Road to Preakness 151 | Mackenzie Pfeiffer

Life is good, Yes, it's true. Even when it's cold.

Life is good. It's a horse.

Racing happy hour hanging out with you, Lou.

Your boss, Scott Wyckoff and McKenzie Pfeiffer.

Why not? We're doing the Road to the

Preakness Thing 151 this year. My favorite Preakness logo is

underneath Scott. So that that way.

That was my favorite from I think that's the American

pharaoh. There you are.

Yes, the American Pharaoh logo. I remember it well.

I have a kid who uses my American Pharaoh Preakness mug

for hot cocoa. Scott, how does that make you

feel? That makes you feel.

Great. Isn't that amazing because it's

an actual? Participant my wife told me if I

bring home another Preakness. Glass.

She's divorcing me. I know, I know.

I my favorite text to send my wife Mackenzie is when I'm on

the road, I just text her, do we need another cup with a horse on

it? That's all.

That's all I write. Just write that out.

And she's like, no, we actually don't.

We don't need those things. Mackenzie, how are you?

You doing all right? You staying warm.

I'm Well, yeah, I just made some hot cocoa last night, actually.

But this is me, you know. What is the appropriate number

of Preakness cups to have? I mean, are you supposed to have

4:00 so you have a little set or do you do them in pair?

Right, so this is a really I think a reasonable question.

The one shot glass that I have that I really love is I still

have an affirmed shot glass that says the last Triple Crown

winner. Wow, and I think that one's

pretty cool. So like that kind of stuff I

think is interesting. I also so I have like an

Arlington million, you know, cop.

I have an A couple Indiana Derby kind of cops and then I've got,

you know, some other random ones.

Those are the ones Mackenzie that I always like to have

because everybody's got a Derby cop.

I'm not putting them down for sure.

I'm not putting them down. They're fun to have for sure,

but the, the random ones, that's why I try to get like a like a

coffee mug from the Preakness or something like that, just to

kind of switch it up because I, I live with a woman apparently

who's a lot like Misses Wyckoff. So there you go.

Well, I like to give them away. I get great joy because people

get so excited. So I usually try to grab 4 and

that usually means 4 trips to the restroom during the Alibi

breakfast because you close the stall and then you pour the

liquor into the toilet because I've got to work there.

So that's. I'll I'll go ahead and say it.

I think this is the year, Scott, I got to go to the Alibi

breakfast. I haven't been and I think it's

no thank you, Mackenzie. That's the, that's the, you know

what? That look Mackenzie just gave me

is the reason I need to go to the Alabama.

I'm stunned, truly. Make me and Victoria do radio

row or something. Scott just sitting in the back,

you know, yelling at people. Yeah, there you go.

Poor Steve has to be like, I don't.

He's not. I don't have to sit next to him,

do I? You know, the whole thing.

But anyways, but Scott, I wanted to have you on at least to open

the show, a little bit of a change in direction as far as

New Pimlico and the direction of Maryland racing.

And it's something that we've talked about a fair amount on

this show. And I've been very steadfast

about this and this this change did not change anything for me,

Scott, where I am of the opinion that the the Stadium Authority

of Maryland is amongst the best in the country.

I see where the I see where the baseball team plays.

I see where the football team plays.

I trust that group to get this together for horse racing.

But this is a different kind of conversation talking about where

I, you know, using now Laurel Park to to do training and

essentially getting out of the Shamrock Farm Training Center.

Scott, this is your article of WBAL.

Let me make sure I get this straight. wbal.com.

That's right. And any updates on that?

And what are horsemen saying? Yeah, a lot of updates.

And you're right. The Maryland Stadium Authority

is number 1 and this is the first time they've had control

this project. The project was with another

authority before it handed over to them.

They were not the ones who purchased the Shamrock farm.

The Shamrock farm is about 20 miles from Pimlico off of

Interstate 70 and Shamrock, because it was owned by the

Rooney family, the Rooney family of Pittsburgh Steelers fame and

of horse breeding thoroughbred breeding fame, it was a famous

breeding farm here in Maryland. It was sold to the state of

Maryland for upwards of the, I believe, $150 million somewhere

in the millions there. But when the stadiums of

Maryland Stadium Authority took over this project and went in,

they did their due diligence. They found two things.

Too much land had to be physically moved because they're

going to build a $200 million training facility there.

We're talking track, we're talking barns, we're talking

dormitories, vet quarters, all things of that sort.

So they found out there was too much land to be moved #2

environmental problems. There's a stream that runs

through the property that feeds a stream where brown trout live

in. Brown trout are an endangered

protected species and there was the belief from the environment

environmental study that the the water would become too warm for

the brown trout that needs cold water to to survive.

So the Maryland Stadium story said we've got to get out of the

Shamrock business. They will use that farm probably

as a horse retirement farm, a place along those lines.

But because Laurel Park is still there, owned by the Stronic

Group, the decision was made to go to the Stronic Group and make

them an offer to buy Laurel Park.

Because in two years, Laurel Park would not have been a

training center anymore. Everything would have moved to

Shamrock and Laurel Park would have been owned by the Tronic

Group to do with whatever they could, but they would not have

had a racing license and would not have been allowed to have

thoroughbreds there. So what the the decision is made

is they will renovate the backside at Laurel Park, the

track and everything there. They will turn Laurel Park into

a full training facility. In two years there'll be no more

racing at Laurel Park. It will be a full training

facility for upwards of 600 to 800 horses.

Now the little bit of a change that some people were upset by

is that it's also the Maryland State Authority also came in and

said the project too many cost overruns for the new Pimlico.

So the decision was made not to build barns for 400 horses to

train at Pimlico and have full time training there.

Also with dormitories and things of that sort in addition to the

other training center. So all the training beginning

when the new Laurel, the new Pimlico opens up will be at

Laurel Park like it is now because Pimlico no longer

exists. It's just flat property.

They're putting in all the utilities now, all the sewers,

the electric, the gas lines, things of that sort.

So all the training, 800 horses will train at Laurel Park,

though $100 million will be put into just outside the window of

Mackenzie's office there, right? It'll, it'll all be redone.

And then it'll be a shipping facility, much like in New York

State now, where they're shipping from Belmont to

Aqueduct. It'll be a shipping facility

now. The, for lack of a better word,

the old timers are a little upset because they they wanted

horses to live at the track at Pimlico.

And then they said wait a minute.

When the Preakness is held at Pimlico, the horses have to stay

there. Believe me, there will be stakes

barns for not only the Preakness horses, but the major stakes

card horses. There will be facilities there

to house them, but there will be no longer year round housing.

But like you say, Louis, this is a reimagined Pimlico, much like

on park that is looking to the future of where racing is going.

People want to stand up. They want hospitality.

They don't want to sit in a in a little chair in a grandstand at

the top of the stretch. They want to be able to move and

have hospitality. That's what they're going to get

at the new Pimlico. And, and they're also going to

have a a brand new training facility reimagined, also at

Laurel Park. All right back, did you do the

same thing I did? I think you reacted the same

exact time when he mentioned they're putting utilities into

Pimlico. All the jokes were right there

for us. I mean, they really were.

The toilets, the water, you know, the electricity actually

working. Like all the jokes were there,

Scott and I only smiled a little.

I only smiled a little. I I was a good citizen there.

Because I do. I do love the old Hilltop.

I'm beyond excited for the new one, Mackenzie.

But come on, it's funny to laugh now, right?

I mean, it's OK to laugh. I mean, the building's not

there. It's OK, It was Mackenzie.

When you were on the show, when we did the show, Kelly was on

and we she had the raccoons, raccoons in her office and like

Mike had to show her how to put Gosh, Mackenzie, this is years

ago. So when Mike was still on the

show, he showed her how to get it was malt liquor.

You put out malt liquor. Raccoons can't say no to malt

liquor. And then they get super hammered

and they want to leave wherever they are.

They hate it. So like they get this muscle

memory of wherever they had the malt liquor and they leave.

I have similar memories from college, but it's very

different. And so the but he told this

story and she showed us the video of like this raccoon

family and the ceiling biblical. You know, is this where the

phrase Irish exit comes from? We tie that together somehow.

So good. Well, good.

So good, I mean. For McKenzie working there and

for me basically working there for the last 25 years, you know,

to take care of some things before you went to the track.

So that was well known. And also, and just before I let

you go, in other news also, yeah, around Maryland racing

there, there is also there is concern now also about what's

going on with the two veterinarians that have been

brought up and suspended right now.

Their licenses have been suspended by Kaiser because of

practices that were that were investigated and that is all

being investigated right now. And people might say, well, you

know, that's the trainer, that's the the vets that they're going

to take care of. Well, those two vets were on

campus at Laurel Park, basically taking care of all the horses

there unless someone brought a private vet on.

So the tentacles do go a little bit farther.

So that's being investigated now and being taken care of.

But again, a positive Heiser, if Heiser wasn't there, who knows

if you would ever know that because you rely upon the vets

to make sure that there are no problems with all those things.

So another positive, you know, a new Pimlico, a reimagined

Pimlico. And you know, we laugh because

of the utilities being put into the ground, but you don't have

utilities unless it's going forward.

And that project is going forward and we'll be able to go

forward in a new day with the Heise investigation into those

two veterinarians. And I think it's very positive

to the negative of what they were actually doing into a

positive saying Haiza works. And in this case, it looks as

though it's work, it's being investigated, it will be

litigated. But right now it looks like it

works. But the two bets they will have

their day in court. They are not guilty right now.

They are just being brought up on the suspension.

So they'll have their chance to to stand up and and make their

case to Haiza. But it it it's good to see that

Haiza is taking action when they think something is wrong.

Scott Wyckoff, wbal.com you can go find all of his work there.

This one fell under the sports tab at WBAL.

The Maryland Stadium Authority to acquire Laurel Park for

redevelopment is what we read from for that piece.

Well, Scott, appreciate you buddy.

Good luck with the rest of your your ice removal at your house.

Sounds like a sounds. Like a fan dogs to go out back.

Those French toy dogs don't like going in the snow.

You live an interesting life, Scott Wyckoff.

We'll talk to you next time, friend.

All right. See you, buddy.

There you go, Scott Wyckoff. Appreciate him jumping off the

program there. I had to make.

I had to make the utilities joke.

Mackenzie, you have to do it. These are the jobs we get to

make, right? I mean, come on.

That's exactly it. I mean, and as you mentioned,

the utilities going in is a really good sign because it's

just so important to have a good foundation.

I mean, you think about the bones of a structure.

How? Much water goes through a

racetrack. People have no idea.

They have no idea. There's so much water on those

backsides. People have no idea.

Go on. I'm sorry.

Exactly. No, but I was really biting my

tongue 'cause I'm like, well, no, Scott would know.

Did the Stadium Authority have anything against the Rooney farm

because of the conflict with the Ravens and the Steelers?

I mean, that's a big rivalry. I wish that were it.

Wouldn't it be great if that's it?

They're just like, oh, brown trout.

Yeah. Over.

Yeah. Fish.

It's fish, not. Steeler stuff.

Fish. Yeah, right.

Oh, well, but no, that I, you know what, Mackenzie?

I'm going to, I'm going to use yours, not Scott's theory on

this. I'm going to go with Mackenzie

Pfeiffer on this one. So there you go.

She is Mackenzie Pfeiffer, by the way, from the Maryland

Jockey Club. You can catch her on the

simulcast this weekend. This is our Road to the

Preakness series, as you can see with my favorite Preakness logo

right below US 151 this year at Laurel Park.

So we will I, I think Mackenzie in a in a weird way because it

is at Laurel this year and I will guess next year as well

that I think these preps are more interesting to me just

because I know these horses don't have to transfer to

Pimlico. So if you get a horse that's

just a horse for course, maybe I am going to find the exact

trifecta kind of horse out of maybe the Tessio this year.

Exactly. And I think, you know, it'll be

a really interesting here as you mentioned with that in mind, I

mean so many of these horses are training here, stabled here

regularly and I think Laurel has a unique configuration.

So that is the one thing that I always struggle with when we're

transferring tracks for the sake of a rebuild.

I mean same with using Saratoga as you know it does kind of

change the course and the running style and all of those

things. So definitely worth considering

and I think, you know, for the Preakness shifting to Laurel, it

definitely could change that as well.

Yeah, for sure. Mackenzie Pfeiffer with us,

she's from the Maryland Jockey Club.

This is our we, our monthly, I should say not weekly, but

monthly. Look at the three-year old

stakes they're in in Maryland. The extra heat and the

spectacular bid are this weekend.

If you're unfamiliar with the circuit itself, all major

circuits have their own derbies. The one in Maryland is called

the Preakness. We call it the second leg of the

Triple Crown. They have a qualifying race

called the Federico Tessio. If you win that race, you get a

guaranteed spot in the Preakness.

Last winner of that race to win the Preakness was deputed

testimony in the early 1980s. So we are always on the lookout

for that horse on this program. The extra heat will be contested

at six furlongs. They'll move to 7 furlongs next

month in their Black Eyed Susan prep and then seven furlongs on

the boys side. They'll move to a mile next

month in their prep on the Preakness side.

Mackenzie ready to do some? Can you, Captain, look at this

late? Pick five.

I am I. It's a fun sequence and.

You know. With these horses stretching

out, right? I mean, what a great way to do

it here in Maryland. I think it's really welcoming

and a nice graduated program that we put together.

So you know what, I think it's reflected in this weekend's card

where you have horses kind of coming in with lots of new faces

and maybe taking advantage of that.

Yeah, it's interesting to watch how the different states do

their their paths, right. So Kentucky just says everybody

else do it, everybody else do it.

And we'll we'll bring the horses to Louisville in May.

The but Maryland does this very incremental growth of the races

and how long they are. New York, for example, you run

in the rents in in December, it's at a mile and an eighth and

then you show up for the Jerome and it's a mile, right.

And so it's kind of this back and forth and different horses

are better at different things. And so it's interesting.

Maryland, though, as I pointed out, just moves incrementally

up. We're still at six furlongs on

the Philly side. We're still at 7 now on the cold

side. Mackenzie, I have very good news

before we get going. OK.

I I have a full 2 pages of notes on the pick 5 from a guy named

John Piazza. That is only good news.

That can only be good news from yeah.

Oh yeah. Oh yeah, you think I know?

That John's great. Why am I here?

You know what? Don't ask questions that I don't

want to answer. How about that?

We'll start with race 6. By the way, if you have not

played a pick five in Maryland, it's a 12% take out and you

should absolutely get on top of it.

But race 6 will kick off our sequence here.

It is an optional claimer. You got to be in for 40K if

you're in for the tag, and it's a $53,000 purses for Phillies

and mares 4 and up. We're on the dirt here. 7

furlongs in this one, a field of 12 in here.

The favorite is, I think 9 to No 7 to 2 in.

Next girl will break from the four here.

Boy, oh boy, very, very competitive.

Grab as many as you can in the first leg kind of race here to

kick off the pick 5 Mackenzie, where'd you land?

I have to be honest, I ultimately landed outside with

it's a monster mash 2 back stakes company.

I was a little bit concerned. I was a little bit shy, right.

And you know, I maybe talked to some people and and thought I

was imagining things. And then this Philly ran an 87

buyer in the politely and I thought, well, shame on me.

Why did I jump off the boat? So you know, I'm sticking with

her here because she solidified that running an 80 buyer next

out and and I think she's super gutsy, super tactical.

So in this kind of a group going with 7 furlongs, I actually

really like this for and she might just continue taking steps

forward. Yeah, it's a monster.

Mash comes in. She'll be 9:00 to 2:00 on the

morning line and is also the top choice of 1.

John Piazza. How about that?

He went 810 and 12 in here. Who do you have second in your

handicap? I go 810 as well, so that's

quite fun. Think that is one I was pretty

excited to see in the safely kept and that's, you know, a

strong transfer over one an allowance after breaking the

maiden and came in here first start for Hugh McMahon and I

thought ran a huge race and Onyx 10A horse who's in very good

form. Just kind of did all of the hard

work was right there. Nice cruising speed just for a

late running type to go ahead and get by her.

I think she's going to improve off of that here.

Second time at Laurel. Yeah many of the same notes that

that he had as well, but the the the working of a mile last

Thursday. In fact trying to get more of

that stamina in her. It's interesting to see the

McMahon Bardon pushing that kind of work out right before the

race. It's really interesting to watch

those kinds of patterns. But Frank, frankly seems to make

a lot of sense there. He also has the 12 in here in

Top Dance and Cowgirl. She's based at Penn National, he

said. But trainer Flint Stites is over

his last 23 Maryland starters in four for 72 since the beginning

of 2024. And so he decided to throw that

one in, despite the fact that she does have some numbers that

make sense in here if you look at her just purely on paper.

Mackenzie. She does, and I actually I was

pretty drawn to her early on when I first started

handicapping this race. But when I picked apart the

safely kept, I wanted to make more of an excuse for her.

And then I felt like I just kind of needed to see her run that

again. And her two best races have come

over a track with a little bit of moisture in it.

And that is just something where, you know, if you get a

horse 20 to one, I'm going to better kind of as we're getting

towards the gate and I'm going to watch her and see how I like

her warming up. But it's a pretty big field and

I just think she needs to step forward a little bit more, you

know. So she's one who I just I'm

going to price shop on the day. Yeah, 7:00 to 2:00 on NEXT.

Girl will break from the middle of the pack there.

You give her much of a shot here.

I obviously favored for a reason.

Yeah. I do.

I mean she's I you absolutely have to go ahead and respect

her. So for me, I use her underneath.

I think you can't count her out. There's no reason she couldn't

go ahead and just win this as well.

So I'm not really going to knock her too much in here.

I figured we'd end up somewhere around that 7:00 to 2:00 and

just kind of looking for the ones who I make it a little

better price. Yeah, her only bad race on dirt,

the last four out a bad race was in the Million Distaff.

I mean like she went for it on Maryland Million Day just wasn't

as good as the other horses in that field, including Onyx 10

like you mentioned it. So just not just not up to speed

there and so should be an interesting one moving forward.

Race 7 starts a late pick four there at Laurel Park talking

with Mackenzie Pfeiffer and Lou Rebeau.

This is the horse racing happy hour maiden special weight

awaits us there. One mile on the dirt.

It is A1 turn mile at Laurel Park Mile and an eighth course

there. Essentially sets up very

similarly to an Ellis Park or to a Saratoga.

If you are looking for cops, $47,000 on the line here and I

thought a very fun field in this one.

Part of this late sequence that makes it pretty difficult.

Where'd you land in here, Mackenzie?

Ultimately, I end up going with Twin Lakes and if you go back

and watch that replay from the last outing, I just thought

well, let's go back to the debut.

I saw this one in the paddock and just thought what a

beautiful, classic type of horse.

Really, really eye-catching. He was up against it in good

company on that particular day and I don't think he worked too

much of a trip, but he came back and he ended up on the rail.

I felt like he was just kind of in behind horses, never really

fully stretched his legs until he had to make a big jump to get

through and get into contention and I thought he hung in there

really, really well on the inside.

So if you go back and watch that, I think you might really

appreciate the gutsiness that this one showed in the

professionalism. So second time going that mile

distance certainly could work for me here.

First time Lasix as well. A decent small sample size

certainly from Asmeyers, but seems to be a good angle in fact

for that group. Others in here too.

I think the favorite likely to be either Grand Hall or Boy oh

Boy, maybe higher sense on the inside.

Is that your sense of this race? I wouldn't be surprised if

either of those now higher sense is one who I'm not really sure

what to make of right comes on a three horse field.

And I just kind of went back and forth on this one as an

individual where I think could certainly run away with it.

Step up and say, oh, Yep, this is, you know, kind of what we

saw in that three back effort going first time going the mile

on the dirt. But you know, it's been up

against it with my lot of twice now gotten the better of them

and then has a just to, you know, draw a line through a type

of trip in that 2 back. So he's one who I don't really

want to take a short price on. I actually look just to his

outside doctor Buzzy has a nice bullet work and if you go back,

the second dam was a multiple Grade 1 winning dirt router in

Asena. So you know, reasonable pedigree

there. Toledo, on.

And it's not very often we see Ferrier send them out for the

mile first time out. No, that's exactly right.

And it's a son of a run happy, as you point out in this case.

And we've seen those run happies as long as it's one turn they

see, OK, right. You know, you start a little

further than a mile start getting into those two turns

seems to be a little bit too much for a lot of the run

happies. But boy, they've been, you know,

I especially have seen them in the early parts of either the

California road to the Derby or in South Florida as well as we

have these, you know, kind of 7 furlong, one turn mile kind of

races like we get a Gulfstream Park.

And it's interesting to watch those run happies.

Essentially, they get to the mile and they're like OK, that

was enough. We're.

Going to hear. We ran, we ran the race.

We can we can go do something else now.

And so it should be fun to watch higher sense than that one.

Anybody maybe a longer shot in here that makes sense as we as

we try to navigate what is a a just an absolutely balanced

maybe special way field? And we'll see and it really is

it makes it a tricky handicapping grace.

So paint my masterpiece. This is one who another run

happy as well. So we're pointing that out.

You know, I thought this works as kind of dirty to form up.

He's shown some ability, but has had a lot of messy trips and I,

I don't think it's that far out of reach that this horse just

puts things together. I use him as a second selection,

but I kind of have to demand a little bit of value.

He's the first full of artful splatter, you know, really,

really nice dirt horse. So for me, that's right, I go

ahead and say maybe today's the day.

Maybe it is the breakthrough day for sure.

Late pick three starts in Race 8.

It's the first sticks on the car, the black type, the extra

heat, Phillies three years old and this 16 furlongs on the

dirt, 100K on the line. And this is, according to Louis

Ribow, a prep for the Black Eyed Susan.

And so there you go, Mackenzie, Where to?

I mean, this one, this is where it gets really fun because I

think we're at the point where we know many of these Phillies.

I think there's six in this race.

The favorite's going to be Unfaithful Rose.

She'll probably be. I think the three to one number

is probably about right. Well, we're getting a bunch of

horses that frankly, usually by now we've seen some stakes

winners in this field. We've seen them come out of

either the Maryland restricted races or whatever it might be.

Simply put, we're seeing a bunch of horses try to class up in

this one and I'll get into John's notes in a minute, but as

you look at this race, are you leaning on locals?

Is there a shipper that you like?

Where where'd you end up? Landing so and that is exactly

the question is, you know, how far am I going to spread in this

race is kind of what I keep coming back to because you know,

I ultimately go with tap into grace on top.

I do think that, you know, coming in First off the bench,

she ran pretty well last time out over a sloppy track and

we've seen her show some ability.

I think she has been up against the right types and ever since

the blinkers went on, I think that's really kind of brought

things together. The barn does well with their

horses coming in fresh now. I am curious how things end up

shaping up with prices though, because you know, victory music

just the outside is the shipper that I really am.

You know, I think some of these races stand out.

Could she just kind of run away with things, cruise right along

from the outside and and get comfortable?

Certainly does seem within reason, but unfaithful Rose

though, I do you think she is going to end up 3:00 to 1:00?

Because I really can't tell if she'll maybe be overlooked in

here. But that loud sounding was

really good and I like her quite a bit.

I just think whenever the the speed figure is that much higher

than what you see for other horses in a field, people tend

to bet that right. And so in other words, if you

see a 75 or something and the next number is a 60, you're

going to go maybe I don't need to think about this, right?

So I do think her number is going to be pretty low,

unfortunately. But by the way, our our guy John

Piazza does agree with you about victory music.

She was third in the Astro Spa Stakes last out, by the way, 2

next out winners out of that field.

So that was a very, very good race and should come in as the

shipper to watch for this one. I'm also interested.

John sent me the note about about four the ladies on the

inside Tom Morley last year, one for 8 with starters in Maryland.

All of them were three to one or shorter.

So heads up on that one for sure.

But tapping to Grace is one of the only two Maryland based

runners. But Brittany Russell's over 12,

as he points out, glitch in the system right now is she is this

one where like she wins like 5 races on Saturday.

Are we doing that or do you think this kind of continues for

her for a? Little while, to be honest.

I mean that's you just never know.

Have you tried riding in the winter and doing all and

maintaining horses because it is hard?

Fair enough, fair enough. So it's actually a good point.

It's early in the year. I actually was joking with Dan

Illman yesterday. I said, is there a way I can

handicap who drops their stick the least and who the?

Best in the cold. Because you know, it's, you

know, it's looking, that might be the best way to approach this

kind of weather. But realistically, I, I don't

think we're too far off of her kind of breaking that and, and

busting it. And that's kind of what I went

back and forth with. And I said, well, if I sit off

this horse and we end up getting her at 5:00 to 1:00 because we

have shippers, I'm going to feel silly.

A couple of a couple of races left to cap with Mackenzie

Pfeiffer, She's from the Maryland Jockey Club.

My name's Lira Bow. This is the horse racing happy

hour. Thanks for hanging out with us

on a Thursday edition of the show in 1/2 hour.

I'll talk with Barry Spears. We'll talk about the late, we'll

talk about the whole card at Santa Anita.

But I think the two best pick fives in the country are at

Maryland and at Santa Anita this weekend.

So I'm pretty excited actually to get to talk about both of

them. The Spectacular Bid is a 7

furlong dirt race for three-year olds.

It's for $100,000. And of course, he's on the road

to the Federico, Tessio and eventually the Preakness.

Do you have any idea which of Gary Cap's horses is going to

run? I think they keep their cards

pretty close to their. They sure do you.

Know I I won't try to lead anyone as or accidentally lead

anyone astray here. To be honest.

I really like Trendsetter coming back after he was really good

early on in the 2 year old season and he went over to

Turfway and he ran second to Hometown Bound who we saw open

up with a very good horse of trumpet is here.

And I watched that race actually and I bet this horse, I hit the

exact on that one and you know, just kind of felt really good

about this horse and having a little bit of a freshening

coming in. So I like the second off the

bench for him and I think, you know, getting back to the dirt

makes sense. First time getting back to the

dirt with blinkers on. People always love that as well.

Yeah, that's exactly right. When are the Hickory tree at

Colonial? Over 5 1/2 in of the spring last

year or the summer last year? Excuse me?

I'm always interested, you know, when we get into these kinds of

races and watching these horses that have been in a lot of

different places, like in your case, for example, for this

race, do you care at all about that Kentucky Downs race?

Like, does that enter into anything for you or do you just

lying through? We're done here.

Not really. I mean, I, I don't think it

necessarily transfers here, but I certainly do respect that he

he didn't embarrass himself in that setting.

And that's I think what really stands out.

This horse has run, he ran twice at Colonial, but he's every

other race has been in a different place.

And you know, I, I think he's a horse who comes from off the

pace. The blinkers have helped a

little bit with that. But you know, the seven

furlongs, if he can kind of repeat that last outing,

carrying along with things not too far off of it, I really do

like him stepping up and moving forward off of that.

But it is worth noting, you know, I, I, you talked to

earlier about horses who might lean a little bit more towards

Laurel come Preakness time. And this is a horse who doesn't

really matter where you where you place him or where you're

running him. He stands out in that regard.

Yeah, no doubt about it. A son of modernist Gelden's not

a modernist. And so you would think you know,

astrology on the damn side that that's one that could get the

distance eventually, but has been largely in sprinting

company to this point. Luau Machado in the ride for the

day, though, which is an interesting in in for this race

at least tonight. And that's not an accident ever.

And so so I definitely took note of that.

Salzman's got close the gate in here and this is where I get our

race note of the of the race from our guy John Piazza at

their off on the socials. His long shot play of the day,

which we then found out I think the horse is night of two.

So like they they knew that yeah, night of two.

So they knew John was going to like this horse, but essentially

said showed a ton of ability in both of those races.

The class is the question here. Do you agree with John's

assessment? I completely agree with him on

that. He's one who if I get a scratch,

I'm immediately throwing him in there because I do think he has

some questions to answer for me and that's where I thought he

was going to be a little bit more reasonable. 7 to 2.

I think you have to demand value.

By the time they get in the gate, though, he probably will

have drifted up a bit just between the Gary Cap runners,

the horse coming in. So I think it'll end up being a

pretty fair play. And he does look well

positioned. You know, both of those, as John

mentioned, really, really compelling.

This is a horse that has run every three weeks and will do it

again. Is that normal for the Salzmann

barn, for those of us that aren't there every day at

Laurel? Or is this him just seeing, hey,

I've got a really fit horse, I'm going to take some shots here.

You know, I think this is one who it's not something we

necessarily see all the time, but it is worth pointing out

that pattern because the horse, I like when a horse is able to

improve off of that. And on top of that, you know,

when you're looking at these sort of sprinting distances,

they aren't necessarily doing anything.

They're just letting him gallop and train and kind of be him.

They're not drilling him and they're just kind of riding the

wave with what they have right now.

So certainly does. You know is worth pointing out

there. Best gate work, fastest gate

work coming into the race is close the gate.

I'm doing that for my friend Barry Spears who will be on the

next rendition of this thing. As we get into California

racing. The closer on the card is race

time. We're talking with Mackenzie

Pfeiffer from the Maryland Jockey Club, Louie Rabot

alongside on the Horse Racing Happy Hour 12, five claimer to

close things up, six furlongs on the dirt.

Lots of lots of dirt sprints this time of year in Maryland, a

10,000 to 12 five claimer and they're running for $22,000 in

here. Mixed up company for sure in the

last. I think the favorites end up

going to be blow by them at 5:00 to 2:00.

Oh no ecumenical, how about that nine to five?

Are those the two favorites in here for you?

They are and I to be honest, I am just going to go ahead and

queue around those two kind of wrapping up the day.

I think there are some other races where I want to spread,

but I have to. I hate narrowing things down.

At the end of the day, I really like in my perfect world I

single in the first and I can spread as much as I want in the

last and have one horse in the middle I feel good about.

And that is not necessarily how the sequence really feels for

me, but. Do you know, I'm sure you've

seen his work. Jose Contreras goes by Los

ponies on the socials and he he's out of Los out.

He, he refers to those as funnel cards where you've got a lot, a

lot of, or funnel tickets, you've got a lot of horses at

the top. And then it funnels into one

horse at the end. And you need like one horse at

the end of your whole day. And it's like, are you, are you

wagering or are you trying to set yourself up to be alive at

the end of the day? And, and in his mind, it's like,

go and wager. Don't try to be alive at the end

of the day. Just go wager.

Essentially it's that's a very good way to put it.

And and so here that's exactly it.

Ecumenical and Blow by them I do think are the two horses,

they're the likely players in here, both of them not

necessarily having the best trips last out where you kind of

have to draw a line through that and I think that's telling.

Ecumenical, you know, he's done it on the front end, but I'm a

little curious as to whether or not he needs to be in that

position. I think that to back where he

was stepping up in company first time against winners and just

did too much too soon. So I'd like to see him, he's a

little bit of speed to his outside where maybe he can kind

of sit right there with that horse, get comfortable work and

inside out trip. And that's kind of how I see him

working out. But blow by him is the other one

who he just has a late running style.

I caught this horse when he broke his maiden and my parents

were out there actually, and he paid pretty well.

I think they hit the try or the Super and they thought I was a

genius. So I really, you know, made the

day for the family. But he's a horse who at this

level, I think he really can kind of pick them off and get

going. Just never really had much to do

last out and so I forgive him for that one little bit of class

relief. He's back in the Kieron barn.

They've had this horse since the beginning, so I think he's just

really competitively placed. Yeah, I think moving back to the

McGee operation, as you said will be very good for blow biom

and of course Ecumenical gets that Hugh McMahon and of course

Yates. It Hazelwood combination hitting

at 23% recently together at Laurel Park.

She is Mackenzie Pfeiffer. Tell people about where you want

them to actually find you on socials.

Like, my sense is that not everybody wants to be found

everywhere on socials, but Twitter is probably a good one.

Twitter is great and you know, feel free to yell at me and and

call me out on things. But it's Mac.

Mac under score PF and that's right X and so feel free to go

jump in there and and try to check out the handicapping guide

that we have because everyone. Oralpark.com/pics I'm actually

going to put that on the screen because I want people to see

that it, it is easily in my mind, you know, back there.

I'm because of my job, I have to sit through the dumbest

conversations about how to grow horse racing, the dumbest, OK,

by people who are so out of touch that it's embarrassing,

OK. And then there are people like

Dan who are just doing things like this.

And it's if you tried to buy this Mackenzie for a Saturday at

Laurel, it would cost you $50. And you guys just put it out.

It's just free on the website. laurelpark.com/picks.

Go get it. Trip notes.

They've got 300 people writing for that thing.

I don't know how they have money in Maryland for anything except

laurel.com/picks. I don't know.

But you should go check it out. Mackenzie, thanks for stopping

by. Thank you for having me, always

a pleasure. No problem at all.

Extra heat and spectacular bid. I'm here.

Kenzie Pfeiffer with you. I'll be back in 23 minutes on

SoCal Saturdays. We'll see you then.