Santa Anita Saturday | Robert B Lewis

Lindo, Sean Collins, all these bums to tell you what, it's

merchant, everybody that I work with.

How about that man? Oh, man, Who else?

Barry Spears. What a bum.

Red Carruthers this morning. Not a bum.

She's pretty great, actually. All right, Welcome, man.

SoCal Saturday's hanging out with you on the horse racing

happy hour. Lou, your boat.

And Barry Spears, We got you every week at this time ahead of

the racing on Saturday in Southern California.

The Robert B Lewis Derby prep this weekend on Saturday as well

as part of the car, the late pick three there at Santa Anita.

He's Barry. I'm Louie.

Thanks for hanging out with us. We're presented by Amwager and

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Barry, good day to you. Are you back above 70°?

Can I talk to you is essentially the question because running

under 70 people, Barry is like an iguana.

He's frozen, he falls out of trees and you cannot find them.

That's a negative Ghost Rider. We are not at 70 yet and and I'm

very upset about that. It's a tough day for Barry.

We're not yet at 30, Barry, so you should feel a little better

about that. We'll go.

Through the card here. It is the same to you, 30 and 70

to you, 70 to you 30 to me seems to be the same.

That's exactly right. Nine race card on Saturday.

And Barry, I was talking with my our mutual friend John Lindo who

you met out at at Delmar on on British Cup weekend and he was

on the show yesterday. I was saying the Suite Life to

close this card, man 6 1/2 down the hill when none of them have

gone down the hill before. Let's go. 3 year old Phillies

there. We'll start with race one, of

course, because it's the first race of the day.

That's why we do that, Barry. No way.

It's a mile on the turf, like every race.

Should be at Santa Anita Park, at least to start the day.

It's a state, State bread main special.

Wait for California bread or sired four and five year old

Phillies and Maresbury. Where'd you land in Race 1?

I landed on the 5 Jenny's Wine girl and it's only because of

speed, speed speed which there is not much of in this space

really has one horse to beat which is the horse outside of

them, the six dancing till dawn and I think this horse is

quicker and they get to the lead.

It might be lights out, curtains, what have you say?

Goodnight. All of the above.

You know, the fat lady might be singing at that point.

Hopefully. So yeah, we're going with the

five all the way here. I am going to use the same horse

as you did. I'm just gonna go in a slightly

different order 25 and 3 for me here.

I'll go with tis sunrise on top of the Diego Herrera ridden Mike

Pipi train train E excuse me was fourth in that race that we see

so many runners back from in this spot here.

I'm essentially going for value here.

I think the nine to two number is more than fair Berry and

frankly just a second off the bench here.

It's a decent angle for Mike and he's really good at made special

weights, man 17%. So he's eventually going to

breakthrough with this one. I think just getting better and

better. Good works on the Tepita

recently at at Santa Anita as well.

SO25 and three for me. Not too much to add to yours.

Why don't you go ahead and talk about French Moonlight here.

I think 8 to 5 is obviously both of us agree he's a little short

on this one, enough to like here, though.

Second off the layoff here, a decent angle, yeah.

Yeah, yeah, I mean, this horse has run good races pretty much

every time, just hasn't been close enough to win, except for

last time they they were really close.

Should get the same sort of trip.

I I just starting to doubt as these starts keep piling up, how

much desire this horse has to finish races off.

Got a question? Yeah, no, that's exactly right.

Unfortunately, horses sometimes figure out before their first

race that if they run third, second or first, they get the

same meal when they get back to the Bardis.

Barry Spears, like Louis Rebeau. That was race one on Saturday at

Santa Anita. This is Socal Saturdays on the

Horse Racing Happy Hour Network. We are here every Friday to

preview the races tomorrow. Give you about 24 hours to

listen to this thing before we get there.

You can always check out my article at

sportingtribunethesportingtribune.com. Certainly check us out there.

All of it presented by our friends at Amwager.

Dime Claimer and race two, $10,000 to buy a horse in here.

18K in the purse. 5 1/2 on the dirt here.

Barry in these races continue to fill up the starting gates out

there at Santa Anita. Appreciate these being part of

it. Your horse named for you in this

one. And no more Ding Dongs in race

2, but I'm not going to land there in this spot.

I'm going to go 26 and seven in here.

I'm going to try a different spot.

Magic connection we have seen at the 25 level with non 2 lifers,

2 back at Losal, almost got it done under Kyle Frey, who gets

the mount back today. And I'm going to lean on that

experience. Also one at the maiden 32 level

at Del Mar to break her his main, excuse me back then

obviously a Kinect gelding in this spot.

Not great at Santa NIA last time, but that was against

$25,000 kind of company. And I think that the step down

here will be a big relief for this one, Barry.

So I'll land on the 2 on top. I went to the six next and we're

going to go with a couple of long shots that have been

running most recently at Los Alamitos in mixed company

against quarter horses at the $5000 level was the seven.

Got your six last outran really, really well in a very fast race

in a 4 1/2 furlong effort. But at 1000 last time the six

make it a large who will be 8 to 1 or longer.

I think in this race for Brian Corner comes in out of that

mixed company. So technically still a maiden on

the. So I mean you're going to see

all those zeros on there, Barry. I think there's a real chance

this horse goes off at 12:15 to 1, something like that, and I

think has a legitimate shot in here to continue the good form

of late. So many of the other horses in

here, Barry, have just shown me that they have no interest in

winning. So I'll take the ones that have

at least been competitive. Even if I had a lower level at

Los Alamitos, give me two, six and seven here.

I know you win a very different way.

Yeah, I try not to overthink these things.

No more. I try.

It's an attempt to not tell me. Tell me, just stir it straight.

At me. I love it.

Keep going. I like horses that win Louie's

over thinking it. I do it.

I do it. Yeah.

Go ahead. No more Ding dongs.

No more Ding dongs. To me is is kind of like an Omni

fig horse. His last two are are higher.

His last two buyers are just superior than everybody else by

about 10 points and usually as bad as they look on paper.

Horses like this don't lose in situations like that.

So yeah, 3:00 to 2:00 on the morning line makes sense to me

anyway. Seems to lay over this field.

Magic Connection looks like the second best horse in the race.

Cutting the price less than half and should get a good trip here.

So we're going to take those two and then round it out with

Novimophobia, who's another one that likes to close and and

should be on the scene late. Do you know what no vino means?

Is it girlfriend? OK, so I really like you.

Yeah, it's a very good. It's it's actually, believe it

or not, it is a nine day prayer novena.

And so this is a person who's afraid of prayer.

How about that? Oh wow, didn't know.

Didn't know that was a thing. It's never heard of prayer.

How about that Novitophobia? There you go.

Things you learned on SoCal Saturdays on the Horse Racing

Happy Hour Network, hanging out with Louis Rabo.

He's Barry Spears. We move on to Race 3 on the card

on Saturday out there at Santa Anita, a $1.00 pick three starts

here. It's a maiden special weight

open company on the Philly side of things. 3 year old 6 1/2

furlongs on the dirt here, Barry.

An interesting field we're it feels like Barry, we're getting

these 66 horse, 7 horse kind of fields out West for a lot of

these three-year old maiden races.

Interesting time of year for these kinds of races out West.

Of course had the win by Potente over the weekend.

Last weekend we talked about that on this show, the the trio

of Bafferts in race 6 out there. Maybe a a quote UN quote Derby

prep last last weekend, maybe an Oaks prep here.

Anybody in here's catch your eye?

Not particularly I I guess, you know, there's some potential,

but we gotta see him run, gotta see him run.

You know, one start really isn't anything but this horse this

this horse, this race is is pretty interesting from the

standpoint of everybody's kind of coming back in their second

start. You would think everybody's

going to run better than they did the first time.

And that kind of makes this race a little bit interesting.

You know me, I like to fade Bob Baffert horses that are stabled

at low Sal and that's what we have in #3 she's limitless.

So whenever I see that, I want to kind of get away from him.

I mean, obviously that horse can win This race has some

SolidWorks, but I'm going to side.

Otherwise, I'm going to go with the five.

Brooklyn Blonde on top. Was in a pretty tough race there

with Bottle Rouge and Super Corridora and.

May have heard of her. Yeah, maybe, maybe one of those

two didn't run all that poorly. I didn't think I I know the

running line says they lost by or seven in 7th place, 14 and

and 1/4 lengths back. I tend to think it was, you

know, it was a better race out of this horse than what you saw.

Should get a better trip this time.

Should get everything better. Getting Lasix, Michael McCarthy

second time out is much, much better than first.

So that's where we're landing. Yeah, you went 5-4 and six here.

I went 6-4 and three. So we obviously agree on the

McCarthy angle, but on different McCarthy's.

I'll go to the outside for Piney Woods.

Ricardo Gonzalez picks it up here.

This is one second timer. I thought Barry, this was one.

I love watching first timers that break from the gate and

then you you see them go, Oh, crap, That's right.

I'm in a race. And the jockeys just really,

really please go. Please go.

And this 1 ended up third after what was a wandering trip in

10th and 9th place big field last time of 10 horses in that

one at San Anita. Beginning of this month or

beginning of January. Excuse me.

And I just think getting back at it.

Second time starter, we watched that first time number take up

for Michael McCarthy. He's been consistent with second

time starter. So I'll use the 6 Piney woods

part of that certainly value here Barry as well.

Better than 9:00 to 2:00. But I in my mind, frankly, I

would take this one in that case head to head.

No, no matter what, 6-4 and three for me means that I also

went to feisty redhead, which by the way, if Gandolfo were still

on the show would be a single for him.

Like just an absolute ridiculous single.

And so that would be like Gandolfo in this spot landed

second in my handicapping here. Second timer Mike Smith gets the

the mound here. This is one that I think if it

just starts better, if she just starts better, Barry, I think

she'll be in the the equation much, much more.

This is a Curlin, so I'm sure getting distance underneath her

is the eventual goal. But trying the 6 1/2 here I

think makes a lot of sense, at least at this stage of her

development. And then she's limitless as a

second time starter for Baffert, as you mentioned, was on the

turf the first time. I can't remember the last time

the old turf to dirt angle for a second timer was what we held up

working well at LaSalle. But like you said, this is 1 of

Baffert's LaSalle trainees and tend to be less than.

And we've sort of seen that over and over on their show as well.

So I'll go ahead and agree with you on that.

So I'll go 64 and 3 in here. Barry, you went 4-5 and six or

five, four and six. What did you also see with

Feisty Redhead here? Yeah, there's a lot of potential

there. You know, this horse should

stretch out. I, I, I just, I didn't put the

source on top because I think this horse just wants more

distance and that would make a lot of sense.

But not like this horse couldn't win this race.

I I mean, sure, they're, they're all pretty talented.

It's it's funny that we didn't even talk about the 9:00 to 5:00

morning line favorite Peter Erten's horse, who has a bullet

a really fast one too. I don't know this this could go

a lot of directions. I just didn't want to take a a

short price Brooklyn blonde coming out of that fast race

seemed pretty logical here. Yeah, and A and a bullet from a

horse that, frankly, the last time we saw this horse just

flattened out in the most flat way in that was in August.

I think that was in August. I mean, just nine to five seems

a little short, which of course means, of course, that horse

will win by a panel race 4, of course.

Up next starts the Pick 6, the $2.00 Pick 6.

I don't know this yet because Friday hasn't run, but I assume

there will be a carryover in the pick 6 on Saturday.

It's a good joke. You should laugh at it people.

Race 4 is a maiden special way for state friends.

I got you. I appreciate you 3 year olds on

the colt side for this one. Barry, I'll go first in an even

numbered race and I already made the graphic.

How about that? Look at me. 5, three and two in

the maiden here went to Parnelli, Jones and Barry.

I think this is the third time in the history of this show

which we've now almost certainly handicapped more than 500 races.

Third time you and I have the same exact top three in order.

We went 532 in here. The newly gelded son of tough

Sunday, Parnelli Jones, will break from the five.

Second time starter for Mark Blatt, Abo Lozgano picks up the

mount here. The two of them are really good

together at Santa Anita. And when he gets a horse off of

this kind of layoff, he doesn't miss. 29 percent, 25% with

second time starters, 30% first time LASIK, etcetera, etcetera.

All the numbers here line up really well for Mark Glatt.

I'll put Parnelli Jones on top in this field. 5, three and two

for me means galloping goes second.

First timer here. Like the gate work.

Last time Barry had an earlier gate work that wasn't as fast as

the most recent one. So I like the progression for

this horse. Son of Grayson in the spot,

first timer, like I said. And Craig Lewis started to pick

up his numbers in maiden special weights.

He's up to 8% in these kinds of races. 10% with first time

starters. I think the booking of Juan

Hernandez shows you what they think about this horse and so

I'll I'll put him second positive times, another second

time starter once in a while Bear.

We just get horses that just show up way better the second

time. Ryan Hansen very good with those

kinds of starters, wins 12% of his main specials as well.

So I'll put 5, three and two in here.

Where did you land in Race 4? I landed on 5/3 and 2:00, but

that was only after I figured out what day it was because I

had a little trouble with that this week for some reason.

That was a very strange set of text messages that you and I had

together. Hang on one second, ladies and

gentlemen. You only have to sit through the

mind of Spears one hour a week on this show.

I have Barry's phone number and he has mine.

And so I have to live in the mind of Spears many times, many,

many times throughout the week. And it can be very funny.

It can be very offensive. It can be offensively funny, but

it can also be deep inside the mind of Spears when he tells me

yesterday that our 2:00 show, he's got a heart out at 3:00.

We ain't do no show together. Yesterday I did that with John

Lindo, my guy, the real Southern California member of this

franchise. And so, yeah, no, no, I got, I

got nothing for you, Barry. But you're here 543, my friend.

Yeah, and the five Parnell? 532 Excuse me.

The the makeover package from Mark Glatt and he does well with

this sort of thing. His his numbers are pretty

gaudy, getting sort of lay. Just a makeover.

Hey, it it, you know, for for humans, it's like a it's day

surgery isn't. It it's it's something that you

get done like the Tuesday of the NCAA tournament so that you can

sit through the first couple of days.

Yeah. Right.

Yeah. No, that's it.

Yeah, you're right. Yeah.

Yeah. So it's a makeover.

That's a makeover, Yeah, if you. Can still watch basketball.

It's a makeover. 5 three and two there in race 4.

I agree with you on the old on the old makeover package for him

for sure in race 4. What do you make of Tommy

Norrison here? The four has been kind of all

over the place started to main special way.

It's been close before. Ran out of gas last time only

got Lasix for the first time. Last time we saw him in the King

Glorious etcetera. I just two to one on a horse

that's failed that many times to me is not worth it.

Yeah, he's not. He hasn't gotten any better

since October and and that's kind of alarming in this race.

I know he he was in the king glorious where he had no shot

after that is in a race just like this one and just spit it

out. I I, I think there's some speed

in here. Anybody gets close to this

horse, I think he's going to just going to fold up like a

lawn chair. Spitting it up with Barry Spears

I'm Lou Rebell. This is the horse racing happy

hour. Thanks for hanging out with us

on socal Saturdays represented by amwager, whether they are

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screen for you trying to be nice.

The Thunder Rd. is race 5, very rare that I get this excited

about A5 horse field, but here we are Barry grade three mile on

the turf. Gas Me Up is in here out of the

win in the Hernandez. We we get some other runners in

here that we've seen in other spots. 3rd place finisher El

Potente in the Sea Biscuit, the 2nd place finisher in the Mathis

Mile. So this is a group of horses

outside of Gas Me up trying to breakthrough in this graded

company here. We even got a couple of

interesting runners on the side here, Barry that have won an

optional claiming kind of company, high level, you know,

allowance kind of company out West.

Interesting, interesting field of five.

Where'd you land? Yeah, this is this is really,

really straightforward as they say in the business.

But yeah, Gas Me Up looks like the best horse in this race

should be able to run down El Potente despite the speed pace

advantage. I just think Gas Me Up is a

really, really, really good horse.

Ran really well in the Breeders Cup Mile was really wide a lot

of reallys in this and kind of finished well behind notable

speech who who sort of dominated that event came out of that one

ran in the Hernandez and and looked excellent.

The stretch out makes sense. I I like this horse a lot in

this spot. You know, when I talked with

with Lindo yesterday about going down the hill, what he said was,

you know, the thing you and I talk about a lot about the, the

route to Sprint angle there of going from a mile to 6 1/2 makes

a lot of sense as far as an angle.

And he said even, you know, they watch horses go from a mile and

1/4 and win on 6 1/2. And, and what stands out in this

field, Barry, is, is gas me up going from that mile to down the

hill and winning, right. And, and what he said was when

you get to the bottom of the hill, it actually almost feels

like you're going uphill for the horse because you've been going

downhill, right. It's almost as though there is a

second turn there. And so gas me up.

It's interesting to get back to the mile.

I think we'll take to it just fine.

Merger tomorrow has been really good on the grass as of late.

I agree with you on El Patente. I'm fascinated in here by a

couple different horses. I'm actually going to try El

Patente on top here, Barry, because I think I think Hector

Barrios is going to try to get the lead.

If it works right, if it works out, it works out.

If it doesn't, it doesn't. And I'll trust Hector out West,

especially if I can get maybe 5 to 2 on this horse, something

like that, because I think Gasby Up's going to get a ton of money

and deservedly, by the way, you. Get 5 to 2.

I might change my pick, but I don't think you're going to get

5:00 to 2:00 on that horse. You.

Think it'll stay close to 2:00 to 1:00 or lower even maybe 7 to

5 or something. I think you'll get like a a

three to five, six to five sort of scenario here.

Will Kurt Hoover make the one or the four here?

What do you think? I think he takes the one and

calls it a day. Flora Giroux has moved his

attack out West. You and I have not had a

conversation to talk about, you know, a chance to talk about

this yet, a conversation to talk yet.

Thank you. Louis, we haven't had a chance

to talk about this yet. What do you make of him moving

out West? Obviously filling in for Umberto

while he's on the mend? I think this move actually, I

know one last race day, but I think it's worth it for him.

Solid and the the reason being he's the first one to do it

because if he was the second guy to go out there, I mean

technically he is if you want to count Harmio, but that was pre

respoli injury. So since the injury this is a

very good move for him. I'm sure he could pick up

business and possibly a Derby mount what have you.

That's the thing. And, and it puts him in a in a

position to win a lot of races that he might not have since

what happened to him where Jose Ortiz came out to the

fairgrounds started dominating. Then it was a different sort of

scenario. So I understand the move he's

doing at the right time. And it will affect races out

there because of the fact his riding style will bring

something different to what's already there.

So it it, it could shake things up and, and, and be very, very

advantageous to him, almost sort of like Mario Gutierrez coming

down here to Gulfstream. He is really riding out of his

mind well. Hopefully that went to went to

Turfway after Golden Gate closed up.

Man, he's great there. He went to Indiana like those

makes those, some of these moves make sense.

The thing about floral that makes the most sense for me is

especially for dirt racing, Barry, you and I watched so many

times Umberto who almost rides dirt races, like their turf

races. He's willing to drop back.

He's willing to do work later in races.

Florent because he ran, you know, so many races for for Brad

Cox trainees, etcetera. He's expected to be more in the

pocket, be upfront, etcetera. And that'll play really well out

West. That'll play really damned well

on the dirt out West. And so I'm, I'm really

fascinated to see him here. I threw him into the top three

because I do think a lot of the horse he's on in this spot in

Namoron. I think that this is a horse

that frankly is 1 finish away from about a half, $1,000,000 a

year last year and instead is sitting on 1/3 place finish and

a third place finish and a third place finish in graded stakes

and then a, you know, $2,000,000 race in the Gun runner last

year. I this one, because it's Floran

Giroud, this horse is going to sit in the pocket and try to

pass El Potente with gas me up flying on the outside, right.

That's essentially how I see this race And if the five can be

there, man, I, I, I think that the likely scenario here, Barry,

is the four gets out front, the five's right behind the one

comes running and we go 415 in your mind, 1 ends up finishing

and then we go 145 right. So it's not terribly different.

You and I probably see this race the same.

We just see someone getting the finish line first differently.

Yep, that's that's pretty much it.

I mean, those are pretty much the two scenarios that I kind of

came up with as well. I just think Nameron's just a

bit below this level. Yeah, maybe, you know, had three

chances at it and and just couldn't get over the hump.

This field isn't as weak as it seems.

I mean, the two horses that that we've picked on top are pretty

good horses, so maybe they'll get a spot where they can win,

but it's just not this one. I think 1 and or both will be

Breeders' Cup horses at the end of the year, right?

Like maybe not El Potente just because he's 7, but I think Gas

me Up could get back into it. I do.

Absolutely get. Back into it.

I I think that Woodbine mile, if you wanted to make the case for

gas me up that Woodbine mile was freaking excellent.

That really, really good. Nobody was touching notable

speeds like come on, Bill Buick flies in for that one.

Give me a break now though please.

Normal speech was always winning that race and so to run a good

third in that race I think does matter.

You know better post position in the in the Breeders Cup Mile, he

probably could have got second there so.

Dude, you're right. Yeah.

He would have ran right behind Notable speech again and you

know this this race would look a lot different, but I think this

horse is really good. Move on to race 6 and it's

another grade at stakes. It's the grade 2D Wayne Lucas

it's $200,000. It's a 7 for a long race for

Phillies and mares who are 4 and up.

And Barry, you have been around this game a lot longer than I

have. And a guy like Lucas Wayne off

the plane, I'm calling you old and the but you were a fan of

the sport. What I'm getting at as you were

a fan of the sport when Lucas was rolling.

And it is it is very, very difficult to think about modern

horse racing without talking about Dwayne Lucas and other

sports. Berry, we talk about coaching

trees. We talk about guys who learn

from other players. I got you know, we talk about

like, you know, who came out of, you know, you know, Belichick's

coaching tree or Coach K's coaching tree, something like

that. We have those conversations.

The trainer tree for Dewayne Lucas the coach quite literally

is as good as any coaching tree on the planet.

His runners are names that you know over and over and over

again. And I wore this hoodie on

purpose today because right before the Preakness last year,

Sean Collins and I, who are Co hosts on Blood Horse Monday,

unknowingly did Dewayne Lucas's last sit down interview.

And I will obviously never forget it.

And I'm glad I got up early on that Sunday to go sit in his

office. And it is is very cool to see

all of the different tributes to him.

And it's very cool to see it at Santa Anita.

And here's why. Certainly he had a very strong

string out there for for a long time, but the D Wayne off the

plane thing came from going there, right?

And that's that's where it started.

And so this is a cool, a cool moniker for this race.

I'm excited to see it. Barry, do you have a Wayne Lucas

story? I mean, I, I obviously mine is

so I, I, I think about that interview when I think about

anything, 'cause he was so gracious, he was so funny.

Sharp as ever. You know that.

You know that sound you make when you get out of a chair,

Barry. Yeah, all the crackle.

Yeah, Wayne never did that. There was none of that.

He was still 89. He was dude, he was crushing.

He he hopped off a horse to talk.

To him. I mean, like the dude was

crushing and like I just, I the, the, the thing about him too,

you know, he gets sick and they go to him and they say we can,

we can help you recover, but you'll never go back to the

track. And he said, yeah, never mind.

As a guy who works a lot, as a guy who loves his stuff, I, I

understand that in a, in a really personal way and I

respect it a lot. And so RIP for sure.

So glad I got to spend that time with him.

Sean and me and and and so cool to cool to get the handicap race

as well. Race 6 means I get to go first

here. Barry.

Obviously the Wayne Lucas trainee in Lemon Muffin

previously now in the Patrick Gallagher bar is in this race as

the, as the two horse in here. Barry, I am doing the Wayne

Lucas thing for this race and I'm throwing one way downfield

and I'm going with no bad beats who I thought looked really

good. Les Flores last out and that was

on the 11th of January. And that is out of the barn of a

man named Doug O'Neill. And if you know how to handicap

Doug O'Neill's horses, congratulations because I don't.

Barry doesn't. And this is one that we've seen

before at Santa Anita. Win a couple of times a second

place finished amongst, you know, those three races in four

starts. And you've got a favorite in

this race, Barry in Splendora, who's one for six at Santa

Anita. And before everybody yells about

the Breeders Cup Sprint, that was at Del Mar and that's a

different animal all together. So if you're going to try to

beat an odds on favorite in a race, I think this is the spot.

And I by the way, I think Barry agrees with me and sort of you

sort of do. But Oh no, you don't agree on

this horse. I think you agree on trying to

beat Splendora in the spot and I, I am starting to wonder if

we're in a spot where Splendora is more of a Del Mar track

specialist than anything else, where she's one for three at

this distance in general, but one for six at Santa Anita.

Now, I admit, why what very readily the, you know, she lost

to Copeion and those guys of horses in Santa Anita before.

I want to be very clear, but I'm just going to throw 1 downfield

here, Barry. I'm going to go with no bad

beats to win this race. How do I mean, you know, second

time aboard. Just got to get to the wire

here. She's going to get in.

She'll be in the lead at some point in my mind.

Can she get it done? I'll go ahead.

The Wayne Lucas Special in the inaugural Wayne Lucas Stakes, 65

and 3 for me. Barry, you went 7-5 and four.

We're both trying to beat Splidora here, which means

she'll win by, I don't know, 8 or 9 likes.

What do you like about Ford Miller Rosier?

Well, when I was handicapping this, I, I did take a second

look at no bad beats, OK, But I, I estimated that she'd have to

get in front of Splendora and Molly me, me and Molly McGee as

well to get the lead and hold it.

I mean, it's certainly possible the source could do it, but I I

just kind of feel like they might be lining up or, you know,

somebody else to take over and formula Rosa seems to have the

right running style for it and might sit a fantastic trip.

The real wild card to me might be simply joking, but.

Yeah. I'm not sure what that horse

really wants to do. And, and they're stuck on the

rail, so they're kind of have to go and they're going to be

pushing this pace and it, and that kind of to me sets it up a

lot more for Formula Rosa. One quick note about Dwayne

Lucas is, you know, when I was a kid, I didn't understand him

winning and him having more than one horse in races and him

running 12A lot. You know, the Super trainer

thing wasn't readily a thing at that point.

He was the guy that changed the game with that.

And, and I, I wouldn't be surprised if most, if not all

tracks have a Dewayne Lucas stake on their season card, what

have you, because he changed the game so much and like you said,

the training tree that came from him and everything else.

So he is definitely at the top of the game and we'll always be

honest. 75 and four for Barry in the Lucas.

I will try to go down field 65 and 3.

By the way, I wanted to talk about the three horse just a

little bit and me and Molly McGee, who they tried in the

test at Saratoga last summer, just didn't quite get there.

But I saw this one in June. It's at Churchill Downs, which

she's good, man. She's good, good.

She was fast that day. 108 and two at Churchill over six

furlongs. That is not something that

happens very often. She was fantastic that day.

I'm hoping that she had to be, she had to be ambulanced off at

Saratoga. And that used to be very.

I love this modern era of of horse racing that used to be we

we're not seeing her again. And now she's back at a stakes

race. I love this stuff, man.

And so, yeah, give me all of that.

Hopefully she she turns back up for Peter, and heck, maybe

we'll. Do you want to mention?

Yeah, yeah. Or real quick because I do like

this horse quite a bit. If you look at this horse's

races sprinting on the dirt, this horse stacks up as an

improving horse at the right time.

You know, they they went long and on the turf a couple of

times and it really didn't do this horse any good as far as

the record. But when they dropped this horse

back in and went 6 1/2, they were one going away.

And this race kind of sets up for a horse like this because I

think they're going to be in front of a horse like Lemon

Muffin anyway. I would look out, especially at

a big price. This horse is going to be at

least 20 to 1. Arena's charm did win last out

under Kazushi Kamara. Armando Yuso picks up the mount.

She broke her maiden at Ellis Park in that in their program

last July going 6 1/2 furlong. So she's taking her talents to

different places. Should be an interesting Lucas

on Lucas race on a Saturday. That's what we're doing right

now. We are previewing the races on

Saturday at Santa Anita. My name's Lou your bow, he's

Barry Spears. This is the horse racing happy

hours. So Cal Saturdays were presented

by Amwager and amwager.com. Appreciate them hanging out with

us every single week on the program.

Race 7 starts the late pick three.

If you are new to betting in Southern California, check out

am wager but also $3 minimum late pick three with a 15% take

out the the pays tend to be as good as the pick five there in

the late sequence at Santa Anita.

So turn your gaze to this. We're going to mile on the turf

optional claimer state breads, non twos, blah, blah, blah.

Let's go forward up here, Barry, who you got in this one?

The two Sir Percival, I like when horses do what Sir

Percival's doing, coming off the layoff, doing something

different and running just as fast as they did off the layoff.

This is usually how I connect on a lot of long shots.

This one isn't going to be that long, but should be a good

enough price because I think the seven's a fairly solid favorite.

Should get bet quite a bit in here, but I think Sir Percival's

sitting on a really big race. You have sun and brew, warm sun

and brew. Your second choice here comes

out of a Sprint. Do you think that was just kind

of a warm up from Mark? Glad to get back to routing.

I would think so. I mean, not to mention that this

horse got beat by Sir Percival first time out.

I, I would think that going longer would be this horse's

game. So I, I don't know, I, I just

doesn't look all that great to me.

I know the number is what people are going to bet that last buyer

figure, but I, I'm not really sure he's better than that.

And honestly, a horse like Freeport Joe has a chance in

this race despite, you know, his age and and running style.

It could get hot up front and that would spell curtains for a

lot of these horses. Other than Freeport Joe and

maybe the three cart of crack, there's versions of this race

where one of those two gets it done.

But I'm going to go with Sir Percival getting a better trip.

There's some speed in here. They can kind of follow Cullen

Jay and I think that might be the best move.

Do you know the saddest part about this race, Barry?

That it's not in Kentucky. After this race, free Poyos

performances will not include Golden Gate Fields.

Oh yeah, you need the. That's yeah, you have to go

further than the classics. That's exactly right.

I man, I love man. I bet the bleep out of him a

gold game. It was great.

But yes, Barry goes 727 and three.

I have the two in my handicapping as well, but don't

do that Please program. There we go 4/2 and five for me

in this one I landed on straight up country.

John Lindo told me this is a bad pick yesterday, so I decided to

go with it today. Juan Hernandez picks up the

mount. This horse is going to have to

be faster than last time. Good news, we're second off the

layoff here and the horse should take a step forward under Juan

Hernandez as well. The two of them have won four of

their last eleven races together at Santa Anita Park.

I then went to the two horse agree with Barry on many of his

points about Sir Percival. This is who John has on top in

his late pick three. And then I went to the 5 speed

of Elon here. This is one that broke.

It's made in the last time in March of 2025.

Barry downfield very much just hoping that the works are what

they are at San Louis Ray and that Daniel Dunham gets his

first win of the season. How about that?

I don't think he's going to win, but I do think you could spice

up your try with him. Spicy, Very spicy.

How much spice? How much?

How much spice is that? Like a ghost pepper spice.

No, no, no, little. Frank Red hot Spice.

Little less than that even. So like like like a Louisiana

hot sauce that you just. Red pepper flakes on a pizza

like that Or is that too spicy? Oh that's delicious.

That's not for Berry Berry Berry anti spice.

Yeah, not a spice guy. That is the like.

The more disappointing thing about you is that you can't.

I can't just be. Able to get.

Spicy bowls of food and you're like, you know what?

No, we're not. And that's that's pretty

disappointing, man. I'm not going to lie to you, but

you want to talk about the Louis now?

Yeah, let's do that. The Robert B Lewis is the Grade

3 on the card, the 2nd Grade 3 on the card, mile on the dirt

here. And we have met a lot of great

horses in this race. Barry, what was your favorite

Breeders' Cup race last year? The Oh, come on.

Turf, Breeders' Cup Turf. That was, well, yeah, Ethical

diamond, right? OK, that yes, OK, good answer.

But really, you love the dirt mile between Nicos and Citizen

Bowl? Yeah.

The last two winners of this race, in fact, says the bull and

Isos. Ready for this list?

You think this is a predictor of future success?

Newgate. Messier Medita.

Spirit 1000 Words in mucho gusto.

The winner since 2019. Also on this list.

More spirit. Dortmund.

I'll have another pioneer of the Nile.

Who else is on this list? Our tax is on here, main

ministers on here, Ferdinand's on here going all the way back.

So I mean, just tons and tons of great horses have won this race

before. Barry, who'd you land on in the

Lewis, which is generally a predictor of very, very good

success moving forward? I landed on the 1 desert gate

looks like they might be the controlling speed and I don't

see much else behind this horse. Unfortunately was really good in

all their starts. I mean lost to Brant by a length

who came out of that race to to stretch out pretty good.

Then they went stretched out pretty good.

Just kind of kind of awkward trip.

I I would say more than the fact that they ran bad or poorly

against Intrepido in the American Pharaoh.

I think they're they're going to be able to turn the tables,

although it could almost be a repeat of that race.

I'm kind of banking on that, actually.

So Barry landed in in this race, by the way. 27 and 3, Barry.

No, that's me, isn't it? Why did I put you on there?

I ain't you at all. Well, it's seven Race 7.

I'm sorry, there's Race 8. That's not race 8 at all.

Where's your flyer? What am I doing here?

You went 1-3 and four in here. Barry, go ahead and talk about

Cherokee Nation. Yeah, Cherokee Nation's a horse

that probably will get a decent trip.

I mean, I it's hard to tell how good this horse really is

because they were kind of knocking at the door going a

mile in October at Santa Anita. Then they came out, shipped out

to to Churchill to try the stake out there.

Got beat by a further ado. Didn't run all that poorly.

I know the feel wasn't huge, but they weren't that bad.

Came back to Santa Anita when a mile.

Just missed a robusta. Who's in this race?

But they might get a better setup.

It's it's hard to tell because you know, the other three

baffords of as as to how they're going to ride this horse, but

they're in here and I think they might have a shot to to kind of

get in the picture. It's time for Louise Bafford

Play of the Day here in Race 8. I'm going with the other other

Baffert, the one that just won on turf in a maiden special

weight in November. His name is Plutarch.

This is the son of Into Mischief.

I just watched his other Into Mischief win with Potente over

the weekend. And this is one that did try the

American Pharaoh and frankly was in that race very, very closely,

Barry. And so I'll put Plutarch second

in my handicapping here. But Intrepido does land on top

here for me. And so if we're looking at the

race in here, I went 4-2 and one Jeff Bolens.

I was saying yesterday, Barry, unite now that we, you know,

watch the circuit as closely as we do.

If you had like an awards for best trainer out West or best

year out West or whatever, Mullins in top three like no

question, I had a great year at all levels.

I mean, fantastic year out West. And so real chance, I think to

to continue that here. It's really rare, Barry, that we

see that Breeders' Cup juvenile winner come back.

And I'm not trying to make a joke about setting off here or

anything like that. It's just it's a super rare sort

of thing to go from one to the other, you know, in November all

the way to the first Saturday in May.

Intrepido seems to follow a little bit more of the pattern

that we would accept expect, excuse me, some success as a 2

year old, but really has to come into his own as a three-year

old. He is a big question mark though

for a stallion that's getting a little bit of momentum.

And maximum Miss Maxim, Miss Mischief, who?

Boy, if you get 90% of your dad, you're probably going to win two

derbies, right? So like that's a thing as well.

I went 4-2 and one here. Barry, what do you make?

You also have the two in here in Plutarch in your top three.

What do you make of I? I'm of the same opinion as John

Lindo that I talked to you yesterday about him, which is

the mile and an eighth on the turf was more to just get him a

longer race, just to get him as much distance as possible.

You look at the works, Barry. He's only working at six or

longer, right? I mean, like this is just he

wants distance, distance, distance for this horse.

I think eventually it's going to work out.

I don't know that it works out for Plutarch at a mile, but I

think a Santa Anita Derby win for him is not out of the

question. Yeah, that that does make a lot

of sense, especially depending on what this source does here,

it could be a really good setup for this horse going into the

Derby, kind of more stepped up races like the the Santa Anita

Derby, things like that. Because I think they might have

options and they they might not even want to stay in Santa Anita

or in California for that. You know, at some point I would

think that he's going to break with, with some of these horses.

I know Butane's out of Oak Lawn. So I mean, this could be another

one that could go that route. Seems like that kind of horse

too. But we'll see how how this horse

performs. I mean seems to be pointing in

the right direction for an outfit ownership group that

would want to see a horse get in the Derby.

Again here Barry is 1/3 and four.

I will go 4, two and one in of the Lewis today again, Citizen,

Bold, Nisos, Newgate, Messier, Medina Spirit, 1000 Words and

Mucho gusto. Not a bad list of winners in

this one. Baffert sends the 1-2 and three

two. The post for this one,

Intrepidal will break from the four.

The closer on the card, of course, is Race 9.

We move on there. This is Socal Saturdays on the

horse racing happy hour hanging out with Barry Spears.

I'm Louis Rabeau. It is time for Barry to tell us

who is going to win the Suite Life and if we're going down the

hill for this one. 6 1/2 furlongs on that turf course and

then the turf course and then the turf course once again,

$100,000 on the line. 3 year old Phillies in here bare wedge

land. Well, if you make it this far

into any any horizontal bets and you're sitting there like, well,

who should I have? It should be the two La villa

lumair, right? La vie lumair, right?

No, man. The first one was better, but

I'm not going to tell you what to say.

Keep going. Hey, I'm trying man.

No, not the linguist. Her name Her name literally

means City of Light. She's the daughter of.

City of Light. Yes, yes, I like that last race.

The blue Northerner. Oh yeah, she came running like a

freight train under Pratt. And you need that usually,

usually down the hill, you need that, right.

You need to be the freight train at the end of the race.

That's exactly. Right, exactly.

And I, I think this, you know, will accentuate this horse's

kick. It's a decent post position.

I'm not really too fond of the inside post on down the hill,

but I think this one will not be so close up.

So it's not really going to matter too much then keeping

really good company. I I just think they just need to

get this horse in the gate and out of it to the finish.

All right. You have one on your

handicapping that I was fascinated by as well.

Floral. Giroux picks up the mount on the

seven here. I don't and I'm not picking on

floral. It's just not something you

always get to do. I'd love to know if he's

actually ever been down the hill but he will I I don't care

totally. But he'll be going down the hill

here with struck by her. The Irish bread started her

career overseas did break her maiden just a couple of weeks

ago in a six furlong Sprint at Santa Anita.

First time trying a North American track she filled the

model puts her in here. I don't think it's an accident.

Barry, I agree with you. Yeah, I, you know, people will

kind of hesitate because of that 56 buyer, but I think that was,

you know, kind of relative to the level more than it was about

the horse and how this horse performed.

I I think there's potential in there.

Barry, she finished the six furlongs in in a sub 110.

It's not like she was going slowly.

I mean it's it's I mean, that's why with the buyer number always

look at the final time because if if it doesn't, if it's in the

50s and it's like 112 or something like, but one O 9 is

fine. Yeah, for sure.

And not to mention that, you know, doesn't, doesn't have a

whole lot of starts in general. And I think that that gives that

potential, especially the way they they ran in that race in

particular, they should get a setup.

I I I just don't want any part of Himika at all in in a race

like this or in most races anyway.

And and I think the setups there, it's just all about the

trip and the price. I hope this horse stays around

that 12 to one because that this horse is definitely going to be

on all my tickets. All right, well, I'm going to do

something I usually don't like to do.

I'm taking the inside horses 321 for me in the sweet life.

Agree with Barry ton of things he said about veal Lumiere.

Your sincerely comes out of a six furlong Sprint.

But before that was very good in the Jimmy Durani and in the

surfer girl. Both of those are at a mile.

He was in. She, excuse me, was in within 3

lengths of both of those finishes.

Went down the hill last or excuse me, went sprinting last

time, I thought was a little bit better of a spot for her.

Another one of Phil d'amato's, formerly based in Ireland

runners here. Kazushi picks up the mount for

an injured Umberto Rispoli in this spot.

Been working really well in the Tepita as well out there.

So I'll go with the three on top.

The two you already talked about, Hypergamy on the inside

is one of these that I'm including Barry because I, I

know with Doug O'Neill that if I don't, I'm going to miss this

horse at some point and I feel like this might be the spot.

She was really good in the blue Northern, I thought OK in the

Jimmy Duranty, but was really good before that at Del Mar.

Another one where we're just going to find out if she likes

going down the hill or not. All right, so we have not

mentioned a single previous dirt horse in here.

By the way, you agree with me on Hypergamy, which is good to see.

Is there a dirt horse in here that you do want to see go down

the hill that you're interested in?

I've got. I, I want to see the five light

one up the city of light for Doug O'Neill.

I, I think there's a lot of potential there too, and I I

would gather that this horse wouldn't want to be up close to

the pace either. Kept good company previously

lost the Percy's bar the last time back in June.

Seems like they they really wanted to point towards a grass

race in general, so why not this spot?

I I you know this isn't the toughest of spots, so why not

get a piece of it? I'm I'm actually fascinated by a

different dirt runner in this one in I don't know that one's

been on the turf thinking of a different horse.

Brawley, by the way, is an interesting horse in here.

The eight horse for John Sadler. Just setting that one out there.

Ran in an optional claimer last time.

Mow Haven, That's who it is the cowbread actually who's in here,

the 10 coming out of the Golden State juvenile Phillies.

She was really, really good at Del Mar.

I love this. You know, if if you've got a

horse like this fits the condition.

Mary, I love finding out if she likes it or not.

I I think this is a this one makes a ton of sense because

especially with a Cal bread go find out right now because if

she's in if she likes the Donald Trump course, you're probably

going to have four opportunities this year to run in Cal only

kind of company. And she can if she can do it

against this field or if she's even competitive against this

field. Almost certainly she's going to

pick up a bunch of nice checks going down the hill this year in

Cal bread company out there at Santa Anita.

So there you go, little Robert B Lewis, Tampa Bay tomorrow, you

will be there. Yes Sir.

Should people be looking for a specific outfit or just the six

foot three guy that's going to be out?

There. Hey, listen, Steve Unger is

going to love my outfit tomorrow.

Oh, I'll just say that and I'm going to take a pic, I always

say. Steve was going to be there.

I wish he was that's, that's my man.

He could come hang out with me for the.

Day. But yeah, he's going to love my

outfit. Watch.

OK, all right, OK, all right, OK, All right.

Steve Unger, big noted, noted Cards fans.

So we'll we'll leave it at that. Well, you've been inside the

mind of Spears. You've seen Barry's boring play

of the day and certainly by Baffert, second place play of

the day there as well. Appreciate you hanging out with

us here on the horse racing happy hour.

So Cal Saturdays, of course, presented by our friends at

amwager@amwager.com. Tomorrow, make sure you check me

out at the Sporting Tribune where we will have a full

preview of the Lewis and the late pick three and how I will

be playing it right there at Sporting Tribune all over the

place. And of course you can find him

at Urban Handicapper and me at Radio Louis on the socials as

well. This has been So Cal Saturdays

on the horse racing happy hour. Have a great weekend.

We'll see you next week and stream and and.