BloodHorse Monday 3/10/25

Ah, yes, all dressed up and nowhere to go.

It's Blood Horse Monday hanging out with Sean Collins.

My name's Louis Roubo. I post Tampa Bay Derby episode

of the show version of the show, if you will.

You'll hear from Michael Banahan from Godolphin later in this

episode, which I thoroughly enjoyed the interview.

You never quite know, Sean, of these shows and welcome in how

long those interviews are going to go, how much you're going to

get. He answered everything

extensively that we asked. If you have any questions about

an Oaks or a Derby contender with him, good news, you're

going to hear about it. And the second thing was you,

you can ask certain questions with certain people, hey, East

Avenue and what happened here, whatever.

And you get it. I thought a very succinct,

meaningful answer. Frankly, there's kind of so lots

of good stuff coming up in this episode.

Hopefully get you an update as well from the OBS sales.

Speaking of which, man, we're hanging out with the OBS folks

on this episode. Grade one winners, Grade 1

producers, legendary sires at the OBS March sale of two year

olds in training, success is found across the board.

So in 2024 alone, graduates of the March Sale accounted for 62

stakes victories and 12 Breeders' Cup entrance in the

leading sire Excuse Me in the breeding shed, the March Sale

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Excuse Me to reign with graduate and world's leading sire into

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The OBS is the two year old source to the world.

So come find your future star at the OBS March Sale from March

11th through 13. Obviously that's tomorrow, my

friend. Yeah, we're going to go down

there and buy something. I.

You got any money to lend us? Looking at my house, the no.

We should have asked Michael for some before we ended the

interview. We could have went down and go

sell the horse. Going to talk a little.

Poor Michael. It's like, no, I'm not buying

you a horse. What planet is this?

You were in Tampa this weekend. I was yes.

You know, I always like to ask this.

You're a you're a geek about this stuff and I'm not trying to

pick on you at all, but you want you're one of these guys.

It matters if you get to a track or.

Not OK. Yeah, this is my 45th track that

I've been to, my 41st thoroughbred track.

I've been to four standard bred. So for me, it was just a bucket

list. Make sure I got there once,

check it off the list. Never been to the Tampa Bay

Derby before. So fantastic.

In general, overall, take a Tampa.

I loved it. Yeah, the track atmosphere and I

was there. I got there on Friday, so I got

to see what a non Tampa Bay Derby day looks like as well on

a weekday. The place was packed.

Yeah, it's still fun. It's still packed.

It was great atmosphere. I love the layout of the of the

paddock area and how easy it was to kind of get up and see the

horses. So overall I had great thoughts

about Tampa. I can't wait to go back.

Can't wait to go back. And you got to see Owen

Almighty. Yeah.

Do the darn thing again. He's turning into one of these

that I think all of us for some reason want to doubt.

Yeah. And I wonder if part of it isn't

that they talked mile before instead of talking 10 furlongs.

Let's watch the replay here out of the Tampa Bay Derby.

Our guy, of course. Jason Beam on the call.

They're racing together out wide, Chancellor Mcpatrick and

Anita seam. Owen Almighty brings him around

to the top of the stretch. Bro Doer Patch Adams 3 wide

fellow. So on the far outside,

Chancellor Mcpatrick still waiting for that seam to arrive

as Owen Almighty turns him in. Owen Almighty to the 8th pole, 2

lengths in front of Chancellor Mcpatrick, who tries to come

after that one, But Owen Almighty's three lengths in

front Chancellor Mcpatrick, a final 16th.

Hill wrote up the inside, it's Owen Almighty in front, Owen

Almighty by 4. Owen, the all powerful Owen

Almighty wins the Tampa Bay Derby Chance Mcpatrick was

second, third went to Hill Rd. Patch Adams 4th.

An interesting one because I think in route races, Sean, we

have a bias in horse racing against horses that can just get

the lead and keep the lead. Now some of the very best that

we've ever had, especially in the last, let's say 10 or 15

years have been get the lead, keep the lead, authentic stands

out, justify, of course, like there's we've had horses like

this, you know, Serengeti efforts, if you want to go back

to an Oaks race, that kind of thing.

We're just. Get out front and sail.

Yeah. And, you know, we've even heard,

you know, a trader like Bob Baffert say before this comes

from my quarter horse background.

Got to just get the lead and everybody can come catch me if

you want to. He does that exceptionally well.

And it is a an apparent knock on him from other people.

Yeah, and not for me. I just want to start the

conversation. About I think I've said on the

show a couple times that one of my, you know, hesitations on a

horse like Citizen Bowl is we haven't seen him sit off the

lead. So, you know, that's perfect.

Proven your point right there and.

And so I wonder, at what point do does a horse do something

right enough times that we just admit that he's doing a good

job? I think we're at that point when

Almighty, I think, and you know, it's, it's fun, 'cause I was

able to watch him grow last year at Churchill Downs.

We saw him, you know, kind of turn into a stakes winner early

on and then you ran second. Iroquois kind of disappeared for

a little bit 'cause he was out with an illness and to see him

come back now he's run three really good races at Tampa Bay

Downs down there. And you know, the first one

there was a question because he got this qualified from the win,

but he was clearly the best horse in that.

Race 7. Furlong, Pasco.

Yeah, the seven furlong Pasco and then I think the last race

with John Hancock, when people saw him kind of take the lead

for that brief moment and then lose it in the final strides,

everybody kind of looked at that like, oh, he's hitting the wall.

This is the limitation of his distance.

I mean, it didn't look to me the way he ran on Saturday that

there was going to be any problem if that race was a mile

and an eighth or anything like that.

Well, and it was much faster than domestic products win last

year. Yeah, right.

So the the splits were considerably faster.

Now he still gets to run 48 flat for the half mile, but I, I

don't in a prep in in early March, are we going to hold that

against the horse? I just I'm, I'm, I'm not

personally. I'm one, I never really hold the

early fractions against a horse because, I mean, nobody was up

there pushing him. So why go faster?

You know, you're just going to go as slow as they let you go to

save as much energy for the end. He saves a lot of energy for the

end. And I I know his final splits in

the race, which if you read Blood Horses recap from our very

own Byron King, a good friend of ours, he pointed out that the

final five sixteenths, he went 29.76, the final 16th and 5.84.

For a horse that a lot of people are saying is not going to be

able to run a mile in a 16th going into that race, it's a

pretty good fractions no matter what the pace is.

He finished up very well. I think you and I both left him

on our tickets because we think a mile in a 16th is a good

distance for. Him.

I think so, yeah. I am of the opinion that I, I do

wonder about 10 furlongs, but I have news for you.

I, I wonder that about 98% of 3 year olds, right?

That it isn't some sort of a knock on the horse at all or

that he can't be a great mile and a 16th mile and an eighth.

We see lots of those level of races at some or one turn mile.

I don't know, like so many of those races now at a Saratoga,

at a Churchill Downs, where horses who are of that ilk are

going to be able to find spots. Yeah.

And so I think going forward, and I know we're, we need to

concentrate on the Derby right now, but going forward, I think

there's plenty of spots for him. Oh yeah, I think he's going to

be in a great spot. He's got a well of options right

now. Yeah, that's exactly.

Right. Especially if he can keep his.

Off, Yeah, yeah. And you know, right after the

well before the race, even Brian Lynch said, no matter what

happens in this race, we're probably looking at the Pat de

Mayo with him. Obviously he he won.

You know, I obviously I had him in my exact the plays.

I thought there was a chance he could win, but he won better

than I was expecting him to win. So now you have to look at it

and be like, all right, let's start thinking about the Derby.

Let's let that enter the enter the mind a little bit more,

because I mean, he looked he looked really good.

He looked really strong down the lane all.

Right. So finishing second in that

Tampa Bay Derby and finishing in that group is a Chancellor

Mcpatrick. OK.

And it was his debut. We we heard from our colleague

Frank Angst a couple weeks ago. How important it is if you want

to win the Derby to be very good on debut as a three-year old.

OK, now we're talking about a horse making a March debut

against a horse in Owen Almighty that's already in a well into

the form cycle as well into you know, all of the you know, his

fitness is is unquestionable at this point chance are moving

forward. What do you expect to see out of

him? Well, the thing I really liked

about his performance on Saturday was he sat closer to

the pace this time. He's been a deep closer in his

races as a 2 year old. I like seeing that he was up

close to the pace. I thought he maybe kind of had

to wait a little bit longer than they were wanting to around the

far turn for some space to open up.

Now, obviously he wasn't able to reel in Owen Almighty, but after

the race, you know, he kind of caught up to him pretty quick in

the gallop out. And I don't know if that was

just, you know, he was finally starting to kick into gear as

they got to the wire and that's a good sign moving forward in

distance or if that was just, you know, Owen Almighty's being

asked to stop and he slowed down.

But he did get caught up to him pretty quick.

So I thought for a three-year old debut without getting the

victory, that was good for him. He showed a different dimension.

He was able to sit off the pace and I thought he finished up

strong, so I've was a little skeptical on him going into the

race. I feel a little bit better about

his possibilities going forward. Who would you rather have

amongst the second place finishers from recent races?

Are you right? Yes.

OK Chancellor or the second place finisher in the Fountain

of Youth in River Thames. I would lean River Thames I.

Think I'm going to lean Chancellor Mcpatrick, OK.

Chancellor or an East Avenue at this point, 'cause I think both

of them didn't win on debut as 3 year olds.

We think a lot of them as 2 year olds, right?

Lot of talent. You know, you'll hear about East

Avenue later with our interview with Michael Banahan.

But the between those two, where would you go 'cause I would go,

Chancellor? I would go Chancellor there too,

just because of the Risen Star performance, the fact that there

is no like necessary necessarily obvious reason as to why he

ended up running the way that he did in the Risen * E Avenue.

I'm going to give that to Chancellor Mcpatrick.

You know, you're looking at two horses that were very good as 2

year olds. One of them came back pretty

well in the first start at three.

One of them didn't. So I've got to side with

Chancellor right now until we see what East Avenue does next.

It's. A fascinating dilemma, for sure.

All right, well, yeah, it was a great race down there.

Appreciate Jason Beam and all the folks down there.

All right, so there was another race this weekend.

It was not a Triple Crown prep. It's not an Oak's Prep, despite

what you may have read. Only three-year olds can run in

the Oaks and the Derby. But a four year old ran on

Saturday, and her name is Thorpedo Anna.

You and I, both unabashed fans of this horse.

Here's her return in the Azarian Oakland Park.

Our friend Matt Dinnerman on the call as they round the far turn.

Thorpedo Anna still in front of deck, free like a girl

attempting to make a race of it. Thorpedo Anna coming to the top

of the lane, a neck in front of free like a girl who's right

there. Thorpedo Anna off the turn, free

like a girl still trying in second.

Thorpedo Anna Brian her name Mendez junior asks her to go and

just look at her go she hits the furlong pole accelerates opens

up three torpedo Anna just gliding over the Oak Lawn soil

today and she is back and she is back in business.

Thorpedo Anna wrapped up to win the Azeri, kicking off her four

year old season in style. 4 year old season in style does

Thorpedo Anna. And I wanted to put this in Sean

because I think last year at this time we were watching a

horse in idiomatic and wondering who in the heck is actually

going to catch this Philly. And we kind of always assume, I

think we get static at horse racing when we don't need to,

which is we forget because so many of our great horses run off

to breed or or whatever after their three-year old seasons.

Horses get better as they get older.

Sometimes it's OK. Yeah, it's OK.

And so we forget these parts. We saw like a Cavallieri, for

example, out West win for Bob Bafford and the Beholder Mile,

that kind of stuff. She might be it.

I don't know, Shawna. I don't want to, you know, put

some kind of expectation like of Olieri to catch a Torpedo Anna

by any stretch. But do you think there is a

horse out there, maybe in the three-year old ranks that could

be the next, not next torpedo Anna, but at least push her this

year? It'll be interesting to see

because right now, you know, when you're thinking about who's

going to be that kind of that pace pressure for her, I'm not

really seeing it. You know, when I think about the

three-year olds who might develop into being that

challenger, I think about good cheer who's on one of the

leaders for the Kentucky Oaks trail right now.

But she usually sits off the pace.

So, you know, she's not really going to be able to kind of take

it to Thorpedo Anna early in the race.

This was an interesting race because wild about Hillary who

was probably going to be her pace, right?

Though right now as far as the older horses as you're marching

towards the Apple Blossom, as you're marching beyond that to

Reese's like the LA Troy Anne, which might be too quick a turn

around, but the Ogden Phipps at Saratoga after that, right now I

don't really see anything on the older horse side that would make

me think torpedo and is vulnerable here.

I do wonder if it we'll see a Cavalieri in the apple blossom.

Just the purse alone or you get 1,000,000 bucks together.

People are going to show up, right?

And Baffert loves going to Oakland.

He does love going to Oakland so it wouldn't be surprising to see

her there. I do wonder if it won't be from

the three-year old crop because I think we always assume the

older crop, especially the Philly and Mare side, because we

do get more torpedo Anna's on that side that we do Gun Runners

on the cold side, for example. I do wonder if we underrate that

three-year old Philly crop every year just assuming they're not

going to get there. They do, right?

They always do right, So it's always the case that you have to

watch out for them by the time we get to the Distaff.

Sean Collins, Lubro hanging out with you, Blood Horse Monday,

our reaction segment. They're presented by OBS Sales

at OBS Sales if you want to go find him on the socials as well.

Up next is Michael Banahan. He's with Godolphin that talks

us through all of his Derby runners.

We look back on an Oaks, a great Oaks day.

We asked him about that Oaks Derby devil as well.

That's coming up next year on Blood Horse Monday.

All right, it's time for our weekly ownership and breeding

and all of the great talk that we get to do with the different

odors of breeders around the country.

It's time for that segment here on Blood Horse Monday.

Really pleased to to welcome in Michael Banahan from Godolphin

here in Lexington. I was saying all right before we

got to talk with Michael, I hope he's in Lexington because

goodness, we finally got some sunshine in the Commonwealth.

Michael, how are you? I'm doing great.

Thank you very much and thanks for having me on.

And it is certainly nice to get into March and get through this

bad winter we've had. So it's all blue skies ahead.

Yeah, So Michael joins us, of course, from Good Dolphin.

Plenty to get into. And look, I think the easiest

way to start is just, hey, let's get right on that Derby trail.

I know it's something that is certainly a point of emphasis

for your your program, your breeding program in general.

There were all questions aplenty when I was talking with Brian

Nadeau down there at Gulfstreet Park ahead of the Fountain of

Youth. Hey, what's which sovereignty is

going to show up in this race off the layoff.

We don't know if he's going to want to close into this short

stretch of Gulfstream Park, all those kinds of things.

What does this tell you about his talent that he was over, you

know, able to overcome all of those things, and it doesn't

make you excited about his future.

Absolutely. And we didn't know either and he

hadn't had a maybe a straight run through the winter time and

ended up with a little bit of a fever just when we're getting

started with him. And but I got over that and

probably was just ready to run. And we would have loved to have

got him going a bit earlier, but that's where he put us.

And we were just hoping for a good run out of him and see him

finish up and pass some horses out and galloping strong to the

wire. And he did all those things and

the bonus was winning the race as well.

So look, we, we've always felt he's, he's had, he has a lot of

talent and it was great to see him be able to do that first

time out against some horses that have run already down there

in the meet. And we feel like, you know,

there's a lot of improvement still in the horse and hopefully

if we get a good run between now and the next couple of months

should see us in pretty good shape.

And definitely like when you're looking at the Kentucky Derby

going forward, he's got the right running style to make that

mile and a quarter run coming from the back like that.

Pedigree wise, he's pretty well suited for a mile and a quarter.

He's by leading stallion into Mischief, who we talked about a

couple weeks ago, has definitely has a couple good horses on the

Derby trail. He's out of the Bernardini mare.

Bernardini, very important to you guys at Godolphins standing

at Darley. So that's gonna make you feel

pretty good about your chances, knowing the pedigree and the

running style and just seeing him coming off the layoff like

that, right? Yeah, and, and probably as much

as anything else, physically, he is a beautiful horse.

He's big, he's strong and you know, he won't get intimidated

or bullied anyway. And the other great thing about

him is his temperament. He is a wonderful temperament.

You know, our first down Gulfstream for, for the fountain

of youth. He stood in there like older

horse in the saddling area. And we know that's it's not made

for horses. It's a tight area in there.

And he was very, very good and took it all in a stride.

And so we feel like, yeah, for a lot covers, covers everything.

He covers the physically what he looks like, temperament wise,

ability wise, pedigree wise. So he has a lot going for him

and we think we think we're in great shape with him and it's,

you know, everything has to happen sort of quickly for him.

It's four weeks back to the Florida Derby, which more likely

that's we're going to end up and then probably a little bit

tight, but that's what it is. And if you want to make the

Derby, that's what you have to do.

Yeah, Michael Banahan joining us here.

I'm Blood Horse Monday from Good Dolphin.

We're talking about sovereignty. The top.

I I say for right now at least the top on the Derby trail for

the Good Dolphin folks over there.

Look, he's already won at Churchill Downs.

And from your perspective, Michael, is that an important

part of the piece here of the puzzle?

Try to figure out whether he's going to be, you know, capable

once we get to the Derby. Obviously, you know, the 10

furlongs and asking the distance questions stands on its own.

And we've seen many horses have never run at Churchill come out

of that Florida Derby route and be just fine.

But the fact that he has won a, does that, does that add to your

confidence with him? Makes us a little bit more

comfortable anyway, that's for sure.

And when the opportunity came to came up to run there and he and

he hadn't broken his maiden at that stage was we sort of

considered his race in New York in at Aqueduct as good as a win.

He made-up like 4 lengths in the last four long against a really

nice horse of that came back yesterday and won a Gulfstream.

And so we we we felt let's take that as a win and throw them

straight into a stake race. It was Dan down Pride who first

suggested maybe looking at that and it made a whole lot of

sense. Run a Churchill wants to get him

around two turns. It was difficult to do that up

in New York and we felt it would you know, you run back in

another mate, another nice maiden there was probably going

to be just as strong. So we were we were keen to do

that with him and and run him at Churchill as well.

Was was perfect spot to try and break his mate.

And then we figured we could give him a little bit of time in

the winter down by doing that and which all came together.

And I think every time you have a race over the track that holds

the either the Oaks or the Derby, it's nice to have that

under your belt already. And he, he loved it there.

And we saw a great performance in the street sense and looked

like he enjoyed it there and, and looked like he was, he was

maybe learning and maturing a little bit because he was a

little bit closer to the pace as well.

And we're we're excited to go, hopefully go back there in May.

It was one of those races where I thought I was the smart guy

picking the maiden and then all of us picked the maiden and by

the way, we were all right. So yeah, there you are.

But. You know, that's a, that's a big

move to make. You know, maybe sometimes that

could be a little risky. But in your corner you have the

Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott. So how does he fit this horse

and kind of fit into this puzzle?

Well, as we all know, Bill is an extremely good horseman.

He's the youngest person ever to go into the Hall of Fame and

those a lot of great trainers in America that have never done

that at his age. And his horsemanship skills are

second to none. His intuition around his horses

is great. He's patient and he'll always

just do the right thing by the horse as well.

So if Bill is happy to go forward with a horse, gives us

confidence, but we'll give him the latitude if he's not happy

with one that we're not going to press, press on unless it's the

right thing to do with a horse as well.

So I think we're very fortunate to have a trainer in a corner.

As as good as Bill Martin is, I think he can he can suit a lot

of different horses. So not saying that this horse

wouldn't go well with any other trainer as well, but he is.

I think he's just a very good trainer with any type of horse.

Michael Bennett with us from Godolphin.

Look, sovereignty. We know where he's going to be

for Saturday in May if he's healthy.

You've got some other prospects though looking to qualify for

the Kentucky Derby poster stands out amongst them.

Obviously wins the ransom. We saw that be an incredible

predictor race last year with Sierra Leone, with Dornick and

with domestic products coming out of that race.

Look suffers his first career lost in the Sam F Davis.

But look, still, you know, I think that running style, you

know, upfront suitable for, you know, these two races where if

you can, you know, if you can raid on the front and be part of

that early pace, certainly got a great shot to win those.

What do you what did you take away from the Sam F Davis

performance and what's his next step, you think?

Well, as you alluded to earlier on, we haven't had the best

winter in Kentucky and we were going off history over the last

few years would have been pretty mild and we lost very, very

little training time. So this year, obviously we had

two horses that we kept in Kentucky trying to go down that

route. And we did have a we did have to

navigate our way through the weather.

But for him, I thought, I thought he ran a very good race

against, you know, there was a bias down in Tampa that day.

The two horses on the lead ran around there to the winning

line. There wasn't much catching them.

The horse was second, came back and won very well in the Tampa

Bay Derby. So that gives a lot of credence

to the race itself. I believe Poster was running,

you know, he was running against, I said Tobias that day

and he was probably one of the only horses finishing up and ran

well and got a little bit tired at the end, which you'd expect.

And I think first time I was on the Tampa surface can do that a

little bit as well. So we were encouraged by his run

that day and thought it would put us in a good spot.

And so we're just trying to figure out, you know, where

where the next best place would be for him to get to get to the

first Saturday in May. And there's a lot of different

options out there. And we talked about maybe

staying down at Tampa for for the Tampa Bay Derby last week,

but. We weren't.

Maybe enthralled about the timing because there's a long

time between last Saturday and the first Saturday in May and

then you have to go back again and try and run again, which

didn't really feel like that was the right thing to do.

Not for him anyway. So we ended up go back to base

where he's trained all all year in Turfway and we look at trying

to Jeff Ruby and I think he's better on the on the dirt

really. But I think it's a good spot to

for his next start. You got six weeks between the

Sam Davis and then another six weeks to the Derby.

If it all works out, it's great timing for him.

And he's got Owen Hardy in his corner as the trainer here and

who also trained First Resort. You alluded to having the two

earlier. Unfortunately, First Resort's

not going to make the Derby this year, but you know, he's kind of

a newer name on the Derby trail. Just kind of tell us a little

bit about how he came to work with the Dolphin and just the

fact that he's got two really good horses that have performed

on this trail this year. Well, home probably is much

experience going down to Derby Trail than anyone has because he

was assistant trainer to Bob Baffert.

But he started out and he was there with Cavanier and Silver

Charm and real Quiet and all those horses.

And as the Baffert style would be, I think on travel with those

horses in their prep races and stayed with them all the way

through the Triple Crown. So he was the man on the ground

with a lot of those horses. So I think he has a pretty good

Bank of knowledge on what to do with them and how to get them

there. And you know, he's had a runner,

maybe a couple of runners in the Derby on his own, a memory

Colonel John in there I think before.

But so he's he's been down that road.

If he has a horse good enough, he's certainly he can certainly

get them there. You know, he's talented trainer

as well, given the right opportunities.

He's won a Breeders' Cup race for us with 10 pair years ago at

Belmont. He's 1 of Travers, one of the

Dubai World Cup. So I don't I don't know we're

going to miss anything else with all and his experience as well.

And hopefully the horse will be good enough and we get a nice

run from and and Jeff Rubio and we go on to the next day.

And as I said, I think he'll be better getting back on dirt

again. But this was we felt was the

right opportunity for him maybe to get to the first Saturday and

May. So we'll see him in the Ruby in

about 10 days then. Is that about right?

That's, that's the plan at the moment anyway.

So hopefully, hopefully and he's training up there.

So that's, that's the plan at the moment.

Yeah, subject to change, obviously.

Yeah, right. The horses always tell you what

they want to do. Michael Bad ahead from Godolphin

with us here on Blood Horse Monday.

Lou Revoshawn Collins hanging out with you.

Look, you know, this is, you know, this is an outfit that

wins Eclipse award after Eclipse Award, but that Derby win is a

different thing altogether. There's only one of those here

for sure. What do you, I mean, you know,

all the accolades, all the trophies and all the things.

Where would the Derby rank you think are for for Sheikh

Mohammed, for all the folks are kind of?

Well, I think for the Godolphin organization and obviously

founded by Sheikh Mohammed loves to participate in globally high

end races. He is an Epsom Derby, Dubai

World Cup, Melbourne Cup, Breeders Cups, Derby.

So they all and the Derby is one of the races that we haven't got

that notch on the best chest. We'd love to put that race.

It's not to be all the end all, but when you have 3 year olds

that look at their talents enough, that's your first step

in stone is to try and get to the Derby.

And obviously we'd love to try and win that.

We were there with essential quality a couple of years ago.

He was favorite in the race. We thought he was the best horse

in the race going into it. We thought he was the best horse

coming out of it, but he didn't win and so it was pretty

disappointing all around that day.

So hopefully one of these guys can jump up this year and you

know, we mentioned two of them, but I certainly wouldn't

wouldn't wouldn't wouldn't like to be good in there without

maybe E Ave. in the mix as well. Is the talent to the horse?

We're not too sure what happened and there isn't Star I.

Was just going to ask you about him, actually.

So he comes back and there isn't star.

It does, you know, whatever fluffle you want to make about

your first start as a three-year old.

That wasn't terribly encouraging if you looked at it on its own.

But do you have a sense he's going to run better next time?

Well, we'd hope so. We very much hope so.

Look, we don't really know why he didn't run well that day.

Trained super all winter long, did everything that Brendan

wants them to do. So it was a really disappointing

effort from him for sure. No stone has been unturned.

He seems in great shape. He's come back, worked well,

healthy, great shape. So we're going to go again.

More than likely we look at maybe the Bluegrass, He has won

his grade one there already. He won over the track side of

maybe that's the thing to do, go back to where we've been

successful already and give him another goal and quietly

confident that he's going to be able to come back and show how

good he is because, you know, we all feel he's very talented.

Brandon does, his team does. Tyler thinks that he's

exceptionally talented horse and you know, he's ridden a lot of

the best ones over the last few years.

So we're going to give him, you know, as long as that goes well,

between now and early April, we give him a shot to go back in

there again and see what he can do.

It's good to hear that it's not a physical issue, that purely

just was maybe a bad day. That's really it's good to hear

at least. Yeah, and.

Too much time on Bourbon Street the night.

Before you know. Marlins does that to people.

Maybe so, but we're going to back up here to the Bluegrass

and in a few weeks once Keeneland opens up again and get

it back here and see if we can rectify that last start.

So we we know we have, you know, the Breeders Cup was what

happened and now the Risen Star. So we've with two marks against

us. So we have to get him back to to

where he was last fall and in in in the maturity and give an

opportunity anyway. I think the horses service that

to go back out there and see what he can do.

Well, you mentioned Tyler Gafflione and Brendan Walsh

being involved with him. They were also involved with

your Kentucky Oaks winner two years ago.

Pretty mischievous when she clinched that victory for you

guys. You have another Philly, a very

good Philly that's on the Kentucky Oaks trail this year

and good cheer trained by Brad Cox.

Just what are your thoughts on her?

She's been very impressive, 5 for five.

She looks like she's probably the leading Philly at this point

going into the Kentucky Oaks. What's next for her and how

confident does she make you feel a couple weeks out now?

Sean's very confident for you. Very.

Confident. Well, I can understand where

that confidence comes from and I don't think it's unfounded.

She's been very, very impressive.

Every time she gets onto the race track, she just blows you

away with how professional she is and any little different

circumstances. She can take care of them very

readily. She will hopefully turn up in

the Fairgrounds Oaks. She was impressive obviously in

the Rachel Alexandra, so there's no point in getting getting too,

too, too funny about where we want to run her and just run

back at the race track that she's performed well as she

stayed down there and hopefully we'll have a nice performance.

They're pretty mischievous. Did get beat in the Fairgrounds

Oaks before we went on to the to the Oaks, the Kentucky Oaks.

So we know that that could happen.

But I wouldn't trade her for anyone else.

She's she's just an unbelievably professional, straightforward

Philly. Brad has the ultimate confidence

in her. I don't know.

He has several other Phillies in his barn as well.

They're pretty nice as well. But we we feel we're in a great,

great spot with our Philly. I would not trade her with

anyone else and looking forward to trying to get our second ox

down with her and I think I think you know an undefeated

Philly. She's by her own stallion

Medallia de Euro. It'd be great to be able to go

up there and and be able to favorite chance to to try and

win the win the lilies again all.

Right. So look, we watched a guy who

grew up not too terribly far from where you're sitting in

Kenny Mcpeak pull off the Oaks Derby double last year.

I want you to go ahead and just guarantee a good share of

sovereignty double right now. Just go ahead.

Or East Avenue, whatever you got to do.

That's fine, Michael. Just go ahead.

And do that, I'm not going to be as bold as those type of things.

We're very grateful that we're in the position with some very

nice three-year olds, both Colts and Phillies.

And the opportunity to get there is all we can ask for and you

know, made the best horse win on the day and we know what it's

like. We've been there before and the

competition is what we, what we want to get there to do.

And we're we'll just be very grateful if we have horses in

both races turn up on the day with good chances.

And they, you know, if they, if they don't look like they

belong, they won't, they won't even be there on the day anyway.

So we don't, we're not in, in the business of going in there.

Just have a run around the day if if we have horses in either

of the races and hopefully both of them and they're going to be

we think anywhere in there with life chances.

He's Michael Ben and he's with good Dolphin.

I want to get you out of here on this.

So we see your name in the eclipse awards as as far as your

outfit, odor breeder, those things.

And you know, it's, it's multiple years that are almost

1/2 decade, I think. And just how much pride do you

do you take every year when you hear that name?

Because I think so many people around the industry, you know,

babysit in this chair, they see the blue silks and they, you

know, they forget there's people involved in this decision making

process. How many you know, just how many

you know? You talk about Owen Hardy, you

talk about Bill Mott, you talk about Brad Cox, all the moving

pieces for an operation like yours.

How much pride do you get when that when your name comes up in

January? Oh, look, it's absolutely

unbelievable and you know they're the they're the people

on the front end. We have an unbelievable team

back on the farms here in Kentucky, Gainsborough and

Stoner side and wrestling farm as well that we have our

yearlings on. And so we have a big team that

take a take an awful lot of pride when the Eclipse award

full comes out in our favor. And to be able to win lead known

or lead breeder means that we just don't have one horse.

We have a multitude of very nice horses.

So that means the world to us as well.

And if we have a leading fancy in there, as we did last year

with Immersive or the year before with with Cody's Wish or

whoever that might might be our essential quality before that.

Having those cherries on the top being, you know, individual

Eclipse award winners as well is fantastic.

But the collective of having, you know, multiple graded

winners through the year is so special for all the team that we

have great racing here in Kentucky, Keeneland, the

Churchill, and they can actively come out and support her horses

at the race track is phenomenal. And we have with no bigger

supporters than our employees that work on on the farm here

with us as well. So they're extra special.

They're very difficult to do. We appreciate them when they

come along with many, many barren years as well.

So we understand how difficult it is to do it.

And it's, it's great when it happens.

And we, we don't take it for granted, that's for sure.

And it's a it's a great reflection on, you know, Dubai

and good often founder Sheikh Mohammed to put us into position

where we have great broodmare band, the great roster of

stallions as well. And the opportunity to breed to

other stallions as well. To be able to put put these

horses in the position for for him to enjoy them on the

racetrack, which is what he loves to do and be as in Europe

or America or wherever that might be.

He gets a great kick out of of his horses performing at the on

the top stage. He's Michael Banahan, he is with

Godolphin, hopefully standing in for for his sake, at least in

the winner's circle in a couple days up there at Turfway Park

with poster punching his ticket to the Kentucky Derby and one

alongside Sovereignty. Michael, safe trips for

everybody coming up here. Safe trips for you, wherever

you're heading to watch these horses.

And thanks so much for joining us here on BLUNT HORSE Monday.

I appreciate it. Thanks a lot.

Thanks, Mike. I'll be welcome.

Bye Michael Banahan from blood or a roof of blood horse.

He's from get self and easy for me to say Sean a really

interesting stuff as far as where they're placing horses as

far as as trainers, the trust they have based on previous

experience and and I love once in a while when someone comes on

and just says we don't know what happened in that race because we

all watched East Avenue. We're like, what are we, what's

going on here, right? And so appreciate that it was

just, you know, I've, I've had bad days doing this job before

and you've had bad articles that you've written.

That's right. And so certainly that's an

opportunity. Anything else that really stood

out to you? I do appreciate because I I try

to stress this in other shows I do as well.

I think people see that I can open a name and they forget

there's people. Yeah, I'm glad you pointed that

out at the end because there's a lot of, you know, little pieces

to the machine that make it work and make it flow.

And when you have an organization like a dolphin

that's got so many horses across the country, you mentioned, you

know, the different trainers, every horse we talked about

today, the four big ones we talked about all had different

trainers. And so that shows you, you know,

from that perspective, the trainer side.

But everybody that works at the farm, everybody that's involved

with the decision making as far as where to run the horses, who

to send them to, you know, the breed aspect of it, they're

really top notch at every aspect.

Of the game how complicated it is to know your own broodmare

set and then your own stallions and then to look at stallions

outside of that. I mean, there's a lot involved

in this. And so again, I appreciate

Michael jumping on to talk about all those things.

There's so many moving parts. I mean, operation that size, I

mean, goodness gracious. But to to consistently place

horses in the rights, it's stunning the hit rate for them.

I mean, it really isn't so. When you got three horses

heading towards the Kentucky Derby, they're all going to be

in different races, it sounds like, for that final prep and

you're going to go in. If they go and perform the way

that Michael hopes and the way that we're expecting them to

kind of bounce back, you're looking at, you know they're

going to have three legitimate shots to win the Kentucky Derby.

Rank them right now those those three from Good Dolphin,

Sovereignty, East Avenue and Poster.

I think I'd rank them in the order he just mentioned.

But. East Avenue, you know, if he

comes back in the Bluegrass and he runs the way that he did in

the Breeders future, I think he shoots up to the top of the list

there. I think Sovereignty's at the

top, but I think that isn't really terribly debatable.

The Jockey Club showing and then of course, most recently I I'm

really torn on the second one because E Ave. it was just such

an egg last time, unfortunately, right?

It was just so much not him. It didn't look like him right.

It's I worry so much when when you see those kinds of things.

But again, hopefully just that was the day.

Get him out of there, get him back to a track he's won at.

I think that's such a smart move as well.

So appreciate Michael joining us there from Godolphin.

All right, and from Godolphin talk to OBS talk of course, with

our friends down at the OBS sales.

We've seen some weather issues, Sean.

Around the OBS sales. This isn't like the NFL combine

where we're inside the Dome. Wouldn't.

That be nice, wouldn't? It be nice if we had a big old

Dome for these things. So obviously wind conditions

affecting some of the times early in the meet, we saw them

decrease as soon as the wind went away.

I'm sure people are making their adjustments and different

things. Any initial sort of reactions

what we've seen at the OBS sale? Well, it's interesting for, you

know, the consignors kind of how they adjust to this and for the

buyers as well how they're going to adjust to the weather.

They had to cancel the first day of the Undertech show and now

the start time for the first day of the sale tomorrow is going to

get pushed back a little bit just to get them some extra time

to kind of look over horses since they did have a little bit

of a delay there. So it'll be interesting to hear.

We're going to hear from Olivia Newman, our Blood Horse Sales

Director here in a little bit and kind of give us a little

insight through her interview on kind of how things are going

down there at OBS. We got to come up with a great

nickname for Olivia on this show because she is the Mel Kiper

Junior of Blood Horse. But she's I don't want to just

lean into that, You know what I mean?

You know, there's just other, there's other better draft names

and all this kind of stuff. Look him up to something.

I feel like we've got a minute for I had to figure those things

out, but here is Olivia. She is in and she is

interviewing OBS president Tom Ventura.

Reminder the grade one winners, Grade 1 producers and legendary

sires at the OBS March Sale of two year olds in training

success is found across the board.

In 2024, graduates of the March sale accounted for 62 stakes

victories and 12 Breeders' Cup entrance.

Just incredible in the breeding shed.

The March sale banner continues to reign with graduate and

world's leading sire in the mischief for precocious stars to

enduring champions. OBS is the two year old source

to of the world. So come find your future star at

the OBS March sale March 11th through 13th.

Little bit of a delay tomorrow, but we'll get you all three days

down there at the OBS sale. Appreciate them very much.

Here's Olivia Newman talking with their president, Tom

Ventura, about that sale. I'm here with Tom Ventura,

President of OBS Thanks for joining me.

I just wanted to get your thoughts going into the two year

old sale season. Well, thank you for having me.

You know, the two year old sales are exciting time of year

because now we get to see the horses on the racetrack,

especially those young sires. They really get a chance to, you

know, see how they move on the track after looking at them as

yearlings. And it's, you know, a lot of

work has been put in to get to this point.

The consignors are anxious and to show their wares and we're

we're excited to to be doing this.

This is something that has been very successful along the way

and we keep kind of tweaking things until we get it better,

better and better as we move on. Are there any first prep sires

that have stood out to you? Yeah, that's always a tough

question for me because I hate to, you know, start picking out

sires and missing some obvious horses.

So it's an excellent first group of horses that are showing here

that we're very popular as yearlings.

And I know, you know, there's a lot of Yao ponds in the sales.

Some of them performed very well.

Charlatans, essential quality. There's there's a number of them

and I know I'm going to make somebody mad by missing

somebody, but I think it's very good group of first crop sires

and I think it translated on the racetrack.

They were very successful as horses on the track, as race

horses, and now we're going to see what they look like at at

the racetrack here shortly in their offspring.

Any buzz horses that have stood out to you?

I know I saw a full brother to Cogburn this morning who's an

OBS graduate. Yeah, Cogburn, you know,

certainly has been in the limelight a lot and deservedly

so. And he, you know, ran a had a

great run last year. His full brothers is very nice

and looks like he'll be one of the the top horses here.

There's a very deep group of top end horses.

There's a gun runner over at Eddie Woods that worked in nine

and three that looks tremendous at the end of the Shank.

So I think some very high end horses.

There will be, you know, some some super athletic horses that

may be by, you know, stands that are slightly below the radar.

But I've shown themself well on the track and at the barn.

So those those are the horses. You don't get surprised by it,

but on paper they might not look like they're going to bring that

kind of money. The start time is pushed back to

1:00 tomorrow. The weather has been a little

uncooperative and with the under tax show being consolidated to

three days, does this just give out buyers a little more time to

look at the horses tomorrow? Yeah.

You know, it's something that you know, unfortunately in the

horse business you need to be adaptive to the situation and

with the two year old sales, with the under track component

of the of the sales process, you know, we had to make a decision

and I think it was a good decision to move one day back

and consolidate into three days. It was unfortunate that that

first day the wind was still you know pretty steady throughout

the day and it was going in the wrong direction.

You know as far as the concerns are concerned, it was a headwind

and you know I don't think the horses were compromised and in

terms of running the times were probably compromised, certainly,

certainly compromised because of the headwinds that were pretty

steady throughout. But I think it was good three

days. But because of that, usually

when we had a four day under tax show, the consignors had the

opportunity to show their horses late in the afternoon and some

of the buyers had a chance to look at some horses and get get

through some of the horses. And it's another part going

through the videos as well to get through the videos and kind

of sorting through and see what they like and don't like.

And then after the under tax show, we had some rain each day

and rain this morning, the kind of limited showing in the barn.

So pushing back the start day, just the first day to 1:00 gives

everybody a chance to kind of regroup, get organized and give

everybody a fair chance on both sides of the equation.

The buyers have a chance to do their homework and then the

sellers have a chance to show their horses.

And 1:00 start will probably end around 7:00.

Daylight savings. We have no concern about, you

know, being dark and you still still get out of here at a

reasonable time. And I think it works well for

everybody. And and we only heard positive

feedback from that. You've been with OBS for 30

years, since 1994. Has the company progressed and

what are some goals for the future?

So, you know, back in 19/19/74 when they were organizing, the

first sale was in January I believe.

It was a way to get the horses marketed on a local basis.

And, you know, a group of forward-looking horsemen got

together, organized the company and started with six barns and a

5/8 mile racetrack. And you know, started with, you

know, goals of getting horses sold to different, you know, in

a different manner just because you know, they had horses maybe

didn't stack up on a pedigree level with some of the other

horses. So the two year old in training

sales became, you know, very popular to showcase the horse on

the track and another piece of information for the buyers to

have. So they The Pioneers of the two

year old sales were right here in Ocala and got got that up and

running. And you know, shortly

thereafter, you know, the, the barns were increased and, and

today we're sitting with, you know, 29 barns and room for 1200

horses. We have two race tracks.

We have a 5/8 mile dirt track and we have a one mile track

that Tepita is now managing. And, and that track, honestly,

one of the best things we ever did was install that surface.

We, it was safe track initially back in 2007 or 8, I think 8 was

the first sale that we had that track.

And the one thing that that track allows us to do is deal

with the weather that we've had. So when it rains, the the track

has tremendous drainage capability.

And there's, you know, sloppy track is is never a factor.

And because the horses aren't racing against themselves, it's

important for that track surface to be the same from day-to-day

and from morning till afternoon. And with the weather, you know,

starting sometimes cooler days in the morning and warmer in the

afternoons, you know, there's never a perfect way to maintain

that track. But we've, we've got it to the

point where we can manage the track And, and that track has

been, you know, very beneficial for the horses.

It's been a very safe track. It does play quick as as noted

by the times, but it is is kind to the horses and I think it

gives everybody a chance to showcase their horses.

So I think that was one of the biggest things since I've been

here that we did. But one thing that I always tell

somebody is that during the races, we know who wins the

race. You know, at the at the finish

line photo finish determines the winner and whether they went six

furlongs in one O 9 and change or 111 and change.

It doesn't really matter. The winner's the winner here

because they're going individually.

We need to try and keep that track as as similar as possible

throughout the days and throughout time, the time of the

day. And you know, it's not a perfect

science by any means, but we're managing it well.

And, you know, we certainly can't change the way Mother

Nature is going to have the wind blowing, but we, I do think that

has been very helpful to us and, and over the long haul, it's

been a very good surface for us. And, and, and also, you know,

these horses go off of this track and they perform anywhere.

They perform on the turf, they perform on the turf, they

perform at the highest levels of the game.

So I think it gives the buyer an opportunity to see their horses

in a in a very good condition and then they can add that to

their evaluation. Are digital sales something OBS

will have more of in the future? It is.

So we've dipped our toe in the water with the digital sales and

we, we've been in a working on it in the background for a

while. And we the, the time sales that

we've had online bidding since I think all the sales companies

since the pandemic, we kind of were forced into fast tracking

the online bid, the ability to bid online.

And after the pandemic, we were actually the first sales company

to in in the US to have online bidding during a live sale.

And that was always a mandate rather than a choice.

I think all of the companies were pondering the best way to

move forward with the online bidding.

Obviously when you're buying a horse, someone along the way

needs to look at that horse and evaluate that horse.

So you need to have somebody to evaluate and give the proper

review of the horse. So the online bidding is a part

of the, the process and we've always accommodated phone bids

and things like that. But often times you will have an

agent here and maybe the principal is not here with them.

And rather than go through US, they'll communicate, you know,

wobble horses in the ring and, and you'll see a lot of people

on the phone here. But the back to your question on

the digital sales, the time sales, we had a time sale after

the October sale because Mother Nature again wasn't very kind to

us in October. We had to deal with hurricane

threats. We didn't, you know,

fortunately, as it turned out, there wasn't any serious issues.

We did have to delay the the start of the sale, but the sale

was was not a great sale. We were able to sell some

horses, but we thought, you know, let's, let's get this

digital sale and let's try it and give the people that have

had horses in that sale an opportunity to sell them if

they, if they didn't sell them in the ring.

So we thought that was a good way to, to try it.

It gave us a way to, you know, test some of the the processes

out for the, the time sales and, and we're looking, you know, to

get a little more active in that arena and.

What are some of the OBS graduates who have made a mark?

So, you know, it goes back a long ways.

You know, there's a lot of Breeders' Cup winners and

champions and millionaires and you can go, you know, way back,

you know, to skip away or further back to Brave Raj and

Lost Code and horses that you know are not going to be on the

tip of people's tongue. Silver Charm Kentucky Derby

winners and horses like that. I'll have another was was a

little more recent, but one of the greatest horses that we've

sold was in the mischief. And you know, he was a good

racehorse. He didn't have a long career,

but he certainly has had a long career at stud and and has been,

you know, a generational type sire.

And you know, he's he's probably, you know, at the top

of the list from our March sale. Current horses coming out of the

March sale. We have White Ovario who won the

Breeders Cup, who won the Pegasus.

He's certainly at the top of the class.

And you know, we've got four other grade one winners on the

cover for this sale. We've got gaming, we've got Muth

who's now at stud. We have Scottish Lassie who was

another top 2 year old last year.

And I scream, you scream. A good turf force running out in

California, you know, but deeper and beyond that, I think what's

important is that these sales, the two year old sales in

general have been very productive at all levels in

terms of statistically have have shown that they start more

often, they win more often. And so sometimes the perception

is that the two year old sales process is one that might be a

little tough on the horses, but it's actually the opposite.

So the perception is inaccurate. And you know, we have stats that

we didn't tailor to our convenience, to our needs.

You know, the Equine line and Jockey Club provided us the

statistics and it's over a 10 year period and then separately

we did another 1 / a five year period.

And consistently the two year old sales have produced runners

at all levels and winners, average earneys, you know, pick

a statistic, stakes percentages, they're all higher than, you

know, horses that sold last as a yearling or Wheeling.

So not, not anything negative to the selling horses or yearling

or Wheeling. It's just more of a positive and

a reinforcement that the two year old sales process is is

good for the horse and the people that are selling 2 year

olds are the same people that are breaking and training horses

for for some of the best owners in the country.

Forte Ocala stud had back-to-back 2 year old

champions. And you know, Ocala stud, one of

the original shareholders in OBS have been doing it.

They're going on, which is amazing.

They're going on their 70th year.

So, you know, incredible group of horsemen in Ocala and I think

that's sometimes you get a negative perception and, and

it's really it's really not statistically back then.

I think it's important to to recognize that the the two year

old sails a a they're, they're very productive in terms of

producing top horses year in and year out.

But also that the horsemen that are participating at the sails

are those same horsemen that are developing horses that were

bought for yearlings or homebreds that go on and become

very top horses. You know, there's one horse

actually is frustrating from my end, but gun runner who's who's

probably right up there is the top stallions in the world.

You know, Gun runner was in our April sale and now Brennan had

him. He worked here and he worked

well and he was a late scratch. He actually got scratched and a

portion of the horse got sold. So if we could, we could kind of

call him a an OBS graduate, but I'm just emphasizing the fact

that the the horses that come out of the sale, you know, go on

to great careers. Well, awesome.

Thank you for your time and best of luck with the sale.

Well, thank you. We hope.

We hope we have a good three days and then we've got another

1200 more to sell in April. Yeah.

All right, thanks to Olivia and all the folks down there at the

OBS sales. Looks like everything's going

great and they'll get everything back on track.

Man, I, you know, it's so difficult in our sport.

I, I tell people, my friends especially who are like, oh, you

got into horse racing. How did that, you know, blah,

blah. What's it like?

And I'm like, it's a little like college football.

You just got to check out the weather report and just go.

You just got to go do the tailgate, hang out, do the thing

thing. Sean Collins, we were both

hanging out with you. Of course, another episode of

Blood Horse Monday, the Virginia Derby.

The inaugural version is on Saturday.

OK, so real question for you, young Sean Collins.

We've got this road to the Derby.

We've got these 50 pointers. We've got these 100 pointers,

100 pointer in the Jeff Ruby on the synthetic or a one turn mile

and an eighth as A50 pointer. We get 3 Derby runners out of

these two races. Is this a good thing or a are

you indifferent? How How does Sean Collins feel

about? That I'm indifferent until I see

who qualifies. I mean, you can't argue with the

Jeff Ruby anymore. I don't think that has proven to

be, even though it's on the synthetic, that has proven the

last couple years that that is a legit Derby prep race.

But yeah, the one turn mile and an eighth, this is going to be

really interesting. It's very.

Interesting. Yeah, You know, this is going

to, this could be like a precedent center, Center for the

future. You know, I don't really know

how to how I'm going to analyze this.

I guess we'll see what happens on Saturday, but I don't know

how I'm going to really kind of analyze that.

And on top of that, you're 7 weeks out from the Derby, so

you're kind of in that that limbo where the horse might not

come back for another start so. It is fascinating because we do

see in other places we saw tis the law.

For example. I thought about this in 2020

when a mile in an eighth Belmont over one term.

Yeah. And then come back in the

Kentucky Derby and run really well a month later.

That's true. Now I know that was gosh,

September, no, July and August and September.

And then of course, we go to. Baltimore on the pre Belmont was

at the middle end of June, OK. It was June, OK?

My brain was telling me June. And so I was trying to figure

out in my head if there was a precedent for this sort of

thing. And we've seen it.

We've absolutely seen it where there is the tis the law example

at least where he ran in that very short Belmont and then ran

really well when he got to the Derby itself.

So I I think there's at least a little bit of precedent here.

We we see some returnees in this race that I think are pretty

interesting. Standing out, of course, is

getaway car coming in for Bob Baffert shipping all the way

across the country. You know, what's incredible is

actually this will be his first stake starter at a CDI track

since the obviously Barnes won his maiden race at Churchill

Downs of the fall. That was kind of the everybody

shake hands, how we doing sort of moment.

Of course, this will be the first stakes runner that he's

going to have at a Churchill Downs track.

What do you think about Getaway Car being in this spot?

I like him very much over one term.

It's interesting because originally the plan was to send

gaming out here from the Baffert Barn, and then he ended up

getting a fever the morning of entry, so they went with getaway

cars. The backup plan, I kind of like

the backup play a little bit better.

I think this race kind of fits getaway car, you know, because

this is the interesting part of the one turn mile and an eighth.

You know, I think it's going to potentially set itself up to be

an easier time for the front runners.

And if this was around two turns.

So I think this is going to set up great for him.

He gets Irad Ortiz in the saddle.

That's definitely, you know, obviously Juan Hernandez is a

very good jockey, but you can't argue having Irad Ortiz in your

saddle. And, you know, he's going to be

aggressive. He's going to go for that lead.

And he showed last time in the Sunland Park Derby, like, yeah,

it's the Sunland Park Derby, but he showed he can dig down, fight

for that victory. And so I really like him in the

spot. I think this is a good

opportunity for. Him.

I think it is too. I think that Sunland Derby with

him and Caldera, of course, out of the Lucas barn, I it just, I

thought that was actually an underrated race.

I think both horses looked a little green, which is funny,

but I think it was more just the layoff than anything.

We're second in the form cycle here.

If he travels well, are we going?

To get the Lucas fight again from American Promise if it's

going to be Baffert versus Lucas again.

It's a fair question because American promise that comes in

as the three horse there Nick Juarez up to ride of course for

Wayne Lucas in this spot comes out of that risen * really,

really disappointing one as is the was the Southwest.

I think this is a as much about getting to A1 turn type of race

than anything else because look and who am I to question Bill

Mott? I mean like, excuse me, Bill

Mott, Wayne Lucas. I mean, what are we or, or Bill

Mott? Don't be questioning any of

that's correct. Hey, Louis, back off.

But I just this also, gosh, who was his runner that won on the

Oaks Trail in Oakland last year? Lemon Muffin.

Yeah. Yeah, American problems.

Kind of feels like lemon muffin, like like Lucas wants it to

happen but I'm just not sure it's going to happen.

Might be, but hey, he's still got lemon muffin in the Oaks.

He does. I want to make a prediction for

this race. Are you ready?

Yes. OK.

I think Studly do right runs in this race.

I think he finishes like 5th and then I think we see him in the

Federico Tessio and then in the Preakness.

I could see that happening. Because I think he's going to do

the Mid-Atlantic thing from here on out.

It didn't work in the Battaglia. He's been really good in the

Mid-Atlantic. Very good in the Mid-Atlantic.

That's exactly right. That's why I kind of like him on

Saturday for that reason. Looks like if he's going to have

a bounce back race, I feel like this is going to be it.

And especially the one Turner, he was good in the Remsen, if

people remember, actually over the mile and an eighth.

So it's not as though it's completely unheard of.

He did win the Nashua going A1 turn mile at Aqueduct.

So this does. Make sense for him, the

precedent as a spot. If there was a race on the Derby

trail where he was going to be successful, this is the race I

would expect it to happen. This one or maybe.

Oh gosh. What's right before the Gotham

The the no. The Gotham at a mile right.

Yeah. Like the Gotham would have been

the one that would have stood out as well.

Raptures in here for Brad Cox We're getting It's hard to know

if John Hancock's going to be in the spot because we've heard his

name attached to other ones. Essentially is that if if John

Hancock's in here, how do you feel about him?

I like him if he's in the spot. I mean, you just saw Owen

Almighty come back and run huge Tampa this weekend.

We talked with Michael about poster who was behind them.

They're really high on that horse.

And so I, I think if John Hancock runs, I think he's the

horse to beat. I think it's still possible

getaway car is going to, you know, be the favorite when all

said and done. But I think John Hancock is kind

of the, you know, he's the up and coming horse.

He's undefeated. You know, a lot of people are

going to kind of lean towards that.

So I would think he's the horse to beat, but I think both he and

Getaway Car could be the two pace horses.

And if there's 2 Brad Brad Cox horses, there's the both owned

by Winstar and CHC. In this race between John

Hancock and Rapture, I can't imagine both of them are going

to let Getaway Car just go. So because of that, I think

Raptor is the one who's going to be sitting third right behind

them and I think he's the one that's probably got the most

upside. This is not scenario.

It's interesting with Rapture because he's only run twice, but

he ran the exact same race twice.

He ran 2nd and then in the second one happened to overtake

his rival. It looks pretty good doing it.

It looked just fine doing it. That's exactly right.

And so I wonder, even with him being listed here, lobby and

Pratt's listed as Rapture and not as John Hancock.

That to me tells me, I know you never know what actually the

conversation was, whether that was predetermined, whether that

is a we're expecting to not run John Hancock in this race, but

if we do, we're going to put you on the one that we know is

running. So you don't know what the

actual conversation was, but I always see something like that

and think Jockey had a choice and he picked that one.

How do you feel on that? I totally feel that way.

I think it might be even in this case an example of them showing

us that that's the horse that's going to run.

And just listing Mike Smith the board on the.

I think that's a real possibility.

Yeah. In this case.

Render judgments in here. Any thought Kenny Mcpeak?

I really liked him as a 2 year old last year and he hasn't run

too well in the prep races yet, but so I am interested in seeing

him run this one turn mile and an eighth.

I'm wondering if that's going to maybe have a difference in him.

But I did really like him last year as a 2 year old and

hopefully, you know, he's going to kind of get back on that

game. And one of the other horses that

I've liked so far, kind of one of my quiet choices for, you

know, hitting the trifecta and the superfecta and the Derby, if

he gets there is Omaha. Omaha.

I've been liking this horse on the New York trail.

He hasn't really gotten that much of A pace to run into,

especially in the last race in the Withers, and he's still been

able to close. I think that the pace is hot for

him in this race. You could see where he's maybe a

threat to win. But every year I always look for

that horse in the Kentucky Derby that's kind of the long shot

deep closer that I always try to putting that trifecta in that

super fecta spot. Obviously I have not hit that

very often, so I don't know how good of a strategy this is, but

that might be for the other horses.

I'm putting it though. Then, then my log shot play.

But he's one of those horses I have an eye on, as you know.

We'll see how he does in this race.

But if you can sneak into the Derby, I do like him to pick up

some of those pieces late. Omaha, of course, The son of

Audible. Do you get that joke?

Yes, Peyton Manning. Very good.

I this show was over if you didn't.

I just wanted to warn it, we were done doing this forever.

If you didn't, I think authentic gallops interesting in this spot

in this race as well. Son of authentic, not a son of

gallop. And just certain people that I

trust when we get to this time of year with three-year olds.

And Tom Amos is one of those. He just is right.

And so it's just one of those guys.

Have your Castellano in a ride. That that definitely caught my

attention. Great at stakes.

I think a lot of that guy great at stakes, frankly.

And so with with Javier Castellano in as well, it's

going to be a good race. He's already won twice as well.

This is the thing too, if both of his wins are in his last

three races. So he wins his maiden tries,

goes against Winters the first time, finishes third, goes ahead

and closes this last time running in that second, third,

fourth kind of spot. He's going to be another one

that's going to be sitting just off the pace almost certainly

with Rapture. I think he's a fascinating entry

here, and I think that a guy like Javier Castellano, it's

going to be good in the. Stretch man, when you see a

horse like him where it took several tries to break the

maiden and then like he said, he comes back, he breaks the maiden

and he runs well enough against allowance horse and then comes

back and wins allow an allowance race.

That to me just signals he's a horse that's finally putting it

together and developing. So if he pulls the upset, I

won't be shocked this weekend. It's a good race that Colonial

downs for the first running of this race.

All the effort that they put into getting this race ready to

go, getting their three days spring meet, I think they got to

be happy with the field that they came up with because this

is a pretty contentious. Field.

I'm really hoping moving forward as as horse racing recalibrates

itself as to what the circuits are right, They're not just

state circuits anymore. We've got regional circuits now.

And you see that with Maryland kind of adjusting this.

Is what I'm hoping is, you know, we see the Maryland schedule in

the summer with Colonial, right and allowing folks to go back

and forth. My real hope is that we get some

kind of symbiosis between that Virginia program and that

Maryland program and it just grows and grows and grows.

Frankly, frankly, because of how close they are.

It would be fun if there was some kind of Preakness Virginia

in the spring or excuse me in the fall.

Like that could be pretty fun, like a double that way or

something like that. I don't know if they're they got

space for another 3 year old race or something like that.

But as we move forward and there seems to be a real sense, you

know, we we saw it with decoupling in Florida, how we

can actually do things together in this sport, right.

Like organizations from different places can get along.

Hopefully we'll see Virginia Maryland move and alongside and

in tandem together. Movie for me.

Yeah. Virginia Derby on Saturday will

end the 50 point races as you heard with Michael the Jeff Ruby

Stakes is the next weekend alongside the Louisiana Derby.

There's usually a fun Bayou. What do they call that Bayou?

The Bayou Bluegrass. Bluegrass.

Yeah, the the circus there. So we'll be there as well.

Sean and I will both be at the Jeff Ruby Stick.

Sean's heading down for the Virginia Derby and then TBD the

weekend after trying to make our I'll be at the Wood Memorial at

the beginning of April. Sean will be at the Bluegrass at

Keeneland and then I think we'll both be at the Lexington the

weekend after. Yes, yeah.

It's that exciting time of year, and that's man.

And look, it's, it's one thing to say the last 50 point race,

it's going to be another one next week when we sit down on

the show and say, hey, we're previewing 100 point races.

Yeah. Pretty cool.

Getting close, getting close, getting.

Close indeed. His name is Sean.

I'm Louis. This has been Blood Horse Monday

for March 10th, 2025. We thank our friends at the OBS

sale for hanging out with us again.

They are going March 1112 and 13 this week so make sure you are

tuned in. Catch all their stuff online.

They've got a very easy to find website and of course

bloodhorse.com, your source for everything.

We appreciate Olivia, of course, Michael Banahad from Godolphin

as well. For Sean, I'm Louis, we'll see

you next week here on Blood Horse Monday.

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