Santa Anita Saturday | San Vicente & Santa Ynez

It's this one. There it is.

Oh man, what a time to be alive. It's it's January 9th.

It's a Friday. That means we're talking about

Saturday. And that is So Cal Saturday's

here on the horse racing happy hour hanging out with

amwagerandamwager.com. His name is Barry Spears.

I'm Lou Urbault. Thanks for hanging out with us

yet again on the program. Coming up on a year of doing

these shows, Barry, I appreciate you jumping out again, my

friend. How are you today?

I was like, you know, we are on the precipice of bad weather

here, but we've got one of those days where it happens to be like

high 50s kind of thing in Louisville.

Going to sneak outside after this.

Get some look at some fresh air after the show.

What are you? How you doing down there?

Doing all right, It's, it's nice.

Today it's about 80° unseasonably warm, so I might

head over to the beach and take a walk for the for the sunset on

a Friday, Not too bad. Yeah, no doubt about it go do

that sounds like a really nice time and if you are looking it's

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Really appreciate them hanging out with us for man I I was

trying to think about this the other day.

Barry. I think I've been hanging out

with am Wager for 20/21. So.

We're on 1/2 decade to hanging out with the good folks up there

in Goshen, KY. Why not just up the street from

my house? I really appreciate them hanging

out with us here on the program again.

So Cal Saturdays, we go through the entire card wherever they

are running in Southern California.

Of course, for the foreseeable future, that means we'll be

talking about the great race place at Santa Anita Park there

in Arcadia. A very kind of an odd time of

year just because of some of the rain outs and the rules about

running in California, some of these cards kind of getting mish

together. We're actually going to handicap

a race for the second time on the show, first time ever.

Yeah, that's interesting. I at least over the years, I

think the landscape has changed. We're a lot more or as an

industry, we're a lot more sensitive to cancelling during

inclement weather, which is OK. I mean to a certain extent,

because when you do come back, all the fields are full, you got

a nice, nice thing to come back to.

But I mean it, it's kind of a double edged sword.

For sure. I'll tell you, I think it's

probably a little stricter than it needs to be in California.

But I will say one thing I like about how Santa Anita does it is

they tell you the day before, it ain't like you waste.

Yeah, you know. Race 4 and they're like, you

know what, we're not going to race the rest of the card.

I hate that more than anything in horse racing.

You get like race three, you're having fun, whatever.

Then they're like next 6 races, we're not going to run them.

It's like, I get it sometimes if lightning rolls through,

whatever, but, you know, in these cases, you know, had they

gotten there and, you know, whatever else, as far as, you

know, the conditions at Santa Anita, I get it.

But man, I just, you know, yeah, at least they cancelled the day

before. We can deal with that kind of

thing. 10 race card on a Saturday, 2 great at stakes for

three-year olds on the card as well.

And Barry, do you know what they gave us?

It's like they waited to drop these races on a Saturday for

you and me. It's called the dime claimer

people and we're going to open with one race.

One at Santa Anita Park is a dime acclaimer for non 2 lifers,

Phillies and mares 4 and up. We're going a mile on the dirt

here Barry and well welcome back in for another edition.

You landed on the four horse here in perfect life.

Look at you going chalky to start.

I'm just. Kidding.

Yeah, I kind of had to in this situation.

You know, this is a sneaky sort of race.

I mean, there's a couple of contenders, the 8, the seven and

the four that look like they're going to dominate this race, and

neither one of them is the morning line favorite.

Who is the six at 9:00 to 5:00, who I really don't want any part

of, even though their recent maiden breaker.

I just don't see a horse like that winning a race like this.

Perfect Life. The four ran a pretty decent

race going a mile at at the $25,000 level back in September

and kind of lost his way from there.

Drops into this spot. I think they fit perfectly and

the distance is is right on time, so we're going to use that

one on top. All right, 4-8 and seven for

Barry. We both have the eight in our

handicapping. I went 8-6 and five here.

Going to try to beat that favorite myself with a 9 to 2

runner in Morgan's Bluff, Armando AU.

So keeps them out here for the Hess barn.

Last saw this horse going a mile on the turf here.

Barry obviously get to do that just on the dirt here.

A nice turf to dirt #4 Rob Hess who does this quite often and

frankly, this is a horse that has some experience on the dirt

as well. A good second place finish at

Horseshoe Indianapolis going a mile and a 16th at the 2592

level just a couple of months ago.

I just think this horse drops into the right class here.

I think this is the right kind of company for this 6 year old

daughter of More Than Ready. How about that and I just think

the spot and the the setup really does make sense.

Only tried the mile twice won one of those races.

And so I think as far as distance makes a lot of sense as

well. I think the favorite's a little

better than you do like her a little bit more does come out of

that win that maiden breaker at the 12 five level at Los Algo in

a mile comes back gets to try the same thing here.

And this is one that he's been trying it a mile for a while,

but I thought did show enough last out pick some Pectorberios

here, which I like as well. So 86 and then A5 for me as

well. Brandon's girl Diego will ride

for George Papa Pedromo. If you take out that last race

where the the horse is very clearly just needed some time.

Gets a little bit of time off here since July now it's a lot

of time off, frankly, but did break his maiden at her maiden,

excuse me, at the maiden 20 level at Los Al.

So a little bit of a step back into that kind of company here

and so hopeful that the five can get back to that form we saw in

June at Los Alamitos. So 86 and five for me here,

Barry. What about the seven horse in

here though, too? Only reputation boy, watch

Kazushi pick off another stakes race just yesterday at excuse Me

at Santa Anita. Kazushi Kombara riding for Ryan

Hansen here. Yeah, this horse is is kind of

interesting on the stretch out. They didn't run so well on the

turf going a mile. But I I have the feeling that

the miles probably what this horse would want to do just by

the way that this horse ran in all of hit her races.

The stretch out makes a lot of sense.

It it's just a matter of taking to the dirt.

These aren't you know a bunch of sovereignties in here.

So I I think the the stretch out in the dropping class makes a

lot of sense and and could put this one in the picture. 48 and

seven for Barry there in race one, of course kicks off the

early pick five and all of the early wagers at Santa Anita.

Race 2 kicks off the early pick 4.

It's a maiden special weight for Phillies and mares that are four

and five years old. Six furlongs on the turf here.

Barry $70,000 on the line for maiden special weights currently

at least at the at this this meet there at at San Anita.

And I hate to be that guy with this situation here, Barry,

because we do have a chalky 3 in here that I'm going to try to

beat. And that's a horse that's had a

ton of starts in Bint Al Dandy. A break from the three.

It's an Irish bread and Berto Rispoli picks up them out here.

Was very close at a mile last time out at Del Mar at the main

special weight level. I'm gonna try a horse.

That's the second timer here. George Papa Pedromo trains #5

Claire Austin here, he's very good with second timers, wins at

23%. Kyle Frey picks up the mount

here. I think I'm going to get every

bit of six to one on this horse, Berry.

And so I think the value here makes a lot of sense.

It's the daughter of Nyquist. Only got her first start back in

November, late 3 year old year. But boy, I think she looked

really good. A lot of rallying late from off

the pace. Frankly, if she's any closer to

the front of the pace, I think she hits the board for sure.

So give me the five on top here. I'll go to the three next.

That is the favorite in here. I'll let you talk about the

three after we get done here because I know you have that

horse on top. Then I'm going to try a first

timer in Miss Kitty Boom, which is what they used to call Barry

in college with the two horse here.

So I'll go 5, three and two, by the way.

Behind my back apparently. Yeah, you'll have to talk to my

research team about that. But yes, the Miss Kitty boom

will break from the 2 here. First time starter out of the

Richard Baltus barn. He's good with first time

starters. It's also one that's been

working at San Luis Rey. The numbers make sense for me

here. Obviously, you know, with

daughter Mcclane's music, Mike Smith gets them out here.

And just the kind of company that he's good in wins at 18%

inmate in special weight company and 17% with first time

starters. So at 8:00 to 1:00 in a shorter

field, I'll take that kind of value here.

So again, I'll go 5, three and two in race 2 here.

Barry, I know you landed on that three on top.

Yeah, this is the do or die kind of race for Bent L Dandy.

If this horse doesn't win this race, I don't think this horse

will ever win unless they unless they really drop in class, which

I I doubt they would want to do with a horse of this kind of

caliber. But I think this horse just kind

of found the perfect storm of of entrance to dominate.

There's really no speed in here other than Bintel Dandy.

Even with the cutback from a mile.

I think this horse is just faster than these horses and and

definitely has the experience ran some pretty good races, just

didn't win. And I think that's that's more

than good enough against this crew.

There you go, SO31 and four for Barry in here again.

I landed on the 5/3 and the two horse here.

Why don't you go ahead and talk about the four here in Surf

Song, Armando Yuso gets them out here, boy.

It's another one, Barry, that feels like, you know, got a

breakthrough at some point. Yeah.

Yeah, I I think this horse is on the verge and and needs the

right kind of situation. This actually might be it

honestly, because if Bent Al Dandy doesn't do what he should,

I I think Surf Song is is going to be right there to pick up the

pieces and and win this race. Doesn't look like too much after

that. Even the horse I picked for 3rd,

the 1 Sandy Street is out of an unraced dam 5 year old first

time starter. I mean, this could be any kind.

I I mean, this is actually a tougher race on paper than it

kind of appears at first glance, but I still think the three

should win this. There you go, move on to the

first stakes race of the day. It is race 3.

By the way, you are watching or listening to Socal Saturdays on

the Horse Racing Happy Hour Network.

My name is Louie Robot, I'm your host every single week alongside

Barry Spears, who's here this week.

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The Santa Anez is the three-year old Philly race on the card.

It is A10 point race on the road to the Kentucky Oaks as well.

We're going 7 furlongs on the dirt at Santa Anita.

That is the full distance of the chute there, $100,000 on the

line here as well. And Barry Mann, I think the

Santa Anez was a grade 2 just five years ago.

We're sitting in a Listed stakes I think just five or six years

ago. Yeah, Explorer's back in this

spot. I got to say I've I've actually

really appreciated how much Baffert's run his his Breeders'

Cup horses back already this year.

Yeah, it's, it's kind of interesting he's doing that.

But I, I, I think in general, honestly, he, he probably has a

little bit of a bad taste in his mouth from this year as a as a

whole, because his horses really weren't dominating like you

would expect out there in California all year.

And not that they were underperforming, they just

weren't winning races like they they had been previously.

They've been competitive. Felt a little like Nisos and a

bunch of dudes, didn't it? And then, yeah, obviously we got

the performance from Citizen Bowl, but I mean, it's it felt

like Nisos and a bunch of dudes and his three-year old group

kind of fell apart. Wasn't that good?

Rodriguez looked great. It just kind of fell apart.

And yeah, it was an interesting year.

You're right about that. So, you know, I, I think that's

kind of prompting this to kind of to to get the barn back in

action. Explores just seems to be the

best horse in this race by a by a lot because I'm, I, I just

have no faith in Hamika at all. I I just think she's in there to

set the pace for the other two. And as far as bottle Rouge, I

don't think she's that good either.

So that's pretty much why I put Lawali second and they can just

have that oak leaf exacta once again.

It is time for Louise Baffert play of the day.

I will go 513 in here, all Bafferts explorer on top.

I will go ahead and disagree with our friend Barry Spears

about Hamika. I think she's AI think she is A1

turn going to hit the board in these kinds of races.

This is what she's going to be. And so I think it's going to be

races like the Sorento, like the the NO IKEA, the the Desi Arnaz.

Those kinds of races are going to be the ones that she's going

to be competitive in and that will see her in, frankly,

probably most of the rest of her career.

I do not see her stretching back out for the oak leaf or

something like that. I think that was just a little

bit too much. But I'll go 51 and 3 in here.

I think Bottle of Rouge is the real, I don't know what's going

to happen horse in this race. Barry.

Yeah, it and I'll put that 1/3 of my handicapping because when

she showed up at the Delmar debutante, dude, she was great.

Not good. She was great in that race.

Now they tried her over the two turns and by the way, when

there's $1,000,000 on the line, that's what you do.

And so they tried her in the in the Breeders Cup Juvenile

Phillies. And I just don't know that she

wanted the distance at all, right.

And I'm not at all sure that that was what she was going to

push forward doing. And so give me bottle of Rouge

as my third spot here. I might have her slightly ahead

of Himika. So either A513531 something like

that. But that is how if I were

attacking the exacta, which I won't be playing, that would be

how I would do it. That way we move on to race 4.

The in between race between the two stakes on the card is a

state bred made in special weight. 70 on the line here. 6

furlongs on the turf. And this is 4 three-year olds

here, Barry horses that have just turned 3 at the beginning

of the year. Spectacular field of 13 in this

one. I'll go ahead and let you go

first. Where'd you land a race for?

Yeah, these races are really interesting at this time of year

because of the fact that they were racing without Lasix up

until this point. When these horses turn 3, they

can use Lasix in races and that can change the dynamic with a

lot of these horses, especially the ones that have been running

before and have some experience. That little added bit of Lasix

could make the difference of them kind of just turning into a

different sort of horse. That being said, we've got a lot

of first time starters in here, second time starters where that

really isn't that prevalent. I ended up going or throwing one

down field here and, and going with #2 Monsieur Big, which is a

Sex and the City reference, right?

So Dad, is Mr. Big? Yeah, just a Sex and the City

reference. Monsieur just means Mr. in

French, yes. There you go.

Yeah, See. Yeah, I'm a linguist now, but

this source, I thought, you know, I actually liked this

horse that day in November, and they didn't really.

Run. You don't book John Velasquez by

accident either. I agree.

With you. Yeah.

And, and this horse went off two, 2 1/2 to one almost and

just didn't get a good trip. It was it was really a a good

experience for a horse like this who was probably meant to run on

the turf anyway. Being out of a Dynaformer sire

Malibu Moon mare, this makes a lot of sense getting Lasix for

the first time. Yak team does very well with his

first time turf starters and I think this one has a a a pretty

decent shot. The pedigree fits everything

falls in line flying under the radar too because of that first

race. So we'll we'll give that one a

shot at 15 to 1. Yeah, 4/4 for 21 is last second

time starters. I mean that I don't, I don't see

why that's a bad bet whatsoever. So again for Barry, 24 and eight

in this spot, I have the 8 horse as well, but on top for me in

this one and that is the horse named Tsunami Kazooshikamura

rides for my pipe. And this is one that came out of

state bred company last outgoing 5 furlongs.

Obviously going to have to do just a little bit more work than

that, Barry, but one that was closing at the end as well.

A good kick at the end seemed to not even look like a first time

starter. Most of the race for in that

spot broke from the seven gets to break from the 8 here.

I don't think it's going to be a terribly different situation,

but like you said, it's also spot where the horse gets Lasix

for the first time. So maybe gets to step into an

even better run against six to one here on this kind of number

I think is really great. Tons of turf pedigree in the

breeding as well. And so yeah, 3 year old gilded

son of Sir Prancelot. Why not?

Should be an interesting one in there.

So I went 8910 in this spot, which is a very strange place

for me to be in a turf Sprint. But here we are.

Dark omen. First timer will break next to

him. Barry, it's just the bullets.

I'm not going to lie. It's the bullets, bullets,

bullets, horses working like a maniac, whether it's on the dirt

or on, you know, at San Anita, other places.

I mean, this horse is just working like crazy and egg you.

Ordonez is not great with first timer, so I did not put the

sports on top. And so that's how that goes.

Avoiding Lasix too, by the way. Did you notice that?

Yeah, I thought that was pretty interesting, actually.

Yep. And then #10 Diego Herrera picks

up the mount again for Brian Corner here.

This one I thought was good last time.

Man, just ran out of gas at Del Mar.

A little bit too fast out of the gate.

If this race is even a little bit a little bit slower, I think

this one will be part of it. So wait, 9-10?

Why not? Kind of a weird combination for

me. You at 2, four and eight.

What do you like about Romantic Ride Wander?

Yeah, see, I had the opposite feeling about this race.

I think the pace is gonna heat up up front and and somebody

that can sit off will probably have the best of trips.

I think the four could fit that bill and I like the confidence

after the claim going into this state bred maiden special

weight, you know, cross country and in the whole 9.

I was actually referencing when there was a couple months ago

where we did a show with John Lindo and he sniffed out a horse

who was a a ship in and win horse that that kind of towered

over everybody else in this sort of situation ran it Horseshoe

Indianapolis shipped out West for the ship in and win and and

one fairly easily in a race kind of like this.

It was a maiden race. They hadn't been out in a year

or so and they just kind of laid over that field.

I This is kind of gives me that feeling as well, especially

coming from Churchill where we know that they are running

probably the best sort of maiden races because of the fact, yeah,

that you're getting the best horses around in.

Those in other words, what you're saying is what if a

maiden 30 is a similar level to a maiden special state bread in

California? That's essentially the question.

It's probably higher, honestly. There you go.

And I think that's a completely reasonable angle and a

reasonable attack for you. Yeah, yeah, I thought so too.

Yeah, that's why I did it. Louis.

How about that? All right, there you go.

Raise four there in the books. We move on to the other stakes

race on the card. It is the San Vicente.

It also starts the $2.00 pick a six.

We're going 7 just for the boys. Grade 2 in this one, $200,000 on

the line. A set of Bafferts.

A set of O'neills in here. Barry, who'd you land with?

O'Neill Baffert or a guy named Mark Glatt?

Why not? Let's go.

I I really wanted to like the glad horse, but I couldn't get

to him. I think there's a case for the

glad horse. Though there there definitely is

No yeah, I mean any one of these horses, to be honest, they're

they're not there's not much separating them other than their

their trainers names and and even that isn't that much.

So I I went with the four acknowledge me please on top

only because of the price. I I really couldn't separate the

four from the three Butane who who's just as good, just as

solid. It just needs the the certain

trip. I think this ends up being a

sort of a rider's race and Kimura's riding hot.

So why not go there 5:00 to 2:00 on the morning line, probably

get that price. So let's do it.

All right. So 4, three and five from Barry,

I will go 3-4. How about that?

And one very similar sorts of of argumentation.

I don't want to land on Butane here.

I actually don't quite know what to make of Butane, but I just

think he's going to be the best horse in this race.

Does anything stand out to you about his work?

TAB his most recent work. Just all I mean, it's, it's a,

it was a hell of a December if anything.

But yes, but the fact that he worked on synthetic the other

day when other horses worked on the dirt, are you surprised by

that? No, maybe it was crowd.

It was January 4th, the day they had to move to the synthetic.

That might have been it. Actually, maybe that's what it

is that. Might be it, man, I was going to

say, oh, him and Greenwich Village worked on the synthetic

that day. Maybe that's what it was.

I just thought it was very interesting.

They're going to work on the synthetic.

I'm sure. I'm sure he's jogging on the

dirt during the week, I'm positive.

And so it's not like he doesn't you know, he hasn't been on the

dirt in a while. But but no, just an interesting

134 and one for me. I'm just, it's just Baffrin and

Hernandez at Santa Anita. I'm not going to lie.

I mean, it's just it is what it is and I'm not going to think

any more than that. I am fascinated by Greenwich

Village though, and I do wonder if, you know, this is still, I

know it's a cheap horse for the Starlight folks at 350,000.

It's still a quality Rd. The interesting thing though, is

all of the damn breeding is completely turf.

So it's very interesting that they went ahead and bought this

one given what the the general gist of what they're trying to

do with that Starlight ownership group of the SF folks is to get

to turn race horses right. I mean, they just are and sort

of get a horse like that. Now, the quality roads we've

seen do a lot of different things.

But I I mean, if you're going to throw that that dams pedigree in

there, I mean it feels very, very turfy to me.

So again, 3-4 and one for me. You went 435 horse on the

outside will be thirsty rebel. The other O'Neill would an

O'Neill exacta be funny? Very absolutely, Absolutely,

without a question. Especially if Avaloscato comes

through and just dominates this thing, it'd be great.

Yeah. I mean super fast last time man.

It certainly was and had some experience in steaks company.

That's really the only reason why I put this horse in the mix,

but definitely not without a shot.

I mean, I'm going to be interested to see how this race

is bet because Butane at six to five seems like a stretch as far

as as the price. I I think they're gonna float up

a little bit here. I I think other horses are gonna

take some action. But yeah, this is this is

definitely an interesting race. Should be a fun one, but that

concludes the stakes portion of the card.

We moved to the late pick 5 starts in race 6.

I'm Louis Rabeau, This is the horse racing happy hour.

So Cal Saturdays is what we call this show.

We do it every Friday right at this time.

You can hang out with me and Barry every week.

Wherever you're finding us, we appreciate you starting your

week and with us. And of course, we encourage you

to check out our friends at AM Wager and AM wager.com.

Race 6 is an optional claimer, $50,000 optional price, any

$35,000 purse here. 6 furlongs on the turf.

We are sprinting and this is for Phil Lilies and mares for four

and up and Barry, I'll go ahead and go first in race 6.

Of course, I'll go 56 and 10 in this one and landed on Pocket

Venus. First time turfer for the for

Mark Glatt here. Been off since October.

He's been working this one most recently trying to just get her

to get real fast on that. Tepita before that though, was

working on the dirt. I am fascinated by moving this

spun to run baby over there, baby 4 year old.

And so I'm I'm fascinated by this once in a while to Barry.

I just pick the horse that I think it's the fastest in this

race and I happen to think this is it.

And so I'll land on the five on top here.

Pocket Venus, the six horse is the favorite next to her.

Has a ton of turf experience, a ton of turf, frankly, sprinting

experience. Has one at the maiden 50 level

at Santa Anita at six furlongs. Has, you know, last out at this

level. Finished a good second.

I get Hector Berrios, I get John Sadler, all the things.

I think the 5-6 makes a ton of sense here.

And then I'll go to the 10 on the outside clubhouse Cutie.

I was thrilled to see this horse in your handicapping as well.

I think just makes too much sense here to go back.

The horse did show up one time on turf, didn't embarrass itself

at all. Came back one at the Maiden 50

level last time after trying Los Al gets to Del Mar, breaks the

maiden doing that miracle Demuro.

Much better trip around the track at San Anita this time.

I just think this one's got a real live shot.

The 10 doesn't bother me at all and so give me 5-6 and 10 here,

Barry. Yeah, I'm down with the

Clubhouse QD here that that horse, that one turf race kind

of stands out. And usually, you know, obviously

when when horses do things the second time, they usually

improve. And that's really my rationale

of picking the seven lady rider on top.

That race on October 19th stacks up very well against these

horses in this race. And I I like the fact that this

horse is coming in fresh. Getting Juan Hernandez is also a

bonus. 5 to 1 is even better if we can get it.

I'm I'm not too sure we will just based on, on the presence

of of Juan Hernandez. There you go, 75 and 10 for

Barry in of that spot. I will be 5-6 and ten in race 6,

the start of the late pick five there at Santa Anita on

Saturday. Race 7UP next for us I'll get

Barry my race pick six off the screen since you don't need it

anymore. Dime claimer, non 2 lifers.

God bless forward up here 6 furlongs on the dirt.

I remember talking to a trainer one time, Barry, and he was at

the time he was, he was based when Golden Gate was still open

and he just said, I can't even read the condition book, just

give me basic condition. Nothing more basic than 10K,

never won two races, nothing more basic than that.

Just straightforward conditions. Well, who'd you land on a race

on? Yeah, this race I thought was

kind of all over the place, so I'm going to throw 1 downfield

here and I went with the 8 Noble Gary at 15 to one.

You'll see that this horse ran at this level twice, October 5th

at Santa Anita, November 22nd at at Delmar.

Both very good races and even improved.

Then they stepped up to the 12 five in a race that they were

favored in and got a terrible trip.

Now you'll see they're parked out on the outside again, but I

don't think they're going to try to employ the same tactics they

did. I think they're going to try to

run this race like they did the September 1st race at Delmar

from the outside. Just get a nice stalk in and

then kind of angle out and and pass everybody on the outside.

That would be ideal since there isn't that much speed in here.

Surprisingly, they may want to try to get into this race a lot

earlier and not let Handsome Ticket get away.

If they can do that and put the press on this horse on the 6th,

they might be in for a really, really good showing.

Because I I I just don't think handsome ticket is is really

gonna try to last year very faint hearted and and I think

noble Gary has a little bit of bottom and and should be OK

likes this should fit very well at this especially on the

cutback that should have this horse right in great position

come this top of the stretch. Nobel Gary will break from the

887 to one for Barry. I do like the six more than

Barry does. There's a horse that's one at

the maiden 50 level at Los Al. Since then, second, second six

by three lengths in an in A50. Optional claimer came back in

A50. The next out did have the lead

for a short time before conceding under Antonio Fraser.

Of course, he's unavailable with an injury.

Avaloscano picks up the mouth there.

I'll go 6-8 and one here, Barry. We both have the one in our

handicapping as as well with White Mountain Escobedo picks up

for Ryan Hansen. This is 1 we've most recently

seen in a mile at Los Allen. I think just doesn't want to go

that far. Was better frankly before that

going 6 1/2 on the turf. I think getting to this

distance, which the horse did on debut, but that was back in

September of 23. Very, very lightly race since

then, you know, I, I just, I think this is a softer spot.

It makes more sense for this horse to have to do less.

And frankly, with this one, it needs to break and just go.

And I think being on the rails gonna force Excavator to do

that. I think that's a good thing.

I think it's. Good yeah, that's exactly what I

was thinking is that the the post position is gonna force

this horse to to run the way they should.

You know, I I think they kind of tactics.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. I I think the last few races and

namely the last three, this horse just didn't get great

trips and and tried to work out something.

And and it's also key that Ryan Hansen owns and trains this

horse. I I think they're, they're gonna

really try to, to get this horse in in good position.

There's a slight drop in class here.

So I just don't want I, I, I at least ideally, I don't want this

pace to heat up too much because that'll just explode everything

in a, in a horse like no more Ding dongs wins and and really

hurt my feelings because I just don't like this horse at all.

But it's very capable and at this level.

It's not nice that they named a horse after you.

It's not nice. I just, I know I don't like that

at all. You said that before.

I have a fight next time I see you.

I might be a dad who just makes the same jokes over and over.

I know you are a dad that makes the same jokes over and.

Over. Absolutely.

You can pretend to be a different person than me, but

you're not. Yeah, no, That's how that goes.

And that's why we get along, because we are essentially the

same dude. Late pick three starts with Race

8. Thanks for hanging out with us

on South Cal Saturdays Horse Racing Happy Hour.

My name's Lou Rebeau. He's Barry Spears.

Of course. We're presented by AM Wager and

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there. The late pick three, A $3

minimum. Late pick three starts in race

eight, $25,000 claimer on the turf here.

We're going a mile, $35,000 on the line for these runners here.

Barry, I'll go first. I landed on the 8 here to 5 to

1. I think is a very fair, perhaps

a little too fair price on this horse.

We drop into the 25 level and this is a horse that if we go 3

back when we were in starter allowance kind of company at the

50 level was very competitive and winning races at Del Mar.

I think just a little bit too much of an ass to get into that

optional 50 kind of level. And I think getting back to this

will be better. Peter Miller takes this kind of

time off, gets 20% wins out of his horses.

He and Hector don't combine very often on horses, but I obviously

could trust Hector Barrios aboard anyone on the grass in

Southern California. And so I think Russell's hustle

price wise makes a lot of sense. I think a little bit of time off

here for Peter Miller also makes a fair amount of sense.

So I'll land on the 8 horse on top.

I then went to the inside horse in the one in neon lights we

have seen many times on this show running at this sort of

level was really good last time at Santa Anita in October has

gotten a couple of months off for Jeff Mullins who brings

horses back really nicely off the layoff as well.

He's 21% claimers to this is his domain.

This is what he does. And so I landed 8:00 and 1:00

and then the 11 in here. Barry, you landed on the three

horse. I know you've got the 8:00 and

11:00 in your handicapping as well.

But Castle, I'm not going to lie, this one even I don't know,

but I'm going to guess it's Castle Layalk.

Yeah, that's, that's, that's what I was saying in my head.

But sure, sure. 7 How about this?

A 7 year old son of American Pharaoh?

How old are we, dude? Yeah, 7 year old son of

American. 7 What? I don't like it.

I don't, I don't, not at all. Actually, I, I think this horse

is is probably, I, I would say is the horse that I like the

most on the card. There it is, all right.

You know, if you look back, this horse was running at a way

higher level and just not getting it done.

Lost to Goliad Request Almendaris, there's an

astronomer in there, trademarks in there, Sorrento Sky, Jimmy

Blue Jeans. That's pretty good company.

Then they dropped in class August 24th and got a horrid

trip then at the same level 1 getting Abel Liscano aboard.

And I think this the source fits at this level pretty good.

The workouts, training forwardly for this event.

Everything kind of lines up. This horse is probably going to

be closer to the pace than they were, you know, back when they

were running in the 80,000 non winners of two.

Yeah, I I I think she she's gonna be or he is a real

formidable foe here even at 7 years old, which I'm not really

too fond of who's playing horses like this at that age.

But pretty much this whole field is 7 years old, so it kind of

shows. That the horse wants to be out.

He still wants to go. Yeah, well.

That's exactly right. So yeah, now that's kind of the

giveaway for me too. By the way, I wanted to offer a

very long shot in this field that I think can absolutely hit

the board. I want to get your thoughts

here, Barry, coming out of Losal.

But it's shown up really well on turf before is so I'm told, the

six horse here from Martin Valenzuela junior.

And this is one that's been working at Losal on the dirt.

And you and I talk so often, Barry, when the Losal meets come

around and we watched, you know, trainers like the aforementioned

Peter Miller jump over with turf horses and dirt horses and

whatever else and kind of go back and forth, you know, just

to get in those conditions at Los Alamitos, I think.

So I'm told is one of those. If you go back, for example, I'm

trying to sit there, it is the Del Mar $16,000 allowance going

a mile. The horse finished third by half

a length, actually had the late the lead late in that race.

I'm not saying the horse was one for 14 last year.

I'm not saying this horse going to win on Saturday.

But the six horse might spice up in a trifecta if you want

someone in the third spot. I'm being real serious.

I think he's got a better than third spot chance here.

OK. I mean, if it's at the level,

yeah. And now this might go against

your pick, but Neon Lights I I think is very, very faint

hearted. And this horse should get a

great trip. There's not much speed in here.

And if this horse can sit right off of that pace, they're gonna

get first run if they can keep up out there.

Yeah, it's, it's not. In the cards.

Yeah, it certainly is. I, I don't think the source is

gonna be 30 to one, OK, probably way less than that, but OK, half

that, I would say, but not without a shot.

I mean, you can see in the running lines there's some good

horses in there. No doubt about it.

Move on to the late double. It is a $5 minimum late double

there on the West Coast. Another $10,000 claimer.

God bless you people, $22,000 on the line, 6 furloughs on the

dirt. This is Phillies and Mares 4 and

up for this one. And look man, I think one of the

more wide open fields on the day here we do have a five to two

favorite in Dial A friend. Barry, where'd you land in Race

9? Yeah, I ended up going with the

seven Elegant Sway, which, you know, this is a this is a really

interesting and tough race because I don't like the eight

Dial A Friend at all. I mean, this horse has been

running in higher company, but I don't think this horse has

proven to be better than the $10,000 tag.

So if you put that in line with everything else, that horse

looks rather ordinary. Elegant Sway ran pretty good

back at the beginning of last year, but it was on the turf and

I think that kind of hides its form here.

The horse was running really good in in in some really tough

turf events at Santa Anita back in April and May.

Then they they went to the dirt, dropped in class to $20,000,

level 1, got claimed and then kind of went over their head.

Now they're back to a more realistic spot, getting a rider

that the barn trusts a lot, and I think he'll put the good ride

on this horse. 8 to 1 seems like a fair price.

I think we'll get most of that. Interesting.

I went 3-8 and four in here. Let me talk about the three

horse here that I think makes a really interesting case and

that's Empress of Grace who's won or last two.

One of them was a claiming event at 16,001 was 25,000 for non 3

lifers and you might see the $10,000 tag and think what are

we doing here? I I think if this horse gets

claimed here and they win, I think they're totally fine with

it. I think they're also kind of

convinced the horse isn't going to get claimed, you know, and.

And I probably not. I mean where, where could they

actually go? You know you claim the source

for 10, you put them in another 10.

Right. No, that's exactly right.

And so, yeah, there's No 10 starter allowance, right?

I mean, like, right, there's no spot for this horse to go.

So I don't see this as the horses for sale.

Barry, I know you have this horse in your top three as well.

I, I see this as here we go. And if you look at the actual

conditions here, if you haven't won a race recently, you get a 2

LB allowance. This horse is carrying the most

weight. And so in almost think of it as

a, in my mind, as a handicap kind of thing where you're

carrying extra weight because you've actually been good

recently. And so I'll take in these kinds

of races, Barry. I'll just take the horses that

are, that are part of the equation, right, that win races.

And so give me Empress of Grace. I think she's man I I as likely

a winner on the late part of the card as any.

I just think she's running really well right now.

Steve Knapp knows what he's doing in this level of race,

Barry and and I really do trust him.

And so I'll lean on the three on top.

I disagree with you about the eight.

I think dial A friend is fine. I love dial A friend.

I have such a soft spot for these sprinters coming out of

Los Alamito. So Full disclosure on that one.

But I do, I do love these horses because so much of that culture

at at Los Altos is go, go, go, just go, go, go.

And sometimes you get to the bigger tracks and there's just

not that kind of, there's just not that kind of urgency or

whatever it might be. And once in a while those horses

are able to jump up. But 3-8 and four for me, greens

that rousing Jewel lands 3rd for me.

This one that was running at the 6250 level at Los Alt before,

but has run at Santa Anita before.

Three wins and nine times at the distance has hit the trifecta 3

times at five runs at Santa Anita.

And all of those except for one, we're at a higher level than

this. So it, you know, this horse

dropped into the 6250 at Santa Anita.

One was in the $10,000 level, ran twice.

So it's just that this is exactly where rousing Jewel

needs to be. And so give me that one as a

possibility as well. Three, eight and four and hear

from me. Barry, what do you like about

the 9 horse in here to hit the board?

Yeah, a little slight drop in class and should be picking up

the pieces late in case this pace kind of gets hot upfront,

which there's some potential for that with Rhythm Girl.

Empress and Grace might have to get involved a little early.

Rousing Jewels probably going to be out there winging it.

Rousing Babe might out be out there.

So it could get a little frisky upfront and that would open it

up for a horse like Brookies Gal who does close pretty well.

May you know, the little slight drop makes sense here and gets a

good setup. So I think that one can get in

the picture. All right, the closer is a race

10. This is So Cal Saturday's horse

racing happy hour hanging out with you, Lou or Beau Barry

Spears. Of course, we're presented by am

wager am wager.com. Go check them out for a new

customer deposit match 100% up to $150.00.

Appreciate them hanging out with us lo these many years on the

horse racing happy hour. The closer race 10 is an

optional claimer state breads here mile on the turf.

We're running for $70,000 here. Claiming price would be 20 if

you are in for the tag and I think this was a tagless race

and so everybody avoided the tag for this one.

Barry, I'll go first in the closer.

I landed on the outside horse in the 12.

My concern, of course, is the post position.

But warm sun and brew. Juan Hernandez gets the mount

here. This is one that we saw started

his career at Santa Anita going 6, finished a good second, gets

up for that mile. Antonio Fraser rides at Del Mar,

wins in November. A little bit of time off here,

29% angle for Marc Gladd gets to get back into this kind of

company going against winners for the first time.

So that's absolutely a question mark.

Breaking from the 12 is an absolute question mark, but this

horse never been worse than second.

I think the workouts are good enough and I think Marc Gladd

has his horse into a good spot. Any scratches inside of this

horse, moves this horse, say into like the 10 or the 9 sort

of hole I think will be totally fine, including refocus who will

break from the 9. Roberto Rispoli picks up the

mount for the second time here in a row for Doug O'Neill.

This is one we saw in an allowance at this kind of level

going down the hill last time gets to stretch back out to this

distance. The horses only tried it once,

Barry, but that was frankly not a bad run in May of 2024 to

Mario Gutierrez of all things. I just think getting back to the

distance here, we watched Pavel. That was a nice horseman.

I mean, whatever you want to say about, you know, I know it's a

cow sire or whatever else, Paho was a nice horseman, but he was

a horse. And so, you know, maybe a chance

to get back to a little bit of what this horse should be doing.

So 12-9 and two for me as well. King of Dragons Miracle Demuro

rides for Peter Urton. I thought this one was super

impressive last time the rally, especially because the horse had

to go out so wide. Barry, I think any kind of a

better trip this time around, this horse will do much better.

Not a ton of success at Santa Anita so far, but that was in

the Eddie Logan that was going 6 1/2 sprinting.

I think getting to a mile a more, you know, sort of form

full 2 turn race here with a horse hat broke its maiden.

Ran a good second in a maiden special at Santa Anita.

Doing that as well, I think sets up really well here.

And so I'll go 12-9 and two for my top selections here.

You're not terribly different here, but you do throw the four

horse in the 9. Is there anything I didn't say

about refocus that you'd like to throw in since you put the horse

on top? I, I think this horses race at a

mile back in May 31st, 2024. That, that race in particular is

probably 1 of this horses better races.

And I'm, I'm really not understanding why they tried to

keep running this horse at 5 and, and six furlongs.

Then down the hill we ran a more improved race, but it seems like

the miles suits this horse and getting wristfully for the

second time seems to be a pretty good option.

They did it before, you know, he's won on this horse.

Finished second in that race. September 29th, 6 furlongs.

But stretching out makes sense to me here and the price makes

even more sense. I I think the four is a little

bit of too good to be true. I'm not really sure why this

horse is in this race. I know it's off somewhat of a

layoff, but they could have got a different spot that you would

think be a little tougher than this to prepare this horse for

more stakes races. But they end up here in a 20,000

state bred, which is is awfully curious.

I really wanted to like the horse it it weirded me out that

the horses in the. Psych same I don't.

Know I don't know why that horse is.

There, you know. Look, this horse runs.

If Cali Cat runs his race, his race, yes, yeah, he's gonna run.

Laughs around these horses. Yeah, he's gonna win.

He's gonna win, but I don't know they will.

I. Just no, I, I don't either.

It's it's really strange that that horse is here.

If they run here, more power to him, but I'm skeptical.

If they scratch, I wouldn't be surprised either.

A reminder of this time of year as well, Barry, this horse has

never run against 4 year olds before, right?

This is a horse that's only been a three-year old company to this

point until the California flag, which was down the hill and like

horse finishes last. I mean, like whatever you want

to say, this is a reminder for just for in general, we're

handicapping this time of year, Barry.

We're watching a bunch of these horses go against older horses

for the first time, right? A bunch of that had been able to

run, you know, just as 2 year olds or just as 3 year olds,

whatever it might be having to deal with that kind of company.

Certainly that stands out for Cali Cat in this one there as

well. Well, there you go.

That's been so Cal Saturday's here on the horse racing happy

hour. Appreciate everybody hanging out

out with us ahead of the weekend.

You got tonight, Barry, you got Indiana, you got out of Oregon,

Indiana. Let's go.

It's fascinating, man. We're in that market.

Of course, here in the Louisville area.

About 35% of people who listen to my show in the mornings live

in live in Indiana. And all of the metrics say to

bet against Indiana as far as teams don't be the team a second

time in the in the playoff and you know, blah, blah, blah, this

kind of stuff. They 35 to 3.

How's Alabama? How are you like?

I mean like. They're just good.

They're just flat out good. They're just good.

That's exactly right, man. All right, brother.

Well, I agree with you on that and hopefully your canes give

them hell in the national championship game there as well.

Live leader Bohes Barry Spears. This has been the this has been

the horse racing happy hour and so Cal Saturdays thanks to our

friends over at AM wager. Good luck with those wagers this

weekend. Enjoy the Oaks and Derby prep

tomorrow. They're at Santa Anita as well.

We'll see you next week on SoCal Saturdays.