BloodHorse Monday | Tom Ryan & Jake Delhomme

Welcome in. It is a mid-december, the 15th.

How about that already? It feels like an outside edition

of BLOOD HORSE Monday. His name is Sean.

I'm Louis. Thanks for hanging out with us.

Starting your horse racing week this way with the program.

Tom Ryan and Jake de Lone today. Why not?

Yeah. How about that Little show,

little Derby talk, little touch upon A star talk, little little

NFL Europe talk. Why not?

Let's go. Let's do.

It why not and I I'm always thankful that you start the

episode with where we are in the month you know mid-december.

Yeah just be it keeps me updated on exactly what time you're.

Here to order. So I I definitely always

appreciate that. In other sports that I get to

talk about, you know, on my radio show and stuff, you know

what part of the season you're in, right, and horse racing

certainly has its seasons, right, Obviously Derby season,

Breeders' Cup season, etcetera. But they're the in betweens

where you're just kind of going right and you're just going and

you're like, wait, it's Christmas is next week.

Like I do that a lot right. OK, there you go.

OK, OK, so that's that's what I'm getting at is not do we

what's the actual date time stamp on this episode, but

rather just oh crap, Christmas is next week so you got a lady

in your life I'm. Sure.

You wanna go shopping? Yeah.

Have you? Taken care of that already.

I have, yes, actually. Put you a little plan.

Yeah, well, well, now, the gift already took place.

Last week we went up to see Hamilton in Indianapolis.

Well, how about that? So that was actually, well,

that's a heck of a gift, Sean. Yeah, that's.

I know. Goodness gracious wow, is that a

like a like an overnight, like dinner, all the stuff.

Like, no, we just, we went up there just for that.

Yeah, it's a. 2 hour drive for people outside of the market,

that's a 2 hour. 2 hour drive it was snowing on the way home so

that was interesting but also, you know, we we usually we eat

and she's got a lot of food allergies so we don't go we.

Don't know what that's a fairpoint so.

Actually, yeah, so. Usually the up and back make

them a. Baseball.

But had you seen Hamilton before?

I had seen it on the Disney Plus version.

OK. But now I've never seen it in

person. It was definitely more enjoyable

in. Person.

Yeah, There you go. She's a big American history

nerd, so yeah, she loved it. So is she a?

Rapper. No, that's not what I was just

about. High school.

Yeah, back in the high school, baby.

DJ girlfriend That's exactly right.

No, I I'm a Hamilton guy, but I'm also not a musicals guy and

I'm not, but like, I'm not mad about it.

Like a lot of people like like people.

You're not the only person I know that traveled to

Indianapolis to watch this thing.

Like I really lots of people to go.

Yeah, no, it's. Great.

Well, you should have told me that other people are going to

be able to carpools. We could have gotten the bus

together. Or something that is so horse

racing. Don't want a carpool?

You go to track tomorrow and go. We're gonna rented the funny.

Side dress, go to Belle Terre together.

The funny side bus and drive drive up to Indianapolis.

You leave the funny side bus out, we will talk with Tom Ryan

and with Jake, the loan that they lit this test and of

course, touch upon A star, the real stars of that.

Those conversations for sure. Interesting to get into it with

Tom, you know, low self fraternity happens.

It's Baffert, 700 and eighth win in that series, which is a

remarkable new record for him. Yeah.

Just what you think. Baffert couldn't go to a new

number that you've never thought of before.

He wins his 708th low self futurity.

It's a remarkable. #708 I didn't know they ran the low self

futurity. Yeah, yeah.

So it actually, you know, during the Crusades, they took a couple

years off, but after that, yeah, they've gone.

Backwards still had horses in. It you still have them.

That's right, and he finished top three in this race too.

OK, let's not which he boss over that.

Correct. And so this is where last

weekend I thought it would be a Baffert 123 in the starlet.

He waited till this weekend to do that.

But let this test get someone here.

How good do you think he is? Because this is a horse that we

saw. I thought he ran really well,

frankly, as part of that second group in the Breeders Cup in the

juvenile, right behind Ednafi, who at this point in the classes

is he's going to win the Eclipse Award, all the things, and he

should. What do you make the Oplitus

test well? You know, we saw him, we saw him

run behind Ted Nafi in both the Breeders Futurity and the

Breeders Cup. Juvenile.

Behind Brian Brant, I believe in the Delmar Futurity.

So we've seen him behind who right now I think is being

considered the top of the division, which in my opinion, I

think that really kind of helps to tell us that seeing how

strong he was this past weekend. But that helps to tell us that

these top horses in the in the 2 year old division of the

juvenile, specifically the Breeders Cup Juvenile are going

to be legit. Kind of move.

I agree with you. Because I think was the last

year trying to think back where, you know, the 2 year olds in the

Breeders Cup juvenile really didn't progress.

It seemed like as we went into the as we went into the

three-year old season, all the all the new shooters kind of, I

don't want to say new shooters because obviously journalism and

sovereignty were around during the two year old season winning

stakes races, but not they weren't at that.

Point. This is when we met.

Journalism last year was this race and but so I think this is

a year where we we're going to be able to be confident in the

top 2 year olds as they're moving into their three-year old

season. I think this was a good first

step. The fact that he gets away from

Ted Nafi, Brant and them and immediately comes up with a win

I think is a good thing. And you know, he could just be

one of those horses that's developing.

We know the 2 year old divisions been kind of light in California

this year, so it's surprise he was given the opportunity.

I like the fact that Baffert did want to ship him for for the

race in Kentucky. I agree.

You're not going to do that ultimate endorsement.

That is the ultimate you're. Not going to do that with the

horse. If you don't think, you know,

even if you thought maybe we're not going to win this race,

you're still not going to do it unless you think this is going

to be a horse that's going to have talent.

At some point, and all that showing could have said, maybe

we look at something different. They never did that.

They went right back straight to the juvenile and then straight

to this race. Obviously they think they have

something. I expect a little bit of time

off here. We'll ask Tom about that in a

few minutes. But this is a sets up.

We know who the rubber B Lewis, at least contenders are already.

And then who are we going to meet in the next couple of

months, right? Who's going to run in a debut,

say on Malibu day or something like that, the day after

Christmas? Who is who are those horses?

Who are we going to see by the time we get to the Lewis, which

is always I think of as like the hey, we're doing the Derby trail

in California. Like no offense to the lowest

opportunity, which I do like, and it's a, you know, it's a day

that I bet, but it's not. I don't think of that as the, oh

man, we got to really pay attention to Derby.

Well, I think that the thing that the Low S Futurity has been

in the last couple years is the telling you whether or not the

California Derby prep races are going to run through Baffert.

Because you think about journalism last year, you think

about practical move a few years ago, they use the Low S

Futurity. They beat the Bafferts in that

race and then they went on to really dominate all the all the

big prep races on the West Coast heading into the Derby.

And so the fact that we had a Baffert 123 here, I think that's

telling that we're, we're, we're lined up to see quite a bit of

success from the Baffert bar and as these three-year old prep

races start. What do you make of the others

that are on the West Coast? Are there any that stand out to

you? Does a, and you know, I, I

wanted to ask you at this point, is technology at the top of your

Derby rank? Like if we ran the Derby today,

he would be the favorite for. Favorite for.

Yeah, OK. Well, I'm not necessarily saying

he would be my pick in the race, but he definitely would be the

favorite. OK when he deserves to be.

I mean he's going to be. He should be a unanimous choice

for cheapy 2 year old I would think, and he's done nothing

wrong at this point. We'll see.

You know, as some of these, we had a horse like Paladin last

week who looked pretty good running a mile and an eighth in

the Remsen. These are my top 3 for sure.

I'm a big. I'm a big incredible fan off

the. Street, that's what I was going

to ask. So you have him on top of your.

He right now, he's my number one.

Paladin's right, right behind. I agree.

I liked Paladin's a lot. And so we'll see what they what

they do as they come back. We'll see what Ted Nafi does as

he comes back. No fault.

No fault to Ted Nafi at all as far as the West Coast.

Yeah, so like an Intrepido, a Mr., a Mr. AP, something like

that. I just Mr. AP intrigues me just

because I I don't think we really know what he is yet and

so. Come out of it come out of, I

mean back-to-back days, frankly with in in juvenile Phillies as

well super corridor with yeah, maiden Breakers coming out to

win those races. It's very difficult to know if

that's a one offer, if that's a repeatable thing.

Mr. AP did not win, but can he do that again?

Is a legitimate question, right? So we'll find that out with him.

Intrepido. I don't I don't know what I made

of his breeders script. Juvenile run.

We'll see what he does when he comes back, and there's bound to

be. It was just a couple.

The answer is it was just Yeah. We're bound to see maybe a

couple of other horses pop up on the West Coast.

You know, Doug O'Neill's always gonna have a couple that he puts

in there. You know, McCarthy's Michael

McCarthy will come up. Sadly, we'll have something.

Sadly, we'll have something. So, so we'll see how this ends

up. Y'all in on the West Coast?

But right now it definitely looks like it's gonna be running

through the bathroom. Horse and and worth mentioning

to Mr. AP out of the sarin bar one of your sarin and then

Trevido is a Jeff Molestre, right?

So there are other horses out. There frankly, much of the much

of the complaints is that too many of those horses are in the

same barn. It's nice to see in the top five

of the current Derby rankings, guys like Vladimir, Sir, and

Jeff Mullins alongside A Pletcher, Baffert and Enemy

Peak, right. I mean, that's, that's the sort

of stuff that in this sport, we'd like to think that there's

still a path for the smaller guy to get to the Derby.

Ask Ethan W what that's all about, Right?

I mean, those sorts of things. And so at this point, I know

we're very early in the process, but Chad Summers, Napoleon Solo,

that's that's a serious shot at the Derby.

Yeah. He keeps going, keeps picking

off 1020 points at a time that that's a horse that can make the

Derby. And so, yeah, hopeful that we've

got a couple of those as well. But of course, we want our we

want the sovereignty, right? For sure.

We want those voices. Hopefully, whether it's Ted Off

or not, we'll figure it out. What would be your guess more

likely that Ted Off, he doesn't win a graded stakes in 2026 or

that he wins one of the three classic race?

I would go with no graded stakes at all.

I think it's that hard to go from 2:00 to 3:00.

Well, I'm, I'm, I'm running through, I'm running through the

Triple Crown races. And I'm like, well, if he

doesn't win the Derby, Fletcher, Fletcher would skip the

Preakness because Fletcher never runs him back in the Preakness.

And so then it would be up to the Belmont, which it is my own

quarter. And he may be good.

That's tough because I don't want to say he's not going to.

I think he's going to win a graded stakes in 2026.

But yeah. But is that more likely than him

winning? So that's, I, I ask that

hypothetical only to to kind of put a bow on conversation of how

difficult it is to know at this time of year.

Yeah, right. And that's why guys like Tom

Ryan do have such an interesting job because it's part of their

job to forecast who's going to be good now and who's going to

be good when we get to April and May, right.

Because by the way, you have to be really good in April because

you have to be really competitive in that race to even

matter in May to qualify for me. But it's also very good when

you're doing pretty well in December, you get to pick up the

check of a Grade 2 race. That is OK as well.

Tom Ryan joins us. Of course, I'm part of the

ownership team there with Litmus Test.

Gets it done over the weekend. Tom, welcome in.

Thanks for jumping on the show. Hey guys, thank you for having

me. Yeah, done.

It was a fabulous weekend, a nice way to get into Christmas

and look forward to the spring ahead.

Yeah, you got to you got to imagine to a guy like, you know,

Bob Baffert gets his, you know, really gets his legs underneath

him and Los Alamito. It's got to be got to be

gratifying for him to win the low S through attorney.

I said earlier, I think the numbers up to 708 times that

he's won this. How?

About that Bob, Bob Bob is a he's a win machine and he's

built such a good team around him.

It's the results are not that surprising, but they're very

satisfying at the same time. You know, it's it's very hard to

set up, you know, keep horses right like this is litmus test

fifth run this year. And he just had him really peek

perfectly for this race. He's got a good foundation and

under him now. And you know, it really gives

you a little bit of we can pause now a little bit and really see

what the landscape, what we need to do over the next couple of

months. There's no rush, there's no

chase now where we know we have a good horse that'll go two

turns and Bob has confidence in him and that's very important.

Yeah, but definitely very important step for him here,

getting that win after running some pretty good races behind

the likes of Tetonofi, Brandt, some of the top horses in this

division as well. Just when you look at that, how

big of a, how big is it to get the win at the end of the year

after those performances? And I feel like a lot of people

will look at it as you know the he's been running behind some of

the top horses, they were gone. So he won.

But is this a horse that you guys think is just developing

and starting to get into his best stride right now?

Yeah, I would, I really look, when we select these horses,

we're trying to buy 2 turn horses.

You know, we're, we're not necessarily looking for your

five and a half, 6 1/2, seven for a long horse.

Typically it's we're looking for a horse that we're going to be

excited about next March, April, May.

And he's that kind of horse. He's that frame of horse, he's

that design of horse. And I really feel, yeah, we'd

love to be winning the British Cup Juvenal, but we're also very

proud that we ran, you know, within a couple of lengths of

the champion 2 year old elect. So it really, it gave us

confidence that we have a Group One quality horse.

And I think the way he ran this weekend, settling in behind, he

was so tractable. And it felt like JJ had the race

almost at his mercy at most points of it, you know, And JJ

mentioned after when he felt that other horse coming to him

late, Litmus picked up and continued to gallop out like a

good horse, Like it's that race didn't get to the bottom of him

by any means. So, you know, it just gave us,

you know, close to get excited or just to have a little

confidence going into 26. Tom Ryan with us, part of the

ownership of course of litmus test and the management team

there. You see him do the two turns as

you mentioned and you, you really do feel it.

And I, I trust you here that you're not near the bottom of

this horse. Obviously he's he's a Nyquist

baby. We saw what he did.

But when you did go and purchase this one, what was it about him

as a young horse? Did you see some of his dad in

him? What did you, what did you like

when you when you picked him up? Yeah.

Look, I'd be very honest with you.

It was a case of Bob and Donato had recently, maybe it was a

crop prior purchase an ISOS and I've had just started to see the

brilliance of an ISOS bubble at the time.

And it just gave us confidence to, you know, because we're

always we're very selective about the stylings that we will

even consider to put into our group.

You know, because we're trying to build out a program where if

a horse is good, there's a, you know, just very, very high

ceiling on what their potential worth is as a Kentucky future

stallion. And nice was our Nyquist had

given us lots of nice Phillies. And there was lots of reason to

believe that he was a good stallion, But we needed we

needed to be confident. He had the ability to sire

brilliance and Nice was really brought that to the table.

You know, then we went to Saratoga, we landed on this

horse. It was, you know, he's a big

forward, balanced, athletic and a cult with a very good mind

coming from a very good program. Carrie Broad and Craig Broad and

they're breed good horses out there at McMahon Hall and raised

them the right way. And this horse presented up

there, you know, just a big raw sort of cult that we felt like

we could really work with. And Donato fell in love with him

and, and Bob followed suit. So it's, it all felt, it all

felt good. And thankfully, it landed.

Well, you mentioned earlier some of the success, obviously

Bedford, fifteen wins in this race, not actually 400, seven,

180. I got that's bad information.

But fifteen wins in this one race, You guys have been

involved now in a couple of them as well.

Just what is it about him? You mentioned a great team that

he has around him, but what is it about him that just keeps

year after year being able to churn out these top horses and

just the eye of a horseman that he has?

Yeah, look, Bob is, he's part horse.

You know, he's, he's got a great, he's got an incredible

ability to assess everything that's happening around him.

And you know, a lot, a lot of people don't really understand

the, the amount of information Bob absorbs on an average day.

His, his ability to just see a horse change in front of him, to

understand when a horse is happy, to understand when a

horse is regressing. It's, it's really, I've spent a

lot of time around Bob and I feel very privileged that I

have. But it's his his ability to see

change in a horse, to see a horse moving forward, to be able

to kind of slow pull back on a horse when he's not really just

in his groove. It's just quite amazing.

And he treats them all as individuals.

And Bob is a big part of the buying process and these horses.

But for for us himself and Denaro, I mean, I just can't

speak highly enough about how Bob is willing to make the he's

willing to, you know, be very decisive and he's willing to

give a, you know, if he believes in a horse, he'd give a jockey

confidence If people, you know, he makes the the entire journey

so enjoyable for the ownership group.

You know, we like we're like everybody we have.

We have a very high, high amount of horses that don't work out as

regards to becoming stallion prospects.

But when, when Bob has a good horse, he knows exactly what to

do with it. Everybody's along for the ride.

Everybody shares in the enjoyment.

Everyone's part of, you know, the whole development of these

horses. And it's, you know, at the end

of the day, we're entertainers and we all get to enjoy these

good horses when they, when we can put them together.

And there's no better, there's no better ringmaster than Bob.

Tom Ryan with us from SF Racing. You mentioned Litmus test and

his next couple of steps that he'll have to take.

Can you take us through all your plans with him?

Is there a little bit of time off here?

Is the Lewis kind of what we're working backwards from?

What is the next steps for Litmus?

Test I think, I think this horse has now kind of solidified

himself as a horse that we have confidence two turns is not a

not an issue. We feel like he he demand the

16th. He he acquitted himself very

well there. I think he'll be nominated to

everything from February forward.

You know, I don't think there's any reason or rush to chase now,

but we'll ultimately let the horse and Bob tell us where they

want to go and hopefully he can put himself fair and square on

the trail. He's been, he's been a great

horse to deal with. He's had a ship already, he's

been to Keeneland, he's been back.

So his foundation is fantastic, you know, and that'll really

stand to him come March and April.

Did you, I mean, to ship to Keeneland?

We talked about this right before you came on.

I mean, you've obviously thought you've had high, high hopes for

him for a long time. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, We've always liked them.

And we liked them even before he came to California.

Eddie Woods had him down there. He he thought he was an express

trainer at the time. And, you know, it's, it's

fantastic to see it all unfold. And he's, he's really, he's, you

know, he's stepped up incrementally the whole way

along. And he's, he's a horse that you

can, you know, you can start to get a little bit excited about.

Well, one of the things that we always enjoy doing here on this

show is giving the people an opportunity to meet some of the

people behind the scenes or the people whose faces you see that

are involved with some of these top horses, but you don't always

know that much about. So Tom, how did you get started

in the thoroughbred racing industry?

Kind of what's your background and how you got involved in

this? Yeah, my background is I, I grew

up on a very rural sheep and cattle farm in Ireland and I was

intoxicated by horses from the moment I, you know, basically

laid eyes on them. I was one of those kids that

fell in love with the movie Far Lap and fell in love with

horses. And I was fortunate enough to my

godfather gave me a horse. And I just had to dream from a

very young age that I wanted to be involved with horses.

And I'm one of the fortunate people that really dreams did

come true for and. I left Ireland when I was about

19, I'm 49 now. And did, you know, went to

Australia, Japan, did all of that and worked my way into

America. And I just, I feel like, you

know, I've been lucky, but I've been opportunities to present to

themselves and I've been fortunate enough to be able to

identify them. And it's, it's, it's, it's an

amazing sport and it's been. I you know.

I can't. I can't glow enough about how

great the sport has been for me and my family personally.

And, and I'm just so amazed that we can put together partnerships

and make so many other people happy as well, which is just

part of it. You know, it's great to be able

to share this sport with a lot with, with our friends and our

partners. And again, back to Bob.

That's, that's what's amazing about Bob is the whole

interaction we have with the, the whole operation is it's just

quite, it's enormous. I'm Ryan with us.

From a rural farm in Ireland to The Avengers, this SF racing

thing in The Avengers, how did this come together originally

and what is it about that group that keeps you together so

often? You know, these partnerships are

fluid, they move around. You seem to have a real stable

base of of owners, investors. What if whatever you want to

call it there with your group? What is it that makes it click

and how did it get going? Yeah, it's, it's been going,

it's been or eight years now. And you know, we're we're

thankful for it. It was all built really around

Bob. And the concept I presented to

him was that if I raise the capital, he would participate in

training everything, but also participating at the sales force

and himself and Donato have been, you know, effectively

incredibly integral to the success of the whole deal.

But. It it was.

It was. Bob dubbed us The Avengers, you

know, because it was kind of, it was Jack Wolf and Saul Kunman

and myself and Donato and all of these different characters that

kind of showed up at various different events.

And you know, you're right. We've been very fortunate to be

very kind of united and through rough and tumble and it's been

fantastic. And it's all really been

centered around Bob, you know, because we always, we believed

in Bob, we continue to believe in Bob.

We originally probably Starlight and Madaka with SF and had

exposure to each other through Justify through the trip of

Crown. And then it was really, you

know, it was very apparent to me that going down the path where

we loaded up on Bob Baffert was the right answer and it

continues to pay dividend. Tom, ride with us.

I also have to ask because it's that time of year, who are the

other two year olds in the barn that we're watching that will

eventually fledge as 3 year old? We're all very aware of Litmus

Test, obviously after his great performance at Los Alamitos.

Anyone else? We need to watch Tom.

Yeah, I would probably say we, we have a high level of

confidence in horses like Kristofferson and Cherokee

Nation. We feel like those horses will

get their show on the road here come the new year.

And there's a couple of unexposed horses, a number of

them really. But you know, there's a cult

called Newton who will potentially run the next few

weeks cold called Memory. He looks like he's coming along.

Well, he's an Uncle MO cult. And look, I'm hopeful that

there's a couple of quotes over at Los Alert I'm not mentioning

that could potentially jump up and and make a splash in

February or March. It's, you know, it's very hard

to have them all slide into the Derby cool window.

It just doesn't really work that way.

But we've we've, we've had lots of good horses develop late and

and that doesn't diminish their chances of becoming very

important horses. You've been involved with a lot

of really good horses over the years.

One of the biggest names recently was National Treasure,

who won the Preakness a few years ago, but who was maybe one

of those underrated horses, one who maybe didn't steal all the

headlines, whose career or you just either felt was really

rewarding or you really enjoyed kind of watching their career

unfold. Is there anyone you can think of

that's kind of along those lines?

Yeah. It it, it's a great question.

And I think there's one in the past and one currently that's

it's playing that role. Newgate was a very good cult.

Newgate was a very good cult and he just missed his window.

I think he might have won the Lewis or one of those early

preps with 100 buyer really looked like he could be top

class, had a set back and you know, he ended up winning his

Grade 1 as a four year old it and he ran a monster race in the

Breeders Cup classic. He was one of those horses that

I feel had things just worked out, you know, a month in

advance like he he could have made a far bigger splash on the

scene than than he did. But I'm thankful he got a job in

Kentucky. He's had he was very well

received last year and he's he's at a farm that three chimneys

that can clearly make a stallion.

And the other cult is is interestingly is imagination.

He's running. We have him at the moment.

He's a horse that's always showed us that he's got ability

and it might have been poor management in this case where we

were. We were always trying to stretch

him out a little bit and the truth of the matter is he

probably is more of a 674-ON horse.

So I thought his race this year in the Sprint was very good.

His prep for the Sprint was excellent and he is a horse with

legitimate brilliance, so hopefully he'll get a clear path

into 2026 where he can maybe hit one of those big targets.

All right, Tom, we'll get you out of here on this.

Are you in charge of the weather?

Because it's a bad job by you if you are.

It's too cold. I don't like this.

I'm just, I tell you what, I'm so thankful for the people that

are outdoors breaking those ice and ice in the water troughs.

That was my job Once Upon a time.

I'm thankful to be indoors looking at it now.

But I really do appreciate all the people that work through

these these tough times and keep these farms up and running.

It's, it's, it's a slightly tankless job, but I'm thankful

for it. Well, there you go.

He's Tom, He's Tom Ryan. We appreciate him jumping on

from SF and of course, team Litmus test.

How about that? Should be an interesting one to

watch throughout the spring. We'll continue good health Tom,

for all of your runners and we'll talk to you soon, I hope.

Here a blood horse. Thank you guys.

I appreciate it very much. Thanks.

Tom, thank you. Tom Ryan, the SF folks, and of

course the connections of a litmus test.

And you know, this is an interesting time of year as far

as these things. Obviously, we'll have the gun

runner down at fairgrounds this coming weekend.

These early preps. So often we actually do meet

runners and we don't realize Derby runners and we don't

realize we're meeting them yet, right?

It's kind of one of those things.

Obviously we've met journalism in the low S fraternity last

year, but it is such an interesting time of year.

I think it would be very easy to forget that a horse in form

after the Breeders Cup can be really good when they get to

their three-year old year. And certainly we saw with

journalism last year, certainly can with litmus test.

Well, I am with Litmus Test. He's a name that we know now too

because we've seen him on the Derby trail a couple Times Now,

the Breeders Futurity, the juvenile of the locile futurity

as well. So he's one that we're getting

familiar with and he's sitting second right now in the points

board was 19. And I think that's one of the

underrated parts of this is especially recently with some of

the some of the changes that they've made to the points as

far as you know, getting 40 points or getting 50 points at

one point, those 19 points could end up becoming a really crucial

thing. That's right now.

Obviously, we always hope that you end up winning one of the 50

points or the one of the 100 prep races and it doesn't

matter. But we've seen over the last

couple of years where that in between 40 and 50 zone is kind

of that bubble. And those like you look at the 9

points at the end that could be, you know, say something, say he

say he misses a start somewhere. And you know, he he ends up, you

know, being kind of on that bubble.

Those extra 9 points there on the 19 because of his runs in

the Breeders Cup Juvenile, because of the Breeders security

that complete a huge difference maker as far as him qualifying

for the race. And so I think a lot of times

we, we, we kind of, I feel like some people dismiss some of

these early prep races. There's 10 point to the winter

ones, especially the horses that don't win them, but the bracking

up kind of those, those small amounts of points can really

help out. You think back to Mystic Dan.

I think W Saratoga is who I. Always think about well, as from

from the winning perspective, you think back to Mystic Dan,

obviously he did win the Southwest and he got the 20

points from that. But like he got what one point

for finishing fifth in the Smarty Jones.

He got, you know, the what is it now for 25 or something running

third in the in the Arkansas Derby.

And so you know, those kind of it's run and we've gone five

straight years now where the horse that's won the Derby has

did not win his previous start, right.

So seeing some of these horses kind of rack up maybe some of

those minor point values is definitely a big deal.

So that third in the Breeders Futurity, the 4th in the

Breeders Cup Juvenile, that's a pretty big deal when you're

looking at that at it from that perspective.

And now that he's got the wind under his belt and he's looking

to continue progressing and progressing and progressing,

that's going to be hopefully carrying him forward.

So at the top set too, that I really agree with is this is a

horse that's run. You know, he's already done the

shipping to Keeneland, right? That he's also he's won in

different places. He's run well at different

places. Like he ran well.

The breeze got juvenile. He did like that's just true.

Like he just ran well in that race.

Then he goes to low S, which is a very different style of

surface that frankly caters more to like turf horses.

Yeah, and he goes ahead and puts away that field.

I I think if you he he kept saying the word, you're allowed

to get excited. I totally.

Agree. Yeah, well, and as he mentioned,

we saw what miss Test being able to win from off the pace, which

we always, I feel like we always pin the Baffert horses as being

being the front runner to the world, whatever.

Yeah, recently for sure, we've been pinning them as the front

runners. They have to be up on the lead.

So to see him. Rodriguez last year, frankly.

Yeah. To see him be proven not doing

that, it's definitely big forward for him, Yeah.

No, I think we saw a lot of positives with him over the

weekend and as you mentioned, bolts him into the second spot

on the Derby standings. 40 points total overall for Ted

Nafi, the 10 in the Breeders Futurity and then the 30 in the

Breeders Cup Juvenile Litmus test right behind that with the

10 this past weekend in the Low Sale Futurity.

We did not talk about Hong Kong racing to open the show, but the

two singles given out by our guy Bob K Capper last week both hit.

Shocking, right? You.

Can see the video of the protester in Hong Kong.

Yes, if you have not seen that video if the easy I guess look

up protester. But we do have it.

LinkedIn our our recap of the race, the the video, the

protester getting tackled while romantic warriors coming down

the stretch. Shout out to the to the

assistant starting crew there. Did they get that right or what?

Literally just tackle the guy, keep him on the ground away from

everything. You're not going to be able to

accomplish anything in the next 10 seconds.

What do you think? They have 15 seconds, right?

And people don't know this is the very end.

They're coming around the final turn.

They've hit the top of the stretch and a protester jumps

the rail and runs onto the turf course.

OK, with a sign, turns around, holds up the sign, and by the

time the protester turns around, something.

Did he ever even get it up? I think, I think they got him

before he even put it up. I think he was from from what

Bob had written in his story, he was protesting something with,

with the with the big fire that they had there a couple of years

ago. So it wasn't anything racing

related that he was protesting. But still don't jump on the

track while the horses are running.

But but yeah, he got tackled immediately.

The sign went flying. Somebody, somebody had the

presence of mind to snatch the sign before it flew like in the

path of the horses as well. Everything there.

Three people grabbed him. A person grabbed the sign.

I mean, like it was, it was, it was almost like they drew it up,

yes. Well, you know the I don't know

if it was true or not. I saw somebody somebody comment,

I don't know if they were just referring to it looked like it

or if it was definitive that he did.

But somebody mentioned that the guy who made the tackle was a

former rugby player. So if that if that's true, then.

That that was. That was a pretty proper tackle,

but yeah, that was. Tom Ryan played played rugby in.

Ireland, we should have had this conversation before we asked.

Him, I guess. He said.

But you ever? Seen Harlan?

No, it's terrifying. It's rugby, but with sticks.

It's like it's like lacrosse but with flat pedals.

It's terrifying, huh? I mean, the the people in that

sport come out less attractive than when they win in.

It's just believable. It's unbelievable.

Sorry, Tom the yes. But besides, besides the

phenomenal performance from the assisted starter crew from the

gate crew there in the stretch just.

What are we doing, dude? Romantic warrior.

I mean like. I mean both him and Kayeem

rising, both of them, yeah, they they are tuning into if you if

you all if you typically only watch.

The Tiger Riser wins, pays 210. Romantic Warrior wins, pays 220.

I can't pay 220. But yeah, if you are an American

racing fan, you really only ever watch the American races.

You have to start tuning into when these two run over there in

Hong Kong. I know, I know, it's late.

It's early enough in being late to where you can still be awake

and get a decent amount of sleep if you got nothing else.

Going on, I flew out yesterday from a from a conference I was

at and it was in a resort that has a couple of nightclubs in

it. I got up and I was walking

through the lobby to go to my plane as people were like

congregating outside these nightclubs like it was that

early in the morning. Were they watching the?

That's Hong Kong racing. There it is.

That's Hong Kong racing there. You go outside, you're at the

club. That's great.

But yeah, I mean, Kaying rising 16 wins in a row, that's

unbelievable. And he, I mean, he just shipped

to Australia. He won the Everest, which I

think is the richest grass race in the world.

And he, I mean, he looks, I, I can't imagine he would, but man,

would it be cool to get him over here for the Breeders Cup Turf

Sprint at Keeneland, Kentucky. Downs.

Kentucky Downs that would be great as well for.

Like 2 million. Bucks.

Yeah, well, he's not Kentucky bred though.

He's New Zealand bred. That's.

Raise the purse for. Three, but no, he, I mean he, he

looks like a rock star. I don't think there's anything

on the planet that could beat him right now, going those

distances and remaining just the next.

Greatest New Zealand bred? There's got to be 1, right?

There's got to be somebody behind him, right?

But. He's the goat right now.

Yeah, it. Doesn't matter right now, he.

What was cigars #17? He won 16 straight.

Zenyatta got up to 19. This is what we're talking.

What did? What did Winks, by the way,

Winks. The record?

Well, what was if you want to go?

Way, way, way back. Kincham, I don't, but go ahead.

I think Kincham won 54 in a row or something in the 1800s, and

then that was in Hungary. Yeah, she won.

She won all 54 of her races in Hungary, that there's a

racetrack named after her in a statue there.

And then Camarero, where you just were in Puerto Rico.

I believe he, I think he is the record holder across the world.

He won 56 straight, I believe. I'm double checking on that

right now. He won 56 straight races.

The horse. Camaro, yeah.

And yeah, I think winner of 73 years.

They they he won 73 total and I think he won the last 56 in a

row. 73 wins and 77 starts. But they, they renamed the track

after him. They, I mean, verify the.

I'm trying to verify the 56 wins here.

Yeah, 56. Straight victories from April of

53 to August of 1955, winning the Puerto Rican Triple Crown

and becoming a national icon on the main racetrack there, the

IPO Dromo El Colon. Dante previously is not dreamed

in his honor to IPO Dromo Comarero.

So I he Cayenne Rising's got a long way to go.

He's got to win 40 more races here before he gets.

About that, think about. That. 40 more but OK let's also

do this the fact that involved in that win streak is the

Everest and then going to Hong Kong at the highest level of

turf printing is a remarkable thing but shout out to Bob Kay

for taking care of us on that I I've said it before Sean and I

stand by it we need more Bob on the show whether it's E hall or

kick up or we need those things in our lives I think we'll.

Well, we're getting to the end of the year where they might

replace us with the two of them. On the show, you need to stop

saying things like that. I don't need those.

I don't need that in the air or anything like that at all.

But no, it's, I mean, just a fun environment.

It looks incredible. It really does.

It just looks fun with you. Maybe.

Maybe we do the show from there next year.

Well, I, I don't. Well, the other track, the other

track that we could actually go to is they're having the, the

city Ikadi, the Caribbean series at Camarero in December.

Well, that last year it was in Laurie Kanata, this year in

Venezuela. That's not available to

Americans right now. You know, I'm down.

Camarero is definitely available to us.

Another man who he's probably been at the track, but I imagine

he was at an NFL stadium yesterday.

His name is Jake De Lome joins us on the show here.

He's got a trainee called Touch Upon a Start where you had a

game yesterday, Jake. I imagine he had to be right.

Yeah, yeah, I was. I do the radio for Carolina.

Luke Keigley and myself are two of the color analysts.

So yeah, it was a it was a rough day yesterday, man.

We we had a 10 point leading in the second-half, thought we

could have pulled away. We're just, it was one of those

games. It was rough.

You know, we're just, we're trying to get there some

improvement, but we're not there yet.

But everything is still right in front of us.

Everybody's favorite Carolina Panthers.

Jake Bloom joins us here on Blood HORSE Monday.

Appreciate him jumping in. I had Luke Kuechly.

Do you know that name? Yes, I do.

OK, good. I'm not that young.

No, but Luke, I mean. Luke just as a pure defender,

Jake, I mean, I'll do a little football talk here.

I mean Luke Kuechly. Unbelievable, frankly.

Yeah, he's a, you know, we didn't play together.

My last year playing was the 2011 season, and that's when he

was drafted in Carolina. But I wasn't there but know him

a little bit until we started doing the radio together and

he's a different animal. I kind of wish he was still

playing. Pretty disappointed.

I know I was disappointed. I thought it was a definite

first ballot Hall of Famer. I feel pretty certain he'll get

in this year and the second year.

But great player, great person and it's it's fun to be in the

booth with him. We have a lot of fun doing the

games. We bleed Carolina blue and it's

a lot of fun. Well, bleeding Carolina Blue,

but you also got a lot of Louisiana blood in you as well

as does touch upon A star who this weekend won his fourth

consecutive edition of the the Louisiana Champions Day Classic

Stakes. Just what has it been like

having a horse like him, you know, on a smaller circuit in

Louisiana, but just so dominant start after start after start.

Just how fun is that? It it's, it's hard to put in a

word. It's really and truly and you

know it. Trust me, it never gets old

doing an interview after a race or or something like that.

He's easy to talk about 1:00 because just he's just a cool

horse. And I and I say that, you know,

everyone says that the good horses, I don't know, they have

something about him. He's just, he's different.

He's different than anything else we have in the barn.

He's different than most of the other horses that you see at the

training center that we're at. When he comes out the barn, he

comes out and he is going to go on the track.

When it's his time, he's not, he's not going to go right to

it. He's going to stop and he's

going to stare and look and he's there could be noise.

Horse. A horse can get loose, whatever

it may be, and you just won't move.

It's just he's kind of surveying everything.

And then he'll take his time, He'll gallop.

And you know, he's easy on himself.

But yeah, he's just, he's an awesome horse who shows up every

time and competes. And man, I'm so lucky and

blessed to, to be able to own him.

And for my dad, Jerry and my brother Jeff, it's a, it's, it's

just been great, man. It's, it's, it's awesome.

It, it's hard to put into words. I don't know how else to

explain. Well, you mentioned that you

enjoy doing the post race interviews there.

Obviously, you know, being a Pro Bowl quarterback for the

Carolina Panthers, you've done a lot of post game interviews.

Which one's easier, the post game interview after a football

game or the post race interview after Touch Upon A Star wins?

Yeah, listen to a post game interview.

Whether I threw for three or four touchdown passes and a win

or if I threw for three or four interceptions and a loss, you

had to get up there and do it. So you know, if, if, if touch

would have lost on Saturday, I would not have done any post

race interview. So no, it's, it's certainly easy

to get up to talk about touch because that's always fun.

If you know, whenever that does occur, that's I never take that

for granted. Trust me.

But yeah, it's it's very easy to talk about him.

And but it was always fun to talk to the media.

I didn't mind talking to the media.

Look, they had a job to do. I understood it.

I had a job to do. Whether I played good or bad.

I just put your big boy pants on.

Go talk. I mean, it is what it is.

I mean, like, I that's just me. That's how I look at things.

Jake alone with us. You'll know him from the

Carolina Panthers broadcast, of course.

So he joins the Sierra Blood Horse Monday.

Look, you know, you grow up in Louisiana, you grow up in a

horse racing family. You know, you mentioned your

brother, you mentioned your dad being involved in that.

Tell us the truth. What's it like working with

family on this kind of thing? Because frankly, I know a lot of

families that don't talk very much.

This is a lot of talking involved in these kinds of

decisions. What's it?

What's it like having a family operation like?

You know, it's really, it's great.

There's very few arguments or disagreements.

Listen, we were raised. My dad, my grandfather had the

quarter horses, had the Bush tracks way back when.

And so dad was always, they did that.

Dad had a state job. So the horses were done late in

the afternoon at the house and we made the switch from quarter

horses to thoroughbreds in 93. But we were raised at the same

barn learning the same things. And so we kind of always

everything we took about the horses we got from dad and he

got from his dad. And certainly you put your own

little twist on it or whatnot or what you made, but they believe,

but you're constantly learning everyday about the horses.

And but I think the biggest thing that I've always taken

away, and I got this from dad, but we never, I don't, I don't

want to say this, we never like squeeze the lemon too dry.

I mean, like a horse will tell you when they're happy, when

they're healthy, when they're ready.

And we're one that we're lucky enough that I'm not going to

squeeze the lemon. You know, if we don't think

touch is doing great or any horse in our borns doing the

doing the greatest, we're not going to run.

We're not under pressure to run. But yeah, we there's a few

disagreements every now and then, but it's few and far

between out of respect we have for our dad.

We learned everything from him. And yeah, we we have our

different ideas and things of that nature, but for the most

part, 99% of the time we're all in the the same alignment.

One of the one of the big names in thoroughbred ownership right

now over the last year or so has been Major League All Star World

Series champion Jason Werf. His involvement, getting

involved here in the sport, he had a little.

Bit of being on this show, I mean, yeah, he was.

We had him on this show a few weeks ago, but we we've heard a

lot about kind of his transition of needing, needing something

competitive after he retired from baseball and horse racing

kind of filled that gap. I know your story's probably a

little bit different just because you did kind of grow up

already having the interest in racing, but was that a similar

thing for you as far as horse racing kind of filling that void

at the end of your competition days?

Yeah, You know, it's a, I grew up in South Louisiana, right?

So, you know, the fishing and hunting is huge.

And it's it's we, it's sportsman's paradise.

I didn't really, I didn't grow up fishing and hunting.

I didn't grow up playing golf. I went to school.

We played sports. And when we weren't doing that,

I was at the barn in the backyard.

I mean, we lived on 15 acres. The barn was in the back.

I mean, I wanted to clean out the stall.

I wanted to get the hay from from up from up top.

I wanted to be around. I wanted to do that.

That's it's something that it's just, we know how difficult it

is because we're in it. The people that on the outside

world, I don't think they understand how difficult horse

racing is. It's it's different, especially

to win. And I had so many guys I played

with, you know, our mini camp was always the weekend after the

draft, which takes place in late April.

So that weekend's what Kentucky Derby weekend.

You're not running a horse in the Derby this weekend.

I'm like, I don't even want to answer that question.

They just didn't understand. And you tried to explain to them

how difficult or hard it is. But man, it's just for me, it's

great. It helps fill that competitive

void that I don't think you ever lose.

I know I've never lost it. And the barn is kind of like the

locker room. It's just something about the

camaraderie at the barn. And I'm one that, you know, I

like to have a good time and you better have thick skin because

we're going to we're going to take jabs.

I mean, that's, that's what the locker room's like.

I mean, that's, that's what it's about.

And you know, it's a it's a lot of fun.

The track community is a special community.

Well, what when you see is someone like Jason worth getting

in or, you know, Alex Bregman's another athlete that I think of

that's been involved. And just what are your thoughts

overall on the number of people involved in other professional

sports starting to get an interest in racing?

Yeah, I love seeing that. I I met, what is it, Eric

Johnson, the hockey player, I met him.

He was involved. I haven't met Jason Worth yet.

And then Alex Bregman. I love seeing that.

I would have a feeling hopefully in 10 years after he's playing

and the majors hopefully can play as much as long as he can.

He gets heavily involved into it, more so on our hands on.

But yeah, I love seeing it. I love watching the videos with

Jason and all the the fun that they've had with door knock and

things like that. So I think it's great.

Hopefully it is such a great sport and it's such a great

feeling and, and whether your horse is winning a stakes race

or if it's a bottom level claim or whatever it may be, there's

nothing like it when he's coming down the lane or getting up

right at the wire. There's nothing like it.

And then taking a, taking a picture, it's just man, it's

fun. It's a, it's a, it's an

unbelievable sport with beautiful athletes and, and

that's what I enjoy. About it Jake de Lom with us

Your Your guy. Touch Upon A Star won a race

this past spring and it's called a Grade 2.

There was another horse named Sierra Leone in it.

Tell us all the truth. How much faith did you have in

your horse that day? What was your reaction when he

crossed the line first? Yeah, listen, I was very

excited. I we ranked second in the New

Orleans Classic in 2024 and I thought touch did all The Dirty

work. We battled it out there with one

of Brad's horses and, you know, Red Route, one quality horse

made maybe $2,000,000. I don't know.

He was able to catch us at the end.

And listen, we lost fair and square.

That's horse racing. I'm a I'm a big boy.

I don't look for excuses, right? And so we lost fair and square.

But I thought touch did all The Dirty work and I always felt

there was a graded race with his name on it.

Yeah. We don't travel much out in

Louisiana because we're based here.

We love here. I'm on our Louisiana

thoroughbred breeders board. I think we have one of the best

breeding associations in the country with how many times our

horses get to run in state and our breeders awards.

And so we traveled to Texas a couple of times, second in the

Steve Sexton Mile twice. And I always thought there was

one out there and touch was doing great.

And you know, we we ran him on Louisiana Derby day and

understand all the competitions. Sierra Leone had won the

Breeders Cup Classic, but he was coming off of a layoff and and

things like that and we were doing great and we were going to

take our shot and touch was ready.

And I think that's the biggest thing I didn't.

I don't think we overthought it. Right.

OK, let's wear this horse. What happens here?

No, like, hey, good luck. He's ready.

He's going to give you his best and if it's good enough, it's

good enough. And that's all.

I looked at it and thought he was good enough that day and

super proud. It was a fun day.

It was a fun day. The crowd was super in.

It was into a big crowd and he's got a really big following and

especially a Louisiana bread doing that.

It was awesome. Well, you mentioned all the

incentives to stay put in Louisiana.

But when you do end up beating a Breeders' Cup Classic winner,

was there any temptation to maybe, you know, go up for

something like the Stephen Foster or, you know, maybe,

maybe something else down the line?

Or was it always 100% we're just gonna stay in Louisiana?

And now that he's continuing to rally out wins, are there any

future plans to maybe leave Louisiana?

I'm not saying that we won't leave.

I think that's something that's maybe in the back of our minds

and we'll see how it plays out. And yeah, there was a thought

last year to hit up on Derby weekend.

I'm drawing a blank on the name of of the race.

Yeah, I think it was on the Friday and I had a senior in

high school and it was their senior mass that morning.

I wasn't going to miss it. I mean, I like it is what it is.

I wasn't going to miss it. And you know, it's just it

Family. Listen, the horses come first.

We take care of them. But our family, I mean, it's it.

And that's where I guess I'm lucky that I can decide or we

can decide. You know, we, we have him and we

can decide. So, yeah, it was a thought to

make that trip, but the calendar didn't align with with what we

wanted. And I have.

I have no problem with that. All right, we'll get you out of

here on this. He wins as a six year old.

Is there a plan to race him as a 7 year old?

Yeah, no, the plans to race him as long as he wants to be very

honest. He was gilded early on.

He was, he was pretty hot. I mean, he was, he enjoyed

himself a little bit. And you know, we he's a very

sound horse. Knock on wood as I'm knocking on

the P on my desk right now. Very knock on hers, too.

We, we give him breaks and especially at the end of May,

you know, there's really not much here Louisiana wise.

He gets really hot here. So we give him a break and he

certainly enjoys it and he comes back he seems like he loves his

job. His father ran was almost a

$2,000,000 earner. His father ran until he was 8.

His mother was a quality runner. So there's a lot of pedigree

there. He's doing great.

He's sound, he's happy, he's healthy.

And the day that he shows that he's starting to drop in Class A

little bit or he doesn't want to.

And, and I, I'd like to think he'd tell us.

And, and yeah, people think that's crazy, but I mean, we're

with him every day, you know, like it's every single day.

Myself, my brother, my dad, I mean you know, you know, and

they, they start to tell you those things.

Oh, good stuff, man. Go ahead.

Yeah. Well, I got 1.

He lied. I got one last question.

So. So you guys?

The media lies there today. So you guys run under the name

of Seth Hutt, right? Football Reference.

Was there any debate whether or not you should go forward with

the Football reference of the ownership name or was that it

was, it was too obvious. Was there any debate when it

came to that? No.

I listen whenever, you know, it kind of started.

I was still playing at the time and yeah, we we would get a

couple of more horses, but I wasn't, I knew when I was done I

was going to be all in right. And so thinking of a name and

set Hutt, it was just kind of I, I liked it and I wanted to name

a lot of the horses after buddies of mine that I played

with at the football plays, terminology, things of that

nature. And, and I've tried to do that.

And so, you know, it's kind of fun and, you know, I want to be

around the horse first before we name them.

I don't like to try to to be honest, I don't like to try to

name them before we're not training them and around them.

I that's just that's just me. That's a quirk that I have.

So touch upon A star has absolutely nothing to do with

horse racing. And I was football and I was

naming a couple of them and it got to his name and I'm looking

at star Guitar and his mama's name is touch Magic.

We didn't have a football play with magic.

We, you know, we didn't have anything with Star with a.

Guitar or anything? Yeah.

And I'm like, I don't know why, because I'm definitely not this

creative mind at all. And I said touch upon A star,

that's pretty cool, you know, and like named him.

So yeah, maybe I need to do that for some other ones.

Maybe get some a lot. I think the only thing I could

come up with was if you named him hands to the face, something

like that, Something like that. But I don't think you want to

name a horse hands to the face. I'm just.

Saying no no because well I don't know.

It depends. It could either way.

I don't like it if my lineman was hands to the face, but I

don't like it if AD lineman was. Then we got a A.

Free Luke Kinkley stuff. Yeah, we don't even put Luke

Kinkley naming these horses. You know that's how.

I haven't named one Luke Kinkley yet, you know.

So yeah, I haven't found that that.

That'll be when he gets in the Hall of Fame.

Kinkley sounds like a bapper trainee, doesn't it?

Or like a like a Derby Jelly. I'm just wondering if the

announcers could pronounce it right because it is this it is

still. Quite different.

Yeah, you'll have to have some talks with them about that.

The pronunciation guide like you guys get before games well Jake

we really appreciate this hopefully we have an excuse to

talk to you again in the coming future but he's.

Got like 3 more Louisiana championship day races he's.

Going gun runner this weekend. There's a lot going on the

track. It should be a fun, fun side of

races coming up here. But Jake, thanks for jumping on

we. Appreciate.

Yeah, Thank you guys. Have a great day.

Likewise. Thank you.

There you go, Jake Long out of the announcers booth long enough

to hang out with us. How about that?

Yeah, from the announcers busy podcast.

Big podcast booth. That's what we're in, right?

It's it's a little bigger than a booth, but not much.

You're right. Yeah.

It's that older than most booths.

Yeah, but they, you know, Jake Lohman and touch Five Star

appreciate him kind of. And and and you.

I thought I asked in a really good way where just.

Hey, the nice horse. You don't always have to run.

I know there's incentives here. And this is what we do and we

hang out with the horse every day.

He's comfortable down here. What's interesting is I was

smiling because he he I didn't even think about.

He does. He has a Southern hemisphere

schedule. Yeah.

He doesn't run during American summers because it's so hot in

Louisiana. So if you look at his running

line, he runs in the spring, he runs in the fall and obviously

during the winter and that's what he does.

But it makes sense with the Louisiana program the way that

it is. If you have a high level stakes

horse, this is what you run. Yeah, right.

That's what it. Is I I enjoyed hearing his take

on ownership too. You know, he mentioned and they

were considering going up and running in a huge race, the LA

sheep on Kentucky Oaks day, but he had a family event going on.

So no problem just keeping him, running him in a stakes race

and, and Evangeline that week instead.

And so it's just, it's nice hearing like, you know, kind of

different people's perspectives when it comes to ownership,

'cause he, he actually, you wanna stakes out Evangeline on

Kentucky Derby day. So he, he, you forget.

That we. Yeah, We forget these are

people. Exactly.

These are still people with, you know, with.

We always think, oh, you, you get the top horse, you're going

to, no matter what, the horse is going to go, even if you're not

going to go with the horse, the horse is going to go with, no,

I'm going to stay, I'm going to keep the horse where I am.

I'm going to keep the horse where I'm able to go see him

run. I, I like hearing that from,

from him that I mean, that shows just how, how deeply involved

that he is in this, how his family's involved with it, the

enjoyment that they get from it for sure.

We will be running at Louisiana on Saturday.

Yeah, we will. And that is 4, the road to the

Kentucky Derby. And there are some very

interesting races this weekend down there, including the

Untappable, which is on the Oak side of things and of course the

Gun runner on the Derby side of things, the Diliberto Memorials

this weekend as well. The Tenacious is this weekend as

well. This time of year.

You know, we just talked with Tom Ryan, we just talked about

about litmus test and we know with that group what we're

looking for at this point with like a Mesquite or a Liberty

National or a Crown, the Buckeye, the Ohio Bread for Mike

Maker, this kind of stuff. What are what are you looking

for when you watch these races, Sean?

Are you looking for wow performances?

Are you looking for that horse that's maybe trying two turns

for the first time? How they handle that?

What are you looking for this time of year?

You think at this time of year I want to see the horse that's

handling the two turns now especially, especially if they

haven't run it yet. I know a couple of these I

believe have been around 2 turns.

I know Liberty Nationals, the favorite on the morning line and

he just came off of a maiden win at Churchill around 2 turns and

starts at tomorrow card. By the way, I do have to say I

was talking to somebody in the Mcpeak barn and it was not a we

think we're going to win on Saturday.

It was a we're going to win on Saturday.

So they're very confident in Liberty National this upcoming

weekend. Liberty, Liberty, Liberty,

Liberty, Liberty. It does sound like a really

Liberty National just sounds like a federal credit.

Union does it not? Well, I mean I I got a root for

two being a Liberty High School. Graduate Oh, there it is all

right there you go. I got AI, got a Derby race of

the Liberty and. There you go.

Yeah, so thought. Maybe you'd go after Arabia Wild

after your trip there. That's a good example.

I'm dealing with Mr. Punch because that's what I want to do

to you after. The show not.

Only. The trifecta.

But so you heard it here first, the trifecta.

Box, you're playing and it says. 3368 but but no, I I want to

see, I want to see horses take a step forward when they're going

around 2 turns. I want to see progression off of

the meet and win. So like if you won super

impressively in your, oh, I don't want to say like you can't

win a close race because you're facing, you're facing better

horses. But yeah, I want to see, I want

to see you run the same kind of race here.

I'm looking for a progression. That's all I'm looking for in

the summer. Just show me you're taking a

step forward, whether that's going two turns for the first

time and you show, hey, you know what?

This is a horse that can grow into that, right?

That the pedigree, you know, if there's a question mark on

pedigree, maybe it's a a horse that feels more like they'd be a

mile and a 16th mile, that mile and an eighth.

I think that stuff's a little overrated, Sean, because getting

the 10 furlongs, how many times in a career does a horse really

have to do that on the dirt especially, but at this point

especially, you know, a mile on a 16th in the Gun Runner.

We get the mile 70 yards in in the Philly race and the

Untappable. It's I'm just looking for horses

that can handle that kind of route.

That's what I'm looking for. But the Springboard Mile is this

weekend as well in Huntington. You've been to that race before.

Yes, That a couple of years ago was a sneaky important race.

And your bouscador was a winner of that thing.

And it turned out to be somebody.

It's actually a sneaky important race.

Big field Cold Battle came out of it last year.

OK, so this has become a bit of a a predictor race as far as at

least who the Kentucky Derby runners are going to be.

Not necessarily the winners per SE, but boy, we've had some good

runners out of it. Anybody catch your eye on this

one? I I'll be honest, I haven't

really had a chance to look at the race yet.

Spice runners, Spice runners in this race, I feel like this is

kind of a a last chance for him. Do you feel like on on the Derby

trail already? He won the Iroquois, he really

didn't fire and either the Breeders Futurity or the Jockey

Club last. Time, I think this is his last

chance to see if he wants to go 2 terms.

Yeah, I think that, yeah, that's because I think, I think he's

either a six or seven or A1 turn mile kind of horse if it doesn't

go this weekend. Yeah.

I think it's the two term question like I talked about for

some of those runners say in the untoppable or the gun runner,

many of the same things for for me for at least for the

springboard mile, yeah. But I mean, this is a race.

It's got a full field of 12. This is, I think this is a race

that people are really starting to realize you can like, you

have a good horse, you don't necessarily want to throw him

into the deep end yet. This is a really good 3.

$100,000. Yeah, and it's like great purse.

I mean, Remington, it's no shock to see Steve Asmussen in the

entries, but I mean, he's got 3 in this race.

You see Mike Maker's got one in this race, Maquette's got one in

this race, Kenny Mcpeak's got one in this race.

So you're seeing where you know, trainers, trainers that we know,

trainers that are kind of on on the Derby trail quite often,

they're starting to pay a little bit more attention to this race.

They're starting to send some horses there.

You saw Cole Battle beat Speed King, which Speed King was a

player in the Oakland series of races.

Jumping back to the Gun Runner, you think about the last couple

years, the winner of the Gun Runner has been present.

The rest of the Derby trail you think built, you think Track

Phantom, you think that in the last couple of years.

So these are races where, you know, they're the ones that are

important ones to pay attention to because recently the horses

that have been running and have been performing well in them,

you know, maybe they haven't been winning the Derby or

winning the final round of prep races, but they've been players

on the Derby trail and they've been part of the race.

As we get to the first Saturday in May, that's.

Exactly right. So a fun one.

They're at Remington and certainly down at Fairgrounds as

well, Rerunning after having to cancel the synthetic

championships. That'll be on Sunday.

A turfly power. Still sad about that.

Well, just look, if you if you're going to take family

seriously around Christmas, then I can't help you.

I know. That's that's what I'm going to

say to you, young Sean. Of course, we encourage you to

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Well, I mean, we're coming up on.

Christmas gift maybe for. Something great Christmas gift.

We're coming up on clips awards. So that's going to be something

very exciting. I probably wouldn't be in the

well, definitely wouldn't be in the January issue, but you can

look at that at some point coming up here soon, the next

couple magazines. So you want to make sure you get

your subscription ahead of those.

So that way you get all all you need to know about our Eclipse

Award winners this year. And I know we're going to be

talking some Eclipse awards here soon.

Too we will for sure we'll welcome middle of the year guest

Steve Kardacki back for end of year talk on the Eclipse Awards

with him a fellow Eclipse voter young Steve Kornacki from NBC.

Say young. He's older than you, but he

looks. Younger than you, I think.

Wow, thanks. How old is Sean?

Find out next week. The Blood Horse is dedicated to

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