BloodHorse Monday 7/7/25 | Steve Kornacki

All right. Welcome, man.

A-77, you seven to seven guys. Sean Collins, we'll find out

later. I'm Louis Rabo.

Thanks for hanging out with us here on another rendition of

Blood Horse Monday, a post Indiana Derby Blood Horse

Monday. When we think about this time of

year, it's not Saratoga opening, it's not the Haskell.

We think about the Indiana Oaks. You understand me?

Well, you and I. Might you and I?

Do I don't know? I've been thinking about the

Haskell for a couple weeks now, so I don't know about that one.

But nomination's out for that one for sure.

Obviously, we'll spend a lot of time next to be talking about

that one. You and I will both be in New

Jersey for that one. Wouldn't miss it.

This will be my 11th one. I was.

Going to say now that I've been, I know better than to miss those

things. And so, yes, we'll be at the

castle next week. Certainly.

You moved to Saratoga after this show.

Yeah, I'm. Going to be up there for the

whole summer except for when I'm at the high school and you're

taking a week at the beach. Literally wrapping this show

today and then finishing up your packing and getting in the car

and. Finish up the packing.

I think you mean to start the packing.

That's the same thing for men, it's the same thing we we start

but also we finish. There's no like 2 days of

packing. It's just.

Finished. I know all I need is like a good

half hour before I go to bed tonight.

I'll convince myself probably to leave it until 4:00 in the

morning tomorrow when I wake up to start driving.

That's it. So I'll probably end up doing

it. At that point I'll realize about

5 hours in that I forgot something.

I'll go. Oh well, and hopefully I can.

The good thing is, you know, I'm gonna be, you know, staying

somewhere where I can buy stuff and keep stuff.

I'm driving so I don't have to worry about fitting everything

and on the plane if I do forget. Anything.

So I the the late great Mitch Hedberg, the comedian, said once

that, you know, he loves traveling and being in hotel

rooms. And once in a while he'll come

up with a great idea for a joke. But then he'll realize across

the room is the pen and paper. And so he has a decision to

make. Does he get out of bed or does

he convince himself it's not a funny joke?

Right. That's that's the great line

there. This is men.

Oh, no, I could just pack in the morning.

Just pack in the morning. I don't need to plan my trips

here. This is ridiculous.

I'll just, I'll pack in the morning.

So you're off to Saratoga. We were up there at Horseshoe

this past weekend, but certainly on the headlines this past

weekend are probably at Saratoga.

And the fact that nitrogen loses, yeah, to a track record.

We saw a track record sort of all.

Over track records all over the country this this past weekend,

especially on Saturday, I think we had them on the East Coast.

We had a bunch of them in Indianapolis and then out there

on the West Coast and the great Lady M Stakes they were, they

were going fast this weekend, that's for sure.

They must have known it was the 4th of July trying to compete

with Joey Chestnut. Something like that.

You know, the great thing that happened too.

You mentioned Sweet Azteca setting the track record of Los

Alamitos beating Copian. Making her look like a second

class sprinter, frankly, is. If if you know second class

sprinters had to go 10 wide on the far, turn that far too it.

Was a very strange end of that race.

I'm with you. But no, but just more and more

depth in these older horse categories over and over and

over again. It's been such a delight of this

year is how good these older groups are.

You know, we see that Grade 1 Churchill Downs, all the horses

come out of that and win immediately.

You know, we've got a sweet Aztec and Ecopian out West as

well in that Sprint division. It's just it feels deep, deep,

deep. And I have great news for

everyone listening today. First ever mid season eclipse

awards. So we are going to get go

through the first six months a little bit plus of the year and

include this last weekend's races with our friend Steve

Kornacki from NBC Sports. He'll join us in just a couple

of minutes. But if you don't get it done and

that class is really interesting all of a sudden because nitrogen

got pushed by two different Phillies in that race.

Frankly, we almost had a 19 to one upset in that one, which I

was rooting for in the cross country pick 5, but we.

Didn't win enough at Indianapolis this weekend.

I did win. Now all of us have the track

right where we we bet, and for some reason that weekend feels

like we always hit right. Yes, that's Horseshoe

Indianapolis for me. Indiana Derby weekend last year

was a hassle. Hopefully you do that again.

Hopefully. Little middle pick 5 Little late

pick. Four share me your pick fours

and pick fives. We'll get smoking last year.

How about that little? For now.

Oh yeah, I was. He paid nice.

That was nice. That was a nice A.

Little single one, both pick five and the pick four anyways,

but we get that fionn effort Nitrogen, though that didn't

hurt my, you know, impression of her at all.

If you lose to a track record by less than a length or a head or

whatever, that probably. She pretty much set a track

record. I'm not going to hold it

against. Her, yeah, I'm not going to hold

that against her. I still think she's the class of

this division. And, you know, she got tested

throughout the race. She still ran very well and you

know, good horses get beat every once in a while.

This is one of the scenarios. Fione's no slouch.

We saw her win on Stephen Foster Preview Day out here in

Churchill Downs and the Red Stakes.

You know, she's a good high class Philly herself and she was

able to run down Nitrogen in this spot.

I'm excited to see it sounds like Nitrogen is going to stick

on the plan of switching to the dirt for the Alabama Stakes.

So I'm very excited to see that. That'll probably give Fione a

good opportunity, whether they go Saratoga Oaks or whether they

end up at Kentucky Downs at the end of August.

A good opportunity for her to pick up another win and

hopefully we'll see them meet up again somewhere like the Queen

Elizabeth, the second Challenge Cup down the line, potentially

we're a Breeders' Cup. We'll have to wait to see.

Brad Cox trainer Brad Cox been on the show said that they will

train backward from the QE two challenge there at Keeneland

with Fiona who did set the track record.

Obviously nitrogen nothing to apologize and her effort.

We see magnitude when the the listed Iowa Derby, but he did it

in style again, we make much of it.

Was there much to do I this here's what I'll say about it.

I'm very glad to see that a horse that I think in previous

generations would have had to have been retired.

Yeah, come back that well, right.

Just just flying down the lane that way.

I thought he looked like what we wanted to see out of a horse

coming off a layoff off of an injury like that.

So I'll be positive that way. I hope they don't push him into

a spot where he's not ready yet, like up to Saratoga or something

like that. If he isn't ready, you know,

Ellis Park Derby, still a quarter million dollar race,

right? I mean, there are spots for him.

Pennsylvania Derby is a good option.

Pennsylvania Derby is a good option to steal grade one while

Sovereignty and Journalism by Aza are probably sitting out.

But you know, I'm interested to see what his year turns into

cause I think when he won the Risen Star the immediate day,

day after, everybody was looking at it as well.

You know, he kind of got everything his own way.

East Avenue didn't run the way he should have built, probably

distance limited. So no, no surprise he won by 9/9

and something like and then he gets injured.

And then once he gets injured and he's off the Derby trail, it

started to turn into, oh, well, if magnitude was here, things

might be different. And it's like it just seems like

it the narrative switched because of the fact that he was

gone. He went, he won by a lot.

He looked very impressive at Iowa.

He still looks like a horse who still has a little bit to learn,

which is understandable for a horse that, you know, is in the

middle of his three-year old season.

He won by a lot. I don't think he really beat

much. I'm not going to put too much

into that. When he jump, I'm sure they're

going to be people that do when he jumps in against the big dogs

again later in the year. But he's one that, you know, I'm

interested to see what he ends up doing for the remainder of

the year. I think this would be a great

horse on a path like you mentioned, go to the Ellis Park

Derby next. Then maybe take your shot at a

grade one in the Pennsylvania Derby and then look at a race

like the Clark. And so like don't rush into the

Breeders Cup, don't try the Dirt Mile or something like that.

Like sit out, wait for the Clark, see if you can pair that

with the the Pegasus and then go forward into the big grade ones

for the older horses throughout his four year old season.

I think that'd be a good path for him and I feel like that'd

be a great chance at success for.

Him in 2024 we had niceos Robert B Lewis break out we all went Oh

my gosh here's our Derby horse we see magnitude in the rising

start this year needs the time off good news here is we didn't

need to wait 13 months to see him again right and that.

Is very good. Seriously, this is these are

strides that I think we we take for granted at this point is

that a horse like that can come back as quickly as he has as

well as he has in this spot. So it was really, really great

to see. You mentioned all those track

records being broken in both the Grade 3 Indiana Oaks and Derby.

Kleco wins there. I saw Brandon Walsh right after

the race and all I said to him was and yeah, you were there in

the winner's circle as well. She is really professional.

She was not affected by people, by photos.

She was doing her. She could.

I think she could have gone 10 furlongs there that day.

Been totally fine. Was not breathing hard when she

was in the winner's circle. I was very impressed with her.

I am. Of all the horses I saw this

weekend, I'm most excited to see where she goes next.

I'm not gonna lie, I think she's that professional.

Yeah, when we're looking at the the upside of horses between her

and Tip Top Thomas, I do really think that this could be a

Philly that could jump in against against the good cheers,

the nitrogens, the immersives and see what she has against

this group. Brendan's got a good group of

three-year olds this year between her between on the boys

side, Gossgar and East Avenue, and I'm excited to see where she

can fit. This was a good kind of

unveiling race for her. See what we have.

It seemed like she handled those Phillies with ease.

There were some good Phillies in there and she handled them with

ease and I think it's bigger and better for her going forward.

Here, but you mentioned Tip Top, that's obviously winning the

grade Three Oaks or grade 3 Indiana Derby in this spot as

well. Breaks the track record at

Horseshoe. Johnny V's flies in, does Johnny

V things on Saturday as well. What do you think the ceiling is

for a horse like Tip Top Thomas? Now he's one that got forgotten

about. I feel like throughout the

spring, you know, he comes out in his debut, wins that.

And I believe it was a pretty close race between the top three

finishers there, if I'm remembering correctly.

I was at that one who was fourth in that race like.

Trying to remember starts with an SI, can't remember.

Oh, Sovereignty, yeah, some horse named Sovereignty, you

know, was fourth in that race. So he got off, He beat a very

good maiden field and then he comes back around second in the

champagne and disappears for a couple months, pops back up, put

the allowance win together last time, outcomes out now, gets his

grade at stakes win. It sounds like, from what I've

heard from Todd Pletcher telling our good friend Jenny Rees, it

doesn't sound like they're really thinking anything Travers

wise with him. He doesn't look like that mile

and a quarter horse. I agree from what I've seen so

far, but this could be a really good horse in that, you know,

maybe 7 furlong the mile in the eighth range going forward.

He seems like a type of horse that can progress off of this in

those types of spots and I'm excited to see what he has going

forward. Cole battles no slouch.

And. Cole Battle gave him everything

he could handle in the stretch. And shout out to Cole Battle, he

ran a great race in there as well.

The track was playing speed favoring all day.

If it was maybe a little bit more of a fair track, maybe Cold

Battle gets by him. I don't know if that would have

been the difference maker or not, but.

Well, like Nitrogen, Cold Battle just lost to a track record.

Yeah, I mean, so you can't, you can't be ashamed in that.

I wonder with Cold Battle if he doesn't get it like a month off

here. No, they they take 7-8 weeks.

They're looking at the Ellis Park Derby.

I know that was kind of their goal.

That was actually more of a goal for them than the Indiana Derby

from when I talked to them about a week or a week or two ago.

So I wouldn't be shocked to see him end up in the Ellis Park

Derby. Then maybe look at something

like the Pennsylvania Derby. Or is the, is the Oklahoma Derby

still that weekend as Pennsylvania Derby?

I feel like that might have got moved.

This year I don't remember off the.

Top, yeah, but I think one of those two would be a decent spot

for him to end up as well. And then I would think maybe

give him a little freshening at that point in the fall.

I just. Yeah, just a cool.

Horse a couple months. Honest effort every time.

I mean cold battles. Really come back in Louisiana

for like that Louisiana Stakes in January, like hit hit that

older horse trail in there next year.

That's what I would do, yeah. Running the fairgrounds or

something like that. All right, well, we did promise

you mid season eclipse awards and we're happy to welcome in.

Steve Kornacki from NBC joins us here on Blood Horse Monday.

There, Steve. All right, look at him.

Look at Steve Kornacki. How are you?

You're not wearing a Merrimack College shirt.

I don't even know what to do today.

What's going on? You know, I see a little chilly

in this office and I was about to put it on and I said Louis

always gives me a hard time for putting it on, so here we go.

We love bareback college right here.

What are you talking about? Oh, man.

Well, thanks for joining us, man.

You've been a busy guy with horse racing this spring.

How was Ask it man? How was Royal Alaska?

Oh man, it's great. It's I, I mean, I look forward

to that. They call it a work trip.

Technically, you know, we do it for NBC, but you know, that

would be a vacation if I if I didn't have to go for work.

So Nah, it's fantastic. Always great to be over there.

Didn't had a nice hit there two years ago.

Didn't replicate that unfortunately.

But everything else was great. Yeah, you got a little

bookmakers, Steve. Always kind of chased out the

bookmakers on NBC, one of my favorite horse racing segments

of the year. How many days have you already

been to Saratoga? This is always my question,

Steve. Yeah, I haven't grown up yet,

thinking about doing it this weekend, but yeah, I don't know.

I didn't, you know, technically they were up there last weekend,

but my mind wasn't in Saratoga yet.

I think this is the week it really kind of kicks in.

Thursday. Thursday is the starting point.

Remember this is meet hasn't started yet technically, even

though we were. Just this is the bass as opposed

to the back. This.

Is the little test. Belmont and Aqueduct and then

the Belmont and Saratoga, they get the bizarre or something or

whatever they're calling it these days.

But yes, we're going to do some mid season Eclipse awards with

fellow Eclipse voters. Steve Kardacki.

This will be Sean's first year of voting in the Eclipse.

Awards year. I did.

I did, did. Did you last year?

When did you get? In in November.

Okay, okay, Breeders' Cup not at okay, so second.

Vote so I've got one year under my.

Belt Steve and I do an Eclipse end of year episode.

I think we've done two in a row now.

At this point Steve is like me and spends way too much time on

this. Yes.

Right. This is, it's an honor to get to

do it. So there's no such thing as too

much time, you know? I largely agree with Steve

there. So let's go ahead and go through

our list of mid season Eclipse awards.

We'll start with the three-year old males here just to make it

kind of easy, but the obvious candidates and here Sovereignty,

the winner of the Derby and the Belmont Journalism, who ran in

all three if you wanted. To I want to preach this, of

course. Maybe a horse like Zulu Kingdom

who's been winning a lot of different graded stakes.

We will let our guests go first here, Steve.

Or are you going to be boring? Because you should be.

You have to be, you know, I just don't see how you can't say

sovereignty. I don't know.

Am I allowed to give a the one I'm curious about for the

second-half of the year? Sure, go for it.

Yeah. And I don't know if you guys

talked about this before I came on, but magnitude coming out of

that, you know, that Prairie Meadows race maybe, maybe could

make this division a little more interesting in the second-half

than it already is. Yeah, we were just saying, you

know, Steve, a horse like that, that might have been a

retirement just even a few years ago.

The fact that he's already back racing and running at a high

level as well, I think is a real good sign for things to come.

But sovereignty on top for Steve Kornacki.

What's Schwan Collins? Well, you know, I think you have

to really weigh all the different horses, you know, and

yeah, it's it's sovereignty. I mean, you win 2/3 of the

Triple Crown. I feel like at this point you

could probably ship him the Eclipse Award no matter what

happens the rest of the year. I think, you know, for the for

the three-year old Colts winning multiple Triple Crown races, I

feel like those are the three races everybody points toward.

Yeah, you know, maybe somebody like magnitude pops up, wins the

Travers, wins the Breeders Cup Classic against sovereignty.

But I still in my mind for a three-year old award-winning 2/3

of the Triple Crown's enough for me.

So and for a mid season award, which is what we're doing right

now. I mean, you can't, you can't

argue that he would be unanimous.

Here, yeah, that part mid season award, I'm definitely going

sovereignty as well. Steve mentioned a three-year

old. They're watching moving forward

and I think it's actually still journalism and and here's why I

think he's gonna go to the Haskell.

He keeps working like he's in totally fine shape, which he.

Is they keep saying Jim Dandy for him and I'm like go to the

Haskell, get the grade one, get the Grade 1.

Get get another Grade 1, frankly, right, a third grade

one. And then I think he could go, he

could go to the Pacific Classic. And I think he's made for the

Pacific classic, that shorter stretch of Del Mar Steve, I

think journalism, it could set up that he ends up instead of

going to say a Pennsylvania Derby, go Haskell, go big, you

know, go to go to the, to the the Pacific Classic.

I had a big cap in my head for some reason.

Go to the Pacific Classic. Steve.

Could journalism steal this thing if he were to do a route

like that? Yeah, and I mean, wouldn't you

want to do that too with the Breeders Cup, You know, kind of

sets up nicely, you know, with what would come after that.

And yeah, I'm I I sovereignty is the obvious mid season choice in

the clear favorite, heavy favorite for the award at the

end of the year, but I'm still open to finding somebody else,

you know, for this and it journalism there it is.

Look at journalism. Could could do a Haskell Pacific

classic, get a rematch in the in the classics.

And I think that probably be enough for me if you told me

right now that happened. So I'm I'm still open to

something there, but maybe that's just the bitterness of

sovereignty skipping the Preakness that says it's coming

out, but. Do you think that could play a

role potentially if we, if we see journalism do that path, do

you think that could play a role in the way some people vote?

The fact that sovereignty skipped the skipped the

Preakness journalism, ran in all three and then had a good

second-half of the year. You know, I, I wonder about that

because I, I definitely picked up on that and it seemed to me

going into the, the Belmont just from a sentimental standpoint

where people seem to be on that and I don't know you, you may be

able to make it if it ever came to it.

You know, it's one of those tiebreaker kind of scenarios

there, you know a horse, you know who they were willing to

run in all three and and put out there like that.

I mean, there, there is something to be said for running

in all three, running well in all three as opposed to skipping

one of them if it's if it's sort of, you know a 5050, you know,

scenario. We've seen weirder things in

votes than that for sure yes, yes, way way weirder things that

people holding that grudge and and protecting the preakness in

their minds at least Steve Kornacki from NBC with us he

Sean I'm Louis Bloodhorse Monday we're doing our mid season

eclipse awards. We move over to the Philly side

of things on three-year olds here.

Obviously good cheer your winner in the Kentucky Oaks.

We get Lakara getting a little bit of redemption in the Acorn

up in New York. We think of those two races as

the big Philly races in the spring.

But frankly with how well Nitrogen's been running, I

expect her to get a lot of votes this year.

Sean, who did you land on top here for three-year old Philly

at the mid season mark? I'm still going to end up on

good cheer at the mid season mark.

I know technically she's got one grade one win this year compared

to Lakara's two, but with the dominance that she displayed

throughout the entire winter versus, you know, Lakara had,

you know, she won her her first start, lost her second start,

but then won the Ashland. I just think the dominance that

good cheer displayed throughout the winter, in addition to

winning the biggest race for three-year old fillies at

Kentucky Oaks, I will excuse her poor performance in the acorn

for the mid season eclipse awards.

We'll see what happens by the end of the year, but at the mid

season point I think I don't think it's much of an argument

that good cheer is the best in this division at this point.

How about for you, Steve? You know, I, I was thinking

about this. You'd you'd reached out to me on

Friday and I was all set to give you nitrogen here.

And. I I still really want to.

I don't. Think she lost a track?

Hacker, I don't think she lost anything.

She was wide on on both turns there.

She's shown a little versatility, you know, with

that, you know, with the off the turf, you know, performance,

whatever you want to, you know, make of that.

Good cheer is one of those horses.

The accomplishments are there, the resumes there.

Every time I look at those speed figures, you know, maybe I, I'm

sure I'm putting too much on that, but I keep waiting for

them to come back higher. And you know, that acorn looks

bad and you know, La care was able to beat her.

That I don't know. I, I almost in my mind, I almost

want to go nitrogen la Cara good cheer right now.

But right now I, I, I still want to stick with the, with

nitrogen. No grade ones yet, but I think I

think some good stuff's come in the second-half and some great

stuff's already happened. Yeah, I, I, I wouldn't argue

with either of those top 2 at all.

If someone came to me with those arguments, I'll go good cheer at

this point. But I expect nitrogen to be the

three old filly of the year by the time we get to the end

because I think she's going to keep running.

I'm not at all sure that we'll see good cheer at a high level

again this year. And so I, I think that those

days might be petering up. That might be something that

where we've seen the best of her and and that's that.

Lacara, though, I am fascinated by because she brings an honest

effort every single time. I think she's going to be

really, really good the second-half of the year.

And how she looked to the acorn made good cheers.

Kentucky Oaks even better. Yeah, she dominated that race.

She was easily the best run around that Friday here in the

in Kentucky. And so I'll give good cheer the

nod right now. Nitrogen would be second for me,

no question. And it would be very close.

And what Steve said about her race this last weekend, it

didn't change a thing about how I perceive her.

I think she's excellent and clearly the class of the

three-year old Philly on the turf crowd for sure, yes.

Definitely. All right.

Two votes. Good cheer one for nitrogen.

There you go, Steve. Different again.

He's Steve Kornacki, NBC. Sports older girl.

Is a fun one because we actually got a bunch of really good

horses this year. I think the choice for me was

easy, but when I started to look at the the resumes of other

horses that we we call this the handicapped division Louis.

When we look at this division, I was so pleased at how good the

resumes were for so many horses. I landed on mine frame and I

think that one for me is not difficult.

I think he won what has turned out to be the race of the year

to this point, which is the Grade 1 Churchill Downs with

Nicos coming out and winning Book and Dano coming out and

winning banishing in that race, etcetera.

To me that is the race of the year to this point.

He comes back after winning at 7 furlongs and wins at 9 in the

Grade 1. Stephen Foster.

Give me mine frame right now as the top older dirt male Steve.

I I and I'll mention him again later for another reward.

I I think it's that impressive frankly, because I do think that

much of the older dirt group at this year.

Yeah, I mean, I think I, I agree.

Right now, if I'm casting my ballot, that's where you have to

go. Just the combination of those

two wins. But that said, I, you know, I

kind of, I think fierceness is the better horse.

And I think my issue there is, you know, I, I guess it's the

prestige. There's probably some breeding

aspect too that made the more the met mile.

But the met mile I don't think really fits who fierceness is.

And I think if they're, you know, if they'd go in a

different direction, we might right now be saying, you know,

fierceness just won the Stephen Foster and, and, and is the

clear, you know, leader there. So I kind of think fierceness is

the best. But if you got to go by the

accomplishments, it's it's mine frame right now.

We're going to make it a clean sweep from one frame here.

Grade one wins at 7 furlongs and out of my own an eighth against,

you know, probably the best grouping of sprinters that we

have and then a pretty solid grouping of the older horse

division. The grade one of grade ones and

Steve. Foster yeah, with, you know,

Sierra Leone, First Mission, Mystic Dan and Hit show in

there. You just he's beaten the best of

both divisions and so far and so I just don't think that.

And on top of that, he also has the grade two win earlier in the

year as well at the Gulfstream Park model.

So all three of those combined together, he's got to be the

pick for the mid season older male.

For in case people don't know, when we get our eclipse ballots,

we are asked to vote for the top three in each category.

Steve, would fierceness be a close second for you right now?

Yeah. Fierceness would be in the

number 2 right now number. 2 for you.

No, because right now he has a grade two win and a runner up in

a grade one. I would have I I, I agree with

Steve. I think fierceness is the best

horse in the older horse division currently.

But if we were. Is raging for him.

I would put him there right now just because he'd beat him in

the in the Met Mile. I don't know if he would

officially be my second ranked horse.

I'd have to really kind of sit and think about it.

But looking at these awards, it's not necessarily who I think

is the best in the division. It's who's done the most so far.

And yeah, you know, fierceness is a grade two win was against a

or was a track record and locked was in that field.

But we've seen locked has not really been the same since then.

And so I don't know who I would have a number 2 right now, but I

don't think I would have fierceness there cuz now give me

a month till the Whitney and then boom, he's probably my

number 11 in this division. But right now I don't know if I

could have him at #2. There you go.

All right, we move over to older dirt female in this one.

Last year's winner. Do you remember last year's

winner? Actually, I'll go ahead and

throw it that way. OK?

Was it a man she still got? It.

She didn't run to the she didn't run to the distaff.

So I was hoping maybe people have forgotten about her.

You want people to forget about it?

No, it would be funny on this show.

I I think I voted for a dare Manor last year.

Why? Because I really loved her

resume. All right, so this year she's

older. Her name is Thorpedo Anna.

She's available in this one, Sean, but certainly you can make

the case for Copian, who I think had one of the great shows in

that Derby City, just staff as well.

And you lost your case for Copian potentially.

That's a couple days ago now, I think #1 still is.

Torpedo Anna had Raging Sea won the Ogden Phipps, she'd be the

mid season eclipse award winner. But even with the LA Troian

defeat that Torpedo Anna had, she has the Azeri win, she has

the Apple Blossom and the Florida League.

Those are not. Grade two.

Grade one, Grade 2. Yeah, even, you know, even

though the Florida Lee's a Grade 2, I mean, that's still the

Florida Lee's. Still, it's a very prestigious

summer. Arrangement.

Yeah. So I I got AI got to put her in

that number one spot until somebody comes in and starts

knocking her down repeatedly. She's the class of this

division. Torpedo and for Sean, what's

that, Steve? Yeah, you have to do the same

just based on the, you know, she, I don't want to.

This is like, you know, when you go to the go to the voting booth

on Election Day and you'll hold your nose or something, you

know, for some candidate and I keep it's a little frustrating

right, in some of these students.

Even. How bizarre.

Some of these, some of these races, it just feels like, you

know, I, I feel she's vulnerable, but nobody's, you

know, nobody's ever lined up who can actually, you know, who can

actually beat her these, you know, small fields and she kind

of overwhelms, you know, underwhelming competition.

And yeah, Copia, even Copia and I didn't, you know, that lost

over the weekend. I don't, I don't hold much

against her in that, you know, and if she'd won that I, I might

be sitting here giving to you. Hers is my number one right now.

I think if she beats Sweet as Saga this last weekend I might

be doing that. Yeah, I really did think I

wouldn't be. I would still have Thorpedo.

Anna and I understand both and I'm Thorpedo Anna officially for

my vote here. I agree.

I would have, I would have Copion in the second spot there.

Moving forward though, who do we expect to be in the top spot by

the end of this one? This one's fascinating to me

because I do think, like Steve said, many of us and maybe

Sean's not in this group, do consider her vulnerable in

Torpedo Anna. Like people can line up and beat

her. I don't want to say any day, but

you know that a good performance we saw with Raging Sea already.

Of course someone can line up and beat her head to head.

Is it a raging sea? Could a Copian make a rebound?

Is sweet ass tech actually set up to dominate the second-half

of the weekend in Southern California?

I don't know, but is there someone that stands out to you?

No, I think she's going to carry the division.

Yeah, I think, I think they learned something from the LA

Tran and Brian's going to make sure she's not in the spot where

that can happen again. And I think I think because and

they're going to they're they're waiting till the personal

Ensign, I believe for their next start and then they're going to

spin away and then we'll see what happens with their

Breeders' Cup choice, whether she jumps in against the boys in

the classic or stays in the Distaff.

But I think those are two spots where the personal Ensign will

get a lot of the New York horses.

I feel like the spinster is another one of these spots, like

Steve mentioned, where people are going to be afraid to line

up against her in that race. And it could just be, you know,

kind of a cakewalk for her in that spot.

So I think she's going to end up kind of taking.

This. I think you're right.

She's also good at Saratoga. Yes, right.

And those are the races that we always look to Steve as, oh,

hey, she won this race or she won this race.

And they tend to be this time of year, at least Steve at

Saratoga. Yeah, and I tend to agree that

if she's going to get beat again and she's going to get her

toughest challenge, I think it's going to come from Chad Brown

and it's going to be in in, in New York.

So, you know, let let's see if he can, you know, get some kind

of, you know, I don't know, you have a randomized set it up for

for Raging Sea, you know, something, something like that

again. But and then, yeah, I don't

know. I, I saw Mcpeak mentioned going

into the classic. I, I do you take that?

Is he just talking? You don't think he's actually

going to do that? I don't know that the classic

division right now, I would say no, please don't.

I mean, I would love it. It would be it would be so much

fun to have her involved with this group as well.

Is it fun? Is that fun?

I think so. I think that's great.

Best of the best against the. Best.

Does that make me not fun? That I'm like no, just runner

against? Females, it makes you very

boring. What do you?

Let's just throw in the Breeders Cup Turf.

Why no? It takes one to know one man

next can run anywhere. All right, let's keep it

rolling. Let's keep Kornacki from NBC

with us here on Blood Horse Monday.

Sean Collins, Luger belt hanging out with you.

We go to Turf Mail for the next 1 and I think we can finally

find these categories where we might disagree on these things.

Sean, I will go 1st and I will make the case for Spirit of

Saint Louis, who earlier in the year did win the Pegasus World

Cup Invitational and then turn around and won a second grade

one in the Turf Classic at Churchill Downs.

I think those two wins to this point is the best resume of any

turf mail in North America. So I will go with the Spirit of

Saint Louis and it's not a pick because it's my name, but rather

because I think the two grade ones are as good as we've had.

Steve, do you have here a turf mail?

Gosh, I want to, I want to give you the disagreement you're

looking for, but that's exactly who I'd be.

That's exactly, that's exactly, you know, where I'd be right

now. If you're looking for the one

that I kind of got my eye on for, you know, the summer as the

year progresses, deterministic, the, you know, Klmanoworst we

just saw in the, in the Manhattan.

I I think might, might be interesting in that division

too. But I, I just, I think spirit of

Saint Louis has done the most, even even in defeat at the

fairgrounds. Wasn't all that wasn't all that

bad that day, either. You made your statement of

disagreeing a little too early. You you are probably a category

too early. It's going to be a queen sweep

here for a Spirit of Saint Louis.

I think in the first half of the year there are three races that

you want to win for the older turf horses, the Pegasus, the

Turf Classic at Churchill and then the Manhattan.

He won two of the three. So right there, I think he's got

to be, he's got to be the choice for sure.

Is there another even in the group for you guys?

Because, right, that was one of the easier ones for me to come

up with. You're just always waiting for

integration to put it together, but it just never happens.

Yeah, that's that's right. Steve's right.

Yeah. There we go.

All right, Turf e-mail will be up next.

Shawn, I'll let you go first here.

Could we disagree? Find out next.

What do you say, Shawn Collins? Yes.

I'm going with she feels pretty I.

Want a terrible choice? All right, keep going.

Tell us why. I'm going I'm going with her as

my as my choice for the mid season Eclipse award here.

Grade 1 and grade two win to start the year.

She's looked visually impressive in both, even though the grade

two win was a grade 2 and not a grade one.

She'll be give me another in that race in the modesty at

Churchill. Give me another champion down in

South Africa and has she had a bad run on the wet turf last

time out? But she her first two starts

here in the US were pretty good, even though she'd been defeated.

And I think just, you know, I do think she's going to be kind of,

well, we're going to find out what happens this weekend.

It's she's going to be in a tough, tough field in the Diana.

You know what she's going to look like for the rest of the

year. But I think between her win on

the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival and her win on Kentucky

Derby weekend, I just think those two victories just

outclass anything else that the Philly Philly turf division has

produced. All right.

That's a pretty choice there, Steve.

Let's say you. Yeah.

You know, by the way, I just thought of one on the that I

forgot to mention in the male, but we haven't even seen

Johannes. Right.

I know I voted for him last year.

Yeah. So did I, yeah.

I don't know, maybe maybe that could be interesting.

I'm a female. Yeah.

No, I mean, she feels pretty. But what I wrote down here was

winner of Diana. So we got a great, we got a

great set up, I think with all the logical contenders meeting

this weekend. So let's see.

I went with dynamic pricing here and we'll.

Get to see the two of these. Yeah.

And look, you talk about races that you look for, you know,

early in the year and frankly the just a game is one of those

for me. And so she wins the just a game

before that won the Bogay both of those in New York.

And I get it, we're going to have to see her travel a little

bit as the rest of the year goes on.

But frankly, to this point, I think those two are good enough

wins for me to make her my mid season vote.

But I I don't hate and I know the big is a great three.

If that's what you're about to do, yes.

I was gonna say, 'cause I did consider this, I consider the

just a game and the New York to be kind of the same level for

me. And so the difference maker.

But the bogay being a level below.

I thought the Bogay is a level below the modesty that was my

difference maker between these two.

I think that's a Chad Brown move to get her a win on her off the

layoff, essentially. Getting a win off a layoff.

Unless she will. An Eclipse award, unless she

wins a grade one, she's about to win another one.

How about that? All right, moving forward with

this group, is there a horse that we are looking forward to?

Is, for example, is it dynamic pricing?

Could she be the one that jumps up that isn't your mid season

pick? Yeah, there could definitely be

somebody that jumps up the second-half of the year.

To be honest, I don't really know who it would be.

I think it would be one of these two either dynamic pricing or

now, you know, we have to always keep in mind that even we can

have different opinions of whether or not they deserve it.

But whoever wins the Breeders Cup from Europe and the division

is going to end up taking this award at the end of the year.

But I think from the from the US perspective, I think so far she

feels pretty in dynamic pricing do look like the class of this

division. Maybe you have like, you know, I

know choice, you have won the Jenny Wiley at Keeneland.

If she sticks around the US to the year, maybe she could be a

player in this division as well. But I think those are kind of

the top 2 right now. Yeah, there you go.

All right, Steve Kornacki from NBC joining us here for our

first attempt at the mid season Eclipse Awards on On the Blood

Horse Monday. Easy for me to say.

I know you already forgot. We're so deep into this.

You forgot what? The name of the show.

Was let's go to Sprinter here and on the male side of things,

I think raging torrents going to get a lot of votes here.

But of course, also coming out of that, that church Downs here,

that grade one on Derby day, we got Nicos, we got book em Dano

as well. I'll stick to raging torrent.

I'll I try not to over emphasize foreign races in the eclipse

Awards, but I will use them to supplement resumes.

Does that make sense? So in other words, I think the

met wild win is as good a 1:00-ish turn win as anyone's

had this year. And I think coming off the

Arabian Peninsula win as well, I think is a good enough reason

for me to put Raging Torrent. That's the top sprinter, Young

Sean. I am very completely in

disagreement with your choice. Finally, the show gets.

Better. So you're picking Raging Torrent

for mid season champion sprinter?

He hasn't run a Sprint in the US yet.

It's fair. In that mile, when you can't

count it, it's a mile. It's not a Sprint.

OK, fair enough. Keep going.

Yeah. So that that's my opinion on

that one. I do not count anything that's

international when when I do these votes.

So he's not even in consideration for me for this at

all. I know you also like Nisos a lot

in this spot. You know, he was second in the

grade one at Churchill. I don't really think the field

was that good that he beat out in California.

So I don't think I could pick him off of that mind frame one

Sprint, even though it was against a good field.

I don't feel comfortable picking him off of just one Sprint to

win this award. So I went to the turf for this

award and I'm picking think big from Goodolph and three great at

stakes wins, two of them sprinting on the turf.

I think he's looked as good. I think he had a rough trip in

the Jaipur. I'm going with him as my pick

for champion sprinter at the mid season point even though he

doesn't have a great 1 yet on the resume.

OK, All right, Steve, how about for you, I.

Went and booked him Dano on this one, you know, off that off his

win and then yeah, yeah, I'm blanking.

Thank you Raging. I had the same issue, though I

gave a lot of thought to to raging torrent and I I kind of

you know, he's in that kind of awful in between place, right

where he he's not great at the pure Sprint and he's not a

distance horse and the met mile suited him perfectly it seemed

right now. So what do what do you do with a

horse like that? I'm thinking ahead to the

second-half of the season and and the Breeders cup, right.

They tried the Sprint last year. That didn't work.

You could. Try the the the dirt.

Mile, you got the win and you're in for that, but now that's

going to be a two turn mile. So I just, I, I don't know where

I don't know how to place him. I don't quite know how to

categorize him. I, I don't, I agree.

I don't think I, I, I don't think of his accomplishments as

as really a a, a, you know, as the clear Sprint leader right

now. He's not a distance horse and I

don't see how he could step to the top here either with what's

with what's ahead of him this year all.

Right. And he?

Give you a defense for your choice, you've now heard two of

us do. You think, do you think there's

what and be realistic with me? Do you think there's a chance

that a turf sprinter could win this award?

If Cogburn didn't win it last year.

That's my point, Yeah, I voted for him.

Yeah, I voted for Cogburn. I didn't even look at the turf

sprinters because I think it's a waste of time that that would be

my rebuttal. I think you wasted your time

with that argument. Well, we'll see what happens now

as far as looking ahead towards the rest of the year if niceos

if bokum Daniel end up winning a.

Couple of I think one of those. I think one of them will come

away with the award if. But by the way, I think you were

right, but I think you wasted your time.

That's kind of my point. I think we need to change how we

vote. Well, this is the mid season

Eclipse award, So he's the only thing big to me is the the only

one that really fits. I I do really like Bokum Dano.

It's just, you know, one of his two wins is a race that was

pretty much crafted specifically for him in Virginia.

So I don't know if I could really give that that much

credit. But he did win against a good

field in the true north. So that's a good pick from Steve

as well. But I I've been a big fan of

think big so far this entire year.

He had the win on the Derby undercard, the the kind of the

big turf Sprint for that first half the year.

So I had to give him the nod. Here awesome.

All right, rolling along a female sprinter on these things.

I I'm going Copian, I'm going to I'm sure that's just a bail out.

But Steve, do you have a a different course than Copian

here? I mean, no, it's it's Copian

right now with some, you know, with some other contenders,

though. Let's see, you know, you know,

ways and Ways and Means obviously and and and loves

Saratoga. So here comes the here comes the

season for Ways and Means. And then how about we haven't

seen much of too sharp, That's who I'm a little, that's who I'm

a little curious about for the second-half.

Of this we're not going to see her for a little bit sounds like

so yeah, she. Yeah.

Last I talked to Phil Bauer, she's relaxing on the farm,

having another little vacation, so.

So I'm not curious anymore. I was very curious about her

too. I thought if she if she could

have stayed healthy for this entire year, I thought she was

going to run the. Division, you know, we got, we

got spoiled in this division, the good night all over the

world. I mean like we got spoiled for a

couple of years in this division and Copian and sweet Azteca

certainly put on a good show over the weekend as well.

So hopefully that'll keep going. Who'd you end up with mid season

here? I picked Kobe in mid season even

with the loss a couple days ago. I just think the, you know, the

two big filly mare Sprint races in the spring are the Madison

and the the Derby City Distaff. Positano Sunset upset the

Madison and then was easily handled in the Derby City

Distaff. I just think in general, I think

the Derby City Distaff is kind of the top spot.

We saw the West sometimes, you know, if it was just her record

out in California, the way California racing is right now,

I sometimes see that as a little suspect.

But the fact that she shipped E, she beat everybody from the East

Coast in that race. And then the kind of her main

rival at that point in time in California, grand second in that

race, I think really kind of flattered the strength for the

female sprinters out there in California.

So I think she's the even with that defeat this past weekend, I

thought that was a weird trip with being hung wide that entire

way by Swede Azteca. I think she's the number one

still at this point. Very good year for California

racing at the very top. Journalism with her, with Swede,

Azteca, etcetera. Very, very good top, top and

folks and hopefully Johannes rejoins that group Steve

mentioned earlier would certainly round out the

different surfaces and distances etcetera. 2 year old, let's go

to the Juvie's at this point. Not a lot of data here Steve.

So I'm sure you were digging around.

I'll let Sean go first here. You know, I'll have Sean go

first on the on the female side because I know you feel very

strongly about that one. So Steve, who'd you land on?

2 year old males at this point? I Saturday's I I saw two on

Saturday at Saratoga. Maybe a little bit of Saratoga

bias here, but obliteration winning the Sanford and

absolutely living up to the name.

And then in the first race of the day, they had that maiden

special for two year olds and Ewing, you know, from DJ stable

Westpie. I got the West Point shirt on

here. So I'm, I'm contractually

obligated to say this, but Ewing going out there and putting up

an 88 buyer, you know, didn't beat much, but you know, big

expectations there and, and nothing looked wrong in that

debut. Yeah, really, really good stuff.

I went with the race that seems to give us stakes winner after

stakes winner. That's the Bashford mayor.

I'll take Robbie O as the top 2 year old to this point in this

year. Frankly, not a lot of stakes

dated to go on at this point. But by the way, feel free if you

have a little extra cash. Romeo got supplemented into the

Fasic Tipton sale tomorrow. So go take that money over to

Fasic Tipton and buy yourself a mid season Eclipse award.

You would need to have like Kornacki money to do that.

You know I can just. Roll out, Steve.

Can you imagine Steve just just walks into the basic tipped

sale? I I heard on this podcast that

there's a horse for sale here. Who'd you land on?

2 year old? Well it was interesting.

So coming into today I wasn't sure if we were going to put a

firm line on July 1st or not as kind of the mid season point.

If we were going to count this past weekend, I would have

picked Romeo if we were not counting this past weekend just

because he won. I I think not counting the

Sanford this past weekend, if we stopped at July 1st, I think the

two big braces for two year olds are the Tremont during Belmont

Stakes Racing Festival and then the Bashford Manor on closing

weekend to Churchill. He was third against Philly and

in the first one comes back, runs stronger in the second one

wins it. I would have picked him but

Obliteration was just so impressive and getting the grade

three win. If we extend into this past

weekend, I'd have to vote Obliteration as the champion. 2

year old. Obliteration 2R1R loses again.

All right, I read to the end of that play.

How about that? Everybody loses and then two

year old female. I know you feel strongly about

this one, Sean, so I'll throw. To you, yeah, It's got to be

mythical, you know, coming off that win against the boys in the

Tremont. She looked impressive doing it.

I remember I was standing right there on the rail as she went by

me easily schooling the boys. So got to go, got to go with

that so far. At this point, I'm not going to

fight you at all, Steve I. Don't want to, but I want to

give a shout out to a horse. I actually made some money on

it. That was Percy's bar winning the

the debutante and two, two performances.

Just pouring it on in the stretch so far.

I'm not going to pretend that I have any idea who's going to win

the 2 year old the Clips award at this point.

I'm not going to pretend. Pick a trainer.

Who trains them. Who trains the winner?

Chad Brown. And then both sides or male and

female side? He changed one of them, OK.

Steve picked the. Other I'm waiting for the next

batch. It's going to be Cox at some

point, right? Like he's.

I assume that'll reveal itself as the year goes on.

Graders. Cups at Del Mar.

I don't think betting on Baffert would be a good bad idea.

I think that would probably be waiting on the Baffert.

Yeah, I also am waiting on the backwards, so mythical wins

there. Let's move into the people and

let's talk owner. I'm a little off the board here,

Steve. I'll let you go first because I

I know how this is going to end at the end of the year, but I'm

going to go with a different owner at the halfway point than

how this is going to end at the year, Steve.

So who do you have? Oh, I want, I want to hear yours

because mine is just bloodless and, and just just I, I, it's

like the torpedo. And I don't want to say good

dolphin, but you know, when you got the Derby and the oaks, what

do you do? But what?

Who do you have? That let before Lily gives his

pick. Let me just also throw in that I

picked good Dolphin as well for the mid season award.

I'm gold ripold. He's stable.

He's got if I if I have mine, frame is horse of the year and I

get fierceness breaking the track record-breaking the track

record of Churchill Downs. If the two best horses and what

I think of as as the best division, then then I'm going to

give it to Ripoli stable at this point, at the mid season point,

that guy is actually shipping his horses to big spots.

I know they lose the met mile, but he put his horse up in the

met mile. He sends mind frame to A7 for

longer before putting him in a nine for longer.

No, no, no, no, that's great for the race.

That's great for for horse racing.

I'll go Ripoli stable at this point in the air.

I I get it, I I get to get off an argument.

I would not fight anyone on it, but I would go Ripoli stable at

this point. I think what they're doing with

their horses, putting them in big spots, is as good as you can

do for this sport. He could have wrapped fierceness

up, send them to the training barn.

They could have done that with all their horses.

Did not do it. Brought back mine frame as a

four year old. I love what they're doing.

I'm big fan of those two horses. So I'm gonna go over a police

table at the midpoint. I like that argument because he

does have. Steve's face.

He does have if you, if you're, if you're not, if you're

listening to us and not watching us, make sure you go check out

YouTube or Spotify. Oh, no, listen, listen, I don't

want to fight anybody on behalf of good dolphins.

So I, I like I I just, I wish I was just creative.

You know. I mean, you have probably the

two best horses in the country or two of the best horses in the

country right now. That's not a bad choice at all.

I also like owner wise, like I would love some kind of award

for the Eclipse folks, like for running journalism in all three

of those races and sharing his workouts the way that they have

and like really going through that process, being open about

what they're thinking, those sorts of things.

Like I, I think there are a lot of good ownership stories this

year, like a lot of them. And I, I think Aaron Wellman's

one of those guys. And and so I really, I think

there are a lot of good stories around owners this year when

usually we we either get loud, obnoxious owners who are just

screaming about nothing or we don't hear from them at all.

And then we get a bunch in the middle this year.

And I think, you know, clip stands out amongst those groups

as well. Steve Kornacki, Sean Collins,

Louie bro, hanging out with you mid season eclipse awards here

on blood Horse Monday. Let's go to top breeder and we

will go very quickly through this one because I'm not going

to fight you on the dolphin. Get offin.

Thank you, Steve. Good dolphin, just motionless

and. Let's go to top Jock.

I think this one could get pretty fun at this point.

And so I I put out the numbers on my own sheet for four

different jockeys. Steve Kornacki, do you think you

could guess who those? 4 jockeys are Pratt, yes I read

yes, Jose Ortiz, yes and Alvarado.

OK, it's not junior. I have Luis Saez on my plate,

believe it or not, as the four that I wrote down the stats for.

But I, I, Alvarado would probably be in the top five this

year almost certainly for sure because of Derby and other

things. Plus he was on this show, which

definitely vaults him into the top five for sure.

Yes. Of course.

Well, in that case, it's him Umberto.

Him Umberto Mike Smith, top three.

Not even a question. That's exactly right.

But Steve, who'd you land off for?

Top jock here. I went I went Pratt and there

may be there may be this is recency bias.

I just watching him over the weekend just reinforced in my

head. I, I just, I think he's the best

out there right now. Has the 21, the great wins and

then just yeah, I I think he's the best right now.

Yeah, Eclipse Award winner last year.

We seem to in the modern era, we get 2-3 year runs from those

guys. I read obviously longer than

that, but I think his number is really impressive this year as

well. I was really wanting to pick

Jose Ortiz, OK, And I was convincing myself to pick Jose

Ortiz. And then just looking at the

stats that I had to pick Pratt at this point, he's at 21 graded

stakes wins right now with six, or excuse me, I had looked at

this cutting off at July 1. So he had 18 graded stakes wins

at on July 1st. 16 of those 18 were with different horses,

which is kind of the real thing that pushed me that way is that

he was able to win all those graded stakes races.

And all of his grade ones are different horses.

Right. Yeah.

And yeah, his five grade ones, I believe all different horses as

well. So that was the ultimate thing

that pushed me. Jose is currently ahead of both

him and I Rad in the winds department.

Yep. And he's coming off big win at

the meet at Churchill Downs. He's coming off the big

fairgrounds meet that he had there.

Flavian did just win the meet at Naira.

Great point by you. By the way, Jose won both riding

titles. Yes, New Orleans and Churchill.

I did. I did really want to pick Jose,

but just looking at that 18 graded stakes wins with 16

different horses, five grade ones with five different horses,

I had to pick Pratt. And the New York riding title

means something too, right? And before that, by the way.

Right now, honestly, I would say 'cause it's.

Because he gets less mounts than Irad does by a, he does so to

win that ahead of irad. To me is is just the quality

level of that is is remarkable. I think right now the

springtime, I think Churchill's jockey colonies better than the

Nairo colony right now. I think that'll shift obviously

for Saratoga, but I. Think quickly.

A lot of those New York guys come down here, yes, for big

days before Saratoga. I think it's turning into, I

mean, there's obviously a lot of great riders in New York, which

Manny Franco, Junior Alvarado, Kendrick Carmouche, but it is,

you know, it's largely dominated by Irad and then you come out

here and you've got Jose, you've got Luis, we'll have Tyler

Gafflion jumping back in the mix.

I do think most competitive jockey colony right now is in

Kentucky. I have Pratt on top as well.

I gave Luis Saez an incredible look because I think he's riding

as well as anyone in the country right now.

I just think Pratt is riding as well and gets better mouths.

Yeah, I I think it's that simple, I think.

But I think Luis Saez is on that level right now.

I think he's in the top. 4-5 jockey, he's always on that

level if he can get a couple big horses down.

I think he's even better than he's been.

I think the move to Churchill has been really, really good for

him. Steve, who would you have after

Pratt, do you think? Jose Ortiz, I actually I, I

similar. I mean, he's, I think he's

having a kind of a standout year, but but it's not quite at

that level. Yeah, we were, we were bragging

on him, Steve. I was saying this.

You know, we, we, I think we take it for granted, these guys

moving their tack around and, you know, Jose's I think got

three young kids, something like that, you know, And so moving

from New York to Kentucky, but doing the Kentucky, New Orleans

thing, boy, what I mean, just an incredibly smart and really

effective career move for him. It's been really fun to watch,

frankly. All right, let's move on to top

trainer then at this point, and I think we'll get some agreement

on this one as well. Sean, I'll let you go first

here. But I, you know what?

Actually, I we're not going to get agreement on this when I'm

withdrawn. Withdrawn, Sean.

Yeah, withdrawn rhymes with Sean.

How about that? Go ahead and tell us why Brad

Cox's trainer the year to. This, well, I was, I was leaning

towards him again. Same thing with Jose Ortiz.

I was going to pick him and then I was like.

Kept looking, Yeah, but Jose's never been on this show, so

whatever. Oh, you can't do that.

Yeah. It's true, Yeah.

So Brad gets the vote just for being on the show.

Yeah, Darn right. No, I think I was looking at it.

I was going to pick him. But then as I kept looking, that

same thing that got me with Pratt Brown has won 6th grade

ones with five different horses. And so that just that that pulls

me a little bit more. He's had a little bit more

success on both surfaces as well.

I know Brad just got a grade one on the turf this weekend, so

this could change as a track record goes and a track record

this could change as the year goes, but I think I'd have to go

with Chad Brown. Fiona does win, sets a track

record up there. Steve, who'd you land on for for

trainer to this point? Oh, this, this is my outside the

box. This is where I'm going to be be

different than everybody else. But I think there's there's no

trainer we talked more about for better reason in the first half

of the year, fortunately, then the man who just passed away.

But I want to give the vote at the halfway mark to Dewayne

Lucas because of all that he meant, you know, through all the

years. And, you know, he's my favorite.

And you know, I know at the end of the year that won't be my

vote, but right now it will be. He's been on this show, so

that's an acceptable answer from Tim Kornacki.

He, you know, he's probably not going to win the trainer award

for, you know, obviously at the end of the year, but can they,

do you know how they do those special awards at the.

Moment of the year and that kind of.

Stuff. Can they give one of those

special awards to somebody who's passed away?

Because I think that would be, I think, I think there should be

something at the end of the year to commemorate.

I'm trying to think if I've ever noticed that before.

Because I, I know they give out the special awards and, but I'm

not sure if they've ever given it to somebody who's who's no

longer with us by the end of the year.

But if they can do that, I would say they should definitely give

something to Lucas at the end of the year.

Steve, I, I wanted to share this with you because I don't know if

you saw the release from Churchill, but Cody Photography,

who does the photography of Churchill Downs is doing AD

Wayne Lucas Special going forward.

If you grab a kid and bring them into the winner's circle,

they'll print out the photo for you and for the kid for nothing

going forward. And they're calling it the Lucas

Special. I think that's just, that's the

good stuff right there. And what a great contribution.

Just a small thing that's actually, I mean, he was telling

stories to the end about people 40 years earlier who would come

up to him and say, you took me in when I was 8, here's what

I've done with my life. And yeah, it's great.

Yeah. That's the good stuff for sure.

All right, Horse of the year. We wrap up with Steve Kornacki

from NBC. Sean Collins.

Oh. Wait, wait, we forgot the

steeplechase horse of the. Year, OH.

Well, Rontez for for apprentice Jock.

Who you got Apprentice Jack? Yeah.

I'll go, Wilbur. I'll go.

I'll go West from mine. I'm just going to go with Irving

Moncada because he's the only one I can think of right now

that's a yeah. He isn't until August I think.

Oh, how about that? Yep.

All right. I like it.

Never mind. I like Irving.

We'll go with Irving Steeple. Tase shout out to a bond winning

the Iroquois. Is that the one in Nashville?

Yes. All right, That's good enough.

All right, all right. Course of the year, I've given

away mine. I'll go with mine.

Frame to this point. I think what he's accomplished

in the Grade 1 Churchill Downs, that Grade 1 Stephen Foster, we

all look forward to that race. It's as much hype for a non

Triple Crown race as I can remember around here, at least

in in recent years. And he was just the best horse

and Sierra Leone did all of it. Sierra Leone looked like Sierra

Leone. It didn't matter.

And so I'll go mind frame at this point.

Obviously we saw Niceos come out, book him, Daniel come out

of that Churchill Downs as well and win their race.

I'll go with mind frame Steve at this point as my horse of the

year at the mid season Eclipse Awards.

Who's your mid season horse? Yeah, no, I mean, it's, it's the

same logic when we talked about the the older dirt mail.

It's mind frame just based on the resume, just based on the

accomplishments so far. I I don't think when I try to

project ahead, you know, five months from now or so that

that's where I'm going to end up voting.

I still think, like I said, that a fierceness will will assert

himself as the as the year goes forward.

But so far, mind frames the one who has how?

About you. Well you justified why I should

not pick mind frame and you're explanation as to why you picked

mine for him. OK.

You said the Churchill Downs Stakes has had as much hype as a

non Triple Crown race. I did not say that, I said.

Well, however you phrased it. That that Stephen Foster did

around here. Oh, I thought I thought you were

talking about the. Churchill, I can't remember.

I can't remember A Midsummer race around here that got as

much pub as the Stephen Foster. Yes.

I agree with that, but you know, you know what gets more hype?

Is that a non triple? Not going to Baltimore.

OK, Yeah. Yeah, not, I know not going to

Baltimore does pull me away a little bit, I think.

No, it doesn't. I think Journalism is the second

best horse in the country right now.

I think Sovereignty is the best horse in the country.

OK, so winning the Kentucky Derby in the Belmont, beating

who I think is the #2 in the country in both races.

Sovereignty's the horse of the year.

At this point, there are no bigger races to win than the

Triple Crown races. He's won two out of three of

them. We'll see what happens the

second-half of the year, but for the first half of the year, 2/3

of the Triple Crown as dominantly as he did against the

competition that he faced. Sovereignty's the horse of the.

Year don't hate it. If they ran the Breeders Cup

Classic on July 31st at Del Mar, you would take sovereignty.

Yes, OK. Well.

I would take Sierra Leone at this point.

No. I I.

Mean I'm looking at it from a scenario.

I take journalism because of the short stretch, but OK.

I thought that last year that Sierra Leone just.

Well, yeah, but I think there at all, I do think sovereignty and

journalism are going to by the end of the year at this point I

think it was even as how good the older horse division is this

year, I think sovereignty and journalism will beat the older.

Horse I will say sovereignty looks like an older horse and

journalism trains like one. Yes, they both do I I think.

They're I think they're going to run 1-2 in the classic if

they're both there. God, I hope you're right, Steve.

What say you? Who would win the Classic if

we're at the end of this month? Fierceness.

Guy, there you go. I like it.

I like it a lot. All right, Steve, how was this

exercise for you? Did you did you lose sleep?

How did this go? No, it's great.

You know, unfortunately one of the things I guess it it, it

kind of reinforces when you start looking through it is

gosh, they just don't run the. Yeah.

Did we lose Steve? All right, looks like we lost

Steve. There you go, Steve Kornacki.

A little technical issue to close there, but it's he makes a

good point, which is how much of the the the eclipse voting

happens because of the second-half of the year.

And frankly, I think unfortunately, Sean, so many

people just look at the Breeders Cup and go there.

Yeah. And I think that's to me, it's a

frustrating part of being a voter is when I know people are

just looking at the Breeders Cup and not really going all the way

through it. Let's bring Frank Angsten from

Blood Horse and bloodhorse.com. He's our editor.

He should be yours as well. How did you like the the debate

there? Any of those opinions that stood

out is really terrible to you for.

I mean, I was, I was ready to jump in and back you on raging

torrent. OK.

Thank you. I appreciate you should.

There you go, Frank. Get out there for both of you.

I don't understand them not counting overseas races.

I mean, we're ranking the top US trained horses and if the

trainer and owner think they want to travel the world and win

a big race, you got to count it. So for with Raging Torrent, I

would actually list them as my horse of the year for the first

half since it's the Midway Eclipse Awards.

What are we calling them? Guys, I'm going to fudge the

rules a little bit and count the Malibu because of what, 5 days

before the new year? I don't do that in my actual

Eclipse voting but to me the horses put together 3

spectacular races and he's beating everybody and that meant

Mile was a terrific race till he won.

What went wrong with the fierceness?

I I don't understand it though. Let's celebrate the horse and

went out there and won it. Boy, I really agree with that

last point, especially how often I have to hear, oh, this horse

didn't shut up. No one horse did show up, and

his name is raging torrid. It's OK.

Like, yeah, that part is fine. Yeah.

No, I mean the the big take home is nothing's decided yet and

there's terrific horses. I understand Sean's vote for

Horse of the Year. I guess I would just say I've,

I've spent a lot of, we've, we've all spent a lot of time

just talking about how good this handicap division is.

So I'm a little reluctant to take horses that have only, that

have not raced in open conditions.

They've only raced against their own age.

They certainly look like terrific horses along with a few

other 3 year olds. So we're very much looking

forward to that. But in this little study, I I

wasn't prepared to to take a three-year old food raced

exclusively. Well, they've all pretty much

just raced exclusively with three-year olds at this point.

But I totally get it. I mean, I, I would if

Sovereignty showed up in a race tomorrow with these horses, he

would clearly be a favorite or among them.

Sure. Yeah.

No. I think that's totally right.

Now I get that, yeah. The good news there is there's a

lot of good horses and lots of divisions up in the air.

Yes, that's when I was going through this.

I was thinking, wow, we have a lot of really quality runners

this year. A lot, even some of these

divisions that don't get as much attention, a lot of the times,

there's some really good horses in those divisions, right?

Now, Absolutely. Yeah.

No, it's been really exciting. All right, Frank, tell us what

you're working on over at bloodhorse.com.

Well, you know, it's of course everyone's been saddened by the

the passing of Wayne Lucas and we really wanted to celebrate

his career in the magazine obviously.

So that that'll be coming together in, in the August

issue. Sean, are you able to share that

cover? There it is.

It's just a spectacular cover shot.

The Skip Dickstein got that photo about a year ago.

So the the whole issue is really filled with terrific photos from

Blood Horse. I mean, that's one of our

strengths is we have a vault that goes back more, you know,

literally more than 100 years. So, and for Wayne doesn't go

back quite that long, but it quite a long way.

So we have photos from throughout his career and

several stories in the issue, the obit we used some of Sean's

reaction that he gathered for the the website story and went

back and researched. I mean, obviously a lot has been

written over the years about Wayne and and blood horse

publications. So we really took a deep dive

there and and just went over his entire career.

Byron King's column looks back at Wayne's career.

So a lot of good stuff in this issue that that'll celebrate

Wayne. Yeah, that's really great.

I'm seeing inside the jocks room at Del Mar.

It is amazing how quickly we shift to the Saratoga Del Mar

part of the summer. Plenty of our listeners are in

Southern California. That looks like a cool piece

too, Frank. Yeah, it's a Jay Hubby story and

he looks at the Juan Hernandez is kind of the lead and then and

then he kind of goes into all the riders, terrific riders out

there. I think we got it showing of

that this year's Triple Crown races, some California horses

did well. So yeah, for sure the really

terrific story and long tradition of terrific riders in

Southern California, of course. Yeah, thanks for putting that up

that there's a if you're interested in getting that

special issue be should be sure to go ahead and and that.

QR code on the bottom of the screen.

If you're watching us on YouTube or Spotify or if you're

listening to us, make sure you head to bloodhorse.com to

subscribe to that magazine. You're going to want this Lucas

issue. That's for.

Sure yeah, magazine tab at the top of the homepage nice and

easy to find there Yeah, it, it stands out.

I bring up that jockey colony just because yeah, one stands

out as the, the, the percentage writer.

But we got Nintendo. Fraser was, is a first time

winner at Santa Anita. This most recent meet Umberto

obviously three top 2 finishes with journalism in the Breeders

Cup, excuse me, in the Triple Crown series.

I mean, it's been a very good year for those jockeys.

We saw Juan show up here on Derby weekend, pick off a couple

turf races. So I, yeah, like you said,

Frank, not just a long tradition.

It's really good right now too. Yeah, for sure.

Yeah. So exciting stuff.

Well, thank you, Frank. We'll be checking out the

magazine bloodhorse.com tab at the top if you happen to be

listening. Can't check it out right now,

but QR code on Spotify and on YouTube.

Thanks, Rick. Talk to you next week.

Sounds good. Thanks guys there.

You go Frank angst with us from over there at the blood horse

offices. Appreciate him for sure.

All right, so little mid season eclipse awards.

Yeah, horse of the year so far for a raging torn.

I like that. Why not?

Frank Hanks, I like that. He told me that at the office.

All you do, Orange. Yeah, I knew I was.

I was. Surprised, but yeah, I thought

that was an interesting topic or an interesting choice.

You know, I always view these as kind of North American awards.

Now I understand what he's saying about American trained

horses going elsewhere. You know, if he, if he had more

than just the Met mile win, I would maybe use that race in

Dubai. I would use that Dubai race

maybe to kind of give him the edge.

But like when I was giving my rebuttal to him earlier, that

was in the Sprint division. I just don't think he qualifies

for the Sprint award right now because this big win here in the

US was out of a mile. But if you're going to use those

two races to determine horse of the year, I couldn't argue with

that. All right.

You are not going to be sitting next to me for a couple of

months as you head to Saratoga. Well, I mean, I'll see you at

Haskell, not on this show, but I'll see you there.

Yeah, we're going to do the show from the library again this

year. You want to do that?

Yeah, we should, right? That library was.

Tom Tom's like, you know what, I'm sorry you have to sit in the

coolest horse racing library outside of Blood Horse.

I was like, you know what? Maybe.

By the way, where is that Twitter page?

Why hasn't anyone started the library, the Libraries of Horse

Racing Twitter page? I would follow that today.

Well, why don't you start? It I think it needs to be me

stop. Complaining about.

Not you know what? Be part of do something Twitter.

Louis, You know what? Why don't you just step out?

It'd be better. Oh, man.

All right. Well, Sean's off the Saratoga.

Obviously, we'll have tons of sound in different interviews

from up there throughout the summer.

No pressure and I'll obviously be here covering everything

happening in the 2 year old program at Ellis Park as well.

We'll get into Kentucky Dolls Preview Day when we get to that

point as well. Obviously shifting to Del Mar,

as you know, as we get into that time of year, some, almost

certainly we'll watch some trainers who are trying to see

if their horses are ready for that Breeders' Cup as part of

this meeting, right? To see if they're, you know,

ready for the track, what have you, especially in that 2 year

old program as we start to move along like you mentioned, you

know, hey, who's that trainer right now that's going to have

that 2 year old? I agree with you, by the way.

We just just, you know, just because we haven't seen it

doesn't mean Baffert's not sitting on one or two or five

and that by the time we get to Del Mar that he won't be ready.

I remember how disappointed he was Friday last year coming out

of Del Mar just going over on juvenile day.

He was so, so disappointed. Or not not on juvenile day on

two years ago at at San Anita. I'm sorry on juvenile day gets

got the retribution. This last year at Del Mar,

obviously running 1-2 in the 1/2.

Three or 124. 124 was it? Yeah, it was 1/2.

For Hill Rd. got up for. 30 Oh, that's right.

Hill Rd. That's right.

And so yeah, we're just assuming that that horse isn't around and

of course he is, so we'll see that when we get there as well.

Sean Collins, I'm Blue Rabo. We'll be heavy, heavy, heavy

Saratoga, heavy Del Mar and of course, we'll be watching that 2

year old program over there at Del Mar, excuse me, at Ellis

Park as well. Get in on the magazine QR code

at the bottom of the screen as well.

Well, Sean, safe travels, my friend.

Thank you. I'll see you in a couple of

weeks. I'm Louis Rabel.

This has been BLOOD HORSE Monday.

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