BloodHorse Monday 6/16/25 | BC Division Rankings

All right, welcome in it is a June 16th, 2025 edition of Blood

Horse Monday. His name is Sean.

I'm Louis. Thanks again for starting your

week with us here at Blood Horse Monday.

We're around every Monday reacting to the weekend, looking

ahead to the week that will be and frankly the months that will

be in horse racing. And of course if you are in the

ownership game, are looking to get in and want to take part in

some of the biggest races the rest of the year.

The only thing? And it's not just weather that

heats up in June. Having produced two time

Breeders' Cup winners, Stormy Liberal, Golden Sense, as well

as Grade One winners at Dare Manor, Yapon and Warlike

Goddess, the Obs June 2 year olds and Horses of Racing Age

Sail is the place to find ready made talent ahead of the

summer's top races. Before the juvenile auction

season comes to an end, come see what the 2 year old source to

the world has to offer and that's at OBS tomorrow and

Wednesday the 17th and 18th of June.

Unbelievable. That's already upon us here.

We're at the end of the two year old sales season.

Unbelievable how quickly this all seems to have gone against

Shaw. Collins, we are about hanging

out with you. We really appreciate the folks

at OBS for hanging out with us all these weeks.

You'll hear from Todd Wojcowski later in the show alongside our

own Olivia Newman from Blood Horse. bloodhorse.com/breeding.

By the way, for all the great things and the sales and all

that that goes on around Blood Horse and all of its resources,

like you said, it's pretty amazing the the seasons of horse

racing, the fact that sales season for two year olds

especially seems to be rapping up.

Well, and you know the really cool part of it is the 2 year

olds are starting to race right now.

We're starting to see more and more opportunities.

A lot of these horses that we see go through the ring in the

next two days, we kind of see on the racetrack pretty soon here.

That's the one key difference between that and the yearling

sales is we're going to get some kind of instant reaction to

seeing some of these horses on the racetrack.

So I'm looking forward to it. We just finished up wrapped

talking about the Triple Crown and the last week.

You know that that's behind us, Which means it's time to start

looking at next year's Triple Crown.

Maybe the Derby winner, maybe the Preakness winner, the

Belmont winner, maybe the Crown winner is in the OBS side of the

next two days. Wait and see.

There's a decent chance, you know, as we move past the the

Triple Crown part of the three-year old season, Shauna,

we watch trainers figure out what their horses are, figure

out where they fit these kinds of things.

Small example, we saw E Avenue win in the Matt Winstakes here

at Churchill Downs going a mile on the 16th.

Very comfortable doing that. We're going to get into some

rankings here as we start, you know, essentially two seasons in

horse racing. You mentioned the first one,

which is that Triple Crown season, right?

And so we see the first Saturday in May at Churchill Downs, that

weekend, a Breeders' Cup style 2 days of racing, right where

there's the the best at that time of year at least of turf

routers, turf sprinters, dirt routers, dirt sprinters,

etcetera, Philly side, you know, colt side, etcetera.

We see all of that. We get another breath of it in

the Belmont Festival for sure, right?

And that's really when the Breeders Cup win and in start to

kick in. In that way, now that we're past

that Triple Crown season, it is time to start watching some of

these more. I don't want to use the word

disparate, but they're kind of everywhere.

You got to pay attention to Japan this time of year,

Obviously, ask it going on this week.

We'll see a ton of the turf horses that the Breeders Cup

hopes will make the trip over for the races in November there

at Del Mar. But it is, it's an interesting

shift, man, to go away from hey, who's developing right now to

hey, who's just the best horse for this this, you know, this

qualified path for the Breeders Cup.

Yeah, the first half of the year, we're looking at all these

three-year olds and we're wondering who's going to

develop, who's going to peak on that first Saturday in May,

who's going to stay there for the five, five weeks after that.

And now, now it's all right. We've seen what everybody has in

the three-year old division. We already know who the older

horses are for the most part. So now it's like, let's spend

the next couple months figuring out who is the best horse in

these divisions. Let's figure out who's going to

be in the Breeders Cup. Let's figure out, you know, you

and I are both in the National Turf Riders Association.

This is the time of year where we really need to start watching

for Eclipse Award Champion. Absolutely.

So this is where we really need to start paying attention for

that aspect of it. And as you mentioned, we got

Royal Ascott this week. Obviously a good chunk of our

winners in the turf races during the Breeders Cup usually tend to

come from Europe. So it's an exciting weekend from

that perspective. I know the US is represented.

I'm a big fan of She's so Spicy running for Jose D'Angelo this

week. She's looked great in Kentucky

this spring. So we're off to a good, good

start to the second-half of the year, I'd say.

I'm with you. The The Ascot almost announces

the start of Breeders' Cup season for me, right by the time

we, because we get away from Belmont, as far as Belmont

weekend, the festival weekend, and then we get into to Royal

Asket. And it's not, I'll be honest,

like Royal Asket doesn't, it's not my favorite.

I get it for sure. Like I want to be clear.

If someone out there is inviting me, I'm getting a darn top hat.

Yeah, we're getting our top hats.

These things are happening. Tales are happening.

I saw my guy Steve Kornack, he's all ready to go for NBC, for

example. Like, that's great.

Good for Steve, doesn't do it all together for me, but the

racing does, no question, right. So the racing is legitimate.

We know that part and that'll get going this week.

But I thought, Sean, we could start the show today talking a

little bit about these Breeders' Cup divisions, right?

And so one of the things I think is underrated in our sport is we

do this for for the Derby and we obsess about it.

And people like Byron King, who I like a lot but will never come

on this show. Shame on you, Byron.

Is like he has Monday off. It's almost like he's off on

Mondays. I Who would do that in horse

racing, I wonder? You know he has a Derby dozen.

Yeah, right. He's got 12 ready.

He's ready to talk about 60% of the field of the Kentucky Derby.

And shout out to him, he had sovereignty in the number one

spot for the entirety of the Derby Dozen this year.

I asked him how many times that's happened before.

He said it's very rare. It's got to be.

Fairly rare he was on that one early.

So there you go. But he's doing that.

I feel like we underrate the ability to talk divisions in our

sport, to spend time, hey, who's in this distaff division?

Because frankly, how good is this distaff division every

year? Yeah, it's tremendous.

Every year on other shows that I do, I always tell people and

look, this year's an exception, but fall in love with the

Phillies and mares. They're just more likely to race

longer than the male horses, right.

So you can get to know an idiomatic we're we're seeing,

you know, you know, we're seeing a torpedo Anna lose a race and

then everyone's watching the next workout to see if she's

going to be back because we want her to be back, right.

And then we see a Darth Vader, etcetera.

Like we just over and over and over again.

And even on the, you know, we we were talking about it.

We're not probably going to spend too much time on it today,

but in the Jaipur, for example, we get AG Bullet who beats the

boys in that race, right And so. She's been a hard trying Philly

in a lot of years the last couple of years.

Yeah. So it's just that kind of thing.

I think we have a cool opportunity, especially this

year feels like especially on the on the male side, a little

bit deeper than we've been talking about, especially on the

dirt races. And so whether it's the Mylers

or it's the sprinters, whatever it might be, I feel like we've

got a good group of those ahead of our trip to Del Bar on

Halloween this year. By the way, just trying to make

me Father of the year is Breeders' Cup.

I hold these things on Halloween.

Well, you're taking the kids with you to the.

Breeders, obviously, yes, we're going.

I will say downtown Del Mar on on Halloween night is adorable.

Yeah, it's just a bunch of very cute families and costumes.

It's it's it's adorable. Well, it's because last year

Halloween was on Thursday, Breeders' Cup weekend.

So I remember, I remember leaving the races that day and

getting an Uber back to the Airbnb we were staying at.

And I remember seeing all the kids in their costumes wandering

around, trick or treating. Yeah.

It really was. I really appreciated it.

I just made me miss my kids, but it is what it is.

But let's start with some of those races, man.

We saw Darth Vader win in the Ogden Phipps, right?

And we've seen now she gets the win there.

We had Torpedo Anna not win essentially what I'll say she

didn't win. She actually lost her race here.

So when we get into these older dirt females, which is always a

group that I enjoy following all these things and frankly, you

could talk about a raging sea if you wanted to go West, you could

talk about a Cavalieri torpedo and obviously in that group

Darth Vader, etcetera, maybe even like a sweet Azteca Royal

spa, something like that. But then you get like a Copion

who showed out on Derby weekend, right?

And then you've got Ways and Means.

We know that's going to be more on the turf side of things,

which on. The Sprint side.

On the Sprint side for sure. What?

Who's the best older DERF female right now?

Is it still torpedo Anna until she loses twice?

Essentially, yes. I think so too.

I, I think Torpedo Anna is still #1 because there was, there was

a couple things that happened in that race.

I know a lot of people point to that trouble in the first turn,

which also, by the way, Dorth Vader was very involved in that

trip too. And then you saw how she bounced

back from that. But I actually, I don't put much

into that first turn problem. I thought, you know, from what I

I've seen her race many times and especially as a 2 year old

and she did not look like her full energetic self in the

paddock. I think they maybe just came

back a little bit too quick off the apple blossom.

I don't think she was feeling herself that day.

She comes back and does the same thing in the floor to Lee.

Yeah, we at that point we have a problem.

I'm giving her a pass for that race.

I think she has clearly proven to be, you know, the horse that

won that race. Raging Sea is a horse she's

handled in the past, so I'm not going to jump off of her as the

number one in this division yet until we see what happens in the

Florida League. I think she's going to bounce

back pretty strong here. The only other time she lost was

on a similar kind of short cut back or short come back from her

previous race, so I'm going to give her a pass on that one and

hope she bounces back. Who do you have between Copion

and Ways and Means? As far as one Turner's, I've

seen more consistent output from Ways and Means.

In my opinion, Kobe on whatever she faces the best, she's the

best. And it was a reminder too, even

a Philly like that coming out of of California where she would

not have been allowed to run in those conditions in California,

they would not have raced that day.

And she showed up. The California horses go 1/2

that day. Exactly right.

And so she's an interesting one to me too because of who the

sire is with Omaha Beach. And I feel like kind of an

unknown at this point. I'm sure in your Derby prep that

year, you were all over that horse.

I wasn't. Believe it or not.

Did you respect him? At least I did respect him.

Yes, But no, I he was not. He was pigs.

Yeah. Picks multiple Yeah, wasn't it

like the? Top He wasn't in my top five.

Wow, yeah, he scratched so it ended up not mattering so, but

yeah, he was not. I was right in hindsight.

He's scratched up. See, I told you not to have him.

Do you think Byron was he? Byron's Derby doesn't.

That's what I need to know. That's what I you get out of

here, Byron, you get Byron back in.

But between those two here, OK, so the results obviously matter

and Ways and Means. It's obviously very talented,

very athletic, all those things. Kobia just beats the best when

she faces them. I don't trust Ways and Means as

much outside of New York, OK? Yep.

OK, she's really impressed. At the new Belmont this year,

you'd feel real good I'd. Feel real good honestly, the

fact that it's at Delmar puts me back even more on Kobe on than I

would be otherwise. But you know, she's obviously

Ways and Means love Saratoga. She did win at Aqueduct last

year as well. But it just seems like now to be

fair, some of the times where she has left New York, you know,

she's been running longer distances when she ran the

Kentucky Oaks And you know, maybe you give her a pass for

that race in the Derby City distaff in May just because it

was her First off the layoff. But I need to.

I've seen Copion's been able to take it with her now and run her

best no matter where she is against whoever she's running

against. I have not seen the same from

Ways and Means. I've seen her be really, really

good at Saratoga. I have been present for I think

three of her dominating wins at Saratoga and each time they blow

my mind when she wins them. But then when you just, I

haven't seen the same horse outside of Saratoga, but the

Philly I really, really like and the older dirt female.

Well, the Sprint division for the females who we probably

won't see on a lot of rankings yet.

Too sharp for Phil Bauer and Rickney Racing.

She just came back with from the winning color stakes on Memorial

Day and she won that after sending a very quick pace.

She was able to keep going in that race against some nice

Phillies. I really like this Philly.

I liked her a lot last year. I think if she's starting to get

going right now, I think she's going to be a big threat to go

beyond later on the year. Phil Bower, A developing great

at stakes winning trainer as well.

Rugby folks. And now, right.

And So what what we've seen. So Jonathan's way, he had last

fall. Yeah, Yeah.

Yeah, we should be rounding back into the summer, hopefully.

OK, good. From one of the last I heard,

it's been a couple couple weeks since I talked to him.

About what? He handled him.

What I'm saying is he handled him very well through multiple

graded stakes, right? Obviously fell to sovereignty in

the street sets in in. No, he was out in the juvenile.

Oh, that's right, yes, he ran. Juvenile.

That's right. But then he bounced back and ran

a strong second. The jockey.

Club, but not a That's what I'm thinking of the.

You're thinking of the other good dolphin.

Yes I have post. Was that poster no First resort

one First resort. Yeah, that's exactly right.

There's many good dolphin Blues last year.

That must be nice. But no.

But just watching the Rigney barn develop as well, what

they've moved into, the kinds of horses they own now, the

investment they're making. But Phil Bauer's obviously one

of the very most important colleagues of what they do.

It's been fun to watch. So I hope you're right, by the

way, because I think Phil does things.

He's a really good trainer, really good.

Horse, I think he's a real talented Philly and I'm very

excited to see her this year. Yeah, I am.

I'm a little disappointed Valieri's out of training right

now. I thought she was coming along

at the right time, and frankly, because she was based on the

West Coast, I was excited about her distaff chances in the

Baffert barn. But obviously TBD and when we'll

see her again. The older dirt males.

We got a show for Raging Torrent in the Met Mile.

The 1 1/2 turn Met mile. There, that was that horse, 8 to

1. That part I don't understand.

Yeah. Was it five horses?

Five horses and he was the only one in the field who running a

mile is this thing. I saw that fierceness from a

long ways away. Did anything from that race

change how you felt about any of the horses in it?

No. OK, isn't that?

Interesting. And I know a lot of people are

probably disappointed in fierceness, disappointed in the

white of barrio for not winning that race.

But you know, I looked at, I looked at it going into it,

These horses are not milers. These are classic division

horses. I did not feel like they were in

the race where they could be most successful against a horse

like Raging Torrent, who definitely was going to love

that trip. And you know, White Abaria,

we've seen him in the Met Mile three times.

He has not run his best race in any of those 3 performances, so

I was not surprised to see that from him.

I'll draw a line through that. Hope he can bounce back in the

Whitney later and run better going that mile in an eighth.

We know he's run well in the Whitney before, obviously.

Yep. So I don't have, so I don't have

any. And it's an awful loss in the

Met Mile too. That's a good point.

Yeah, of course the Met Mile was at Belmont that year, but well,

so I I have confidence in him bouncing back.

Fierceness, I think, has finally gotten over his Run a good race,

run a bad race. We're going to get an honest

effort. We're going to get the honest

effort from him now. So I have no, I have no concerns

about him stretching back out in distance.

I just think the mile was too short for both of them.

I thought both of them would have been better fit in a race

like the Stephen Foster personally and.

It's interesting who's going to be in the Foster and who's not

Mind frame comes to mind for. That I thought him and

fierceness should have been swapped.

Or him in white barrio or whatever.

Yeah, well, can. Discuss Fierce Him and Fierce in

the same owner, same trainer, I think.

I think those two should have been swapped.

Or do they just know that mine frame really is good at trichial

bounds? That could be true, yeah.

Because he. Didn't he won the allowance over

during weekend last year? Right?

Oh I understand, but I'm just saying I I think there's a

reason they didn't move mine. Frame who?

Probably, if not the favorite in the Met Mile, what would he have

been? I mean, he would have been

right. There won that.

Churchill Downs is one of the best fields I've had this year.

I think part of it is you got him a grade one at 7 furlongs on

Derby weekend. Let's now get him grade one at 9

furlongs too. I think that's part.

Of part of the reason I get. Well, and I can't fault them for

that reason Mile. Mile.

Exactly, Yeah, which I think part of that was also wanting to

get the try to get that that on Fierceness's resume in addition

to the traverse, get the mile on 1/4, get the mile Grade 1.

So I do think that had a lot to do with it, but who was better

fit for the other one? I think it should have been

swapped. That being said, mind frame

obviously proved in the Haskell and the and the Belmont last

year that he can run these distances.

So he's definitely not and. He was better at the Churchill

Downs that he was at any point as a three-year old, yes.

That's a good stop, but is that just him maturing or was?

That him maturity. It's maturity, yeah.

No, that's maturity I think. And I look, Fletcher's gonna

have two in that Stephen Foster that are in this division

together locked in mind frame. Yeah.

At this point I trust locked a little more.

At that distance, I just do. I was.

That's the son of Gun Runner. Man, I've seen this story

before. I was concerned with his.

He didn't fire really as much as he should have.

I thought in the alley Sheba, and maybe it was just the track

that day or something, but he did concern me a little bit.

I've never. Was anyone touching fierceness

that. Day, I don't think so, but I

still would have liked to see a little bit more of a kick from

him at the end. He's one that you know, I know a

lot of people have been very high on him.

I personally, I've never been like where I've had him at the

very top of my rankings in this division, even when he won like

the Breeders Futurity as a 2 year old and everybody's kind of

hyped about him going into the Derby.

But he has been very impressive since coming back at the end of

last year taking the Cigar Mile. His race, I was second in the

Pegasus, the win in the sand. I need a handicap.

He has looked good, but I was a little concerned with that last

race. So I don't know.

This is going to be a really tough race in the Stephen

Foster. If he can show up and win this

one, I feel a lot better about him the rest of year.

Raging torrent for the Breeders Cup mile over two turns or the

Sprint do you think? I think we see him in the mile.

We haven't seen him go two turns yet, have we?

Trying to think, Or at least not recently since he's been.

Well, what did he run in the British Cup last year?

He ran the oh, he did run the British.

Mile. Yeah, that's right.

So he went two turns there, that's what.

I think and that's the one race he lost.

So that's why I ask because I think it's really interesting

how good he is at a mile. But the two turn thing for him,

I asked that question because Nicos is out there.

Oh yeah, you know, he can get two turns and.

He can. Well, we know he can go the mile

and I think frankly at the end of the day with Nisos.

I'm not raging. Torin wasn't the Breeders Cup

Sprint last year. Thank you for.

Clarifying, yes, OK. And then he went to the

Godolphin Mile and then the Met Mile, right?

Yeah. So his last time he would have

been around two turns, maybe the springboard mile.

As a 2 year old, I'd have to check on the distance of this

allowance race and this stakes at Santa Anita.

But yeah, it's been a while since he's been around to turn.

I mean, I guess the Met mile was technically like a.

Turn and a half, turn and a half I so OK, I bring all that up

because Nisos is just out there. Then mine frame is out there.

I mean for breeders cut purposes wouldn't you say mine frame much

more likely a dirt Miller than a classic.

Mine frame, yes, Right now I'm going to say yes.

That could change in the Stephen Foster.

Misos. More likely a Mylar or a

classic. Horse Mylar.

Thank you. We got like the Sierra Leone's

of the world who will see in the foster.

Do you have any idea what we're going to get in the foster from

Sierra Leone? Nope.

Idea. I no, I have no idea what we're

going to get from him. I'm hoping we get.

Vintage Classic. Vintage, classic Sierra Leone.

I hope we get that, Will we? I don't know.

I don't know what to think from him anymore.

Impossible. However, that being said, he

does tend to win when we discount him.

Yeah, that's fair. When we jump off this bandwagon,

he tends to win. I told you that the day before

the Breeders Cup last year that I felt like he had a good shot

because everybody was discounting and then he ended up

winning. So if we're all jumping off his

bandwagon again for this one, we'll see what happens.

I'm it's just fascinating where those horses are going to go

because if you take say the the top 6 or 7 in the older dirt

male fierceness, white, a barrio raging torrent mind frame locked

Sierra Leone Nisos that kind of group.

By the way, he still didn't mention the Kentucky Derby

winner from last year, Mystic Dan Mystic.

Dan, who could, I mean, frankly, he could blow up this board by

winning the Stephen Foster. Yeah, absolutely blow it up.

Now, the question with him would then would be three wins at

Churchill Downs anywhere else. But to be fair, I'd rather win

those races at Churchill than say, at Oakland.

I feel like, for example. Oakland shippers to Churchill

have not been good this this meet OK.

It feels like if you're good at Oakland, it's a very specific

place to be good. If you're going to Churchill,

that seems to travel once in a while, right?

That seems to that dirt course seems to hold up in other

places. So hopefully we'll get that kind

of thing from missing. What do you expect from him?

I think better. I think he's going to take a

step forward from the plane, whether that's good.

Enough. I mean, his owner, his owner was

on this show, which means that he's obviously going to get way

better. Yeah.

Yes, I know there we got the blood horse Monday bump there.

But you're welcome, Gina. I think the I think that step

forward is going to be there. Whether that's good enough to

win this race. So I have to wait and see, but I

do think that that is going to be I, I do think he's going to

show up and run a big race here. The Ohio Derby this weekend will

close the show with that today and those those runners.

How about on the three-year old Philly side?

And then we'll we'll get to Olivia Newman and the good

folks, Todd Wojciechowski down there at the Obs Sale.

Look, Good Cheer finally loses a race.

We've got Nitrogen winning everything.

Lakara looks fantastic. Frankly, she's always been very

impressive. Yeah.

Has Lakara. She just ran into Good Cheer a

bunch. Just everybody keeps discounting

Lakara for whatever reason. And then, you know, she had the,

I guess the I. Think it's her build.

I think she's just so little. Yeah, but it's like last year as

a 2 year old, it's like I she won the Pocahontas from off the

pace, by the way, and nobody really talked about her at all

going into the Breeders Cup. And then, you know, she ran all

right in the Breeders Cup. She comes back as a big win.

I'm in Florida, Tampa I believe. And then she came back at

Gulfstream kind of quick, upbeat there, comes back and wins very

nicely in the Ashland, gets a track she doesn't like in the

Oaks and comes back to a track she does like at Saratoga and

dominates the Acorn. I mean, you can't count her out

on anything. I agree with you.

And we all know if you've been watching a show for a couple

weeks, you all know I'm the biggest good cheer fan out

there. So, you know, I'm giving, giving

Lakara her due there. She, I mean, she, she went out

there and she earned that one. Will you listen to the

conversations about nitrogen being the best 3 year old

Philly, because I will. I will.

OK. Yeah, I mean, I saw, I've seen

her win very impressively on the turf in person her last two

starts. I saw that race that she just

ran in person on the dirt and she looked good.

Now, to be fair, who was she running against in that race?

Good question. Mayday ready I think is very,

very good. Philly, it was her first start

of the year. She's a turf where she was

running on the dirt. Can't really, yeah, hard to hard

to measure quality from that for that specific race.

But as far as like her motion over the track, Oh yeah, she

looked good. And I think that opened up a

possibilities that maybe they weren't thinking of beforehand

where Let's see what would happen in the coaching club

American Oaks. Let's see what would happen in

an acorn. Unless they want to go the path

of the OR exceed the Alabama, not the acorn.

Unless I want to go to the path of the lake, The Belmont Oaks,

the Saratoga Oaks. They've got a lot of options.

Yeah, they've got plenty of options.

Maybe you do Belmont Oaks and then you jump back and run on

the dirt in the Alabama the. Problem for a horse keeping up

the Breeders Cup theme here, a problem for a horse like

Nitrogen is she's not going to win a turf race at the Breeders

Cup. I wouldn't be so sure about

that. Cub on.

I wouldn't be so. Sure, a three-year old filly in

that cub on. I could see it now, the thing

with her. Wow, OK, keep going.

I don't know about. As long as she could get the

distance of like a Philly and Mare Turf, I think she'd be OK.

I think she could hold. Her Philly mare turf a mile and

a quarter I. Think so this year it's either a

mile and AI forget what they run in at Del Mar.

I think it's a mile and 1/4 this year, which I think she could

get that distance. Distance I'm not worried about.

Yeah, it ain't that. It's quality.

I think she, I think as long as she can get the distance, I

think the quality is there. The reason I bring that up is

does she fit better in the distaff group?

Do you find out it? Depends what the Europeans come

over. No, in the distaff.

No. For which Europeans come over

for the turfs? Yeah, it depends which one.

What I do that is. Do you find out in the Alabama

if she likes the dirt? Do you go?

Yes, if I was gonna aim at the distaff.

Or something if. I was gonna aim at the Distaff

at all. I would be in the Alabama.

OK, That's what I would do. I might try the Coach Club of

America. I might try that.

You know that that just. Because it's sooner and if.

You need well, and it's the same person as the just staff as

well, right? So that's that.

That would be a good test. Or you know, maybe you hold out

for the cotillion. But I think quality wise, if you

want to see your quality, how it stacks up, I'd say you have to

be in one of those two Saratoga. Cotillion's not a bad one,

though. Yeah, that actually makes a fair

amount of. Sense too.

Yeah, you can knock out some of these turf races and then pop up

in the cotillion. I know everybody always forgets

about the cotillion, but not the Pennsylvania guy.

Not Pennsylvania, Guy remembers. The cotillion at EH under score

S Collins I lot of options there.

We also have Immersive, who came back over the weekend in a

uninspired, frankly, really, I thought it was very uninspired.

Interesting. You thought she ran well?

I thought she ran very well. She I mean, if you.

Run poorly. Ever, Shawn.

If you end well, if you so bro, it's a.

List of stakes of four horses like come.

On, I know, but you go into it. And when I talked to Brad in the

beginning of the week, they straight up said she's not going

to be fully cranked. We're not caring to win this

race. We want to get a good race out

of her in this spot to prepare her, get the fitness into her

for the Saratoga races. And then on top of that, I

thought that the trip that she got, yes, it was four horses.

They kept her boxed in and you know, had she been on the

outside to take charge? Take charge, my lady.

By the way, I still don't know if it's my lady or me lady I

have. No idea but.

It's depending if she was on the outside, maybe she ends up

winning there. I just always think in that

situation where you're going head and head, I always feel

like it favors the outside horse most of the time.

Just got to have some more space and maybe get less

claustrophobic. But I thought for First off, the

bench, coming off of having some bone bruising, not being fully

cranked, I thought you're in very well.

I don't discredit Take charge my lady or me lady, because she ran

a very good second to Lakara and the Ashland coming from off the

pace. She ran very well there and then

she had all those foot problems going into the Oaks.

I just draw a line through the Kentucky Oaks, but if they so I

am very I'm very much thought or I did very much think that

immersive ran well in the Monomoy girl.

I think she lost to a quality horse.

I liked that she was. I liked that they were both well

clear of third place and I think better trip next time.

Second off the bench, I think she'll run better.

Whether she is still good enough to compete with a good cheer and

now developed Lucara, we'll have to wait and see.

But I didn't lose any any confidence in her off the bench,

which apparently you did so. I did, just a little.

Not the end of the world, but I'm sure she can be fine going

for it. I just thought it was.

Now that you're telling me she wasn't cranked, OK, I agree.

Well, you should have read my article last week.

Find all the articles, all the race previews for all the stakes

races each weekend. Ofcourse.com of the Oh man, you

really caught me. There, I did catch you not.

Good at all? That's not good at all.

Hopefully our listeners were better in tune and they had

placed their bets accordingly. A reminder that the Obs sale is

Tuesday and Wednesday the 17th and 18th of June this week.

Here now is Olivia Newman from our team here at Blood Horse,

bloodhorse.com. Of course, you can click on the

the sales tab at the top of the home page.

There, she's talking with Todd Wojhowski from OBS, and here is

his update ahead of the sale. So we'd like to welcome into the

show Todd Wojhowski. He's the Director of Sales at

OBS. Thank you for joining us, Todd.

Hey. Thanks for having me, Olivia.

The June sale starts tomorrow. This sale has produced some

great horses in the past like Yaupon Adair Manor and Yaupon's

went on to become a great tire. The Under Attack show went

really well last week. What are your thoughts and

expectations heading into the sale?

So, you know, we're, we're always optimistic, you know, the

day before the sale, you know, we see action on the sales

grounds. It's nice to see people arriving

and you know, people are arriving even today.

And I I know we'll have more people coming in tomorrow.

A lot of good horses on the grounds.

Consigners have done a really good job preparing these horses

and getting them here, so we're cautiously optimistic.

OBS has had a lot of success this year.

The March and April sale March there was a record $3.2 million

Gun Runner Colt sold by Eddie Woods.

In April record nine horses sold for a million or more.

Can you just talk a little bit about that success?

Well, you know that success really stems from the quality of

horses that the consigners are bringing to market.

You know, we've just been very fortunate that some of the best

horsemen in the world live here in Marion County.

And I think it's evidenced by the horses you mentioned, but

not just in big sales prices. You know, from April 30th to

June 1st we had 10 winners out of our two year old sales.

That's an immediate return for buyers.

You know, in addition to the one of those maiden winners being

the Astoria winner, Sassy CW. Since then we've had a number of

other winners, a few of them rising stars.

So we're, we're just excited about the the number of horses

that are coming out of the sale and going right to the races and

doing well. And again, I think it's a it's a

testament to the quality of horses and the quality of

horsemanship from our consignors.

Definitely another topic I wanted to ask you about that's

been sort of a hot topic is the Gallup only versus the

traditional, you know, breeze under tax shows.

What are your thoughts on that and what are Obs's plans for the

future? You know, as far As for the

future, I don't know of any immediate changes or you know,

those are things that we'll discuss throughout the summer as

we prepare for the next season. You know, we have offered the

Gallup only of of course horses are always have been able to

gallop the Gallup only a designation was really put in

there so that it would be easy or easy for the buyer to

understand and sellers to explain that their intention was

to gallop that horse all along. That horse wasn't being galloped

because there was a hiccup along the way or anything like that.

But allowing horses to gallop, you know, we, we've allowed

horses can, can do that now certainly.

So, you know, the gallop only has been a good addition as far

as a another distinction and an opportunity for the sellers and

buyers. But we'll see what the what the

future holds there. OK.

I just want to talk a little too about the different renovations

OBS has done over the years. And in 2007 you put in the all

weather surface track, how important has that been during

under tax shows weather conditions etcetera?

I, I think the, the all Weather Service for us has, has been an

absolute a blessing and and a great decision by the company.

Something you know I've said before, there is no other sales

company that breathes more horses over as many days

anywhere in the world. And the one thing what the all

weather surface does is allow us to give as consistent of a

surface as possible from day one to day 7 or from 7:30 in the

morning till 1:00 in the afternoon.

And trying to give sellers an opportunity to show their horses

ability to the best of their ability and and not have to have

varying types of surfaces weighing in on that process.

I think it is. It's good for sellers and it's

good for buyers as well. Definitely.

I was just going to ask also if there were any horses that stood

out to you in particular in this catalog.

I know during the last day of the Undertack show, Hip 829, a

colt by Boleyum, worked 1/4 and 20 and one fifth, and that tied

the track record that was set last year by Cash Call, who's

now a graded stakes winner. Yeah.

You know, fortunately there were a number of horses that looked

really good on the race track. You know, I, I won't figure out.

I mean, obviously you you mentioned the Boleyum and

there's a number of other horses that you know, the good thing is

you see them on the racetrack, they look good and they perform

well on the racetrack and then you'll go back to the barn and

they match that. So, you know, we're excited

about those horses. Definitely.

And how does this catalog compare to March and April?

And how has this sale kind of progressed a little bit over the

years? Well, I think I've said it.

I've said it maybe a year or two ago.

This isn't your, this isn't your father's June.

You know, June used to be just kind of a drips and drabs that

was left of the season, I think with all of the calendar sale

calendars moving back into the year.

And when I say that, you know, years ago there wasn't a yearly

sale beyond September. Now there's probably 5 or 6000

more horses sold beyond September into October.

So that naturally shifted the, the, the calendar back.

We used to have two year old sales in February.

We don't have them anymore because of those horses selling

later. There's not enough time to get

them ready that soon. So March shifted later, April

shifted later and now June. And I think that natural

progression, I, I think our consignors have also realized

that they have a horse that maybe is a little immature for

the say the March sale that they take the time and give them the

time to mature and grow that they deserve so that they can be

rewarded for that in June. And that has happened over and

over again. And consignors appreciate it and

I think the sellers do as well. I mean the buyers.

Definitely. Did the Did OBS get any entries

that scratched out of the Facing Maryland sale?

We have a few of horses that were originally, I guess, slated

for Maryland. That's nothing new.

That happens every year. I mean, as you know, horses

sometimes for whatever reason, can't make a particular sale.

They can move on to the next one.

It's not unusual for us to get supplements that perhaps they

didn't make the Maryland. Right, all right, thanks to

Olivia and Todd there. Todd of course, Wojkowski from

OBS and of course the weather not the only thing warming up in

June having produced two time Breeders' Cup winners Stormy

Liberal and Golden Sense as well as grade one winners Adair

Manor, Yapon and Warlike Goddess, 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 the auction season comes to an end comes see with a

2 year old source to the world has to offer at OBS.

It's tomorrow and Wednesday, June 17 and 18 we're.

Going to go down and buy buy a horse.

Aren't we? Listen, I, I, I was going

through the couch cushions earlier.

Did. You find anything?

No, $10,000 bills. Yeah, just nothing.

How about 20,000? Was looking for one of those as

well 50,000. Dollar.

I already kind of outlined that that's not happening here.

Sean, thank you for bringing up. And I don't have $50,000 bills.

Well, you know, thank you. This is the nice, this is the

nice thing about, you know, horse racing is you can have

partnerships. We got two of us here and we got

frank angst. Who could possibly?

Jump. You know what?

When I think horse, when I think horse or ownership partnership,

I think Frank angst and that library.

That's really what I think of. There any money hidden in those

books back there, Frank, that we can use it over?

Us. Come on, let's do it together.

We'll have to search through there, but you know, the you'd

never know what's always a chance of getting a plug, that

the many partnership opportunities are out there,

made entry and ownership a lot more reasonable for more people.

So yeah, that's a really people take advantage of that.

It's a fun thing for sure, yeah. For sure.

Right, So I've heard the story. I own a toenail on that horse

and I lost my mind, blah blah blah.

For sure. OBS sale going on tomorrow and

Wednesday down there. Frank, you've been working

though on what's happening here and I thought this was a cool

topic. Yeah, we'll be, of course

covering the it'll be a sale, but the magazine and the July

issue will be out next Tuesday. So 8 days I finished up my

What's Going On Here column for the July issue.

And I think it's a really encouraging thing that that I

saw this year, this spring in the classics is more young

people coming to the sport. I mean, I think it the Derby

just got things started off on a great foot to America's best

racing here with the Jockey Club.

They made a partnership with Griffin Johnson, the the

influencer and he brought in just millions of eyeballs to the

sport, which was just terrific. And is is demographic of

followers definitely, definitely skews younger.

So that it's just been an elusive crowd that racing has

tried to make connections with and, and the Derby saw like its

best ratings ever on NBC and not the highest since 1989.

And Churchill Downs officials at the AARCI conference directly

credited AB Rs reference AB Rs efforts as part of the reason

for that. And then and then just something

that I saw with my own eyes, both at the Derby and the

Belmont is younger people betting on their phones.

And really what has struck me is I think with the proliferation

of sports wagering, horse racing has now been helped over one of

its largest hurdles, which is education, just sort of how to

bet. Ideally, I would like to see

fixed odds wagering. We don't have that, but we do

why we don't have fixed size wagering widely.

There's some in New Jersey, Colorado, but on the major

events, we're not there yet and I was pushing for it.

So yeah, some, some chances there.

But I think just with a group of younger people growing up with

sports wagering, they understand the wagering product FanDuel and

a lot of these sites Vandal like the racing's right there.

You have the common shared wallet.

So it's fairly easy to get from the sports betting site to the

racing site. We're seeing promotions from

the, you know, your Caesars, your FanDuel, your DraftKings.

They're tying in to these sports to the racing events.

So I think it's they're doing the marketing for racing, which

is terrific. And I think they're doing a lot

of the education for racing as well.

I mean, if you kind of understand the, you know, the,

the three to three to one odds, whether it's in basketball or

horse racing, you, you have an understanding of that.

So I think that's helped bring a lot of people in.

And I saw, you know, a demographic of people that I

don't always see into the batting that that seemed like

they were at, at these events. I'd be curious, what if you guys

saw any of that or am I? Just thinking that, that's what

I'm saying. I know it's a hope for so many

of us, but I think it's also reality.

I, I, you know, you were talking Sean off air before we got on

here about, oh, I forgot, it's night racing this Saturday at

Churchill Downs. And look, people can get upset

about, oh, the lights are big in the whatever.

Like those 20,000 people show up for those nights, man.

Like it's a legitimate thing. And so part of this, Frank, I

think is what you just talked about, which is if you don't

know it exists, you're never going to go.

And it look, I mean, DraftKings for example, you brought them

up. If you go into the DK app, DK

horse is like the fourth thing. It's right there.

And so I, I agree with you that the other part of this too, I've

always wondered, guy sits down to watch a college football game

and it's going to be 3 hours and he's got the over.

Why would you not bet a horse race for $2.00 every 10 minutes,

right? I mean, just to have action

during the game. And I'm not picking on football

in particular. Lots of sports are like this

where it takes 3-4 hours for your wagering of outcome,

essentially, or if you're playing multiple games, it might

take six hours play pick three in in 40 minutes.

Like, you know, those are things you could just do.

And so Frank, I wonder that part too, where it's just, hey, I can

bet Aqueduct, you know, you know, on Saturday, you could

have bet Aqueduct, Laurel and Churchill and Gulfstream all at

the same time, had that action and still had the College World

Series on or still had, you know, the the, you know, the NBA

Finals, something like that. I'm hoping that what you said

earlier that just that familiarity with wagering and

frankly the stigma that comes with it, I remember even getting

into this before sports wagering was legal.

Now that it's legal that that stigma's gone man, and that

that's a real, that's a real positive for the next.

Generation and I think that like you talked about the Knight

racing at Churchill, the Triple Crown races, the Delmar and

Saratoga meets where you have people that they're not

following racing all the time. So in the past, those people

might just go to those tracks and enjoy the day and have a

terrific day, but they might not.

They might be just intimidating, intimidated by the betting.

I think because they have these apps in their hands, it's so

much easier and they already have a familiarity with how to

deposit money. You know how you know, like all

that's already familiar with them and they have a confidence

level and racing, you know, we tip our hats to the sports

wagering side that that is, you know, made that possible.

And now I think these people are starting to come over and bet

horse racing. So it's terrific to see.

And I think too, by the way, Frank, I think these other

companies have discovered they don't have to front any money to

carry horse bets. All of it is just take out,

right. And so for them, it's, they

don't even have to put the money up.

And I know fixed odds is the future.

And I think it needs to be Frank, part of our wagering, you

know, availability. When I go to the Haskell every

year, I, I watch the fixed odds for sure, because if I'm getting

4 to one over here or you know, 3 to one over here, I'm going to

the 4:00 to 1:00 like I'm just going to do that.

And so it's, it's interesting to watch both.

But I, I do think there is, you know, those, those bigger sites

are figuring out, well, we don't have to front any money to carry

horse racing. We just got to have a license.

I think that's real attractive too, Frank.

So it, it's definitely something that we'll keep an eye on and

try to see if we can come up with some numbers that document

what I, what I think I saw throughout the year.

I mean, it's handle numbers are harder to judge than ever before

because such a huge percentage of them are the computer robotic

wagering, the computer assisted wagering.

It's so it's, it's difficult to see what new people are coming

in, but we do have some connections at FanDuel and our

sponsor FanDuel sometimes sponsor.

So we have some connections there and we'll follow up with

them to talk about what they're seeing, that they usually have a

good feel for what's going on. Yeah, I I agree with you that

the younger crowd thing, it's very recent too, last year.

Well, I mean, even, I mean, we're talking about the Triple

Crown races, but you know, I'm a frequent attendee of Churchill

Downs and every weekend I've been seeing kind of, well,

especially this year, I've been seeing, you know, quite a few

groups of college kids that are out there on Saturdays and

Sundays placing their bets. Obviously they usually get a

younger crowd on their twilight Thursdays as well.

So, you know, you're seeing, I see that all the time at

Churchill. I know a race you and I both

like going to is the Haskell in New Jersey.

And yeah, and it's always super young.

Yeah, I've been to 10 Haskells and that's always, each year one

of the races where like the entire apron is essentially

college age kids. And so, you know, probably may

go back to my first one ten years ago, I don't know how many

of them were betting, but yeah, now that they have the apps,

everything that Frank's talking about, it seems like there's

more and more betting. I see more people holding

tickets. I hear more people talking about

who they're going to bet on when I go to these races.

So I'm definitely saying it. Yeah, I think the app, the app's

such a easier thing to deal with too.

I mean, nobody wants to be the new person in line that's

holding everything up or which adds things slightly the wrong

way and gets a scowl from, you know, but the app, you're not

going to get any of that. You, you have a chance to

correct it and double check it. Take your time.

So and then once you get that down, yeah, go up to the

windows, knock yourself out how however you want to do it.

So yeah, I, I think it's an encouraging thing for sure.

And and the best news of all is if they came in this year, they

saw a heck of a Triple Crown series.

Oh, that's right. Journalism and sovereignty

really put on a show, so that that was nice that that timed up

that way. Let me, by the way, give some

credit to other places that I know are trying things like

Canterbury is knocking it out of the park with the University of

Minnesota, like they are knocking it out of the park with

the next generation. And so hopefully in some of

these places that we don't think of necessarily as, you know,

it's not Santa Anita, it's not Belmont Park or something, a

place like Canterbury, you know, they just had Saturday night

racing up at Horseshoe Indianapolis, which is a partner

on this show. Like that kind of stuff where

you got him. You got to mix it up.

Not everybody can be there at Tuesday at noon.

Yeah, right. I mean, just it's just not

available to everybody. And so, you know, you got to mix

it up, got to try different things.

And frankly, if Churchill has to do it, it's OK if everyone else

does it, right. It's one of those.

Oh, the only place you didn't mention, Frank, that I think has

one of the best built in younger people cultures, of course, is

Keeneland. And it's, you know, but, but

Keeneland, I think Canterbury probably looked at that and said

we got twice as many students at the University of Minnesota than

they do at Caitlin. We should be able to figure this

out. So kudos to them on that as

well. Yeah.

And we'll let you know what the dollars and cents segment that

we do on here. We can we'll reach out to some

of those people and talk about some of the things that are

working and racing that there are definitely some positive

stories out there. And I think this Triple Crown,

we, we saw a lot of it. Yeah, I agree with you.

Especially the Triple Crown series itself.

It's amazing how many people I heard, man, did you see

journalism like, and I'm like, I thought no one would watch the

Preakness, but apparently everyone saw that that part of

the race at least where he pushed through, which is great.

And so it's the other part too, about the next generation,

Frank. These are two-minute races at

most, right? I mean, and then you get 20

minutes to hang out like the younger generation, your

generation. Sean does something very well

that I wish my generation was even better at, which is the

experience. You guys love the experience.

You love the event, that kind of thing.

Horse racing's an event, man. Like it takes hours and hours.

If you go to the track and hang out and do the thing, like, like

you said, it could be awesome. You know, I was there on

Saturday. There was a group of like 15

guys in the in the area next to us.

They were all just hanging out. They were betting names and

having fun and doing all the good stuff.

I mean, sometimes it's it that's good too.

You know, it's just, it's OK to have.

So. Yeah, but.

Well, thank you, Frank. We'll make sure we, you know, if

anybody is is magazine's coming out, get that magazine.

There's QR code at the bottom. If you happen to be watching us

on YouTube there. What should we look for in the

next magazine? I mean, it's, it's a terrific

issue for sure. We'll of course wrap up our

Preakness and Belmont coverage and put that in the magazine.

For the record, we have, we have Alicia Hughes that has a

terrific feature on Thorpedo Anna, We like to spotlight some

of the big horses that are out there.

So, so that'll be really nice. Lenny Schulman kind of takes a

look back to the the Affirmed era and everything that went on

around that horse. That's a terrific story as well.

There you go. All right, we'll get those

stories and. Much and actually we referenced

partnerships to start the show. We have a special section on

partnerships. So well timed there.

Blood Horse magazine, the QR code at the bottom there, you

can sure find that at bloodhorse.com.

I'll go find the magazine as well, frankly.

We appreciate you. Talk to you next.

Actually, you know what? This is a good time to do this

right now. Give them a warning.

Frank Eggs is shoving you out of the way next week.

That's what's happening around here.

Frank Eggs, star of screen, that's what we need to call him

now. He's going to be in here with me

next week, Frank, and I won't. Boy oh boy, poor Frank's going

to hang out with me for an hour. I know.

Good luck, Frank. It's not easy, he.

Feels concerned that this is the best promo we have.

Is there a promo or a warning? No we will.

We will do as best as we can Sean without you but you will be

missed. But we will carry on.

Extra Frank next week, I expect huge numbers.

Frank sounds good. There you go, Frank Eggs.

We appreciate him joining us from down there at the Blood

Horse offices in Lexington. Appreciate that very much.

All right, so something he mentioned about the younger

crowd in those things, it what always makes me laugh in horse

racing because how often do we have to hear how are we going to

grow the sport? And it's always this, like, it's

the same tenor all the time, and what are we going to do?

And no one has ideas, by the way.

They just have complaints, right?

The places that are actually trying things, guess what?

It's working. Exactly.

It's actually working like Saturday at Churchill's going to

be awesome, by the way. It's going to be awesome.

It's going to be mega fun. Those those night races are.

Awesome. It's fantastic.

Like Horseshoe just did their their annual Saturday night.

Plus, the jockeys all got to represent the countries they're

from. Yeah.

It's like an Olympics that's amazing.

And guess what? There are lots of people there.

Guess what they don't do? Charge you for the Indiana

Derby. Guess what?

The place is full. You see it at Canterbury on

Wednesdays because they made that college night.

Because they're smart. If you try, it happens.

It's a weird thing to say out loud, isn't it?

Yeah. You have to tell people that you

exist. Yeah, you do.

It's not 1973 anybody. There's been a lot, there's been

a lot of good steps for me as somebody who's 26 years old

wanting to be in this industry for the next, you know, 60-70

years. This is the this year has made

me feel a lot better about the sports future than any any

previous year because I have seen, you know, a larger impact

of people attending. I have seen a greater marketing

effect. I've seen more, you know, more

relevance in racing on TikTok and on Twitter and social media

and everything like that. I've seen kind of a larger

representation of the sport. I've seen more people who don't

usually pay attention to the sport paying attention to the

sport this year. So I do think we're definitely

on the right track. I think some of these race

tracks, obviously people like Griffin Johnson as well, I think

they're really starting to, we're starting to hit the right

points and we just need to keep unifying on that effort to keep

carrying it on through. Couple of cool races coming up

this weekend, the Ohio Derby up there at Thistledown and of

course the Grade 2 Chicago at Churchill Downs.

If you are betting the races this weekend, go ahead and check

out FanDuel Racing. Download the app today and bet

with our friends at FanDuel Racing.

Appreciate them jumping on the show here as we close up another

edition of Blood Horse Monday. Got a couple of races to talk

about. We'll start with the Chicago

here. This is one of those night

races. This will go up at 10:00 at

night. You and I will be there for.

It Can you imagine? I'll be there.

Can you imagine, though, being a trainer and you get up at like

3:45 that day and you've got a horse in the 10:11 PM Chicago

Steaks? Well, what about the re factor 2

races after it? I would really are there

hammocks in the barns? Like, is there something going

on that these people can take a nap?

You know what? We only do four of these a year

at Churchill. No, that's exactly right.

Those poor people. But the goggle comes up.

This is a 7 furlong, a dirt Sprint.

We see horses like Emery Bright work.

Vava's in here, Giles in here. My main squeeze, Zeitlos.

This is a loaded race, man. Yeah, good feel.

It's a, you know, I I like to look at these races personally.

And it's not the graded stakes committee's fault, obviously,

but what what is this fault? This is very much a grade 2 to

me. Oh yeah, right.

This is this is a very good field, fits a grade 2 very well.

Yeah. I mean, we talked about the

Philly Sprint division earlier in the show.

These are all Phillies that are kind of like they're kind of on

like that, that kind of middle ground right now where we have

seen where they could be talented enough to be in that

Breeders' Cup conversation. But maybe, you know, for a

couple different reasons. They're, you know, kind of

either trying to get back on the upswing or their little bit on

the downswing right now. This is a really important race

for them that's really going to help to determine what the rest

of their year is going to look like here.

I've always been well for the last year, I've really liked

Sightless and her races. I'm excited.

I've really liked her win coming back at first start of the year

at Pimlico during Preakness weekend and so I'm excited to

see what she can do here in this spot.

Vava came into this race last year and won this race was

pretty much like the dominant horse in this division when she

won the race last year and she hasn't won since and so it'll be

interesting to see if she can get back on track.

Yeah, Zeitlos, of course, will be ridden by Flavi and Pratt,

who will be in town for Steve Asmussen.

It's an interesting flip because Saturday Jose Ortiz is riding in

the Ohio Derby. So Flavia and Pratt's actually

in Churchill the world, Jose's up north, but we do see an Emery

for Brad Cox, who we lost last saw in that Derby.

Derby City Distaff, excuse me, was really good before that

though in the Madison at the grade one level in Keeneland.

I've. Always been really high on this

Philly since last year. As a three-year old, I thought

she was one of the more talented 3 year olds that we had in this

division last year. You know that sloppy track, do

you just chop it up to that in the last race or was the.

Competition just too deep. She had trouble in the mud at in

the in the test as well. I think she just doesn't love

the wet surface and so I think she's one for four lifetime

memory search I with the the distance though 7 furlongs.

It's such an interesting in between for so many horses she's

built for it. Two wins 3 seconds at the

distance and six runs. So I think she's good to go

there. Bright Work, of course, has a

win at 7 furlongs has been running with six and seven.

She's an interesting one here, too, because she was in that

winning colors last time at Churchill and Brian Hernandez

Junior keeps them out here for John Ortiz.

She's an interesting one for sure, because she's only four.

She's raced only nine times in her life, but five wins, really

impressive. Well, she had such an

abbreviated campaign last year too.

She only had two starts last year.

She got scratched out of the test after she had fallen in the

paddock when they were trying to saddle her.

So she just had a really, she did not have a three-year old

season that you would have wanted her to have coming off

all the success. She had a 2.

And so for her to now be rested up again, bigger, stronger as a

four year old now second off the layoff, I think she's dead.

And I think last time, if I remember Kurt, I believe she had

the rail, which was not the best position for her to be in.

So I definitely expect a much better performance from her.

And if she runs to her talent that she showed as a 2 year old,

she's a major threat in this spot.

Baba back here, 5 year old mayor, daughter of gun runner.

We've seen her once this year in the slop in that Grade 1 Derby

City Distaff pretend lifetime at the distance of this race is

loaded. Yeah, it is.

And I'll give you a little sneak peek.

I have the I'm writing up the preview for this race for this

week. It should be up on Blood Horse

tomorrow on Tuesday. But I talked to Cherie Devoe

this weekend at Churchill about Vava.

She's thought maybe the Derby City Distaff was a little bit

too ambitious off the bench of a spot to put her in, and so she

thinks this is definitely going to be a better spot for her to

be running in now, second off the break.

The Ohio Derby will happen at Thistle Down this week.

I'll talk to Bob Roberts on the Horse Racing Happy Hour this

week. If you've never heard Bob

Roberts is crazy self, you should definitely join me.

He's fantastic guys. Great.

Still does handicapping for Northfield, believe it or not.

And so all I can imagine when you have to do harness, what is

it like 16 races at night, five nights a week?

Like just can't even imagine how busy that is.

But their late double is always two really, really good races.

The Lady Jacqueline is a Listed Stakes, but it's a quarter

$1,000,000. For example.

Payne War is making the trip for Rudy, per SE.

Where's my ring is in this race. I mean, this is, you know, it's

just the kind of race where you get to see really, really good

Phillies and mares. But of course, the Ohio Derby

will close it. No Brad Cox this year, No, you

know, some of those normal names that we get used to heading up

there. But instead we get like an Ethan

West. We get a Paul Mackintee, we get

a, you know, we get the Dutch Rose of the world stripping in.

Now we do get Clever again. Who gave it a run in the

Preakness? I'm interested to see.

How way up the track in the Preakness?

That's called eighth out of 9th. Not not what they were looking

for that day out. What?

Happened during that frequency. I'm not sure would have had an

impact on where he finished. Literally the notes on it are

roughed up 316. Yeah, maybe getting shoved into

the rail by two horses punching each other.

He's a fascinated 1 though, is he not?

He is. Like how does he mentally come

out of that race? Well, how does he mentally come

out of it? But then two, you know, the

other part of this is he was fading at the point where that

happened in the preakness, maybe the mile and 316 scout too.

I know they did go decent up front as far as the pace goes,

but it you know, he we. Saw him as Miller in the in the

Hot Springs. He was very good, Yes, going the

two. Turns is the distance what he

wants? Is this the class level that he

really wants as well? We didn't get a full answer of

that in the Preakness because his how how much he was fading

got greatly impacted by everything that happened with

journalism and goal oriented on his outside.

So this is a really interesting race for him.

I'm assuming he's going to be very heavily bitten this race.

That's how I imagine he'd be the favorite or at least close to

it. And so it'll be interesting to

see now, in my opinion, this is the group he should win against.

I agree if he's as good as we thought he was going into the

Preakness, but Steve Asmussen mentioned right after the

Preakness, sometimes something like that happens and it can

have a mental impact on the horse.

That was his concern first race back.

It'll be interesting to see whether or not that's going to

be the case. We get an alum of the Wood

Memorial in the second place finisher in McAfee, shipping in

John Velasquez. 2nd place in the Peter Pan, Peter.

Pan, excuse me, what did I say? Yeah, he was.

Wood Memorial. I said he was in the wood.

Did I say the wood twice now? Did I say the Belmont?

You just moved on to runner up. You didn't mention the second

race, sorry. It was the Peter.

Pan 5th in the woods, Second in the Peter Pan.

Peter Pan. And so John Velasquez is making

the trip, though that's not a that's not an accident to.

Me No, yeah, that's I mean that shows a lot of confidence.

This is the half to Thor, Peter, Anna.

So you know, he's one who's always had kind of a lot of

expectations on him and he kind of had a slower start to the

year this year. I remember he had to scratch out

of the Jerome I think at the start of the year, go on the

sideline for a little bit, try to get geared up in time for the

Derby trail. Now I think he's kind of he's

now into the into the motion of the racing season and could

definitely run big in this spot. I think very few horses in my

life have ruined a betting ticket like cloud computing did

for me in the Preakness. I had to pick 5 dead to rights,

single ready to go. Classic Causeway bang cloud

computing. Or classic empire.

Excuse me, Yes. Traumatized you still?

I'm still thinking about it. Yes, that's still one of those.

I think Mark Cassie's still thinking about it too, so that's

OK. Chunk of gold skips the mat win

will make the trip to Ohio you supposed.

I'm not surprised, especially when you saw who ended up

entering the mat win. Why take on 4 if you're Kentucky

Derby rivals when you can go be the one lone Kentucky Derby

representative in Ohio for a decent purse?

Chunk of gold. Does he finish second?

Does he? What a terrible joke.

What a terrible joke. That's a good joke though.

Three out of four. Let's go.

Yeah, he's only non second is the Derby.

Just saying, well, yeah, this is what he does.

And his maiden one. Gotta give him credit for the

maiden one, do I? Yeah.

OK. At least the stakes company,

yeah. By the way, shout out to Ethan W

because he looked at this horse. He was very good on the

synthetic right away. Yeah, and he still said no, no,

let's go to the dirt and figure it out.

Yeah. And here they are.

I think they got a serious shot of the Grade 3 now.

I think they do too. This is I did not like him at

all going into the Met win. So I am happy to see him scratch

because I do like him here in this spot.

I think this is a spot he could definitely run well.

In Jarrett Library has written a lot of Thistle down as well, so

he'll be on the mount there again.

Just won Ohio Derby with two fills a couple years.

Exactly right. And again, if you want to bet

the Ohio Derby or the Chicago, those night races, whatever it

might be, go check them out at Fan Dual Racing.

Download the app and bet today with Fan Dual Racing.

All right, we'll be back next week.

We'll have a a wrap up of some of those races that we just

talked about. We'll start getting ready for

the Stephen Foster and of course into the summer schedule.

You and I will be talking about two year old racing very soon at

a very high level, both at Saratoga, Nellis Park, of

course, and then then as we get to Del Mar as well out West,

start talking about more and more of those two year old

races. I'm sure I have to hear from you

right away. Well, I think it'll be great in

the Iroquois, right? I mean, that's what I'm gonna

have to hear from. You right, Yeah, OK, just

checking on Yeah, I'm already, I'm already starting to look for

Iroquois horses don't work. See, I'm not ready for that, but

I think I have two weeks to get ready for it.

So that's. Good.

Well, you don't have to worry about me next week.

So yeah, you got a little bit of time.

All right, so please tune in. Anyway, next week Sean is off

and I am hanging out. Especially Frank.

The day after the Stephen Foster is the Bashford Mandarin.

So once that happens, we're on, we're on to the Derby Trail.

I know if we're still a couple months away, but at least in my

mind we're on to the Derby Trail after the Bashford Manor, yeah.

Yeah, let's blame the Bashford Manor, all right?

He shot. I'm Louis.

It's been another rendition of Blood Horse Monday.

I'll be back next week with Frank Angst.

How about that? What?

What a what a tease, what a power couple we are.

Everybody, everybody's going to be so excited for the next week.

Just counting down the minutes to that episode.

Minutes. Yeah, seconds.

What are we talking? About sign out, We're going to

be counting down every second. I know some of you are.

Hey Sean, I'm Louis, I'll see you next time.

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