanging out with

you. We are presented, of course, by

the Kentucky HBPAKYHBP a.com. Go check them out for all the

great videos, articles and all the photos from around the

Commonwealth. All the great people that make

our great sport go here in Kentucky.

You had your conference as well, and, you know it.

Global Symposium. I I love this kind of stuff,

Eric, by the way, this is this is I live for names like this

when, like, there were six hockey teams in the NHNHL and

you won the Stanley Cup and you were world champions.

Like, that's just spectacular. I love that stuff.

But like, you win the you win the Super Bowl and you're world

champions of football. Yeah.

No kidding. Thank you.

Thank you. Very thank you.

Thank you, Bert. Roger Goodell, thank you.

But the Global Symposium happens.

All these kinds of getting togethers.

Any takeaways from that? You know, it's always

interesting to me from afar. It's not something that I've

been to, but from afar to watch what it is that decision makers

think are important things. And So what they, you know, what

they focus on as far as issues and who they think should talk

about those issues. Any takeaways from that?

Anything that you you feel like you should share here?

You know, the global races symposium again this year, I

thought they did an excellent job putting things together.

I think because the industry is in the state that is in and that

and and what I mean by that, not a negative, but the state that

it's in and the change in the regulatory system.

That's been a highlight. It's been a a focus of their

panels for the last would be two years, 23 and 24.

And I think that's, you know, it's a necessity, right?

That's that's something that horsemen and the industry

participants need to understand. But, you know, they also put on,

you know, had Bob Baffert and Todd Pletcher up there getting

interviewed by Amy Zimmerman, which was, you know, this.

That was super cool. All right, Just just, you know,

just hit hear them for an hour and speak.

But yeah, there there was some other, there was a really good,

very in depth conversation on aftercare, one that took a

little bit different kind of direction and space.

Normally aftercare panels are typically about, you know, why

we need them and this, that and the other.

But this really, this really focused on the business side of

it. And, and the reality is that

funding is needed and how are those funding sources going to

be acquired. So I thought that panel in

particular was excellent. So yeah, All in all, I was

really pleased with it. One of the best aspects to it, I

believe was not actually a panel, but each year Rick

Hammerly hosts all the racing secretaries.

They get together and they have meetings usually on conference

calls, but then they always do one in person.

His meeting that they put on was was an excellent meeting just

talking about and ended up being a panel discussion that I had at

our conference last year. You know this this kicking

around idea of rating systems for USUS racing, trying to

develop another condition that gets more horses into racing,

not necessarily having a claiming rank, but that's

something that's still being pushed on an initiative and I

think now is being helped guided by Equibase.

They've kind of sponsored up to investigate it and see where we

go. He's Eric Camelback, president

of the National HPAPA. Joining us here on the Kentucky

Racing Spotlight, A story that lots of people I'm sure are

following is the push for decoupling with with the Florida

tracks. And so let's start with just

what the terminology here is. It is Eric.

I don't something I've learned doing radio 10 to nude is I

shouldn't assume that everyone has seen the things that I see

right. And so always worth it to slow

down and and stop for a second if we, you know, should better

explain something. But what is decoupling and what

is the opposite of decoupling? Well, and I'm glad you said

that, Louis, because at the end of the day, decoupling, even

within horse racing has a few different meanings, right?

There were some people who who thought when they heard that

news that Florida was decoupling.

That's all the press release said.

They thought it was basically making a change to where an

owner who had two horses in a race didn't have to go as an

entry, right. So there's one entry.

So, so no decoupling. It's a, it's a complex term

because it has a few meanings, obviously inside horse racing,

but also outside horse racing. But the main focus and certainly

in the situation currently occurring in Florida, South

Florida in particular, decoupling is a term that was

brought about a few years back when entities tried to remove

themselves. I'm going to say a racetrack as

an entity remove themselves from having to have live racing in

order to have a casino license, right.

When you go into a state that has had a horse racing before

with very few exceptions, the reason they are in the state is

because horse racing was already there had a footprint the the

parallel in wagering with paramutual wagering was there

right. So gambling was present so.

Go way back really early mid 90s when when race tracks started

allowing casinos to come in and join and partner with them to

expand gaming within the state. That meant they were coupled and

state legislatures and statutes across the country, including in

Florida. They link a set number of race

days in order to have a license to operate a casino.

So, you know, in the state of Florida, it doesn't have to

necessarily be the number of days in in the statute, but it

can't be less than the number of days in statute.

So in state statute in Florida a few years back, and I think it

was 4, maybe five years back, there was this initiative to

decouple. But because of the horse racing

industry in particular at the time it was the Florida HBPA and

the Breeders Association, a lot of people put time and effort

into if you're going to decouple, you're going to have

to carve out thoroughbred horse racing.

So there was a literally state statute that was adapted that

said there's decoupling from greyhound racing, there's

decoupling from standard bred horse racing, but there's not

decoupling from thoroughbred horse racing.

So this new bill that's dropped strikes all of that language.

So the bill is actually just a red line removing any reference

to thoroughbred coupling, her thoroughbred racing being

coupled with gaming. So the stronic group first

racing, however you want to identify them, their initiative

is to build a casino somewhere on site there at Gulfstream, and

they want to partner with somebody who allegedly,

according to press releases, allegedly doesn't want to have

any association with horse racing.

Well, I don't, I don't personally believe that that's

true. There's a lot of racinos out

there that are operating just fine.

But regardless, that's what they say.

So they went to the horsemen, they told the horsemen.

And again, you can read this in the press.

I wasn't there, but I'm I'm, I'm certainly been on the phone and

and educated myself. What they were told the horsemen

is if you fight against this, you know, we're going to keep,

we're going to keep pushing for it or we'll promise you some,

some, let's just say contractual terms.

If you, if you say you're not going to, you know, not support

it. So they basically, they agreed

to, you know, you know, they, they wouldn't fight against it,

but they wouldn't be vocal in supporting it.

And, and I, and as I would say, they pretty much had their arm

behind their back and they pretty much had to follow along.

Now subsequently, I mean this, this is literally changing each

day this week. There was a meeting with the

horsemen just Wednesday, yes, Wednesday the 15th that they

were told the horsemen in the room the the Strana group was

only promising three years of racing.

So now they're, you know, they're, they're really kind of

put their back against the wall. So I'm continually on the phone

trying to, you know, work with stakeholders throughout the

country to really look at this is not something we can let

happen. But, you know, the main thing

too, to get across to our audience here is that Florida

Group is not affiliated with a National Association.

They are not members of the national HBPA haven't been since

2019, I believe before COVID. So, so they're kind of on their

own. And this is kind of what

happens. You know, I mean, there are

there are players associations for a reason.

And so horsemen's associations as a conglomerate and as, as you

know, strengthen numbers that that cliche is very much true.

Can you tell people just the economics of some a decision

like this, Eric, you know, if a politician happens to be

listening to this in Florida or something with Ocallo, with

Palmettos, with, I mean, all these places, all the training

centers, the breeding, all the things that happened in Florida

And how much of that is at stake?

If, if a place like Gulfstream Park, which races, you know,

it's, it's more than 200 days a year, it's got to be right.

I mean something insane. I mean, what?

I mean, what, what are we, what are we talking about here?

I mean, this is serious stuff. It's very, it's, it's, it's very

serious when you look at the, the negative economic impact it

could have. First off, you know, maybe Tampa

would get more dates, right? You know, who, who knows?

Sometimes there are some positive unintended

consequences. But when you look at the reality

of of the horses that go to Gulfstream in particular for

what they call the championship meet, those horses probably

won't go to Tampa. You know that they would go to

New Orleans right now. Quite frankly, they would.

They would probably go to New Orleans or maybe even consider

coming the Turfway with the purses they've got so.

I'm with you. Exactly.

So, you know, I feel without knowing the actual numbers, I

mean from general terms, I know that they're in the billions, as

is Kentucky an economic impact from horse racing that could

have a serious effect. I mean, just look at just number

of employees and payroll taxes that they pay in that county,

you know, right down to some of those real organic funding

mechanisms that would be gone, You know, would they shift over

to a casino? Maybe so, but when you're

talking about taking away an Agri business, there's so many

satellite industries that go along with horse racing.

You know, again, we always talk about the hey man, the feed man,

the Ferrier, all of that's gone. So, you know, we are, we as

national HBPA and I know many other stakeholders including the

FTBOA, we're going to basically put all of our efforts into

making sure that this doesn't pass.

And I feel like we've got some pretty strong, pretty strong

footprint and, and making sure that doesn't happen at least for

this General Assembly. That's the thing, the Sonic

Group is not going to stop. But if they get stopped once,

maybe there's a reorganization or a restructuring of something

that we can consider getting past that decoupling fear.

Yeah. Wow.

It's all a lot, isn't it, Erica? Really.

It's your candle back with us. Yeah, no, just I, I, you, you

and I talk about this every time we're at Derby.

And and I and I don't, I don't mind saying it as often as I do.

But one of the things I love about that first week that that

Monday when I walk in, and usually it's actually the

Saturday before the Derby that I walk in, that you're reminded of

the, the walled village that is Churchill Downs.

Just how many people's livelihoods are back there,

frankly, in a moving way, Eric, how many people gave up lives in

another country to come do what they do at every horse track in

this country, I mean at every horse farm in this country.

It is staggering the number of people who all have the same

goal of, of taking care of these equine athletes and getting them

ready for, for racing and eventually for breeding or an

afterlife, you know, an aftercare life that they're

going to have, whatever that might be.

And it just, when you hear the decoupling stories, it, it is so

obvious that they're, you know, we're in a place like Kentucky.

We're so fortunate to have you mentioned Damon Thayer, to have

people like that who really do understand the layers of the

industry and how much this does affect, you know, every time a,

a horse gets to the, to the starting gate, 5 people had to

do something, right? Or 10 people had to do

something, whatever that number is.

I mean, it just seems to be such a disconnect there.

And I, I apologize for a little soliloquy there, but I mean, it

is. We're talking about people's

livelihoods. We're talking about real things.

These are real tangible. Things absolutely.

I mean we, we have a, we have APDF that I use in DC pretty

frequently. Basically there's 26 people

involved in one horse at the races, right.

When you look at all of the contacts, you know, we, we, we

literally have a flow flow chart that shows that.

So no, I mean you're, you're, you're exactly right.

And, you know, it's, it, it's anecdotal for me to say 80 to

85% or 70 to 80% of the, the, the guys in the profession that

aren't necessarily native from the United States, but it, it's

probably pretty damn close to that.

And, and there are people who literally, you know, you know,

they come from cultures much more agrarian based than we are,

We are now. And that, that, that lifestyle

of being with livestock and in our cases race horses, you know,

it's ingrained into them and that's what they want to do.

We do. And you know, our, our industry

couldn't operate without them. But when you talk about

decoupling, and this may be offensive to some people, but if

you start talking about decoupling, when we're saying

live racing from wagering and gaming, it's pretty short

sighted to think that that's what you want to do.

You're not thinking about everything that you and I are

just laying out. You're not thinking about the

bigger picture of what brings in horse racing.

So again, you know, I don't, I don't want to offend any gaming

operators out there. But again, the agrarian based

society and the agrarian business that's associated with

horse racing, you know, again the satellite community that

that touches it and makes it profession from it, it's very

extensive. Eric Campbell back with us from

the national HBPA. This is Louis Rubbo and the

Kentucky Racing Spotlight on ESPN 680-1057.

Last one, we'll get you out of here.

We'll talk Brian Kelly next time, I guess.

But the the look, lots of moving parts going on right now.

You mentioned some of the new federal regulation and different

things changing landscape with those things as well.

I know the HBPA is involved at least on the ground level with

some of the litigation and different things.

Any updates on those things? You know, with a, all of these

things are so fluid, Eric, because of, you know, just

political changes and, and obviously, you know, we're going

to have an inauguration on Monday and all these kinds of

things. But what is currently going on

as far as as, as HISSA and and and legislation, those different

things with you guys? Absolutely.

And you know, and we all continue to operate under under

the regulatory authority as it is now.

Everyone knows that the Horse Racing Integrity and Safety Act

was signed into law and it's law, you know.

So you set that aside and then you kind of talk about the

litigation and, and quite frankly, everyone on the other

side, I think respects that division as well.

What's going to happen at, at the Supreme Court?

It is what it is, right? So we're going to continue and,

you know, operate as we need to under the regulatory authority

as it is. I am going to make plans for

what would happen if it fails or if it, you know, ceases to

exist. And, and obviously I believe

they're doing the same thing. But where we are right now is

quite simply, we are at the door of the Supreme Court.

As a matter of fact, we're inside the door.

We're in a room called the conference room and the way it

works, and I have to admit this is something I've learned.

I'm certainly not a lawyer, but the Supreme Court has these this

window of what they call conference period and the

conference period. They get submitted, you know,

thousands and thousands of cases that people want them to hear

and they conference on them. They do it for this period of

time. They do.

They do the conferences on Friday and then they release the

results of the conferences on Mondays.

And so currently we've been rescheduled.

But before Christmas we had a conference date.

That conference date got kicked all the way to January 10th

because of the holidays and then subsequently we're all sitting

here January 13th waiting to hear what happened from the

conference to Friday before on the 10th.

And we learned that we were what is called relisted.

Relisted. I don't know why they call it

that. It just means rescheduled.

So our cases, and I say cases because you're looking at the

5th Circuit, the 6th Circuit and the 8th Circuit, all of those

cases are now being conferenced by the justices.

And so we've now been rescheduled for a conference

this Friday, which is the 17th. So being Inauguration Day you

mentioned and Martin Luther King Day, we won't learn on this

Monday. Chances are we'll learn on

Tuesday, maybe, maybe late Friday evening, but I, I doubt

it, but that's where we are now. So there's three possibilities.

The simplest to explain is they are, they deny hearing the case,

they're not going to hear it. When they deny hearing a case,

it doesn't mean that it's legal or illegal.

It just means they deny hearing it.

So we would have to then go back to the Fifth Circuit, get the

relief from the opinion that they gave.

The second option is. Eric, can you tell people what,

what the 5th, what the Fifth said?

Did they side with you? Did they side with the federal

government? What, what happened there?

And where is the 5th Circuit? The 5th Circuit is the state's.

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals physically resides in New

Orleans, but it is the District of Texas, Louisiana and

Mississippi. That's the three states that

encompass the 5th. The 5th Circuit twice has

declared hissa unconstitutional. And then that's why we've been,

we being the even the authorities, lawyers in the FTC

have appealed it now all the way to the Supreme Court to make a

final decision because the 6th Circuit, which includes

Kentucky, they found it constitutional.

So you have this split circuit. So you know, again, going back

to the, the one of three options, the, the, the first

option denied. The second option is we're,

we're granting your, your hearing.

So you can have a hearing and we're going to do it essentially

in either March and April and then you'll get your opinion in

June or July of this year. The third option and probably

less likely for our case is they punt it all the way to the next

session, which now we're talking about.

We wouldn't hear until 2026 what their decision was.

So we feel as if it's either it's either going to be granted

to be heard this year or they're going to deny hearing it,

hearing it, and then we'll have to go back and see what the 5th

Circuit, what that resolve will be.

SCOTUS blog.org is my favorite Supreme Court log, so if you

needed one, Eric. If you had told me in college

and I'd have that on my favorites, I would have laughed

your ass off So. But yeah, yeah, that that I, I

swear to God, I think I should take the bar just for the fun of

it. I think I'd.

Pass. We joked, we joked out at our

church. Eric, my pastor said I wish I

had had a six months at seminary on roofing and HVAC.

You know, they don't prep you for that stuff at school.

So no, I totally get it. Oh, man.

Oh, man. All right.

Well, he's Eric Camelbak. He's with the HBPA.

Who's LSU's next coach going to be?

I tell you what, I I still have hope for Joe Brady, but I don't

think he's going to leave the Bills for a college team.

You know, he's yeah, I swear to God.

But yeah, it's going to be interesting.

We'll see what the season brings.

I hope you didn't follow your. He'll be.

There, I hope you don't. You didn't follow Burrow up to

Cincinnati and just get frustrated with the Bengals

defense or anything. So there you go.

All right, really, he's Eric Camelback and Eric the Tiger.

Go make fun of Brian Kelly on his timeline for me.

I appreciate it very much, Eric. I'm sure I'll run into you

sooner than later, my friend. Maybe we'll see you at Turfway

or something like that and be well.

Hope you guys had a great holiday and I'll talk to you

soon. Thank you, guys.

Appreciate it, Louis. All right.

No problem. That's Eric Camelback.

He is with the National HPA and this is the Kentucky racing

Spotlight were presented by the Kentucky HPPAKY hppa.com.

All our great friends over there, the pictures, the photos

and the articles up at the website.

All the great people around our great Commonwealth making our

great sport go. One more segment to go.

We'll talk to Matthew De Santis from Naira bets.

Next we'll look at 2 Oaks preps and a Derby prep as we get you

into your weekend. I'm Lou Revoke.

This is the Kentucky Racing Spotlight.

Welcome back to the Kentucky Racing Spotlight on ESPN 680 and

105.7. Now here's Louis.

Rabeau all right, welcome back in.

It is the final segment of a January 17th edition of the

Kentucky Racing Spotlight. My name is Louis Rabeau.

We leave the state for one segment to look at preps that

will eventually bring a couple of horses to the Commonwealth of

Kentucky in the way up the Kentucky Oaks and the Kentucky

Derby. 2 Oaks preps at 20 points and 1:00 Derby prep at 20 points

this weekend, two of those at Fairgrounds.

One of those is going to be at Aqueduct and a man who will be

in attendance for that is friend of the show and friend in

general of mine, Matthew DeSantis with Naira Bets.

So nice to join us at failed to menace on all of the socials.

Go find all of his stuff there. And of course the Naira Bets

YouTube page as well. Matthew, I assume it's you

that's in charge of the prep system in New York who thinks

it's OK to run mile in an eighth races right now.

And then in a month when we get to the Butcher, run it at a

mile. And then when we get to the

Gazelle, run that at a mile and an eighth.

And then when we get to the Acorn, run that at a mile and a

16th. I assume you're in charge of all

that. I'm in charge of all things that

make no sense, Louis. And so I that is my job title,

actually. It's content producer colon,

director of things that make no sense.

And yeah, listen, it it it's so bizarre because I think these

early preps that we have up here in the Buss Honda are so

incredibly in the demoiselle as well, are so incredibly telling

because you really can get a sense early on of hey, who can

maybe get this distance and who's going to really struggle

with it? And it really kind of takes the

week from the shaft in some way. So I always like these.

But you're right, you know, cut back in the Bush or you cut back

in the Gotham and it just doesn't really make a lot of

sense that you're doing these one turn races up here.

And especially that being a one turn mile.

It's just if you cut back to a mile and it was a two turn mile,

maybe I could understand it. But that one turn mile just

changes the dynamics in the next set of preps a lot.

Yeah, it really does. We'll do some on the horse

racing happy hour side of things.

We'll do some Maryland preps next week.

And I was, you know, we do these Preakness, Road to the Preakness

shows and all that with Pimlico and at Laurel like next week.

I know already and I don't have to look that they're going to do

a one turn mile for the boys and A7 furlonger for the girls.

And then the month after it'll be a mile and a 16th and a mile

and blah, blah, blah. And they'll build to the

Preakness and the to the Black Eyed Susan up there.

But that is neither here nor there.

We need to talk about the Busanda.

It is a black type, $125,000 here, 20 points on the line for

the Kentucky Oaks. We get a favorite in a Chad

Brown Philly that broke her maiden, the daughter of Munnings

in Ramify over that mile course at Aqueduct.

As you mentioned, she'll come back, She'll try the two turns

for the first time. She does stand out here in this

field, very impressive on debut and frankly, the reason it was

so impressive was how she finished Matthew.

And so if you wanted to get excited about her getting the

two turns and being totally capable of that, you could look

at that maiden work. She's been working at the

Belmont training track since then.

I'm Long Island. I like a long shot that's

actually a New York bred in here.

But do you think she's a worthy five to two favorite Ramify in

the three hole? I, I think she's worthy and I

think I think that number is probably pretty accurate that

David Aragona set for the morning line.

Chad Brown's always going to take a lot of money.

I do think it's curious that Jose Lozano is up on the mount.

And I think that's curious just because Manny Franco is opting

to ride the Brad Cox runner, who is 6 to one, the number one

horse in this particular race. And that is sharp smile, who I

don't really have a huge opinion of in this race.

I don't don't think she's fine, but I I see her kind of as more

of a fourth or fifth choice. And for Manny to opt a ride for

Cox overriding for Chad Brown in this sort of a spot is kind of

fascinating. And I don't know the politics

behind all of it, but let's kind of very rarely ever rides for

Chad Brown. So a little bit curious.

There's one coming from well off the pace last time out beat A5

horse field, which I do think if you want to have a little bit of

a red flag, that could be one facing tougher, more

competition. And listen, you can come from

off the pace in A5 horse field when it's all maidens trying to

do that in a nine horse field with tougher competition and you

can run into traffic issues, especially the new jockey

aboard. And so while she certainly was

very impressive, I do think she's a horse you might be able

to play against. And yeah, and there's a little

bit of a price that I like in this particular race as well.

But it's not a New York bred. Well, good enough on the outside

is a three to one horse as well in running away.

Can you describe to people listening here in Kentucky that

might not, you know, bet Aqueduct all the time and might

just be watching this race, you know, checking out Aqueduct for

not the first time necessarily, but it's been a minute.

Maybe an outside post on the mile and an eighth course there.

If people don't know you start at the same line that you finish

at essentially at Aqueduct. It's a mile and an eighth course

that way. Belmont a mile and a half

course, of course, which is why they run it the way that they do

in the Belmont Stakes. When we have back to Belmont

Park eventually, is it, is it for the 9 running away here for

Wesley Ward? Is that a detriment being on the

outside, a mile and an eighth? I it depends on your running

style. I think if you are a mid pack

horse, yeah it really is tough because you're going to get

caught wide going into that first turn.

The good news for running away is that she is going to try to

run away from everybody early on in this race and is going to try

to just gun it from that far outside post and and crossing

clear as many as she can. I think she'll to be able to do

a fair amount of that. She might be sitting in the two

path going into that first turn. It doesn't come up quite as

quick as that kind of mile and a 16th configuration at Gulfstream

Park, if people are more familiar with that, where you're

just like right up on that first turn.

It feels like within about four or five strides coming out of

the gate. So it it's not quite that quick.

But yeah, you do have to get over.

And she's got a lot of tactical speed and, you know, go figure

that you put Gun Runner on the dirt and she really perks up.

And so, you know, Wesley, we love him, but it's sometimes we

got to get him off the. Turf and he's.

His own worst enemy. And so, and one thing I'll say

about her is she's only ever done two turns and you know,

she's got the foundation of three starts all going two

turns, breaking her maiden at a mile and a 16th.

There's a fair amount to like there.

And if she can work out the right trip from that outside

post and get up there close to the lead stalking the lead, she

could be dangerous. I have a sense of who your

longer shot is here. If I guess it will you give me a

a long distance high five that we're not act you're you're in

New York. Good for radio, but yes, I will

be right. Is it?

Is it in fact, Ruth? Do you like Ruth in the spot?

High 5. High five.

Look at that. Look at Louis Roubeau

understanding Matthew DeSantis at failed The Menace on Twitter.

What do you like about Ruth? Well, you know, listen, it's a

Todd Pletcher horse that's coming up from Gulfstream Park

in debut. Got the victory, came from a

little off the pace, had a little bit of a tough trip too.

I mean, had to really kind of move between horses and just

didn't get the most comfortable trip, but was still able to get

the job done. The buyer speed figure came back

light. I think what you can look at is

the second place horse that day, Queen in the deck came back and

ran 14 points higher and broke her maiden next time out.

Makes me think maybe that race was a little artificially slow

and we're going to see a fair amount of horses coming out of

there who who improve and move forward.

Also, it just speaks to the fact here's a horse that Todd

Pletcher has down at Gulfstream Park.

Second start. He's moving her right into an

Oaks prep tells me that Todd thinks this one's pretty

talented. Bullet workout down there 2 back

on January 3rd, 48 and 3. Going 4 furlongs doesn't need

the lead, can kind of track from off the pace and I just think

you're going to get a little bit of a price at the 8:00 to 1:00

morning line. Man, I'm interested in the 8

here. Man, Bernie and the Rose coming

out of a win against New York Breds in open company here over

the mile course at Aqueduct. Broke her maiden there as well

in a race before that, a daughter of Accelerate.

We haven't seen a ton of those get on the Oaks or Derby trail

just yet. Look, major step into open

company here. We're talking about getting up

against the Browns and the Pledgers and that kind of thing.

I understand that completely. But if you are looking for, I

think a horse especially to say perhaps fill out an exacta

trifecta, I think with this horse, I think it's going to be

very simple. They're just going to say yo go

and if she can make it, she can make it.

I think she's going to be one of those.

She might get the lead for a little while trail off at the

end. We're just not sure.

But boy, she did it over the mile last time.

Very fast fractions which she set herself.

I'll be interested to see her at 12 to one.

We head down to New Orleans for the two preps there, both one in

the Oaks and one in the Derby, both for 20 points.

The the Fasik Tipton Silver Bullet Day will be race 9 to

start the late pick 4 down there.

If you were interested in my conversation with Joey

Christafeck, who joined us on the Horse Racing Happy Hour this

week, you could always go to that podcast center and look at

that episode. They're going a mile, 70 yards,

just starting right before the finish line there down at the

Fairgrounds. Whit Beckman's going to have the

favorite here on debut. Simply Joking goes ahead and

wins a stakes race down there at Fairgrounds.

Matthew, we talked about her quite a bit the other day on the

podcast. She'll be 3 to one here.

Do you think she's worthy of three to one?

I think she is. It was really impressive to to

win against stakes company is quite impressive on debut.

Witt has been really firing off. I mean Joey would know this.

Witt's been firing off a lot of winners down there at Gulfstream

Fairgrounds. I should say thus far this meet

and this one's has good pedigree.

I'm going to talk about another horse that has good pedigree,

but this one's the half the drum Roll please, who is a nice horse

that won the Jerome, which was a prep race up here last year.

So has good, has good pedigree and is really good speed.

And that's one of the things there's not much speed in this

race in the silver bullet day, stretching out from six

furlongs. I know she won from off the pace

going 6, but you figure stretching out to a mile and 70,

she's going to be able to get it right up there, right on the

lead, if not on the lead. And I like those practical

jokes. I know sometimes people really

just pigeonhole them as sprinters.

I like these practical jokes at a mile, 70, a mile and a 16th,

sometimes in a mile and an eighth.

And I I think they can do really good things there.

It's a good point by you. I think something that we tend

to do as handicappers when we know this is an Oaks prep or a

Derby prep is we try to project forward with these horses rather

than just what's going to happen on Saturday.

Just concentrate on this race itself, you know, especially the

earlier Derby preps, you know, say like earlier Oaks prep, like

a forward gal or something. That's a one turn race at

Gulfstream Park. Everyone's looking for the two

turn horse. That's not what we're doing

here. We're wagering on A1 turn race,

right? And in this case we're wagering

on a mile 70. We're not wagering on a mile on

three sixteenths or something like that in this spot.

Are you going to talk about Golden gamble or are you going

to talk about chasing as your your more widely better bred

here? Yeah, I was going to talk about

chasing for Brad Cox and Florent Drew up on the mount.

And this is a horse coming out of a victory in debut.

And it's of course, the half two, the likely older female

dirt horse of the year idiomatic who was just a dominant,

dominant mayor before her retirement.

And listen, the pedigree speaks for itself in that regard.

I mean, she should appreciate every single inch of more ground

in that, in that way. And it's going to be able to

save the ground from the inside rail, although did not get off

particularly well in debut. You do worry about that being on

the rail. Maybe she ends up getting

shuffled a little bit further back than she would ideally

like. And I do think Kenny Mcpeak's

Golden Gamble is a really serious horse as the number as

the second choice on the board at 7:00 to 2:00.

And, you know, I just think both those present some interesting

opportunities if you're looking to beat the Beckman horse.

Although I do wonder come post time, you know, Cox, Drew, Kenny

Mcpeak, Brian Hernandez, Junior, they you, those groups are going

to take money. Yeah, I think that's right.

And, you know, you mentioned the the Mcpeak Hernandez

combination. I I just wish they would have

done something in 2024. I I just feel like they could

they you know, they had better horses than their I mean, yeah,

I, I how did torpedo Anna finish second in the traverse?

What are we doing? But, you know, they are a bored

golden gamble here in this one. The daughter of Laubanne and a

Bernardini mayor on that one. Ran really well in that

Untappable has never gone shorter than a mile in two turns

frankly here with this horse. Interested to see Golden Gamble

as well as Mcpeak tries to win yet another Kentucky Oaks down

the line. The Lecomte will close the card.

It's race 12. It's a grade 3 mile and a 16th

here for three-year olds. Quarter million bucks in here.

It is a grade 3 as well. A huge field of 14.

I love that they're willing to run 14 horses here.

Talk to Joe Christopheck the other day about Built being the

favorite here, the 13 being outside.

It was his opinion and A and a guy that we've talked to on this

show and Wade Catalano. He would have scratched him if

he hated this post position if he really thought that it wasn't

a spot for him to be in. Decides to leave him in the race

here. Horses done nothing wrong.

His last two outbreaks is made at the highest level at

Keeneland. Comes back and the gun runner

which is the prep for this one puts up a 92 buyer trying two

turns for the first time beats magnitude who's also in this

field. Were they a three to 1 here?

Worthy, but I'm playing against. Yeah, I think that's not on my.

Yeah, I think the post position is I, I, I, I respect Wayne for

not kind of the horse getting a magical temperature the day of

the race and I I do appreciate that.

But nevertheless, I think that what you can expect is this

horse is going to get hung wide. And you also look, yes, this

horse has been able to win the last few times out, but is able

to kind of set terms on the front end himself.

That's not going to happen. There's a lot of speed in this

race going from the inside to the outside, and this horse is

not going to maybe even get to the lead.

And if he does, he's going to be pressed the whole way around.

Reminds me a little bit of like what happened last with track

Phantom, who looked really good when he was able to set things

up on the front end himself. And then once he got pressed was

like, oops, maybe you're not that good of a horse.

And so I I think that built is going to be one of those horses

that, you know, that 92 buyer hard to think he's going to be

able to replicate that. And some of these horses have an

opportunity to continue to set forward.

Is there anyone else in the field that really stands out to

you? I think disco time is sort of an

interesting one here for Brad Cox because he does have the

mild distance. You know, we didn't even mention

during the Silver Bullet day. But the stretch out for Brad Cox

is what he does. It is worth mentioning 41%

stretching horses from one turn to two doesn't suck at that.

What do you like about? What do you like about disco

time in this spot? Yeah, What I like about disco

time is a couple of things. One has shown the ability to at

least sit a little bit behind horses, be able to rate and

stalk during the earliest portion of the race.

Did that in debut going 7 furlongs and then just kind of

took the initiative last time out was never really asked to do

much in those efforts. And as you mentioned, Cox is

just so dominant getting these horses to to continue to move

forward. You'll love the pedigree of the

stamina over the speed in this particular case.

So this one, nine to two on the morning line, we'll see what you

end up getting come post time. But I thought this one looked

really tough. And again, I think can maybe

save a little bit more ground than a horse like built who's

just a couple of posts outside. But it's probably going to have

to be forced to be outside of a horse like disco time.

It's interesting too, there's a bunch of of shooters in this

race that I'm not sure I know exactly how they're going to

show up. But a horse like Innovator, for

example, that gets the inside post, it's Jamai Torres who's

very good at being on the lead and raiding horses in that kind

of scenario. For Wayne Lucas that won the

Preakness last year, obviously was Seize the Grade coming out

of a muddy maiden special win after they tried this horse in a

in the advent of blue black type at Oaklawn Park.

We haven't seen a lot of horses travel yet from Oaklawn to

Fairgrounds, so we don't have a ton of data on that, but this is

a horse that's finished four, four times.

Second, any interest in Innovator here?

Is this a horse? I think they're just going to

send from the inside and if he gets there, he gets there.

Yeah, he they're going to send from the inside and it would it

is very typical that it's a Dewayne Lucas horse who's going

to his eighth race and barely has just turned 3 years old.

You got to love it. And listen, he might run in a

race next week too. Hey, we'll see out but you.

But here's the thing, you look at who that horse is run

against. That horse is run against the

best competition in this. It's not even close.

This is a horse that finished second to Barnes, ran against

chancellor Mcpatrick, ran against tough cat France against

Sandman, ran against Owen Almighty and these are big names

that this horse has run up against.

So even though he's just the last out maiden winner, you

could argue he's got the best back class in the entire group

and he's got a lot of foundation because of all those races.

So you know D Wade could absolutely sneak of a fast one

by everyone. My only concern about this is

just how much potential speed there is and the fact that the

horse directly to his outside also has really good early

speed. So it's just it's going to be

tough for Jaime to kind of get the right trip, I think in this

particular case, But really good.

And I'll, I'll give a very quick shout out to another New York

bred actually #7 calling card for Mike Maker.

If this is a horse 12:00 to 1:00 in the morning line, if they go

too fast up front, and I think they will, this is a horse

that's going to come running late and it's going to pass a

lot of horses. Do I think this horse is good

enough to win? Probably not.

Am I including this horse and my exactas and my tries at a big

price? Yes, I am.

So I I think that one is a little bit interesting and even

last time going against open company for the first time in a

pretty big optional claiming race ran against that horse

Sandman, who I know the connections of that horse really

have a promising future. They they're going to get back

into the Derby trail after that victory last time out for that

horse. So you know, he's run against

some nice competition and oh, by the way, broke his maiden by

over 17 lengths. So there's some talent there.

Yeah, just a little bit. You know, I didn't bring this up

earlier, but I'll, I'll put a bow on our conversation here.

You asked about Manny riding Sharp smile for Brad Cox and

Dubu Sanda. And I think I and I'll tell you,

I think I know why. And it's because Immersive is

out, man. And so I think Manny lost his

Oaks mount, but he's got a great relationship with Brad Cox,

especially when they're riding in Long Island together, right?

I mean, he really does. And I think he doesn't want to

screw that up. So I don't want to, you know,

I'm not doing the politics thing or whatever.

But, you know, with Immersive out, he's probably looking for

another Oaks mountain. So I, I, I, I'm not surprised,

in my case at least, to see him aboard.

Sharp Smile. Yeah, no, that, that's a really

good point. And and I I felt bad for Manny

because he, you know, traveled around, he went down to

Keeneland and he really loved that Philly and and she's going

to be she's awesome. She's yeah.

She's awesome, but that sucks. Yeah.

It sticks. Yeah, it sticks.

Never. Yeah, because she is.

She's legit. Like, there's no other way about

it. Very much.

I we were out at, you know, you and I were both thought we were,

you know, lucky this year to get to go to Breeders' Cup in

Delmar. And.

And it was that was one of those performances like Victoria, her

on Juvenile Day really did stand out as as the top 2 almost

certainly in that day. And then, you know, it, it, you

know, he was out there for that. It's just, yeah, it's it's hard

to watch, you know, for these guys who, you know, are really.

So there's so many it it's amazing that a horse ever gets

to the starting gate, Matthew. It's also amazing that they ever

get all the way through these prep seasons and get to a major

race like the Oaks and the Derby.

But here we are. He's Matthew DeSantis.

What should people be looking for this week?

Yeah, I got a lot of great stuff up on Naira Bets.

If you go to Naira Bets YouTube, you can see all the content that

we have. We have a cap in the card going

through all 12 races on the comp day.

We also have a preview of the Busanda.

We have Road to the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks, myself

and my colleague Kaylee Shapiro, where we share our respective

top five contenders. And then we decided to, you

know, get ahead of the Eclipse Awards and we gave out our Naira

Bets awards so you can check that out.

And we had some fun categories like Tough Beat of the year,

Best Bet of the Year, top long Shot of the year, all that sort

of good stuff too. So try to give a shout out to

the horse players and the stuff that we all stay up late nights

thinking about those tough beats.

Did I also not win a media award through the Naira Bets awards

like I did not win a media award through the Eclipse Awards?

I will say that there there was not a category for you, but yes,

technically you did not a win, you did not win a Naira bets

award. Yeah, I see how this goes.

All right, All right, no more questions.

All right, He's he's Matthew DeSantis there, joins us from

Rockaway. We appreciate him making the

time. I will catch up with you soon,

Matthew. We appreciate you very much.

And this has been a January 17th edition of the Kentucky Racing

Spotlight with Louis Ribow. I'm Louis Ribow at Radio Louis.

Find the show at KY Racing Spotlight, Kentucky Racing

Spotlight as well. Again, Triple Crown Challenge is

up at our Facebook page, at our Twitter page.

Get in with with us on that. Nothing to play.

You pick one horse every weekend.

If they hit the board, you get points.

That's how it works all the way through the Belmont Stakes.

And then we'll give out those prizes, everything from, gosh,

everything from swag to tickets to cigars to we'll, we'll, we'll

figure out some other things, gift cards, all kinds of stuff

as well. But I'm Lou Rebeau, thanks to

ESPN Louisville and thanks to our friends at the Kentucky

HBPAKYHBPA dot com. All the great stuff going on

over there for presenting our coverage here on the Spotlight

Show. Thanks for making us part of

your horse racing weekend and good luck with all your bets.

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