Laurel Saturday | John Piassek

That's true welcome in another edition of the Horse Racing

Happy Hour. His name is John Piasik at there

off on all of the socials. He's got the hair, he's got the

thoughts, he's got all of the things.

I'm very jealous of all of those things for sure.

John, Good. Good afternoon to you.

As we tape this thing on a Thursday afternoon, there are no

morning lines. So we will do our damnedest to

try to pick just winners, in this case on Saturday there at

Laurel Park. Good day to you, Sir.

How are things going? You doing all right?

You doing all right? Keep I.

Really could not be doing any better.

You know, it was like once once what's the sun around here

starts setting after 5:00, then I'll be just about a little

better each blind. That's what a problem you guys

have over in your neck of the woods.

Like by you. I don't think the sun ever sets

after 5:00. Oh, it always does before.

Yeah, never have that issue. That's exactly right.

No, no, it's summertime, like when kids are like, we can stay

out until the sun goes down. I'm like, it's like 945.

Like let's settle down. You're 9, You know, you maybe

you need to come home, son. That might be a thing to figure

out there. But man, you speak of Cloud 9.

You talk about good things. It's interesting John, when you

put together a good product and a consistent 1 and you have a

lot of turf days, your numbers go up.

We saw that in 2025 with Maryland Racing man, the

wagering numbers are up and look changing the guard Maryland, I

don't think we have to hide from that new, you know new way of

doing things, new administration etcetera.

But I think you and I can talk about this because none of the

people from that organization are currently in the room, but

what Dan Ellman and company are doing there as far.

As you know, laurelpark.com/picks and all the

information, they put out a betting guide every race day

that if you're a better John, you would be out of your mind

not to look at on every single race day in Maryland.

It's that good. The transparency, the 12% take

out on pick fives, etcetera. There's a lot to like, but boy,

over a 13% per race increase, man, that's that.

We're talking serious money here.

Absolutely. And at the fall meet, they were

up by 17% per interest. And the fall meet to me is

always the best time of year to play Maryland.

This year in particularly, as you said, lots of grass racing,

lots of big fields. They went until Thanksgiving on

the grass course this year, first time they've done that in

almost a decade. And as you said, the

handicapping Guide is a fantastic resource.

Pretty much everything you'd want as a handicapper is

innovative. You got pics from many people,

including yours? True.

You got trip notes, track bias notes, trainer and jockey stats.

You got so much information. It's all free, so it.

That part too. Pivot Anendum to the packed

performances and it's available every day, so it's a absolute

must have if you're playing Law Park.

I mean, you even heard from a friend of this show.

Steve Kornacki jumped on and without me saying a word, he was

like, I'll tell you who which circuits become my favorite to

bet, and that's that's Marilyn. And frankly, he's a pick five

player. So I know that he you know,

that's a makes a lot of sense with that take out the field

sizes, etcetera. So it makes sense that the

numbers are up. I'm just John, I just have to

say, you know, when an arrow, when everyone says how do we do

this? How do we grow this, blah, blah,

blah. Once in a while, the basics are

the good things, right? Giving out information for

nothing, having insightful handicapping help matters,

right? It isn't, you know, the track

needs the better to do well. And if Maryland's shooting for

those things, it is absolutely the best way forward.

And sometimes it's just a reminder do the basic things and

people will show up. And I think Maryland's

absolutely doing the basics really, really well.

There was also a move recently at the Maryland, the meeting of

the of the Thoroughbred Association.

They're about increasing state bread incentives.

I thought this was really interesting.

A fair amount of details here, John, so don't you.

Don't have to talk for an hour on this or anything, but another

positive move for sure. 100% I mean one stat most folks don't

know is no state not even to Kentucky has more horses per

square mile than Maryland is a very rich horse tradition in

Maryland. They've been breeding and racing

there for hundreds of years. Maryland million was the first

state bred state sired race day which has not been copied many

many times. But like many smaller breeding

programs, it has fallen off bit of hard times in in the past few

years as it's been a national trend and there are not as many

state threat races in Maryland as there are in other states.

So I think having these bonuses is going to be very big on

getting people to breed in Maryland and race in Maryland,

especially knowing that the track and the Breeders

association are working much more closely than they ever did

before. Like, like I can tell you the

current leadership is all in on making the Maryland million a

big success and that was not the case in years past.

So it's a great sign. And I also want to give a shout

out to the stallion bonuses, which have gone up percent in

first, second or third. I've said it before and I'll say

it again, the key to growing racing in states beyond Kentucky

is not just better state bred programs, it's better state

sired programs. Local stallions are the backbone

of any state breeding program. You want to encourage people to

stay in state to breed their horse.

There's many great stallions every state that you look.

So I so I think having those increased bonuses and having

post time stand in Maryland for his first season this year will

hopefully encourage folks to stay local.

Yeah, stay local for sure. Frankly, the other thing that's

happening, John, that I like in that I think people around the

region are figuring out is there could be a lot of symbiosis

between the circuits here, right between Virginia and Maryland.

Delaware pops up for sure. We see so many trainers go back

and forth from Parks to Laurel, etcetera.

There is simply no reason that those places can't coexist.

And frankly, we see with the Geisha and with the Jennings

this weekend, Virginia certified is on that list of things.

And look, if you want your handle numbers to go up, you

need your field sizes to go up. That's a simple way for these

places to work in tandem with one another.

And, and I'm hopeful, John, that that we're seeing, you know,

Maryland needs to worry about Maryland, but frankly, the

region needs to worry about the region as well.

It's nice to see both happening at the same time.

Absolutely. And and my concern with having

too much consolidation has always been you want to make

sure that each state thread or state certified program still

has its opportunity to shine. And this program does that

because of the Virginia Certified program has really

taken off, especially with those big purses at Colonial Downs.

And in Virginia they race certified Voices race.

A big bonus is not just at Colonial, but all year round

during times when Colonial is not racing.

And Maryland set up a similar program to pay out Maryland

bonuses during the summer when Maryland wasn't racing.

And as you said, it was a huge boost of both Delaware Park and

Colonial Downs. Summer historically kind of a

down time in Maryland racing. So not a ton was lost.

And I know it's going to be a similar schedule this year.

The last day of racing at Lowell is going to be in late June.

Take about 878 weeks off race at Delaware and Colonial, and then

we'll come back at Timonium and get ready for another fantastic

fall meet at war. Ah.

Yes, Timonium, when I get to hear Dave, when I get to hear

Dave again and everything seems right in the world, we get him

back on the air there. Another thing that's very right

in the world is that Yazid Hazelwood is up for the Eclipse

Award. Do you expect to hear his name

at the Eclipse Awards? Because I do.

I do not. I think it's going to go to the

big apprentice at Woodbine. Yeah.

Pietro Moran. Yeah.

Yeah, who won the King's Plate and and had a great.

Would be a worthy winner. I I would not fight anybody on

that for sure. Right.

I mean, I mean, he had a fantastic season too, but in

many other years, Hazelwood would be a runaway winner.

I mean, even like from from last time we talked, he is Starr has

only been shining voter. He had a huge streak of the fall

meet where he won at least one race.

I think I'm 23 consecutive race stage, which is just bananas.

He's off to a great start at the winter meet.

I'm and he has been riding at Aqueduct and parks as well.

And in particular, he's been giving out some great rides at

Aqueduct and by, you know, riding there.

He's getting his name out to a national racing audience, which

is obviously good for his profile.

Yeah, no, it's fantastic for him.

Just 17 years old. Is Yetzine Hazelwood up for 17?

Years born in 2008. Shut up.

Oh man, even John knows that guy's young.

Just the no, but I got to say the three finalists I thought

are the the right ones. I you know, it was a a difficult

year, frankly, for those of us who vote the eclipse awards.

Some of those categories were beyond difficult, but I think

the guys, any of the three that that made it to the finals for

the The Apprentice jock, I wouldn't be mad about any of

them because Ellie's had a really nice year too.

So I, you know, and it was about, I guess five months he

got riding in before he lost the bug there.

And so I just good group man. And, and like you said, Yazid,

especially getting to go to New York and everyone's like, oh,

let's kick a ride a little bit, You know, and I, I remember

reading the other day smiling because he won a race.

And I think it was David Gretting at, at DRF.

He, he said something like, well, I guess the reel's not

totally dead because Hazelwood just used it, you know, that

kind of thing. And I'm like, might be the

jockey, might be that guy. It's.

OK to say and might be Yazid, but Hazelwood last year too is

he missed about 8 weeks in the summer.

She was in a car accident and missed a lot of time.

So he put up those gaudy stats even with missing a lot of the

seasons. So I'm looking forward to seeing

what he does with a full slate. Yeah, it should be really fun in

2026 with him. Any updates on Piblico that we

need updates on, besides on the fact that the Mcmullen's pub

sign might be missing? No.

I mean, as far as I know, it's still all systems go.

I know they're still planning on having racing there in 2027.

That remains to be seen, but as far as I know, trending in the

right direction. That we are trusting

construction crews that's always a dangerous thing to do Well,

John is on because we are going to preview the late pick five

there at Laurel Park on Saturday.

A pair of steaks and a pair of handicaps on the card.

John, do you happen to know? And if you don't, it's totally

fine. Obviously there's the restricted

aspect of the Geisha and the the Jennings, which are races six

and seven. They're followed by a couple of

hundred a $1000 handicaps, one at six furlongs, one at six and

a half, one on the Philly and mare side, one on the the cold

side. Do you understand, do you know

why they're having a a pair of handicaps rather than having

stake traces? Or was this just easier for for

open company? Those state, so they were stakes

in official stakes in years past.

It's the Water Summer Handicap and the Fire Plug Handicap and

they do very similar quality fields this year as they did

last. I know with these there's no

entry fee with the stakes race obviously stakes it's it's an

entry fee. So that may be may be part of it

to help encourage entries. And I think last year they were

not allowed to race on Lasix because it was stakes and this

year they are allowed to be on Lasix because it's technically

not a stakes, it's an open eye handicap.

I know Delaware Park does the same thing with a lot of their

Delaware certified stakes. Not like officially stakes

races, but for our purposes and and intense they draw stakes

quality fields and have stakes level process.

Nice field sizes throughout. We'll be going through that late

pick 5 again to 12% take out on that sequence.

Really, really good to look at. John.

I'll put you in a terrible spot as I think the morning lines

just dropped for the first five races.

Oh, there they are. They're actually out.

OK, great. OK.

That should make this show significantly easier to put

together. And then they are on my racing

form as well. What, what good timing there,

John? But is there, is there a horse

in the previous race that is a must include on the pick 6, for

example? I know you play that pick 6

quite often there at Laurel Park.

And So what, what are they calling it these days?

Have they taken up my names, my ridiculous names for things yet?

Oh, the Chesapeake. Pick 6.

I like it. We need more crabs.

Just more crab jokes I. We have not yet done the Crab 5.

Get it together. What do we do in a Maryland?

We're trying to have funnier people.

Anybody with the pick six first leg there?

Well, that race is a real crab shoot as one last night.

My slight choice in here is #7 blow by the field for Wasabi

Venture Stables and Romo Torres coming in from Penn National.

Broke awkwardly in her last two starts there, but still ran on

well. Lightly raced, trending in the

right direction to think the clean break she'll be live.

One long shot I kind of like in there is number 11 Bourbon and

Lakes at 15 to one on the morning line.

She came from way off the pace to beat a similar field going 7

furlongs, 2 starts back. Rallied well and got 4th beaten

2 1/2 lengths last time out against another similar group.

I think she'll be a very juicy price and could end up being a

difference between scooping that pool and not scooping it.

There you go, he's John Piazza by the way, at their off on the

socials. You'll find him at Yonkers

Raceway most of the time. He's he joins us from Astoria

Queens today. Appreciate him.

I'm Lou your bow studios here, my personal ones in Louisville.

Appreciate everybody hanging out.

It's about 18° here. John.

Don't like it. Looks like it's going to be

slightly better on Saturday there at Laurel Park.

We'll start with race 6 beginning of the late pick five.

It is the geisha. This is for Phillies and mares 4

and up. We're going a mile at Laurel

Park. That means the one turn mile

$100,000 on the line. This is for registered Maryland

breds, registered Maryland sirens or VA breads or VA sirens

in this case. No Lasix in this one.

Looks like the horse that I thought would be favored is

going to be Take the Money Honey, who we have talked about

on this show. Winner of the politely last out

at six furlongs. We got to go a mile here though,

and this horse has done that before, certainly at Laurel Park

and other places. 3 for four with a second place finish at

Laurel Park. Worthy favored here.

Absolutely. I mean she's only even money on

a morning line. I think if she actually goes off

at even money that would be the bargain of the century.

I do not think there's a really a realistic way she loses.

I think if you win this race 100 times, she wins at maybe 85.

I mean, speed figures are way above anyone else's.

She loves this track. She's done very well going a

mile. She hasn't worked since that

last race, but Michael Moore was talking to her, our good buddy

Dan Ellman, and he said he doesn't think that's going to be

a problem. She's still very fit and in

great shape. So I think if you're playing the

pick five, I don't think it's worth trying to beat her unless

you're playing like really big backup tickets.

I think if you do want to take a shot against that big favorite,

the horse to do it with and you would probably have to single

her rather than singling. Take the money.

Honey is #3 on court commentator making her first start since

last year's Geisha where she came in second.

But Brittany Russell trainees do very well.

First off of very long layoffs. This one was in great form last

fall. Won a second level allowance

contest on this track. Came second and two other

starts, including in the Geisha. Has great closing speed.

Should do very well going the one turn mile.

So if for some reason Take the Money Honey Doesn't Fire Encore

commentator would be strictly the one to beat.

I would use concrete phase if you're looking for a cold exact.

I would go 7-8 here. I would try a concrete phase out

of the Kirby barn. Michael Sanchez gets them out

here. Just seems like one at Laurel

especially is in the mix all the time. 9 times in the the

trifecta out of 15 runs at Laurel.

That's where I would lean in this one.

But man I'm with you. Take the money honey.

Seems like a that's the horse we have to beat the pick 5 to get

the huge win out yes. I mean is that the fair easy

enough. We always ask that question on

this show. Move on to race 7.

Talk with John Piazza about Laurel's Saturday card.

Tons of four of them actually three of them.

Excuse me one turn miles in this sequence.

This is another one of them the Jennings.

It's for four year olds and up again.

Registered Maryland breads are sired and registered VA breads

and sired available for this 100,000 on the line.

No Lasix in this one we get 3 to one on Blue Kingdom breaking

from the two. But of course Quince Brew in

here 4 to 5 for Ed Allard and for Yedzi Hazelwood here, not a

combination we see too often. And this is a horse that we did

see last out at 7 furlongs. Didn't quite get there.

You surprised to see 4:00 to 5:00.

Yes, in fact you also saw this horse race live in last year's

Carter where he ran a huge race and lost to Crazy Mason, who

went on to have a great view. I mean, on pure ability, Quince

Brew is the best horse in this field.

But that last race left me a little bit cold in the Bender.

Like, I mean, yes, Lamb Notion is a very good horse.

I think he could be a very good sprinter not just in Maryland,

but throughout the East Coast this year.

And it was Quinn Spruce first start off a long layoff, but he

got such a great trip that day and he really didn't have the

kind of punch that I would expect.

He lost a slam Notion by three lengths.

Even if you were going to lose to him, could have made it a

little bit closer. So and Quinn's Drew has one off

of long layoffs before 1 very impressively off of long

playoffs before such as in last year's Jennings.

So I don't quite buy the long layoff excuse.

So I'm a bit skeptical of him at 4:00 to 5:00.

I'm going to try to beat him in the pick five with #7 Mcclain's

look who I was very impressed by last time out.

He won his dirt debut 2 stars back in a washed off first level

route. He won that race by 6 lengths,

ran a huge figure on the prisoner scale of 98 based open

first level, open first level company next time out.

And there was a reason to be suspicious of him, I think.

I mean, you know, he beaten off the grass field.

Those aren't always that strong and he beat that field so

easily. He made a huge move from the

back of the pack, absolutely crushed them, won by 7 and 1/4

lengths. He ran a huge figure in the

Charlie Dasson who he destroyed that day.

Came back to win impressively in his own right next time out.

This one's lightly raced. Looks like he has a world of

potential. He's 4 to one on on the morning

line. I'd be fairly confident in

singling him and trying to beat Quince Drew and get that big

pick 5 payoff. Yeah, I remember talking with

Dan about him a while back in that mile and a 16th thing at

Laurel where they're literally starting right at the turn.

Frankly, for him to break from near the outside and go ahead

and just pull away in that race says something to me pretty

significant about this horse. And like you pointed out right

before that washed off. But boy, wash it off and win it

by a billion and then backing it up and winning by a billion is

still doing the darn thing. And I think this is just, I

don't want to say horse for course here, John, but boy, he

really seems to like Laurel's dirt track for sure.

And I mean, just generally speaking, just a winner of a

horse and we get Villalobos again, I think is a nice match

up here in in a pick five, pick four kind of sequence.

Are you singling against Quince Brew here or are you going to

use both? I think you almost have a single

against quince brew because if it ends up being take the money

honey and quince brew, no matter what happens in the last three

legs, pay off is not going to be that large.

Somebody tossed quince brew and he loses and pick five pays

maybe 200 bucks. I'm not going to be too

distraught about it, but if I singled Quince, Drew and then

Mcclain's Rook beats me, then I'd be a bit.

Race 8 starts that late. Pick three that John just

mentioned. Another $100,000 race.

This one's a handicap on the Philly mare side, 4 and up.

Six furlongs on the dirt, $100,000 on the line and this

one as well. You are allowed late 6 as John

pointed out earlier on Disco EBO 4 to 2.

Dwelling Legacy 7 to 2. Excuse me.

Passage E 3 to 1 pretty open and then a three to two.

Hold your breath. Pretty open at the top here,

John, where'd you land? I am very unoriginal and I did

pick Hold Your Breath on top. I kind of had a feeling that she

was going to be a big morning line favorite, but she deserves

it. I mean, she ran huge two starts

back at parks, got briefly pressed on the lead, took away

from the competition and won easily.

Got a class test last time out in the Garland of Roses Stakes

at Aqueduct and ran just as impressively.

She got pressed in the pace, kicked away, got challenged

again in the stretch, kicked away again, ran a career best

100 on that business scale. So I think she's a very nice

Philly. She'll be very tough to beat if

she runs her race. I pick Passage E 2nd.

She's been on on a nice little tear.

The once chronic maiden has won six out of her last seven stars,

actually broke a maiden out of New Neck of the woods at

Keeneland in April and since then has been on a very nice

streak. Meet A pretty similar field to

this one I thought last time out on Thanksgiving weekend.

It's had a great trip off the pace kicked away.

I don't know if if a ceiling is quite as high as that of holding

breath, but if if if you're looking for a cold exacta could

do a lot worse than A6 four combination.

On the inside, the two and the one there, let's keep looking at

this one. Dwelling Legacy, Gary Cap,

Yedzied, Hazelwood. Is this the rare opportunity

that perhaps that horse is going to get a bunch of the money,

John, and we might be able to beat that horse because of the

connections. Look, they're hitting at 46% at

Laurel Park, right? It's not as though people should

look the other way at Dwelling Legacy or anything like that.

But what I'm getting at is just because they are so successful,

is this a rare case where maybe playing against Yedzied and and

Gary would be the best way? We want to point out that the

amount of three-year olds Gary Capuano has in his barn would

make Bob Baffert or Brad Cox. Like very jealous.

Yes, I mean he has probably that's a.

Good point. Seven horses who would all be

bona fide Tessio candidates at this point and, and, and I would

love to see at least one of them go onto the main Derby trail and

hopefully get a shot on the 1st Saturday in May.

And especially if Hazelwood kept one of the mounts.

Here's a story for you going back to Dwelling Legacy.

As you mentioned, Gary Capp and Hazelwood are very dominant on

the circuit. I.

I like the way this one ran last time out, set a loose lead, held

on to win a second level route. My only thing is that last race

is is a pretty big outlier from the rest of her form.

I mean, she ran a 94 resident figure.

She really hadn't run any higher than an 85 in a long time before

that. So I don't know if she can

duplicate it. And I think we are at the point

where pretty much anybody who's trained by Kathy Wano and

written by Hazelwood is going to get back to the moon, as we see

by the 7:00 to 2:00 morning line on this one.

So I don't know how much value is going to be found this go

IBO. I didn't pick her in my top 4,

but she is really interesting. She's making her first start

since June when she broke awkwardly in the Unique LA.

It would not surprise me if if she was injured coming out of

the gate in that race because she really didn't run after that

and then went to the sidelines. Finally comes back Hue for Butch

Reed. She's won Hue twice.

She's done good work up and down the East Coast.

I think the only downside is Butch Reed has not been that

strong with his Maryland shippers as of late.

He had 7 starters at the Laurel Fall meet and none of them even

hit the board, much less won. So I think she merits, you know,

maybe keeping an eye on, but I don't know if I could use her in

a pick five, I might like it. Yeah, Disco Ebo would be his

first winner. Butch Reed's first winner in 10

attempts bringing a horse off of this kind of layoff in the last

10 runners and so should be an interesting one there.

In race 8, we move on to the late Daily Double.

It starts in race 9, of course. Another handicap here on the

male side of things, 4 and up, 6 1/2 on the dirt course there,

$100,000 on the line and so an interesting one in here.

Obviously a horse that we have heard up and down the East Coast

making his 29th start as Point Doom.

Others in here Twisted Ride, Full Moon, Madness on the mark.

Patinga's twin just feels like a big old homecoming here if you

will. Where'd you land in this one?

This feels like a yet Z win to me.

Yeah, I am not trying to beat Capuano Hazelwood train here.

This one won the Dave's Friend Stakes last time out.

And in fact, I think I texted you after that race and I said

something to the effect of only Hazelwood would have won on

Patinga's twin. He got absolutely everything out

of his mouth that day, got up in the last jump over the Uber

classy Prince of Jericho and won by a nose.

This one's been knocking around the circuit for a long time.

I want to say he actually was in the same maiden race as Quinn's

drew way back when at Laurel. He took a while to actually

break his maiden, but now that he has, he's really developed

into a nice allowance class horse.

Finally got his stakes when last time out and would pick up

another really de facto stakes when in this spot he's he's

trending in the right direction. He has good tactical speed.

Obviously Capuano and Hazelwood he.

Does Anthony Ferrier right? What was that?

I'm sorry. Pateka Swin is Anthony Ferrier

trainee, is he? Yeah.

You're right. I'm sorry.

Yeah. Yeah, no, no, it's all good.

I just, I no. But what I'm saying is, I mean

even look all the percentages with Yazid are really good.

I will say go. Ahead.

Yeah, Yeah. That might cause a little bit.

He has been picking up rides pretty much every major bar.

He's been riding for Trombetta, for Russell, for a lot of

Nestle. So he has been getting a lot of

big amounts and he is riding here for Mr. Ferrier as well.

Anthony, if you're out there, I apologize.

He's 5:00 to 2:00 on the morning line in this race.

I think in a spot like this where it's it's really wide

open, I don't see much value in using him and other horses

because if he's spread and he ends up winning and you're like,

why didn't I bother spreading? No, this might be a spot where I

either single him or like maybe use just him and Point Doom,

who's my second choice. Just kind of minimize things

because I do think he's the most likely winner and he should go

off at a pretty decent choice. What about Full Moon Madness

dropping out of graded company for this one.

You know he is going to get money because of those, but I

did not like the way he ran in either of his last two starts.

I thought he was pretty flat in both efforts.

Yes, he's taking a dropping class, but even those figures

would not win this race. He's 4 to one on Morning Lawn.

It would not shock me to see him going off favored over Burtina

Twin. So this to me is a situation

where you might actually find some value in not using him and

trying to beat him. Are you surprised?

Michelle notes shipping down for this one when he could run for

probably 80 or 90 at Aqueduct. She comes down here gelding.

It's not like I mean this. Isn't this is a gelding?

This isn't, you know, they're not trying to get the brain shot

with this guy or anything. Wasn't possible.

Maybe a spot around there didn't fail or, or yeah, that's true

too. Didn't look like it was going to

fail. So she figured I'll bring him

down here and get a guaranteed start.

So And you know, at this time last year, he looked like he

could well be one of the best sprinters in the country.

He ran 3 consecutive president figures of 100 or better.

He won the top four with just a gigantic number, and he kind of

fell flat in the Carter. And he really hasn't run

anywhere near that form sense. So I don't quite know what to

make of him tailing off so drastically from this time last

year. How about Twisted?

Ride 3 seconds and four runs at Laurel Park.

This is one that won two races last year and nine starts comes

out of a a very high level optional claimer at Parks 3 and

up there wins that one seven-year old great gelded son

of great notion. Why not anything about Twisted

Ride we should be watching for? Well, he's an easy voice to.

Love, I mean, he's made 38 starts.

He's closing in on $1,000,000 in earnings.

He's a whole graph of KCK, as you said, by Great Notion, who

was recently retired as a stallion and leaves shoes that

are very hard to fill. This one does very well at his

park's home base, not quite as well at Laurel.

In four starts here, he's coming second three times, but he has

not won. He was fourth in the Dave's

Friend. Two starts back, set the pace

and dropped back pretty quickly. Never looked like he was.

He was really going to hang in there.

So I don't think this track is quite where he wants to be.

I guess a spot a spot of parks is doing go and they figured

they may pick up some of those nice Maryland silent bonuses

that we have. No, that's exactly right.

So as I said, he's easy to chew for, but I'm chewing with him

strictly as a fan and not as a pick five player.

What who is that? I I want to bring up real quick

because he's 15 O one on the morning line, but I.

Pretty live. Is #9 okay?

Someone who's gene delivers. Keep going.

I actually you're right about this one.

Got respect? For Dean, whoever is 2, but

Chipola, you know he's 7 to 15 lifetime.

He was 5:50 last year. He ran a really nice race

against Prince of Jericho in the third level contest.

He set the pace, lasted through a lot of challenges, won by a

neck, ran a big figure. He ran big figures throughout

his three-year old season at Delaware Park.

His post is not that great, but really the only one who can run

with him early is point Doom drawn to his inside and he

showed that he can sit off the pace and still run it well.

So he could work out a nice stalking trip just off the lead.

It could make some noise at a big number.

I mean, if you're playing like a trifecta, I think those worst

horses that throw it underneath than him.

And I also have to shout out real quick the seven on the mark

because he won last time out and he beat a Capuano, Hazelwood

trainee who I had singled in the pick five.

I went four or five the rest of the way.

Capuano and Hazelwood had come through that time.

I would have a lot more money and I.

Saw that goes of course Chipotle.

We saw him in the chick laying at Pimlico last Preakness

weekend as part of that race. After that though went on an

absolute tear throughout the rest of his 2025.

Should be interesting to see him there hanging out with John

Piazzic. My name is Lou Robo and this is

the Horse racing happy hour. Field of eight awaits us in the

closer 12/5 claimer running a mile again on the dirt here.

22,000 on the line and this is 4 and up if you have never won

three races. I remember interviewing a

trainer once John, and all he said was just give me simple

conditions. That's all I want.

I would say that claiming price and number of times you won,

that's a pretty simple, pretty simple condition there.

Who do you like in the last one? Topic in here is #6 since

Serrito at what would be a very generous 6 to one on the morning

line, he he was kind of paced compromise in his last start.

Interesting winner. Of that race went deep.

To why I really never gave anyone a chance to catch him,

but since Serrito ran about as well as one could expect, I

thought given the circumstances he made a good move up the

inside. Got up to second at 24 to one.

Ran in the 80s prisoner wise for the second race in a row.

He's the only one in in the field who has done that.

He's already won going a mile, albeit A2 turn mile.

Did so at at Delaware Park last summer.

You know, I think he's trending in the right direction.

He has a lot of great late speed, and I think he's going to

be a big player in that kind of vein #2 lucked in, who is 12 to

one on morning line. He's extremely up and down in

that he will either gobble up ground and win, or he will sit

way behind and do absolutely nothing.

And you don't know what you're going to get until about the 3/8

fall because he runs kind of the same first half of the race

every time. But.

But he has gotten some big wins. At big prices, I think

especially if you've singled as many times as I have

recommended, he'll have a lot of room to maneuver towards the end

of the sequence. So he's definitely worth

throwing it. Yeah, no, he.

You know, I hate, I, I know people hate this, but he isn't

true every other type. 6 races back, second by three and three

quarters, 4 races back one by 3/4 of the length. 2 races back

wins by a length and a half. Otherwise he loses by 7 or 8

lengths. Like it's just, it's a one.

It isn't. So you're totally right.

And he always runs the same race until you, you know, 3 And then

he decides whether he's going to be part of it or not.

That's all right. Oh man, so.

How wide would you go in the last race?

8IN that one, I'd probably go. At least four, I think you could

make a case for going maybe 5. I mean, my policy is always if,

if you have the budget, like I guess if you singled enough in

other legs and you're going more, more than half the field

in another leg, at that point, you might as well hit the alt

button because it's not going to cost you that much more money.

Correct, correct. So or.

Or. Get an opinion?

About those races where you're spreading that much and up your

denomination, just take half of those.

Horses, right? I mean so.

Like if you really do think this is going single, single in the

first two legs, treat it like the pick three it is.

Treat it like the pick three it is, right?

I mean, and then just play for 2 bucks, whatever it is, 'cause

then because then John, if it does come back $230, you're

getting a grand on your money then and you don't feel so bad

about it, right? And that's always going to make

you feel much, much better. Well, he's choppy.

Ozek, We appreciate them. Tell all the good people.

We just, we bragged about laurel.com/pics and all the

stuff you're doing there. You do other work as well on the

Maryland circle. Where can people find that?

That's right. Find me.

On theracingbiz.com I'll have my analysis for every race day.

I am now in the Handicapping Guide as well.

That's right, Racing biz.com run by the one-of-a-kind Frank

Vespi, who is on the ACT Racing Biz on all social media

platforms. I am also now a new member of

the Laurel Park Handicapping Guide, so you'll see my pics in

there as well. And I'll also be doing a daily

roundup of the previous day's racing, a brief one or two race

summary. So if you didn't get a chance to

watch and you want a quick note on what happened, if you're

hoisted to watch down the road, check out my piece.

We will be back in just. A couple of weeks with the next

rendition of Road to the Preakness as we roll along with

those, but wanted to get a hold of John.

If I see $400,000 races on the same day, Maryland, I call John

Piazza. Well, John, thanks so much for

jumping on Buddy. I really do appreciate you,

Aqueduct, since you're in New York, I know that's kind of, you

know, you're you're kind of, I don't want to say your home

track, but at this point it's sort of your home track.

Do you find yourself drawn to getting out there as much as you

can, knowing that it's not, you know, like when you see like,

oh, it's going to be the last of this race, the Jerome, the

Gotham, whatever it might be. Do you find yourself like, I got

to go see these races? Oh, absolutely.

I mean, I'm sure like. Back in your day may not have

had any love lost or the Silver Dawn or or Tiger Stadium.

Down and then it's like. Oh my God, I I got to go out

there. That's exactly right.

Well, he's Dapiosic. I blew your belt.

Thanks for hanging out with us here on the Horse Racing Happy

Hour. Good luck with those wagers this

weekend. I'm back tomorrow with Barry

Spears. We'll do our Southern California

preview on Socal Saturdays. And of course, you catch me

tomorrow night, Kentucky Racing Spotlight.

We're really set right here. Trainer Brad Cox is my guest

this week. We'll catch you tomorrow on the

Horse Racing Happy Hour.