Laurel Saturday | Mackenzie Pfeiffer

We welcome in Mackenzie Pfeiffer, she's over there at

the Maryland Jockey Club. You'll see her on screen if you

ever check out the track feed there.

She's also available at Mac, under score, PF if you'd like to

go, follow her on Twitter. The numbers are far too low for

the quality of work that Mackenzie does.

Mackenzie, good morning. How are you?

Good morning. I'm well.

Louie, how are you doing today? I'm doing great.

Gosh, you're always in the same mood.

I like that. All right, so Veterans weekend

coming up there at the Maryland Jockey Club and I, I discovered

yesterday, we had you on the podcast yesterday, the Horse

racing Happy hour. If you want a full dive into the

late pick five, you can certainly go check that out.

Wanted to kind of kick her out a couple races with Mackenzie here

in the late sequence, but one of the things we kicked around is

that no one calls this the road to the Preakness except me.

Is there is there a like a an eye rolling in Maryland when you

when you hear about this show? No, I don't think so at all.

Actually. I like that you've coined it

and, you know, I'll start backing you up here and

hopefully we can, you know, keep that and when it'll stick.

I'm telling you, the people in Maryland will buy a sweatshirt

that says Road to the Preakness. They just will.

I'm just telling you, I'm just trying to sell hoodies for you.

That's all I'm doing. Mackenzie Pfeiffer with us for

the Maryland Jockey Club at Laurel Park if you want to go

find them on Twitter as well. The late pick five and the early

pick five and all the pick fives have only a 12% take out.

There's a carryover into the late pick 5 today of over

$13,000 if you want to get in that way.

I wanted to bring up, you know, it's a it's a sport where we

often celebrate the horses, of course, our equine athletes that

do all of the work for us. But yeah, it's Hazelwood is a

name that I think people in the Kentucky circuit should get to

know. You and I talked about him

yesterday on the podcast with a 17 year old kid who's tied for

the the riding title lead right now with a guy in Jorge Ruiz

who's a fine Mid-Atlantic rider. I think he's going to win the

Eclipse Award for apprentice jockey, all of the things.

And frankly, there's a long history of that in Maryland.

How good is this kid? Right.

Well, and, you know, I don't think we really can answer that

because it seems like he is doesn't really have a limit what

he's been able to do and the task that he's shown, the

dedication and, you know, just the willingness to work for it

and the professionalism, all of the age of 17 is remarkable.

And so he very much deserves to be considered for the Eclipse

Award. And in my eyes, you know, I, I

don't know how biased I am, but I think he is really a front

runner and you can make a strong case for him for this year.

And, you know, he's one to watch for the future as well.

I hope we keep him in Maryland, but I fear people are going to

catch on here shortly. Yeah, I'm mentioning him in

Kentucky. That's not good for you guys.

That's exactly right. That's exactly right.

But he is that kind of talent and that's why I bring him up.

Mackenzie, you're totally right about it.

Right. And it, I mean, it's just what a

treat it's been to see him just developed throughout the year.

I mean, I'm a big fan of looking at horses and really asking, you

know, how are we developing them?

What is the progress we've taken?

But the same goes for the riders and really what he has done from

when he started riding. And I did a really fun Q&A piece

with Bobo, who's one of the violets, and, you know,

listening to him talk about running around, everyone

gossiping before Hazelwood even came out in the afternoon.

And, you know, they were all just as buzzy as I'm sure he was

to get him out in the afternoon and really give him an

opportunity. You kick off this weekend with a

couple of very, very cool races in the Smart Halo on the Philly

side. If people are unaware, they run

the what's called the Black Eyed Susan the Friday before the

Preakness. It is essentially the Kentucky

Oaks of the Maryland circuit. And then of course the Preakness

two weeks after the Kentucky Derby, these two races, the

James F James F Lewis, of course, is part of that series

as well. But coming out of the Maryland

million, what is the, what's sort of the headline right now

in Maryland around the 2 year old program?

Right. Well, it's always a question as

to you know coming out of the Maryland million, how are they

going to stack up. This is different company that

they face. We have some horses shipping in

and you know, they're both of these two year old stakes are

really good quality 2 year olds and they're great handicapping

races because you have some crossover forces who haven't

faced each other. The question mark is, you know,

how good is Big Cuddle and how good is superstitious?

They both ran incredibly and you know, they look the part

physically. So to see them come back, I

think it's going to be very, very exciting.

You know, Big Cuddle I think is 1.

He's going to improve with added ground.

So you know, he's one, even if it's not his day this weekend, I

think he's definitely one to watch.

Every circuit around the country, and Mackenzie Pfeiffer

is with us from the Maryland Jockey Club, has its own Derby

and certainly the Preakness, the peak of the Derby season there

in Maryland. But leading into it is a race

called the Federico Tessio. It's run in the middle of April,

a month before the Preakness, and the winner of that race gets

in a starting spot in the gate of the Preakness.

It's been since 1983 that the winner of that race has also won

the Preakness. That was deputed testimony, but

hey, we also got to hit trifectas and exactas here

McKenzie. So we're trying to learn these

horses along the way as well. Let's make some money this

weekend. We'll start with the late pick 4

here. McKenzie.

Race 7 is a 2 year old maiden special weight and if people are

pick three kind of players, this series here with these three two

year old races I think offer a lot of options.

It is a fantastic sequence. You know, I'm going to try to

single or maybe go two horses in that first leg of the late pick

5 because the late pick four and these three races really are

where I want to dive in and race 7 is just a fantastic race.

I think there's a lot of company in here that we're going to end

up making some notes on and watching in the future.

Interesting, who stands out to you in race 7?

So, you know, just from pedigree perspective, I, I will take all

morning if you let me go through the whole race.

But you know, we, I, I have to admit, I mean, we spoke about a

few of them yesterday crossing the channel as 1/2 to Naval

Empire. That was a debut winner.

The hometown bound is a really interesting one.

We talked about yesterday on the podcast.

He looks to have a bit of natural speed.

Rusty is the one who I go with. You know, has the benefit of a

first start chasing a gate to wire winner and is 1/2 to Nimitz

class One who we didn't mention on the podcast but is worth

noting. Mythical magic on the inside for

Justin Nixon. Could be a little bit of a

sneaky play. You know, this is one who I kind

of want to watch in these next few starts, but wouldn't

surprise me by Munnings. And it's the first full out of a

mayor that Nixon trained. Hibiscus punch.

She was quite good. And, you know, going this

distance, but it's on the inside.

I love to overcome. There is an interesting horse on

the work tab who I haven't seen in the afternoon yet.

It's a 2 year old silly and this one Mythical Magic looks to be

training either with her or you know, kind of sitting second on

the work tab. But that was $1,000,000 silly

and she has yet to make a debut. So just a little bit of, you

know, I like to do my research. So that's my kind of tip is

let's see what we get from this one horse.

Again inside post. It's a lot to do though.

I think though, most recently you can see from Justin Nixon,

the trainer there a work from the gate leading into the race

there, right. Very clearly, hey, we need to

get out of the gate if we're going to have a chance here.

Draws the one. So I'm sure he's thinking, OK,

glad we did that gate work to at least emphasize to this son of

money that hey, it's time to go. And and if you're going to have

a shot in this race, you're going to have to do exactly

that. The favorite in here is the

seven to five. Awesome.

Andy, if you were looking at this sequence, if someone said,

you said to you, hey, I think I'm just going to go ahead and

and use Yudzid, who we just talked about and Gary Capuano,

who only wins, I don't know, 30% of his main special weight

races. Would you fault them?

No, I wouldn't. And for me, you know, I go wide

in this race because I think it's such an interesting race.

I will not be surprised if Awesome Andy takes him gate to

wire and he's just, you know, has the benefit of that first

start. I'm not going to talk anyone

off. I use him.

I just think on paper this is an interesting group who we might

see more of and I don't want anyone to catch me by surprise

that first time start. Awesome, Andy, we'll break from

the four made his debut at the beginning of October at Delaware

Park. You see a lot of in between of

Delaware Parks, Penn, National Laurel, lots of those horses,

Colonial, of course, running those five races.

The Monmouth, you can throw them in there, that Mid-Atlantic

circuit. So very, very common path to a

maiden race there at Laurel Park where Mackenzie Pfeiffer is.

She's from the Maryland Jockey Club at Mac under score PF on

Twitter if you want to go find her there.

The Smart Halo is the Philly race on the card, 6 furlongs on

the dirt. And if you follow this series,

folks, it is really, really, really logical.

And we kind of joked on the podcast yesterday, McKenzie, for

example, they're going to run the Rems in here in about a

month at Aqueduct, and it's going to be a mile and an

eighth. And then their next race, it

will be the Gotham and it'll be a mile.

And so it's a little difficult to know where where horses are

supposed to be developing on the Derby Trail.

But Simply put, on the Black Eyed Susan Trail, we'll start at

six furlongs. The Phillies will run at that

distance for a while before transitioning eventually to A1

turn mile and A2 turn mile and a 16th.

I know you like just filtered in this racial break from the rail.

Right. And you know, I, I think at this

distance, what we've seen from her already, she makes a lot of

sense to me, you know, but if we're talking about the ones who

Dan mentioned yesterday, Persecco, Rita, she's A use for

me. She did it so incredibly

stylishly and both of these two starts, even if she just kind of

lost the war first time out. But she is a little bit sharp.

And so that's not one who I think you can single or sort of

trust with just how we've seen her kind of taking over on the

front end. Superstitious is the other one

who it's going to be a big day for her.

I wonder how much that race took out of her.

And so that's sort of the question, but she is a really

classy, beautiful type. She missed out to just filtered

in the Keswick and her second start.

But I do think she's improved since then and she's able to run

the right kind of trip. She maybe has enough tactical

speed to go ahead and handle things, especially when we talk

about that 6 furlong versus the 5 1/2 when she ran into just

filtered in the Keswick. It's interesting too, we just

watched for example, in the Breeders Cup Juvenile Phillies,

a horse like Super Corridor who came out of a maiden win and

went ahead and won a Grade 1. And I know that's not the kind

of company we're talking about here, but a very simple, very

similar, excuse me, running style to Prosecco Rita, who you

mentioned in here. We'll break from the four, the

Russell Russell combination that we see they're hitting at 30%

most recently here at Laurel Park together, husband and wife

Brittany and Rochelleldon Russell.

And this horse got the lead, kept the lead and then just went

away frankly and won by 9 and 1/4 lengths.

Is there much to glean from that other than she is willing to do

the running on the front? Or was that maybe not the kind

of field that we would want to compare this to?

No, I wouldn't necessarily say that.

I think she definitely has to step up here, but I do give her

credit. I mean, the horses have come out

of that race and run well enough for me, even the ones who

stretched out and use a little bit more ground.

But I mean, when you see a horse do it that fashionably, they're

really hard to ignore. Especially when she was willing

enough over an off track on that debut effort, even if she just

got tired, she was convincing. So you know, when I say she's a

little bit sharp, I don't necessarily mean it in a bad

way. Sometimes that really does make

a race worse, especially if they can channel it into a really

productive outing. How about a longer strut here in

Holland Dr. local guy Will Walden just had him on blood

Horse Monday. An interesting story in his

background. Just had his first Breeders' Cup

starter with rhetorical in the Turf mile.

This is an Oxo equine. This is a this is a high level

horse, a daughter, a practical joke, an Indian, Charlie Mayer.

This is a serious, serious horse.

Breaks her maiden easily. Frankly on 1st asking up there

at Horseshoe Indianapolis where we've watched that 2 year old

program get better and better, 15 to one in the morning line.

I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that it wasn't

Indiana and frankly people in the East Coast might not know

much about that circuit. But do you give her a shot here?

I do. I mean, I think she's hard to

ignore. I don't think there's any way we

get 15 to 1 like we see on the morning line.

I mean, you mentioned this is a top class horse.

You just look at the family, Hot Rod, Charlie Mitoli, all in

there as siblings. You know, the fact that she did

it on debut I thought was really impressive as well.

You know, maybe it's the company to some extent, but the family's

been good early, but they haven't blown the doors off on

debut like she did. So that to me, I think is quite

interesting. I am excited to see her once she

gets here and she's definitely A use for me.

You know, I think I spread things around a little bit more

in this race than I do in the James F Lewis.

Doc's Miracle stands out as well.

The Capuano Hazelwood combination.

There, they're hitting at 44% of their last 18 races.

That's right, eight wins and their last eighteen goes all

bullets next to her in the workout tab.

Why do you think she's sitting at 12:50 in the morning line?

You know, it's kind of a great question, perhaps because she's

coming out of those two restricted stakes.

She's run fantastic there, but you know, she just ran second to

Superstitious. I felt like she did all of The

Dirty work in that race, though. I mean, she was hounded and just

continued to prevail. Superstitious kind of got the

better of her just in the way that she was able to work the

trip. But I don't think you can take

anything away from Doc's Miracle.

If she ends up being sharp enough to go out there and press

things with Prosecco Rita. I think she's pretty dangerous

in that sense. 3rd mount for Yazzie Hazelwood aboard Doc's

Miracle here. My top pick in the race is Doc's

Miracle, the 8, the 12:50 number too much for me to overlook.

The James F Lewis, the third, the first president of the

Maryland Million, is the namesake of this $100,000 on the

line here for 2 year olds. And this is likewise a very

interesting race. You mentioned Big Cuddle at the

open of the segment. Mackenzie and Look has done

nothing wrong. We get that Capuano Hazelwood

combination again. Any chance that they simply go

back-to-back here? Do you give Big Cuddle a big

chance here? Well, you took the words out of

my mouth, because if you're trying to play a fun Daily

Double, I mean, you can just go ahead and try to hit it with

Gary and Hazelwood in these two races, because I think both of

them are logical plays. You'll probably get a little bit

more value there in Race 8. You know, it's a fun pairing and

we've seen him do it before, so it would not surprise.

But I mean, you talk about if he's going to go ahead and win

the jockeys title, that's one way to do it in fashion.

You know, Gurney Hallock comes in from Charlestown.

This is West Virginia bred. I get to talk to Paul Espinosa a

couple times a year. He calls the races there.

He's a West Virginia guy. And I always ask, hey, is there

a West Virginia bred? We need to be watching because

Mackenzie, you know this, hey, Maryland Bread just won the

first Breeders' Cup race on Saturday, for example, out

there, Del Mar, you never know where the next great horse is

going to come from. This is such a practical joke

and you know, comes in Arnaldo Boca Chica is the king of of

Charlestown for sure. How do you handicap these races

that they come in out of it? For example, a 6 1/2 for a long

race. If you were at Laurel Park, hey,

we know what that would be. That would be a one turn race.

That's a little bit longer than what this horse is going to do

here. That was a two turn race before

that though. Randon, the Mercer Memorial won

that 1 / 4 1/2 and frankly had to close into it.

Do you look more at the 4 1/2 race or more at the 6 1/2 race

at the distance but over two turns?

Right. It's funny, I actually do look

more at the 4 1/2 race because both of those he's slightly

outrun, but he's still able to kind of carry into the race.

I think the two back effort in his second start is actually

what really draws me in. You know, he missed the maiden

score by a neck and then they go ahead and run him in a stake

anyway. I think, you know, they're

right. You know, obviously they thought

highly of the horse and he delivered and I'd watch that

replay a few times and he really caught my eye in there and that

was before I saw the entries for this.

So I was pretty excited to see him end up coming here.

I think he is a live player in the group.

You need a little bit more than three to one for me because

there's a question of he hasn't run without Lasix.

That to me, is something that matters when we're talking about

a dirt Sprint and the 6 1/2. I just think that it's a very

different story. He could fit very, very well.

He has a big ranging stride. I think he's going to appreciate

getting over to a larger track. Balboa's in here, and that's a

name that people probably will recognize.

Ran in both the Grade 1 Delmar Futurity and Grade one American

Pharaoh at Delmar and Santa Anita, respectively, in the Bob

Baffert barn and in recent years, Mackenzie.

We've seen some of these runners, especially with

Starlight racing with the SF folks.

They're moving horses that maybe don't fit on the West Coast over

to Brittany Russell. Frankly, I, I, I, I hope she

feels this way, but it's a massive compliment to what she's

accomplishing on the East Coast. This is an $875,000 purchase

parachuting in here, 5 to 2 on the line because of that Russell

Russell connection. Do you think getting back to

this distance, we see her throwing the blinkers on?

Obviously they want this horse to go in this spot.

Can he? Surely, I think he can.

I think it kind of benefits him being on the outside.

Hopefully he just gets comfortable.

But I actually do have some concern is, is he going to get

caught wide on the turn because there is enough speed in here?

That's a little bit of a concern for me.

So I went back and forth with using him as a top selection and

I was trying to poke holes in the argument to see where I

stood and and how firmly I really felt that I went ahead

and looked first after the trainer switch in non graded

stakes, Brittany is 1 for six in the winner's circle, 67% in the

money. But I've, you know, and I've

taken this stance. So for me, this is a horse you

have to use. There's no surprise.

You're not going to get a price on him.

But I don't think he's one who you can totally go all in and

single on. And some people might.

And you know, that's, that's for me where I try to hedge the bet.

You know, he cuts back. He seems like he is one who will

be really comfortable just able to go ahead and run his race

from the outside. But if he gets caught and if he

has too much pressure, too much work to do, how is he going to

respond? Final race is race 10.

It's a maiden 12. The one horse in here is even

money. What will be the actual odds

when that horse breaks from the gate?

Oh, great question. You don't know the question.

Do do we go? Go 2 to. 5 Three to five, Yeah,

look. At you being optimistic, Look at

your optimism. I love it all right.

Maybe a little bit. You know, I'm not entirely, to

be honest. I hate singling at the end of a

sequence. That is my biggest fear is I

capture something brilliant early on and then it all comes

down into something like this. I mean, talk about ruining your

day. So I the two and the seven are

the ones who I kind of look towards as if it isn't as

straightforward as your even money morning line.

Those are the two who I think make logical sense to mount a

little bit of an upset against it.

I don't think you're going to have a crazy price on either of

them, but if it doesn't go in the way if the one, that's kind

of how I see it unfolding. At Mac under score PF on the

socials if you want to go find her there, her name is Mackenzie

Pfeiffer. She's with the Maryland Jockey

Club at Laurel Park for everything they're doing this

weekend. By the way, 71 and partly

cloudy. Enjoy that.

It's my son's birthday coming up here.

I think it's going to snow. So enjoy.

Enjoy the 71 and partly cloudy and all the great things going

on down there. And Mackenzie, I got to say,

between the Maryland Millions show and then yesterday and

today, been a real pleasure getting to getting to work with

you and I hope we do it a lot more in the future.

Likewise, thank you so much for having me.

I'm flattered and you know, hopefully you'll have me back.

We'll consider it. Thank you, Mackenzie.

There you go. Mackenzie Pfeiffer at Mac under

score PF on the socials. Appreciate her jumping on again

at the Maryland Jockey Club on the other end.

We'll wrap up the hour. Of course, we've got a couple of

NFL things I want to get into. We'll talk with TJ Walker about

both the UK hoops and UK football teams at 11:00.

And of course, Zach and I go through our 444 hurt pics with

our friend Brian Dettman at the Dettman Law Office to close the

show as well. 4/3. 79680 our UPS jobs text line NFL stuff I'm

watching this weekend. We talk about it next.