Risen Star Saturday | Steve Kornacki

Life is good, I asked The fightest podcast with the worst

music. It is the horse racing happy

hour. Lou, your bow.

Steve Kornacki hanging out with you on a Risen Star edition of

the program. We head to New Orleans for the

weekend. Steve, is there anywhere in your

mind what are like the the the legitimately unique American

cities? And I think New Orleans is on

that list for sure. What else is on that list for

Steve Kornacki? Good.

Good afternoon. Yeah, New Orleans should make

that list. Boy, that's a that's a good

question. What's like a quintessentially

American? I got like a NE bias, you know,

Something like Worcester, Mass is a good one, I think, you

know. I think of two, like just towns

like Detroit could only happen in the United States, you know

what I mean? Like that's a place that could

only happen in America. I also think of spots like San

Antonio is a really interesting one, but I think it only

happened in the United States. That kind of stuff for sure.

New Orleans, one of those spots for sure.

I'll tell you, I'm wearing the the Nevada, Reno, NV, the

biggest little city you know. That's a good one, too.

Atlantic City, we would have put on that list many years ago, but

he's Steve Kornacki. NBC Sports wanted to get him in

as part of our Derby trail coverage here.

I think, Steve, last time you and I did a Derby prep episode,

cripes, was for the Wood Memorial last year, the 100th

Wood last year on there. And Aqueduct.

Been a minute. You're watching this Derby trail

alongside the rest of us. What have you made so far?

Do you have a top three or so that you're watching at this

point? And hey, maybe it's one run on

this Saturday. Yeah, and I I think I, I big

question, I think about the recent star on Saturday.

I think 2 in there in particular who I depending on how Saturday

goes, I think could be at or near the the top of the list

pallet. And obviously I think I think

one of them there golden tempo to me.

The other one, you know, but we'll see what happens.

I look at the whole thing feels real wide open to me.

And I think in in usually does this time of year, but you know,

take Ted Nafi out of it. You know, I think it's a little

more wide open. The one that I'm I renegade

visually has impressed me the most.

I just don't know what he beat in that in that Tampa race last

week. What what I really liked was a

silent tactic. The, you know, Mark Cassie's

horse at at Oaklawn just coming from, you know, way out of it.

It didn't seem like it was a pace meltdown scenario and

actually had done, you know, some decent closing with no

pace, you know, in the smarty Jones there, you know, at the

start of the year too. So I'm, I'm kind of kind of

taken with silent tactic now, but I think we got a lot we

still got to see. Yeah, it's interesting.

You know, when I got my first Derby credential, it was for

Justify and that Derby at least 2018.

And Steve, we back then, I think we used to look, I wonder I've

always wondered this, do we now? Because silent tactic a couple

of years ago, I think we would have just said, well, I mean,

coming from the back of the pace.

They don't do that in the Derby, right?

That's not that's not something we do in the Kentucky and then

Baffert's out of it for three years.

Rich strike wins. We get sovereignty from near the

back of the pack. Have we, is there just a shift

that's kind of happened where we're looking at those horses

and assuming they win because number one, they do.

But also we didn't have Baffert. I I had to laugh, Steve, when

someone the other day said something like, Oh yeah, we just

don't get front runners in the Derby anymore.

I'm like, well, you know, like Rodriguez was hurt last year and

you know, Baffert wasn't in one of these for three years.

And so that's kind of a stand out to me.

Is there any part of that that's very true for you?

I, I think it is, I mean, I think from you look, they went

to that point system in 2013 and a lot of people said, look, that

took the, the sprinters, the pure sprinters out of it.

That made it more manageable for front runners.

And I, I think that held up from about 13 to 21.

But they've been coming from farther back since then.

You know, Rich strike the most dramatic example, but I, I think

it's been going quicker upfront even, you know, in 24, you know,

the Mystic Danier, they went real fast, you know, early in

that race too. So I, I, yeah, I think the to me

the last four or five years, it's kind of reverting to I

think what we, what we had, what we knew before the point system.

So you like Silent Tactic, who's running this weekend that you've

got your eye on? You can certainly come back to

when we get to the handicapping section.

But I know Paladin coming out of that Remsen boy, that Remsen

Steve lately has been such an important race on the trail,

frankly a little bit more important than even the Breeders

Cup Juvenile at this point in our our Derby prep history at

least. Is Paladin one of those horses

for you? Yeah, Paladin right now is sort

of top of the list, especially given what Renegade you know,

who Paladin had run against their, you know, twice in New

York, Did you know at Tampa. I'm saying look, looked so

impressive. I'm not sure who Renegade beat,

but if Paladin, you know, renegade and Paladin sort of

neck and neck there in New York. If, if paladin goes down to the

fairgrounds now and sort of looks the part here, you know, I

think both of them, you know, kind of go to the top of my

list, you know, for right now and golden tempo.

I'm, I'm just very curious about because I think the win in the

Le Compte was impressive. I kind of think the way golden

tempo won the Le Compte coming from way out of it.

I, I, I sort of feel like my, my impression of that day was it

was a tough day maybe to be a closer, a tougher day, to be a

closer there at the fairgrounds. And so I, I'm in, in my mind,

I'm like, that might have been more impressive than it seemed.

But I think Saturday will tell us more about that.

Yeah, even more impressive that way.

If it was a track bias that way, it'd be like a horse winning

outside at Aqueduct right now. My God, the rail there, it's

unbelievable. They, I, I, I rarely say this,

but I think they actually have to do something like I think, I

think the stewards are, have to actually go ahead and change it

up. So who would you have #1 if

someone asked you to put out a a top pole for Derby contenders,

who would you have on top? I mean, right now I would put

Renegade at the top, but that's a very, very soft, tentative,

you know, qualified feeling. OK, perfect.

All right. Well, Steve Kornacki with us,

NBC Sports. Have you gotten to do any of

these trips? Were you at the Pegasus?

Anything like that? Got to go to the Super Bowl so

I'll take that one as my win for three.

Sports. How was that?

That was incredible. I mean, I'm a Patriots fan, so

they're that part of it kind of stunk.

But everything else just a a real cool experience.

Yeah. So I was like.

It was what? Go ahead.

No, I, I was guess I was, I, I'm in New York where it was like 10

below 0. And so I get to go and it's, you

know, 70°. So there was that too, you know?

That is a good part for sure. You know, as a Lions fan, Steve,

I felt bad for you Pats fans who hadn't been to a Super Bowl in

six years. I mean, it's got to be a brutal

amount of time to wait to go to a Super Bowl.

Just a tough thing to be a Patriots fan.

I said, I said it stinks for New England.

I know the rest of the country enjoyed it, so I won't.

I won't fight that. You know, it's interesting.

I didn't have a a true rooting interest except that Kenneth

Walker played one year at Michigan State.

That's why I went to college. So you know, like, you know, you

do those things, you kind of glom onto whoever's having

success that happens to have anything in common with you.

So there you go. But Steve Kornacki with us,

let's get into this late Pick 5 down there at Fairgrounds.

You are a multi race player, Steve.

When you look at this series though, and we'll put up your

ticket later on in the show, Babe, you and I have this in

common. We love a good pick 3.

When you play those, pick 3 Steves.

When you're looking at them, what are you looking for in

particular? I'm looking for, you know, I, I

like the idea of having a, a shorter price and then liking

in, in the other two legs, thinking there's a, there's an

opportunity to get some, you know, longer shot and, and get a

price. And so I asked that the one I

sent you along, I used to talk about a little bit.

That's it's sort of a sandwich there with a short price in the

middle and then two legs that I think where I think you could

get a good, you know, a good price.

So, you know, I, I, yeah, I love playing those pick threes.

I love yeah, Three, pick three, pick four, pick five.

Honestly, those are my those are my favorite bets to make.

All right, so I don't appreciate this from a rival podcast on the

wrong lead. Kornacki's a Pats fan.

Never meet your heroes. Hey, I've met Steve Kornacki.

While he's not a hero of mine, he's a fine gentleman.

And you know what? If you're from Boston, you can't

really help it. There's, you know, Speaking of

American cities and things that only could make, you know, exist

in America. Boy, oh boy, Boston is what?

You're on the top of that list as well, Steve.

Can I? Can I tell you like I'll show my

age here? I tell people this like they

don't believe me at a certain at a certain age under four years.

So the patriots barely qualified as an NFL franchise.

I know we're never going to We we've got more.

They played in front of 15,000 fans when I was a kid and they

were one in 15. So, you know, it's, we deserve

some of it, some of it. You know, I went to grad school

in Indiana. We finally got a championship

out of something and it happened to be on the football side.

I'll just take whatever they got right.

It's that sort of thing for sure.

All right, well, let's get into that late pick 5.

The stall memorial is race 8 here, Steve.

We're on the grass for this one. This tends to be a great race

every single year as part of this card, Steve.

And we get a nice field in here, including the second time

fairground starter in Maduro, part of a Peter Urton string

that we're seeing more and more east of the Rockies.

Steve, we talked about him last week on another program running

a horses, frankly at Tampa, which is pretty remarkable to

think about as well. He's going to come in nine to

five. I do think he'll be favored

here. Is he a deserving favorite?

I think. Based on that last, that last

race, yes, I, I, you know, I'm going to use, you know, I'll,

I'll use Maduro in, in, in my pick 5 ticket.

But I think there's some other, some other ways to go in this.

The top pick for me is going to be #4 expensive Queen.

What I like here is just I, I think I see some upside.

You know, this is only going to be the third time since coming

in North America that the horses run on the turf.

It's the first time since last spring in a grade one at Santa

Anita, the first time in North America last spring at

Keeneland. I think there was a some trouble

in the trip, some traffic super wide coming off the turn and

just, you know, kind of inhale the field in the stretch.

And then in that, you know, grade one at Santa Anita.

That was be your best who just, you know, was her gate to wire

wasn't coming back. So take from that what you will

had sort of a tune up, I guess you could say on on synth, you

know, at Gulfstream in January. And I just I, you know, Brendan

Walsh. I I think there could be some

upside here. So, you know, the 4 is going to

be my top pick here. But yeah, no, I I I respect

Maduro, Jose Ortiz. You know what that rail could be

useful. I'll I'll include, but the four

is where I'm going to go for my top pick.

You have the three third in your handicapping and sweet treasure

here. Floran Giroux, making the trips

back and forth between LA and Fairgrounds at this point does

get the win aboard Plutarch in a what I think was not an

unmeaningful Robert B Lewis, but is aboard the the 6th place

finisher, the Cranston Memorial last time out.

You have this one third in your handicapping.

Why do you have that? Because I think that there's a a

bit of an asterisk in that last trip trouble, you know, kind of

getting out of the gate trouble early that I think, you know,

the horse tends to be more forward, has tended to be more

forward and and done his best running there and was, I think

just sort of off its game from the break in that race.

And so I almost say give it another shot, you know, try to,

you know, yeah, I, I, I think, you know, maybe, you know, break

better, get in earlier and, and we'll see what happens.

Yeah, Oversubscribed is in here, a little bit of time off, but

Chad Brown bringing horses off the layoff and teaming up with

Tyler Gaffe Leon seems to make a lot of sense in here for me as

well. I laid it on the four as well.

Steve, it's interesting that you went there in the same way.

But I do think it's set up. He's on a bunch of horses that

are between about four and six to one and Luis Saez, and I

think he's going to be a real, I think there's a potential, he's

a real problem on Saturday. And so I agree with you in that

spot. Move on to race 9, start of the

late pick four grade 3 mine shaft here.

Of course, this is for older horses.

We are going a mile and a 16th quarter million bucks on the

line. We see the return in this one of

a hit show trying to get another graded stakes under his belt.

Steve also gets Lasix. That's a pretty rare opportunity

for him. Did win last time on Lasix in

the West Virginia Governor's Cup there at Mountaineer.

What do you make of his chances and who do you have on top here?

Yeah, I mean, look, I, I was looking to be creative.

I hit show is where, you know, is where I'm going to, you know,

mainly go here. I just think there's, I think

the horse is the best, you know, and coming down, you know, to a

grade three, I think a pretty consistent horse.

I I, I have some hesitation about doing it.

The only other one that I, you know, that I want to include

here a little bit is the outside horse stowaway.

I think it was the number seven there.

You know, an older horse who they just, you know, was off for

a long time. They put on dirt over the

summer. I, I, I think has run four times

on dirt. The buyers gotten better every

time. Just lost here at at at

fairgrounds to not this boy who ran like dead even at

Mountaineer with hit show over the summer.

So I sort of think there might be a little bit I, I kind of

like the outside draw there. I wanted to include but mainly

mainly hit show is going to be my play here.

Yeah, I have exceler eyes on my ticket as well.

The two horse here, Steve, just cause of what I saw in the

Louisiana that that front running, you know thing, you

know, if a horse is willing to go and do that, because I think

he and his show are going to be near the front together.

I think there's, you know, an opportunity for him to probably

just inherit the lead. I think Duke of Duval's going to

try to go with them. Luis Saez gets the mount on him,

the one horse in this field for Steve Asmussen and and so for

me, I think Excelerize, who's just tried the two turns for the

first time, last out before that was running over that one turn

mile at Gulfstream. I think he takes a step forward,

Steve going two turns here. Only question is, does he have

to carry another 6 lbs? That is not a small thing for

the first time. He's up to 124.

But hey, you'd only carry that amount, Steve, if you qualify to

carry that amount. I'll take the grade 3 winner as

part of my tickets here too. This one I think, and I'd love

to know if you agree. I think you either have to press

hit show or or use some other horses in here that aren't hit

show. Do you agree with that?

Yeah, I mean, and look at me, I'm going to, I, I, there's

going to be a lot of tickets here.

I say I do these pick three, I'll single in a lot.

I in the pick five. I just want to include, it's

sort of like an AB thing. I want to include stowaway just

on the chance, you know, maybe it heats up a little bit, kind

of, you know, sits off a little bit there on the outside.

Yeah. So I'm, I'm not going to purely

single hit show, but most is going to run through hit show

for me on this. Yeah.

Yeah, no, it makes sense for sure.

I think that I think too much of the the evidence around him and

what they're trying to set up just makes sense for hit show to

run in a big just big time here. They they clearly want this win

in another greatest stakes for him.

Move on to the late pick three. Race 10 starts there.

Grade 3 Fairgrounds here, Steve is back on the turf.

We're going 9 furlongs mile and an eighth for four and up 175 on

the line here and an interesting group here.

Steve, this is your spread leg amongst the later part of the

card. Ten horses here, including like

hey a Laganos who didn't win last, hasn't won in a while, but

boy, could certainly get it done here in a Gate Rd. on the

outside that we've seen run in really, really big spots before.

Where did you land here in the fairgrounds?

Yeah, no, like you said, this is this is where I I really kind of

want to take a shot to get some kind of a price here.

So, you know, I don't want to use Laganos.

I'll say I don't like that outside post.

I think he just misses a lot too.

You got brilliant birdie in here.

I'm kind of curious what the what the odds will be on

brilliant birdie. I think going a little longer

maybe then then then might be, you know, his game.

So I kind of want to go against him there.

I'm going to go against Kupuna too, even though he has looked

so good on turf and didn't last one the the the top choice I'm

going to use here. And this is a horse who's I

think going to finish first or last is I'd rather be blessed

the 8. And, and this is a horse who has

now stolen two of these stakes at fairgrounds at obscene odds

at 86 to one last year and I think 17 to one late last year,

something like that. I actually liked him in the

what's the, the Colonel Bradley? That's the, the, you know, the

sort of precursor to this one. The horse was a mess that day.

You know, was it fractious in the gate?

Never. I mean, just never got to lead

and that's it. He has to get the lead.

He has to have a manageable pace.

So I'm going to take a chance that I think will be a pretty

big price. He could get the lead here this

time and maybe I'm looking around, maybe not pressed that

intensely and and you know, again, delivers at a big price.

So I'll make him my top choice. But the other ones that I want

to use here just quickly are like #5 cameo performance who

just kind of waiting for him to put it all together.

Maybe he can. I like Ben Curtis Montador, you

know, first time as a you know, the first time as a a four year

old kind of going against older here who I've liked a lot and I

think has a lot of sort of upside potential.

So you know, sort of the five, the the 5-6 and the 8 here are

kind of my main are kind of my main choices.

A little interested in that sandpipes on the on the inside

too, but the idea to get a price.

We'll go ahead and put this up here.

So for every dollar increment on Steve's pick four, pick 3,

excuse me, it's 4 bucks. So pretty straightforward here,

Steve, if someone, whatever their budget is, if they wanted

to follow along here, the two singles in the two legs, this is

exactly what you talked about. If you like a horse with with

shorter odds, go ahead and just take a stand and use them.

But try to find that value in the other race.

And obviously you're going to try to do that right here in the

fairgrounds. Yeah, there it is.

You know, maybe get 4 to one or something. 5 to one in the first

leg, even money maybe on hit show and then yeah.

Hopefully we hit one of those, you know, who was rather be

blessed. Yeah, hopefully that's the horse

that comes through the last leg of exactly that one.

I saw this race pretty similarly Steve to to your notes here.

I'm going to try to be really aggressive here and just use

monitor and, and, and this is where I'm going to try to be

just a little bit different, a little bit more of a push,

because that six to one kind of single, I think can be the thing

that really opens up a ticket for you.

And so I, I, I, I trust that form last out.

Michael Stidham does a really good job off of these kinds of

layoffs. Tyler's in town to ride this

this day and this is a horse that every time he's been on lay

6, he's either been second or first.

That's it. And he gets to keep lay 6 here,

3 for six last year after losing his first race, he was DQ

shooted his second race. And so frankly, that's not even

on his win list. If that's on it.

He's 4 for six. I think he's just a winner.

And I'll go ahead and take the son of Nyquist on the grass as

my late single in the sequence here at Fairgrounds.

Move on to the late double. The two preps here for the Oaks

and the Derby, The Rachel Alexandra, of course, named for

Rachel Alexandra will be race 11/8 and 1/2 furlongs a mile on

the 16th on of the dirt there, $300,000 on the line in the

Grade 2, Steve, we get the return of Bella Ballerina, who

of course all of the pretty mischievous comparisons and

Brendan Walsh quoted this week as saying, I don't know why she

can't be as good as her. Well, they're all trying to be

as good as the horse that this race is named after.

Rachel Alexandra, Horse of the year, of course, in 2009, the

winner of the Haskell, the Woodward, the Mother Goose, the

Kentucky Oaks, the Fantasy, the Fairgrounds Oaks, the Martha

Washington, the Goldenrod before that in something called the

Preakness. So there you go.

Not a bad 2009 for her. Steve.

Do you think you would have voted her horse of the year?

I'm sure I would have for sure if I had a.

It would have been a tough call. Trying to figure that one out.

Where'd you land in this one? Did you land on Bella?

No, although this is a race I don't have a high degree of

confidence in and I'm going to use I'll, I'll use her in the in

the horizontals. Where I ended up landing for the

top pick, though, is like something that I I when I first

looked at the race, I said this is the one horse I don't want

anything to do with and I ended up landing on the horse and

that's the number 5 powered by family.

You know, coming in just off the maiden win.

It was a rained off, you know, rained off the turf race.

But a couple things that I like here beside and you know,

there's a gaudy speed figure. Usually I would look at a lot of

these things and say beat nothing.

You know, it's visually that that win to me was so impressive

and it came after when you look at that first race the horse ran

last fall at Churchill, A1 turn race at Churchill.

She basically spotted the field 5 lengths coming out of the

gate, had a just a terrible trip.

And and, you know, for a minute there kind of loomed huge, you

know, as they came into the stretch.

And so I sort of thought for a first outing that was actually

pretty encouraging. Looked like a horse that wanted

to go farther, got the chance to go farther again under, you

know, maybe some modest circumstances, but like did

everything you could possibly ask for in that race, that last

out that two turn race here at Fairgrounds.

And I just think, you know. Just the horse, kind of.

Me looks like a horse that's going to, you know, run all day

and and and certainly seem like it in that race.

So I thought maybe, you know, maybe this is a bit open here.

Maybe you get a bit of a price. I see nine to two.

I'm not quite sure what to expect, but that's going to be

my top choice here. Interesting step forward.

You have done this to me before where I see a horse run in the

mud and I'm like, I don't know how they're going to come back

and then Ceiling Crusher wins the cotillion of all things.

And so you've done this to me before, Steve.

It's interesting her numbers though, because I went back and

looked for the exact same reason that you just brought up.

She ran on one of the Stars of Tomorrow cards at Churchill

Downs in one of the main races on that 7 furlong.

And you're right, there's even a note in the past performances

that she was tough to load. And I went back and watched that

replay and it's, you know, you get used to like the two-minute

and 25 seconds sort of replays. That was like 240-5250 because

of her. It's a she needed a lot of work.

That first time seems to have calmed down quite a bit in that

last start, so it's an interesting one.

The five on top you have just singing in the second spot here

and Cat Sweeze, who's a trainer I really like and I would love

to get a a horse at this level. Just singing comes out of that

golden rod and boy, she was flying at the end right behind

Bella Ballerina. That and that that was it.

It's, it's sort of similar to, you know, I, I sort of feel like

between powered by family and just singing I to take a shot

that one of those 2 is going to have a close like that.

And again, in that big stretch of fairgrounds, yeah, I won't

have them both. Yeah, I think of all of the

horses here and I wanted to ask you this as I was going through

the pick five trying to pick out this spot.

I always try to figure out the horse you have to beat to get

the best payout right in that in that sequence.

Do you think it's going to be more Bella Ballerina or hit show

in this sequence? I my guess is hit show just

based on that, on that resume. That's that's how I was, you

know, thinking about it. But the next race might have a

very, very short one too. So yeah.

There's so many interesting horses in here as well, Steve,

that I think you know are ones that we're going to have to

watch moving forward. Love your neighbor picks up Luis

Saez when I talk about him being on four to six to one kind of

horses. This is one of those six to one

horses and I'm not putting down Axel conception, but if I can

have Luis Saez or Axel conception, the world is a very

gives me very simple choices like that.

I'm taking Luis Saez and that's a horse that's only missed by a

head, by a neck, etcetera. I think that's one that can

really take Luis Saez's, you know, a little bit of leaning

into and and I think she'll be able to get up in this spot as

well. So I think Love your Neighbors

got a real shot here too. Yeah, I mean, watch that be the

one that blows everything up for me.

I, you know, ultimately I just and I saw blinkers going on and,

you know, I just I looked, I said a lot when when you get

past five, a lot of near misses, a lot of change ups and I sort

of felt like, you know, but yeah, I watch that be the one.

I'm sure it will be. Makes sense.

Yeah, that's how the world goes. He's Steve Kornacki, NBC Sports

Live. Louie Ramos, the horse racing

happy hour. We're hanging out ahead of the

Risen Star, which is the closer race. 12 on the card there in

Louisiana, Grade 2, of course, and a a bunch of money.

Half, 1,000,000 bucks on the line here.

Mile and an eighth there, Steve. That long fairground stretch, as

John Dooley likes to say. Let's go ahead.

There's only eight horses here. We'll go quickly through the

field. Universal break from the one,

Chris. I lay it down.

A guy that I got, I think probably 3rd place most from us

for champion apprentice Jock last year, but was in the Smarty

Jones last time at Oaklawn Park. And I'll be honest, Steve, with

the, with the weather and the different things, if a horse

didn't like Oaklawn this year, I'm, I've decided mentally I'm

not going to try to hold it against them because he was

really good in the Jockey Club right before that.

We've seen this Mcpeak, these Mcpeak horses, he runs his

horses. He doesn't train them to run.

He runs them to, to be in shape. And so do you think he's got a

shot here? Because I absolutely do.

Yeah, yes, I think he he does. And especially because of what

you just said, Mcpeak. And I just feel this is the, you

know, Mcpeak always has these horses that just pop up even

when I'm not fully expecting it. And you know, I, I'm not really

going to be using him, to be honest.

So if he beats me, he beats me. But with Mcpeak, Mcpeak has

beaten me more than enough so. That's exactly right, Golden

tempo the two here. You brought him up earlier.

All the best to everyone betting against Cherie de.

Boe in fairgrounds. Right now, what do you like

about him? Yeah, I mean, I said that close

in the in the Lecompte when I I, you know, you look back at that

card, you know that day, I think there were two 8 to 1 gate to

wire winners. There was a 7 to 1 gate to wire

winner. You know, I don't know

fairgrounds well enough to really be attuned to biases, but

I was just looking at this. It seemed to me that something

about the track was carrying speed that day.

And so to have that kind of a close on what I think might have

been that kind of a day got me. I'm very curious about golden

tempo now. It's not going to be I'm not

going to go there in this race because I well, we'll we'll get

to it. But that that's a horse where if

if, if you if something like we saw in the Lecomte happens again

here, that conversation we had at the start of the show about

who's, you know, at near the top of my Derby list would change

and Golden Temple would enter into that.

Jose Ortiz hitting at 34% right now in his first 50 mounts with

Cherie Devoe at the fairgrounds. Carson St. will break from the

three Ben Curtis rides for Ben. Brendan Walsh here, another son

of St. Sense in this spot, was third in

that. Lecomte had the lead briefly in

the stretch there as part of that sort of furious finish with

Mesquite and Carson St. I think 8 to 1's more than fair

on him in this race. Yeah, I took a long look here.

I thought about this for a long time and I, I sort of just kind

of decided, you know, that was the race to do it.

The Lecomte, you know, drifted a bit in the stretch, but I sort

of felt that was the day, you know?

Did win in the slot before that, but on Lasix.

But Ben Curtis was on board. He'll get the ride here in the

Risen Star. The favorite will be Paladin.

He comes out of the Remsen. He won that by two lengths over

Renegade, Who all Renegade did was come back and win his first

race this year. A son of Gun Runner and boy, he

looks like his dad, doesn't he? Yeah, I mean this and this is

what you know, I'm I'm mainly going here in this race and

again, this is the price here is going to be I see eight to five.

It's probably going to be in my mind, you know, less than that.

But I just essentially A2 for two horse, you know, the DQ in

the first race Renegade, you know, we, you know, right there

with, you know, each time coming back, you know, I'm looking so

impressive, you know, at Tampa last week.

And you know, I just kind of feel like the horse looks like

he's going to be pretty forward. We know we can handle the

distance and I don't think there's going to be a ton of

speed in here and and may just kind of may just kind of

obliterate him. Paladin, the same ownership

group as Sierra Leone, who was a $2.3 million purchase.

Paladin, a $1.9 million purchase just this last August in 2024.

Chip Honcho, A fascinating horse.

They're taking the blinkers off. Is the Asmussen team another six

to one ride for Luis Ayez here. This one was another one in that

furious finish in the Lecomte. Steve, people like Chip Honcho.

I'm not gonna lie to you. He's almost like an early buzz

horse on the Derby trail. What do you make of Chip Honcho

here? I I.

I like chip poncho too. I, you know, again, for the

reason they say I'm not going to, I'm not going to take him.

I liked him in the in the lecomte.

I had him in the lecomte. I'm not sure.

I I, I think he might ultimately be a horse that doesn't want to

go that long, but you know, so I'm not going to, I'm not going

to go with him here. I I feel a bit the same there,

you know, as as Carson St. maybe had the chance there in the

Lecomte. Colt 4720 to one on the morning

line for Keith De Zormo, who's actually off to a spectacular

start. This meet down there at

Fairgrounds has been really good out West as well.

Jim's Jimmy Graham gets them out here.

I'm interested in this one to see if this horse can run 4th.

What do you think, Steve? That sounds, that sounds about

right, yeah, yeah. Look, the breeding makes sense

for him to fit in here, right? Bolt nor Oh, we can pioneer the

denial of the damn site. Like all that stuff makes sense.

He just hasn't done it yet. And certainly he's been running

in lower company as well. I would actually put him as the

most likely to scratch out of this race, I think.

That yeah, that's that. That also makes sense.

Man, Steve, I got to tell you so I man, I forget when this was.

It was probably about six months ago.

Frank Angst, who's our editor of Blood Horse.

Nice guy. And he something had happened,

but he he landed on a box at Churchill Downs on a Sunday or

something. He said Hey can you, you know,

come bring one of your kids, we'll hang out, blah blah.

So we go. The box next to us was putting

in 5 bucks a race each person for the first horse to come back

after the race. And it was hilarious watching

these people next to us. So if you ever need a game to

play with your buddies, right, it's like it, it's like 50 bucks

for the whole day, right? And if you hit it once you get

all your money back, it's a spectacular it.

My son was watching that more than he was watching the races

and got that. That'll work at Saratoga this

summer. That's a good one, yeah.

That's a really good one. That's exactly right.

Corn Eagle break from the seven and boy you talk about, I mean,

Steve, this is this is how much of A favorite paladin is that a

horse of this quality is going to be at least 5 to 1 in this

race comes out of that Remsen as well in fourth place in that

one. Steve, he almost reminds me at

this point of his development. Do you remember Domestic product

ran 7th in the Remsen and then came back was really good in the

Tampa series. He kind of reminds me of being

in that sort of spot right now. Great connections, great

breeding. Curlin, of course, and then

Bernardini. Mary, you couldn't ask for

Derby. I mean, goodness, goodness

gracious. Maybe I don't, maybe Belmont, I

don't know. But I mean, like, that's, that's

as good as he gets. As far as going two turns on the

dirt at least. What do you make of his chances

here? The layoff?

A little bit of a question, but boy, we're not questioning it

for Paladin. Yeah, I mean, he was a he was a

bargain for them too, right? They only paid, oh, $5 million.

Laura Bargains throw the blinkers on though here I think

is pretty interesting. They want him closer.

They want him to run like he did at Aqueduct.

Thank you. That's it.

This is the other horse I I am going to use here hoping that

you know, and again, I have no idea what to expect in terms of

the the price on this seeing six to one, six to one.

I, I seems more than to me seems more than you're going to get.

But whatever it is, if the horse actually starts to realize the

potential that's there for that breeding and for that price,

whatever the price is, will end up looking like a steal if the

horse actually runs to it. The blinkers is the variable to

me. Maybe that's going to change

things. I was listening to, I'm going to

want to credit, I was listening to somebody who knows what

they're talking about and I can't remember the name now, who

was saying that? The workouts, you know, and I

don't know how to watch workouts, but the saying the

workouts look super impressive with the blinkers on.

So I'm starting to think, you know, from that outside post

with the ex, this is a what a full sibling.

The Clarier. I I'll, yeah, I'll, I think if

you're getting 4 to 1/5 to 1, something like that here and and

the blinkers make the difference.

I'll want to have that on my ticket.

So this is the other one I'm I'm using.

Got a quality mischief from the outside is one that I'm

fascinated in. Flora Giroux back in town.

Brad throws him a board that makes me think they're going to

try to be closer in this one than they have been in the past.

This one did break. Its made in Horseshoe

Indianapolis in a race that was taken off the turf, so obviously

they had turf ideas for this one.

I asked Brad about this horse before ahead of the Gun Runner

or maybe I was adding a little comp to Steve and he's and I

asked him he's like oh did you run this one on the turf because

you need it? He's like no, it was just a

condition. This one fit into it.

So it's not as though he wanted this one on the turf all the

time. It's just when you have as many

good 3 year olds as he did, or a 2 year old in this case in

August, you just go where you can right?

Essentially was what he was telling me and so tried the

turf, didn't work, stayed in the condition the next time, washed

off horse immediately wins and then is really close in the gun

runner. I'm fascinated by him.

Obviously if you want a Derby winner, Quality Rd. on the damn

side in a Mischief on the sire side works really well.

Yeah, no, I mean, I, I like sort of the outside post.

They're drawn outside everybody. But yeah, you know, to me it'll

be the kind of horse look, if I'm doing something with with

tries or something, I'll, I'll be using.

But yeah, make my stand on the on the the New York transplants.

So, Steve, your top in this race are 4:00 and 7:00, so that of

course, is Paladin and Courting. If you had a third horse to

fail, fill out that trifecta, where do you think you'd go?

I would put the Jay poncho in. OK, interesting.

Yeah, I I think there's a chance Luis Saez really upsets the

Apple Card on Saturday down there in Fairgrounds.

I think it's just one of those things.

Well, Steve, I appreciate it very much.

What's your next? What's your next big project

here and now that you're back from the Super Bowl?

Well, we got, we got election stuff coming up here, the start

of the start of midterm primary season in a couple weeks.

So we're getting ready for the Texas primary on March, March

3rd. That'll be our next big

election. What's the big swing county in

Texas this year? These are my favorite questions.

Looking at like Tarrant County, Terence, the one in the news,

that's where Fort Worth is. That was yeah, that one got some

attention recently for for political nerds, but no,

otherwise I won't even try. So.

No, that's all right. Well, he's Steve Kordaki, NBC

Sports. Of course, we appreciate him

jumping on with us here on the horse racing happy hour.

I'll go ahead and play the music and get us out of here.

We'll be back tomorrow. At least I will tomorrow

morning. Kevin Killary will join me.

I will preview the exact same races so you get Kevin's

opinions from man who's on the ground there at the fairgrounds.

2:00 tomorrow. Of course, Barry Spears right

here on the Horse racing happy hour.

Our soul cast Saturdays period. And of course, 6:00 tomorrow

night. You're my interview with trainer

John Ennis. Swept the stakes at Turpway Park

last weekend. Got an interesting one on the

Oaks Trail there as well for Steve Kornacki.

I'm Lou Urbell, thanks for hanging out with us here on the

Horse Racing Happy Hour.