KY Racing Spotlight 8/15/25 | Nic Lynch

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powered by. Welcome to the Kentucky Racing

Spotlight with Louis Ribo presented by the Kentucky HPA.

Now here's Louis Rabo. Good evening and welcome into

the Kentucky Racing Spotlight for August 15th of 2025.

My name is Louis Rabo. Thanks for joining us here from

the studios of ESPN 680 and 105.7.

You can catch me every weekday 11:50 on a show called Rabo and

Co General Sports Talk. Certainly a lot of college

hoops, lots of college football, NFL, whatever it might be on

that show. We certainly sprinkle in the

horse racing as well. We'd love to have you as part of

that program during the day. But of course, this is the

Racing Spotlights presented by the Kentucky HBPAKYHBP a.com.

Go check out the website for a bunch of great stories and a

bunch of great photos, videos, all the great things from around

the Commonwealth of the great people that make our sport go

here in Kentucky. Find them there, KYHBP a.com.

And you'll hear from Nick Lynch today.

He is the assistant to his dad, Bryan Lynch had a terrific day

at Ellis Park on Sunday. We'll get into all of those

races to open the show as part of their Ellis Park Derby Day.

And then we'll close with Barry Spears.

We'll talk about the late pick four at Ellis Park on Saturday,

get you ready for the weekend, a little handicapping with him.

We put our tickets together. We'll share those with you as we

close the show as well. But I wanted to get into my trip

to Ellis on Sunday. I had a great time and it's a

reminder of how easy it is from Louisville to get there and how

easy it is to get around and hang out and do the different

things. Ellis Park, if you haven't been,

is really cool. Frankly, it's a, it's a spot

that if you are into horse racing is about the horse

racing. But if you're on the 1st floor,

it's a covered area. There are small restaurants and

bars, little, you know, food displays, those kinds of things

on the 1st floor almost looks a bit like like you're at an

amusement park, a small amusement park.

But if you get upstairs to the grandstand, it's covered, it's

in shade, it's a nice breeze up there.

All the things. It's a huge course, mile and an

eighth. It's like Saratoga.

They've got the mile shoot, of course, looks a lot like the

Wilson shoot at Saratoga, etcetera.

But something we've talked about on the show over and over is

with the raised purses, it isn't just a trip and stop the pee

patch anymore as far as those things are concerned.

Still feels like Ellis, still looks like Ellis.

You still see the sides for Dade Park, but man, it's growing up a

bit and the racing feels different.

And you see the trainer's there that you didn't used to see

hanging out at Ellis, usually either some time away or someone

was at Saratoga, etcetera. But Brad Cox was there the whole

day. Brian Lynch was there the whole

day and luckily those two guys were there against.

They went ahead and picked off a bunch of the stakes races, but

it spoke to how important the day was for those men and for

their connections. And early on, before the late

Pick 5 started in all stakes, we had the Debutante.

It came up kind of a light field of 6 and there was one on the

outside in chopsticks that we all wondered, hey, is this just

the obvious? This is who's going to run away

with? The answer was yes.

She got the lead in the stretch and and never looked back.

Kingsolver under Tyler Gaffe. Leone ran really, really well

for Rudy per SE as well. I expected those two to be near

the top, but frankly, it wasn't even close.

But Chopsticks does get the win and you start to have to wonder.

And we talked to Brad on this show recently in the last couple

weeks, you, you start to wonder about the Breeders Cup and, and

especially that Friday, that juvenile day, right?

Does is this a a juvenile Phillies contender in

chopsticks? She certainly looks the part.

And the selective LLC folks are going to have a question they're

going to have to ask themselves. Is this one that we're going to

send to Del Mar Now? Certainly we'll either see her

and in September at Churchill Downs or we'll see her at

Keeneland that first weekend that Keeneland runs back fall.

I haven't gotten an answer from Brad where he plans to run her

next, but my sense is from the Cox folks that will see her

again this fall. And certainly she's on that

path. He kind of giggled when I said

are you working backwards from the Breeders Cup with anyone?

And he didn't want to say that he was and certainly his

prerogative not to tell me that. But my sense is that chopsticks,

almost more than any horse in the in the Cox barn has a great

shot at a big check in the Breeders Cup.

It's a heck of a thing to say actually.

But I thought she looked really great at Elvis Park.

And she can continue. She can continue that great

tradition that's come up. You'll hear, like I said, from

Nick Lynch in the next part of this show.

And you'll notice what I say about Owen Almighty and what he

came out of. And it was this race that

Comport just won for jockey Tyler Gaffe Leon, who won six

races on Sunday. And you know, on this show I've

talked a lot about, especially in the spring and in different

things, but a jockey who's made a really great decision with his

career is Jose Ortiz. Moving to Churchill with his

tack and then moving this last winter, the fairgrounds has been

an unbelievable boon for him, for his family, etcetera.

It's been great. It's one of the best stories of

2024 and it continues this year. He's been great at Saratoga as

well. And you get a sense that he came

here, he got great mounts, he got great confidence and he got

to New York and got to keep doing that.

But on Sunday, Tyler, who we had on this show a couple weeks ago,

he showed that he's still Tyler got Felon.

And that was a cool part of Sunday.

And one of those rides was aboard Comport, who he rode for

Eddie Connealy. And this is a horse that ran

away one by two were lengths over Spice Runner, the the

Asmussen trainee. They had to go 6 1/2 further

lengths back to Papa Ken, also trained by Steve Asmussen, and

this is one that I was for some reason less impressed with than

the chopsticks. But Kaport certainly did

everything right. This sort of collected, flatter

mare. Can we get to a mile at a 16th

with this one by November is a really fair question.

Kaport to me looks like a sprinter, but again, we got

collected. We've got flatter in the family

lines. This is one that could probably

stretch out at some point. Oh boy, he looked real

comfortable Sprint and did he got that lead near the top of

the stretch and never looked back.

In fact, opened up. It was one of those it was one

of those times that I think we're going to look back on and

go, OK, OK, this is what we have 22 and 446 flat and a sub 110

final time there. Excuse me, 110, five furlongs,

but 122 and change for the final time.

And to me, this just screams a horse that's going to be good

again in the fall. Now Eddie's going to have some

decisions to make on that end, but for now at least, Kaport is

your Ellis Park juvenile winner. Falls on the line of some very,

very fine horses that way as well.

And then we got later in the card and we got to the Cowboy

Jones, and this one to me was really interesting.

We had a ton of scratches unfortunately, including

Vanishing, so we missed out on seeing Vanishing at the distance

of a mile and that's what I really wanted to see.

I really wanted to find out, especially since at Ellis,

because of the configuration, the horse would have had to do

more than just the one turn mile thing that you do at Churchill,

for example, where it's more of an easing onto the track as far

as the angling as opposed to what happens at Ellis.

Because frankly, if you're going to try the Dirt Mile, for

example, in the Breeders Cup, you're going to have to go to

full turns at Del Mar. That's how it works.

That's all they're set up and I was wondering if Banishing could

be one of those horses. And now I simply don't know.

I simply don't know. But Tumba Rumba gets the win.

You'll hear from Nick in the next segment about him.

There's another Tyler job caught him right at the right at the

line over Prince of Power, who I thought was the other major

contender in here, Javier Pedrone.

Barsenas had the ride there. I thought he did masterfully.

It's just once in a while Tyler's on a horse and they

catch you, but 135 and one over the mile is very fast,

especially that Ellis Park dirt on a hot day and impressive for

Bryan Lynch. I'll leave most of the analysis

there for Nick in the next segment, but the Lynchers went

ahead and won the Derby in the next race anyway with a horse

named Big Truss. And you'll hear me talk about

him a little bit with Barry Spears in the final segment of

this show. But we're always looking, are we

not, for that three-year old that might show up in the

second-half of the year. They tried Big Truss over a 4th

of July weekend at Horseshoe Indianapolis in the Indiana

Derby, and all the connections have told me the same thing.

That's a little too quick. I wasn't ready.

Oh, this, oh, this. We always knew he had something.

And they should have every bit of confidence in this son of

Justify. Of course, what planet is this?

Of course we should have this sort of Justify out of us, out

of a curling mare. Of course they should feel good

about him, right? So easy to say, so different

when you see what he did in the Indiana Derby.

Look terrible, folks. He looked terrible.

He was way up the track. And I was against him that day.

I felt really smart. I was not against him on Sunday.

I'm glad I wasn't 1 by 7. And I want to remember, remind

everyone there was thought that Admiral Dennis was the next

horse. It didn't matter, man.

He was 7 back. He was fighting Jimmy's dailies

per second and he didn't do it, didn't get it done.

And while many of us were really hoping that it was going to be

Admiral Dennis that jumped up Lomach out of all the things,

instead we were introduced to a monster performance by Big Truss

and we were treated to quite, quite the performance.

And I wonder with him, the breeding, all of the things, is

this a horse? We already heard from the Flying

Dutchman folks, they're going to bring back Owen Almighty as a

four year old. Are we planning on the same

thing with Big Truss? I hope we are because they're

talking AKAC with him. They're talking those kinds of

races. As we card more and more races

at a mile on the dirt for horses, why could there not be a

resurgence for someone like a Big Truss or a Surgeons in

general? Right, Not resurgence.

He's just three years old. He hasn't run except this year.

So it'll be interesting to see what they do with him, how he

responds. He was back on the track

Thursday morning after his performance on Sunday.

All reports or thumbs up. He and Tabarombo will work out

together, or at least a little jog together, I should say.

What could big trust turn into this fall?

You'll hear from Nick in the next segment.

He's a fascinating 1 is big trust because it's one thing to

win the Ells Park Derby, it's another thing to to parlay that

into a win at 9 furlong, say in the Pennsylvania Derby.

We're going to have to run into like a Gozger or something like

that. Is he ready for that?

It's a great it's a legitimate question.

The breeding says he's ready, but Damon Gozger, he's not the

third best 3 year old of this crop.

He's the 4th behind by ASA something like that right?

But where does big trust at? I think it's a fair question.

I think that if you have a variety of disparate opinions,

I'm not going to fight you on it.

The penultimate race is the groupie doll on Sunday.

And this is the older race here. And we saw a win for Impel.

And we talked to Brad after the race, trainer Brad Cox.

And what's interesting about her is to hear these trainers.

And frankly, you'll hear it from Nick in the next segment about

big trust. I'm always interesting.

Oh, yeah, We knew she could do this.

Why did you know? Help me out, help out the

layperson. How do how am I supposed to know

that this was available to her that this kind of performance

where she runs down Miguel, who by the way, won last out of

Pimlico, an Alpine Princess who was the favorite and deserved

favorite had run over that Indiana Grand Horseshoe

Indianapolis weekend over July 4th as well.

A Flora Giroux really, really crafty ride here.

Got the horse into the four path around two other horses was able

to make the move at the top of the stretch and pulled away.

That was the place to make the move on Sunday was the very top

of the stretch at Ellis Park. You weren't really making much

of A move once you got inside of an eighth and Appel was part of

that and it was very, very tight with regaled all the way down.

But you got it done. And I think they deserve credit

and credit to Juddmont for sticking with her and and trying

to distance. It's now a storied race, the

44th running of the groupie doll.

The closer was the autumn in Oaks.

And so of course the three-year old girls were out there and we

had another runaway winner. And this is another horse that

took the lead at the top of the stretch and took over in Surgeon

Moon. It's a daughter of Instagram.

And I used to have a lot of fun with how dumb I think the name

Instagram is. But I think the seven furlong

thing for an Instagram baby makes a lot of sense.

I'm still adjusting to some of these horses that are able to go

longer despite despite the the breeding right.

We talked about Owen Almighty. You get a spikes town to go Ted

furlongs and finish as well as he did.

The Derby is not usual. He's got a bunch of time up

because of it. I I understand, but with

Sturgeon Moon being a daughter of Instagram Warriors reward on

the damn side. She screams, screams sprinter to

me. So this was the perfect spot for

them. And seven furlongs you would

think would be as far as you would want to go, except she

would buy open legs by three legs.

Could she go a mile? Could she go, frankly, 8 1/2?

So many Philly and mayor races are run at 8 1/2 at a mile and a

16th. Why couldn't Sturgeon Moon be

part of that group? I think she can be, and that's

kind of what I learned about her on Saturday.

I got to get over the Instagram thing because I do think she can

go a little bit further than she did on Sunday.

The seven furlongs is a good starting point for her, but

certainly getting further than that will allow her to run in a

lot more conditions next year and get her set up for really

fruitful 4 year old campaign. I'm lyra bow this is the

Kentucky racing spotlight. We're presented by the Kentucky

HBP AKYHBP a.com. You'll hear from Nick lynch in

the second segment. Barry Spears in the final will

handicap the late pick for on Saturday at Ellis park.

You'll hear from nick lynch about a variety of horses and

we'll start to get you ready for that trip down to Kentucky

downs. Gosh, we're only a few days away

from the start of that meet as well, so we'll put a wrap on

Ellis park next weekend and then by the time we get done with

that we'll be talking all things Kentucky downs with you.

I'm Lyra Bow. This is the Kentucky race 65.

We'll be back with Nick Lynch next.

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Welcome back to the Kentucky Racing Spotlight on ESPN 680 and

105.7. Now here's Louis Roubo.

Hi, welcome back to the August 15th edition of the Kentucky

Racing Spotlight. My name's Louis Roubo in the

studios of ESPN 680 and 105.7. You can hear me every weekday

here. 11:50 Audra Bow and Co General Sports show.

Lots of hoops, lots of football for sure.

We do mix in the sport. Excuse me, the horse racing.

We'd love to have you as a part of that program.

We're presented today as we always are on this show by the

Kentucky HBPAKYHBP a.com. Go check them out.

Great, great website, articles, photos, videos from all the

great people around our state making our great sport go here

in the Commonwealth. One of those people is Nick

Lynch. He joins us from the Lynch Barn,

Of course, there. He's at the barn right now.

Are you not, Nick? I mean, this is this is my life.

I interview men who are walking around on phones near horses.

How are you today? I'm doing great, Louis.

Thanks for having me. And yeah, that pretty much.

This is the lifestyle, people. That's exactly right.

Well, I, I think your story, like many that I hear in this

sport, Nick, I'll share a little bit about myself.

I didn't even attend a horse race until I was in my 20s.

It was just not a sport that I grew up around.

Once I moved to the area, really fell in love with it.

Certainly going to the track and spending that time.

How did Nick Lynch get into the game?

I was kind of just bored into it, kind of really came from a

horse family on both sides. And as I grew up I kind of

figured it out more and got more and more involved and kind of

figured out I'd rather be there than school most of the time.

So I went to UK, finished up there and kind of went straight

to the track. I worked for Brett and Walsh a

bit throughout school. So you know, the whole time I

was. Pretty, pretty keen to get back

on the track and that's what I did.

I worked for Brendan for a year out of college and then I've

been with my dad since the since last May of 2024.

Yeah, your, your, your dad did. Was it his idea for you to work

for Brendan for a year or was it just you already had the

relationship from being in Lexington?

I just had the relationship already with, I was always very

friendly with Paul Madden who's one of his main assistants at

Keeneland and Fairgrounds in the winter.

So I I just called him up 1, 1 spring and started working for

them a summer and went back to school and as soon as I

graduated I called them up again and it was right after Pretty

Mischievous had won the Oaks. So just seemed like a team I

really wanted to be involved with and it was a great

experience overall. Yeah.

When you talk about the Walsh barn, the operation, just a

couple give us an idea, 123 things maybe that you learned

working down there. Just that, you know, Brendan's a

very organized kind of trainer. You know, he has quite a large

stable. So he's very, very, you know,

very particular about things. And but he does everything, you

know, in a very kind of managed sort of way.

And he does a great job of overseeing multiple strings and

you know, he goes over every horse before they go out and

he's very, very thorough with everything he does.

And it was a really good to see like a different shed row just

because you grew up with one thing and it was just nice to

see how other trainers operated. I, you know, the word I would

use with him, Nick is consistent.

You know, I, I've, I've been with him and I'm not making any

of these places up. Backside Churchill Downs at

Derby Week, a winner's circle after the Indiana Oaks this

year. I was in line with him waiting

for a flight back to Louisville after the Preakness of all

things. And he was the exact same guy in

every single situation. He looked the same, He was

dressed the same, his demeanor was the same.

I think consistency with Brendan is really the the keyword I

would use. Yeah, for sure.

I mean like he's a very hard working trainer.

He's there to do. He's at one of his strings every

day for sure throughout the week.

And you know, I always kind of thought it was like working for

him. It kind of felt like the

equivalent of working for like your pro sports team.

Just the the way he had it managed in the organization sort

of levels that he had to it. It really was a very eye opening

kind of experience, just on a larger scale for me compared to

working around my dad before. Yeah, it's.

He's he's got quite the operation and like you said,

you, you know what you're getting with Brendan essentially

every day. Nick Lynch with us here on the

Kentucky Racing Spotlight. My name is Louis Rabo, thanks

for hanging out with us as part of your Friday evening.

Owen Almighty really probably changed your life in a lot of

ways. You started doing interviews

like this. I've seen your television

interviews with FanDuel and different things like that.

But I want to ask a very different question.

We'll get into his future plans here.

I talked with with Hunter Rankin on Monday as part of a Blood

Horse show that I do about his future plans.

But when when you've got on Almighty in the spring, and I've

always wanted to ask someone in the Lynch camp about this one of

the one of the the talking points ahead of the Derby every

year, Nick. And this isn't just about O and

Almighty. It's about every horse.

You're about to run 10 furlongs. It's almost certainly the

longest that the horse has ever run.

But on top of that, it might be the longest they ever run.

And I think in the case of an O and Almighty, for sure it will

be. What was that conversation like

around the Lynch team about whether, say a Derby was the

best spot of Pat de Mile, whatever it might be?

What are those conversations like behind the scenes?

I. Mean it was really a big group

after the team of Flying Dutchman Hunter Rankin, who's

kind of the the president of the farm and and Stanley Huff is

involved as well. They they worked with my dad

together and they kind of decided, as Hunter said, that

the, the family behind Flying Dutchman, they wanted to take a

shot. The horse had qualified and

they'd never been there before. And we figured, why not?

The horse is doing good. He came out of the Bluegrass in

good shape. So, you know, we were never

going to run him if we weren't happy with how he was doing.

And, you know, looking back on it now, the experience that it

that it gave everybody, it really was worth it.

I think the whole process. So everyone was just really

thrilled with the outcome that he was able to hold on for

fifth. And there was a point where he

was on the lead. So, but it was definitely, it

wasn't an easy decision. It was, you know, but decisions

were made one day and flipped the next.

And but in the end, I think everyone was very, very

satisfied with the outcome. OK, so walk us through that

moment. They turned from home for home,

and the number 20 saddle cloth is right there.

That Flying Dutchman logo is right there.

Did you have a moment of Oh my God, we might win this thing?

Yeah, I mean, of course you. It goes through your head.

Yeah, I was, I was rooting him home pretty good.

But just, you know, when, when that group of horses did start

to pass him, just I was so focused on him.

The fact that he just finished so close after kind of sitting

up to that hot pace. So we were just so proud of him

really because a lot of people had written him off before the

race. And but for him to prove that he

is that caliber of three-year old, you know, here, he really

stepped up that day, that's for sure.

We were thrilled. We we talked with Hunter, like I

said the other day on Blood Horse Monday, he mentioned a

couple of different spots for him either at Charlestown or at

Saratoga. Do you have a personal

preference where he lands next or is it like going to nominate

for both and see how the fields turn out?

What are we looking at? I think it's more of just wait

and see how the fields turn out. I, I really try to leave that

kind of thinking up to the up to the boss because my kind of main

job is to just make sure he's doing as good so he can be doing

on a day-to-day sort of basis. And he's doing great.

I mean, like the little break that he took after the Derby

really did him well, kind of settled him down.

And he's come back and picked right up into his training.

And, you know, he's had steady, steady program breezes every

week since we've started him back up and we've been really,

really happy with how he's come back.

So I think no matter where he runs, he's going to run good.

I think getting the race in Charlestown might just be a bit

of a softer landing spot coming off the the layoff.

But, you know, if he does end up going to Saratoga, I think he's

going to make some noise because he's doing really well.

He's the son of Spikestown, but you saw it in the Derby, right?

You're not worried about the two Turn 7 furlongs in Charlestown

at all, right? I mean, you've seen in the

Derby, you know, he can go the two turns, Yeah.

Yeah, and he, he's an athletic little horse.

He's not very big, but he's very, he's very agile and he's a

very good mover. So I think, you know, that kind

of configuration might actually help him out there because I

think he'll, he'll take the turns pretty well.

So either way, we're pretty excited to run him, you know,

whether it's the Charlestown or Saratoga for sure.

He's out of that Elvis, that Ellis Park Juvenile Stakes last

summer and you know that 2 year old program at Ellis.

It's something we talk a lot about on this program, whether

it was with, you know, Brad Cox last week or Tyler got Fell

Leone a couple weeks ago. Just the elevation of that

program here in the state of Kentucky.

Are you sensing that amongst your connections as well amongst

ownership that hey, you're running for 100K at Ellis Park,

no need to ship to New York. Are you getting a lot of that?

Oh, for sure. I mean, over the last few years,

Alice has just become, you know, it's become a fixture of our

schedule throughout the year. We have a lot of success there

and it serves it as a really good kind of stepping stone for

us towards Kentucky Downs. So definitely for our owners,

we've definitely been able to to persuade some people to keep

horses down here and run in races that'll get them ready for

Kentucky Downs and avoid the ship and all the kind of costs

with that. But the the stakes program is,

is is really good this time of year and you know, it offers a

lot of different options for different kind of horses to take

a shot for some good money. So without having to ship

anywhere, which I think is a really is a really attractive

thing to a lot of people. You had a couple of stakes

winners at Ellis. His name is Nick Lynch, by the

way, joins us here on the Kentucky Racing Spotlight.

We'll get to Kentucky towns in just a moment, but Tummarubba

goes ahead and wins over the weekend and the Cowboy Jones

will get into your big Derby win with big trials in just a

second. But, you know, a horse like

Tumba Rama, this is a, you know, a hard knocker 17 times hit the

board and 23 starts. You mentioned how proud you were

of Owen Almighty after the Derby.

A horse like Tumba, Rama, just you get an honest effort every

single time from this guy, do you not?

Oh for sure. I mean, he's become a staple of

the barn and it was really the fact that he hadn't really won

in a year and a half since the winter at Gulfstream in 2024.

And we, you know, we've had he's run some huge races since then

where we thought he was going to get there.

And then, you know, a horse comes up on the rail he didn't

see and gets him at the end. And you know, he ran a huge race

to finish fourth in the Dirt Mile at Del Mar last fall.

So we've always thought very highly of this horse and he's

just always kind of been knocking at the door recently.

And for him to to get it done on, on Sunday, it was, you know,

it was kind of a lot of stress lift off to our shoulders to

finally just get him back in the winner's circle and hopefully we

can kind of point towards a nice fall campaign for the rest of

the year. You mentioned a fall campaign,

are you working now backwards from Breeders' Cup with the hope

to go back to Del Mar or are you just looking forward with him?

I'd say, you know, if if the cards play that way and he he's

doing good and he he stacks up with the kind of horses that are

going to go to that race at that time of the year, I'd say we'd

be all for it. But we're probably just looking

one race at a time at this point.

We haven't really made any formal decisions.

But you look at a race like the ACAC in this next September

meet, he ran in that race last year and actually ran pretty

well on off track. So not confirming anything, but

you know, races like that kind of what we're sort of looking

for right now. So the other winner, of course,

on Sunday was big Truss gets the breakthrough win in the Ellis

Park Derby. And usually I wouldn't call it a

a breakthrough win in a in a listed stakes Nick, but this was

an impressive win over a horse of the quality of Admiral

Dennis. I know post race.

I talked with Brian post race and and he's, you know, said all

of the things I largely expected him to see to say, which was,

Hey, we've known the the abilities there, all of these

kinds of things. Can you walk the layperson like

me through, hey, we know the talents there, you just didn't

see it in the Indiana Derby, etcetera.

Can you talk us through what you see with that horse that gave

you the the thought, or at least Brian, the thought that he could

put in the kind of performance he did on Sunday?

Just the the works that he does in the mornings every week.

He just does things in a way that only talented horses do it.

And the way not only that, but just the way he would come out

of them and he just takes that. He would take that next step

forward every week. And he just stood up to a lot of

good training this winter in the spring and kind of just asked

for more each week. And you know, that race at

Keeneland, you can see how green he was coming down the stretch.

I mean, it looked like when we saw that, we figured, you know,

got a pretty good one on our hands if we can just iron out

some of the kinks. And then.

But you know, you go through some really frustrating kind of

moments like up in Indiana where he didn't fire at all and you're

really scratching your head kind of second guessing yourself a

little bit. But you know, my dad kind of,

he's told me before, you can't give up on him.

So you just got to throw a race like that out and just kind of

manage him like he's the horse you think he is.

And I think going into this race at Ellis, we real, I think we

got a lot more out of his works. We were able to kind of kind of

crank it back a bit. He went into Indiana, he had

breezed a 46 and change and a 59 going into that race and we got

him to kind of settle down and go 48 and minute and four.

And, you know, I think just that prep into it kind of made the

difference. And his energy levels going into

the race this past weekend, he he was acting like a horse that

wanted to do something. So we were pretty quietly

confident that he was going to show up.

You run them in the Woody Stevens, obviously a grade one

at 7 furlongs. You run them in the grade 3

Indiana Derby in a mile and a 16th over two turns.

He does the 1 1/2 turn thing at Ellis Park over a mile and goes

ahead and wins that. Does that play into where you're

looking next for him? Because you know those of us in

this sport that follow the sport at least that already in the way

that you are, are always looking for that late blooming 3 year

old in the fall, baby, a Pennsylvania Derby kind of

horse. Is there a next step for big

trows you think? Yeah, I think I read something

that Hunter said that if he's doing, if he's doing good and

we're happy with him, we, we might take a chance with the

Pennsylvania Derby. And I think, you know, when you

have a horse like this and they break their maiden in the

spring, you hope that by the time, you know, by August and

September, they've kind of developed in the sort of horse

you can take into these later summer fall sort of derbies.

And you know, he, what he did on Sunday, he kind of gave us every

reason to, to think we can try to take a shot again around two

turns. And like I said before, you just

throw just, you know, throw across through that last race in

Indiana. And but like Hunter said, it's

all going to be determined on how he's doing at the time.

And we're not going to make any sort of decisions now.

We'll just see what he tells us. Generally speaking, Tumbarumba

Big trust. Did they come out well the other

day? Oh.

Yeah, they're both back on the tracks today, jogging, first day

back, so now they're doing great.

They came out good. That's awesome.

Cool highway robber. Well, now as we move to the

Kentucky Downs, part of the conversation with Nick Lynch

assisted in the Lynch Bar and of course, here on the Kentucky

Racing Spotlight. I'm Louis Rabo Hwy.

Robber wins that preview Turf Cup for the second straight

year. And boy, I mean, a real, real

close shot last year, sending him down to down to the Kentucky

Downs, I assume. Yeah.

Yeah, that that's the plan. If, if, if things keep going

like they're going, we'll be there and hopefully going to

just be able to be that much closer this year and, and trying

to take it down. You're in such a huge race last

year and he, he was in such good form last year.

And I'm, I'm really thinking he's getting in the same kind of

form this year too, as as he's raced into fitness this spring

and summer. It's it's funny to it's, it's

nice to hear a trainer, assistant trainer, whatever,

talk about running into shape, Such a nice thing to hear rather

than training into shape. It's so such a good thing to

hear about him. But he's a cool horseman.

And you're look with Brian now you know, you have an Australian

dad. Of course we think turf racing

when we think that part of the world.

But now he's winning all these races on dirt.

Is he is he falling out of love with places like Kentucky Downs

or are we doing OK still? It all just depends on the kind

of horses you're getting. I read an article, The trainer,

I think North American trainer did a profile on him and a quote

that stood out to me was I think most of the time I end up with

grass horses because they were too slow on the dirt.

But you know, as, as we've gotten owners like the, the

Flying Dutch Flying Dutchman operation, you know, we've

gotten more kind of traditional American dirt pedigrees put into

the barn. And you know, I'm really happy

with how how things are going with that.

And but like I said, it's all just the horses that they're in

your barn. I think if you look up his

stats, he's actually a higher percentage trainer on the dirt

within the last three years up in the grass so.

Nick, Nick Lynch with us here on the Kentucky Racing Spotlight.

Highway robber, of course, was a a winner a couple of oh gosh,

I'm now mixing up my horses. Let's move on to the I

apologize. Let's move on to Anglophile

here, who is also in your stable of horses that I assume you

would like to have there at Kentucky Downs, considering he

won that Nashville Derby two years ago, by the way, that race

being three and a half million dollars, Nick, that's pretty

bonkers, is it not? Yeah, I know.

We always joke about how the year we wanted as a million and

then every year it's gotten worth more.

So it's. The whole thing.

But there's a a decent chance at least that Anglophile might get

invited to the Kentucky Turf Cup.

Are you hoping to run him down at Kentucky Downs No matter

what, frankly. Yeah, for sure.

If we can get invited into the Turf Cup, I'm sure that's

something we'll strongly consider.

But you know, there's other races there like the is it the

Nashville Gold Cup? Is that the race the two the two

mile and the 16th race? I mean we had angle file entered

in the Belmont Gold Cup on the Belmont weekend at Saratoga and

they rained off the grass and we scratched in the receiving barn.

So running in that kind of far is something that we've thought

about in the past and we'll just have to see how it all plays

out. And I wouldn't be surprised to

see him in either spot. But definitely pointing towards

Kentucky Downs with him. So you do think they just

distance, distance, distance? Just get him as much as we can,

huh I? I just think he's a stayer and

against the right group. He could be the one that that

just has that little bit left and can finish.

You know, they don't really, you know, we barely get to see

horses run that sort of distance here in North America.

So I think a lot of people are kind of just trying the same

thing we are. And you know, if he runs in a

race like that, hopefully he's just he's the one that has a bit

left. Yeah, he was really good in the

oh, the great two man at war at Aqueduct this year and so back

in May and frankly right behind far bridge at a mile and three

a. So yeah, he does seem like one

that can get the distance for sure and frankly would enjoy it.

So hopefully that'll work out for him as well.

But man, Nick, we really appreciate you jumping on the

show today. Is there a horse that I haven't

mentioned? Maybe a 2 year old.

The barn that we need to know about.

I'll keep my mouth quiet. I think I'll just let the the

horses do the talking as the as the entry start to roll in.

But Philly that probably will be pointed towards Kentucky Downs

that always runs a bang up race. There is a Philly named Holy

Foley, and she's a Philly that we kind of every year we try to

pointer towards where those marathon allowance sort of races

there. And if I was going to I guess

give one out, it might be her. There you go, Holy Foley in your

face, Greg, how about that? That's in the Lynch bar, not in

yours. How about that?

Well, there you go, Nick, we appreciate you jumping on the

program and, you know, safe, safe trips for everybody.

And I'm sure I'll run into you at Churchill soon.

For sure, thanks for having me all and look forward to meeting

you in person. Yeah, thanks Nick.

Appreciate you very much. There you go Nick Lynch with us

here on the Kentucky Racing Spotlight.

Appreciate him jumping on with us this week.

Spectacular partnership that they have and it's working

incredibly well with Flying Dutchman.

They are making many, many great moves together and and you can

see with their three-year olds this year just a a spectacular

job managing them. Big trials, not breaking his

mate until the spring, not ready to run till his three-year old

year, keeping the trust in that horse and running, winning the

Ellis Park Derby like they did. There's a lot of really good

things happening in the Lynch barn.

So I appreciate Nick jumping on with us.

I'm sure we'll see them prominently down at Kentucky

Downs. Of course, we'll continue our

coverage through that season. You'll get the inside Churchill

Downs guys back in September for part of that September meet

there at Churchill as well. We're presented by the Kentucky

HBPA, KYHBP, a.com. We'll be back.

We will do some handicapping. My friend Barry Spears joins the

program. The late pick four on Saturday

at Ellis Park is our target. We do it next on the Racing

SPOTLIGHT. I'm Louis Rabo.

Welcome back to the Kentucky Racing Spotlight on ESPN 680 and

105.7. Now here's Louis.

Rabo All right, my thanks to Nick Lynch for joining us in the

previous segment. This is a replay of the

handicapping segment from last night's Horse Racing Happy Hour

podcast. You can catch me over there all

the time. Go ahead and subscribe to that

platform. You will get all of the horse

racing content that I do, whether it's here on ESPN 680 or

if it's anywhere else, whether it's Blood Horse Monday, the

Horse Racing Happy Hour, or any of the other programs including

SoCal Saturday's that I work on. So if you want to be caught up

on horse racing around the country, certainly check out the

Horse Racing Happy Hour platform wherever you get your podcast.

Certainly Spotify, the easiest way.

If you want to know what I look like, you can watch any of our

video podcast series over there, catch us on YouTube, etcetera.

But here's Barry Spears. He's handicapping the late pick

four with me. This was on the Horse racing

Happy Hour last night. Again, this is the Kentucky

Racing Spotlight presented by the Kentucky HPA.

That's what they tell me at least.

Welcome in impromptu edition of the Horse Racing Happy Hour.

When it's impromptu, you know it means Barry Spears.

My name is Linda Revo. Thanks for hanging out with us

tonight. We're going to go through the

late pick four at Ellis Park on a Saturday.

This is also part of the Kentucky Racing Spotlight.

So if you listen on Friday, we appreciate you hanging out with

that. Thanks to my guest in the

previous segment. Barry, how about this?

We're going to be doing radio live during a podcast yesterday

was Nick Lynch since a trainer of course for his dad.

Brian talked about lots of things.

And one of the horses we talked about Barry was one that I'm

very excited to see return to the track.

And his name is Owen Almighty and we saw him win the Tampa Bay

Derby earlier this year. We, we saw that very public back

and forth between Brian Lynch, of course, the trainer and the

Flying Dutchman. Folks were like, no, no, he can

get the distance, but I was like 10 day mile, how about that?

And then they ran him in the Derby turning for Hobie's

totally live berries right there at the top of the stretch in the

lead. And he holds on for fifth man,

frankly, in the 20 horses, 19, I guess this year, 19 horsfield #1

good check in the Derby #2 lots of really good horses having

cracked the top five in the Derby.

And so all the things I'm excited to see him back.

They're talking maybe 7 furlongs to Charlestown, maybe running

back up at Saratoga again. I'm not sure, but I'm just

excited to stay back. I think he's going to be a

really nice horse, but before and said he's going to run as a

four year old, which is awesome. That's that's totally awesome.

But 11 embarrassing fun fact is I introduced my family to my

Australian accent because of Bryan Lynch and Owen Almighty.

I did an imitation after he won at at Tampa.

At Tampa, Sure. And and I said basically Owen

Almighty and the Pat Day Mile in my Bryan Lynch accent.

My wife and child did not understand a word I said.

And then I played the I played the the clip of him saying it

and then they were like, OK, I get it now.

I was. Like.

I have a good one. I I don't know if I'll pull it

out here. Please don't.

I always laugh at these. Please don't pull anything out.

The the thing I always laugh about with these is, you know,

the owners want to go to the Derby.

And I'm not mad at the owners for wanting to go to the Derby.

But it is funny to hear the, the mental gymnastics of a trainer

who says, yeah, we're going to the mile and then all of a

sudden they're going 10 for a long deal.

It's all, it's all like, hey, Barry, I need to switch Wi-Fi so

you can go ahead and react to me making fun of Jock.

Excuse me, jockey of owner and trainer situations.

But man, frankly, that 5th place, that's as good as we can

expect from any sprinter, frankly, in the Derby.

Yeah, I, I don't really, I can't knock him.

I mean, he he really ran good. I think he's a really good

horse. He's a little one way as far as

his running style unless he's matured over this break and he

can show the ability to rate that would be excellent.

But we'll see. I mean, I'm excited.

I mean it's just adds to the older horse division, which is

very, very strong right now. So you know that I hope that

trend continues where we get these good 3 year olds turning

the good 4 year olds to good five year olds and and keep that

ball rolling. I also think we're karting more

races at a mile on the dirt now that we have in previous year.

So forces like Owen Almighty going forward can have a lot

more opportunity whether it be 1 turn to Churchill or turn and a

half and Ellis, what have you moving forward as well.

So yeah, no, I really enjoyed having Nick on.

I appreciate him jumping on short notice here on the

Kentucky Racing Spotlight. Of course, also the horse racing

happy hour. Barry Spears, Leor Beau hanging

out with you. Late pick for Saturday at Ellis

Park. We'll start with Race 7 here on

the card. It's a claimer and we are going.

According to the forum, it's made an optional 50,000 personal

44,000 mile on the turf course here.

Barry at Ellis Park. Tough one here, I thought, and

probably the race where you and I are both going to spread the

most in the late pitfall. Yeah, this is a real tough race.

I mean, anytime you have maidens going a mile on the turf for the

first time, doesn't matter what age they are, it's always going

to be chaos. Typically, unless there's, you

know, there's sometimes you get a horse that's that's very well

meant from a big barn. But we don't have that kind of

situation here, thankfully. Yeah, no, that's exactly right.

You know, like I said, mile on the turpier Berry.

Where'd you land on top at least?

I think on top I would go with #8 tearing up my heart.

This horse really didn't get a chance to run for Brad Cox first

time out at Ellis on July 5th. You know, was it was slow to

begin with, got checked and really didn't have a shot.

Brad Cox's horses do a lot better second time out anyway.

I'm a little kind of put back that he that he put Jaime Torres

on his horse, but he's been riding great so.

Well, what? Everybody's out of town, man.

It's King's right. And it's, I mean, there's just

everybody's out of town. That's that's true and and you

know, Brad likes to spread it around anyway, so I'm I'm it's

not too concerning, but it's just a little bit different.

I mean he's only written form, you know, a few times, but I

don't think that's going to matter.

Usually his horses do all the talking and I think this horse

has a good shot. It's interesting because he does

have Edgar Morales aboard Alta Ave. who both of us will have in

our Pick 4S. First timer worked really well

from the gate the other day at Ellis Park.

But this debut at a mile thing like if you wanted to try to

find a, you know, a chink in the Arbor of of Brad Cox, this is

the under 20% angle. Yeah, 19, right?

This, this is never an accident with him.

As far as placement of these kinds of horses, you know, it's

a Tacitus. We're on the turf here.

We're going that mile over the two turns.

I think it's never an accident when he's trying to do that with

two year olds for sure. But look, this is a guy who's

incredible with two year olds to 26%.

And so I'm going to include that one as well in my late pick four

at Ellis Park on Saturday. Barry Spears, Lubo hanging out

with you here. Crossover Horse Racing Happy

Hour and of course the Kentucky Racing Spotlight Audio FBN 680

and one O 5 seven. Pick three does start in race 8.

A $32,000 claimer here with a $46,000 purse going a mile and

an eighth. If you are not familiar with

Ellis Park, that means they are starting at the finish line.

It is the same distance round as it is at Saratoga.

Again, running for 46,000 in here.

A wide open one according to the morning line maker, except that

Hey Boss here comes in at 5:00 to 2:00.

The 8 horse here Barry, will you be including the Tom Amos?

That is a negative my friend. No chalk zone to be honest.

Why are you tossing? Hey boss, let's start.

With the horse has every right to win a race like this.

I just think there's a lot more class wise than what this horse

has been facing previously. And this might be a real true

test. And I don't want a horse that's

getting a class test as the favorite, you know, unless they

really tower over this field, which this horse does not.

And I think there's there's other ways to go.

Yeah, I agree with you that there are other spots to look in

here. I'll be using three different

horses as well, including the seven right next to him in

Winston Wolf. Rocco gets the ride for Von

Hamel. That's a combination we talk

about all the time, Barry, you know that this is 1/2 back.

I thought looked really good over dirt at turf at Churchill

Downs. Excuse me, but we're talking

about horse only one four times in his career.

Two, one of those is on the turf with a second place finish as

well. The last time we saw this horse

on the turf was at Ellis Park on a mile and an eighth in a good

second place doing that last August.

I actually like the move back to turf here.

This was one they tried to move back to turf in January at

Fairgrounds, got taken off, gets claimed by Tom Amos.

He's been running this one on dirt.

I love, love, love, love them trying to stay on the dirt here

with this 1/2 for 15 lifetime. I think there's a chance at

least with those six times hitting the board that this one

will get us some value at least in here, Barry.

But who are you going to use instead instead of hey?

I I like the six. What's up Doc?

Quite a bit here. This horse was transferred

Barnes from Chris Hartman to Riley Mott, which is kind of a

lateral move. I, I, I guess there's, I don't

think there's any drop off in, in training styles or anything

like that there. This horse was running good at

Oak Lawn over the winter when it was really tough, especially

early in that meet. One almost won a race there in

December 1 one in January, which is kind of in the thick of it

and then tailed off a little bit, got beat by a horse that's

in this race. Hay strike before a layoff since

March. Came back off of that layoff at

Ellis going the same mile distance and got beat by Oh, I'm

sorry, came back at the mile distance, they're going a mile

an eighth. Got beat by a good horse or a

notoriously good horse and golden glider, and also finished

in front of a horse named Mana who was pretty decent as well.

I think class wise this horse fits very, very well.

Just needs a trip. There's not too much speed, so I

think this horse could be even closer up to the pace and they

were last time since they were hung out on the 10 spot last

time. A little bit of post relief gets

it done here. I I I like to fix quite a bit.

If people are trying to remember the name Hayes Strike that he

mentioned in passing Didbury, that was a horse we saw on the

Derby trail in 2023, obviously still running these days.

We'll give it his best from the outside there at excuse Me at

Turfway at Ellis Park. Barry, are you including Hayes

Strike and you were handicapping at all?

Absolutely. I know this horse had a couple

of bad runs. The last one, notably at Ellis

on July 20th, just didn't get involved, was way out wide and

and just was never involved. I I can see this horse turning

the tables back because of the fact that he's with his friends

again. I I think that's the 40,000

level or at least last time. You could just put a whole line

through that last race. This is where this horse needs

to be, you know, just needs to work out a little bit of trip,

but has the class and and the kind of running style to win

this. Race interesting to see if he

wants to get back to the distance as well.

He is over 5 at the distance, but frankly, like, like you were

saying when he was earlier on in his career in that Kenny Mcpeak

barn, they thought a lot of him going further and frankly, he's

a connect colt, right or good gelding in this case.

And so clearly they think the distance can be there.

Like you said, wasn't great last time out before that ran on the

turf. So hopefully he gets back to

what he wants to do in this spot.

The late double will start up with race nine, one of those

$102,000 races in an allowance at Ellis Park.

We're going a mile through the chute there on the dirt.

This is for three-year olds, fillies and mares and up who

have number one of a race other than their maiden race suspense.

Essentially a non to lifer race here. 8 to 5 on lemon zest here.

Barry, how do we feel about lemon zest at 8:00 to 5:00?

We don't want to make anything with lemon zest on Saturday, I

can guarantee you that. No, no lemon drop martinis, none

of that kind of stuff here. No lemon at all.

Come on, here's the. Happy hour.

Come on. OK.

Nope, Nope. Sour.

Sour Mommy and Barry likes the sugar.

It's Bear. What about?

Who are you going to try to beat?

Lemon Sespeth. The horse I really like is the 7

Colonial Rose. I know this horse has some speed

and this is sort of a speed challenge race.

There's not much in it. I think, you know, Julian

Leperou is very, very good at getting horses out and in the

front. He he's nursed so many leads

I've seen, whether it's at Saratoga or a Churchill or

Kentucky Downs. I mean, he he does it a lot when

he's when he's aboard horses. And this fits that kind of

description. They claim this horse, Norm

Cassie claim this horse back in April at Keeneland and ran this

horse on the slop at Churchill and won in a good field and then

at Saratoga July 27th against our Liberty Bell and Coquito,

who are razor sharp. Even though Colonial Rose was

the favorite in that race. Funny enough, I like playing

beaten favorites when they come in under the radar.

It's a little bizarre that there's they're, you know,

shipping this horse back and forth from New York, but.

Yeah. I'll take it because this is a

decent spot, a horse that that'll probably be a decent

price and getting the trip that they want.

So that that those are like the three elements right there that

tell me that this horse is going to run well.

Highest speed figure, odd dirt of her career was in fact at

this distance of 74 there in the, excuse me, in the the buyer

figure. Should be interesting to see if

she can get back to that. But you're right, last three

runs are at Keeneland Churchill in Saratoga.

Last recorded workout for that horse was in mid-july at

Saratoga. So interesting to see Colonial

Rose. I'll make the trip back here to

Kentucky to run at Ellis Park in this condition.

I'm short and this is my Brad Cox race.

I'm going two and six here. I will use the 2 lemon zest.

I'm pro lemon zest, unlike Barry who's very anti lemon zest.

I'll go sharp smile as well. Coming off a little bit of a

layoff here. This was one of Brad Cox's

attempted folks horses this year.

It's a daughter, a practical joke.

It's a softer spot for her to land in, but she ran in the

butcher last up. But before that was really good

in the Busanda in January at Aqueduct.

Just didn't quite get there behind my Sharona and Running

Away who ended up winning that race.

But then he throws her in the Bush or her head.

We saw Drexel Hill, who ran a a bag up race in the Kentucky Oaks

itself, win that one by a bunch of lengths.

And frankly, I don't think anybody was going to beat that

field that day. And certainly Sharp Smile was

not part of that. She gets Lasix for the first

time as well, which I really like in this spot for her.

And Brad Cox off the way off does hit at 23%.

Do you give? Sharp Smile is fine.

Absolutely, just because of the fact that this horse has ran in,

you know, steaks company. This is definitely some class

relief and should run better. I I mean, I'm not really too,

too keen on our chances to win because there's a lot of

question marks there, but trusting Brad Cox and where he

places his horses, you would think that this one out of the

two would definitely be in the mix.

I mean, Lemon Zest has shown potential, but it's it's hard

for me anyway to take a horse like that just off a maiden win.

I know the the fig was high, but you know, at 8:00 to 5:00 you

got to be better than that. I mean, at least have more races

and more to go off of just in that one race.

I mean, certainly can win, but I'm going to be against that.

Yeah, I like to, by the way, with sharp smiles.

So the two and the six of the Brad Cox trainees in Race 9

here, What I like to is he moved her to Ellis, right?

What when he decided she was going to get back on the work

tab, he moved her to Ellis. And so she's been working there

and frankly, not quickly, but no one's been working quickly at

Ellis Park. That's what's interesting,

actually. So the work times are never that

fast. And so she's in the top

quartile, essentially top 25% of what she's doing that day,

whether it's at 5 or 4 furlongs. But oftentimes it looks like

it's not very fast compared to say, what's happening at

Churchill or at the training center, what have you.

I think she's working just fine. Edgar Ellis gets them out here

and by the way, batting 1000, Edgar Morales and Brad Cox one

for one. How about that?

We'll include those two in our tickets on a Saturday.

The closer will be race 10 Barry $16,000 claimer for non 2 lifers

Mile in the 16th on the turf. By the way, folks, if you want

to fill a starting gate in horse racing, make the conditions this

simple. Here's the claim price, here's

how many times you could have won.

Here's the distance, here's the surface.

We're done here. That's the easiest way to fill

these races. And guess what?

We got time. Barry, where did you land in the

closer? Because I think you're going

aggressive here. I landed on #8 Catalina Crush

this horses is actually stretching out from a couple of

five furlong efforts at Lone Star, but this is a this is

quite a bit of class relief and I think the stretch out won't

bother this horse at all. Catalina Cruiser was a huge

horse that like to kind of go long and, and, and had some

speed and this horse has that. Not to mention the buyer figures

are better than everybody else's.

I, I, you know, the only question mark is the distance

and I don't think that's a problem.

He ran a mile on the turf at Canterbury, almost broke his

maiden then. So I, I don't think the distance

is the problem. The two sprints to a stretch out

makes a lot of sense in a race that's sort of challenge.

As far as as contenders go, I don't really see too much in

here. Atlantic Dancer might be tough,

but not really a turf horse. So we're going to see some some

positioning here. I'm not so sure that we'll get

that 4 to 1. I think we're.

Actually, I agree with less. Yeah, I agree.

I think we're looking at probably 5:00 to 2:00 on that

horse. I think you're probably right

about that. I think there's another

interesting horse in here. I'm going to use Atlantic Dancer

because of something you mentioned earlier, Barry, that

we haven't talked about. Rafael Bay, Ronald sticking

around for the day, right? And and there's a chance that

with some people out of town that he's the kind of guy that

can pick up 3-4 kind of wins on a cart.

And I think he can close it here with a horse of the talent at

least of an Atlantic Dancer. Jason Cook, of course, moving

this one to the turf. I think fountain run on the

inside is really interesting. Sophie Doyle gets them out here

for Anna Maya. And we see those two together

very often in Indiana, where this one broke, its made in the

last out ninth race lifetime. Before that, they tried her at

Colonial and in Horseshoe and Gulfstream and all kinds of

different places. They tried her on the synthetic,

all kinds of things. She's already run this distance

6 times on the turf. She does have to win 2/3 as

well, including a third in a maiden 32 at Horseshoe.

Indianapolis Speed all matches up all the time, all the things.

She ran a a style that we last saw in a maiden special at

Horseshoe Indianapolis when she was in the Pletcher barn for a

race. And that is a pressing style.

I think she can do that again here, Barry.

So the the the the rail position to be less of an issue.

I think she's going to have to make her run anyway.

But she's a daughter of her unhappy.

We've seen these actually translate to the turf OK as well

throughout his stud career. And so I think the price at 12

to 1 and I think you're going to get every bit of it by the time

you get to the gate is really, really a good number.

And I think that Sophie could pilot this one to a win in the

finale. Barry's pick four nice and

skinny here. Look at you.

Look at you being skinny with a pick 418 bucks here.

Barry in race 7 is 4 wide, 378 and 10.

Then in race 8 he has the three 6:00 and 9:00.

And then in race 9367, he will close with a single in race 10

with the 8 horse. So there you go, 18 bucks on

Barry's ticket. How confident are we feeling

about the pick four there, Barry?

18 to get you 500. We're in it.

Let's go. I'm much more expensive than

Barry, $45.00 for my pick 4 here.

I've got five horses in the first leg, 347810 so we are only

different in that. I added to four.

I'm 378 in the second leg. My Brad Cox race is race 9, the

two and the six and then I'll go 3 wide in the final.

Hopefully we get Sophie home in the last one. 1-2 and eight in

that race, $45.00 we get Sophie home.

We're talking talking to G, we're talking Sizzler.

You understand me, Barry Spears, More than that are talking

Sizzler. You understand me.

Let's go, Sophie, we're going to Sizzler together.

If you did, How about that? Hey, enjoy the stakes in Ellis

last weekend. You enjoy those games.

Yeah, yeah, it was really fun racing.

You know, it was a little, little form full, but I still

enjoyed watching the, you know, the races were really good.

You know, everybody showed up, showed up.

Sturgeon Moon. I mean, we got some scratches

and stuff, but you know, I, I think at least our handicapping

we did pretty good. We did great.

I think that the, the big trust performance, we're always

looking for that that three-year old who's going to be great in

the fall. I wonder if we didn't see

something where he could be better in the fall than we

expected kind of run or maybe, you know, over one turn, that

one turn mile kind of thing. We heard from Nick in the

previous segment about that. But the I, I just don't know if

he's trading well. Why would you not try the

Pennsylvania Derby? Because you're not going to get

sovereignty. You're not going to have

journalism in that race. What can go try to be Gosser,

essentially, who's not going to traverse?

I mean that kind of thing. I'd love to see it.

I mean, he's definitely matured even since we saw the horse in

July, you know, at Horseshoe. He didn't run well that day, but

he was also against the track quite a bit and a lot.

Of you'll in all three weeks too.

Yeah, you'll notice on that card at Ellis last Sunday, a lot of

those horses that came back from that Indy card ran excellent.

Good point. So I would definitely continue

to, to, to keep an eye on that because big trust just kind of

opened up and, and they couldn't catch that horse.

He, he looked really, really good, got in the right position.

Tyler had him on cue and, and he was just, he was very, very

good. And I'm very interested to see

what happens going forward because he's kind of under the

radar. He hasn't been running at the

big track, you know, and he, he's going to be OK.

I I like that horse. Yeah, I think he'll.

Be he'll be all right. There you go, it's mind of

spirit. What was your boring play of the

day? Was it the eight in the last

race at at 4? Yes.

Absolutely the only chalk on my. Well, it's not even true.

You took the second favorite in that race.

I actually I disagree with you. If there's a 2 to one favorite,

you pick a four to one horse. That is not picking the chalk.

I disagree. 2 to one is chalk. That's true.

True. You're right.

You're right. You're right.

OK, OK, and thanks to Barry Speakers for joining me to

handicap that late pick for at Ellis Park on Saturday.

I'm Louis Ribow. This has been the Kentucky

racing spotlight. We're presented by the Kentucky

HBPAKY hppa.com. We will hear.

We'll talk to you next week as we get a little bit closer.

Incredible to say to the end of the Ellis Park meet and start

getting ready for that trip to Kentucky Downs.

We'll get you ready for all things Kentucky racing here on

the spotlight as we always do. I'm Louis Ribow, thanks so much

for starting your horse racing weekend with us.

We'll catch you next week on the spotlight.

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