BloodHorse Monday | Preakness 150 Reaction

All right, welcome in on May 19th post Preakness edition of

Blood Horse Monday. Sean Collins, lawyer about

hanging out with you for the next however long this episode

ends up taking. Sean, welcome back from

Baltimore. The two of us, of course, I

traveled to Charm City over the weekend.

I want to thank everyone that we got to hang out with.

And frankly, I wanted to start a little bit of gratitude here

just how well we get treated every time we go to Baltimore.

Just the, the the folks at Pimlico, but also just the, the

folks who cover racing in the state of Maryland, etcetera.

It's really just a nice, like just a great feeling around it.

And I'm, I'm not putting down any of the other big race days

or whatever else. There's just something really

charming about the Preakness, really easy to cover with the

stakes bar and everybody's kind of in the same spot.

Your, your impressions, though. We, we're like, we're lucky

guys, you and me. We get to travel for these

races. We get to take a lot of these

in. You know, I, I, I take for

granted that I get to go to the Kentucky Derby every year.

For example, I'll be at another Breeders' Cup this fall,

etcetera, but the last, you know, the last previous at Old

Pimlico it. Was emotional.

OK, why? I you know, it's interesting

'cause. Right, because there's no easy

answer to that question. Yeah, 'cause I mean, we all, we

all know it needs to go and we all know it needs to be rebuilt.

And, but, you know, when it got to the, the race, after the

Preakness, the Arabian race, the, the Presidents Cup, I got

very emotional during the post parade.

I was starting, tears were starting to come up.

You know, it's a place I got a lot of sentimental, sentimental

memories at. My dad and I went to the

Preakness a couple times when I was in high school.

This was my eighth Preakness overall.

And, you know, it was one of those things, you know, where as

they were running that last race, you know, kind of some of

the, some of those memories, me standing on a plastic chair

getting pelted by rain as American Pharaohs running past

me in the stretch. You know, if I took one

sidestep, I would have probably died off that chair.

So I slipped off that chair so that. 20 minutes, that 20

minutes, yeah, Before that, the 2015, right.

Here it was. 20 minutes. It felt like 20 minutes.

Well. By the time they maneuvered

everybody through the rain and got all the horses out there and

all that stuff, it was it was wild.

And I was sitting next to Julian Leperoux on the plane the next

day after the feral, because that was my first Preakness

believer. That was my first one.

Yeah, that's pretty. We were destined.

For Yeah. No kidding.

I do a full circle. I So next Julian Leproux.

And by the way, baller move. Speak French for Julian Leproux

on a plane. Yeah.

On the way back. That's impressive.

People look at you like, whoa, who's this guy?

At the time, of course, I was just a dude going to the

Preakness. But he said that when the jocks

weighed in after the Preakness, they were all carrying between

15 and 20 lbs of water weight. That's insane.

So American Pharaoh carried an extra 20 lbs.

And then three weeks later, went ahead.

Gates wired the Beaumont. Yeah.

He doesn't get enough credit for.

That unbelievable. You know, but it was just

memories. Well, how good.

That three-year old crop too, was frost is an I mean, that's a

Dortmund. It's a great, great crop.

But you know, just memories like that came back into my mind and

I remember I texted my dad, my dad wasn't able to come this

year. And so I texted him.

I was like, oh, you know, thanks for all the memories.

Thanks for taking all the Preaknesses.

And it was, it was emotional watching that last race.

And it was one of those things I actually skipped going to the

post race press press conference for the Preakness just because I

wanted to watch the last race of Pimlico.

So I'm glad that I did. It was a it was sentimental.

I was there Sunday morning before I left, walking through

the grandstand and got emotional again.

It was just, you know, it's, it's sad because it's place

where there's been so much history, There's been so many

memories there. And you know, even though I

definitely think it needs to go and we need to get a new, no

doubt it was, it was sad to say goodbye.

And you know what? I.

No, I was never going to step in there again.

What I equated it to is the greasy spoon you grew up with at

the dive bar that you love or maybe the house you grew up and

it wasn't very nice before your parents, you know, the job

worked out for them or whatever. You moved to a nicer house, but

you have the memories of that place that it's yours, right?

It's just yours. And I think all of us feel some

kind it weird ownership about Pimlico.

All of us who have gone and really loved and had great

memories there. We have this sense of ownership

of Pimlico that is I don't have about other tracks and I don't

know why there isn't anything that I can point to individually

or frankly even on the list of two or three things about

Pimlico other than I just always have a nice time when I go.

The people are always kind of really like Baltimore, the this,

you know, I hate how people your age now talk about the vibes or

whatever, whatever that means, but they're immaculated, they're

great. It just whatever is going on.

I think part of it is everyone just knows what they're getting

into with the greatness. They know what it is and so they

just decide before they get there they're going to have a

good time. And I love that about.

Them I think part of it too is like, you know, we go to we go

to Churchill every week so Derby week is special, but then you

know, next month and a half we're still still every day

Pimlico over the years, you know, as it's falling apart

essentially, it pretty much is only open for the Preakness,

right. So it really.

Is. Just you know that once a year

we all show up, we're there for just that week.

It's that very special week and then we leave.

We don't see it again until we have this.

It's. Almost like a Gustin National on

the golf side, right where you go one time a year and it's

like, oh, we're at a Gustin. And now I know I want to be

clear, it's everyone listening. I know a Gust is the opposite of

whatever old is. I want to be very, but it's the

same kind of feel, right? You only get to do that once a

year. It's not like Aqueduct.

We went for the Wood Memorial this year, for example.

I could have gone the next day and gone to races, right?

Kind of thing. Pimlico would have been done,

done until next year, right. I mean, so that's or until

October or whatever they wanted to do.

And so, yeah, maybe that's part of it.

I just, I think, too, for a guy like me, I've told the story to

a lot of other places, too. So people are hearing it again.

I apologize, But I grew up in the upper Midwest in old,

unrenovated stadiums. Yeah.

And so Pimlico's just comfortable that way.

It reminds me of Tiger Stadium in Detroit.

It reminds me of the Monster on the Lake in Cleveland.

It just reminds me of those stadiums that were, I'm sure at

some point glamorous and nice and all of those things.

And Pimlico certainly has the feel of a place that in the 50s

or something would have been, you know, the deco art that

hangs on the walls. And that kind of stuff would

have been just absolutely glamorous.

Yeah. But those days are long gone.

And like you said, time to move on to the next thing.

But of course, journalism goes ahead and.

OK, OK. How do you?

Describe what this race was like.

It's a really fantastic question and I and I made a joke in a

piece that I wrote at another outlet that it's I think

dependent on how you bet the race or how you analyzed it

beforehand. If you think that journalism

caused a foul or if someone else caused a foul, if there was a

pathway there, if there wasn't a pathway there.

OK, this is where I think I'm a little different than other

people that do the horse racing podcast thing.

Was this different than Maximum Security?

Yes. Why?

Because. He was well because the favorite

won the race that he pushed his way through.

No, I mean, I when I looked at the overhead of this race, it

looked to me like goal oriented came out enough for there to be

definitive reason for journalism to think he was or for Alberto

to think that he was OK to go forward into that spot.

I think that spot was there. I think he got into that spot

before Goal Oriented then came back in.

So in my opinion, I think that was.

So goal oriented in in this case, by the way, we're just,

yeah, this is all shifted to the right.

He shifted to the right and journalism then had like the two

or three path to move into. And he moved into it before it

started to close. So therefore I.

Of course, by the rules, fiber again is on the rail in this

grouping of horses as well the eight horse there.

I think the spot was there and he got into it early enough to

where, in my opinion, you can't put the blame on Journal, OK?

That's my opinion, OK? I of course I would not have

made a change either. I want to be very clear.

I also would not have made a change in the maximum security.

Term I would have. Made a change in the maximum.

So you and everyone else, I know I'm very much on the memory on

that. So I was glad to see.

I expected, that's interesting. I expected a 5 minute inquiry

just because there was bumping in the stretch, of course,

right. I mean, like if that were, look,

this is what I had to hear after the 2019 debacle, by the way,

was, oh, this were Clayton Grace at parks on Wednesday.

They would look at it. It's Kentucky Derby #1 we're not

at parks on Wednesday and #2 OK. And then they took the 20

minutes or 22 or whatever it was.

Are you surprised there was no pause at all?

Well, they did look at it. It did not like take long enough

to. Wear no plastic lights on the

screen. None of that.

Kind of stuff. By the time journalism got back

to the front side, the inquiry was over.

I they probably could have taken a little bit more time to look

at it, but now OK. So you said, you said there

wasn't a foul. OK.

And that's fine. That doesn't, even though

there's not a foul in my. Opinion but it wasn't look at it

perfectly OK that's what I wanted to do exactly because I

think we're very much on the same page there where you got to

look at it yeah for sure and frankly they probably should

look at unless it's very clear there's nothing at all you you

should look at it right I mean it's just how it works but.

When you when you see a horse do what Clever again did where he

essentially hits the rail and the jockey has to ease up, you

have to look at that right now as far as you know.

I do think that it was kind of, I think well before we get into

what we really think, why don't we actually watch what happened

here? Can we do that on the show?

We can do that. How about we've?

Been doing that all along, so let's walk along.

Or if you're listening to us, listen along from Larry Comas.

There you go from Larry Comas, NBC call here of the previous

150. Journalism is getting closer.

Now he's behind a wall of horses.

He's looking for a place to go and he's got nowhere to go.

Oh, he but hard but part with Gloria.

In the meanwhile, Goskers running the race of his life and

Sandman has entered the scene and he has moved up in the far

outside. Journalism is still running on.

He's back into second. He might even win it.

Here's the wire. Oh my goodness, journalism has

won. There you go.

He does a pass somehow through that eye of a needle there.

There you go. Thoughts.

I mean, I by the way, Gozger race of his life, a little bit

of hyperbole and race before of his career, but yes.

But it was for sure by the way, that was my smartest moment of

the weekend. I told everybody I thought

Gozger was set up for a massive. Showing here I could not believe

Gozger was 20 to 1 morning line. I cannot believe he went off at

15 to 1. Hey, Belly was like, yeah,

what's worse odds than he was for a little while?

For lower odds, I should say at least Yeah.

There were three graded stakes winners in this race.

They ran 123, right? It should not.

Like, that was that was the way it went.

And the fact that Gozgar was allowed to be as high odds as he

was, it's ridiculous when he was one of the only three that came

in with the credentials. And he ran like, and I saw a lot

of people, you know, over the last two days, you know, kind of

commenting on his ride like, oh, he got lucky that he just

happened to be. No, he that's a good horse and

he's a developing horse and he's going to be one of the horses

that's probably going to be a player in this division for the

rest of the year. And he ran.

Like it's one of my least favorite things that we do in

horse racing. And I'm saying we on purpose.

I try not to do this. I hope I don't do this very

often. But like, people crapped on

Caesar Grey winning the Preakness last year, yeah, shame

on all everyone that did that. That's another grade one later

in the year. After winning the Grade 2, after

winning the Hat Day mile, we act like he was some bum horse

coming in out of a claimer. I mean, that really does bother

me. So like Gosford running a big

race. Like I saw Brandon Walsh at the

airport yesterday and this is where we're at and he's like and

and something's off the record. But something I can share is he

said he came out of the race really well and instead of going

back to King and by the way, he's going to be here at

Churchill. And so we'll see him in East

Ave. in the same barn this summer.

And I look Brendan's guy to watch this summer as we get into

races. It'll be interesting.

Does East Avenue do a Belmont or does since he's here at

Churchill, does he do a Matt win?

Do we see Gossgar try to go back in the Belmont?

Right, because it's three weeks. Yeah, he had that time off from

the Lexington. Maybe they think he's good

enough for the mile and a quarter Or do we see him

probably can't go on the Matt win.

He's probably gonna have to go Ohio Derby and Indiana Derby,

right. I mean, there's, there's

$300,000 races, $500,000 races, West Virginia Derby's coming

around too, right? Those, those Midwest sort of

derbies. I just think the Walsh barn with

those two horses sitting out there, one to watch this summer

for sure. Yeah, and you, you look at, you

know, they've got a perfect 1-2 punch for one in the Haskell,

one in the gym dandy later in the year, and then throw them

both into the traffic. That's exactly right.

They've got some interesting runners there, but journalism's

the story here for sure. And I'm not making a joke like

Larry Collins did. Yeah, just kidding.

I know, I know, I know. It's the job.

Well, we ever all of us journalists have to get all the

jokes out now, because now that he won the Preakness that names

forever retired. Let's.

Be very you got. To get all the jokes out now on

this. Very clear journalist.

Not a journalist. Want to be very clear.

I have to be a journalist once in a while.

I don't like it. That's all.

Like off the record. Conversation you like being the

the host, the. Podcast, I like radio the chair

one's better for me. The commenter thing is better

for me, the opinion maker or whatever.

OK, so all right, so but but legitimately journalism wins.

I know the consternation and I understand it of sovereignty not

going to the Preakness. We're going to see him in the

Belmont if he's healthy, right? Journalism just shipped today up

to Saratoga. Is this the second best option

to get the rematch? In my mind, it's not even a

question that that's the. Best.

Well, I'm going to make the maybe a hot hot topic kind of

statement here. Little hottie take.

Yeah, a little hottie take here. I think based off the reaction

that I have seen online from the general public, I think what

happened in the freakness caught on more than had sovereignty

been here. And one I think that the amaze

amazement of the general public of journalism overcoming the

traffic and still winning. I think better than sovereignty

going for a Triple Crown. I think so.

I think, I think that was one of the things.

It was one of those things like Rich Strike when he won the

Derby, how the general public was just so annoying that at the

move that he made, at the fact that he was a long shot, the way

he weaved through the field. The general public loves seeing

stuff like that. I I wish social media had

existed for Fleet Alex. Back in the day.

To see what that to see what that would have done, but just

seeing, you know, seeing comments from people on the

posts on TikTok, on Facebook, on my own YouTube videos of and,

you know, just seeing, seeing a response from people that don't

usually watch racing. I think that it actually had, I

think his performance had a bigger resonation with the

general public. Then had sovereignty just showed

up and won. Now had sovereignty and

journalism thrown down the last eighth of a mile like.

They did the. You know, it's possible there

would have been some outcome to where that would have been the

opposite. But I think we for a non

Kentucky Derby winner in the Preakness, that was the absolute

best result we could have gotten from the Preakness and as a

sport we need to market the hell out of.

The. Because if we have.

The betting numbers on the Preakness are any indication

people are paying attention to this Triple Crown, despite the

fact that there's been so much oh man, there's no Triple Crown.

No one's going to pay attention. That's just not true.

The numbers don't bear out people being right about that.

They're not. They are not right about the

interest in the Triple Crown because there isn't another

runner in it. I I think it's a little like the

NCAA tournament this way. And I know I've made this

comparison a lot, which is we live in Kentucky.

People around here watch college basketball every minute that

it's on. Yeah.

The rest of the country watches it in March and April.

It's OK to say they watch the tournament.

Horse racing isn't terribly different than that in that we

get a much larger crowd, considerably large for this time

of year. And I think that that's what

we're learning in this Triple Crown.

With all of the talk of moving to races, all of the talk of the

distances and all the different conversations people are having,

the general public doesn't feel that way.

They don't feel the way that people in horse racing do.

We're trying to, in my mind, we're fixing a problem that

doesn't exist. People bet like creep what, 60

million just on the Preakness race?

And you know the one. The one.

When I went in 2019, the whole day was 99 million.

Yeah, that's insane. Come on, I'm serious.

Come on. In 20/19 it was 99 million.

Sixty million bet on the Preakness itself this year.

And I know it's 150. I get it.

But still, the journalism story, the Sandman story, these are

real things. These are tangible things.

And the amount of, I mean, we talk about Sandman, all the work

Griffin Johnson's been doing with, you know, getting him up

on social media. You know how many comments I saw

in like NBC's post about of journalism winning the race

where people were talking about what a great move by Sandman

going last to third. People are feeling connected to

that horse. And you know, we look at it and

we look like, OK, he made his move and then maybe flattened

out a little bit at the end. But you know, the general

public's looking at it like, look at how great a move he made

to go from last to 3rd. And it was, you know, it's, you

know, we have the general public's attention right now.

This is always one of the things I don't think we talked about

enough when it comes to stretching out the Triple Crown.

We we always talk about how we think that that'll keep the

Derby winner in the Preakness. It'll keep more horses coming

back and therefore the general public will pay more attention.

But the other side of that is the longer you stretch it out,

like the NCAA tournament. We just mentioned people watch

it. Because it's a short time

period, you know, we're stretching.

The Triple Crown out to three months, People forget by the

time we get to the Preakness. That's what the NC will.

Forget by the time we get to the belt, it's three weeks.

Three weeks. You guys have trouble from this

three weeks. I mean it's three weeks of

races, right? So, I mean, it is AI know it's

spread out over 5, but it is a it's the same kind of thing.

And I we need to really think about that as a as a it's an

entertainment culture. Yeah, we need to be very.

Careful. I think that I think what

journalism. And I'm going to throw Sandman

in here too, because I think he's he's done a lot.

Absolutely. I think between what journalism

did in the race, what Sandman has done leading into the race

and everything like that, I think this has shown that we

this is the first time where I've actually felt like we

actually have a shot to keep people interested in the

Preakness when the Derby winner is not there.

And we just need to make sure as a sport that we are doing the

proper things to market it. Because I think we saw this year

it is possible. The numbers proved it from the

betting standpoint, the reaction of people online has proven it.

We need to, instead of getting a call upset and spending two

weeks talking about the fact that Derby winners not there, we

need to start being like, OK, what's the other thing we can

mark in the Preakness and we need to go for it.

And we saw this year it works when it does.

Could not agree more. He's Sean Collins lure beau.

That is our Preakness recap here.

Congratulations to journalism and connections.

Let's hear now from those connections.

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out with us here on the podcast all spring.

They've been fantastic to us. So here is Umberto Riskoli.

First off, of course, jockey of journalism, man oh man, I couple

of very different rides in the Derby and then here in the

Preakness. Here's him at the press

conference after. Well, going on the backside, I

mean the passing the Alpha Mile pool, he wasn't traveling like

he did. He did travel in the Derby and

does at that point you think two things, you have no horse.

So he's just too relaxed. And I think with the second was

the option because as soon as I give a smack on the shoulder, he

he say, OK, I know what I got to do.

At that point I was trying to go outside and follow the River

Thames, but I'd be suggested from some top world class rider,

some Hall of Fame rider, United States, you win this race, the

saving ground and I would say thank you to Jerry Bailey for

the big tips and and look going to the going to the after.

And I was I would believe it and clever again with a go at least

at the at the a poll at the quarter poorly get stopped and

obviously Gosa was the first one have the jump on him.

We didn't win that fast. The pace was just resonable slow

and flag and had some trouble to come out of there.

You know having American promises outside of him.

He couldn't get rid of him soon and look at going to the to the

to the elbow. A little gap was open it and I

say it's now or never. So it's a horse racing.

We should I think it's it's a nice battle for the sports

Everybody come out safe. I'm sorry about Jose.

Then he had to check and. I had to, you know, I had to

give a shout to Flavian and he straight up his horse right

away. So, but from that standpoint,

from where I was, when I look it up, Louise open up 4/4 lengths

ahead of me. And at the first, the first time

I, you know, I used to crop on him, he switched his lead and

boom, he took off. So more I was going close to the

wire, more I was looking, I was in the wire and I said the at

the 16th pole, I say, OK, I think I'm going to be late, but

probably on time. So I have to give a credit to

the horse 'cause I don't see many horses.

Probably was a fleetal accident. He did that, but he almost,

Jeremy Rose almost fell off from the horse.

And that was for me, probably the most spectacular freakness

that I ever see. But even what we saw today, the

source coming back after 2 two weeks from a tough trip in the

Derby and running against the the the track then he privileged

it was an amazing effort. I wish I would, you know, I

would give him a softer race. But this is a part of horse

racing and we're here celebrating this.

Alberto, you're the first rider from Italy to have won a Triple

Crown race. What does that mean?

He's a Italia. Hey, Sammy, He's not really that

thrilled. Italia.

Actually was was something then I didn't I didn't even thought,

you know, I was having a Frankie as my idol.

You always thought then you couldn't do anything than

Frankie ever done. So Theo, if you ever listen to

me, I think you have to you have you have to write a couple of

more years to to get one of the winners of the Triple Crown.

We will miss so but no, it's I mean, it's a privilege from I

would I say to Don on the pony. You know, when I crossed the

wire, it looks like a flash of 20 years of my career went

through to my head. And I mean you, it's even

difficult to describe the feeling when you cross the wire

on those races. You know, you you just dream

about that. And my wife knows how painful I

am when I'm I'm a losing race. So she would have definitely

would have sleep with I would have be go sleep somewhere else

if I would have lost this race tonight.

So, but you had listen, I I'm proud of this and I'm glad that

then unfortunately for for my country, races doesn't go really

well, but I'm glad, I'm glad that then I keep my flags up and

I wish that everybody over there are proud of me.

A. Little swaggy umbe there.

How about that? Feeling good about himself.

And he should. It's interesting to hear him say

that during the race. He he had to say something to

Flavio. Yeah.

And we forget that these guys are just the backs of horses

able to say, hey, bro, move over.

I'm sure it wasn't that polite, but but he does mention Jose

Ortiz on the on the rail, right. And so it's very clear that he

he is of the opinion that you are, which is he gets into that

space because it's there. It's not clever.

Again, clever again was goal oriented.

Goal oriented was on the outside.

Thank you. And does come back into that

path. That's Umberto's clear response

there is that that's what was happening in this in this spot

and that Jose had to check because of it, right.

And so he acknowledges that there's contact between him and,

and the horse on the inside with Jose because of the contact

with, yeah, the horse on the outside.

So it's interesting to hear him talk through that, but very

fascinating to hear him say, I had to say to flabby, yo, bro,

you know, move it over now. What language do you think

that's in? English.

It's gotta be right? That's probably just screaming.

It's probably there's probably not even any words.

Probably just like whatever. The official language of

gibberish is yeah. But well, you know, I I gave my

my opinion on how I thought that he was that the spot was there

for him. Are you of that same opinion or

do you think that was kind of more of course what was sure I

don't. I'm just less offended by those

things. Yeah, I'm just less offended by

it. I I, you look at it, if you

think the best horse won and he didn't impede another horse from

winning, then you let him land. I, I think we, I, I, I do think

there's a little bit of race riding that has been lost over

the years to where people look. At numerous times, right, I

think. That there does need to be like

race riding is part of horse racing.

Obviously you have to do it safely, but race riding is part

of the sport and I thought this was, you know, the spot was

there. There was enough of a space for

him to work his way in. I went for it and I don't have a

problem with doing that. I don't think that in itself was

the reason why anything then happened afterwards.

I think that was part of either Flavian was intentionally trying

to keep the hole a little bit tight or goal oriented was just

shifting in on his own. One of those two things.

By the way, that would be within Flavian's, right?

Because he was there first riding.

He's also there first, right? He doesn't let another guy come

flying past you especially. That's the horse you don't want

to get past you, right? And so no, I that part I

understand too. I would not, I would not have

made a change. So I agree with the the I agree

with the outcome. The only change I would have

considered would be putting goal oriented behind clever Again,

just but clever. The reason why I'm OK with the

fact that they didn't do that was because clever again was

already fading out. If you're looking at it from the

term of did you impact better placing?

I don't think so. Would clever Again have finished

last? I don't know.

But once you really get out of those top five positions anyway,

it's not difference in purse money.

So I wouldn't have done anything there.

So I would have, if I was a steward, if you're looking at

it, I think I would have left it the same.

Gossgar Sandman Goal oriented Heart of honor.

Heart of Honor. Comes off the same Makey Good

race by the way. He's going to with three more

weeks to get settled. Before the Belmont.

Yeah, he's going on to the Belmont.

I think he leaves Wednesday. Cool.

Look out for a little better race.

From him next I was going to say, of those four, who are you

highest on going forward? I'll go with Gossgar.

Journalism. I don't want to have the truth,

so Sandman him. Yeah, God's here.

I think so. Yeah, Sandman, I'm interested to

see what path they take with things going.

On doesn't he have doesn't he have the feel of let me be

clear, I am not comparing the horses on town, but he has the

feel of a Sierra Leone takes his engine a little while to get

going and he's going to need a very specific setup to get in.

And I see Leo's a massively talented.

It sounds like it sounds like Mark Cassidy's going to want to

put some blinkers on him going forward, potentially.

Closely. It's such a tough group of

three-year olds. I do really want to see Sandman

develop at four and like when journalism and sovereignty if

they both retire at the end of the year and kind of see see

what he has next year when those guys are gone.

I I'm. Talking Jay's running as a four

year old, I was told. I would well, I I would think so

too, but but you know, if he's going to go out to.

I was told. If he's going to go out to lunch

by, he'll come, he'll come back, he'll be gone for a couple.

Months. So I love Sandman.

You brought that up the other day and got rebuffed with

Extreme. They would never run in a $20

million race. Yeah, sure.

Yeah, but it's. More than 12 million or both?

Anyway, so so, but yeah, I do think Sandman's got a lot of

potential going forward, but I do think he needs specific

things to happen in order to win.

But the good thing about? Him may have his three-year old

year. Well, the good thing about him

is he always picks up the check no matter what.

You can always count. On him, the effort is honest

every time that's. You can always count on him to

make the run. It's just whether or not he gets

the winning check. Yeah, but I do think Oscar's got

a lot of high upside there, goal oriented, and we'll be

interested to see how he develops because this was a lot

to ask of him for the Lambs race.

So. And I don't, I thought maybe

they should have been a little bit more forward with him in

this spot, but but I do think Oscar's got the highest upside

of the ones ever. And we've seen that.

We've seen Bob Affort win Midwest derbies before.

Yeah. So and goal oriented looks like

a Midwest Derby kind of horse. And he's got.

Maybe a little better. And he's got a couple other 3

year olds, so you're gonna want to spread them out.

So we'll see. He's gonna have a nice little

summer here, I feel like. But the one thing before we move

on from Umberto sure, the one thing I do want to give a lot of

credit to is what he did after the race, where he went and did

the little victory lap in front of the grandstand where he rode

him out past the stands. I feel like we need more of that

in the big races and he's. Encouraging the crowd to get

into. The crowd to get into it.

And you know, he left the Outrider too.

He went by himself and let everybody cheer for him.

He stood him there for a little bit.

Let everybody take pictures. We need more of that kind of

stuff with the big races. Obviously probably not every

horse is fun that you can do that with, but for the horses?

We won this $7500 claim at Laurel Park.

We're doing it. You understand me?

Yeah. If I had the jockey, I'd be

doing that every race. I'd be like, hey, look at my

horse for the five people in attendance.

On a Javi and Toledo that at the end of the track, children

Russell's like get out of the way.

But I do think at the big races, that's always such a cool moment

when they do that. And I, I was so happy to see

Umberto do that. And the crowd crowd cheer for

him, especially after that. One last run at Pimlico.

Of course, Sean Collinsley are both with you here on Blood

Horse Monday. Of course, Roberto's been on the

show before Blood Horse Monday. Bump continues.

Another man who's been on the podcast before is Aaron Wellman.

He talked with Sean yesterday at the stakes barn there at Pimlico

after Preakness 150 and Journalism's win.

Here's what they talk about. I'm here with Aaron Wellman of

Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners the day after winning the

Preakness Stakes with Journalism.

First off, Aaron, congratulations on winning the

race. Thank you.

Appreciate that. Now just take me.

Through the mindset, obviously it was a dramatic stretch run as

he was kind of getting bounced around in between horses.

As you're watching that unfold live, what was going through

your head? Concern first and foremost for

the horse that got really dicey. There was worried about his

safety, about umberto's safety. And then of course, just

devastation that he might not have the opportunity to to win

the race that we thought he was there to win.

So then feeling that devastation when you see him just kind of

pick himself up, make that run to look like it.

I was concerned watching it live.

I didn't know if he was going to get there or not.

I wasn't sure exactly when that wire was going to come up.

What was that like, just watching that happen and that

feeling when he hit the wire? You know, it sort of embodies

what this game is all about. You go from that feeling of

hopelessness to thinking it was impossible to hope that somehow

the horse journalism and Umberto Raspoli could make a miracle

happen. And, you know, I was with my

family and my daughter was hysterical crying when the

physicality occurred because she, in her heart worries so

much about the horses and their safety.

And I think she had given up all hope that he could win the race,

as had just about anybody that was watching it, I'm sure.

And then to see him extract himself, lengthen his stride and

set his sights on Goss Ker. All I was saying was make a

miracle happen on be and for him to have the bravery and the

courage to overcome what he did. And then the physical talent

after all of that to run a good horse and Goss her down and not

just do it by a nose or a head. It's remarkable that he did it

by 3/4 of a length or a full length when all was said and

done, and Umberto, he struck him a couple times to get him going,

and after that he really hand wrote him from the last 7500

yards to the wire. It's just extraordinary.

It was a performance on both jockey and horse that defied

logic. It was extraordinary.

And for those of us that are historians of the game, you

don't see that often. And to be associated with a

horse and a team like this and Michael McCarthy and Umberto and

to win a race, as important and historic is the Preakness, is

just an enormous honor. Well, everybody that gets into

racing always talks about how you have the highs and the lows,

how you can go back and forth if you experience that all in just

a quarter of a mile. That's why we get into the game,

isn't it? Absolutely.

You know, good friend and partner and supporter of

Eclipse's Gary Barber, he, he told me a long time ago, he

said, you know, you can go from the penthouse to the doghouse

real quick and vice versa. So we were in the doghouse

there, the last eighth of a mile and somehow made our way up to

the penthouse. And there's no game like it.

There's no venture like it. The range of emotions that you

can experience in such a minuscule window of time are

drastic and dramatic. And you know, my heart goes out

to Brendan Walsh and and the Clark family and and Luis Saez.

I mean, you know, they felt the opposite emotion where it looked

like their horse couldn't lose and journalism ran them down.

So, you know, you're dealing with connections that feel that

heartbreak at the end of the day.

So, you know, that's what this game is all about is, is the the

heartbreak and then the elation all wrapped up in the one and,

and hopefully every owner, every stakeholder in this game gets

that opportunity to feel that elation at some point because it

certainly outweighs the the rough times.

Now, you mentioned you know how big it is to win such a

historical race like the Preakness.

Is there any? Obviously there's a lot of pride

in winning the Preakness any year, but is there any added

pride? Winning one the 150th, but two

winning the final one at this Pimlico?

It's a historic race in and of its own right, you know, There's

some sentimentality, of course, attached to the fact that it's

the final Preakness that'll be run here. 150 in it of itself

also has some unique meaning. Look, whether it was going to be

torn down this place, you know, within the next week and rebuilt

or not, I think we would have held it in in the same amount of

esteem and and the prestige, the importance, the history behind a

race like this. It's it's really special.

You know, this steaks barn here, I think anybody that's had the

opportunity to to be a part of it, you realize that it's a true

treasure within our sport. So this is this is a little

slice of this property that's going to be really missed.

We at Eclipse have been fortunate enough to stand in

that infield on that coupola twice prior to the Preakness,

having won the Black Eyed Susan twice, Michael now his second

Preakness. That's amazing.

But but that little place in that infield, on that coupola,

you can't help but feel the history running through your

veins while you're there. And to be the last people to do

it, that's pretty cool. Something we'll cherish forever.

But to win an American Classic, there's nothing like it.

Well, Speaking of American classics, this is the second one

now for Eclipse, having been with TAP written the Belmont

Stakes back in 2017. How big of a deal is that for

Eclipse as a whole to get now 2/3 of the Triple Crown?

We started this stable, this company to make history.

It was a bold and ambitious statement when we started the

company in the stable, but we've stayed true to that.

There is nothing more important than classics, American

Classics. And you know, we've been second

and third in the Kentucky Derby. We haven't quite conquered that

mission yet, but we had a Belmont with Tapret.

Now to win the Preakness for our partners, look, this is the

pinnacle, this is the ultimate, and that's what they're in the

game for. They come to Eclipse not just to

participate in big races and classics, but to win them and to

deliver wins to our deserving partners who put their faith in

our program. Because without our partners,

there is no Eclipse Thoroughbred partners, you know, So it's

incredibly special for me personally and my family, but we

get such gratification and joy seeing our partners really savor

these moments and see them celebrate with their families

and their friends. It's it's what we're all in this

game for. So there's nothing more

important than than classic wins, and it's a huge privilege

to now be a Preakness winner. And Eclipse has partnered with

several other entities here with journalism.

Just what is the partnership as a whole between all those

different people, all those different farms?

How has that come together? And just how rewarding is it to

win with this group of people? Immensely rewarding, adds

meaning to it on top of it all. You know Eclipse bought

journalism as a yearling and physic tipped in Saratoga signed

the ticket. Our good partners and supporters

of Bridlewood Farm journalism alone.

George Isaacs called me the next morning, said I love that cold

we get in and of course welcome them with open arms.

Can't thank George and his operation enough for the support

and impact they've had on Eclipse.

So it's a huge honor to be associated with Bridlewood, the

Malone family, The Isaacs family.

Bob Lepent has been a big supporter of ours and the three

of us between Eclipse, Brattlewood and Lepenta on Tap

Rat. So we had experienced classic

glory together and to see what it meant to Bob yesterday was

just so heartwarming. He loves this game, He

appreciates it so much and it's an honor to be associated with

him. Don Alberto bred this

magnificent animal and retained an equity interest in him.

In his ownership, they've been pure class.

The Heller family Reed Wrangler couldn't be more happy for them.

And then to have the association with Coolmore having bought his

stallion rights prior to the Santa Anita Derby, before he was

even a Grade 1 winner, and the faith that they exuded in the

horse and Michael McCarthy and Eclipse for managing the horses

racing career. I don't think there's a more

esteemed operation in the world. There might not ever be a more

esteemed operation in this game than Coolmore.

And to be side by side with them is an honor that's

indescribable. So it's just class.

That starts with the horse, Michael McCarthy, his team, his

family, Eclipse, Brattlewood, Lepen to Don Alberto and cool

more. Hugely humbling.

Now, you talked about that faith that Coolmore had him to get in

him at that point. We had talked to you back before

the San Felipe as well, and you were telling us that from the

get go, you've always had faith that journalism can be this kind

of horse. Just remind our viewers again,

what is it about him that makes him this type of horse?

Well, I remember you texted me, you wanted me to do the podcast

and you're like, we talked about Bill and I was like.

This was right after the Risen * stakes.

We love Bill and he's great horse in his own right, I said.

But what about journalism? Yeah.

We were going to get to him, but I was going to wait.

I was going to get you for built 1st and then I was going to be

like, OK, we'll talk about journalism.

But yeah, it was funny. Immediately you texted back,

let's talk about journalism too. So you were very excited to talk

about him. Yeah, look, he's, he's such a

unique and rare animal. He's equally as smart as he is

talented physically, which is really hard to find to have that

mental constitution to compete at the highest level that

matches and complements the physical attributes.

And then in on his last few races, we've seen the heart of a

champion and the courage and bravery of a champion.

So I call that a triple threat. You know, the mental fortitude,

the physical talent and the courage, the heart, which you

can't measure inside of a horse. I mean, look, I'm biased.

It's impossible to be objective. But if you really try to extract

yourself and independently evaluate this horse with or

without any connection to him, like he, he really could be one

of the all time greats. And I think what he did

yesterday in the Preakness stamps him as one of those rare

animals that just, you know, you can't help but remember

performance like that and appreciate it.

So it's a real privilege to be associated with a horse with all

of those ingredients and, and the class and, and I'm so glad

for him that he's a classic winner because he deserves it.

Now he could potentially in three weeks have the chance to

become a two time Classic winner.

I know we're going to do the make sure he comes out of the

race OK, you know, make sure that he's moving strongly into

the Belmont Stakes before we make an official decision.

But if he does end up running, how do you see that shaking up

and how excited would you be for a rematch with Sovereignty?

Look, you're right. First and foremost, we'll just

make sure that journalism himself is in position to be

able to perform come Belmont. We'd love to participate and

compete in that race. Look, we're sportsmen.

We want to be good ambassadors for the sport.

I think it would be tremendous without a Triple Crown on the

line for journalism and sovereignty to meet up.

But then you've got an incredible supporting cast and

Baye's final gambit. Look, we might have seen a horse

in crudo yesterday that deserves a shot.

You're maybe bringing Grande into the mix.

So look, it's a really stellar crop of three-year olds.

It kind of reminds me a little bit of that 2007 crop.

Yeah, Curlin, you know who obviously is the sire of

journalism St. sense hard spun and then you've got a great

fairly good cheer that, you know, could be a rags to riches

type. So it's exciting times in the

game. And look, Michael McCarthy said

it best when we finally put the stamp of approval on him running

in the Preakness. He said let's give the people

what they want. We would love that opportunity.

It would be an honor to go toe to toe with sovereignty again.

Belmont, good Dolphin, Junior Alvarado, just such class and a

good horse, a real horse. You know, he would certainly be

the headliner. And like I said, you've got a

deep field after that, so it could be a Belmont for the ages.

But you know, make no mistake, we want to be there, but the

horse has to tell us that he's, you know, up to it physically,

mindset, all the things. So just want to do what's best

for the horse and the industry and of course our partners.

Awesome. Well, thank you so much for

taking the time with us here, Aaron.

We really appreciate it. And once again, congratulations

on winning the Preakness Stakes of Journalism.

Thank you, really appreciate it. All right, Aaron Wohlman, friend

of the show, back on the show again.

OK, couple of things There's a lot to unpack.

We'll do a couple of them. Number one, him remembering that

we wanted to talk built. He was like, but journal, I

mean, like, for sure, like just just shoved it through.

By the way, that's. The first time we ever talked

about a horse in advance of a race on the podcast so.

And he was ready. Yeah, he was right.

He was ready. Oh, man, all the things.

And so, by the way, those, that's a good pair to have in

your stable right now. We built and journalism, of

course. He called reference good cheer

in a way that I did not expect that to come.

Yeah, as part of talking about the Belmont.

But I'm here for all of it. You.

Know, I don't think, I don't he definitely didn't mean he is

expecting her to run in the Belmont.

I don't think any of us are expecting that.

But she is that kind of Philly to where maybe down the line,

especially when you have Thorpito.

Anna almost win the traverse. Last year, maybe she's the kind

of Philly, she's the kind of Philly that I think would have

loved a mile and a quarter. Maybe you see her in the

traverse down the year because remember the Dolphins got

immersive in there. And when she comes back, if

she's comes back as good as she was as a 2 year old, send her to

the Alabama. Send good cheer to the

travelers. It's it's she's there's.

She's one of those Phillies where she could make the jump if

they decide to make a jump. Aaron Wallman said what I think

everyone should hear and understand.

For 99% of especially American based owners, they want to be in

these races. That ain't it.

It's not that they don't want to be in these races.

They just got to make sure it's right by the horse.

There's a lot of interest to protect here.

You did a really good job of pointing out how many, how far

the tentacles go off of the ownership of this horse and

breeding rights and all of that kind of thing.

They can't just jump into the Belmont because they feel like

it. Right.

I mean this is a. This is a guy with a future with

a bunch of babies, hopefully right and as part of this and so

hopefully more races, but certainly on the breeding side

as well. So I appreciate him saying,

look, we're sporty. We want to be in that race.

We want the matchup. We know what's good for horse

racing cannot do right by the horse.

And now I think you and I are very much of the opinion that

was a very satisfactory, frankly above satisfactory answer to me.

I love for you. He's gone.

I agree. This is the when I talked to

Michael McCarthy the morning after the Kentucky Derby, I knew

journalism was going to the Preakness.

They waited a week to say it. But you you can tell that that

answer is as long as he's not hurt and as long as he comes out

of the race with the same energy he usually does, he's going to

be in the race. In my opinion, that was the

answer. And it's good for them to take

that moment to not commit and to make sure that he's going to be,

you know, 100% third race in five weeks.

But if he's healthy, he will be there, and I think that's great.

Yeah, I will be fascinated to watch his move forward.

The other thing that I appreciated about Aaron was with

all the talk of moving the Triple Crown and whatever else,

there's a real tendency in those conversations to put the

Preakness down. We don't have to do that.

This is a great race. This is a.

Historic race, he kept saying historic race like the pre

historic race with you saw umberto's response to winning

this race. None of this has been, despite

all of the conversations, these races haven't been devalued for

the people in them, for the public.

We saw a record amount of betting on this.

These things have not been devalued at all.

So I it's nice to hear that from ownership as well.

Yeah, the Triple Crown races are the three biggest races and even

though people want to get on the previous because maybe the they

think the fields haven't been as good as the last.

Couple. I think it's because of the

Pimlico building in. That and I think it's probably

not anything well, but this is still one of the races.

This is one of the ones that you dream of winning and you saw the

response from everybody. Well, someone we talked to

Michael here, he'll talk a little bit about the, you know,

his, his well, for the Preakness as well.

It's one of those races that when you get into the sport,

there are three races you target and these are the three.

These are the three races that everybody wants to win.

You only have one shot at them with each horse.

So you know, obviously everybody wants to win the Breeders Cup as

well. But you can come back and you

can try again the next year with the same horse.

You have one shot with this horse.

And for the connections of journalism, that worked out

great here in the Preakness. For the connection to Gossgur,

you almost got it. And that's part of the thrill of

the sport right here is the fact that you can get so close and

then who knows the next time you're going to have the

opportunity. That's exactly right.

And by the way, Brendan Walsh was having the moment the day

after in the line, getting on the airplane that Aaron

described exactly, which is highest of highs to immediately

lows of low. And just talking to Brendan in a

little bit, my sense with him was what else could you do,

right? What else could we possibly do?

Louis with the perfect ride, the horse showed up like crazy,

didn't miss a step, drove all the way through the line.

It just wasn't good enough that day.

And that's horse racing and Aaron nailed it on the head

there where they got to have that moment and the Gosser folks

didn't. And it's just it's it's a brutal

reality of the game for sure. But really appreciate him

spending time with you at the stakes party is Sean Collins.

I'm Luther Beau Bloodhorse Monday continues on.

Here's Michael McCarthy at the Barn, a similar set up there

wish on as well, the day after Preakness 150.

I'm here with trainer Michael McCarthy the morning after

Journalism just won the Preakness Stakes.

It was such an impressive run from him getting through all

that traffic. First off, congratulations and

just take me through your experience in the race.

Thank you. Yeah, obviously from the start

it was things were a little eventful.

Walked out onto the racetrack. We were having a hard time

getting his halter off of him. He was, I guess he was kind of

in the zone and not wanting to be messed with.

So certainly grateful we were able to get get the halter off

and get him kind of in a position where he could warm up

properly for the race and looked like he had a very good warm up

from what I could tell. There's so much going on, but

every time they showed him on, the Jumbotron looked like he was

comfortable with it himself and not warm, just enjoying himself

out there. What is your thought process

when you immediately see all that traffic that he encountered

coming off the quarter pole? What?

Just what was going through your mind?

The first thing was glad horse nor human, nobody was harmed.

Secondly, I thought to myself, I can't believe this horse is

going to put up another effort like this and not have much to

show for it. The fact that he got his nose

down on the wire just speaks volumes about him.

What now? Obviously he had quite a bit of

bumping there. When he comes back this morning,

you get to see him. How does he look?

Yeah, it looked very good last night.

Certainly you're concerned that something like that, that he,

you know, he could get cut up or what have you, but he actually

was very clean legged today. Now, this is your second win in

the Preakness. You won with Ron Bauer a few

years back. This is becoming, you know, a

big race for you. I know you were pretty emotional

after the win yesterday. Just what does winning the

Preakness mean to you? Yeah, it's, you know, an

American classic. I thought we had a very good

chance two weeks ago winning the Kentucky Derby.

We were second best that day. So obviously a little bit of

vindication here yesterday just to get to these races is a huge

accomplishment. I couldn't get here without my

staff, my team, my assistants, my riders.

There's too many people to thank, but it's a team effort.

I know in the paddock yesterday, you kind of shared a moment with

Dewayne Lucas ahead of time. And I know you said mentioned

earlier that you talked to Todd Pletcher almost immediately

after the race and he was one of them, the guy who confirmed to

you that you did indeed get there.

Just what does it mean to be having guys like that kind of,

you know, except giving you those kind of praises on the big

stage like this? Yeah, certainly one gentleman

revolutionized the game. So it was nice to spend a, you

know, just a quiet moment with him.

And he offered some words of encouragement.

It really meant a lot to me because nobody's done it like he

has. And then obviously, Todd

Pletcher, I've said it before, everything sort of that we do

kind of runs through him and, and the organization and, and

the attention to detail that we've picked up during our

tenure there. So I wasn't sure.

We got our head down at the wire and he kind of gave me the

affirmation that we did get there.

So nice to be able to, you know, just, you know, I take it as a

source of pride that I spent so much time working there.

So just yeah, it was a good day. I know Umberto race fully

mentioned in the post race interview yesterday how it when

he hit the wire felt like all 20 years of his career were

flashing before his eyes. Did you have a similar kind of

experience to that? I'm not going to say it was my

career flashed before my eyes, but just a tremendous sense of

relief really more than anything else because my expectations for

this horse had been so high. So to see him go ahead and and

finally kind of show racing fans and and everyone in the industry

what kind of horse he really is meant a lot to us.

What kind of horse is he? What was it about him early on

that just set him apart from everyone else?

You know, good horses just do things differently.

As a 2 year old, he was getting ready faster than your average 2

year old. He would work in company as fast

or as slow as you'd like, very easy to get along with.

As we've got on here with racing, he's just become so much

sharper and so much easier on himself in the way he does

things. So good horses set themselves

apart. He's certainly done that.

Now I know you mentioned yesterday in the press

conference, you remember watching back to the Sunday

silence, the Easy Goer, Preakness Stakes.

What? Was it about the sport that

really drew you in and what was it that made you want to become

a trainer? There's a lot of things I

wouldn't know where to tell you where to, where to begin, where

I could begin. But you know, and obviously the

competition, being a fan 1st and the thrill of winning.

And I've had so many jobs along the way before I got to the

point where I, I really decided that this is the career path I I

wanted to, to pursue. So I'd like to think I'd take a

little bit of everything from all those, all those places I've

been, all those people I've worked under.

And if I had to do it all over again, is that exactly the same

way I would? Well, you also got to

experience, you know, this big success on this stage with your

family. Just talk about the importance

of kind of having them by your side here.

Yeah, family is everything. This is a pretty selfish game

that we we play here. You know, there's a lot of what

I call me time, just attention to what's going on at the barn

or what's going on in, in, in other racing jurisdictions and

whether it's a runner for us or, you know, going to San Luis Rey,

going to Churchill Downs. The travel, my daughter, every

vacation she has seems like it's centered around a horse race.

So obviously very grateful to my wife and my daughter.

They do a lot of the heavy lifting when I'm not around.

My wife really kind of keeps all of this together.

So grateful that they were here yesterday.

Now I got to ask the question. Three weeks from now, we're

going to have the Belmont Stakes.

I know we're going to do the usual.

We're going to make sure he comes out of the race well.

We're going to make sure that he's moving forward into that

spot. What are the key things that

you're going to be looking for to help you make the decision

one way or the other over the next three weeks?

Yeah, he's just been such an easy read.

I think sometimes good horses fool you because they do some

things so easy. You know, we're just going to

kind of feed off of him and see if he's happy with his

environment, see if he's enjoying Saratoga or wherever we

choose to ship him here in the next day or so.

And just kind of see, you know, what his energy level is like.

Probably have a little bit of a workout at some stage here

before before he runs. So a lot of factors will play

into it, but as a 2 year old, he ran three times in seven weeks.

Obviously we've had two races in two weeks here, 3 races in five

weeks. I said before just knowing the

type of horse he is and how hard he is, that I thought all along

that he was a horse that could handle something like that.

Well, thank you for taking the time with us here, Michael.

And once again, congratulations on winning the Preakness.

Thanks. Let me go, Michael McCarthy,

it's personal moments there. Good job by you, by the way.

It's always interesting to hear these guys talk about their

families because the job is very different, the schedule and all

of those things. You're out there at the track,

but you're also a single young guy.

These are things that you can just do.

He's talking about his wife, his family, all those kinds of

things. It was also interesting to hear

him talk about journalism himself and how durable he is,

what kind of horse he is. It reminds me a lot.

But I know this is a little apple storages, but I think a

fair amount of apple samples when Brad Cox would talk about

idiomatic, Yeah, and how she was just ready, like, oh, it's the

next race, let's go, let's go show up and do those things.

We saw it a lot with Torpedo Anna last year.

We see this with certain horses that are able to just go ahead

at the very highest level in our sport and and push through that

way. Journalism seems to be that way.

What else? What else stood out from the the

interview with you? Yeah, I've been the same things

that you just mentioned there. Just, you know, the, the amount

of, I, I think people just don't pay as much attention to, you

know, the life stuff these trainers have to live.

I, I think that was an important point to hit on for sure.

But it's just, you know, the amount of sacrifices that they

have to make in order to get to the point where you have a horse

running in the Preakness, you know.

And so that's something that, you know, if you're somebody who

doesn't follow racing year round, you're listening to this,

that's something that hopefully you can appreciate.

Same thing with everybody else that's involved in this

industry. You think about, you know,

somebody like Umberto who's got to fly across the country every

so often in order to go ride races.

You know, that's, that's part of the industry that we don't

really always recognize. We don't always talk about as

much as just, you know, how much, how much devotion.

I mean, obviously we know everybody's devoted in this

industry, but how much of that comes with the sacrifices?

That come with that? Do you want to know how I know

they think this is the greatest horse they've ever been around?

Because he described the Preakness 1 as a relief.

Yes. And no, no, and I'm being really

serious. I I think occasionally you see

sports teams or individuals or something where it's less of a

celebration. I think you could tell in that

interview Sunday was an emotional let down for Michael

McCarthy. It just was where he whatever

the build up was because you have to imagine, you have to

imagine that guy finish the second of the Derby.

He's got the best horse in the Preakness and he runs into that

wall of horses in the final stretch.

We're an eighth of a mile from the finish line.

Gossard's just skip datling up. Fan man's running up and your

horse is behind two other horses and trying to squeeze through

the emotion of that moment from McCarthy watching from a Fargo

and Alberto went up the rail. Here we go.

And then all of a sudden they make that move and he's through

the sense of relief of him finishing there.

I wonder if it was more just exhale than it was actually

celebrating. It's I can't imagine the kind of

pressure that is. Well, you go back three years

ago, same exact thing with Epicenter.

He was probably the best horse in the Derby, I don't think

probably, I think he was the best horse in that Derby.

He comes back to the Preakness, a race everybody was handing to

him going into it. And then I was just a weird way

of the race shook out where he didn't win and he finished

second. And it was kind of that thing

where for the rest of the year it was Epicenter couldn't get

the Grade 1. You were, you know, by the time

they got to the middle of the summer, people were talking

about who's going to be 3 year old champion.

It's like, well, Epicenter is clearly the best force, but he

doesn't have the Grade 1. And so probably the amount of

relief that winning the Travers took off Steve Vasmussen and the

owners there just to get the Grade 1 pretty much guarantee

the fact that he was going to be the three-year old champion.

I mean, that was that was the path journalism was going to end

up here. If he ends up losing that race,

he gets. If he comes out with, you know,

a bunch of cuts and scrapes, he misses.

The he gets through there and he runs third like a like a normal

horse would have. Yeah.

And. But you know, then he doesn't go

to the Belmont. Yeah, he's got already got the

grade one win from the San Anita Derby.

But you know, the really the big grade ones everybody looks at

are these obviously the Triple Crown races and then the ones

that come, yeah, the Travers, the Haskell, you know, those

races. And so that puts a lot of

pressure on you to make sure that he's going to win one of

those races and he doesn't have something weird happen again in

one of them. So the amount of that that took

off of Michael, you could see it.

I remember he, we had found out that he was supposed to be at

the barn sometime between 6:00 and 7:00.

We found that out on Preakness night.

He showed up I think somewhere between 7:30 and 8:00.

And he walks up and he's the celebration had gone on too long

the night before. He's like, I thought about

making it at six, wasn't going to happen.

Good, good, good for them. I'm, I'm glad that they got to

have that moment because it is interesting in a business where

these guys run hundreds of races a year, you know, a guy like

McCarthy probably has 5600 starters in a year.

Just the, the emotional drain of, of race like this, with a

horse of this caliber on a stage like this, you can tell it got

to him. And, and, you know,

congratulations to all of them. And, and frankly, in, in a week

where there was a bunch of consternation about the Derby

winner not being there, the 2nd place horse showed up and ran

his eyeballs out. Yeah, and that's all we can ask

for, source racing fans. And you look at a big run from

Sandman 2 coming two weeks, yet Goal Oriented was not coming out

of the Derby, but he was coming in off 2 weeks.

He ran very well. American Promise, I think just

didn't really get his trip, so I don't.

Know he really did. Yeah, I don't know what to make

of his performance. Once he was in like third and

you had a horse kicking. Back a little bit on the

clubhouse turn and I mean we talked to Lucas last week, He's

not a horse you can start and stop.

And I thought he, I thought probably being in that Gossgar

position, that second on the outside would have been a good

spot for him. But you know, outside of him,

the other three that came off the two weeks rest went very

well. You go back to last year's

Preakness, the winner was coming off 2 weeks rest from the Pete

Mile and the Derby produced the 2nd and the 3rd place finishers.

We're seeing those horses still run well, so. 20 winners of the

last 20 Triple Crown races. Does that continue with the

Belmont in your opinion? Or does sovereignty and or

journalism win the Belmont? Because that's an incredible

trend if you think about it. Literally since justifies

Belmont, we have not had a repeat winner in any of the

Triple Crown races. I think.

It's an incredible. I know.

I think one of the two wins it OK, but am I shocked if Baeza

wins? No, right?

Am I shocked if, you know, one of these other horses ends up

stepping up and winning it? Now we'll see what the field

ends up being over the next couple weeks, what pace scenario

is going to end up being and everything like that.

But I'm not sure really if we have any real speed signed on.

So if Rodriguez can get back into form and can make it, he's

going to be. Rodriguez is an interesting one,

right, if E Avenue ends up making the trip for whatever

reason. I mean, we'll see what the

dolphin decides there. I don't know if he would, but.

Right, the Cyber 2 is already going to be there.

Right. So now different trainers

though, so that might play a role in sure them both being

there. So we'll see how the field

shakes up, but right now, I think at this point in time, I

think we have a clear two horses that are the top 2-3 year olds.

Maybe a horse like by ASA, maybe a horse like Rodriguez can sneak

into that with a big performance in the Belmont.

And I know as they're developing, or, you know,

somebody else comes on and develops, maybe Gossgar is just

starting to hit his best stride or something.

But the ball gets back to it too.

We don't know. I mean like.

You know, he gets a little, he gets a little rest when it

comes. Back Derby is an impossible

measuring stick for so many. Horses, but I felt like going

into the Derby, journalism and sovereignty, a lot of people

felt like those were the top 2 going into the Derby.

And I think coming out of the Preakness, obviously, I mean

obviously one of them has won both races.

But I think, but it is rare to get where it will, at least in

recent years where the top 2-3 year olds are the ones winning

the Triple Crown races. And it would be it would be

great to see one of the two of them win the Belmont again and

that trend of all these different winners.

But man, I would love to get the two of them side by side turning

for home. They just made their moves for

the lead and just see them throw down Allied our firm style down

the stretch. I think that would be great.

For more likely, we get a slight drop in wagering on the Belmont,

or because of what we've seen from sovereignty and journalism

and the potential of a rematch, we actually get another great

hand. Sandman's not going, so I don't

know. What a great question, right?

Yeah. I here's here's the other part.

And I and I'm, I'm so glad to see so many people in our

circles on the media side embracing Griffin Johnson, being

positive about him because he even mentioned after the

Preakness how happy he was that the handle was up.

Yeah, so he's already like, literally only took him two

weeks to realize how important that is.

Yeah, that's it. That's all it took.

People. He'll be fine.

Everything will be fine. People will figure out the game

as they get into it. It's fine.

Like, let that go. So I was really, really happy to

see that. A reminder too, the weather

isn't the only thing that heats up in June.

Having produced two time we're just got Winners Stormy Liberal

and Golden Sense as well as Grade 1 winners in a Dare Manner

got Pone and we're like God is the OBS June 2 year olds and

horses of racing age Sale is the place to find ready made talent

ahead of the summer's top races. Before the juvenile action

auction season comes to an end, come see what the 2 year old

source of the world has to offer at OBS June 17 and certainly

appreciate our friends at OBS hanging out with us here on

Blood Horse Monday. Kind of a down week for Greatest

Stakes. We'll see a trio of stakes at

San Vita a week from today. We won't have time to preview

those unfortunately on this show because the draw will happen

after we're here. But it includes the Hollywood

Gold Cup, which of course is one of the classic races out West.

We get that Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile as well, and the Grade 1

Gamely, which is a 9 furlong race for Phillies and Maris as

well. Always a fun day of racing at

Santa Anita. So many of those Monday cards

are really, really great out West.

The great, great race place. Easy for me to say and not great

rate. We're not selling mortgages at

sanity. They're not, not anymore.

OK. That was more the 70s.

I hear a lot about 70s horse racing in the mortgages, OK.

So I'll take your word. I wasn't around back.

I wasn't either. But we will look for those.

And of course, we always encourage you at this time on

the episode to check out Blood Horse Magazine.

You can check out the QR code at the bottom there if you're

watching us on YouTube, get that delivered to your house.

And of course, if you haven't signed up for Blood Horse Daily,

you can find that at the website aswell@bloodhorse.com.

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keeps you up to date on what's going on in the world of horse

racing at no cost do. But of course, get that

magazine, get it on your coffee table, make it look just as good

as you possibly can. Well, for Sean, I'm Louis.

This has been Blood Horse Monday for May 19, 2025.

A post Preakness edition, a post old Hilltop edition of the

program. By the way, if I hear New

Hilltop one more time, I'm done. I'm done.

I'm out. I'm out of horse racing.

We're not doing that anymore. Are you one of those people?

Are you a New Hilltop person? Yes, I told you last week,

that's what Jenny Reese and I are trying to coin that phrase.

So it's you've heard it a lot from that sounds like it's

working New Hill. Thanks Jenny.

The Blood Horse is dedicated to the improvement of Thoroughbred

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Don't forget to like, subscribe and save Blood Horse Monday on

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Thanks for listening and we'll see you next week.