Ohio Derby 2025 | Bob Roberts

All right, gather round young children.

It is time for our annual visit and talk about the Ohio Derby.

Let's know we are about horse racing Happy hour, hanging out

with you on a Thursday edition of the program.

I say that as though we do this show on other days of the week,

Bob, but we simply don't. Bob Roberts joins me, usually a

radio guest, but he's decided not to live anymore and is doing

something different tomorrow and so is unavailable to jump on

with me here at ESPN 680 and 105.7.

Well, Bob, good morning number or good afternoon at this point.

Thank you for jumping on. I appreciate it.

Tell the good people of America what you and around the world,

frankly, but many listeners in Poland, believe it or not, what

you are doing tomorrow. Well, the.

Start of the day. This is one of the great honors

of my life. I have 6 grandchildren, 3 girls,

3 boys. A guy went to high school, built

a golf course in Youngstown, beautiful course called Reserve

Run. Every year they have an annual

golf outing for all the guys who went to high school.

And my foursome is me and my 3 grandsons.

So tomorrow will be the third time that we've played together.

The first year, 7 under, last year, 8 under.

And these are a couple of high school kids.

Yeah. So we're going to try to knock

on wood. We haven't had a bogey yet.

I probably shouldn't have said that.

And then when we get off the course, you have the traditional

steaks, steak dinner. And then my grant, my son in

laws are picking us all up and we're going to West Virginia to

whitewater raft. And as I told you before, please

watch CNN at night to see if old sports writer washes ashore.

Listen, I, I kind of need it now.

That's the problem. I, I kind of need it, Bob, The,

you know, I'm not trying to root for these things, but it does.

It's funny. I mean, it's a it's a chance for

something funny to happen. So next year you'll have the

real bird Roberts Memorial Steak Race on on your show.

I told my friends when I go the steak race I want, I want Ohio

accredited maiden Phillies claiming 5000 field of five with

two scratches on race day. Fitting.

Sounds like, oh, I was like, hey, for folks on this podcast,

'cause you've only ever joined me on radio, which I've always

been appreciative of and you're certainly very willing to do

this as well. Your history and the sport.

If people go at Railbird Roberts, by the way, on Twitter,

easy to find him and, and I've tagged him in a bunch of stuff

affiliate with the show and on my own personal Twitter feed as

well. You went to a lot of derbies, my

friend. Well, I covered every Kentucky

Derby from Secretariat to Barbaro, so.

Yeah. And we would go.

Those are the glory days of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

I'd go on Monday and then come home on Sunday.

Yeah, it was. Yeah.

I saw some great races. By the way, I'm going to put a

plug in here. I wanted something for my

grandkids when I'm gone, so I put together a book of my

favorite articles. Yeah, OK.

I made it. It's only 10 bucks, but not to

them, but to anybody else. And it's on Amazon and the money

goes to either Ronald McDonald House or Saint Jude's Hospital.

And it's called Writings of a Rail Bird, and you can find that

on Amazon. So yeah, I've been, I've been

covering horse racing since 1969.

And somebody, someone said to me, you've written in seven

decades. Yeah, right.

Because they started in the late 60s and I've made it in the

early twenty 20s. So I've been writing for seven

decades. I'm very blessed, very blessed.

Incredible. Now an awesome career.

You're still doing the harness stuff, of course with the Ohio

Harness Association as well. And so by the way, I assume if

if it's not 10 bucks for your grandkids, they got to pay like

12-13 something like. That no, it's 10 bucks to

anybody. Oh you you it's 110 right?

And buy ten of them won't be a cheap ass.

I didn't know. I didn't know.

Your signature was $100, Bob, from up there in Cleveland, OH.

Derby itself, though, You know, you talk about covering the

derbies here. By the way, do you have a Billy

Reed story by chance? Is there a Billy Reed story for

Bob? You know.

I met him when I was covered in the Derby horse and we were in

the press box and they announced, I can't remember what

horse it was. One of the favorites was

scratched at like 2:00. He goes.

Anybody want to go in the barnary with me to get some

quotes? I go, I'll go.

So, yeah. And then I got to see him every

year that have the annual trainer.

You ever go to the trainer's dinner on Tuesday?

You know, in the early days they would beg us to go.

And then the last five years, we ain't got tickets for you guys.

That was in the old days where that you couldn't go online and

get race replays. So we in the cocktail hour, they

would show all the Derby prep races on a loop in the lobby.

So now they're going to shut us out.

I said the hell with them, let's just go watch the replays, have

a drink. That's what we did.

I got a hotel bar you. Know several times, Yeah, he

was. He was the king of Louisville

journalism for a long time. You know, I just, I, when I talk

about covering the race, like you just talked about where

you're there for 7-8, nine, ten days, you know, 1215 hours.

Billy started that. He was the, he was the

originator of that, you know, and, and I think because of him,

we have this culture on the Derby that we do as far as media

at least. You know, we would always worry

about, well, we got to get there at 8:00 in the morning to park

the car. Then finally the last five

years. Wait a minute.

Can watch it on TV. You can bet on it, Paul.

We will go over at 4:00, wouldn't we?

Didn't miss anything. Yeah.

That's exactly right. Bob Roberts with us.

It is Ohio Derby weekend up there at Thistledown.

When you started it in 1969, how many tracks were there in

Cleveland? There was see, the De Bartolo

family who owned the 49ers. They bought they bought Thistle

Down and they bought a track in Akron called Ascot Park.

And then they bought a track right across the street from

Thisselham called Randall Park and then a track right down the

street called Cranwood. And they each had like 44 day

meets. He brought them all together at

Thistledown, tore it down. Randall built a mall.

The other places became like apartment complexes.

So there was and then there was Northfield Park, the harness

track and out by me. I live in the county next to

Cleveland, which is Cuyahoga County.

There was a County Fair in Painesville and they had a

regular 40 day harness me. So a ton of action around here

I. Used to go to hockey camp in

Euclid. Are you near Euclid?

Euclid. I grew up in a city called

Willowick in Euclid. That's where my dad would go

every day on Lakeshore Blvd. in Euclid to get the Racing Form.

By the way, I'm so old the damn forum was $0.50, now it's $12.00

I. It was on papyrus and you had to

read the Egyptian hieroglyphs. And all.

Yeah, but I remembered how to get to that little drug store to

get the form and I would go on. Daisy didn't go and take take

the back way on my butt. I don't want him to see me

getting the form. Yeah, you could.

Very good. Yeah, dude, that was fun.

That was back before they had a nice stadium for the Indians and

all that stuff. So we'd go to, we'd go to the,

the county stadium and all that, and there'd be, oh, the.

Municipal Stadium held, Yeah. There'd be like 700 of us there

together watching the teams, you know?

Rick Manning said him when he was playing center field for the

Indians, he could hear the hot dog.

You know, there's like, like you said, place held 81,000.

Do you imagine what 5000 looked like in that stadium?

Not that it looked like that was it was special every summer when

we got to go, but. Are you a hockey player?

I was for years, yeah. I played Michigan, Ontario,

Alberta, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, all over the place.

Yeah, for sure. I used to go watch the old

Cleveland Barons play in the American High.

Damn right we did. We are a very successful minor

league team. They're really, really good.

I hated them growing up because they beat up on my Griffins.

Then those lake monsters got real good too, yeah.

There you go there. You go, all right, so let's go

through some of these. And we're not going to do a

full, you know, deep dive into the handicapping of, you know,

see the Lewis Memorial. But can you tell people who

George Lewis was? That's a great story, George

Lewis. In the old days, there was the

Cleveland Press and the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

George Lewis was The Plain Dealer handicapper.

Izzy Newborn was the Cleveland Press handicapper, and when I

started hanging around at age 21, I was lucky enough to sit

between them. Izzy would share all his

knowledge with me. George wouldn't tell you crap

because you might end up trying to beat him with it.

One year he would get there, like, yeah, he would get there

at 11 in the morning and handicap until, like, 4:00.

They'd run the feature race. He'd roll a piece of paper in

his typewriter and type a story. No quotes, don't interview

anybody. All they wanted to do was

handicap. What?

So I get the job at the press. Now it's me against him because

Izzy died and one day we agree on eight of nine picks on top.

And this is a spirited competition.

It was a maiden race, like the fourth race.

His horse beats my horse in the photo.

I'm walking back to my chair knowing I could have 8 winners

and still lose the day 980. And he looks at me and says you

can go home now. The ultimate.

So I told all the guys in the racing farm room, the first meet

I beat him, I'm going to run out and get everybody.

I'm going to get 5 or 6 pizzas. So I finally beat him after a

year or two and I'm passing out all the pizzas.

And I took that box and went in where he said I go, George,

would you like a piece of pizza? He knew he'd get pizza

represented. No, no pizza.

That's fantastic. He's a great.

That's awesome. Yeah.

This is the the open sort of two turn race for Ohio breds in

general, older horses here, Bob. The only reason I wanted to talk

about these races is because last year they turned into

absolute mayhem. I mean, just bombers came in and

every single one of these races, this pick five paid north of

$10,000. I mean, it was a wild day at

Thistle last year. What do you intend to look for

when you're looking at these sorts of races?

Because, and you know this with with a state like Ohio, you're

going to get horses that try two turns on the turf just because

that's what's available, right? I mean, there's a, a condition

where they qualify for that sort of thing.

Horses. Are we looking at trainer stats?

What are you looking at? Probably in the old days, in the

70s and 80s, I would there was a guy that was the leading trainer

in Ohio, also stabled to Churchill Downs.

He was a standout basketball player, I think at Louisville.

Jim Morgan. Oh, yeah, he, he had all these

well bred horses and he would his jock would get to the half

and 49 and nobody's going to catch him.

But for these days the track leans over the years has has

leaned pretty heavy to speed. But you got to look at a guy

like Tim Ham, I think trainer. He won a race I think at

Churchill yesterday. So I would look for speed.

But you're right, could take the price.

What do you need with a favorite?

Yeah, I know. I especially the Ohio Breads,

it's an opportunity, I think to say play against Jose Ortiz,

right? Don't make this.

Don't make this jockey racing. Make it horse racing, period

for, you know, those kinds of places.

Yeah. By the way, there was a stake

race name for Izzy Newborn too, but it was an open stake and

they start dropping the open stakes.

So poor Izzy got sent down the stakes.

Booklet Rd. He's out right.

The other named races. You look at the other, there's

the Daniel Stearns, Cleveland Gold Cup.

Daniel Stearns was Doctor Daniel Stearns.

He was a vet and he bred a ton of Ohio bred horses.

He's, by the way, from Euclid, OH.

Oh, about that. There we go.

I like that. OK he's he's gone.

So they named a steak race after God bless the soul.

But he had the story. He was going to bred 10 cent

mares to 5 cent stallions and hope for the best.

So he had a lot of. He had a lot of.

You know what, Bob? That's more breeding than I've

done, I'll tell you what. So the the Globe Club is the

undercard race for the Ohio Derby mile and an eighth for

three-year olds as well. How how long have they been?

They've been running this for a very long time.

Yeah. Oh, 57 years, Yeah.

It's like it was like the top Ohio bred steak race for

handicap like they they ran the two mile.

Was it the Gold Cup today at at Ascot?

They don't even say Ascot at Royal Ascot.

Yeah, so this is our answer. This is the poor man's person of

the Gold Cup over there. I smiled.

So big that there was a course called Ascot in Akron, OH.

I I don't know why that made me smile.

So big, great little racetrack it was.

It almost had a County Fair look to it.

And it would be the first track to open in March and they would

run until April. And I used to sneak down there

when I, Chris got my driver's license down the road.

I went the Ascot Park, yeah. Yeah, so by the way, he mentions

the Stearns Gold Cup here. I think the four music jewel is

a really interesting 12 to one entry there.

Bob, I'm just bringing that up in case someone's looking for a

long shot play in there. That's a horse they started in

open company in Florida at Tampa, gets back into stakes

company last time against Ohio Bretts for the first time and

it's on the turf and the horse almost wins.

I think on the turf the horse will be a little bit better.

I'm looking for that man, if we get 12:50 or something on that

horse. Alejandro Mendi is the trainer

there. I'm hoping that that one runs

well. Again, I just connections.

I think you're going to get everything at 11:50 to 1:00.

Right. They ran them once at Golf

Stream and twice at Tampa. I don't know this, this guy, but

he went he went looking for grass.

That's one of the great name steak races at Belt.

There were River Downs, the green carpet.

I always thought that was a great, great name for the steak

race. But yeah, you may have something

there. Yeah, I think 12/1 on that.

But that's the kind of horse, Bob, that we're talking about

when we talk about these Ohio races.

That's not. The value you want to go find

right is a horse that's going to be 12151.

Yeah, I'll call my bet in on your horse from the raft.

I can get my phone, water eyes, or whatever the hell I'll.

Pay attention to the raft, OK? Just don't worry about the Gold

Cup. You worry about rafting.

Worry about that. All right.

And who was Doctor Classen? Doctor Ted Classen was an MD at

a hospital right around the corner from Thistledown.

He had a horse named Brent Sprints, who won the Ohio Derby

in a driving rainstorm, and he was president of the Ohio

Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners.

He's, he's also gone. Oh, it's his memorial.

Of course he's gone. But he was big in Jim Morgan

train for doctor Class and Jim Morgan train Brent Sprints.

By the way, Jim Morgan was on our down here at Louisville,

their first national championship team, that NIT

team, yes, Yeah, they were really good.

All those stories, Charlie Tirade teams, all that.

Yeah, all those stories. And I think if you look it up, I

think Prince Prince went won a won the round, the Round Table

Stakes at Arlington. He was, he just didn't have to

run in. Well, he didn't run in Ohio

against Ohio Prince unless he had to.

But he he won the Ohio Derby. Jockey Benny Feliciano wrote it.

I'll never forget. That day owned a hospital around

the corner and owned a bunch of horses.

That's great. His son's name was Brent, so he

named the horse after his son, Brent Sprint.

That is a Philly and mare race 3 and up, sprinting on the dirt

there at Thistle Down, which of course is the only track that

they do have some interesting ones in there as well.

I don't know that I have a long shot play for you in there,

unfortunately, but it should be should work out to be a fun one.

One of the the stars of the day though, Bob is a horse is a race

that we're going to go through here.

The Lady Jacqueline race 11 is a quarter million dollar race for

Phillies and Mares 3 and up here.

And we see some horses in here people have probably seen in

other spot. Where's my ring?

Of course. Ran in the Kentucky Oaks and

Acorn in New York last year. Payne War is now 4 years old,

daughter of Mendelssohn. She comes out of the Falls City

at Churchill and of course just recently ran in the Alaire

DuPont under Flavia and Pratt. Jose Ortiz in to ride her.

Did you have a favorite to race 11 here, the Lady Jacqueline.

Well, I was looking, Yeah, I, I, I like the six.

I mean, you, you look at her PP, she's run.

She's got to be 5 lengths by torpedo and out, out in Oakland

Park, for God's sakes. Back.

I was there that day. I had never been to Oakland.

I wanted to check it off my bucket list.

And you ever been to Oakland? I have.

It's unbelievable. Isn't that a great atmosphere?

Ely is incredible. It's the people that make it

too. You're right, yes.

That's the best, Yeah. So I I like, I like this horse a

lot. Steaks, I mean, great at steaks

place, for God's sake. So no, that's right.

Yeah, I like. Who do you like?

She's grade one place. Frankly, I, you know, Payne

Mar's really interesting. I I thought the DuPont was

really disappointing. Frankly, she did get really

close to the lead there, but Bob, she just lost her legs

underneath her. Now, candied is probably better

than anyone in this race, but I think my real issue with Payne

Mar is if you look at her race, her races in the past year, but

when she doesn't have LASIK, she's not great.

She just isn't. And so I do wonder, you know,

this is a Lasik's Lasik's race as well.

I I wonder for her if the medication thing is going to be

enough because frankly, if you have Flavi and Pratt in that

field, you should be better than fourth.

Like these are things that should be true in her DuPont

start. So I'm with you.

I would I would learn more toward Mike Smith and where's my

ring? How fun to see Mike Smith back

in your neighborhood. How about?

That and that's nothing. I got 2 Hall of Fame jockeys in

this room. Thistle down for Saturday.

By the way, it's raining like hell here right now, but I.

Think it's they're saying it could be.

That's right. Yeah.

Yeah. Excuse me, My.

I think the four is interesting in here as well.

A jockey with a really interesting story, too.

Bob in in Evan Roman, who was a Northern California mainstay for

many years in Golden Gate Fields, obviously with their

closing had to find a new spot. And he has made a very good

career at both Horseshoe Indianapolis and then at the

Ohio tracks. And so it's interesting to watch

some of these guys who grow up a very specific racing style.

That Tepita thing out West requires a very different kind

of patience than say, turf racing in Kentucky or something

like that. But he's aboard the four here in

Just My heels, which I mean, you know, Bob, we're not gonna get

into it on this show, but that's a different podcast.

You know, Woman in just her Heels is a that's a reference to

something very specific here was at the shoddy last time at

Churchill Downs didn't run great.

But this is a horse that's one at a mile and a 16th before

under Rafa Bay Herano, frankly, back-to-back at Oaklawn in

different conditions. Bob.

If that Oaklawn form translates to Thistle down, I think she's

going to be part of the equation too.

I think we'll get every bit of nine to two, maybe even better

than that because I think, you know, I think where's my ring?

Mike Smith. I think Jose Ortiz.

I think they're going to get a ton of money.

I think the four might be the value.

Oh. No, no, there'll be value.

I might. My note next to her was can she

get the distance? Can she get?

That's a real question. That's what I worry about there.

Yeah, no, I think that's a completely legitimate.

Well, that does carry speed horses so you never know if she

gets the right trip. Well, and last year nobody ran

anyone down, right? We we want some scrub on the

front. Just run the whole rink it for

them. I mean, by the way.

But yeah, if you can set the pace and keep it, do it.

Yeah, over the years it's really leaned towards speed.

And they they lost their track man earlier this year.

His name was Johnny Bano. He took the job.

He's now the track man at Pimlico.

Oh, OK. You know he he probably stepped

into a good situation with the revived racing there, right?

Oh, that's going to be unbelievable.

Probably a good move on his part.

Yeah, good. A good, good potential move at

least. Yeah, this is also a fascinating

day and a horse like Candlelight Hours.

The five here, Bob, I think is really interesting. 6 year old

mayor here. And if you look at her at

Thistle down in mile and an eighth races, mile and the 16th

type races, she has 2 seconds. She has a first and a mile, you

know, another first in the slop at a mile and 16th.

I I think she's the kind of horse too.

If you wanted to try to get some more value, here the James

Jackson Trainee and Candlelight out.

You know what? You're right.

Look at her record, at Thistledon.

At Thistledon. 8 seconds 6 Holy cow 24 out of 25 either 123 for

almost a. Half that's a yeah, no question.

Exact. A trifecta kind of play for

sure. James Jackson, by the way, came

out of Detroit when racing died in Michigan, he wrote.

He relocated at at Thistledon and it's done very, very well.

He was. He has.

He was. Something in politics in Detroit

for years. Like he was an aide to the to

the mayor of Detroit way back when.

I remember interviewed him a few times.

Sharp guy, sharp guy, There you go.

Well, good luck to James Jackson.

Let's talk about the star of the show that is the Grade 3 Ohio

Derby, Bob. Bob Roberts with us, formerly of

the Cleveland Play Deer. You can find him on all of the

Ohio hardest websites and different things.

Doing some handicapping for Northfield Downs of course too.

He is his last time visiting with us.

He'll be dying in West Virginia tomorrow on a wrath.

But yes, I will have the Bob Roberts Memorial episode of this

show next year. Milan and 8th on the dirt there

at Thistle down for the what, a half million dollar grade 3 Ohio

Derby? Do you have a favorite Ohio

Derby winner? There was a bunch of guys I

can't. Was it return of the native they

shipped up from Louisville? OK.

Years ago and there was a an argument between owners, it was

3 owners and one guy didn't want to go and the other two says

we're going, we're going to run them and they ran them.

The horse paid like $180 to win. After the Garth Patterson rode

the horse, I think it was Garth Patterson.

And after the race they're all drinking up in the room.

I'm with the Cleveland Press. In those days there was no

Sunday paper, so I had no doubt line because they run the race

on it. I was going to write about it

Monday. They got so drunk they start

telling me stories. They made more money betting the

race than their share of the purse.

And their share of the purse was 60,000.

It was 100,000 back then. So these guys, and they couldn't

wait to go back to Louisville and torture the hell out of the

guy who didn't want to go because he didn't even bet so.

All right, Bob, well, you have to, you have to play our stupid

game that we play on this show, which is whenever we have a big

race, we say can they win? Can they not win?

So today is OH and O if they can't win and OH, oh, yeah, if

they can. All right, so we're going to go

through the Ohio Derby field one at a time here.

Brears Town, Baytown, obviously out of the Brears Town folks

here in a Kentucky Baytown partnership there.

This is a horse that we did see on the Kentucky Derby trail.

He tried the Rebel and the Arkansas Derby, both at Oak

Lawn. Of course, Cold Battle winning

the first one, Sandman, the second in that series.

OH, and OHO yeah for Bob Roberts.

Oh, no, right. He was being a combined 30

lengths in the Rebel in Arkansas.

That's I think he's outclassed in this race.

Yeah, they tried him into Peter Pan of course to see if he would

work at Aqueduct. No dice.

And then of course, came back in a non 2 lifer at Churchill in a

$50,000 starter allowance, an Ohno for me as well.

We go to Chuck of Gold, Kentucky Derby alum here.

We, I think thought we were going to get a Brad Cox trainee

to win the Ohio Derby, something like that last year.

Bob, this would be the kind of horse that I would tend to lean

on in my handicapping here. But is he a no or a yeah for

you? Well, he's a no for the win, but

he's like let's play as a as a better as a sucker horse.

You know, four starts, 3 seconds, Four starts, 3 seconds.

I can't put them on top, but I got to put them in the two hole.

I'm betting exactly. That's for darn sure.

I mean, what you second in Louisiana Derby?

So yeah, I got to use it, but I wouldn't bet him to win.

OK, I'm going to go, I'm going to go.

Oh, Oh yeah, with with chunk of gold.

I think he's got a shot here. I'm writing that down.

You're a yes. OK, I don't think Ron, I'm going

to come back and haunt your ass, but go.

Ahead, I think his Louisiana Derby was sneaky good actually,

and I think he'll like the distance every bit of a mile and

an eighth. And frankly with his running

style with several of these other horses that are in here,

Bob, many of them are going to try to get the lead.

If he's able to even stalk a little bit in the middle part of

that pack, I think he's going to have a shot.

I was laughing, Bob, because you were on with me.

Back with Dan Issel was still hosting on the radio, and Dan

always talks about owning horses that know if they run second

they get the same food as if they win a chunk of gold.

Seems. Like there was a guy that had a

maiden claimer just a long years ago.

The horse would run like 24 times with 16 seconds.

He didn't want him to win. He was making his car payment

with the runner up money. He, you know, he lose his best

friend if he'd have won and he never would have.

You need a flashlight to find him.

So yeah, it's different strokes in this game for different

people, you know that. Capo Luca will break from the

three here. This is out of the Kim Pule barn

and a horse that's been is 3 for three lifetime at Thistle Down

including three times routing. And so this is one that they

have they have found something with I think probably the most

likely of the 10 or longer to 1 long shots here.

Bob, in this race, you give this one much of a chance.

I I give this, I give Kim Poole, who spends his winners at the

ARC in at Oakland and gave him credit.

He claimed this horse for 30,000 and now he's ripped off three in

a row at Thistle Down. Looks like some of the changes

were lace, sex and front bandages, for God's sakes, ever

since he made the change. But I don't think he's a Derby

horse. And you know, the Torres Alto

has another tradition. You got a field of how many

here, 10? There's a tradition that 2, two

or three can come out and maybe these long shots wait for

another day. So no, he's a Oh, no for me, no.

Bob an Ohno there. I'm an Ohno as well.

Bob the Lasix is what were concerns me.

Actually all three of those wins at Thistle with the Lasix and

he's not going to get them here. I do wonder if there's going to

be a medication issue here. Not issue, sorry, but just a

change that's not going to be positive for the.

Horse you're it's a negative for him.

You're right. Yeah.

No, I agree with you. You're right.

You're. Right, the story would be

awesome, and frankly, I wouldn't be mad if that horse won the

race at all. My topic.

Here, by the way, pops out in Oakland.

He pops the horses. 60 dollars $72.

That's exciting. You never.

Know about this guy? That jockey is old enough to be

both our fathers. He's been riding at Thistle Down

for a long time. Louie Gonzalez, nice guy there.

You go McAfee will be the four here, and I try to read cues as

often as I can. Bob.

John Velasquez is making the trip to Northeast Ohio for

Saturday. I'll go OHO.

Yeah, on McAfee. I will put him on top.

I thought his Peter Pan was very, very good.

I think he's in good form right now.

I think this is exactly the kind of level he needs to be at.

Give me McAfee to win the Ohio Derby.

Is he an Ohno for you or an OHO? Yeah.

Oh, he's an OHOH, yeah, yeah. For me, this is the horse I'm

going to bet to win. By the way, I keep bias books on

on Naira racing, Churchill Racing on May 10th when he ran

into Peter Pan, it was not a good day for front runners.

And he hung in there pretty good just to hit beat less than a

length. So I like this horse.

And you said he put blinkers on him last time for the first time

and it picked it picked up his head.

And Johnny VS coming to ride him for a Dickie Duck Pro, that's

pretty good stuff. Yeah, I that's a pretty serious

giveaway to me that they think they've got something there.

For sure extradition will break from the five.

This is out of the Decosta barn. Roccobone.

Very, very regular up there at Thistle.

We'll get the ride here. It's a horse.

That one in the slop over a mile.

A couple back claimed out of that or taken out of that.

Excuse me. Out of the Asmussen barn and

moved into the Decosta. Not as good last time out.

Over a mile, Bob. OH and O or OH Oh yeah.

Oh, H no, NO, no, he's he looks like he's over said he's he's

another one that's locally based here with the Jason Dacosta.

I I can't the you see thread. What was it the Riley Allison

Derby at Sunland. He got beat beat off pretty bad

that day. And no, he's he won't be on my

ticket. How about you?

Yeah, he's a no for me and I and I, for many of the reasons that

you just outlined as well. If I knew it was going to rain

like crazy, I'd throw him in every exact trifecta that I plan

to play. But it's not going to.

And so we'll we'll go HNO with extradition on that one.

A Preakness alum here. When are the Hot Springs to

qualify for the Preakness was clever again, was part of that.

Whatever you want to call it, a issue moment with a journalism

in the stretch there at Pimlico, of course, ended up at the rail

and ended up 30 lengths back of the rest of the field there in

the Preakness. Was running very well to that

point, though. Had the lead in the Preakness

for a while, Bob and will very likely be the favorite here for

Steve Asmussen and Jose Ortiz. Ohno or OHO?

Yeah. Ohno that, you know, beating off

30 lengths. He just threw in the towel when

he got rail. I mean, that's an interesting

that race. I don't know what the heck was

in Pratt's mind if he was mad at somebody or I mean, he took a

took a hard left into those two horses.

I think. I think you should have got days

for that time. True.

By the way, I probably would have fined, what's his name,

Raspoli for his ride too, for trying to make his own haul.

I wouldn't have suspended him, but I think I'd have fined him

for careless riding. But.

I was, I think both guys could have, I think both guys could

have gotten something I wouldn't have argued with, Yeah.

Exactly. Yeah, I think his problem is

going to be the horse on the outside when we get down to #10

I think that's going to be clever against problem Saturday.

I'm yeah, I'm interested in clever again and, and I'm going

to go, oh, Oh yeah. Just I, I, I saw enough in the

Hot Springs that I think he's good.

Here's my thing, Bob. And I think it's something we

underrate in this sport is how is the horse going to respond to

what happened to him in the Preakness?

Yeah, good. Point when a horse comes up next

to him, is he going to flinch? Is he going to?

Is he going to try to get away? Is he going to make a mistake

that way? And Asmussen was not happy after

the Preakness at all because. Of and.

By the way, I appreciate him doing that.

I feel too often in our sport we don't get those kind of comments

when I know that's how the guys feel.

Oh, it's off the record. I'm telling me it's off the

record. Tell me how you feel.

People should know that you are mad about what happened.

Your owner should be able to have that out in the public and

they shouldn't have to be the ones that are doing the

complaining. You should be that person.

I think he's, look, this is a son of American Pharaoh Galileo.

On the damn side. This might end up being a turf

horse, but I I think for right now he's he is certainly

talented enough in this field to win and if Jose can get him a

good ride, get him away from some trouble, I think he'll be

just fine. I agree with you.

I'm trying to look up church. I got today's form in my hand.

But you're right, this is a lightly raced horse and a horse

gets nailed like that. That's that's not the best

thing. I'm trying to look at today's

form Asmussen. He's having a horrible meat.

You know, yes, it's not been good here at Churchill. 8 for

112. I don't want to say that

nepotism kills Bob, but it it doesn't help.

Oh, you're AI Know where you're going.

Say what you mean, Louis. Mean what you say.

Louis sizes here. Jose Ortiz is here.

Jose Ortiz is here. Louis sizes here and you're

running for $141,000 in an allowance and you pick Eric

Asmussen. That's what I'm thinking.

That's. What I'm I?

I can't argue at that point. I know guys, I bet.

If I were an owner, if I were an owner, I'd be.

I'd be beyond livid that. I know a guy who plays Oakland

every day and now he plays Churchill every day and he's not

too crazy about the Ryder selections by the Hall of Fame

trainer. You're right.

Bohemian style will break from the seven.

There's a Florida brand up here in the Ohio Derby, last seen at

Presque Isle on the synthetic. But First off, the claim here

into the Nestor Rivera barn where he hits at 23%.

What say you, Bob, about bohemian style?

The seven OH N0R 0H0 yeah. I say, Oh yes, scratch him.

What are we doing here with A-125 claimer?

This horse has got to come out. He can't run this horse in here.

I mean, I believe everybody should dream, but my goodness,

come on, You just claim the horse.

There's the greatest story of the year after this horse wins.

You know that? Plus everybody left the pee in

the bottle of the horse. The trainer, the owner,

everybody. The guy selling the forms this

horse puts off A-125 plane. Oh, he's an Oh no to bet no.

Oh man, I put scratch him on the screen, for example.

I feel very strongly about putting that on the screen.

Scratch. He's an Ohno for me.

Very good. Corvino comes in in the 8.

There's a horse that started its career at Del Mar but didn't

break his maiden until a maiden 100,000 Of course they have

those at Oaklawn. At Oaklawn over a muddy surface

came back really good. Second over a wet fast track and

a second over a sloppy track, but over dry dirt.

Bob never better than third has been Corvino, but hey, Peter

Miller doesn't ship for no reason.

This one's also cross entered tomorrow at Churchill Down, so

we'll see if he stays in at Churchill or makes the trip to

Ohio. What's the enter now?

What's the enter? Race Race 6:00 tomorrow.

Not a stake. No.

No, I'm I'm betting 08 scratch on this one too.

I can't imagine that, but Mike Smith is going to well, maybe

he's got a mount in the in the in the Lady Jacqueline, but I

don't know. He may he could be a scratch too

if this horse comes out. I was going to say, you might

not see Mike at A at Thistle Down lady.

Jack yeah, my note was Smith question mark.

What's up question mark. I don't yeah, the one stake race

was the Jeff Ruby didn't run in 63 to one in the Jeff Ruby.

I know it's it's artificial, but I don't think he oh, H scratch

Peter. Miller.

Yeah. OK, scratch.

I didn't know I needed a third, a third category here, but Bob

Roberts with us of. Course.

I Corvino's a no for me, but it's he's an interesting one

because Bob, this is if I had not brought the knowledge of

what happened last year to this version of this podcast, you

would have thought no chance on this horse and he would have won

easily last year. So I just I don't know we've

seen stranger things than Mike Smith get in a lead with a horse

like this and just, you know, dog walking him.

But this is just not a horse that wants the lead.

It's a closer. He has one lifetime win in that

maiden race. I'm with you.

This is 12 to one. I think is mostly just that Mike

Smith if. They knew if they knew it was

going to pour, they might ship him because he broke that maiden

for 100,000 claiming at Oakland and then he he ran good in the

slop at Oakland too. He ran second.

So you know, horse racing's horse racing, you never know,

man. You never.

Know master controller coming out of a maiden 100,000 win at

Churchill, 6 1/2 furlongs on that one.

Did trial a mile in a 16th at the maiden ranks before that,

this is Brittany Vanderberg, who has yet to win a graded stakes.

What's a UAOHNO or OHO? Yeah.

OH, maybe this horse interests me a little bit.

He was impressive off the layoff.

My goodness, they'll win that race on May 24th at Churchill.

I'm coming. I would throw this horse in and.

OK, 21 look at the. Bullet workouts.

Yep, horse is fast. There's no question about that.

The horse is fast. That's right.

Yeah, well, we'll see what happens, but I would throw them

in underneath the and my gimmick.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, all. Right.

So Bob says maybe up on the screen for that one, Louis says,

Ohno, that's my take on this horse.

This feels more like, hey, if you want to beat me, go ahead,

try to mile at Churchill up the track, Kentucky Downs up the

track, 7 furlongs at Keeneland up the track, etcetera.

Getting in against good company does not seem to be something

that's good for this horse. And so I will let this son of

Tapichur go ahead and beat me. But MO Plexus on the outside,

I've already picked up on the QS earlier on the Bob's a pretty

big fan of this one. And Joe Ramos, who did have a

Kentucky Derby mount this year and is the leading rider at

Horseshoe Indianapolis in town to ride on this Saturday.

This is a horse that won the Bayshore last time at 7 furlongs

at Aqueduct in in very, very reasonably good splits there on

the deep sandy path there on Long Island as well.

Bob. So oh Oh yeah for you.

Yeah, because he he either. I mean, what they let him go if

the if clever again and master controller, but I don't think

they're going to let him go. Yeah, he that was he fought

every step of the way in that bashore.

It was a very, very good effort in there.

I wonder why Manny Franco doesn't want to come and ride

him. I don't know what what stakes

they have in New York on Saturday, if any.

It's a good question why he's not making the the trip, but I

do think this Bob this horse has only ever had I Rad and Manny as

jockeys like they think that much of him to book these kinds

of connections. Like you said, he's going to be

the early speed here. He's clearly the fastest horse

out of the gate in this one. He's breaking from the outside

in the 10. Can you describe to people is

that a can a horse break from the tenant get into good

position by the time they get to the turn at this?

Oh yeah. Especially if he's a speed horse

like this. Oh yeah, he can get over.

You know, I just looked at the line up for for Belmont and

Aqueduct Saturday. They got the well, they got a

200. Is it state bread A. $150,000

New York bred state race. I yeah, wouldn't keep you in New

York if you wanted to ride that horse.

I agree with you actually. I think it would you that maybe

they're not. They're not too high on them

then. Right.

I don't, yeah. I Joe's a nice rider, though.

Let's not do that part. I mean, Joe's a good rider.

I. Mean yeah, yeah, I didn't I

didn't know that about the Ramos but yeah, I'm surprised the.

Joe's got a cool story, Bob, that I think you would

appreciate. He's, he's one of these young

guys that is a need for speed type.

He got into a, a very stupid motorcycle accident last year

and had to go through the recovery process.

He's a different rider since he came back, more focused, more

all those things. And, and I, I want to get I, I,

I, I know Joe personally, but I, I, I want to give him credit

because, yeah, he, he was headed to the wrong spot.

He's, he's really right at things.

And I think he's going to run the writing title in Indiana.

And there's nothing wrong with winning the riding title at a

place like Indiana that runs four or five days a week and

you're running for 40,000 all the time.

I mean, that's a that's a good spot to go.

When is the Indiana Derby this year?

Do you know the date? Live 5th you coming?

Jeez. Come on, Bob, there's no rafts.

No, don't do this. Don't do this.

Don't pretend. Don't pretend there's a rafting

trip or something. Don't do.

This No, no, guess what it is I was lucky enough of three years

ago I got inducted into the Harness Racing Hall of Fame

Writer's Wing and they always have the banquet in Goshen, NY

at the Hall of Fame 4th of July weekend.

And the general manager from Northfield Park is being

inducted and we're all going up there on July 5th because the

dinner is on the 6th. Because I am going to go to it.

And I've never been to Indiana Horseshoe, Indiana.

I'm going this year, but I am won't be able to.

You go often or you just go once a year?

I do. Why don't you and I coordinate?

Why don't we go to Indiana Champions Day together?

When, what date is that? It's.

In November. I'm rafting that day too.

It's ice rafting. Just kidding.

Don't tell me it's at Thanksgiving.

No. No, no, no, it's way before that

the it's usually like a Saturday after Breeders' Cup something

like that. You know like 2 weeks after

something like that, 'cause they the claiming crowds in there.

You know that kind of you know what Bob?

You think I can't get you undercover?

You think I can't get you a nice little, nice little covered seat

owners suite? You're worried about us?

You're worried about being Indiana grand?

Come on, I don't. Know if I told you the story,

but John Dooley and I, yeah, John Dooley's first full time

job was the tracking officer at Thistledale and we used to hang

out a lot. I got, I haven't seen him for a

long, long time, so I got to get up there.

All right, you don't do we that we got to go right.

You leave the ice rafting to the grandkids and.

You, you got time. I got to tell you a quick John

Dew. Oh, we got plenty of.

Time. I'm a big professional soccer

fan, English soccer, Italian soccer.

I would take games in the days of the VHS, bring the tape into

the track. I had a BCRI had a player in the

press box and I would take this those races for trip handicap.

But he would sit there and watch the English soccer games with me

trying to get phrases to use in his race call and some some guys

dribbling between defenders and the announcer says he's really

in the mood today. Julie would incorporate that in

some horse broke off at the 8th pole and opened up he go.

He's really in the mood today. So yeah, him and I go way back.

I, I have a, everybody has their thing in their sport that they

cover that they love more than other people.

Track announcers is very much mine and I, I because I think

what they do is so incredibly unique and so different than

everything else that's involved in sports.

And calling a horse race is just such a different.

I could probably call the. I could probably call the first

race and then the second race I'm going to use all the names

again from. The first race exactly 1.

Race right? Oh, and, and if you're a guy

like Dooley and you're at fairgrounds or you're in Indiana

and there's 9/10/11 horses in every race and you're reeling

off and then he calls a quarter horse Sprint for. 300.

Cars, at the end of the day, no thank you.

There's no chance I could do that stuff.

You want to call the Derby on a sloppy day 20 horse?

You got to try that one. You don't know what's.

Coming at you when they turn for a home.

I heard about a tracking officer, a guy tracking

announcer at a harness track. He was caught in the bathroom

and they're off. He didn't he didn't complete his

this transaction in time. So he gets back to the booth and

the racing they've run a quarter of a mile.

Do we know what he did? He took the microphone.

Goes this thing working yet? OK, let's pick up now.

So he played an electrician. It didn't work because you knew

the story, but it was a good attempt at least.

So golf tomorrow then? Whitewater rafting?

Is there anything else that you're going to be doing that

I'll never do? Well, on Sunday, when we all get

back, my real last name isn't Roberts.

That's a newspaper name. My real last name is Randazzo,

very Italian. So when I come back, all the

grandkids who didn't come with us, the granddaughters and all

my daughters be a big feast at the house.

So if you're not doing anything Sunday, drive up.

Wow, what is the name of the? Is it Little Italy pasta sauce

that comes from in from Cleveland?

The neighborhood is there's two Italian neighborhoods in

Cleveland, Collinwood and Murray Hill, which they call Little

Italy. Yeah, yeah, we've got great

Italian food in Cleveland. A lot of Italian here.

Cleveland's own right. The Little Italy sauce, right?

Am I thinking of that? OK, yeah, you got it.

It's really good. Yeah, yeah.

Have you found any good Italian restaurants in Louisville?

It's like 2. It's talking about it's it's

tough sledding. It's not good.

It's not like no, it's not like a a Detroit or a Cleveland where

there are like designated spots. There just wasn't Italian

immigration here like that. There's just.

One porcini's still there that. Wasn't.

Oh yeah, that place is good. Yep, that's one of them.

In one Derby day I got woke up. For some reason I had a taste

for a bagel. Trying to find a good bagel in

Louisville. I went to.

I think they just took white bread and formed into a.

Circle Nancy's Biggles next time you're in town.

Nancy's. It's about all right. 10 minutes

from the track. Nice and easy.

OK. All right, Bob.

Well, safe travels, safe golf and all the things.

Where can people find you? Rail Bird?

Bob Roberts, of course, on on the Twitter.

Where else can they find you? Where else can they find me?

Well, if there's a make, there's a paper out of online called

Press Pro. It's out of Dayton, Dayton,

Cincinnati. I'm writing articles for them

too. It's it's online.

It's an online sports paper. So I'm on there too.

And then the handicap thing I do is for the select player, some

express bets. So that's the, you know, those

are the guys that are betting like.

They've been a sponsor on the show before for.

Sure. Yeah, right.

Yeah, yeah. But they can see us together in

Indiana this fall. How's that?

That's exactly right. That's obviously.

But Bob and I will be at Indiana and all of you should be as well

as we can bet in Ohio. How about that you?

Got it pal. By the way, who is Lady

Jacqueline? We never asked that question.

That's a take off on the word Jack entertainment casino the

female, you know, Jacqueline for that, that that's new.

That's only a few years old. That's a new.

That's not a bad one. All right, Bob, We appreciate

you, buddy. I will 5050, but I'll talk to

you next year. You got it, Louis.

Take care, man. Yes, Sir, Bob Roberts, there you

go A closet Italian. We had no idea.

There you go, Bob Roberts joining us from up there in

Northeast Ohio. One of my favorite visits every

year is with Bob. And hey, if you're betting the

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AM wager.com. That'll wrap up our Ohio Derby

preview show. Louie Rebeau really appreciate

Bob. I love that guy so much.

He's just an absolute maniac. He's just one of my favorite,

very favorite dudes to get on this show, so I appreciate him

jumping on with us. We'll be back next week, of

course, we'll be doing the Stephen Foster preview show for

that one. I'll be out of Churchill Downs

Friday morning ahead of that as well on my local ESPN Louisville

show here as well. Audio Kids 81.

You're certainly welcome to join me for that.

Talking to Anthony Pascal from FanDuel tomorrow on Revo and Co

at 10:20 AM. Friday here in the market.

ESPN, louisville.com for everything we do over there as

well. Bob, I'm Louis.

Thanks so much for joining us here on this rendition.