BloodHorse Monday Episode 3 | 2/17/25

All right, welcome in uh beach side here just outside.

I mean maybe any out of Puerto Rico up close to camera railroad

racetrack. Why not let's go.

It's a holiday edition for me at least, of a Blood Horse Monday

episode 3. Sean Collins taking out a not so

holiday ish for you my friend, not.

At all. We're looking out, seeing the

beach. I'm looking out and just seeing

snow on my balcony. So we're in two.

Areas. You and I were talking before

the show and I and I, all I said was my whole life we've gone on,

you know, since I've had kids. We try to get out once a year,

big trip, this kind of stuff. We love Puerto Rico, I love the

people down here, obviously. And then just usually the

weather in Louisville for some reason gets warm the second I

leave. So I apologize this time.

Usually, folks, I'm good at setting up good weather.

Not this time. So there you go.

Hopefully the snow will pass very soon.

It is President's Day, of course, racing around the

country. We had the classical Jorge

Washington here at Camarero yesterday, the old George

Washington Classic, well, Grade 3 for three-year olds down here

yesterday. But of course we had a bunch of

Derby preps as well, Sean on the Kentucky Derby trail, if you

will, slightly different trail than the old Jorge Washington

trail down here. But man, I thought some stand

out performances for sure. A classic finish in the Sunland

Derby that we'll probably talk a lot about for a long time,

frankly, because of the connections and all that sort of

thing. And especially if one of those

two shows up really big on the 1st Saturday in May, for sure

we'll go back to that. But just sort of lasting

impressions from the weekend, Sean, before we get into the

replays. Well, I think one of the the

keys here for, you know, the races especially we'll talk

about the Risen Star, but who showed up and who didn't show up

in that race is kind of the different stories that we had

coming out of that race. But we had the, you know, the

big names back in it, you know, the Baffert's, the Lucas, the

Asmussens getting on the Derby trail with these horses.

But we also had some of those kind of underneath spots, some

of the smaller names pop up. So everything that you want

heading into the first Saturday in May, we're 75 days away

today. Louis getting close. 75 is a

number I can wrap my head around.

That's real. That's that's a thing.

When we started this, what was it, 89 or something to Churchill

Downs? Windiest day in the history of

the track. No, like all kinds of stuff

going on that way. So yeah, 75, yeah, we're past

the 50 point. We we've broken the seal on the

50 pointers as well. And that Risen starts.

Let's go ahead and watch that one.

John Dooley on the call down there at the fairgrounds.

The half mile 46.92 seconds for magnitude coming toward the

quarter pole as built is building momentum now for Luis

Saez and East Avenue is running a third but under pressure they

straighten for home past the quarter pole.

It's magnitude 3/4 in one minute, 10.95 seconds.

Magnitude coming down toward the final for long holds a 3-4

length lead on Built and then American Promise into third

chunk of gold is in. 4th East Ave. is well defeated here at

the fairgrounds today. Magnitude who just keeps on

rolling for Ben Curtis home it's Magnitude.

Magnitude at 43 to one wire to wire in the resistar.

Second close chunk of gold with Built.

Oh man, when you talk about exactly what you would like your

horse to do over a mile and a day, the magnitude did just

that. A very Baffertesque performance

by a three-year old there. Sean.

Obviously out of the Asmos and Barb, we heard from him in the

fall about this horse. He loved this horse in the fall.

Wasn't sure he was going to be his top three-year old, but man,

he loved this horse. Finally showed exactly what he

wanted. And by the way, from the outside

post, Ben Curtis hustling up to that first turn knew what he

needed to do with this horse. Plenty of leg left at the

finish. Two shot.

Yeah, this. You know, there's multiple ways

that you can look at this race for, you know, from the

connection standpoint. Ben Curtis got his first ride in

the Kentucky Derby last year on Honor Marie.

He's just moved over from riding in Europe and he's already

having the success. That was a fantastic ride.

He and Steve both mentioned after the race they kind of got

together. They saw how the racetrack was

playing. It seemed like speed on the

inside was where you wanted to be during the day at

fairgrounds, and he wrote that to perfection.

He broke the gate, just sent him up there.

I watched an interview with him after the race, Ben Curtis, and

he mentioned about how he was kind of able to get magnitude to

come back to him, give him a breather, and Steve Asmussen had

him ready. You know, this horse has, you

know, he's had a couple of performances on the Derby trail

where he hasn't shown up and the Iroquois and the Lecomte Stakes,

but he had him ready today. He's developing at the right

time. He just knew at some point Steve

was going to have the horse that finally broke through got him

back on the Derby trail as he still searches for that first

win. I was going to say, man, you

know, for a guy like that, and you know, I'm a fortunate guy,

get to do shows like this and you know, you get to interview

trainers and you meet these guys and this is a get up early

profession. This is a 7 day a week

profession for those guys. So you have to imagine there's a

fair amount of allowing themselves to dream about that

Derby winner circle and those things and see that was all time

leading his trainer in North America gives you an idea of how

difficult it is to get a horse all the way to the Derby game

and have a win the darn thing as well or her and win the thing.

And so it is it is fun to watch these because you know when

you're around this and you get to do what we do.

You meet guys like Steve and he just he's trying to win races

and he just doesn't have the Derby on his resume just as of

yet. Big old speed figure, big old

performance there. Sean.

I mean, are we, are we going to overreact to this come Derby

day, you think? I don't know.

This is one of those ones where like last year when Mystic Dan

ran so well in the southwest kind of up on the route and he

ran away. That was one that I kind of, I

didn't think it was as good as it actually was.

Turned out a couple months later I was completely.

So I don't wanna 100% say, you know, that this is not gonna be,

you know, one of the, you know, this could very well just be a

three-year old who's taking that step forward.

He's developing, he's figuring it out.

And now you know, the last couple prep races and we'll see

it again here in the Sunland Derby when we talk about that

one, there's been a lot of speed horses that have been winning

some of these prep races recently.

That's right point. You're gonna have to look at

who's gonna be the pacesetter in the Derby.

It's gonna get too quick up there on the pace, and I would

like to see, you know, from him next time out.

Seeing him now, kind of use this newfound skill to sit off the

pace a little bit, see if he's the same horse.

Was it the golden rail? Was it the racetrack that helped

him out today? Or is he just a good horse

that's peaking at the right time?

We'll have to find out in his next start.

Fair about a good evidence that if there was a track bice it

wasn't overwhelming on Saturday at fairgrounds and so I do think

this stands up on its own as a good performance.

One thing that you mentioned Sean, that Ben Curtis did say in

the post race comments that I really like that.

I like to hear from jockeys, which is, yeah, we got out quick

because I asked him. But when I asked him to call

down in the in the back, you know, the after the first turn

on the backside, whatever, he did it and he was able to get

that little bit of a breather. Like you mentioned, slow down

those fractions a little bit, get closer to 24 or maybe a

little bit over when you can on those kinds of splits.

I always look for that with three-year olds, if they're able

to be coached that way, if they're pros in that way, if

they understand go or hey, we need to chill out for just a

minute. Some of our favorite horses,

Sean, only have one speed and that's just go as fast as they

can. They go five and a half, six,

whatever, and they're good to go.

And we're talking about the Derby.

We're talking about 10 furlongs. And that was a great performance

over a mile and an eighth. Obviously, we've got to stretch

out going forward for him, but we'll get a good sense of that

in the Louisiana Derby. Of course, running a mile and

316th is the longest of the Kentucky Derby preps as well.

That'll be up in a month. Another race at the fairgrounds

this weekend was the Rachel Alexandra, another Grade 2 on

the card there in the 1st 50 point prep for the Oaks field

turn into a 25 point prep. I want to ask you about that,

Sean, because I have some thoughts about that.

But we do get a nice return from another Brad Cox Philly here on

the trail. It is again John Dooley at the

fairgrounds on the call. Ryan Hernandez junior Goals

Delight remains the target for Aladeen and Bless the Broken

coming up three wide and good Cheer for the inside is 2

lengths off of Goals Delight as they come to the top of the

stretch. Goals Delight, Aladeen plus the

Broken. Good cheer in the Royal Blue.

3/4 for Goals Delight. Woman to 13.19 seconds.

Good Cheers now coming after Goals Delight.

One for long to go and here's Good Cheer.

It's Good Cheer who's taking the lead just outside the 16th

Volvois Saez. Goals the Light is second and

Good Cheer is sailing clear to make it 5 for five Good Cheer in

the Rachel Alexandra Stakes, won by a half dozen links from Goals

the Light. We just saw recently at

bloodhorse.com, of course. Go check out the website.

Our colleague Frank Angst was writing about how important it

is, especially in the cold side, to come back with your debut run

at 3 to be a good one. It's less of an indicator on the

Philly side, but Sean, this is exactly what I wanted to see

from her. Frankly, it was a very

untechnical ride from Luis. I said I'm not picking on him.

He did. He knew he had the best horse

here. It goes ahead and just says, you

know what, let's sit right here, sit right here.

And I love this move right here. He doesn't force anything.

He just knows he's got the fastest horse who has the most

energy left, goes ahead and passes this field.

Obviously not down to 4 from 7 starters in the gate, Sean.

So look, she was the best of this group of four.

Frankly, she was probably the best of the group of seven as

well. What'd you like about here?

Oh, I love this performance. I think I mentioned on the show

last week and you know that this is probably my Kentucky Oaks

horse. I really liked her as a 2 year

old and you don't always see those Phillies that are top 2

year olds come back and be that dominant again as a three-year

old. Who's your Phillies?

One that pops in my mind kind of in the same.

Just a few years ago she was running in the same race as Good

Jeer has been running in and she didn't make that step forward.

So we talked about the track bias that was potentially there.

She obviously played against that bias coming from off the.

Yeah, right. Great point.

The only question was going to be, was she gonna be able to

find room to run? She very, you know, was very

relaxed in the early stages, waiting for that spot to open.

Once it opened up, she was there.

She punched through and just coasted.

I mean, you look at her coming down the stretch there right at

the end, and I mean, she was not really putting up any effort.

It seemed like she was just kind of galloping away from them.

I would have loved to see what would have happened with simply

Joking staying in that race. I agree.

That we lost her. But I just, I think this is the

horse to beat for the Kentucky Oaks, at least at this point.

Yeah, I, I talked to Whit Beckman on Wednesday.

She was running as Wednesday, so obviously something popped up

with her where she was unable to go and simply joking.

But look, this is this is a Brad Cox specialty.

We expect 3 year olds and especially on the Philly side to

be great in his barn this time of year.

No surprises there. We see the blue silks.

We know what that means as well. So all of it sets up.

Sean, I totally agree with you that she is going to be a

massive player on that first Friday in May when we get to

Churchill Downs. Interested to see her next

steps. She obviously needs another race

here. You know it places her six weeks

out from the Oaks. Do you think that's too much

time or do you think that's the route they'll just stay on here?

I think that's the route they'll stay on.

I know Brad probably doesn't want to move her around too much

from Louisiana and you know, she's the she's the top dog down

there or why move my mover. I think probably that

Fairgrounds Oaks would be your neck.

And then that gives her, you know, that's scary to think that

she's going to have a full six weeks rest going into the

Kentucky. Oaks, yeah.

And then she could be second off the layoff there for the for the

acorn, which is crazy to think about as well.

Shaw College hanging out with you.

Another Blood Horse Monday. It's episode 3.

We are split screen because I am on an island and Sean is not.

So there you are. We you know what?

It's something I love about this show so far as we keep getting

great finishes in these Kentucky Derby preps.

Not so much with magnitude except that it was a wow

performance. At least we got that part for

sure. But let's head out to Sunland

Park. Sean, we got a match up of a

Baffert and a coach in a Lucas. I mean, this, these two, this is

now twice in six months we've had this kind of finish up.

Classic showdown you love to see in every single time you want.

You always wonder which one of them is gonna get the edge this

time. It went bad for its way, but man

was that an exciting. So let's have.

Good looking move from Caldera. Caldera means business and he's

bearing down on getaway car. Caldera looks to have his

measure. Caldera with a sweeping move.

Getaway car's going to have to find something more and find it

quickly touching his third straightening away into the long

Sunland Park stretch. It is Caldera for D Wayne Lucas

Litigan neck fighting back getaway car will not give up.

Getaway car Vigilant on the inside.

Getaway car coming back Getaway car tell Dara throw down in an

awesome finish wasn't getaway car.

Oh my God. Stop smiling watching that

again. Eric all out on the call out

there at Sunland Park. Appreciate Eric call there the

excitement. I I OK, I I know everyone has

their opinions on track announcers and all the different

things. It's one of my favorite parts of

the sport that they're all so different in different parts of

the country calling races differently.

An awesome finish. Yes, it was an awesome finish.

Thank you, Eric. You're right.

Yes, it was an awesome finish. I thought England have have

their day in the sun with such a, you know, such a great finish

with the small tracks when they have the big races and it

provides this excitement like this.

You just it can't get any better than that.

With you a nice handle yesterday as well.

So good to see or two days ago, I should say.

Good to see bettors discovering Sunland out there as well.

Sean, look, this is a prep that we overlook.

I think we've had some really good runners come out of this

historically. This is another classic Baffert

that gets the lead and it when he needs to be, you know kicking

along he does We get the Lucas trainee on the outside.

I mean, going forward, obviously we'll see one of these in

Arkansas, one of these in San Anita, whatever it might be.

But man, I think if you have you're part of the connections

of both of these forces, or either I should say, I think you

feel pretty good after that race.

Oh yeah, definitely. You know, for getaway car, you

know, he's been running against Citizen Bowl and gaming his own

stable needs. He's kind of kind of had it in

tough and he hasn't always been given his opportunity to be up

on the lead. So to see him get the lead and

then have to overcome some adversity down the stretch.

I mean, I I think Caldera got like a full neck on him at one

point, battled back. So to see him have that fight is

something that, you know, going towards the Derby is something

you really want to see because it's going to be a completely

different race. You know, his stablemates are

going to be in different portions of the racetrack as

well. So you know, you really kind of

want to see him have that fight in him before the 1st Saturday

in May. And Caldera, I mean, he was a

horse that, you know, had just broken his maiden out of Oak

Lawn. He now shows that he can handle

shipping. He ran such a great.

Point. And it's just nothing but upside

there. I'm sure there are plenty of my

racehorse people in the stands there that were screaming down

the stretch trying to trying to get him home there.

I'm sure that was an exciting atmosphere at Sunlight

yesterday. I saw there were a lot of people

on track, on TV, and yeah, what what a classic horse race.

I, I always know when I go to look up with, you know, the

ownership group on a horse, if a race replay has 80 or more

comments, it's a my racehorse was.

Horse. No question about it, which is

awesome by the way. It is awesome for our sport that

that many people have a, you know, half a toenail or

something of a horse and they feel that connected.

They feel that stuff. That's the good stuff, man.

It really, really is there. So there's our race replays for

the weekend. And by the way, I think you said

something really great, which was we got a great finish out of

four horses in three races this weekend.

I think all the connections should feel really good about

those. Why did they ask you real quick?

Do you think it's fair to the connections of that of that that

Rachel Alexandra that they did have 7 entered four run and they

only get half the points out of Sean Collinsville?

Well, you know, it's interesting because this is the first year

where we're seeing that point reduction here in the

Championship Series for a smaller number of races.

You know, on one end it makes, you know, it makes sense why you

do it because you end up not having as much competition.

We've seen in the past horses that have gotten into the

Kentucky Derby because, you know, they ended up just getting

a bunch of these third place points and four or five horse

fields and it added up to end up getting them a spot when maybe

you'd say they didn't deserve it because of how far back they

finished. So it makes sense.

I personally don't have a problem with it, but that could

change because this is the first time that we have this point

system in place. So you don't know what the end

result's going to be yet. Is this going to end up keeping

a horse that should end up being in the in the Kentucky Oaks or

the Kentucky Derby? Who finishes second in one of

these races? Is that going to keep them out

of the gate? We'll have to wait and see on

that aspect. So right now I'm fine with it

because, you know, especially in the race yesterday, good cheer

was definitely kind of head and shoulders above the rest of the

field there. But will it stay that way?

We'll have to wait and see. Underrated part of this

discussion for me, Sean, is there are 20 spots in the

Kentucky Derby, same number of opportunities, but only 14 for

the Oaks. And so it hits different when it

hits an Oaks race like this and it hits a horse like good cheer.

And so I don't know if maybe the Oaks trail needs to be treated

differently than the Derby trail just because of the number of

starters. But that would be my only bone

of contention here. I understand why they put this

in place. I'm generally speaking not

against it. I have this very similar take as

you, Sean. But I think on the Oaks side, it

is a little different to ask people to only qualify for 14

spots for the premier 3 year old Philly event in the spring and

then tell them, Oh yeah, by the way, thanks for putting together

seven horses and then for good. We're taking care of the horses

and not running a horse. You know, like, like just joking

or whatever, like something joking like that's a we

shouldn't be penalizing that either.

So I don't know. I'm I'm a little bit in the

more, but I largely agree with you.

Sean Collins. We were beau hanging out episode

3 of a blood horse Monday. Let's go ahead and get to your

interview with Elliot Walden. Can you tell us a little bit

about this? I can tell from all the notes

you said that you had a great time.

You learned a lot. We're going to kind of break

this up into different parts, but we'll get the the beat of

it, if you will, to start here, Sean.

So what are you and Elliot talk? About Yeah.

So Elliot Walden is the president, CEO and racing

manager of Windstar Farm. We talked last week about John

Hancock, who's a horse of theirs.

He won the Sam F Davis very, you know, long stretch battle just

like that Sunland Derby that we saw a very exciting stretch tool

that he came out the victor of. And so we got in this interview,

we got Elliot's thoughts kind of on how this horse has developed.

I think it was really interesting kind of hearing him

talk about when they backed off on this horse.

You know, he didn't start until his three-year old season.

He didn't start as a 2 year old and kind of the decision that

went into backing off with him as a 2 year old.

And then also, you know, they have a couple other horses,

Windstar, that are pointing towards the Derby.

Just how winning the Derby a couple of times has LED Winstar

to kind of, you know, look at the point system and trying to

get the qualifying points a little bit differently than

maybe someone else where you want to make sure you don't just

get a horse in the Derby, You want to get a horse has a chance

to win the Derby. And so I think that's some great

insight that he was able to give us.

That's awesome. And by the way, we're going to

have these kinds of interviews for you every single week here.

And of course you can find them as well at bloodhorse.com.

Make sure you pop over there to check out all the great things

happening on the website as well.

We'll get into it with Eric Mitchell.

After that, we'll do a little Stallion of the Week with him as

well. And by the way, we'll have him

comment on some of the Elliott Walden stuff as well.

But here's Sean's interview with Elliott Wald.

We'd like to welcome into the show today Elliott Walden, the

president and CEO and racing manager of Winstar Farm, who Co

owns John Hancock, winner of the Sam F Davis Stakes on the road

to the Kentucky Derby. Elliott, we're 75 days away from

the Kentucky Derby. Thanks for joining us today.

Well. Thank you.

Thanks for having me. Well, let's get started talking

about John Hancock. It was such an impressive win in

the Sam Davis. He lost the lead in the middle

of the stretch. He battled back on the inside

and came back and defeated Owen Almighty.

From your perspective as the owner, how exciting is that

moment, seeing him kind of dig in and come back?

Yeah, it was great. You know, he really stepped up.

Anytime you go from one turn to 2 terms, you don't know how how

they're going to respond. He he just had one race.

So you know, one of the biggest jumps in horse racing is going

from a maiden race, all non winners to all winners.

And you know, to see him battle a horse that's pretty proven

tested and Owen Almighty, you know, he'd had plenty of starts

and, and for him to to fend him off and, and really fight down

to the wire was a great thing. And Windstar is not only the Co

owners of the cult, but they also bred the cult.

He's a son of your stallion. Constitution.

We'll talk about Constitution more in a moment, but what stood

out to you early on about John Hancock?

Kind of as he developed from a foal into a racehorse.

You know, John Hancock was was, you know, kind of a middle of

the road physical, well balanced, very athletic, but not

the biggest horse. And so, you know, he was very

uncomplicated as a foal and in an early yearling.

And, you know, we had him in the sale, didn't feel like he was

going to, you know, break out and that he was 200,000 dollar

$300,000 yearling. And so at that point we felt

like that the best thing to do would be to, to try them in our

racing stable. So, you know, typically how we

handle those is if, if they're really good Colts and they're

really, you know, can, can, can, can break out, we'll sell them.

We sell our best. But if some of the middle of the

road type horses that the market might go go by, we, we, we will

try them in our racing stable, try for another day.

And he's trained by Brad Cox, one of the top trainers in the

United States. What was his early impressions

of the horse as he kind of got into training and how how

excited was he for seeing this horse's career unfold?

Well, I think he's very excited now.

You know, I think, you know, early on the horse had had had

trained very well here at Windstar for us, you know, not

setting any records or anything, but just a solid nice horse that

we kind of grouped is, is right at the bottom of our top level,

maybe at the top of our B level kind of horse.

And you know, so an exciting prospect.

We sent him to Brad in in quite honestly, he didn't show a whole

lot early on in training. You know, he got out worked at

Keeneland a couple times out of the gate, just didn't really put

it all together. And and and so Brad called me

one day and and he had moved him to Ellis and we had talked about

that and he was getting ready to run and Brad said, look, said I

like this horse. I think he has some talent.

He has a good way of moving, but he just hadn't put it all

together yet. Let's send him home and just let

him grow up. And, and so that's what we did,

you know, instead of the other option would have been to maybe

run him for 100 like, you know, even like Burnham Square did.

Sometimes these horses don't just get off the mark right out,

right, right away. And and you know, a patience is,

is a virtue and, and Brad is good at that.

Brad is good at it, trying to, to get the, he jokes all the

time, you know, we, he, he, he likes to slip into Planet

Fitnesses around the country and he says that's a no judgement

zone. But when these horses are two in

April, May, June, July, it's a no judgement zone on them.

And let them just grow and develop and then see what we

have. And Webster glad we did that

because when he came back, he was a bigger, stronger horse.

He had put it together mentally. When I saw him train over the

winter at Payson Park, I could see a difference in him and just

his whole demeanor to training. He was very enthusiastic about

it. He wanted to go out there every

day and perform. He was confident in himself.

And so we then had Tappan St. and we had another horse named

River Thames for Todd that we were running at Gulfstream.

So around the same time and instead of waiting for the next

maiden race at Gulfstream, you know, we talked to Brad about

going to Tampa and, and he he ran very well that day.

He ran a good number. And so we were kind of on our

way at that point. A lot of people put pressure on

these horses early to kind of make the Triple Crown because of

how important that is. You guys took that step back

with John Hancock, kind of let him develop you yourself.

You're a Belmont Stakes winning trainer.

You have finished second in the Derby a couple of times.

Does having that experience as a trainer kind of help you as a

racing manager when the trainer does come to you with that

decision? It does, it does.

And and, you know, I think the other thing, John, is just I'm,

I'm of the opinion right or wrong.

And, and probably because we've been blessed to win the Derby

twice and and they've had some success in the Triple Crown to

really focus on not chasing points.

You hear conversations all the time.

Oh, I got to get points or, or this race is worth this, this

and this. I'm a believer that the horse is

going to take you there and you know, because we've had success

there, we don't want to just run to run.

We want to show up with horses that can, that can run well.

So you know, take a horse like Tappan St. he's run twice, ran

very well on his first start at Golf Stream, ran very well in

the Holy Bull first time around, two turns similar to John

Hancock. We're waiting for the Florida

Derby and all the points are going to be in one race.

So either he's going to run first or second and earn his way

to the Derby in that spot or he's not.

But we're not going to run him back in the Fountain of Youth in

four weeks and then back again trying to get 10 points here and

20 points there and try to get in the Derby.

We're going to try to take one big swing at it and and do what

we think's best for a horse that's young and developing.

John Hancock is the same thing. You know, we could have run him

back in the Tampa Bay Derby, thinking about points, thinking

about how we run in there, then we can run it back again.

But I think we're going to find another race in that last round

of preps to to see how he develops and give him a chance

to catch his breath a little bit, You know, because he did

run back fairly quickly there. He did put in a big effort and

we'll just wait and see where we where we land with him.

Not sure yet. And you also mentioned River

Thames earlier. I believe he's planning to come

up in the Fountain of Youth stakes, correct?

Yeah, he's River Thames is going to run in the Fountain of Youth,

a little different scenario just because he has not had any

experience around 2 terms. So you know we are going to run

him back in four weeks in the Fountain of Youth and then

probably run him again in the Florida Derby or the Bluegrass

or the Arkansas Derby or the Wood, something like that, just

because he has not had any starts around two turns.

A lot of it depends on how he runs in the Fountain of Youth

and kind of felt like a mile in the 16th was the right next step

for him. Another of your top three-year

olds, Patch Adams, he had such an impressive maiden victory at

Churchill Downs, came back, he was fourth in the Southwest

sticks. What's next for him?

Kind of what's the plans going forward with him?

Looking at at the Tampa Bay Derby as a landing spot for him.

You know, the fountain of youth was considered as well.

Just because he's back in Florida.

You know, we traveled him once to Oak Lawn.

Don't want to do too much traveling.

But I think because he ran late January, you know, ran, ran OK,

but didn't put forth the kind of effort that we were hoping then,

you know, we kind of got to see him run again and get more

experience. He was very it wasn't a bad

race, but when you're four to five or three to five and and

finish 4th, you know, it is a tic disappointing.

But if you go back and look at it, the ground broke out from

underneath him leaving there and he got further back than than he

wanted. He got some dirt in his face

around the first turn and he started climbing and, and hit

the first time that he'd ever been in that, in that position

where he where he was getting kicked back.

So I think he learned a lot from it and you know, came on,

finished fourth, got big 2 1/2 links.

So plenty of talent on the racetrack.

Also plenty of talent in the breeding shed, one of those

being John Hancock sire Constitution, very talented colt

himself on the racetrack, A2 time Grade 1 winner, Florida

Derby winner. What was it about Constitution

that drew Windstar's interest at 1st and how was his career kind

of unfolded for you guys? Well, he's been phenomenal.

You know, we raced him with our good friends Steve Davison and

Randy Gillott at Twin Creeks. We bought him as a yearling

together and you know, he was a very talented horse.

He won the Florida Derby you know, looked like one of the

favorites for the Kentucky Derby and and came up with a little

shin fracture. And so we had to give him six

months and and guide him back and he comes back and wins the

dawn. So he showed a tremendous amount

of talent on the racetrack had had really good speed came from

a very good family out of a distorted humor Mayor and you

know, we're excited about him as a stallion.

We got him in had a good book of errors without, you know, at A

at a mid level. We kind of stood him in that 20

range and and you know, he just outperformed once he once his

horses hit the racetrack, he just kept coming with runner

after runner after runner. Tis the law and Independence

Hall, who we stand here as well. We're in his first crop.

Independence Hall is a horse that we're excited about,

hopefully can follow in his father's footsteps.

And tis the law's done well over at Coolmore.

So, you know, exciting to have Sons of Constitution now in the

pipeline and hopefully John Hancock's another one.

What are the top things when breeders are talking to you

about Constitution? What are some of those top

qualities that they really like about him?

You know, I, I think there's two things.

One, that really I, I go to what the racehorse trainers, you

know, who we have relationships with say about them and that's

their grit. They're really competitive.

They really want to try. They're, they're very active,

you know, sometimes a little quirky, sometimes they don't

breathe The best I've heard that you know that they're not just

morning glories, but you put them in the gate in the

afternoon. They're very competitive.

So that's 1/2 is his balance and his athleticism.

You know, they're they're forward type horses when the

gate breaks, they're they're wanting to be up close or be

involved. They're not plotters or, or slow

horses that get up late. You know, most of the time

they're active. They're they're really well

balanced. They're athletic and they're

active. And it seems like those

qualities have definitely passed on to John Hancock here now as

you look towards the Kentucky Derby, Winstar, you've won it

twice in recent years. Super Saver in 2010, Justify in

2018. Is there a moment from one of

those Derbies that kind of stands out to you?

Whether it be on Derby Day itself, whether it be in the

lead up or after the race, is there kind of a moment that you

always look back on as your favorite Derby memory?

Well, I guess one thing that I will say is if it rains, we're

not going to worry because Super Saver want it in the mud and

Justify want it in the mud. You know, you always worry about

every little detail and, and you know, you worry about a safe

racetrack and, and we've had two of our finer moments on a sloppy

racetrack on the 1st Saturday in May.

So that's one thing we don't have to worry about.

But yeah, I mean, just the the excitement of it, the the the

ability to share it with so many people is, you know, it, it

really is special. And it's a very special part of

our business that owners this time of year, whether it's the

people who ran in the Risen Star or the people that are going to

run the fountain of youth next week or out in California and

everybody's dreaming about the Kentucky Derby and hoping their

horse can, can take them there. And, and that's, that's a real,

just a real great thing about our industry.

And it, it doesn't matter if you're Windstar this year, you

know, we, we have a good chance with a few horses, good Dolphin,

another top outfit, probably the top outfit has a great chance

with, with very good horses. But you also got the little guy

and, you know, got one horse that, that found their way to,

to, to getting in these races. And who knows who could show up

at, at, at Louisville on the 1st Saturday in May.

So it really does bring together all facets of the industry and

and the and the dream is alive and 75 days before the race.

And if it ends up raining on that day, we know what happened.

They were doing rain dance up at Windstar Farm to try to help

them out get to the winner's circle.

But we mentioned Justify, the Triple Crown winner from 2018,

John Hancock. Like Justify, you guys Co own

with CHC, the China Horse Club. This partnership's been going on

for a couple years now. What has led to this partnership

being so successful? Well, it's, it's, you know, I

think, I think partnerships are are, you know, successful when,

when there's not an undue pressure put on it.

So many times when you get good horses like we've had justify

with with CHC, we've had life is good with CHC and, and, and we

have these three-year olds that we've talked about already with

CHC, They're all becomes a lot of pressure.

There becomes a lot of expectations.

Our relationship with Mr. TLR King and his family has been

just a real blessing. They know that we're doing the

best we can to help find these horses and and help create a, a,

a vibrant partnership. And, and they're supportive of

that. They help in that area.

CHC has Michael Smith and Christy De Barnes here in

America that that help oversee their interests.

And, you know, but the, but the fact that we're able to work

together and pull in One Direction is, has really helped.

And I think that's a big part of, of keeping a partnership

together for a long time and, and, and being successful at the

same time. Well, Valentine's Day was just a

couple of days ago. I know love is in the air out

there in Kentucky right now as breeding season is beginning.

You guys have three very new exciting stallions at the AT

Windstar, Cogburn, Timberlake and Heartland.

What has the Breeders reception been to these three so far?

Well, it's been great. You know, all three are going to

have good, solid books. Cogburn is the most popular of

the three because of his speed and and being by not this time

and and just just a really exciting horse.

They all have gotten off to a good start in the breeding shed.

Timberlake is got a good book. We're sitting on about 150 mares

and probably going to breed A1 6170 to him, I would say, which

is we're excited about him and the fact that he was such a

great 2 year old, you know, and he's a really big horse with a

really deep family behind him and you know, so I think there's

a lot of reasons he fits a lot of of the profile of what we

like in in a stallion and the fact that he had really good 2

year old form and a great deep family behind him and he's

behind the mischief. So what can you say there?

And then Heartland, you know, to win one race and to just only

had that one chance to really show what he was capable of

because of his injury, we had to tell a story.

And the Breeders have received him extremely well.

Again, he's going to breed probably in the 140 range, I

would say. And for a horse that just made

one start in a maiden race, I think that's pretty incredible.

So people can see, you know, we've, we really believe in all

three. Heartland is a horse that we've

had to tell the story on a little bit just because of the

fact that he only ran one time. But he and Timberlake were by

far our two best 2 year olds of that crop.

You know what Timberlake did being a Grade 1 winner at two

and a grade 2 winner at 3. So Heartland was right there

with him and we know that and, and I think, you know, people

understand that. And and then you have examples

like Malibu Moon and and Mclean's music who kind of done

the same thing, had had brief careers but showed extreme

talent and they made it a stallion.

So that's why we felt like bringing Heartland to the table

was the right thing to do. I know there's people out there

that really I don't like the fact he made one start, but

sometimes things happen and we were able to see talent from a

very early stage with him. Everybody that dealt with him

realized the talent he had and like I said, he and Timberlake

were our two best 2 year olds of the year and and both of them

deserve to be in the stallion bar.

And he's definitely got a good pedigree.

I'm sure you guys were excited to get a son of Justify in your

breeding show. Very much and he's a half to two

year old champion in classic Empire.

So real excited about all three and can't wait to see babies hit

the ground next year and and and see where where they take us.

All right. Well, thank you for taking the

time with us here, Elliot. I really appreciate it and best

of luck to you and your team throughout the rest of the

Triple Crown trail. Thank you so much.

Thanks, Ellie Walden, all the folks over there at Winstar for

joining us there in that segment.

Sean, great job in the interview you have turned into Boy I I'm a

little worried about my spot on this show.

Nice job Sean, you did a good job.

Well, you're fine, don't worry. You know, I don't know if

you're, if you're like me, if you read any of the articles

about like when when teams go to like a, you know, you're like a

Yankees fan. They only wear 1-2 uniforms.

That's what they wear, you know, those kinds of stuff.

But other teams get like a third uniform and they try like in the

NBA, they have the city look and those kinds of things.

I think we could do an episode on silks.

Oh, yeah. And it would get, it would get

huge numbers. Winstar, by the way, we'll leave

it at that. Great interview.

I thought a couple of things really stood out when, when

someone of that stature, who's had Derby winners, who's had,

you know, you mentioned, well, train a bell mountain.

When you say things like we don't, we don't stress the

points, right? They they, they really just let

the horse guide them and you see the success.

I love hearing that because it really does point to good

horsemanship and then, you know, figure it out as it goes.

Doesn't hurt to start with good pieces either, right?

I mean, parts OK too. But talking about the grid of

Constitution, those kinds of things that always fast.

No, no, the grid, like wanting to win, those sorts of things.

Really interesting. Good stuff, Sean.

Yeah, yeah. It was a great insight from

Elliot. You know, the definitely

somebody who's been at the top of the game multiple times

before. Just being able to kind of hear

the different philosophies from people on how they've had

success, I think is always, just always just a benefit.

Speaking of stallions, let's bring in Eric Mitchell, our

guest for the week here on Blood Horse Monday.

Blood Horse guest for the week. How about that?

There he is, Eric. Good afternoon.

Yes, Afternoon, Eric. How are you?

Yeah, I'm good, I'm good. Can y'all hear me all right?

We did. You sound great.

You look even better. Good.

How about that? All right.

Very jealous of that great mop. I hear you got there.

All right, Eric, I wanted to have you in for our Stallion of

the week segment here. So glad you could join us here

on Blood Horse Monday. Lou Rabeau, Sean Collins hanging

out with you for this part of the show and for all of the

shows here at Blood Horse Monday.

Man, we had a couple of standouts this weekend.

Where did you land on your stallion?

Yeah, there was a, there was a couple choices that we had, I

think and we we landed on not this time, TaylorMade Stallions,

sire of that runaway winter magnitude nine and three quarter

lengths win. Very, very impressive horse and

it's been a very impressive stallion.

I mean, not this time. I mean he he wasn't, he wasn't

the leading sire freshman year, but after that he has been the

leader of his sire class 2nd, 3rd, 4th crop.

He just keeps going from strength to strength.

He's a son of giants. Causeway.

We know that horse. One of the premier stallions

worldwide and so Not This Time he's got he's 5th on the leading

sired list by Money, but he's tired with tied with Into

Mischief with three graded stakes winners so far this year.

So good company for him to be in Not This Time Stains That Tailor

made for $175,000 this year and I think a lot of people think

he's worth every, every dollar so.

I didn't hear any complaining when it was 110 for a while, so

yeah, 175 with these. Results.

Fits right in, Eric, for sure. Yeah, it's fun.

It's fun to watch this, you know, this development of these

tires. You know, sometimes you like you

said that second class is different than the 4th class,

what have you. But with these, you know, with

these sorts of runs and these sort, this sort of exposure with

a magnitude for example, it really does justify that price

like you said. Yeah.

No, no, no question. And and you know, you, you like

to see these horses continue on. I mean, it's great to be leading

freshman sire, that's great. But but to see the three-year

olds and to see him go on and and keep shining at the graded

stakes level at 4:00 and 5:00, that's that's just good stuff.

And that just that that's a stallion that's really got

momentum. Eric is with us from Blood

Horse, bloodhorse.com of course. Go check out his stuff over

there as well. We've got some new sires this

year who are getting into the side or side of things rather

than running around in circles. Dornick stands out as one of

those. Of course, the winner of the

Belmont Stakes and of course the Haskell last year back-to-back.

One of my favorite scenes last year, Sean was being at in the

next. I should say I never go in the

winter circle. Try not to.

But standing nice in the winner's circle at the Haskell,

boy, you would have thought Dornec had never won a race

before. How excited those but that goes.

Great. Such an exciting atmosphere

around there. You know, you have the whole

story with Jason Wurf and everybody that was involved with

the horse and he always brought, you know, big contingent of

people to come cheer him on anytime Dorneoc did well.

If you were by that winner's circle, it was a good time.

Eric, I wanted to ask you because this is a little bit of

a different year. We're going to see fierceness

again. We're going to see Sierra Leone

again. You know, we're going to see the

Derby winner in Mystic Day. We've already seen him in the

Pegasus, but some of these sires like Dordic stand out.

Does that affect you know? You know, does that affect a

stud fee when a certain number of three-year olds races 4 year

olds instead? Will that affect how Doric is

seen? No, I don't think so.

And and we actually actually, we have a pretty good group of

freshmen sires this year. I agree.

I, we do have, you know, we have some of the ones who, who stood

out in the bigger races and, and, you know, thankfully I'm,

I'm glad to see him going on and racing a little bit longer.

But I mean, we've got classic winner and door knock.

We've got classic winner and national treasure.

They're leading their class this year, $40,000 stud fee for them.

And you know, we've got a, a very, very solid group They're

representing, you know, they're representing some of the best

already, some of the best sires in the business.

I always have my notes here because I'm not like one of

these guys that can remember pedigrees for like, you know, 6

generations, right? So.

I'm very jealous of those people as.

Well, but yeah, yeah, it's a gift.

It's a gift. But but we're seeing a lot of

sons of younger stallions who are already proving themselves.

And it's a good mix of young stallions that are that are

proven and and the old standbys. I mean, we've got, you know, by

good magic, we had Dornak, you've got Muth, you've got

Blazing Sevens, you know, you've got Uncle Moe represented by

Arabian Night and Kings Barnes, who won the Stephen Foster.

You got two sons of Into Mischief.

And you know, we're talking to Elliot Walden.

They've got Timberlake there. You know, they're also going to

be standing Cogburn, who is the son of Not This Time.

And then they are going to, you know, they're rolling the dice

on a son of Justify named Heartland.

So so I mean, it's a it's a it's an interesting group.

It's a good it's a good mix and you get Cogburn turf sprinter,

you know, and then you've got your classic representation in

in national Treasure and door knock.

And so it's a good, it's a good mix of stallions I think this

year. A horse you didn't mention that

is a classic winner is cease the grey obviously gains way buying

the rights there. And Eric, I wanted to ask you,

you know, you mentioned that you can't remember pedigree back.

We all know he's an arrogate. Obviously with the untimely and

unfortunate passing of Arrogate before he had a full stud

career, does it make him more attractive as a stud that there

that that Arrogate line does now just only run through his sons?

Well, you know, I think what makes sees the Gray attractive

beyond above and beyond his race record is the fact that Arrogate

came. His runners have come out so

strongly. I mean, it really was AI mean,

you know, we we wonder what if right if, if, if Arrogate was

still here because his runners are doing great.

They're they're showing a tremendous amount of talent.

So, you know, I think I think that helps, probably helps seize

the Gray a little bit that there aren't that we don't have an

arrogate anymore. But I think as much he's

attractive because of what Arrogate and his project he have

shown so far. Ericmitchellbloodhorse.com Go

see his stuff over there with us.

What about a horse like Senor Busca Door, right?

One of these that, you know, wins the the springboard mile,

goes on to pick off a couple of races overseas, of course, and

comes back, wins, you know, classic district race in the US

as well. Where do you see him fitting in

this stuff? You know, it's a good timing for

this show because we just had our, our, our stallion show for

the media lanes in and we got a chance to go see signor

Booskador and also see more than looks, both of them two

interesting horses. Senior Buscador now standing at

the farm where his sire has been standing, mine shaft 2003 horse

of the year, a very solid stallion, a solid, you know,

sire over the years. And now he's got his son, senior

Buscador, almost $13 million in earnings now standing there.

And senior Buscador is a, he is a handsome horse.

I mean, there's no question about it.

He, he looks like mine shaft. They, they, they showed him and

then they brought Mineshaft out and you got to see him, you

know, basically back-to-back and they're cut from the same cloth.

Lots of lots of bone, lots of substance, lots of leg, a very

nice stretchy, rangy, good looking horse.

I think Lane's end is is very happy about having him and then

you know and then you know more than looks, I think is a very

unique horse as well-being by the late more than ready, a

remarkable stallion. More than ready one of my

favorites, personal favorites. Long, long time of always

impressed with his consistency. He had runners.

I mean, he was the leading sire for a long, long time of

Breeders' Cup winners. And you know, they they showed a

lot of talent in a lot of different form and a lot of

different style and, and he was just a remarkable horse.

So now you've got more than looks.

So now you have a horse who is now poised to kind of build and

continue on that Hail to reason line through through Halo.

It's great to see that line, you know, continue to throw solid

horses. So this could be a very

important stallion and and he's a good looking horse too.

Very he very much again, very similar to the sire.

They're not big strapping horses, but you don't have to be

of a big strapping horse. I mean more than Ready was not

big and he was extremely talented and but just good

balance, good good solid athletic, good stride.

I mean these are these are two good looking candidates that we

have. Well, Eric Mitchell, tell

everybody where they should look for you at bloodhorse.com

because I'm fascinated by this conversation, which means other

people have to be as well. Well, I do.

I do a lot of news stories. I also do a lot of special

sections for the MarketWatch section, which appears in the

monthly magazine. But we do have a new sires, a

section about new sires, which profiles some of those new

sires. You can find it on

bloodhorse.com. Would encourage you to do that.

There's a lot of good content out there In the MarketWatch

section. You can find live full reports,

report of Mayor's bread. You can find a whole lot of

stallion statistics that will keep you entertained for hours.

Blood Horse Magazine, Another endorsement?

How about that? What?

What's that? Usual, Yeah.

Well, Eric, I know you mentioned going out to the Stallion show.

Who were you able to talk to you about there about Senior

Buscador more than looks? I heard we have some have some

interviews there from there. Yeah, I talked to Peter Sheehan,

the farm manager out there. We did a quick interview with

him get his thoughts on on these horses.

To have a, a son of mine Shaft, a grandson of APND, and he just,

he got off the barn and we kind of took our breath away.

He's a he's a beautiful, tall, scopy horse with plenty of bone

and very elegant head to him. Very attractive and great

balance. And yeah, he was, he was a

beautiful, beautiful looking horse.

And his race record speaks for itself.

Yeah, he was a fantastic racehorse.

With earnings of almost $13 million.

He's, I think he's the highest earning horse that we've ever

stood here at Lane's End and we're we're very excited to have

him this. Could be an important horse kind

of carrying on the Hail to Reason and Halo sireline.

Tell us what's appealing about this stallion to you.

Well, he's a he's a fantastic looking star and he's he just he

looks like a sire more than ready and he's got great balance

to him. He's got a great shoulder and

powerful hip and he was a, he was a very talented racehorse.

He had an incredible turn of foot there in the Breeders Cup

mile and he just blew away that field of I think there were

eighth grade one winners in that race and he just blew them away.

So fantastic athlete with great turn of foot and he looks

exactly like a sire who was who was one of the best sire of

Breeders' Cup winners. The futures, the futures

exciting for him. I guess beating great 8th grade

one winners is OK. I guess that's I guess that's.

OK. And he got, he got that right.

There were eight, There were eight grade one winners in that

race. You need to add some of those

adjectives to your descriptions, Eric.

That was that was delightful. My goodness, he's a gorgeous

horse. Yeah, you need to be doing that.

Eric. What are we?

Doing I'll work on it. I appreciate it.

Well, that'll be for next time. His name's Eric Mitchell.

Go check about the market report over at bloodhorse.com, of

course, and all the new sire information as well.

Keep up on what's going on and meet those babies of those

horses that you love to watch, Ron, as well.

Eric, thanks so much for joining us here on BLOOD HORSE Monday.

Thanks for having me, appreciate it.

Good time. We'll see you in the Yeah, we'll

get you back next time. It'll be great.

Plenty to talk about on the breeding side of things.

And of course, no better resource than our friends over

at Blood Horse and bloodhorse.com.

Thank you, Eric. Really do appreciate you.

All right, so let's let's wrap the show talking about what's

coming up here, Sean. So we are in the teeth are the

50 pointers right now, which is awesome.

It's one of the very best parts of the horse racing year is

trying to figure this out. I always love you know, it's

nice when you get to the big day for sure.

I'll say it 1000 times on the show Derby 150, the greatest

horse race I've ever attended. It was just wild.

But at the same time, these these preps and and watch just

that like oh, this horse needs 10 points or this horse needs

this or whatever else. It gets real exciting.

And this week, of course continues the 50 point preps.

Sean, we are heading to a different part of the country

this week and we're heading to Arkansas for both the Rebel and

the Honeybee. Of course, 50 pointers on the

Derby and Oaks trail there return of some cool horses as

well. Who you looking forward to,

especially in that Rebel? The Rebel.

I'm very excited for the big springboard mile rematch between

Cole Battle and Speed King. You know, both of them came back

out of that race. I mean, who would have expected

the springboard mile to be one of the key races on the Derby

Trail this year? All the rents in last year, you

never know. You got to pay attention all of.

Them never know which race it's going to be and so we'll find

out, you know, we're going to see Cole Battle who came back

and won the Smarty Jones after that springboard mile and then

Speed King came back and won the Southwest Stakes after that.

And so now the two of them are going to meet again.

They've got 12 competitors, a full 14 horse field in the

starting gate this weekend. So I'm very excited to see how

they do in this race. We talked to Ron Maquette with

Speed King on the first episode of the podcast insight there.

And you know, the story of coal battle with the his small time

connections is going to be a piece on the blood in the blood

horse daily, I believe coming up and Cole battle and his

connections ahead of the rebel stakes this weekend.

So make sure you check the website for that.

But it's going to be such a such a cool thing to see them re

meet, but then also maybe see some new shooters.

Are there any new shooters catching your eyes here?

So, So Admiral Dennis is back here, right?

We just talked about the winds, you know, with Allie Walden when

it wins stars the Senate constitution.

This was one that Brad Cox took back and placed back into

allowance company after a fourth place finish in that gun runner

but got him the two terms experience again.

I'm really fascinated to see because we already know Brad's

going to have all fourteen horses in the Kentucky Oaks,

right. So we already know that we're

going to move that to the side. It's a joke but really have a

Derby runner is still very much up in the air, right because

John Hancock, I love that horse. Can he do it again is a

legitimate question, right? Can he can he turn that you know

that that performance back in later on this you know this

cycle. I'm interested in that.

Admiral Dennis is another one of these all the connections, all

of the breeding, all the things make sense for him to be a great

3 year old. Is he a mile and a quarter

horse? Is he a patent a mile horse?

I don't know. I'm really fascinated to see him

on Saturday. Yeah, it'll be interesting to

see how he runs. And then also the other horse

that I'm really excited to see run back.

Everybody was talking about Sandman coming out of that

Southwest and that horrible start that he had.

The fact that he was able to still close and get up for

second. If he gets out of the gate this

time, what performance are we going to see from him?

Are we going to see him run away from the field?

Are we going to see where, you know, he's not going to run as

well? So I think that's a real key and

we just had magnitude for Steve Asmussen, who's running in Derby

preps. He wasn't having success.

He finally breaks through in the Risen Star.

The same thing could happen with Tis Tastic coming up this

weekend. He's been hitting the board in

three straight Derby preps. Is this the race where he

finally breaks through? And then you got the West Coast

horses coming in as well. By the way, the Razorback this

year, beautiful as well. We don't preview those on this

show, but that is an absolutely spectacular race as well.

How about the honeybee on the Philly side of things?

Grade 3 down there, that's a mile and a 16th race.

We see the return of several high, high class Phillies here

in Muhima take charge of a lady who obviously already has

significant points on the Oaks Trail as well.

Man, Sean, I'm as excited about this one as I am about The

Rebel, which is incredible to say.

I know it's such a great field. I'm excited to see Muhima what

she can do. She drew the rail post position,

so it'll be interesting to see how that navigates another full

field in this spot. You don't have Kenny Mcpeak

coming back with Take Charge Me Lady trying to get 2 Kentucky

Oaks in a row. So we'll see whether or not he

can do that. But Muhema, you know, you looked

at Brad Cox at the start of the year.

Unfortunately, he's lost Immersive, the two year old

champion on the Kentucky Oaks trail, but she'll be back in the

summer. But you saw a good cheer come

back just as good as she was at two.

Can Muhema now follow up with that for Shadwell Stables and

make it, you know, a Cox versus Cox showdown in the Kentucky

Oaks? Yeah, it's a great question.

I'm so excited for these reps are just if you agree it's a

cool time of year, man, where you're just trying to figure out

who's going to move forward, who's not with which

connections. And, you know, we heard from

Elliot earlier too, just, you know, yeah, big connections, but

small ones too, right. You can have a great horse and

almost in a barn and, you know, it's it's really, really fun to

watch. I love, you know, watching like,

you know, W Omaha last year on the Derby trail with Larry

Demerit and, you know, all the different steps he had to take

just to get the horse there and those kinds of things.

Very, very fun this time of year.

Not last and not least we've got we got turfway preps people, the

Cincinnati Trophy on Friday, but I wanted to get into the

Battaglia because we're getting the return of a pretty big spot

here in first resort. This one's really interesting to

me, Sean, because you know that turfway thing and in horse

racing, I think we we love the we love the tried, the true, the

tested, all those things. And this, this turfway path to

the Derby. I think we all kind of wanted to

go, OK, this is Churchill and they're doing this and blah,

blah, blah. But then we get rich strike and

then we get 2 fills and frankly, endlessly last year, I know she

that he was 40 plus to one, but he looked great in the in the

Ruby. We've had good success coming

out of this trail and we get a runner on Saturday in that race

that I think is a really fascinating spot for him to be

in. And that's first resort.

Luis Saez is making the trip up. This is a horse that won the

Kentucky, Kentucky Jockey Club, but before that they tried him

on the turf up there at the Summer Stakes.

Very riskily. Had the ride that day up at

Woodbine. Interesting to see kind of a a

compromise surface here, I guess for the Owen Hardy folks.

Or maybe just, you know, he's actually got multiple Derby

rotors, so he's got to spread him around a little bit.

But first resort, I think actually the synthetic and

Turfway will play really well for him.

Yeah, and this is such an interesting spot.

You don't usually see a horse like him who's already thought

of as one of the top Derby contenders by John Battaglia.

So that's a real testament to just how how far along their

Derby prep series has come. In the last little bit, you even

saw like, I believe the horse I ran second, the Risen * chunk of

Gold was coming out the Leonata Stake the race.

That's the kind of the prelude to this one.

So you're starting to see where you know that turfway form is

really being more respected on the road to the Kentucky Derby.

And you look at a horse like First Resort, he's got 10 points

already for the Derby. He gets 20 here.

If he wins, that puts him at 30. That puts him at a nice

comfortable position going into the final round of prep race

races where you can kind of pick and choose your spot.

So I think this is a great spot for him and, you know, we'll see

whether or not he runs to it. First, start back.

The timing of this works well too, because it's five weeks

before the major preps on April 1st, right?

Or on April 5th, excuse me. And so it is a the 1st yeah.

But the, you know, just the having that time as well.

So they can make a decision. Do they run in the in the excuse

me, in the Ruby, which is five weeks before the Derby?

Or do they go to the bluegrass or something else that's four

weeks ahead, Something like that.

So this is actually an interesting spot for him.

Atlanta, as we heard from Frank Angst, you know, I guess it was

on the first episode that first start back at three really does

matter on the cold side if you're going to win the Kentucky

Derby. So Saturday, not a small, not a

small ask here, I think for first resort and I, but I do

think it's telling Luis Science is going to spend the day at

Turfway on Saturday. I think that needs something.

Yeah, definitely. There you go.

Well, he is Shawn Collins. We want to thank Eric Mitchell.

We want to thank Elliot Walden. Behind the scenes, a guy named

Frank Inks for producing the effort as well from media NIA

Alta, Puerto Rico, My name is Louis Ribow Eshaw College in

snowy Louisville. We'll be back at it together

next week for BLOOD HORSE Monday.

We hope you'll join us for episode 4.

We'll talk to you then. The Blood Horse is dedicated to

the improvement of Thoroughbred breeding and racing for over 100

years. Don't forget to like, subscribe

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For the latest news, analysis and insights, visit us at

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see you next week.