The Gotham | Matthew DeSantis

Life is good. What was that?

Music? Countdown music.

My God. His name is Matthew DeSantis.

I'm Lou Rabbo horse racing happy hour hanging out with you on a

February 27th edition of the show. 3 Derby preps this

weekend. So, of course, I went to the the

one that is least predictive for the Kentucky Derby, the Gotham

up in New York going a mile over one turn.

His name's Matthew DeSantis failed the menace on all the

socials from naira bets joins us anytime we talk Long Island.

How is Long Island, Young Matthew?

It's actually, I dare I say maybe a fake spring right now.

A little fake spring. We had it yesterday.

Yeah, a little bit of nice weather.

It's in the 50s. I went outside, I didn't have to

have a coat. Looks like it's going to be nice

weather for this weekend up here, which is quite unusual for

Gotham weekend, which is usually a sloppy sealed track and maybe

a riderless horse trying to cross the finish.

Line as. We saw with how great is Nate a

couple years ago, but yeah, it's it can be a little chaotic up

here, but like it's a beautiful weekend and it should be a good

card of racing on. Saturday, I'm with you.

The card looks awesome. 4 stakes on the card on Saturday up there

at Aqueduct Racecourse in Ozone Park in Queens.

Will be there in a month and that's our big our big

announcement on the show today. We are heading as a show up for

the Wood Memorial there horse racing happy hour.

We want to see you in Queens, NY is our #3 market on the podcast.

We would love to see you out there as well.

Working with Patrick, the folks behind the scenes there at Naira

to get our show together for that Saturday as well.

Special guest Barry Spears. I'm flying them in and by the

way, I'm pointing horse racing, happy hours, flying people

around. Now this is getting to be a

little more serious than I'm OK with, but if you're going to fly

people around and go get the sniper, he's going to join us up

there in Ozone Park. And of course, come meet

producer Zach. That's really what people want

in their lives is to meet producer Zach.

So there you go. I I know that's why I'm going to

be, I mean, granted I work there, but honestly, that's

still why I'll be showing up is just to see producer Zach and

hopefully maybe there's, if you're flying people, there's a

little bit of a spread you guys can have out there as well.

I mean, you guys are, you know, living the high life, bringing

Sniper up from Florida, which by the way, congratulations getting

him up to Florida anytime before summer.

Like in and of itself, moving heaven and earth.

You are not incorrect and I, I here's the thing we're going to

have giveaways with this. So be watching the socials at

horse happy hour. If you have not found us on

socials yet, we're going to have giveaways with the wood Memorial

and of course, I now go to you, young Matthew DeSantis.

The last two horses to win the Derby coming out of the Wood

Memorial, not necessarily the winner, were.

Well, I mean, so it would have been, well Fu Saishi Pegasus won

in 2000, was the winner and then shoot was it wasn't, isn't it?

2002. No, I know it was the horse that

finished second or third and then came back to win.

Who was it? I'm blanking.

I'm blanking on it as well. I did this last is.

It funny side. I think it's funny side, Yeah.

And so, Yep. Who is the Wood memorial name

for? Can we do that?

Memorial name for I Louis, what are you doing to me?

Eugene Wood is what we were going for.

But of course, we're going to be talking Gotham this weekend up

there at Aqueduct again. We'll be up there for the Wood

Memorial. We would really.

And I think people think I'm kidding, Beth, you've been

around me enough. When I say please show up and

hang out, I mean, please show up and hang out.

Like I really legitimately mean it.

People in Louisville have learned it.

Like, hey, I'm going to be at 3:20 at Churchill Downs.

Come say hi. I'll have a cigar for you.

They show up. I've got a freaking cigar for

you. Come on, say hi.

Come out, say hi. Let me say this for people

listening up in New York right now.

We're not going to be racing at Aqueduct for much longer.

So this is an opportunity to come up and say goodbye,

potentially to a track that means so much to this city.

And we're all very excited for the new Belmont Park.

We can't wait to move into it. But ultimately, Aqueduct on a

big day is still very special. I still think of it as the track

that I saw as a kid when I watched The Bronx Tale and the

Mush. And you know, just Chazz Palm

and Terry, RIP the tickets up, RIP the tickets up, Just walk it

out. So and so it's it's a track that

it's the city's track. Take the A train in and yeah,

let's have a good time up there. Yeah, get on up there.

They've actually been running at Aqueduct for significantly

longer than they've been running at Belmont, for example.

And so obviously the move to Belmont, as Andy Sterling once

said, we don't need 2 tracks 8 miles apart in 2025.

It just is the reality of the world there.

Odd Log Island. We'll get into the handicapping

in a second. I do want to remind everybody

though, about our friends over at Louisville Executive of

Aviation. Two months until the Derby,

which is why we have all of these great preps this weekend.

But if you are looking to charter a flight into Kentucky

for that, for the Derby race, they're going to have a cookout

of both Oaks and Derby Day. So get in on that with our

friends over at the Louisville Executive Airport, the cheapest

spot for you to land shuttle service to and from the track as

well. So if you do happen to fly in on

Derby Day, they'll have you covered, take you straight to

the track and back. That's at

louisvilleexecutive.com, Louisville executive.com.

The shortest taxi times and the lowest prices in the area.

Get in with our friends over there at Bowman Field.

All right, So look, I have to do the thing where I ask you if you

have a Derby favorite or if you have a, you know, an Oaks

favorite coming into this weekend.

I'm not at all sure, Matthew, that there is a, you know, I

think the on the Oak side especially, it's very deep at

the top. As far as the quality, I think

with Derby we have a couple of horses unusually by the way,

like a Citizen Bowl for example, that's already really clinched

his spot. We know what he is.

We saw it late in 2024. We've seen it again in early

2025. A lot made by the way of that

first start as a three-year old on the colt side if you want to

win the Derby, right. So fierce just had a five year

bouncing back after what was a lackluster debut last year.

But as far as wanting to win the Derby, you got to be great First

off the bench. We've had a couple of those

examples and Citizen Bowl Stanley certainly stands out in

that group. Do you have a Derby at this

point and and are people just overlooking Citizen Bowl at this

point? I think they are, aren't they?

I think they are in the same way that I I think sometimes we tend

to overlook the two year old champion as being just, well,

maybe a precocious horse who just, you know, was more

physically developed and was able to dominate the two year

olds. And well, they don't take the

step forward from 2:00 to 3:00 necessarily.

And I think we've seen that with some horses recently.

Obviously Forte and fierceness, two horses that, you know, were

very good at 2:00 and then at 3:00 just got also a good

three-year old campaigns, but didn't win the Derby for one

reason or another. And so I do think Citizen Bowl

is being overlooked in part because Louis, I think the story

is Bob Baffert's got about seven horses out, I feel like could

win the Kentucky Derby and citizen bull might be his third

best out of that group. So I, I I think that's why, you

know, this weekend is going to be so exciting to see Barnes run

back and try two turns for the first time.

That's the horse that I'm most eager to see.

And, and honestly, though, out of that race out that in San

Anita to San Felipe, if you made me bet on a horse today, I'd bet

on journalism. I love that horse.

I think that is a horse that is bred for distance.

And I just think that horse is going to get better and better

and better. I don't think Saturday sets up

well for him, but I think he's a horse that's going to get the

necessary points to get in the gate between there and the Santa

Anita Derby. And I think the Kentucky Derby's

the type of race he's going to love because he's going to like

that mile and a quarter. He's going to like coming from

off the pace. But I, I agree with your general

assessment, though, very kind of not diluted, but just very open

Derby picture. I feel like right now and the

Oaks, you're right between La Cara and 10 and you know, some

of those horses, a good cheer and even now quiet side kind of

finally breaking through and getting that win.

I feel like there's a lot of really strong contenders on the

oak side and it it's an exciting picture.

And I think this weekend's going to clarify a lot with

Sovereignty. River Thames and Burnham Square

down in Florida as well. Yeah, no, a ton of those

opportunities around the country.

If you are interested in those shows, we're talking to Matthew

about Long Island today. I'll have Brian Nadeau on from

Gulfstream Park tomorrow morning.

Audra Boenko will release that on this platform as well.

And then SoCal Saturdays with my guy Barry Spears will do that

full card on Big Cap Day. San Vicente, of course, of that.

Oh, it's a spectacular card too. I was just looking at that as

well. I talked with Aaron Wellman on

Blood Horse Monday this past week and we were like, hey,

let's talk about bills and the cool story there.

He was like journalism, let's let's talk about journalism.

I really, I feel like we need to talk about journalism.

Can we get journalism? And it's like, okay, that's the

old, I don't need to read between the lines.

You're just telling me what the lines are.

That is journalism. They are very high on that horse

and so they think quite a bit of him.

Of course, he'll be going that race not until 6:45 on a

Saturday evening, but we will be watching for that.

Matthew DeSantis with me, Louie Rebeau hanging out on the horse

racing happy hour. Let's get into our handicapping

for the weekend. And you know what?

I'll let you go first here. Matthew, what's going on at

Naira Bets right now? Yeah, listen, we got a lot of

different promotions. You have a $200 deposit match

bonus if you go to Naira bets or nairabets.com.

You can download the app, Sign up today.

We have promotions going every single day across the country,

whether it is hit and splits for late pick fives, whether it's

20% exacta bonuses, whether it is $10, you know a win bet, you

know, reimbursements if your horse is finished second or

third. So we got all sorts of things.

Actually, next month in March we have a really exciting promotion

where if you hit three out of the four legs of the Pick 4, you

actually get some money back. So you got a consolation

promotion there on a Pick 4. So yeah, a lot of fun stuff

going on in Naira Bets and then we have the YouTube channel with

all sorts of great stuff and content up there as well.

There you go, he is Matthew DeSantis and you can find him on

that Naira Bets YouTube page. He will be wearing a hat in

every video that you watch. The Grade 3 Tom Fool starts the

middle pick 4IN race 4 on the card there on Saturday at

Aqueduct. This is a 6 furlong grade 3 on

the dirt there 175 in the Kitty here.

This is for four and up a smaller field of six.

So they moved it to the early pick 5 here.

Matthew, your morning line maker up there.

And David Aragona has put running son of a gun at 5:00 to

2:00 and top gunner as the favorite coming out of an

absolutely massive buyer speed figure and all those things in

an optional claimer last out. Can he repeat that performance?

It seems more of a an outlier for him rather than the norm.

Matthew. It does seem like an outlier.

It just was looking at his figures.

It's his first triple digit. And, you know, yes, he

definitely moved forward with Brad Cox taking over a couple

months ago and, you know, back in 2024, move forward and won

that park Sprint. By the way, I should say that

I'm surprised Flavy and Pratt didn't have night goggles on for

that race because it was almost run in the dark.

But it was, you know, won that race.

But yeah, he's more of a kind of a mid, mid 80s to low 90s kind

of buyer speed figures. So that one O 4 really stands

out as maybe being a bit anomalous and also came with

Lasix. Now we're switching off Lasix.

I'm not sure that horse can get the gate to wire trip.

As much as I have respect for Brad Cox and many, frankly, he's

a horse I'm going to try to beat in this particular race.

I think you can go in a couple different directions.

You know, running Son of a Gun is maybe not the most winning

type and I think that's why I've also kind of shield away from

him a little bit. I think a horse like the number

three full mood Madness for Michelle Nevin can sit just off

the pace with Kendrick Carmouche.

This is one that again needs to kind of get a win with Lasix,

but ran well the last two times out in the Gravesend in the

toboggan and then a little bit better value 9:00 to 2:00.

He's going to need the right trip.

But bold journey for Bill Mott is a horse that at one point was

really running well up here in New York.

Went overseas, ran over in Maidan in the Golden Shaheen and

has only just started making his way back.

Has one prep race under his belt that came with late six or third

place finish to Cyclone Mischief.

But I think he can absolutely move forward in this spot.

And Bill Mott is not Bill Mott because he spots his horses in

bad spots. So I think, you know, that's a

horse that could give you a little bit of value on a short

field. I think Bold Journeys, my top

pick here, has won over the track a half dozen times and so

just give me a horse that's got the experience there.

Frankly, second off the layoff, that first race like you

mentioned, after being in the Arabian Peninsula for so many

horses is so difficult. So second off the layoff in that

spot to be does make a lot of sense there.

We're talking Gotham Saturday at Aqueduct with our guy Matthew

DeSantis up there in Naira bets and on a Long Island.

An allowance in Race 5. State bred here, Matthew,

essentially for Phillies and mayors 4 and up going 6 1/2

furlongs on the dirt. 76 K and the Kitty here.

Can you tell folks to something I like to do as we go around the

country with this show? It looks like Naira is going to

step up, you know, to support their breeding program by upping

the purses for a lot of these state bred races as well.

Running for 76 here, which by the way, is nothing to sneeze

at. It's a, it's a legitimately good

purse anywhere in the country for an allowance.

But what would that look like, say in the new system?

Will it be closer to 90? Something like that?

Yeah, it'll be closer to 90. So it's going to end up matching

what our open allowance races are going to be.

We're going to do that with maidens.

We're going to do that with allowances.

So you're going to start seeing that equality between open

company and stakes and state bread company.

I think all you have to do is look at what they're doing down

in Arkansas, quite frankly, in Oak Lawn, those purses for those

Arkie bred races, and you get to see the quality of those horses

starting to really improve over the last several years.

And we have such a strong breeding program up here in New

York. And you know, when we get to the

Gotham, the top three choices are all New York breds.

And we got a New York bred who might be the favorite down in

the Fountain of Youth in River Thames for Todd Pletcher.

So, you know, these are really good horses that are getting

bred up here and it's going to be great that they're going to

be able to run for equal purse money starting in a couple of

years. We have a coupled entry here

because no one loves coupled entries quite like the New York

circuit, but Ariana Rye will come in as the favorite 5:00 to

2:00 here out of the Falcon Barn has run second in a couple in a

row at this level before that, of course, did win in a starter

allowance before that. Worthy favorite here at 5:00 to

2:00. Feels a little wide open here,

Matthew. It does feel wide open and I

worry that this horse is a bit more of a need to lead horse.

Maybe 1 pace doesn't really like passing others from that inside

rail. Sophia Vivas up on the mount.

I I like Sophia a lot, but I just don't know if this horse is

quick enough to actually get to the lead in this race with

there's some other speed to the outside.

So I just worry about the trip that this horse is going to end

up taking. I really like the number 7 catch

phrase at 3:00 to 1:00 for Amelia Green.

People might not be familiar with that name, but she's a long

time assistant to Todd Pletcher and has just recently struck out

on her own. She got a bunch of horses trance

to transferred to her from Todd Barn actually, which I thought

was a great sign. They have a very good

relationship and he was very happy for her when she broke out

on her own. But this is a Will Walden horse

that was actually her very first winner that she saddled up.

And so this is one that's now stepping up in class.

This horse has outstanding early speed, keeps Kendrick Carmouche

aboard. And I always like Kendrick on a

speed horse. So Catch Phrase at 3:00 to 1:00

is a horse that I have my eye on.

And you know, because of that coupled entry, probably going to

that, that coupled entry is going to take some money.

You figure the favorite's going to take a little money.

Maybe Catch Phrase floats up. Seven to two, four to one.

Linda Rice has first class acted here, the nine horse off a

little bit of a layoff here, which I really like for this

one. Last time that horse ran off of

a layoff, ran a good second at this level over 6 furlong.

So I think that's one. If you're filling out an exacta

trifecta first class cat, the 9 I think you should include in

your tickets. We move on to the stymie.

It will be race 6 on the card there at Aqueduct.

This is the mile race, by the way.

I had an idea, Matthew, I want to run it past you.

Are you ready? I am ready.

We were about to talk about four races in a row that are all one

turn miles. Yeah.

This should have been a pick four.

I don't I don't know what we're doing.

I I don't know what we're doing Naira, but let's get it

together. Let's start doing pick fours

with random random sequences that I just I'm.

I'm here for it, Louis. To be fair it it is the Grand

Slam so you could play that bet which is a very fun bet.

Go ahead and look that one up. But essentially you tried to

pick horses that hit the board the first 3 races and the winner

of the fourth race. But this is a mile for four year

olds and up on that A1 turn mile course.

I do love this course. I love a good one turn mile

race, whether it be here or Aqueduct or Saratoga or Ellis

Park, whatever it might be. Where did you land in the

Stymie? Yeah, in the stymie I you know,

I really was looking around at some of the other, you know, the

favorites again and bank frenzies, a horse that

admittedly is a nice horse but is largely doing its damage

against state bred company in terms of stakes races.

And, you know, Coastal Missions, a horse that I don't really

think likes the mile. I think there's a horse that's

better at 7 or 6 furlongs. And so I while I really I love

Coastal Missions, a horse 3 to one just felt like a little bit

of a short price. I ultimately landed on Yo Daddy

for Linda Rice with Kendrick up as well.

This one is admittedly not run great without Lasix in the past,

though, both of those were on the turf.

So this is maybe a little bit of a different dynamic and this

horse has just been an improving form the last several times out

and can handle the mile distance. 3 for five, winning 3

for five at Aqueduct and again, Kendrick and Linda, a good

combination up here. I will say if you're looking for

a little bit more of a value, I think that Brittany Russell's

horse Wooster is at 9:00 to 2:00 is a little bit interesting with

Sheldon aboard. This is one that used to be in

the Baffert barn that's been transferred to Brittany.

Switching off Lasix trying Stakes Company for the first

time, but she's clearly got this horse going in the right

direction. That's my top play in here

because of value and lots of other reasons.

And so I'll be hoping that she is the she's got this one in

exactly the kind of spot that you're talking about.

In that case, like you said, you know, daughter, son, excuse me,

a vampire maker in this case just has been really, really

good at 7 furlongs. Has done it at a mile before at

Del Mar under the Bob Baffert. Obviously that's two turns, but

we've seen just as well over 7 furlongs there at Laurel Park.

Like you said, though, the question here will be Lasix for

sure. But I thought, for example, she

was in the he was in the Robert B Lewis a couple years back with

no with no Lasix rant. Totally fine.

So hopeful that that kind of that kind of form can carry as

well. Then the Oaks prep for the day

will be the busher. We go another mile trip on the

dirt course there the the tarp is still down people $200,000

there. 3 year old Phillies 50 points toward the Kentucky Oaks.

Unlike the Wood Memorial, the New York preps for the Kentucky

Oaks have been predictive of some good running in the past.

Malafat comes to mind, of course, in recent runs coming

out of the New York circuit. 3 to one on sharp smile on the

outside here, 7:00 to 2:00 on Ramify in the two.

We trying to beat those or we run up with those.

Mfi's a little bit interesting. I think the cutback in

particular from going in a mile and an eighth in the Busanda.

I think the one turn mile actually fits this horse

probably a little bit better and going shorter.

And it comes from a very good female family as well.

And you know, money. It's it's interesting pedigree

because as Munning's up top and tap it underneath.

So you get that speed influence up top and and the really the

endurance and distance influence underneath and and Chad is

obviously very formidable in this spot, of course, broke its

maiden going a mile at Aqueduct. I do think my top pick, though,

is actually going to be right next door.

Drexel Hill at six to one for Whit Beckman.

This one's getting the blinkers off.

What's interesting to think about this horse is this one's

been running against some nice company down at the fairgrounds.

So you mentioned how predictive, you know, some of these New York

preps have been in recent years, though the New Orleans preps,

the Fairgrounds preps have been outstanding for the Phillies.

And the fact that Wit is moving this horse up to here, I think

kind of says, listen, I you know, Wit's got a few Phillies

that he's I think trying to maneuver around the country to

get into the starting gate, move him up here.

Ben Curtis comes all the way up for the now.

You know, he's not relying on a local jockey.

Blinkers off 6 to one. I think maybe he's been facing

better competition than what some of these other horses have

seen. So I think that horse said out

of out of a little bit of a price is interesting.

And so her and Ramify are my top two in this one.

Drexel Hill. Began her life, excuse me, in

the Mitchell barn at Woodbine of all things transferred to,

excuse me, to Whitbeckman, as you mentioned.

I interviewed him a couple weeks ago, Matthew, and he very

clearly. Has has galvanized the the

experience he got with Anna Marie last year, right.

So going through a three-year old season with a top contender

in this kind of series, whether it be on an Oaks acorn kind of

level or it be on the Derby, you know, Triple Crown kind of way.

And he it's just an abundance of riches, like you said, on that

Philly side, right. And so you're right, he's he's

having to learn how, hey, I got to spread these horses out.

I got to go with this prep. I got to go to this prep.

And hey, Ben Curtis, can you go to New York City?

For me for the weekend, right? But obviously people are buying

in on it, right? Ben Curtis is willing to

probably pass on, what, 7-8 miles at Fairgrounds on Saturday

to go to play with this? Yeah, no.

So that's I'm with you. It might be indicative of how he

feels about it. And, and let me just say, you

know, wit kind of a little bit, like I mentioned with Amelia

Green, you know, until last year, a lot of people probably

didn't know who wit Beckman was. But this is a guy who's an

assistant to Todd, an assistant to Chad.

Like he knows how to spot these. Like he understands the need of

that operation, particularly from learning from Todd of how

to spot these Derby Oaks prep contenders all across the

country. He's got a great mind for that.

And I think he's he's kind of a rising star on our sport.

As far as the one turn mile, you know, you've got Ramify that you

mentioned who's won at the distance and at Aqueduct before.

We've also got, for example, sharp smile who won in the slot,

but in a maiden race over the mile.

What about a horse like she's fascinating who won last out is

on, you know, second off the layoff here, essentially shot

here. I love the five to one price.

Yeah, the five to one price is good.

The only question is Lasix. The big number last time out

came with Lasix. You wonder the 1st 2 efforts

were kind of low 50s buyers. Does she regress it all from

that? But again, that was also First

off the bench. So maybe they just needed a

little bit of time to continue to mature and progress.

And now this is kind of the new version of her.

So I think that, you know, again, this race feels pretty

wide open. I wouldn't want to take a short

price in this one at all. I think you can make a case for

a few. And I also have to shout out

Horse Volleyball Princess #4 she is one of only four North

Carolina breads in her entire crop, and you don't see many

North Carolina breads. And I lived in North Carolina

for eight years and a lot of great horse people down there.

So when I saw her win the Ruthless last time out, I was

thrilled for her. And that just would be a cool

story. And, you know, obviously we've

seen like Lonnie Briley and, you know, Ian Wilkes with great, you

know, horses on the Derby trail. It'd be fun to see a story like

a North Carolina bred making it to the Kentucky.

The Grade 3 Gotham is the Kentucky Derby prep on the card,

and so we will talk about that one next.

We always like Matthew on this show to play a ridiculous game

of can the horse win or not? And this week, in the the spirit

of the Gotham, if a horse can win, we're calling him Batman.

And if the horse can't win, you got it.

We're calling him Robin. All right, so getting into it,

it is a Grade 3, it's called the Gotham.

It is one mile over the dirt there, over the one turn at

Aqueduct, $300,000 in the purse here, a grade one purse for a

Grade A3 race. I love a very, very long shot in

this race, Matthew, but who did you land on in the Gotham?

We will get there in a second by going through horse by horse.

Scorching comes up first. He draws the rail he won last

out via disqualification. Did this son of Motown bred in

Ontario? We're seeing these Ontario breds

everywhere. It makes me very uncomfortable

this Canadian invasion of our country, but here we are.

Eric Cancel gets the the amount here.

Batman or Robin? I'm going to go Robin on this

one. Trying dirt for the first time.

A little bit of a toss. Sussected to the point his name

is Matthew DeSantis. That's.

I didn't know how much he wanted me to go on about this.

About how it can't win, this is here's another reason.

Here's another reason why this horse can't win on the Horse

Racing Happy Hour. Well, let me just say the other,

the other thing I will say is there's a fair amount of speed

in this race. And this is a horse that I think

is going to have a lot of speed and I think could just get

sucked up into that and fade late.

And the other part is Eric can't sell.

I like him a lot as a jockey can get hot sometimes.

I always worry about Eric on the inside.

He prefers to be outside, he doesn't like inside moves and so

I just worry what sort of trip this horse is going to get from

that rail to spot. This horse has now been in all

four of the inside gates to start his career 243 and now one

to start his career in the gate positions.

Normandy Coast is the second horse here.

Ben Curtis gets them out here for Eddie Kennealy.

This horse also last ran under bend in a six furlong race at

Fairgrounds. A reminder of the audience.

Yes, we are trying to figure out who's going to be at the Derby.

This is A1 turn mile Batman or Robin on a 15 to one shot here

coming out of the fairgrounds. Robin No.

I, I, I, I faked. Yeah, we're going Robin on that

one. You did fake me out and I'm

pretty impressed actually. Yeah, it it is.

I get it. It's sprinter route.

But this horse did break its maiden going 7 at Ellis Park in

that 2 year old program last year, a son of Omaha Beach.

We really, you know, the Omaha Beach thing that is that's,

that's very much a wait and see. Yes.

I mean, jury's still very much out on on him as a sire, yeah.

Oh, I like Omaha Beach quite a bit as a sire.

I, I think he's, I, I compared him I think last year actually

to a cheaper version of gun Runner where like his offspring

were just like crushing it in dirt sprints early on and wasn't

really taking to the turf and synthetic.

You've actually started to see that turn around a little bit.

His offspring are starting to run better on all the other

surfaces. But I like him a lot.

I think he's a good value honestly as a sire and he's very

precocious offspring. And I think the one turn mile is

good enough for them. I don't know how much they want

to go beyond A1 turn mile, but one turn, absolutely.

It was it's the Derby. Scratch that.

Still, I mean, even more than Forte.

For some reason, Omaha Beach really bothered me.

I don't remember why, but I will agree.

Robin here, but I think it's just because the horse isn't

fast enough. I I think it's literally just

that. I just think it's not fast

enough at this point. Calling card is in the three

hole here for Mike Maker and Kendrick Carmouche.

Those two one for their last 21 together at Aqueduct, but we do

get a good price here. 6 to one on a Kendrick Carmouche who does

win 25% of his races there. Batman or Robin, what are we

doing? Matthew all the way.

Batman, This is actually my top pick.

Nice. Yeah, I love this horse.

I think that this is a horse that, you know, everybody's

going to make a big point about Sand Devil and Sacrosanct and

we'll get to those in a second. But this is a horse that freaked

first time on the dirt against New York Breds.

And based upon that, Mic Maker was like, we're stepping this

baby up and ran against open company in a way that the others

have not and faced a horse like Sandman, then went to the compt

and ran admittedly a bad race over a wet track, but we've seen

that Lecomte Louis come back much faster next time out.

Magnitude built even maximum promise at Fair Turfway.

I should say the the all these horses got faster off of that

very slow figure in the Lecomte. And so I think this horse

absolutely will be able to move forward and you get the blinkers

added, won't be coming from as far off the pace, leaving as

much to do. But I think we'll love the setup

in this race because there's plenty of speed in front of

them. Mike Maker, six for his last 94

in great at stakes to see if he can pick off 1 coming up here.

I'm just being a jerk. Don't worry.

All right, so next is one of the favorites.

It's sacrosanct. Another New York bred.

This is out of the Brad Cox barn.

Manny Franco. Manny Franco, excuse me, gets

them out here. 31% with him and Brad Cox.

Got to think Batman here at least a shot here.

Yeah, Matthew. Oh, absolutely no choice about

it. Very good horse has never done

anything wrong one at the distance.

And you know, the fact that really the top competition here

is other New York breds. You're not really worried about

this stepping up to, you know, greatest stakes, open company or

anything like that. And interesting to see how this

race sets up is the horse can rate a little bit but Manny

might just try to go straight to the lead.

Yeah, 4 for four lifetime, three of those runs coming at

Aqueduct, one of them over the mile course that we will see on

Saturday at Aqueduct. His name's Matthew DeSantis.

I'm Lou Rebeau. This is the Horse Racing Happy

Hour. We're previewing the Aqueduct

last seven races on the card because Matthew's a good sport.

The sand Devil falls into the sand devil falls into the five

hole here. Nine to five favorite as set by

morning line maker David Aragona up there.

Linda Rice trains this one, another undefeated horse.

We've got several in this race three in a row that we're going

to talk about. But three lifetime runs broke

his maiden back in December on on Revson Day and has since come

back. One over the mile with a 90

speed figure and then a 93 speed figure in the Runyan last out.

Pretty serious contender here, Matthew.

Well, absolutely, he's a Batman for sure.

I'm going to try to beat him, of course, but just because he's a

short price. And I think that, you know, you

could point to the fact that that big effort over the mile 2

back was with the addition of Lasix last time, really had to

dig down and, you know, out finish a horse like national

identity who sacrosanct beaten his last start and, you know,

has obviously only had that one stakes race.

But listen, I'll just say one thing about this horse.

A ton of talent rooting for him, you know, is rooting for Linda

Rice. But Jose Lozano's got to give

him a better ride than last time.

He strangled out really slow fractions going 7 furlongs and

in my opinion, invited the rest of the field into that race in a

way that he should not have. When you have a horse with this

sort of speed, let him go fast. Just blow the field away.

Don't invite everybody else into it.

And I think he made that last race much tougher for the horse

than it should have been. Sand Devil 9:00 to 5:00.

I imagine the number won't change too much from there.

Probably be right around 2 to one by the time we get 2 posts.

I'm a horse that will not be two to one.

Is Pagode in the six hole for Paulo Lobo and Luan Machado?

I asked this in a very serious way.

Whenever I talk about Long Island and races on Long Island,

I talk about the deep dirt and the deep, you know, all the

stuff, the sandy, all the things.

How do horses translate from a synthetic surface to aqueduct

generally and especially turfway?

So I know it's different than, say, what they have at Finger

Lakes, something like that. Yeah.

And, and like, yeah, Presque Isle as well, where they, you

know, where they run synthetic and then they go, yeah, they

come here. You know, we don't get a ton of

synthetic shippers, but a lot of times the biggest comp is

Woodbine, that the Woodbine horse is coming down.

Fair enough. And that's where we see it.

And so they tend to run honest, but maybe not quite as well.

Although I sometimes think that has more to do with the level of

competition than it does. Cause a lot of times it's like a

stakes race and you see some Woodbine horses coming down.

So it's not as if they can't take to the surface.

It's just maybe maybe they're not quite good enough to win

that particular race, but it's not as if they get done running

and they're just like, absolutely not like I'm not

doing that again. So yeah, I think they can take

to it pretty well. And synthetic to dirt is an

angle that I know a lot of people like to play, myself

included. You get the axe man up here.

Paulo Lobo is, you know, a guy who I tend to trust in these

types of spots. And 30 to one's a big price on a

horse that could really step forward in this race.

I'm still going to go. I'm going to go Robin, but he's

on all my verticals. OK, interesting.

All right. OK.

Matthew, just just in case someone's new and they're

checking in on Derby Trail, what's a vertical bend?

Oh yeah, sure. So it's an exacta trifecta,

superfecta. It means, listen, I don't think

the horse can win, but I like to use them underneath.

That's the way I like to use a lot of big prices a lot of

times. Hey, I I might have this, you

know, nine to two horse up top. But hey, there's this 15 to one

horse that I think is going to really outrun their odds.

Put them in an exacta, put them in a trifecta.

It's a way to enrich your bet if you're not just playing Pick

threes, pick fours, pick fives. Horizontal, if you think about

it being flat is race to race on a card.

And if you think of vertical, it's it's the finish order

within a single race if you are thinking about it that way.

Flood Zone will be in the seven hole for Ray Lou Gutierrez,

making the trip up from having ridden this horse at Gulfstream

Park for Victor Barbosa Junior. This horse is jumping to the

Brad Cox barn for the first time.

That is a very good angle for him.

I'm almost certain it's usually not in a grade three that horses

get their first starts with Brad Cox.

What do you think of Flood Zone at 12 to one?

He's intriguing and I don't really know what to think of

this horse and I and what makes it more curious is that he of

course Cox has sacrosanct in here who's another horse with

very good early speed. I have a hard time thinking

they're going to burn each other up on the front end.

And so part of me wonders if this horse maybe plays

interference a little bit with Sand Devil or tries to kind of

tire out Linda's horse, depending on how things go at

the break. I mean, I'm not saying that

that's the express purpose of the horses in the race, but it's

just interesting to me that Cox, you know, again, it's like when

the Baffert's run against each other, they're not going to

they're not going to both do the same thing.

And so to that regard, it's kind of interesting.

You know, the horse had a huge perk up last time that did come

with Lasix at 6 1/2 at Gulfstream.

Now we're going to Brad's barn. Obviously, you know, the

ownership and the connections have bigger, you know, ideas

here for this Florida bread. I'm going to go a little bit of

a Robin just because I, I, I just don't have a good feel for

this particular horse. And so I I don't feel confident

enough to say Batman in this one.

I'll go Robin as well. This is this is the classic if

he beats me, he beats me kind of horse for sure.

Yeah, try the distance for the first time, trying to deeper

surface for the first time. Raylu's having a tough start to

the year as well. So I I'm not sure, but to be

fair, that's also championship beat Gulfstream Park, like

trying to get the bounce there above that group as well.

So I'm not holding that against them too hard, but it is

interesting the brats having to fly in for it.

Another one that is making the way up for the Gotham day there

in the 8 is McAfee, a son of cloud computing.

That's a good name. It's a good job.

It really is. It's a good job by the cloud

computing people. He comes in at 12:50.

Lane Lucy for Richard Dutrow, of course, coming out of a second

place finish over our one turn track that is right that way,

right, right over there, right there.

And so that was here in town giving this one a try on the

Derby trail. Are we going on Batman or Robin

here? I'm going Robin here.

This horse is the half to torpedo Anna, which is one of

the reasons why this horse will attract probably more attention

than he should. The other reason is this horse

was a vet scratch if I'm not mistaken, at least 2 if not

three times before entering in this race.

So clearly there's been an issue with this one Dutrow trying to

get this horse on the track but just can't seem to stay healthy.

There's always been an issue, so I'm even a little bit cautious

whether this horse runs on Saturday at all.

Garamond is in the 9. This is a second time starter

for Chad Brown Broke his maiden at Tampa over 6 1/2 for a long

Sammy Camacho and the irons then Javier Castellano man.

And go ahead and bet against that guy with your with the

money. You don't want 8 to one here

man. Second timer, Chad Brown, all

the things. It's it's a weird spot.

It's a weird spot. We can just talk about the

weirdness for a second. I looked this up because I was

like, how many horses debut sprinting on the dirt at Tampa

for Chad? And over the last five years

there have only been 15, But let me say this, nine of them have

won. So in the future, if you ever

see a Chad Brown horse debuting a Tampa sprinting on the dirt,

you just bet that horse with both hands, all right, because

he's winning at a 60% clip. However, I was really interested

in what those fifteen horses did in their next start and many of

them never ran again or or just have not had a chance to run

back since then because they just ran this year or this

winter. The other many have transitioned

to to turf in some instances, Not surprising for Brad, only

two have actually stepped up to stakes competition next time

out. Both lost and one was in the

same F Davis, one was in the Lafayette at Keeneland and so

both lost those next starts and Chad honestly doesn't have.

There are certain numbers that make me think this is not the

greatest move. 2 for 27 over the last five years, switching 3

year old dirt runners off late, 6 and graded stakes races, one

for 20 when those are routes, one for 11, Sprint to route,

second start and graded stakes races.

So, you know, it's a limited sample size, but there's some

evidence that this isn't really a winning move.

But, and there's always a but, you look at the pedigree.

Uncle MO up top out of the Tappet.

Mayor Juddmont owned and bred. Yeah, Batman, of course it's

worse. That's a chance.

I, I, I, I saw the word Juddmont and I was like, OK, that's why

the horse is there. Like, like, like, like, OK, OK,

yeah, I think your reasoning is, is totally legitimate, by the

way, as well. We're talking Grade 3 Gotham.

My big old log shot is on the outside here and that is with my

Mottoli, a son of Mottoli of course, but it comes out of a

one mile win there by 5 and a quarter lengths in an optional

claimer with Lasix, but before that of course did it as well

without Lasix in a maiden optional claimer.

I think I'm going to get every bit of like 25 to one on this

horse, Matthew, like every single freaking bit with the

connections and all the other things.

Can Carlos Martin get his first stakes win here?

No, but I I applaud let's go. I know I Robin for me, but I see

where you're going with this and it's not bad logic at all.

This is a horse that has, you know, good speed, but can

headstone shown the ability to pass horses sit a little off the

pace. The outside post position of

these one turn miles was always ideal.

That's where you want to be, and this horse is on an upward

trajectory. This horse has gotten faster the

last three times out. Granted last time was with

Lasix, but I at least like that the horse was already trending

in a positive direction before that.

So there's things to like there. And honestly, if this horse is

20, 25 to one, it's a good play because I think 15 to one or

lower, No thanks. 25 to one or higher, Yeah, yeah, take a swing

with that. I think he's going to tick right

up into very playable categories.

Or reminder on this episode, we are presented by the Louisville

Executive Airport, Louisville executive.com.

Get in for all your travel here for Oaks and Derby and maybe

even for the sales, whatever you might be coming to town for, go

check them out. Bowman Field, Louisville

executive.com. All right, last two on the card,

Matthew, we'll get some quick picks from you to get you out of

here. An optional claimer in race

nine. Another one mile one turn dirt

race there at Aqueduct 4 and up New York breads non 2

essentially for $78,000 here. Matthew, I are you sitting down?

You are right. I am there's a coupled entry.

I don't know if you're. We do love them, We do love

them. They can't get enough.

It's unbelievable. Well, you need to get more more

money in these purses so that these poor coupled entries can

get more cash. But there are lots of nice

horses in here. Quick two accused does stand out

is in for the tag here ran in allowance company last out, but

before that ran a really good second and a one mile allowance

as well. Might be one that you lean on in

your later tickets, huh? Yeah, I think so.

I mean you just look, the last time this horse ran against

state bred company, it just runs so well against this level.

So you know was running against open company prior to this that

drop back down in the state. You know, now going in for A tag

feels like this one's going to be pretty tough to beat.

I will say if you're looking to try to beat this horse, the

number 4 Landoro for Clemont with Romero Mirage up on the

mount. I think this one, you know, also

has been looking very good the last several times out and I

think a second back from a little bit of a freshening.

So that one one could provide a little bit of value.

But yeah, quick to accuse top selection for me.

Closing the card Maiden special weight 6 furlongs on the dirt

there of course $74,000. This is 4 state breads again.

The kinda comes in as the five to two favorite in of the one

hole. It looks like Cher the loot will

be the second favorite there in the 9 hole as well.

Wide open race here or do you think we can lean on a couple in

this one? You know, Viquenda is one I'm

not trusting anymore. That's a horse that should have

won so many times, seems to just run to her level of competition

and just but not win. And so otherwise you can't

really explain the varying speed figures from race to race.

There's no kind of rhyme or reason this horse runs big or

source runs small. It just has to do with who she's

running against a lot of times. So hard to really rely on that

one too much. I do think the number six

America's back for Mike Maker with the Axe Man Up is a horse

that actually debuted against into last time out and a little

bit of a wide trip that day I think could move forward second

start. So that's one at 9:00 to 2:00

that I think is interesting. And then if you're looking for a

really big price, Dio Romano the number 1212 to one for Mel

Giddings. I love a good makeover package.

This one's getting back on the dirt gelding blinkers on.

We're throwing the kitchen sink at this horse.

Let's go. One of those it changes is

ultimately got to work Lily right and so or at 12 to one at

least I'm willing to find out. So I think those are two that

are interesting to me in that last race.

Medicine, glasses and testicles. So there you go.

That's a little bit of everything for old DL Romano and

the the the closer there. Oh man.

Well there you go. There is our preview of the

Gotham card on Saturday. We will be at the Wood Memorial

next month. We would really love to have you

come out to Queens with us. You can you can pet Matthew on

the head. I don't know if I mentioned that

earlier, but he's got great hair and I I really don't.

And so you can go out there and and it just can't give me one of

those. Do not, do not do that to Barry.

Do not no, no. No, don't do that to Barry.

No. All right.

Well, that's it for today. We'll get up there.

We'll see you. I think it's actually is it 5?

It's actually 5 weeks. I can't remember how this

actually works because April 5th falls back and March is a weird

month and where the the newmark starts on a first and then it's

the thing. But anyway.

It'll be 5 weeks. OK, there you go.

I will see you in five weeks, my friend.

Obviously, we'll do some shenanigan.

Any things around the Wood Memorial, we'll have a great

time. Of course.

Can't wait for it, Louis. All right, naira bets naira

bets.com go see all of our friends over there and at failed

to menace for everything with Matthew DeSantis as well.

Louisville executive.com presenting our coverage today on

the horse racing happy hour of the Gotham happened to be coming

in from New York. Hey, we got you covered at

Bowman Field. Shuttles to and from the the

track, a boat on Oaks and on Derby day and a cookout all day

so you don't have to worry about dinner after the races go by,

grab a plate and get on your plane and get back home right

away. Easiest in and out here in the

Louisville area. Well, for producer Zach Matthew

DeSantis, my name is Louis Rebo. Thanks for hanging out with us

this week on the Horse Racing Happy Hour.

We'll be back next week. Preview of the Tampa Bay Derby,

the first of the big derbies ending one of the trails.

We'll try to get a bunch of different people from down there

in Tampa. But of course, Jason Beam and

Wren Carruthers and and of course our guy Barry Spears will

make it happen for you next week.

Again, I'm Lou your boat. This has been the horse racing

happy hour.