BloodHorse Monday 11/24/25 | Brian Hernandez, Jr.

Oh yeah, silliness. And Monday.

It must be Blood Horse Monday. His name's Sean.

I'm Louis. Thanksgiving week happy, by the

way. And I mean this very sincerely.

Happy Thanksgiving and and holiday season to all the folks

out there. Sean will of course, I mean

stunner did not want. I mean, 2, no one that you and

your mom will be at Churchill. I mean, just nobody knows.

I mean, who could have, who could have put that together?

I do want to brag. I do want to brag.

Something I'm getting to do for the very first time in my life.

You know, we've talked very at length, frankly, because we know

Bobby Hall about your love of the New York Yankees, OK?

Yes, interesting to see where this is.

Going I'm a Detroit guy by by birth and then by family.

All those things, of course, made my life here in Louisville.

You know, most recently I get to go to the Lions game on

Thursday. Wow.

OK, guess the pack or something like that little Thanksgiving

game. There you go.

Been playing that since 1934 in Detroit.

Exactly. Well, I've been racing at

Churchill Down since 1875, so I'm I'm doing the more historic

version. I got to look back and see when

they started with phone me. Thanksgiving at Churchill.

That's a great question because the Clark's really old.

They just have 100. Well, the Clark used to be at

this in Sprint. Yeah.

So, you know, this week we'll, we'll talk about the Clark quite

a bit today. One of the original 3 stakes

races that has lasted to this day at Churchill Downs.

It will also be joining the Kentucky Derby and the Kentucky

Oaks. And it's 100 and 51st running

this year, designed to be the Kentucky version.

We all know the Kentucky Derby is based off the Epsom Derby.

At least Clark was based off the Saint Ledger.

It was supposed to be, it was supposed to be our version of

that race. And then the Oaks is the the

Epsom Oaks, but. 1969 by the way, first Thanksgiving.

It was that easy to find out. Look at that.

So 1969, what did you say? 1934 Yeah, we're supposed to

give it to. Churchill, I'm not mad about

what you're doing. I'm just saying first time in my

life and by the way, last time that'll.

Be pretty exciting. Hopefully the Giants didn't take

too much out of you guys this weekend and you can go go in

there and who are you? Playing.

Oh, that's a good case. No, no, it's actually a legit

game. I'm excited about that.

You'll be at Churchill on Thursday.

Big set of stakes days, Thursday, Friday, Saturday.

Just had a couple of stakes over the weekend as well that I

wanted to get into with you, Sean.

But Nevada Beach goes ahead. It has to do real work in the

native diver to to pull that win out.

Three weeks rest. Second time this year that

Baffert trainee has won on three days, three weeks rest.

Excuse me 3 days I've been missing something but in the low

sale. Diary And then coming into this

one here Nevada Beach office is something that we usually don't

get with Baffert trainees at the end of their three-year old

campaigns, especially if they won a grade one and a grade 3 is

that he's probably going to be a North American based 4 year old

next year. We usually don't get this and I

you know, let's talk about John Lindo, who from thoroughbred LA

on Friday and I said, what do you see as the long term

prospects? Is this an Arabian Peninsula

horse? Might we see him in the UAE

side? He's like no.

And so this might be the rare horse where he's just I don't

know. He's a big cat horse.

He's in the San Anita Handicap. Great, great.

This would actually fill in those gaps.

We've talked so much in 2025 about how great it was that, for

example, those three top finishers in the British Cup

class all came back to run this year.

Fierce Miss Sierra Leone, obviously the winner, and

Forever Young. This would really legitimately

fill in a gap at a time when the Bob Hope gets cancelled in

Southern California. If Bapber could start bringing 4

year olds back, they're going to have American campaigns.

This might actually fill it. This might be it.

We might actually be back. I know this will definitely fill

in a big gap because I mean, we've given all the praise to

sovereignty journalism by Haza throughout the year, but he's

the one three-year old who has actually beaten older horses on

the grade one stage so far. So we know he's got the British

Cup one that the Breeders Cup Classic didn't really work out

for him as far as the trip goes. He didn't really get himself

forward. Obviously, that was such a tough

field to go up against, even even as a Grade 1 winner.

And so there were going to have to be horses that were in the

back half of the field on the cross.

But now he's going to have the opportunity to kind of, I would

think, run the table at Southern California here this winter.

He looks like kind of the big dog out there.

I wasn't too impressed with how hard he had to work to win, but

he got the job done. So you can't fault him for that.

And again, it was 3 weeks rest. So I'll give him give him a

short. Stretch of Delmar, all the

things I think. I think San Anita fits what he

does better, which is why I think he is a big cat kind of

horse. And well, you give me some

exciting races in March. Santa Anita do not exactly.

And we talked to Aaron Wellman on this podcast a few weeks ago.

We know journalism is probably not going to be back around in

time for the Santa Anita Handicap yet.

They're going to be looking for probably a month or two after

that as far as bringing him back to the races.

So he definitely looks like he's kind of the top dog, whatever.

The Pacific Classic division is right, Yes, right, if you want

to put it that way. The former big cap Hollywood

Gold Cup Pacific classic tree that used to be so.

Big, That's exactly right. But if you put up a Nevada beach

and you put up a journalism like you mentioned as potential and

frankly, if healthy, likely starters in next year's Pacific

Classic. Give me all of it.

Yeah, give me all of it. Because we've been, you know,

once in a while we get spoiled out East with, you know, a

Jockey Club Gold Cup, those kinds of races, drawing good

fields. We're getting spoiled that time

of year with all the good racing at Kentucky Downs.

Would be nice to add that at the Mars.

Yeah, it would be nice. I mean, we got a really good

Pacific Classic this year with business and journalism to think

of where we could have potentially have another,

another pretty good one if everybody can stay healthy and

also. All the three-year olds we

haven't met yet. Yeah.

And not to mention, we also haven't talked about Nicos yet

either. Now I wonder I, I imagine he

maybe is more along the path of the Pegasus, the Saudi Cup, the

Dubai World Cup. So they'll probably, I would

imagine maybe split ways for the first half of the year only into

that second-half of the year. We could definitely see them

come back together in those races out there.

Yeah, some of those one turn miles, one turn mile and they

seem to set up better for Nicos than some of the two turn stuff

here. Seriously, right.

And so that might be other route that he goes, even though the

dirt mile he looks spectacular. Who knows?

Yeah, I don't think, I don't think longer and matter much

with there it's one turn. This three-year old set of turf

races at Churchill, we just had another fantastic year of them

between the American turf over the Derby on Stephen Foster

Preview Day with the Audubon Stakes, then of course the

American Derby during the summer and the Commonwealth Turf this

last year. Now we did not give on Saturday

the full Blood Horse Monday bump.

However, there was still a bump from the show earlier in the

week. But Flight Mohawk they're part

of the equation. Probably needs another race

before his fitness is. Back it sounded like they were

he he was pretty ranked in the early stages of the race and he

was he was trying to pull on Joe Ramos a little bit.

And I think it was just from what from what I heard, I think

it was just more of a he well, coming back off the layoff, he

kind of tired himself out and that that early kind of fighting

with Joe as Joe was trying to get him to relax on the outside.

I thought he looked like a winner turning for home.

And then he just kind of hit the wall there and ended up dropping

out of it. So but I imagine, you know,

first, First off the bench, he's going to need that.

That'd look for him to improve next time out.

And but we did get, as you mentioned earlier in the week,

the Blood Horse Monday bump. Two days after Jason Werth was

on our show, the Icon racing horse ended up winning at

Churchill Downs Nikon. Pretty sure we're a good looking

2 year old Philly. And I will say Flying Mohawk was

not technically an icon horse and we were talking about icons.

So maybe that's why the Blood Horse Monday bunk.

We'll we'll give ourselves. A pet?

I asked. I talked with Trader Whit back

when on Friday at my ESPN mobile show here in town, and I asked

him if Nikon, it was just the name of that, that maiden

winner. I'm like, hey, simply joking,

we've seen you in the Oaks before.

He goes, oh, yeah, she's that quality.

Yeah. So very, very comfortable

saying, very comfortable saying. This is what we expected.

This is where we expect her to go.

And so it's a reminder as we get into this coming weekend starts

at tomorrow, 2 or whatever they're calling it these days.

It is the time of year to be watching those maiden races,

especially as we gear up. My friend, you're gonna be.

Future wagered out this weekend. This is usually the one future

wager I bet, and I had sovereignty in it last year, so

OK. Yeah you have a strong lead this

year they so you could ruin your parent mutual odds in front of

10s of people. Incredible.

OK. All right.

So that was the Street sense, St.

Sense, Yeah. OK.

So like last year's winner. Yeah, I'm going.

I'm going back with little sovereignty, as Jaime Torres

calls. So sovereignty last year, little

sovereignty next year. I'm not bad about that.

But you mentioned the Commonwealth Turf.

I did just want to mention we didn't.

We didn't mention the winner of the race, Geo Coast.

This is a horse who's he's been showing up in all the big

three-year old turf races all year long.

He always puts forth an effort. He always is consistent.

He always gives a run. He looks like an exciting

prospect as we turn to the four year old season.

He's also a horse that keep the storm outside after the race.

We want to get a grade one win on this horse on the turf, but

we also want to get grade at stakes when a dirt kind of help.

So this this is a horse we could potentially look at in kind of

maybe flip flopping back and forth next year, looking for the

right spots, trying to get the grade one win on the turf

trying. You know, maybe maybe you're

looking at him pointing toward a turf classic right before the

Kentucky Derby. And then maybe coming out of

that, maybe you see him pop up if you were to win that and do

well and that maybe you see him pop up in like a mile or he pops

up in a Whitney or something like that.

Or even just, you know, maybe maybe just a lower tier than

that. But or Stephen Foster since he's

a Churchill Downs horse. But he definitely looks like the

kind of horse that we might be hearing from.

Well, we'll see. Have to wait and see if we're

hearing from him in the winning standpoint next year.

But of course, to know as we're heading into some great stakes

action next year, make sure you check out Jico so.

Yeah, Keith to Stormo. The great training job on him.

By the way, this field, Chapmans Peak outrunner, Anagata monitor,

California Burrito, Flying Mohawk troubleshooting.

It's a legit field, man. Man said he's in here.

That's an interesting horse. I mean, the fact that that Joe

Cosa was so much the best horse at the end of that race doesn't

really. Stand out.

I mean, it was it was very much that kind of performance.

And so we're getting the split now of those riders leaving

Kentucky, going to different places, of course, to, you know,

fairgrounds or Oakland or New York or Miami, that kind of

stuff. Of course, Jose Ortiz joining

the already blooming Paco Lopez. Yeah, at the fairgrounds.

Should be fun to watch them go at it.

Are you taking this in like I am where you're trying to figure

out where to bet in the winter because plotting Pratt ruining

New York Jose is about to ruin New Orleans like are.

You, I mean, you already ruined New Orleans.

Well, the, the real interesting one that I'm looking at is

Oakland. Oakland, it's going to be

completely different this year. You got Luis Saez, Julio

Rosario, Jaime Torres are all going to be new faces in that

colony this year. You know, some of the some of

the other big guys always show up on the big weekends as well.

But that's been one I know Christian Torres has had a lot

of success down there. It'll be interesting to see how

the Oakland jockey standing shake out this year.

And it's something that, I mean, I, I've got to talk to quite a

few of the jockeys about it. I know he ended up deciding not

to about Jose Ortiz in the summer.

Was thinking about potential years in Oakland this year.

And so it's becoming a place. A lot of them compliment just

the atmosphere of being there and riding there.

A lot of them love it. That's going to be a as we go

forward. I wouldn't be shocked if a year

or two we see Jose Ortiz make that jump.

I wouldn't be shocked if then maybe not Irad because he he

does so well in southern Florida in the winter, but I wouldn't be

shocked if we start seeing more and more of these big names

pointing towards towards Oaklawn.

Obviously you have the purse. Money is a pretty big, a big

sway for a lot of people, but they also, it just seems like

all the jockeys just love riding there and they just love the

atmosphere. They love the area.

And so that's really nice. Oaklawn continues to just each a

year or get more and more relevant on the national scale

that I think that's probably the next step we're watching is that

jockey colony really turning into something.

Couple of thoughts from people that have been on this show.

When I asked Eric Camelback, President of the National HPP,

you just mentioned a a jurisdiction that's doing well.

He went straight to Oakland. It's not like you know, and

frankly earlier in the year we had, we had frankly, we had to

talk with Frank frankly. We talked to Frank.

But he talked about just the the success of that on track show,

that kind of stuff. So like Oakland's one of those

places that we talk about, even if we're not trying to talk

about it, because they're doing things the right way, They're

getting those crowds in there that that that community around

the track is legitimate, right? So I love going.

We talked about, I was going to say, we talked about people

wanting to summer in Saratoga, wanting to be around Keeneland,

wanting to be around Del Mar, No.

Difference here in Oman. No difference at all.

You're totally right. Hot Springs people talk about it

that way. I think they lie about the food

a little, like trying to make the restaurants better than what

they are just because they want really.

Is that your hot take? It's not a hot take, it's just

true. Is it true?

I've always, I've always bendy at the track.

I never. Really get to go out and eat it.

Oh, what would? Sean.

Oh man, I always end up sitting in that little little restaurant

they have in the track after the race is editing away on my

computer. I don't get to make it so much

else outside. The race track prediction for

Joe Koso, does he win a Grade 1 next year?

I'm gonna go. No, I'm.

Going to say yes. OK.

All right. Do you have a surface pick then?

Turf, yeah. If he wins one, I think it's

going to be on the turf, but it'll be interesting to see.

Well, obviously we're a couple weeks away from the American

Great Stakes committee. I'm wondering if we might get

potentially another grade one out of Kentucky Downs and if

it's a race maybe where he would fit.

I could see that he ran, he ran. He ran pretty well, just

Kentucky Downs, even though he didn't win earlier in the.

Year, are you again not on the greatest?

Stakes Committee, I am once again not on the greatest.

I don't know. I don't know how you get on the

greatest stakes committee, but I would like to say it's some of

these racism as as as I spoke with.

More greatest stakes. As I spoke with Brad Cox

yesterday, I spoke with Brad Cox yesterday, the CARC and the

Cigar Mile should. Be great ones.

I largely agree with you. Scott Clark joins us now here on

Blood Horse Monday. So, so excited to have him in

one of the horses that made this show go this year was Gossgar.

So Scott, so happy to have you in here with with Sean Collins.

I'm Blue River both. Thanks for joining us.

How are you? It's good, thanks for having me

on. I listen every week.

OK, there you go. All right, man.

Yeah, Gosk. Are coming up in the Clark this

weekend. I know it's been a fun year for

you guys. Just what what has this year

been like kind of watching? I know he hasn't he he's had a

couple of tough defeats, but what has it been like being on

the big stage with him throughout the year?

It's been great. You know, we have, we're a

smaller stable, we only have about 25 ish horses total

including brood mares and you know, babies.

So we only have a handful of resources at a time.

So to have one that's on the, you know, competing in the the

biggest stages and in the Triple Crown races and you know,

consistently in grade ones and just created stakes overall,

it's been, it's been a lot of fun.

Scott Clark with us, part of the ownership group there with,

excuse me, with the Brady group with Gosco, right?

Are they ownership? Yeah, Brady and Brader owner

Brader Arnold Honor. What about that small variation?

But they got all of those in together.

Tells the truth. In the stretch of the Preakness

you thought you were home. Tells the truth.

I was certain we were home, which is never do that.

I was starting to get excited and I saw that I didn't quite

know what's happening out of the corner of my eye when all the

commotion happened behind us. But I figured we were home for

you then. And I was screaming and lost my

voice and the the celebration quickly changed to some more off

color words that happened. Yeah, it was.

It was disappointing. I thought.

I thought we had it. Well, you guys have the

operation the Harvey Clark Racing Stables, obviously the

the property of your father Harvey Clark, who passed away a

few years ago. You've kind of jumped in since

his death and kind of helped to start running, running some of

the operations here. Just take us through your

involvement in racing and how how you got into.

This sure. So my dad was involved since

the, I think late 70s, way before I was born.

And that was more in the lower levels, Mid-Atlantic, the parks

and Delaware and Meadowlands when we had a thoroughbred meet

here, Aqueduct once in a while, Belmont.

And then we moved into Kentucky and started competing at a, you

know, modestly higher level, but still not huge operations.

And that we, we had some, some fun times with horses like

Soledad, who was in the Kentucky Derby, Cairo Prince.

We, you know, when my dad got sick, he started to teach me

more about, you know, how to get bills paid and more of the

clerical side of the, the, of the business.

But as, yeah, towards the end, he told me to sell all the

horses. And I think that was the first

time that I disobeyed my father. So ever since then, I've been

heading things up with my mom, who, you know, she, she owns the

horses. I'm just the just the managing,

you know, just the manager. And it's been a lot of fun.

We we've shrunken the operation down.

We've gotten more quality over quantity and we've had some

success. Harvey's little Goyle, probably

the most, you know, the biggest name before Goss Ker.

And and this year it's just been tons and tons of fun.

What does it mean to you? You know, obviously you guys

have kept your dad's name as the as the racing stable.

What does it mean to you to just be carrying on his legacy

through horses like Harvey's little Goyle, through horses

like Oscar? Just kind of keep keeping his

legacy in this industry alive as these horses are running.

No, it's, it means everything. You know, we're from, we live in

northern New Jersey, so it's not common for people to have horses

or be involved with horses around us.

So it's kind of our unique thing and it, it keeps me close to my,

to my father's memory to, to keep this going.

It's, you know, I get to be around the the game that he

loved and, you know, keep in touch with with people that he

was very close with in, in, in this world.

Now, one of the biggest claims to fame your father had was he

was the breeder of I'll Have Another.

The 2012 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner probably could

have won the Triple Crown that year, but he had to scratch from

the Belmont with a tendonitis industry injury.

He was named the champion 3 year old that year in 2012.

What was that experience like for you guys?

And then also Gossgar here is a son of his half sister, Gloria

S. So it's keeping that family line

going. So what was the experience about

have another like? And then now carrying that

forward of Gossgar, how much more special does that make him?

Yeah, yeah. We try to keep it positive.

It's it'll be easy to say, you know, what could have been, but

with we always say that it's a million things could have

happened if we kept him. But we had a lot of fun with it.

It was when he was in the Preakness, we went out and we

were there for to witness that, which was, you know, a lot of

fun. It's only a, you know, less than

150 people in the world have ever had ever bred a, you know,

any classic when I let alone, you know, a dual classic.

Yeah. It's pretty remarkable.

Scott Clark with us here. Appreciate him jumping on the

program here with Go. Ahead, I have to say that 2012

Preakness still is one of my all time favorite races.

I just remember screaming at the TV as as you're coming down this

rest there him and Bode Meiser run it down.

That's still to this day. That's still one of my.

Own it's a fun it's a fun three-year old class too.

Yes, turned into a really, really good, but Scott Clark

with us part of the connections with Gossgar, a couple of near

misses this year, but you're going to run him back in the

Clark on Friday here at Churchill Downs.

What went into that decision making process?

Is it is it timing? Is it the grade one?

What went into the decision making process there?

It was just we leave that all to Brendan and whatever he says

goes. Let's get Brendan on that.

All right, OK, The poor guy, I know, But I think it does make

sense, frankly, from where he's been as far as as distance and

all of those kinds of things. But getting back to Churchill

Downs and those kinds of things as well.

You excited to see him on the Twinspires?

I am, I'm not going to be there. It's a little much with the I

have 3 little kids so it's a bit much day after Thanksgiving, but

you know, it would be nice to watch on TV and we'll be

screaming at home and, you know, enjoying it.

Obviously you guys are the Clark family.

I know there's an extra E on your name compared to the race's

name, but what would it mean to for the Clark's to win the

Clark? My dad used to say we paid extra

for that. No, it would be great.

I looked up. I believe it's Lieutenant Clark

who was the kind of behind. There you go there.

You go, I used to be. So there's a lot of history

there. And you know, it would be, you

know, look, any grid mistakes, win is, is big.

We're not, we're not, you know, our success this year hasn't

jaded our our view on that. It's just to be in these races

is is a big deal. So, you know, being in the money

or even winning knock on wood would be a huge deal for us.

The Clark, of course, alongside the Oaks and the Derby, the

oldest stakes continuously run at Churchill Downs.

Scott, you know, you mentioned Jersey and being based in New

Jersey, the Haskell run this year in in the the stretch duel.

We just rewatched it right before the episode, actually.

It's amazing how many of the best races of the year Gosko was

involved with, frankly, being in New Jersey, being the grade one,

being the state championship essentially in the Haskell.

Man, what were the emotions like in that stretch run?

Well, it was, you know, seemed like it was deja vu all over

again. I was actually.

No, it's not that at all. That's a good question.

You could. That's going to answer my good

question. I actually thought we, you know,

goal oriented was going to be the the bigger problem.

I, I didn't even see journalism coming.

And it's, you know, out of nowhere he made another amazing

move. And it's just our luck that, you

know, we're, we're, we have a nice three-year old in this

year's crop of three-year olds. I will tell you the shrug of the

year was Brendan Walsh after the Haskell just threw his hands up.

Like, what am I supposed to do here?

Like what else had we possibly do in one of these races?

And then the journalism horse just keeps showing up.

I got to tell you, Scott, it was the shrug of the year for sure.

And you know, Brendan said either after the Preakness or

after the Haskell that he's not disappointed in the horse, but

he's disappointed in the results.

Yes, that sounds pretty and and I'm sure you guys are happy to

see journalism not present in the entry buses.

Yeah, yeah, I know. So he definitely needs time off,

you know, journalism he needs, he needs a breast.

Well, I hear Southern California is very nice for that's the next

few months. Beautiful.

Time. He should probably stay there

all next year, right? Sounds good to me.

Well. The horse's name?

Gosker. So he's named after a baseball

player who's probably not the most well known name.

Who was who was as a Jim Goss? Who was the Jim Gossgar fan in

the family? Where did the name come from?

So it goes back to, you know, he's by Nyquist.

Nyquist is named for a hockey player.

We kind of, I kind of looked into some hockey pun names.

It didn't really make sense for us.

We're not really hockey fans, but we are being baseball fans.

So my mom and I went back and forth a couple of so baseball

player names that we're, you know, fans of in the family.

And my mom came up with Gosker after Jim Gosker, who is a

Facebook friend of hers, who she says is a very, very nice person

and, you know, seems that way what I've seen about him.

Yeah. So it's kind of it's fun.

He's alive. He lives in lives in Michigan.

He's in his 80s and trying to get him to come meet this horse.

He's a big animal, animal lover. Yeah.

And I've heard from I, I haven't talked to him personally, but a

good friend of mine, Tim Wilkin, has done a couple stories with

him. And he, he said when he talks to

him like his, his voice just lights up anytime he talks about

the horse. And so he's very much been

enjoying this ride from what I can tell.

Yeah. I think he he was the last

hitter to face Satchel Paige. Wow.

Yeah, and more recently, he's kind of known for being

erroneously noted as dead by the by the Mets.

Yeah, I really remember that. That's right.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Poor Jim.

Gosser. He's still going.

He's still going and he's watching the.

Horse The irony of it actually is Nyquist played for played for

the Red Wings, and Gossgar is a big.

Red Wings fan is it really? How?

About There you go. Full circle.

There you go. More Detroit than anybody needed

on this. Episode So there you.

Go gosh fuck with us. Part of the connections of

Gossgar. What are the long term plans for

a horse like Gossgar? Does he stay with your family?

Does he move on to another kind of operation?

What are his long term plans? He'll stay with us as long as

he'll have us. You know, we'll, you know, we'll

keep him on the track as long as he shows he'd like to be there.

Hopefully that's for a good amount of time more and, you

know, future plans. We'll, we'll see when we get to

that point. Awesome.

Probably a brand new question. Well, I asked Brendan that

question yesterday, so the answer I got was we'll see how

Friday goes. Exactly.

You know what? That's a good answer too.

How are you with these? People, you have to take

everything one day at a time, unfortunately, yeah.

There you go. But he did give me a little bit

of like we'll think about the Pegasus maybe if you're right,

he did give me a little bit of that.

But the main thing was we'll. See how Friday goes.

Yeah, I'll be well. Good stuff for sure.

Well, Scott, we appreciate you jumping on Blood Horse Monday.

Safe trip on Friday. We'll we'll ask Brendan all the

pertinence for you and all that information.

Make sure you got that. But happy Thanksgiving, enjoy it

with the I've got 4 kids myself so I know that I enjoy the

holidays with young children and have a great season.

Thanks so much for having me guys.

Happy Thanksgiving. Thank you.

Happy Thanksgiving. Take care.

Part of the golf group, team, breeder and owner.

How about that? Yeah, Keep them in the family.

You get a horse like that. And keep them in the family,

yeah. Exactly.

That's great. I, I really do think the Brendan

Walsh arms thrown up in the air. I know you have to.

I love that moment so much. And I look, I'm a guy who lost

many dollars on Gosgard, now winning the previous many

dollars because I remember I was.

Standing next to you. I love that horse.

I think a lot of him. I was all over in the Lexington

for sure, but he is a reminder of what we got this year with

those horses coming back at 4, coming back at 5, etcetera.

When you hear from ownership, hey, we want to run him as long

as he wants to be on the track. These are the kinds of

interviews I want to have the rest of my career.

Yes, this is exactly what I want is guys like yes, coming out and

tell you, hey, if he wants to run, he's got to run.

Look, they got to take care of their family operation.

I'm never going to fall to anybody for doing those sorts of

things, but if you're going to be positive about racing, come

on blood horse Monday. That's that's what I'm.

Talking about yeah, but God has been such a fun, you know, he,

he's. In classic Brendan job too, he's

gotten that horse to its best effort every time.

Pennsylvania Derby stuff like some horses just don't like

parks. I mean it is what it is.

That's a Brendan job in the best way and I I4 year old.

I know it's going to be all well and he's he's adding blinkers

this weekend too. So we'll see, we'll see if that

has any any impact as well. But wait, he's been such a fun

horse this year. And you you think of all the

heroics that we've praised on the show many times of

journalism. None of those heroics happened

with Oscar. Gossgar has been a real

racehorse this entire year and he's been in the position to

where he's been ready to win those races.

And journalism is just freaked in both of those races and won

anyway. But the the reason why we have

such high respect for journalism is because of how good of a

horse Gossgar is. And as we've been looking, as

we've been talking about, as we've been talking about

sovereignty journalism by ASA throughout the year and how good

they have been, it's the reason why we can claim that is because

of horses like Goskar. We know the second level is.

Yeah, We know the second level is super high.

You have horses like Goskar, who's in that, who's in that

level and who is continuing to grow, continuing to get better.

Brendan told me yesterday he's continuing to take those steps

forward even still coming out of that Fayette Stakes run last

week. And so he is a horse that as you

go into the four year old season, I mean, there's a reason

he was in the Lexington and not in any of the other Derby press

races because he was a later developer.

And so we're continuing to see him take those steps forward.

We'll see if maybe those blinkers are going to have any

kind of impact on him this week or not and maybe help him take

an even further step forward. But I'm really excited for his

four year old season. I've been high on him.

He was one of my Preakness pics as well.

I should have had that trifecta. I did not have.

I did not have any cash on me, so I did not place any bets, but

I did pick that trifecta. But that was you know, he's been

such a good horse this year. I'd love to see him breakthrough

and get a big win here in the Clark.

But it's it's going to be a pretty tough field.

We got the same same top three that we just had in the fight.

Yet we have Reddel and Roll who was second in the Fayette.

He won the Clark last year. He's back.

He looked like in his last race, he was finally his second start

back from the his trip to the Middle East.

It looked like he was back on his game last time out.

Hit show. I feel like never gets the

respect that he deserves. He just shows up.

He consistently shows up, especially in these kind of

those grade two, grade 3 races. He's just been a Tour de force

in these races and they're trying to get him back to the

Dubai World Cup. This is first mission's last

career start going to leave it all out there for him and then

you're also going to see horses like Magnitude and a couple

other good ones. That chunk of gold's back in

now. Remember him from the Derby, so

we got some other big three-year olds in here as well.

So it's going to be a pretty good race.

Yeah, yeah, it's the Grade 2 list of grade twos.

Should be a great one. But it is like every horse in

that field is absolutely worthy of winning.

Regret to. Well, that's the point, right?

And that's what I'm getting at here.

In the same way that that Commonwealth Turf was easily a

Grade 3, probably better given that that line of, of horses

that we just saw at Churchill Downs on Saturday.

You're kind of stuck on this grade one thing for the Clark,

aren't you? It's there's some races, there's

some races where they I feel like they go through those

couple years of maybe they don't produce as much.

By the way, I'm totally with the others to go wild.

IA 100. Percent.

Well, they go through the races, go through a couple of years

where, you know, maybe it's the horses in them aren't as

productive as they used to be. But there's a certain quality of

like historic races that I feel like just you need to keep them

at the grade one because you need to keep horses pointing for

it. And so the Clark is one of

those. Hollywood Gold Cup, I think is

another one of those. It's such a historic race.

I know now it's not at Hollywood Park anymore, so.

The Arlington million or something, right?

Yeah, like keeping grade one status on that and.

Do we think that's going to stay grade one in the next couple of

years? Yeah, exactly.

So, But it's a race like that. Those ones are a little harder

because they're at different race tracks.

The Cigar Mile will go get into that realm next year as well.

That one matters for sure, because, yeah, because it's part

of that Remsen day. Yes, right.

That day in general at eventually at New Belmont needs

to be one of the cornerstone December weekends that we have.

And it should be, Yeah. So the Clark and the Cigar Mile

I think are the biggest 2 that should be great ones.

And there there was a couple years they were the Stephen

Foster got demoted down to a grade 2 and the Clark stayed a

grade one. And then they switched in the

same year, Stephen Foster went back to grade one, the Clark

went down to Grade 2. And the Clark is one of those

races. And I don't think the Cigar Mile

is as much because it still always gets a good field.

So that one should just be the Clark is one of those races that

has suffered a little bit from the Breeders Cup Classic, where

the top classic division horses, they're not coming back in four

weeks to run in the Clark like they maybe would have used to.

I've said it many times before, I would love to see the Clark

rejoin Kentucky Derby week and really become that big older

horse race. Like I take the spot of the

alley Sheba, put the alley Sheba and put the put the alley Sheba

in the Kark's current spot. Put the Kark on Thirby and make

it the really the the feature race of Thirby that Thursday

before. That's what I would like to see.

I know I would like. I would like to.

See, I love the alley Sheba. Though I would like to see the

original 3 races the. Would you run the Karki 10 for

longs or not? I don't run that 10.

OK, Yep, put a mile and 1/4 put it on therapy.

Make it the anchor of the therapy card.

Start really pushing that as because if you look at that, it

could be you know the race that the horses from the Middle East

come back and horses because right now.

Yeah. Because right now we don't

really have you heard, you hear all the time the horses kind of

once we get past the Santa need a handicap as far as the US,

like we have the Oak Lawn Handicap and that's continuing

to get better. But it always seems like the

big, big horses, they kind of don't have anything between the

Santa Anita Handicap and the mid mile.

Even though the Alley Shiva is there, even though the Oakland

Handicap is there, a lot of times we see those as more as

like like fierceness using. Obviously he was a big horse,

but fierceness using the alley Shiva is kind of a stepping

stone to something get back in shape.

We we really need. I think that big older horse

race in the spring, the big grade one, the Clark,

historically fits that bill and so do you.

Feel like Churchill's hiding from that mile a little bit.

No, I don't. I don't think it's I think it's

just the Clark got got its spot on Thanksgiving weekend, the day

after Thanksgiving and it's just it's just stayed there.

But with it losing the grade one status, I think it.

Do you happen to know how long it's been on Thanksgiving

weekend? I do not.

OK, All right, I'm sure we could find out.

Let me. See if I asked, just because I

wonder how cemented that is as part of this coming.

Week It has been pretty much my entire time of.

Focusing horse racing, which. Took going back about 20 years I

think. But yeah, since Equibase total

since Equibase goes back to 1976.

It's been on this weekend since then at.

Least at least so 50 years. Yeah, it's been at least 50

years, but I would I would love to see, especially now that this

will be its third straight year as a grade two.

I would love to see it rejoin the Derby and the Oaks.

And I would love to see it turn back in, become become a

feature, let. Me ask a different question for

you 'cause I'm trying to figure out your mentality on these

things. OK.

What do you think of as more of a grade one, the Churchill Downs

or the LSU? The Churchill Downs, OK, because

I think that's a that's a top race for the sprinters versus

the alley. Shiva I don't think is really

considered a. Top race for the for the reason

I asked that is because, and I'm not picking on you, I promise is

I think there is a especially for guys like you who are Derby

fans to appreciate two turn dirt races more than other kinds of

races. Oh yes, yeah, right.

And so we want to elevate some of those races to grade one when

not all of them can be grade ones.

Yes. And so that that would be my

only push back I think, but I don't think that.

Should be a Grade 1. I think that should stay as

grade 2. Got it.

I agree with you by the way, but I think that can be changed with

purses. At some point if you think

$1,000,000 race, I also think that the car historically means

more 2. So I think if you put the Clark

on Thurby, you turn it into that anchor and then and then you

jump the purse up, you put the purse up a million.

Two, Let's flush it up. Let's flush it up.

Is the Clark really an important race still?

Yes. I think so.

I think people think so. I know.

But I have talked to people before and they that have people

with horses within the industry that they the Clark still is a

race that they want to point for and a race that they want to

win. It's one of those races that I

think still keeps that. OK, because this is a $600,000

race, we just ran a $7,000,000 race.

Yeah, OK. At at similar distance and same

age of horses and all the things.

I'm just saying that's a very difficult thing to to go after a

couple of weeks after that just happened.

Yes, OK. And I just we got a Breeders'

Cup horse in the Clark. That's why it's not a great.

One, by the way, yeah. Was he the last one?

I don't know if he was the last one, I'd have to go back and

look. I mean, I would.

He came out. He came out of the.

Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, he was what, second in the Breeders Cup

Dirt Mile, third. He came out of that, won the

Clark, and then that kick started him into the insane run

that he then went on. But I mean, you look at some of

the, I mean, right on roll. But Maxfield won this race a

couple years ago. He was terrific.

He was terrific. Tom's Day taught at the time

where he won. Yeah, at the time he won that.

I don't know but. I mean, he was, he was the big

horse in in the area at that point.

F&X had come out of the Breeders Cup Classic after running

second. He came back a few weeks later

and won this race. And I mean, the last two years

were or the years preceding and getting dropped from grade 2 to

Grade 1 was Proxy, Maxfield, Bodie Express, Tom's Detox.

So you you can see that. But again, that's why that.

Part I won't disagree with you about what I'm saying is that's

a grade two set of winners. Yes, it just is and it's and

look, it is influenced by the Breeders Cup.

By the way, this is what happened to the Santa Anita

Handicap. I'm not I'm just saying that

still gets to be a grade one. The Clark doesn't.

I'm just that's what it is what it is and I don't agree with it.

But this is at least partly timing of these.

But I'm, I am saying I understand why the race is a

grade 2, but I think historically, and I think if you

want to keep the race, the race that it is should be a Grade 1

historic. I think there are to go back to

my beginning point to wrap up this, this, this part, this

point there if you, you need to keep some of the historic value

in the mindset when you're putting the grades on these

races. By the way, you're right,

because otherwise sending to handicap would not be graded.

Exactly. Let's be very it would, it would

not be a grade one, but it would not be a Grade 1 for sure.

It's probably grade 3. And by the way, I imagine

frankly, Santa Anita would be OK with running $100,000 instead of

$3000, let's call it. But.

You need, you need to keep some of these historic, historic

races at the grade one level. I think the Clark fits that

bill. I think the Cigar Mile fits that

bill. Cigar Mile for sure.

I the Hollywood Gold Cup and the Arlington Million, you can

debate with me because they are not at their original location

and since they've moved they haven't really been the same it.

Would Beverly be dropped off immediately?

Yes. Right.

And so so you know, those things you can you can argue with, but

I think the Clark, the Cigar Mile definitely should.

Why by the way, and the Santa Anita Handicap, I agree,

probably the last couple of years has been at most a grade

2. But.

I think that should stay grade one when you think about the

historic. Scene.

But think about the the changing calendar in our sport is all the

reason for these things. The Clark was the year in

championship and now there's a Breeders' Cup.

Yep, right, which is why you move it to Thirby.

But I'm not going to fight. I'm also not fighting you on

that. Yeah, you might be right about

that. The other part is the reason

that the Arlington Million doesn't matter is because they

run ten of those races at Kentucky Downs.

Yeah, well, and you have you have the what?

The four-star? Is it the four-star?

Dave, that is the week right before.

And you have the sword games after Turbo as Charles Brown.

OK. And it just, it's just the

reality in the sport. By the way, every other sport on

the planet does this. It changes over time.

There was No 3 point line in basketball until the 70s.

Sean, how about that? OK, Like sports change.

It's OK that Kentucky Downs matters now.

By the way, all those horses came out of Kentucky Downs just

fine this year. Yes, they won a Breeders' Cup.

Race. They won two in a Breeders' Cup.

Like it's a little bit. They're doing our.

Right. I mean like all these things,

OK. And so no, it is, it's just the

changing landscape of the sport for sure.

But the other part is that list you just read me is not great

one. Yes, and I agree.

That part is. Just not great, which is why I

no. That's why you would have to

make the argument about you would have to make, well, number

one for moving it, or that the historicity matters, right?

The historical nature of the race does matter.

I'm not going to fight you on that.

The Churchill is trying with the race.

It's not like Churchill drop. They're like, oh, it's a grade

2. We're going to run for 200 K.

That's not what they're doing. I'm with you.

They're trying to make this a grade one.

They want this to be a Grade 1. So it's not Churchill's fault.

I want to be clear about that part.

But the list of winners. I do want to pitch this idea,

though. If it had remained a Grade 1, we

see Bob Baffert sending Explorer for the Goldenrod.

If the race had remained a grade one, does Nevada Beach take the

extra week of rest and come out here?

Here? Here's one in the car.

Here's one out of that. It's a half million dollars more

already. If they were going to run him

out here, they would have done it.

It's a grade 2 too. They would have been a grade 3.

I know, but there's there's the difference when you're looking

at the breeding value of getting the grade one versus if it's

just OK, grade 3 or grade 2, we'll just stay home and we'll

get him, we'll get him prepped for the same you to handicap

versus. Purely on the breeding side.

Let's ship him. Let's ship him for the grade one

kind of thing. That's that's the kind of thing

that we're, I'm not saying he definitely would have, right.

But that's probably a debate that they never had that had it

been a grade one, they would have had.

So we're losing out on potentially having grade one,

those kind of grade one quality horses running in the race by

the fact it's not a Grade 1. But then the native diver

doesn't happen or what? Well, yeah, OK, we're we're

canceling races out there. Don't mark anyway you can.

By the way, my hot take, my hot take on the Bob Hope because

our, our colleague Jay Hubby had a really good piece of up this

at bloodhorse.com. By the way, go check out his

stuff. It's very, very good.

Do you know it'll fill the Bob Hope next year?

The fact that the Breeders Cup is at Lexington?

Yeah. Do you know to fill it 2 years

from now in New York City, the Breeders, that's it.

All those heats up all, all of them.

Super Corridor wins the Breeders Cup.

Juvenile Phillies not at Lexington.

Yeah, she she probably would have stayed home.

That was the right. She wouldn't have been in the

Bob Hope but but like you know you had but.

This is my point, right? Like.

A horse like Mystery P, does he ship all the way up to Kentucky

versus does he stay running the Bob Hope correct, you know,

correct. And then you've got 6-7 horses

and you're fine. Yeah.

I'm just telling you, once the Breeders Cup is not out in

California, a lot of those races are going to fill because you

know why? Because it's 1,000,000 bucks to

run in the Breeders Cup, and it's $100,000 to run at Delmar.

That's the difference. It's OK to say out loud, it's

money, Arlington. Millions empty in Kentucky down

this fall. Money.

It's OK. It's OK.

Oh, man, I hope they can. I can figure those out.

But yeah, what you got on the what you got on the clerk.

You. Have gossiper.

I've got a feeling hit show's going to keep keep going here.

Come on that. Yeah.

But I, I do I, I would love, I would love for Gossiper to win

this race here. How much of that faya do you

expect to rollback? Do you expect to see Rattle and

Roll Gozger run well again? Yeah, I think Rattle and Roll

runs really well. Yeah, I think he's back to, he's

back to feeling himself now. So what?

About magnitude coming back, what do you make of him being in

this race? I don't know, I mean, if you, if

you've been watching this. No, because let's let's walk

through this with him. Because with Magnitude, if we're

giving Gozger a pass in the Pennsylvania Derby, why does

Magnitude not get 1 then? Well, he ran well, that's what

I'm saying. Second, third.

I just, you know, if you watch this show since the summer, you

know I've not been on the magnitude bandwagon.

Understandable. And by the way, the I know that

picked him in the traverse, that was embarrassing, but keep

going. Now I did really, I did like his

Pennsylvania dirt. I think I may have said it on

the show that I felt better about him coming out of the

Pennsylvania dirt because he did not get the lead to himself.

He battled on. He ended up ended up running a

very strong second that race to Baeza.

I just I, I, I have the feeling that he's just kind of a cup

below the top, the top of the top.

Now, that being said, as we as we've discussed, this is a great

too. So that that could be in his in

his realm, but first time against older.

I don't know if I necessarily am going to back him here.

If he wins, I won't be the most shocked.

Because if you think about early speed in this race is all going

to be non contenders and then you're going to have first

mission and hit show sitting just outside, right and Gossgar

sitting just outside because the the early speed is like chunk of

gold. OK, and and by the way, he's

fine, He's fine, He's fine. But but like this is the Clark.

At some point there's chunk of gold and then there's the Clark,

right? OK, Hude is probably going to

try to get the lead. I know Willy Deez is going to go

out front. Thanks for being in the race.

But like. Well, that that concerns me a

little bit about magnitude. But what if he but what if he

wants to go with those horses? He's just faster than them,

which he is, and he just gets the late he's gone.

I think that's all the time. We said what's?

Going to happen in the Travers and he was going to get the

lead. Well, people said that he was

going to get the lead and he was gone and then halfway around the

first entries. I don't see sovereignty.

Do you see Bracket Buster? Because Bracket Buster's the one

that got him. I just laughed.

Those nice people came off the show.

I shouldn't do that. But you know who's going to be

coming late in the in the Clark, no matter what, I have you

coming with a late run. Late run the Clark Could it be

rattling role? I think it could.

Could it be? How?

About that. What do you think, Brian?

Is rattling role going to be coming with a late run here in

the Clark? Let's hope.

So I mean, we'd, we'd love to have a repeat of a of last year

if we can get that same kind of run out of him that we did last

year to be something special. Brian Hernandez junior with us

here on Blood Horse Monday. He's Sean.

I'm Louie. Brian, thanks for jumping on,

man. Good to good to see you.

Was Sean very forceful outside the jock room yesterday and

booking you for the show? No, no thanks guys.

It's always an honor to be be on.

Well, good. Yeah.

I was going to say last time we talked to was in front of

Torpedo Anna, I think on this show at least.

Yeah, right back when she. Was still dominating.

Things out there. Well, Brian, I have to ask

first, obviously the, you know, your injury earlier in the fall

and all those things you are back, you are riding while

you're winning. How are you feeling?

How was the recovery process? And boy, I, I got to say, Brian,

you don't get to find out how love someone is very often in

our sport. But boy, people really, really,

really were, were praying for you, fighting for you.

And so it's nice to see you back.

How are you feeling? Thanks.

Yeah, no, it meant a lot to see all the fans and, and everyone

reach out and, and all the well wishes and, and stuff like that.

It, it really meant the world to us.

It kind of helped with the recovery process and just now

we're just kind of in the process of getting back going

and trying to get back to normal.

You know, the first, the first week I was back riding, I kind

of overdid it and, and kind of tried to ride too many races

and, and work a lot of horses and it kind of kind of set me

back a few days. So.

But then riding last week, everything was well and just.

Now we're just trying to find fast horses again and just kind

of get back in the routine of things.

You know, Brian, around here we love our college hoops.

For example, we talk about people being in game shape.

Do you find yourself as a jockey having to be in in riding shape?

Is that a thing? Oh, yeah, yes, definitely.

You know, especially when you're, you know, when you're

sitting on the couch and you start to feel pretty good and

everything's like, oh, I can get back to doing this.

And then you go out there and do it that first day and you

realize, oh, wait, maybe we might need to take it a little

easier. And that's kind of what I did.

You know, I just kind of, I've kind of been easing back into it

and, and riding a few and, and working a couple here and there

in the mornings and just kind of getting back to just trying to

get back to normal. I'm, I'm sure a lot, a lot of

our listeners and our viewers are not jockeys.

And so they, they, they don't know exactly what goes into this

on the daily basis. What is the, the mental aspect

of when you have a hard fall like that getting back up on the

horse again? How do you get over, you know, I

know in my case, I would probably have fear of it's just

the traffic again. How do you get over that?

Is it just the your years of experience or how do you get

past that kind of mental block? Yeah, it's a it's a lot of

experience. And then on the on top of it,

you just kind of have to put it in the back of your mind.

You know, when you when, when you decide you want to be a

jockey and you accept this profession, you know, at some

point it's not when it's not when you get injured, it's going

to be just it, it's going to happen.

So you just kind of have to have to understand that aspect of it.

And, and for me, I've been, I'm fortunate enough to where I have

a really good strong family behind me and they've kind of

supported me and, and just getting back into it.

Brian Hernandez junior with us, he's got a bunch of mounts this

week, so we wanted to ask him about those.

One you will not have is that aforementioned torpedo Anna

retired this year. Sean and I have talked at length

of this program about every time they paraded her at Churchill,

they would get next to the tunnel and she was ready to go.

I mean getting to ride and you know you'll be on rattle and

roll, for example, in the Clark. These types of horses, Brian,

the high level success horses where you know what you're

getting every time that you're the board.

But let's get back to her first year torpedo Anna.

How special was was your time with her?

No, I mean, anytime you get to be a part of a of a Philly like

that, she's, you know, those, those type of horses, they come

around very, very rarely. So when we were able to do all

all the great things, we were with her.

If it's something special, you know, it's what what you as a

jockey, you work your whole career for to try to find a

Philly like that. And I was fortunate enough that

we got almost three really great years with her and she, she took

our, she took my career to a, to a different level.

You know, I mean, I've been fortunate enough to ride a lot

of good horses in the past, but to be able to ride a a horse of

the year champion like and champion 3 year old, you know,

she was just something that it's hard to put in the words exactly

what she means to us, But I mean it, it's she's extremely special

as well, just because in all her races and you know, the kids

and, and everybody would come out and just cheer her on and

just to win the grade ones like we did with her.

It's, it's always going to be, it'll always be something we'll

remember, that's for sure. And I I love the those Churchill

Downs parades. You could see the difference

between her and Mystic Dan, who you run to with the Kentucky

Derby last year. Torpedo Anna every time she

comes into one of those paddock parades she's pulling on. 2

Handlers 2. Handlers.

She's falling on them. She's pretty much marching

herself around the paddock. And then Mystic Dan, they bring

them out and they just stand in there for like 20 minutes.

And so just. 2 completely different horses, obviously 2

very special horses to you to have them, you know, kind of

together. But now that they are both

retired, I know we got the big two year old day coming up this

week at Churchill Downs on Saturday.

How excited are you to find the next Torpedo Anonymousstic Dam?

Yeah, that's that's what we get up for every day, you know, and

that's kind of been the good, the great thing about the the

last what it's been probably 15 years now, a little over 15

years now that we've had this these two two year old days at

Churchill and they just kind of showcase the talent of next

year. And that, you know, those are

the days that you want to ride a lot of horses because typically

on those on the 2 year old days like this, that's when the

everybody kind of wants to showcase their really good 2

year old. So we're hoping to see what kind

of maidens we have on Saturday and, and just hoping that

something does lead us on the next year to where we can get

back to the Oaks and the Derby and and those kind of special

races, those classic races. You know, that's that's kind of

what what builds your career is when you're able to win those

classic races. So, but you still have to go out

and find those horses. So on Saturday, it's we're

hopefully, we'll hopefully pull Magic out the bottle one more

time. Well, you mentioned trying to

get as many rides as you can on that day.

I believe you're booked to ride and eight races, including race

three, you have two mounts. Not sure how you're going to

pull that one off, but. Hernandez junior.

He does want to. Exactly.

You understand. Well, we'll see which one you

end up on there, but you're 2 stakes runners.

You have the Universe and the Kentucky Jockey Club, a prep

race for the Kentucky Derby and the Grumpy Rabbit and the

Goldenrod Stakes, prep race for the Kentucky Oaks.

Just what? What are your thoughts on them?

Yeah, you know, I've, I broke the grumpy, I rode the grumpy

rabbit one time and when she broke her maiden at at Ellis and

and she was really, really professional that day, you know,

going into that race, Kendrick Carmouche had ridden her the

time before and and he called me before the race.

He goes, hey, you're going to really, really like that Philly.

She's she's been working really good up here at Saratoga and she

went over at Ellis and she she won pretty easily.

So it looks like, I mean, off of her last race, she ran opening

day at Churchill and she was, I think she was third and she

seems to be going the right way. You know, we'll see.

She she didn't draw a very good post.

She drew the outside post. So that's going to be kind of

detrimental to her. But then in in universe's case,

you know, I've been on him one time in the mornings.

I don't know a whole lot about him, but I know Kenny and the

the owners, the gas ways, they own him as well.

And they're they're all really, really high on him.

So we'll see what he can bring to us on Saturday.

Connections there you got. You mentioned there this is a

part of the industry I feel like people don't necessarily

realize. You mentioned there.

Have Kendrick Carmouche gave you that phone call ahead of time?

I feel like a lot of people would look and think when you

want to the other jockey who's riding the horse now to fail on

that horse. So then you you can end up get

getting the mount back at some point or something like that.

Just what is it about the the brothership of being a jockey?

That always seems like you guys all get along really well.

It's kind of like that shared a shared knowledge that we all

realize how difficult this job is, so we're going to do what we

can to try to help each other out.

Just what is it about that brotherhood of being a jockey?

Yeah, that's, that's kind of a lot of it as you always want to

see the next guy succeed. And I mean, at the same time

we're competing up against one another, but at the same time

you want to see that guy succeed.

And, you know, in that case, he he reached out and and gave me

some knowledge on the horse and not do the same thing for him.

You know, it just makes all of our jobs easier when you can

just kind of have that extra, that extra boost of confidence

knowing that, hey, that guy likes that Philly.

We just go out there and give her a big chance.

And it's just one of those things where you, like I said,

you want to see you want to, especially in Kendrick's case as

well. You know, him and I, we grew up

together on the backside of Evangeline Downs that our whole

lives. So we've, we've, we're really

close and we've always gotten along well.

So it's just like I said, it's just one of those things that

you want to see each other succeed.

I was there for Kendrick's four thousandth mount win on Wood Day

this year. He jumped into the crowd.

Do you think you'll ever jump in the crowd, Brian?

No, no, no, he's more lonely. I like to kind of keep things

low key. Well, are there any other, any

other amounts on that Saturday card, any of those two year olds

that you're really, you're really maybe thinking, I know

you maybe haven't gotten as much time to ride these horses

because of your injury, but any of them that really kind of

stand out to you that we should be looking out for?

I no, just like you said, you know, I've been kind of out of

the loop the last seven weeks. So I'm not really 100% certain

on, on a lot of them. I've I've worked a couple of

them in the mornings, but it's just kind of one of those things

where we're just trying to get back going and, and seeing what

we have that can develop on Saturday.

You've got See the Sky running on Friday and the the Misses

Revere the grade two event there at Churchill Downs as well.

This is a horse for Cherie Duvo. That's going to be longer odds

on the board. But what we've seen crazier

things than Cherie pick off these kinds of races.

What? What should we know about her?

Yeah, I mean, Cherie does a great job as as everyone knows.

And I haven't gotten a chance to talk to her about that, that

Philly yet. She'll she'll call here in the

next day or so and we'll discuss it.

But just going off of the PPS, I think she's got to run her two

or three Times Now and she looks like the Philly where she's just

trying to get her, get her going in the right direction.

Well, Randall and Roll definitely the big, the big guy

of the weekend. We mentioned him a little bit

earlier, but he's running here in the Clark stakes.

Is he always comes with that late run every single time.

Is that just him? Is there any way to take him out

of it? Or is it is that just you kind

of let him get going and unwatch him when you're ready?

That's just, that's, that's his style.

You know, we've, we've learned it now.

He been riding him for what, four years now and just kind of,

I've kind of learned that if you just stay out of his way the

first part and let him kind of get in his rhythm and, and he'll

come with his run. The the great thing about rattle

and roll though, is he's a, he's a type of horse where he always

tips his hat in the morning. It's like when he's doing

really, really well in the morning time, he runs a really,

really big race. And I know going into the Clark

last year he he shipped out to California to run in the

Classic, but he didn't make it into the race.

He was on the A's and didn't make it in.

And then he came back from from Del Mar and he had two works at

Churchill before the Clark. And after the second time we

worked in the week before the Clark, Greg Guyer, Kenny's

assistant, we were in the office and he goes, you know, that

horse is going to win the the Clark.

I'm like, Oh yeah, he was just doing so good last year going

into that race and then this year as well.

You know, he's going back into it after the after that big race

he had over at Keeneland and the Fayette.

He's come back. He's had two tremendous works

and we're really looking forward to Saturday with him, Friday

with him, that's Friday. Yeah.

What? What is it about him that has

made him have this longevity? He was a Grade 1 winner at age

2. He's still running in this

competition, still traveling the world now this year as well.

He's, what, 6 or 6 years old now?

Yeah. So what is it about him that's

just kept him at this longevity at the top level?

I think it's just his demeanor and then he's just, he's one of

those, of course, is that it almost seems like he's made of

iron because every time you think that, you think that oh,

well, we've gotten to the bottom of him.

He just comes back and he he comes back for more.

He just trains better and just keeps showing up.

And that's kind of, he's kind of been one of the coolest horses

I've been around just because he just for as long as he's been

doing it, he just keeps showing up and keep keeps offering his

best effort. Brian Hernandez, junior with us.

We'll get you out of here on this.

Obviously, Churchill closes soon.

We will move our Kentucky circuit over to Turfway Park.

Where are we moving? Brian Hernandez, Junior.

I'll be going down in New Orleans.

I'll start riding. I'll start riding down at the

fairgrounds on December 11th. We're going to take a little.

My wife and I and, and a couple friends were taking a little bit

vacation, 10 day vacation right after the meet here at

Churchill. And then December 11th, we'll

we'll start the fairgrounds. Look at look at this is called

work life bail. Let's see.

What you can do once you Once you win at Kentucky Derby and

Kentucky Oaks, you can start taking vacations.

Everyone before Peter Andrew retires, Brian gets a couple

days off. There you go.

Well Brian, we appreciate it. So glad to see you back on your

mounts. Healthy and and and capable for

sure. Safe travels to New Orleans.

But before that man, pick off a couple of these races for us

this week. Will do.

Thanks for having me on guys. All right see you bro right on

industry is here on blood horse Monday.

You you I think it was you that that did the the old jocks are

built different tweet. Yes.

And I don't love those tweets, I'm not going to lie, but it's

just true. I mean, it's just true.

It just is. And you know, it's interesting,

actually. I appreciate him talking through

the the comeback of this. Yeah.

Because we talked with, I don't know if we did or if I did, but

with Tyler when he came back at Ellis this summer, right after,

I think it was mine, but it doesn't matter.

Very similar kind of conversation, though, where it

is a not if, but when, unfortunately from any of these

jocks. When is my injury going to, when

is my spill going to happen, whatever it might be.

And then the the mental part of coming back, right?

Because the physical part, you're like, OK, I'm tired, I

need to stop, I need to chill out.

And he, he even says, you know, OK, I'm sitting on the couch.

I feel fine. That's different than, you know,

jogging even or whatever. Certainly riding a horse at 40

miles an hour to hear that mental, you just got to go do

it. RIP the Band-Aid off kind of

mentality about jockeys. It's just different, man.

It's just different. And I appreciate getting to talk

to them because it it's so clear and it's full circle with this,

with Kendrick calling him and saying, hey, you've got this

cool, this cool Philly, you know, the grumpy rabbit, she's

going to be, you know, she's blah, blah.

It reminds you that these guys all know how dangerous this is

for all of them at any point. And yes, they grew up in

Evangeline, sure. But my sense is, like you said,

there's more of a camaraderie there than even the rest of us

are even that are close to the sport.

I mean, you see it all the time at the racetrack.

If there is an incident where there is a spill and there's a

rider that goes down, they're being tended to by, you know,

the ambulance staff, which the fact that an ambulance follows

them tells you how difficult this or how dangerous the sport

can be. But you'll see like if they if

that that scenario happens, a lot of the writers run out

there. Like especially if it's in the

in the home stretch, a lot of the writers run out there to

check up on how the writers doing.

So there's a tight camaraderie. I'm sure you know, there's

probably, you know, you're, you're back and forth from time

to time. There has to be, especially in a

competitive thing, of course. Yeah.

But you know, at the end of the day, everybody's kind of looking

out for each other. Everybody's wanting each other

to succeed. And so that's that's one of the

unique things about about you. You think of all the other

sports about, you know, competitors doing everything you

can to try to make sure that someone else doesn't succeed in

bracing. The jockeys have that tight knit

unity and try to help each other.

It feels like the more dangerous the sport, the tighter the unity

is. Yes, like hockey players are the

nicest guys around, but they're maniacs, right?

Maniacs. But they're very nice guys when

you get them away from the track.

And women, of course. But it is, it is its own thing,

by the way, that that moment at the Wood Memorial of Hendrick

with the 4000 sign jumping into the audience, it might be top

moment of the year for me. Yeah, it was that cool.

It sounds like it was just so cool.

Sounds like the next time Brian has a milestone we're going to

have to throw. Him into the crowd before him,

we're going to have to pick him up and hopefully he's fully

recovered by. That because we're going to have

to pick him up and tell us no. That's not me buddy though.

I was going to ask him. He's won this race twice in

recent memory, actually. Signalman one time and then he

won it with roll last year. McCracken use the board of

McCracken. Oh, you're talking about the

Jockey Club? Yes, the jockey.

Oh yeah, yeah, sorry, sorry. Sorry, I thought we were still.

At the park with with with those two races, with Signalman and

McCracken winning the Jockey Club.

Hopefully. You know what?

I'm, I'm a little like you this time of year.

I'll watch a 2 year old races and not the Clark.

I mean, just a heads up. Yeah, just a heads up.

I'm I'm ruining that time? Of year that.

Time of year but yeah it's it's the same thing yeah A couple of

my favorite stories this year came out in this episode.

I'm very happy Kendrick in the in the audience thing and just

the gosser story in general. I really like that horse this

year. I don't know what his history,

what his if he wins the Clark, it'll be different, but what his

story will be from this year, by the time we get done with his

career, well, I think it'll be well, as a three-year old, he

did this, but then he won all this stuff.

My sense is that's what's happening well.

Just remember, OK, there was a horse a couple years ago who

kept running second, third, all these big races, couldn't pick

off the grade one, was running in the Triple Crown races,

couldn't get it done, couldn't get it done in the Haskell,

couldn't get it done in all these races throughout the

three-year old season. Then he won the Clark, then he

was horse of the year there next year and now is one of the

greatest stallions that we've ever had.

That's Gun Runner. So the same.

Yeah, the Clark's a big race. It is a big race.

He did not have the Lexington in his pocket yet.

Well. Right, Gunner?

Yeah. I mean, he had the Louisiana

Derby. That's a better race, isn't it?

Yeah. That's it.

He won all the preps that leading into the Louisiana

Derby. Sean Ronimila 3 sixteenths.

Find out next week. The Blood Horse is dedicated to

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