Turfway Saturday | Tony Calo

The man will be calling the races tonight and tomorrow at

Turfway Park, has been doing it for a a few days already is Tony

Calo. Hopefully the box is closed up

for you, Tony and you aren't freezing to death.

How are you friend? You doing all right?

Yeah, I'm doing all right. Doing pretty good.

Louis, How about yourself? I'm doing great man.

Happy Turfway to you and yours. After a few months of watching

races at Churchill and and Kentucky Downs and and and at

Keeneland, how how much are you itching to get back in that

booth? You know, I'm, I enjoy being the

analyst at Churchill. I don't necessarily enjoy having

to handicap six days a week. You start looking at a form and

it starts looking the same after a while.

But I do, I do like both jobs. And you know, it's, it's so

funny because when you, when you've been the analyst for for

months and then all of a sudden you got to go to the race

collar, your brain is like, gosh, I haven't done this in

months. Can I do it?

And then you get up there and it'll be the same thing come

April. Wow, I haven't been on TV in a

while. Can I do it?

That's good stuff at Tony Kalo. 5 for him on the socials.

He is. Tony Kalo calls the races at

Turfway Park. Wanted to ask you.

You mentioned being an analyst, being on the desk there at

Churchill Downs for the fall meet.

Always one that we watch. As far as the Derby trouble

before we get there, Irad Ortiz Junior decides to move his tack

here. A very profitable move for him

early on. Watching our Kentucky circuit

here grow up, Tony right in front of our eyes.

Pretty fun, isn't it? Yeah, it's pretty awesome.

You know, I'm a, I'm a newbie here, obviously just being here

a couple of years now, but the purses are so good and, and, you

know, with other question marks around the country, why not make

the move? And I guess it probably helped a

little bit when he saw that his brother was doing.

As good as he did, so you know. Think about this colony, you

know, I, I think, you know, you, you think about the top four and

it's like, and that's not even to mention all the other great,

great jockeys that are, that are behind them.

But, and when you handicap a horse, you don't have to, you

don't have to worry about who's aboard for the most part,

because everybody's pretty capable.

So we're we're treated to some pretty good stuff with our

jockeys. You know, we'll, I, I have a

show tonight at 6:00 called the Kentucky Racing Spotlight.

And part of my open Tony is, you know, in an era where there's

lots of money and there's lots of purses and, and we see, you

know, when I read Ortiz junior win the jockey title, we see a

good dolphin win the owner title, We see a Brad Cox win the

training title. You might think, oh boy, all the

money's floating to the top. But I, you know, I, I

interviewed Ethan W he, he's having the year of his life

right now, right? You know, I've, I got to

interview guys like Grant Forster over the summer, guys

like, you know, I, I'll forget too many Chris Davis, whatever.

And just so many guys as part of our circuit that have benefited

from what's going on here. It's, it's just, it is nice to

see that, you know, Rising Tide, all ships, that kind of thing.

Well, you think about it, you know, 10% of these purses for

the winter share, you know, even if you're not knocking out, you

know, the the many victories like the big, big guys, you

know, here and there, boy, those pay a lot of bills.

Yeah, no, it really does catch up.

Was there a 2 year old at the Churchill fall beat that that

caught your eye? That maybe was a maiden winner,

not a not a stakes winner or something like that.

Yeah, I got a few of them. I bet them all in Pool too.

By the way, Commandment is the one for Brad Cox.

Commandment sort of debuted at Keeneland on the 4th of October.

He and Mesquite, they're both a couple that caught my attention.

So I'm going to give people the replays.

And I can't remember the race number on the 4th of October at

Keeneland, but he had somewhat of a trouble trip and Mesquite

looked like he was going to be a horse that wanted a lot of

ground. They both were able to win their

next outs. Commandment on the 1st of

November. Good looking winner and Mesquite

was able to stretch out the two turns and went on the 7th of

November. I got a big number on both of

them. Commandment was like 71 or 72 to

one so we're hoping he turns out to be pretty special.

And I thought Brian Lynch's horseshoe ran on the 23rd of

November in the nightcap. Mob looked pretty good winning

those. Those would be 3 maidens to keep

an eye on going forward. Nice.

Love it when you would you call it Ellison turf where you have

different challenges. But something that I really love

that you have implemented is the immediate recap of the race

after the race. Whose idea was that and do you

plan to keep doing it? Because I love it.

Yeah, I plan to keep doing it until they tell me, hey, you

talking up as it is? And I already know there's a lot

of people out there going, gosh, this guy, what does he get?

Yeah, You know, even when I'm the analyst, it was so funny.

I think I heard one of my cameramen down in the paddock

when he had that red and Carruthers.

And I kind of, it wasn't supposed to get so I could hear

it. But he's like, gosh, Tony

sometimes just doesn't shut up. Hey, Gabe, if you're listening,

I heard you, buddy, and I'm going to hold it against you.

Yeah, I don't shut up. My father used to tell me, and

that was when I was a kid. And here I am at 57 and I'm

pretty big, so make me shut up, you know?

But no, just kidding around. But I get back to the original

question, Louis. I lost my trade of thought, no.

Just do the replays right after the races.

I, I love that, that quick little recap and, and, and I'm

not, by the way, I'm not putting it down at all by calling it a

quick little recap. It doesn't need to be the, the

length of the race, right? But another, you know, 1015

seconds of what you saw in that moment, I think adds value.

And so no, I really, I, I've enjoyed that.

That little segment right there says I do talk too much.

I talk so much I forgot what I was talking about.

Yeah, You know, I, I started, I started that at, at Finger

Lakes. I I think maybe just out of

boredom being up at, on the mic at Finger Lakes with six horse

fields. I'm like, what else can I do?

And I started doing it at Finger Lakes.

And when I got to Turfway, I continued to do it and nobody

said anything and then moved it on to Ellis.

And then I've heard a few people that actually like it.

You know, it's kind of like a little post handicap maybe, You

know, No, I, I think it's pretty good stuff.

And, you know, hopefully it's, you know, hopefully the people

like it. Yeah.

I'm not just sitting there trying to talk for the sake of

talking. I went terribly.

I think. I don't know if it was 23, I

might have been 23 that they would kind of pick up the replay

a little more at the top of the land.

I'm going to try to talk to Brian because then I could.

That's how I that's what kind of made me start doing it more at

turf weight because it's hard to figure out where everybody is.

So after the race where I already know who they are, maybe

fans are going, where did that horse come from?

And then I can kind of guide them from the from at least the

three sixteenths or the 8th pole home.

Yeah, synthetic racing though, it does afford that right, that

there are a lot of finishes like you're describing where there's,

you know, 7-8 horses with a chance at the top of the

stretch, that kind of thing. And so no, I I've really enjoyed

it. I'm glad to hear that you've

you've carried it on from Finger Lakes and that it will continue

on. He's Tony Calo calls the races

up there and bring that up. Jason Beam brought up a good

point and I didn't even think about it, but he's all turf

weight. He's like there's, there,

there's like multiple moves from the five sixteenths to the wire

and you, you might have two or three horses making a move from

the 3/8 to the quarter pole. You've got other horses

launching from the five sixteenths to the to the 8th

pole. Then you got, then you got the

horses who are maybe going to win launching from, you know,

the quarter pole to the wire. It's like it's, it's pretty

challenging, that's for sure. Yeah, Tony Kayla with us calls

the races at Turfway Park beginning of a new meet.

What do you look for, you know, as you handicap these races

ahead of calling them? If a horse is shipping in to

Turfway, maybe we don't have a ton of synthetic background,

whatever. What do you look for with those

kinds of horses? Well, I would say like the non

turf and non synthetic horses, I would try to look for horses

coming out of longer races. I've noticed that kind of works

maybe early on, not necessarily as the meat continues, because

then all the horses that have been working on this track and

running over it kind of catch up.

But maybe initially if, if they don't have much a morning

activity at turfway or synthetic or turf form, look for that.

Look for some horses coming out of longer races.

That's been a pretty useful angle.

Let's do some handicapping here. Race 5 is one of those newly

minted $100,000 maiden special weight races at Turfway Park.

You're calling $100,000 races on the regular now, Tony, How about

that? Pretty well.

I think early on in my career, if we got 100,000, it might have

been a grade 3 in Northern California.

My my last, my last so many years of Finger Lakes.

I think I only had $300,000 races a year, maybe even 2 to be

honest. So.

Multiple on the card on Saturday?

Yes, there you are. Yeah, no, but you know, that's

great. I love the bigger purses.

I think, you know, I think those races are the ones that

everybody wants to handicap. The horses are obviously a

better quality and you know you're going to and I love the

maiden special weights that they're challenging the call

because you have been called, especially the 2 year olds.

You haven't called any of them or not many of them.

And so you're trying to get your, your, your brain to, to

get the pronunciations down properly.

Obviously the the bread and butters roll off the tongue

pretty good, but boy the maiden special weights are so fun to

call. Yeah, in race 5, is there anyone

that stands out to you? You know, we talk about those

horses coming off of a nonsense or a non turf kind of thing.

I think fight time on the inside coming out of a maiden 75 at

Churchill fits in this group. Well, who else do you think

fits? I think the four and the 8 fit

beautifully. And the main reason Louis would

be that they're both, they're both trading at Turfway pretty

regularly. Policy change.

Just got to Kentucky in early November and this is where he

stabled. And obviously Billy Mori with

the 8. Shellac.

There's shellac. I'll have to figure out how to

say that. One directly, but.

As we get a little, you know, it's like I start working on

pronunciation probably around two 2:00 on race days.

But both of these horses have been working at Turfway and I

think they have a good advantage and policy change.

Even though that was a maiden auction, I think this isn't the

strongest of maiden special weights that I've seen.

And him coming out of a 7 furlong race in which he had

good energy in a way a little slowly I could see him.

So I give a lot of consideration to the horses that have at least

stepped on the racetrack in the morning with a recorded workout

or train here regularly. I think they're going to have a

little bit of an edge early, early on, especially when you

have some evenly matched races. Long shot for me and here is one

that's tried the synthetic before but last was seen

sprinting at Churchill Downs and ZAP Data the seven here Barbosa

rides for Gary House looking for his seventh win and 22nd win,

excuse me in 2025, the seven horse there.

I'm fascinated by that one. Hopefully I can get me some

money at least as part of an exact or something like that.

The Boone County is the feature on Saturday.

Do you love calling these 10 for long races?

I love that Turfway has so many of them.

Do you know, I'll say this like mentally in the morning, you say

to yourself, wow, I got a mile and a quarter race because

they're just races. You don't call that off of it.

But I've grown accustomed to it here and you just kind of got to

keep the keep the keep the breathing pretty good and try

not to get too worked up. It gets a little intimidating.

I think last night I had a race. I can't, I think it was the

eighth race and they're going to the gate, you know, and the

thing about the mile and the quarter race is they they walk

away from you. So I'm trying to learn my

colors, which is good because you know what, in the race, not

everything's perfect. So you can't see all the colors

the way you'd want. So it's kind of a great angle

where you're like, OK, that's him, that's him, that's him.

You can look at the TVA little, but yeah, the mile and the

quarter races, they're, they're, they're pretty cool.

I, I think it was my first year. I filled in for Jimmy Mack in

2022 for like 5 days. And I think the opening night I

had a mile and a quarter race and I don't, I hadn't called

many of them in a lot of years. And that one was on my radar for

sure. But yeah, no, they're they're

cool. And the good thing about the

mile and the quarter races here is it's it's upper quality.

It's either it's either a maiden special weight race or or it's

one of these nice allowance races or a stakes race as the

case is tomorrow night. Yeah, so.

The Boone County race, 7:00. Tomorrow we'll start the late

pick for there we have Kentucky Derby alum Honor Marie, of

course, the winner of the Isaac Murphy Marathon this year back

in April and a horse just nosed out of the Red Smith at

Aqueduct. Last out is Common Defense.

We saw him on the Derby trail in 2024.

Where do you think, who do you think the favorite will be a

post time? That's probably the best

question. Here I I think Common Defense

probably will be the favorite. He he's been a favorite in three

out of his last four races. He just lost a Grade 2 in his

first stakes race and I got a feeling the fans are probably

going to gravitate towards him. They could also look at the 6th

safe trip home, who's coming off of back-to-back good efforts in

stakes races, including that graded effort in the Thick of

Our. I think they're both contenders.

I think fantastic again as a contender.

I question him going a mile and a quarter.

He's got some Sprint siblings, sprinty siblings.

He does like it here and he could be forwarded in a good

pace scenario for him, but you see him going that mile and

eight, two back in his lead is diminishing and some of his

other races at shorter distances.

So with all that said, the five is the horse that I'm interested

in. I've had my eye on him for quite

some time. I believe he graduated on the

Ruby Undercard in 2023 or 24, yes.

And you know, last time out he was all hard and look, we beat,

he beat calm in defense. And I don't think the distance

will be a problem. I know he likes the racetrack

and he's going to be the biggest price out of the four horses I

mentioned. So it's better for me and in the

Boone County. I love the Cassie train Swiss

delivery here, coming second off the layoff here out of the Grade

3 autumn up there at Woodbine. But the question here for me,

distance, does the horse want to go tent full furlongs here, Tony

is a legitimate question, but this is one that's been running

in, you know, the Ontario Derby tons of time on that synthetic

course up at Woodbine. We've seen some success between

those two courses, but not all the time.

Are you are you kind of interested in that?

You would think that you know, with with the the same

installation company that Woodbine Gulfstream and and

Turfway would translate. But I guess hey, different,

different climates and different things.

Yeah, different climates. You know, if somebody brought up

a good point, you would think the Woodbine form would, would,

would, would translate pretty, pretty smoothly.

You think it'd be a great transition, but sometimes it

just doesn't work that way. Now in the stakes races, I I

think you have a more of a fighting chance.

I've just seen over the years, the last couple of years here

and, and other venues around the track around the country, the

Woodbine form isn't traveling the way it used to.

Let's say five years ago. And Travis brought up something,

and I can't recall what it was completely, but it was something

about how maybe some of their purse structure got shuffled up

a little bit and maybe some of their product got just a little

bit diminished. And maybe it wasn't him, maybe

it was one of my other colleagues.

But the Woodbine form, you got to be, you got to be, you got to

be a little a little iffy with it sometimes.

Like I said, I've noticed some of the stakes races.

It can, but there's a lot of horses that I that I expect to

run better that just don't. The Presque Isle form is held up

pretty good initially to start the seasons.

The last couple of years I've seen the Presque Isle horses

come in and maybe they have a little more foundation than some

of the other horses. So I would just keep an eye on

that. But this horse obviously has

some some big races there. Those those two victories back

in June and August were were pretty nice.

Carry over of 163,000 plus dollars into the late pick 5

tonight. What do you think it will pay?

A5 out of five? Tony, Caleb.

I haven't looked at the sequence that much, to be honest.

I'm just about getting going to start looking at it.

Nobody jumped out at me. So that's already I'm in trouble

as far as like when I was looking at.

Yeah, you know, that's the first thing I do.

I'll look at entries and I'll go, OK, there's a horse.

There's a horse like I, I told a few of my friends, Orion, the

fifth race last night. That was a horse I'd been

following for quite some time. I was surprised when the horse

went off to 5:00 to 2:00. But maybe, maybe some of my

friends bet a lot of money I have.

No, I don't think so. That kind of flow, but.

You don't have those kinds of friends.

Yeah, exactly right. That's why they called me white

whale. And it's not because I'm getting

closer to 300 lbs these days either.

So yeah, Louis, I haven't given it.

I haven't looked at it that much.

Obviously if we get some type of some type of long shots, I saw

something that some guy said we'll get up to half a million

and Gary Palmisano said on a similar day last year, I think

it was exactly, yeah, 1,000,000 bucks.

So you know, I mean even if you just play 150 cent combination

of five numbers that mean something to you, yield it to

yourself to at least try that. 215 claimers and a 25 claimer in

that group alongside a couple of allowance and then and an

optional flavor. So I, I, we got a shot at Tony.

We got a shot. He's Tony Kayla.

He calls the races up there at Turfway Park.

Tony Kayla 5 on the socials and of course at Turfway Park if you

want to find them as well. We appreciate you buddy.

I'm sure we'll talk soon throughout the winter and I

will. I will make sure to say hi when

I'm up there for synthetic championships.

Yeah, come to the booth. I I Yeah.

Come to the booth, brother. You know you're welcome.

All right. Sounds great.

Thanks, Tony. Have a great weekend.

All right. Cool, Louis.

Thanks buddy. No problem.

There you go. A very a very staying inside

Tony Kayla probably kill those. Can you imagine having to call

races outside right now? Do your vocal cords Hard pass on

that one. All right, up next, the coaching

search wraps. Let's make fun of Penn State

together. JMU gets there, man.

The Florida staff is coming together and there is a grade

out right now that if you are Auk fan you will want to hear.

Coming up next, it's for Boca. ESPN 681057.