BloodHorse Monday | Big Cap Review

All right, welcome into March 9th edition of a Blood Horse

Monday. We're live at San Anita Park.

It's actually the 7th of March at this point, believe it or

not, after big cap day. Sean Collins, Lawyer Beau

hanging out with you. Thanks so much for starting your

horse racing week with us, Sean. Fun day out here.

Fun weekend in general. Great treatment by the folks

here at Santa Anita Park. San Felipe in the books.

Big Cap in the books. Couple of other stakes as well.

Splendora wins the Beholder Mile of Fun Day here.

Today, yeah, it was a great day as you can see the the nights

coming to an end here behind no mountains.

In the picture here. Yeah, no mountains.

They are back there. We have seen them directly.

Yes. Maybe I can throw a quick little

video up showing mountains during the daytime up here.

But yeah, it was, it was a fantastic day of racing.

We were here yesterday and today.

Fantastic time. Thank you everybody that came

out to both of us and said hello and told us that you enjoyed

watching the show, enjoyed meeting you guys out here.

But yeah, it was a fantastic day of racing.

Splendora really stole the show for me for sure.

British Isles. Obviously a lot will be made

about the field size about the time, but as far as visually he

looked impressive falling away from everybody.

It was a good race. We mentioned on the show last

week, I was just excited no matter what the field ended up

being. I was just excited to be here

for the Santa Anita Handicap, the Big Cap, very historic race.

Me being a big fan of horse racing history, yes, just to be

out here for the Big Cap was really awesome.

Also, 19,000 people were here today.

It was the largest crowd of the decade for the Big Cap.

It was the largest crowd since 2019.

So despite everything that was said about the field, fantastic

showing of people to come out to the.

Race and what we got on the card today is something that happens

on these big days so often, which is that those undercard

races really fill in. Yes, these owners want to run

their horses in front of 19,000 people because usually you don't

get that kind of opportunity or modern horse racing.

And so we had some other races that were great.

You brought up Splendora and I agree with you.

Star of the day for sure. I thought that performance going

a mile had plenty left in the tank at the end.

Makes her a real candidate. 9 furlongs for the Distaff

division. I know this is going to really

open the door for a lot of conversations going forward

because the way she ran in that mile today, she definitely

looked like she can handle some more distance.

I just thought the way that she kind of drew off down the

stretch, Juan Hernandez, just a statue in the saddle there.

And so also shout out to Juan Hernandez.

Happy birthday. Happy birthday.

Four wins today, 3 graded stakes.

I mean, you can't ask for anything more than that.

But yeah, she really looked like she was cruising down the lane

there. I mean, this was her second time

going a mile. She's run well at a mile an

eighth. In the past, she's been second

in the Santa Maria or the Santa Margarita, excuse me, at that

distance. And so she's one that I think

now that she's kind of progressed more, she can

definitely handle that distance. And so it'll be exciting to see

what she could possibly do going forward, whether she ends up

staying in the Sprint division or we see her in the Distaff

division. We saw at Oakland the distaff

divisions maybe not as not as tight as we thought.

Maybe sloppy conditions there, who knows, But frankly, look at

we talk a lot about, you know, 2 year olds translating to

three-year olds. There's not always get to you.

You translate from three to four either, right.

So Nitrogen might not be who she was last year.

I think she will be eventually. And so I think the distance

division is fine, but it's nice to see Splendor go the two turns

the way that she did because all we know she's got to get an

extra furlong. I think she's very much set up

for that, yes. And.

Well, let me throw in the disclaimer as far as nitrogen

goes. Obviously, as you see here on

the video, we're filming this while we're still at Santa

Anita. I've not had a chance to watch a

race from any other track, so we will talk about that a little

bit later on in the show once we get to Monday.

That's why I bring up the slot. I just, I think sometimes we, we

underestimate, you know, changing conditions, different

things for horses. First off, the bench for

nitrogen in that race, big field, all those things.

I think she'll be fine moving forward.

But I agree with you, Splendora, as far as the West Coast horses

especially. Been an interesting year.

Obviously, Baffert historically in the Distaff, not his race.

Yeah, so he's always looking for that one.

That might do it here. Who knows if this daughter of

Audible might be it for him. I thought a couple of

interesting races as well in the middle of the card, including a

maiden special where Crude Velocity gets up and wins, was

12:50 on the board. Baffert with these first timers,

we know how that goes. But it was the other Manford, of

course, that one here, just like in the city, excuse me, of the

5th San Felipe, which we'll get to in a second.

Crude Velocity though, I thought was an interesting ride here

from from Floral I thought just gave him the perfect trip.

Yeah, he did give him the perfect trip and he he did look

impressive down the lane. He looked professional as he was

coming down the stretch. I agree with that.

So, yeah, it was a really good one for him.

When obviously we talked a lot about the show.

We talked all the time about the show, about Kentucky Derby

potential. You're hitting it kind of late

here. He's this one.

But this is still 1 you should throw on your list.

This is one we might probably are going to be hearing about.

Later on, so really interesting breeding here too.

So this is a son of Oleum Lemon drop kid on the damn side,

though, So the distances there I thought looked really good

sprinting. This is a horse he's been hiding

at Bob Baffert, but hiding at locile for a little while.

Thought he was ready. He's moved into Santa Anita in

the last couple of months and he's really liked the track and

obviously today gets it done there as well.

The San Felipe, of course, the Derby prep that we saw here

today, but potenti here. It's really interesting because

this is an into mischief. We've seen that before.

We watched Justify win a, a, you know, a March allowance before.

Yep. Do you see any tensions of

Justify here? What did you make of the race

today? I'll I'll leave it sort of open.

It I didn't see justify. I agree with that part.

I I did not see him out there, but I did like that.

You know, obviously stretching out from six furlongs to a minus

16th against this kind of competition is a lot to ask.

I think we're going to start asking questions about what was

behind him in this race. He beats 60 something to one

shot in robusta to win. So happy.

I think maybe was starting hit the wall a little bit there at

the end. Although he did take it to Brant

early, so I'm not sure if that's 100% just the distance or if

that's just because of the way that it went that he got tired

there at the end of that race. But I did like the way that he

closed into this. Obviously he was on on the lead

in his maiden race on his debut. He set the pace in that one.

I like the fact that he was showing a surge late that he was

getting up there like so I do like that.

I would like to see him a second time routing now that he's had

this experience under his belt to see what he's made of.

But I don't think this was This was definitely a step forward on

the Kentucky Derby trail for. Sure.

And Bafford, immediately after the race said, look, he's

running again before the Derby. He's a Derby horse and and he

was very clear too, about Brant. Brant's not going to the Derby

trail. We're not going to see Brant in

the sanity of Derby. I thought that was very clear

after the race. Thought he was not frankly

ready. He even talked about it.

They planned to ship him to Arkansas.

Wasn't ready for that. He wasn't ready today either.

And so it's an interesting thing.

Sometimes horses need a certain amount of time off different

things. I thought Brant's performance

today kind of solidified what what Baffert had kind of hinted

toward all week. Yeah.

And I think I, I had posed this question on your show.

I think we may have talked about this last week briefly as well.

I'm starting to question a little bit of what we saw in the

Breeders Cup Juvenile last year and it's a shame that we don't

have Ted Nafi as you hear. Good.

Do you hear the sounds of Santa Anita behind us?

The wrapping up? Of must be a live.

Show but so it's a shame we won't see Ted Nafi at this point

to see exactly. How good that group is.

How good Drapy isn't even available.

Yeah, for this conversation now. All three.

Of them are out, yeah. But we're starting to see, I

think that the juvenile horses have not really come back in the

way that we were expecting them to, the ones that have been able

to run. And so I think we saw that with

Brant today. Maybe they just kind of pushed,

pushed him to try to be ready, try to get him on the Derby

trail and then we'll see him end up, you know, kind of as he now

has maybe a little bit more time.

Maybe we could still see him pop up and be a threat down the

road. But I I mean, he he set the

pace. I know so Happy was going after

him, but he folded pretty quickly there.

Now the question I have for you is I know you talked about it on

the show. You were very high on Potente's

maiden win. I was.

And So what are your thoughts now coming out of the San

Felipe? I So here's my dilemma.

And it's a legitimate 1 I think so he finishes his race in an

amount of time that I think is is a reasonable sort of thing.

But my OK, so something I hate in college football is the eye

test. So I'm going to go ahead and

apply the eye test here to that race.

And, and so I, I just, I don't know that I saw anything today

that if I'm Brad Cox and I've got my third string runner or

I'm Todd Pletcher and I've got my third string runner, that I

wouldn't send them out here to find out what could happen in

the San Anita Derby. Because at worst, if Potente

runs me down and I run second, I'm in this.

I'm probably in the field. Yep, I'm probably in the field.

And I think that this is going to set up in a way that if I'm

outside of this circle here in Southern California, I'm

thinking very seriously about shipping for that race because I

don't know how good this group is.

Yeah. And I and look again, final

time, Potente. Maybe he grows into this and

he's ready, you know, second time routing next time, maybe

that's it. And look, it's a son of Into

Mischief. Awesome.

Again, on the damn side. I'm not worried about that part

at all. It just didn't look like what

I'm used to from Santa Anita Derby horses, man, It didn't.

And so I, I, that's my take on it.

If I'm used to the Rockies and I've got a good Derby starter

but he's not by one or two, I'm shipping him out here to see if

I can't get another horse and starting.

Game. If I, if I'm a horse east of the

Rockies right now, I'm not. I'm not.

I'm not really concerned about the West Coast horses at the

moment. We'll see what ends up happening

in the Santa Anita Derby. But if I if I have a horse over

there, I'm confident in my horse's ability.

I'm confident when we're looking toward the Kentucky Derby.

But I'll say this like if you're looking at a paladin in the

bluegrass or if you're looking at some of these other horses

that are going to be in those hundred point preps, maybe you

don't have a synthetic horse, so the the Ruby doesn't work for

you. Yep, this might be it, man.

I mean, this might legitimately be a great opportunity for

someone to jump in on this group because it branch out.

We're just talking about horses that you know, I mean, they're I

won't say another one bites the dust, but you know what I mean?

I mean, it's kind of like that where they're just not going to

be on this trail anymore. And I mean are do you think

Robust is going to run that race again?

I. Mean it would be great.

It's a it's a sort of accelerate.

It's it's not off the. Board how much of your how much

of your opinion on his stretch run is due to the fact that the

60 something to one shot? No, no, no, Let's not do that

because I asked Barry about Robusta on the preview show, and

it was Barry that was against him, not me.

I asked about him because of his maiden breaking wind right here

at Santa Anita over the mile. I thought the Robert B Lewis, he

just tried to be part of the early pace.

And that group with Plutarch and Intrepido.

Intrepido especially. Yeah, it was very, very

difficult. Plutarch was always gonna pass

him. I just.

I thought in today's group he would finish like third or

fourth, fill out your super. I didn't think he was gonna do

that. Yeah.

And so I don't, I don't know. Sometimes the 60 to 1, you

gotta, I don't know, maybe it's a playback next time.

But today was the day to bet him, is my sense.

Barry Spears behind the camera Is Robusta gonna Is Robusta

gonna run this way again? Have.

You has he convinced you get. Over here.

Get over here. Come.

Explain your robust come explain robust to take for sure here on

the program and that's MSI Hanabi who's really come on out

of here as. Well, yeah, I think actually he

might be the difference maker with that horse.

Putting that horse in the race makes all the difference.

Obviously he he gets bold and strong when he's up front.

Nobody was in his way. I thought if he didn't, if he

changed leads late, he wins that race.

He just didn't do it. Juan got him late and and that's

where we are. I would love to see that run

again. I think he has it in him.

So happy. Can he get the two turns or

would you go back to more of? AI would go back to sprinting

with that. Horse, would you look at a pad a

mile for him even? Yeah.

One turn Miles, probably the limit for him.

OK. Now that makes sense to me for

sure. Any other?

Any other San Felipe thoughts did?

What do you make of Potente? Potente is nice, OK?

I mean, he he actually didn't really surprise his his price

was a surprise more than anything else.

I think his potential was always there.

He showed it today. And I think onward and upward,

you know, horses like that who blossom kind of late in the

spring are kind of dangerous. Yeah, no, we'll we'll find out

for sure. A bit of a bit of like a justify

feel with a win in March as the second ever race.

Now that wasn't an allowance, right?

Conditions are a little different in the world now.

That was 2018, man. That's eight years later.

The world's a little different in horse racing.

There just aren't allowances for three-year olds a lot, right?

So of course I picked the spot for potenti goes and picks the

thing off. Yeah, I mean, it was the kind of

the next logical step. Like you said, there really

wasn't any other race for him to go to.

He was better than most of the competition at any other level.

That was the most logical spot. He came through Brandon.

That's clearly not what he used to be.

It's an interesting thing trying to go from 2:00 to 3:00.

It really is. It's so difficult.

And as Sean said, and you brought up a good point, it's

something that I want to get back to on this show, which is

we get in our heads because, you know, a race is the Breeders Cup

or it's whatever it is. Oh, that's the biggest soda man.

If we're talking Derby predictors, the Remsen is like,

yeah, one of the goats right now.

And then you're talking about the street sets of Churchill

down. What are the goats right now?

Frankly, I'm looking at those races because if we're trying to

translate to three-year old season, if you're great as a 2

year old and you're super corridor who by the way could

give us another hint about about Breeders' Cup runners tomorrow

in the San Isbell here, right or.

Yesterday, on the day you're watching this so you'll know

whether or not she was correct. Well, that's for them, but not

for us. I was doing it for us.

Are there people watching this thing?

No. Let's see like thousands of

people watching is super. Corridor gonna win.

Let's see. They'll know whether or not

we're right. Is Super Corridor gonna win?

Yes, Barry. No.

Sean, I say yes, let's go all. Right, OK, but but the Philly

form translates more often from 2:00 to 3:00, in my mind at

least. Maybe just thinking about some

of the great 2 year old Phillies that we've had that translated

to three. But then we've also got plenty

of examples where they don't like who's your, who's your

Philly and that kind of stuff where they're just dynamited two

example and then just three and it just didn't happen.

So yeah, she she didn't blossom and and she was a nice horse and

she was very tough, ran hard. But yeah, the jump from.

Two to three just didn't work. Just did it.

Just sort right. Wasn't there.

We'll stood out to you on the car today.

Dora obviously was super good. I mean do.

You think the knife for longs as well within her bag?

I agree with you. I mean, she's cool, man.

Quick enough to get those kind of leads against those caliper

horses. Shout out Marilyn Brett.

Really. Dangerous.

Really. Really.

She's just going forward. Cool.

Other than that, I mean, final boss, Really.

Yeah. Interesting.

That's repeatable, too. Yeah, because he didn't do

anything special. I'm not thinking of it like it

was very fast. But he didn't do anything

special, right? It wasn't some rally from the

back or anything like that. Yeah, and it actually worked

out. It kind of fell into his lap,

but when you get that kind of position in a race like that and

they come back to you, he's right there to pick.

Up. So of course, we saw on the

Wicker and you talked about him on the preview show where, you

know, he had gone the mile, he had done it before and just ran

out of gas. And that siren lure, especially

in the six furlongs trying to Sprint, trying to do those

different things just all came together today.

And frankly, John Sandler off the layoff, here we are.

That's all those. It's pretty that's a pretty

solid name. It really is.

Yeah. Well, Barry, how did you like?

It's Santa Anita, man. Oh man, this place is great.

Yeah, I have to come back. Out here, we'll have to figure

it out for sure. It's Barry's first visit out

here. There you go.

To Santa Anita, So Barry, where? Real quick, before we go away,

where can our viewers find you? You can find me on the horse

racing happy hour, So Cal Saturdays.

We do this show every Friday so that's where you can find me.

Appreciate it man. There you go.

Thank you, Chris. Appreciate you, buddy.

Thanks for coming out with us this week here at Santa Anita

Park. Last one, of course, is the Big

Cap. We're going to talk with the

connections of the winning horse in British Isles.

Lots of things to say about this race, lots of conversation to

have about what the Big Cap is and where it's going and what

it's going to be in a few years. But there's no denying what,

especially with what you open with that this day, still

matters in Southern California. 19,000 people bothered to show

up today on one of the windiest days I've ever.

Yes, it is the first time since the flight line Breeders' Cup at

Keeneland that I was scared. Things like tents, like lifting

off the ground, which they did. Yes, which they did, yeah, so.

First time since that. Story time here for So Louis

Berry and I got here about 5:30 this morning because no, it was

530. Yes.

No, it was journalism or journalism.

Yeah, four. I thought you were saying 4:00.

No, because Journalism 5. 30 Pacific, which doesn't count.

Journalism was supposed to come out and trade at 5:40, so we

were like, all right, we're going to come in and see

journalism. We get here.

No horses on the race track. There's trash cans blowing

around. Smart move, by the way, by the

Santa. I need a team to not have

training this morning with the windstorm that was there, but we

just. Trash bags were like, I mean you

just trash. Bags everywhere, but we were

watching tents blow over, we're watching trash cans go

everywhere. We we had quite an interesting

board to get to sitting at the grandstand watching all this as

the sun rose over the mountains. So it windy, windy day.

It was a windy day for sure. It affected the early races.

It calmed down enough. It didn't affect the later

races. So it wasn't like, you know,

they ran the big cap at two O 5 because of the wind or

something. They ran it in two O 5 because

that was the quality of the horse in the race.

How good is British Isles? That's a tough question.

I have no idea. Yeah, I have no idea.

What do we do about just a touch running last on this?

Thing what do we do? He's he's 4th, 4th out of five.

OK, sorry. OK.

I mean, I didn't have a lot of confidence in you did into this

race. I mean, British Isles, it's hard

to tell because of what what the field ended up being.

Now, to be fair to him, he's now run three races on the dirt in a

row. He was 1/2 length beat to Nevada

Beach Grade 1 winner. So he does have to and then,

yeah, and the native diver. And then he ran 5th in the in

the Pegasus World Cup, which there's no shame in that.

Ship across the country. To do shipping across the

country behind skipping long stocking white, a barrio full

Serrano. So I mean that's a good field as

well. So can he could be competitive

with the top of this division at the big races?

I don't think so. Like if you're thinking about

the Breeders Cup classic already, Forever young

sovereignty, whatever 3 year olds are gonna end up being.

The Peaks Journalism by Azamet. Do you know who this reminds me

of is, you know, antiquarian? Ran in the Breeders Cup Classic

last year, was a Grade 1 winner. He reminds me a little bit of

antiquarian. You know, he's gonna show up.

You know, you get the, I don't think he's the quality of

antiquarian, but like, he reminds me of a little

antiquarian in that this might be his one grade one.

Yeah, in that kind of thing. That's what I'm getting at is

that just might be his upgrades. But you know.

What? You know what?

I do want to say this. You don't get credit for this,

Richard Baltus. You know why?

Because if you're on your horses, you got a chance to win.

Yeah. Here's a lesson, kids.

Here's a lesson. Run your horses.

You got a chance to win. Great.

Who says this horse isn't then going to pick off some of these

California races now? Because I mean, outside of when

Nicos and Nevada Beach come back and who knows if they're going

to stay here, if they're going to go E for some of the bigger

targets. So who says he's not going to go

on a little roll here? Pick up the Hollywood Cup,

Runwell in the San Diego and the Pacific Classic and those races.

He's definitely could be 1 to watch out here for sure.

It also sounds like he had a little bit of a throat issue

even just this week that he overcame in order to win this,

so who knows if he was even at 100%.

Today, the vodka vodka story. Yes, running second.

Here also, I want not just vodka vodka I want to shout out Almond

Joy as well. Getting to getting the show in

the beholder mile for Aggie. You're doing is both both of her

horses running grade ones today and placing.

That's a pretty big deal. Pretty good story there.

I was in the paddock for the the big cap and right after she

finished saddling Vodka Vodka there's a group of people that

yelled their name and cheered for in the paddock.

So pretty pretty nice story to see her horses running well.

Today, Aggie Ordone is only 35 starters in 2025, both of those

horses placing in grade ones today.

Last takeaways, last last thoughts on your your first big

cap and my first big it was. Very first big cap.

It was a great it was a great day of racing.

There's nothing like coming out to Santa Anita.

If you are somebody who's never been to Santa Anita before,

please put it on your bucket list cuz the sights of the

mountains behind you, I know you're stark right now so you

can't see them just yeah, don't wait.

Get out here. Come watch some racing, whether

it's big cap Day, whether it's Breeders' Cup like we've been

before, or whether it's any. Other there are monikers that

are arrogant like the Great Race Place which is super arrogant

and also super accurate. Yes.

It's just a different feeling when you're here.

It's big time, yeah. It's an awesome place.

Just the IT is. The other part though, that's

really great is if you're out here like we were early, we

didn't get the experience today. But Clockers Corner, yeah, top

of the stretch here is as horse racing a place as there is in

our country. And I'm not kidding.

It's as good as it gets. I think of like the the Clockers

Towers of Churchill on the backside where you hang out.

It's that kind of feel. But here with the coffee and

everybody just hanging out, getting the pastries and that

kind of stuff, it's just a spectacular spot.

So come on out for workouts, whatever it is.

San Anita Park, we really appreciate everybody here

treating us so well. Blood Horse Monday rolls along.

We talk with the big cap connections and we do it next.

All right. And from the dark background of

San Anita Saturday night to a Monday visit with Nick Cassano.

How about that? The odor of British Isles winner

of the Grade one Big Cap Santa Anita Handicap on Saturday.

Nick, are you still floating or if your feet touch the ground at

this point, How's this working? Thanks.

For the ground, I think once. OK, there it is.

Yeah, it's the best stuff. Pretty surreal and still kind of

floating. Just got off the phone with

Baltus right before I called you guys.

OK, all right, so let's do that part then.

How'd the horse come out of the race?

How's he doing? Came out great.

Obviously there's some phone calls from, you know, the Middle

East right about this time. People still kind of having some

Dubai World Cup thoughts with them.

So he came out of the race great.

Everyone's happy, the horse is doing well, trainers happy

couldn't ask for anything better.

And Nick, you and I were talking a little bit before the show and

and you mentioned how personal this is for you.

You're a guy, you grow up at Santa Anita.

It's your home track, all the things.

Tell us how you came up with the sport and and what it means to

win the big cap at Santanio. Well, I'm going to show you guys

something as I walk through my house here.

Love it. OK, and this is going to kind of

just tell you, you know this the picture is worth 1000 words.

Well, this picture right here should kind of say quite a bit

about how I grew up. I don't know how clear it will

be, but here it is right here. Can you guys see that?

Again, yes, yes. OK, wow, 1981 San Anita

Handicap. There's me, holding John Henry.

Wow, that's amazing. Wow.

Then go, go. There he is.

So that is pretty much how I spent every Sunday of my life

from probably 5 years old until God until I started driving and

didn't have the visits that I had with my father and mother

that divorced. So I grew up on Santa Anita's

apron down there by Clockers Corner.

And to win that, you know where the handicap has come from.

I don't know. It was a $250,000 race when I

was a kid, up to 1,000,000 unfortunately.

I still wish it was a million I. Bet you do, yeah.

But to me, like winning that race is probably more special

than winning the Pegasus World Cup, which is $3,000,000, as

crazy as it sounds, because of the history it has with me and

how dear it is to my heart. Yeah, well, you, you just showed

us that picture, John Henry there.

How much do you enjoy walking into Santa Anita, seeing that

statue there of him by the fountain?

Just kind of how how much did did you go and check that out at

all before the race this weekend?

Maybe get a little. Luck from that, you know it's

almost like the the crazy thing about it guys is I don't know if

each of you know this but I was a jockey age for 22 years prior

to starting Slam dunk so out even if you include my home that

I live in now because I've only lived here five years down in

Encinitas, I used to live up in Sierra Madre.

I have probably spent more time in my life at Santa Anita

racetrack than anywhere else in the world.

You know, between morning workouts, the draw, which we

used to have to wait for, there was a 2 hour break between

workouts and the draw going to the races in the afternoon.

So to me, that John Henry statue is almost like the bronze that's

sitting on your coffee table. You just kind of take it for

granted, You know, it's there. It's a beautiful, I mean, she

does beautiful work. All of her, all of her statues

are incredible. But Santa Anita, you know, I

mean, it's, it's, it's my track. It's, it's sad what it's become,

but hopefully it, it revives itself.

Yeah, we definitely had a fantastic time there this past

weekend. It was great experience, nice

crowd that showed up, largest crowd since 2019.

But talking about John Henry, yeah, the biggest crowd since

2019 that they had for that. But talking about John Henry,

obviously we saw him in the Santa Anita Handicap on the

dirt. He was very good on the turf as

well. British Isles here, started off

his career on the turf and then recently you guys switched him

back over to the dirt for his last couple of starts.

Just what went into that decision?

Kind of a cool comparison. I never thought of that.

Yeah. So Drayden Van Dyke, who My son

is an agent and he represents Diego Herrera.

My son was representing Drayden Van Dyke.

Drayden mentioned this horse to me.

He said, Nick, I think this is the type of horse you might want

to look at. He fits, you know, the profile

of what Slam Dunk does. Thought he was a turf horse

pretty much. Thought he also would need to be

gelded even though now I wish he had his festivals as they wish

John Henry had him as well. So I, I, I contacted Adrian

Wallace, who is one of the higher ups over at Coolmore.

He said talk with Bob. I had a conversation with Bob.

Bob was kind enough to to show me the horse.

I love the way he looked. I took Baltus by we bought him.

We bought him privately, immediately transitioned,

transitioned him to the turf. He seemed to like it, Geldingham

and in him running his turf races, he just never really got

to a level where we said OK, he's totally putting out.

And I said for like 3 races I try, I pushed on Richie and I'll

only push on a trainer so much because I don't want there to be

100% resistance, right? Because it's almost like self

sabotage. Like I told you that wouldn't

work. So I finally got Richie, just I

said we're running in the native diver and I don't want to hear

anything else. He's all right.

Put him in the native diary runs a great 2nd and that kind of

stamped him as a dirt horse. All of his workouts in the

morning, we're always on dirt and he just seemed to be, he's

not that quick. Turn a foot horse, that's your

normal turf horse. He's a grinder and I think turf

is his. I mean, I'm sorry, I think dirt

is his answer. Talk with Dick Cassano from Slam

Dunk Racing, Slam Dunk itself and you mentioned buying British

Isles. You've got some other folks.

How did you get started with what was the idea of getting out

of the the old jockey agency and working in working in in

ownership? What, what, What led to that?

Working for jockeys is a tough gig.

I I loved it. It's given me so many

relationships. I'm thankful for it.

But I just kind of, as I was getting a little older, I wanted

to do something else. I transitioned to a couple

businesses off the racetrack. I missed it.

A couple of my buddies are like, hey, with, with your knowledge

and everything and how much you passion you have for the game,

what about you starting a little ownership group?

And I'm like, all right, thinking it would be like 6

buddies and it would be a dozen horses thereabouts. 10/12

horses. Well, the next thing I know, we

have 111 horses. I own a piece of each of those

111 horses myself. My son's working for me.

We have 32 partners. And I'm like, whoa.

This is more than I bargained for.

So my son became a jockey agent. I've scaled back to now, which

is still a high number. I think we have 45 currently.

I have 10 brood mares. I do all the breeding myself.

You had drained the clock. I think we got to pay a little

tribute to him because he's hot as hell over at OBS right now.

Yes, we're going to ask you about him.

Don't worry. Oh yeah, OK, don't.

Worry I couldn't leave him out because he's a, he's a special

horse to me. And yeah, so that's kind of

where everything evolved and I'm very, very happy down here in

Encinitas. I have a great life, great

partners. And we're going to start doing

some more claiming and buying and really ramp this thing up

again. Awesome.

Nick Casado with us. I wanted to bring up, you

mentioned Diego Herrera, his first grade one new, it sounds

like new dad, Diego Herrera, all the excitement out there.

What's it like working with Diego?

Obviously a personal connection with your family as well.

Yeah, You know, I'm a little bummed to hear he's going to

Florida and he's decided to hire someone else from there, and

that was a little downer to hear that.

Been very loyal. He's done a great job.

Good kid, very good golfer. Can't say enough good things

about him. And that's why I've stuck with

them through all of this because, you know, we used to

ride Pratt quite a bit. And when you go from Pratt and

all of a sudden you're riding Diego Herrera, you catch a

little bit of Flack from your partners, like, hey, why do we

keep riding this kid, right? I believed in him.

He, he's the star in the making, but he's still young and he's

going to make some poor decisions here and there.

Not happy with the decision he made to go to Florida and and

not take my son with him and not because he's my son.

My son's kind of already proven that he could do it with Drayden

Van Dyke. They won a Breeders' Cup

together and you know, he's got some connections there in having

Drayden, like Safi Joseph with Drain the Clock, who we'll talk

about later. But yeah, great kid.

I think he's a star. He's still learning, but the

world's ahead of him. Well, you'd mention all those

different decisions that you have to make about make as an

owner and one of them that probably came up just this week.

I know you guys said that he didn't come out of his final

work all that well and there was a little concerned about about

his throat. Just what went into the early

part of the week. They're getting him ready for

the race. Well, it was, it was pretty

touch and go. I mean, I, I don't think he was

100% on Saturday in, in the big cap.

I think we probably saw about 80% of what he's capable of

doing. He had a little throat issue.

We got through it. I do think it hindered him in

the race a little bit and and the vet does as well.

It's nothing that'll bother him down the line, but it it

definitely did hinder him on Saturday and at at one point.

In all honesty, if Skippy Longstocking stays in the race

and Westwood doesn't scratch, you might have had a hard time

convincing Richie and myself to run pretty crazy the way things

can. Just like you know, what's meant

to be is kind of meant to be. Yeah.

And it's always nice when he's on 80% and still draws away down

the stretch, right. How, how, how impressive was

that? And looking back and considering

all that. It, it was, and I did think, you

know, this is something that I've kind of targeted this race,

like when we did want the native diver, the $3,000,000 pot for

the Pegasus World Cup was a huge decision maker for me just

because of the, the huge purse. Wasn't a super tough race, but I

always knew a mile and a quarter, it's a separator.

You know that, that, that extra 8th of a mile from a mile and an

eighth to a mile and a quarter horses, a lot of horses just

don't want that extra. They don't want the extra

furlong. And he's one that adores it.

So it'll be great to see what he's like if we don't sell them

at 100%. Yes, yeah, we're we'll be

looking forward to seeing him at 100% and in a race here coming

up. But you mentioned or you

mentioned earlier, Drain the Clock is having quite a bit of

success down there. Obsi think he had what two kids

that tied the track record for 1/4 mile in the under tax show.

They'll start going through the ring tomorrow.

First crop for him. Just what's your excitement

level seeing these kids of him already performing on the

racetrack? More excited about him, as crazy

as it sounds. The one on the big cap.

Wow. Yeah, yeah, big time buzz.

I mean, naturally I'm a part of him, so I hear it more, but I

don't recall a first year stallion with his two year olds

getting this much attention. I really don't and I mean daily.

I got a call yesterday, I was on the golf course.

I got a call from Omar Trevino who's a blood stock agent and I

answered, I said Omar, I'm playing golf.

Are you calling to congratulate me about the handicap or are you

calling about drain the clock? And I knew that he was, you

know, cuz the sales this week and he goes, bro, just drain the

clock like, you know, can, can, can I get a season from you?

Can I buy a breeding right? What do you have?

It's just big time buzz And, and you know, to have a horse that

you watched grow up, that you bred to win a Grade 1 was huge.

I mean, big, big moment. But then for him to potentially

turn into like this type of a stallion now let's not put the

horse in front of the cart or the cart in front of the horse

here. They have to prove it on the

racetrack, right? Yeah, they have to stay sound

and all the tangibles. But right now, have you guys

honestly heard any more buzz about a first year sire as with

two year olds? You do once in a while, but like

not for a horse and you know it's usually like oh the Derby

winners 2 year olds are coming something like that right yeah

or flight line or something like that.

But for a course of yeah, of of a grain the clock reputation,

it's it's as much as I can remember for sure.

I. Feel like he was a horse that

wasn't really on a lot of people's radars as being kind of

one of one of the leading sires of this group and now as we're

going into the 2 year old sale and we're watching the.

Form in the. Undertech show, all of a sudden

it's like, wait a second, is this going to be the the sire

that we're gonna have to look out for in this crop here?

So I think that's definitely, that's definitely a huge thing

for him going into this. Yeah, like you guys said, a

flight line to justify an arrogant, you know, they, they

have the microscope on them, but for a horse that really didn't

to do what he's done already this early, there's a lot of

buzz and I I couldn't be happier about it.

All right. So if I'm hearing this

correctly, your, your, your plan is to keep British Isles on the

dirt? Are we going for a big cap

repeat? Is that the next target for him?

What's going on? You mean the 2027 rendition?

Yeah, of course, yes. Hey, if I still have him and

he's around and doing well, absolutely.

You know, that's, that's, that's shooting pretty far down the

line for me. Don't really know what the next

target is for him, but yeah, you know, Pacific Classic, maybe

again a little ways away, but those longer distance races are

definitely or races we'll look at.

You, you mentioned earlier, you know, now that he's 1, you

started hearing some things from Dubai about coming over.

We're about to once a week complete the interview with here

with you here. We're going to talk a little bit

about the situation with Dubai. We're going to talk to trainer

David Fox, who's got a horse over there right now.

But as you hear that, obviously that's going to weigh a lot on

your decision as well. But how do you as an owner, like

analyze things? What are you looking at in terms

like what kind of information are you getting as far as the

race running, as far as what transportation would be like for

the horses in this kind of odd year and how much is that

weighing on the choice? Well, it's kind of twofold for

me. Like for me personally, it'd be

too quick to rush British Isles back to run there.

And. Correct me if I'm wrong, isn't

Trevor Young already there? I haven't.

Followed. Yeah.

So yeah, you'd have to no matter what.

I'm really not looking to butt heads with him, you know, I

mean, he only had to go from Saudi to there, and if he's

still in the race, he's a formidable opponent.

But from what I found out this weekend and talking to Bob

Baffert and Jimmy Barnes, none of their horses are going.

I don't know how many US contingency contingencies have

the same thoughts. Running second in a race like

that is it's big money. But now, if Forever Young wasn't

there and like everyone was jumping ship, God, it would be

something that I would really have to say.

I'd have to look at the safety of it and really, really make a

hard line decision on that because I do think it's dicey

and you're not even talking about just sending the horse

there. You got to send a human or two

with the horse all. Right.

A little technical issue there, but thanks to Nick for joining

us here on the program. I appreciate the candor about a

lot of things there, frankly. But but one thing I do want to

make sure I circle back to the excitement of winning the big

cap and what it means for him, that part irreplaceable in our

sport to describe to people, Hey, this is the race I want to

win, right? You know, if you talk to

probably, you know, a guy in, in New York City or something, I'd

love to win, you know, the, the traverse, you know, at, at

Saratoga. I'd love to win the big cap if

I'm an LA kid, you know, I want to win the Pacific Classic if

I'm a San Diego kid, you know, that kind of stuff.

You'd actually get to do it. Exactly.

Of course, worth a darn, enough to go win that thing is really

remarkable. So Congrats to slam drunk racing

and all that stuff. No big deal.

Drain the clock. Just available.

By the way, do you, do you get that reference?

Slam Dunk racing and drain the clock.

Yes, OK, yes, All right. I I know enough about

basketball. Why not watch every day like you

do? Because I don't have to talk

about it every day. That's real.

Yes, I do understand basketball references.

You were working on horse racing articles in the airport

yesterday. I was watching basketball.

That is a real thing that happened yesterday.

Pausing, taking notes, all that it was, it was interesting to

watch. Oh, but there you are.

Thank you again to Dick and the folks over at Slam a Dunk racing

a spectacular story from over the weekend.

And you know, you and I showed up early on Saturday with our

guy Barry Spears and we wanted to see journalism jog and it's

And instead we found chaos young Tron and I don't know if you

were like me, but it was windy enough so people know maybe

cancel training on Saturday morning there at Santa Anita

Park. And we watched everything from a

trash can to tents. Of course, big captain, right?

They got big things set up and all that stuff.

I was still removing sand from the inner parts of my eyeballs

next to my nose. I.

Still like to wear glasses? Five, 6:00 at night.

You're not wrong. This is a reminder.

Hey, Louis, wear the bleep and sunglasses.

Protect your eyes because we were taking that stuff.

Wild morning. Lots of chaos, but nothing, of

course, like the folks in the Middle East are dealing with

right now. Of course, with the ongoing

attacks on Iran and of course, the Dubai World Cup set to

happen here. We're going to talk about

trainer David Fox with next year who trains reef runner just one

in Saudi Arabia. So his horse is already there in

Dubai. We see forever young on the

track. And so this is affecting the

very top of our sport, the very best, best runners in our sport

there at the Dubai World Cup in the in the associated races with

that. Interested to hear David's

perspective and he's in an interesting spot that his horse

is already there. Was there before the fighting

started, Yeah, so. We've heard some reports,

different parts of the world where people are deciding not to

ship at this point, but for those that are there already, we

wanted to at least get David's thoughts on what was happening.

Just your thoughts heading into this.

Yeah, You know, we're, we're coming up on the Dubai World Cup

pretty quickly here. March 28th is the scheduled date

for that, the last Saturday at the month.

But for the American horses, the bigger date is this week.

This Saturday, March 14th is the day that the flight is supposed

to leave from Miami and head over there to Dubai.

So it's going to be an interesting week to determine

whether or not these horses are going to be heading over there

to Dubai. So yeah, it's a it's a tough

spot to be in. You know, we talked to Brad Cox

last week of a hit show and I spoke to Jose DeAngelo about Ben

Tornado after that show, you know, kind of asking them about

that. And their approach as of a week

ago was we're going to continue to train as if we're leaving on

the 14th, as if we're running in Dubai on the 28th and we'll wait

and see what happens over there. You know, these are horses where

their hit show won the race last year.

Ben Tornado, this has been his target since winning the

Breeders Cup Sprint. You know, these are horses where

this is a big part of the schedule that they're supposed

to have. And frankly, a big part of the

budget for a lot of these places, if you win one of these

races, man, it pays for a lot of other things as.

Well, it does. So it's a tough situation to be

in. Obviously you got to think about

not just the horses, you got to think about the team members.

I have to go along with the horses, not about it.

You know, David, who we're about to talk to, is in the

interesting position, as you mentioned, where the horse was

already there before the fighting started.

So he's got team members that kind of got stuck there.

The horse got stuck there and, you know, not only you have to

think about can I get the horse there in time for the race, but

am I going to be able to get the horse out after the race and get

the horse back? So we, we're seeing not, and

this is not just us here in the United States.

The European horses are in the same waiting pattern.

The Japanese horses are in the same waiting pattern.

Their quarantine is supposed to start soon.

If you read The Blood Horse Daily every day, you saw in

today's edition of the Blood Horse Daily in our weekly report

from Japan several of the Japanese horses, including three

horses that were supposed to run in the Dubai World Cup.

The actual race. Itself are they?

They have dropped out of contention and they are not

going to make the trip. So Japan right now seems to be

the one leading the way in terms of deciding not to go.

Now, obviously they still have forever young.

He's like like reef runner. He went there immediately after

the Saudi Cup before this all started.

So he's already there. He's stuck there.

And as he said, this is really impacting the top of the sport.

You think down the line, you know, some of these races,

including the World Cup itself, our Breeders' Cup Challenge

Series races, you have the UAE Derby, which is supposed to

award qualifying points. Usually, the top 2 finishers out

of that race get an automatic spot in the Kentucky Derby.

Including and used by a lot of Japanese runners as their route

to get to the Kentucky Derby. Exactly.

And so, you know, you think about the, you think about a

place like the Dolphin right now, who had the top two horses

on the Japanese road to the Kentucky Derby.

They were both supposed to go out to the UAE and we'll see

whether or not they do, but that takes you down from getting 2

invites if they run 1-2 there, that now only one of the two

gets an invite if they end up having to run in the Japanese

race at the end of the month to get the points.

So that's there's going to be lasting effects to this.

Obviously you can talk about potentially moving the Dubai

World Cup to later in the year. I know we are coming up on the

time of year where they usually stop racing in the Middle East

because it gets so hot, so it'll be tough to reschedule it.

And then obviously what when you look at the UAE Derby itself,

you can't really reschedule that and still have it be Kentucky

Derby important so. Should they run the Dubai World

Cup at Churchill in June? I'll be down for that.

I would be there, but but yes, obviously, you know, we're

talking about the racing implications of it.

This is not even scratching the surface on on the, you know, the

care of the people and the horses aspect of it.

So obviously that's a whole completely other consideration

that you definitely have to be thinking about, you know, with

the people being over there in the in the in the war zone

essentially. And so it'll be interesting to

hear David's perspective, hear what he has to say about his

team members that were over there when all this started.

So it'll be good to hear from him.

The other part, Sean, is it this episode actually made me think

about. So when I was, I was about 10

years old when the first Gulf War started in the early 90s,

and there was a moment where it felt very, very far away.

It felt like something that we didn't have to really worry

about. And now it's only a couple

years, only a couple decades later, frankly.

And we're talking about in terms of horses and this being part of

their schedule is how how flat the earth is now these days of

of just an expectation that you're going to go to these

races, that you're going to be there, that this is part of your

normal annual season. That kind of thing is a

remarkable part of this as well. So we'll talk with trainer David

Fox in the next segment. Pleased to be joined by trainer

David Fox joins us as Reef runner.

We'll be running in as part of the Dubai World Cup series there

in a few weeks. And I wanted to bring David in.

I'll discuss things how how are you doing, David?

All good. How are you?

You're doing great. Doing very well, doing very

well. Well, we'll, we'll get in.

Obviously the horse is already in Dubai.

We'll get into all that here in a little bit.

But first I want to just go back a couple of weeks, take us back

to that night in Saudi Arabia when he won the 1351 Turf

Sprint. Were you expecting that big of a

performance from him? And how, just how exciting was

that to see? I mean, yeah, I was.

I mean, the horse was training up to the race really, really

good. Maybe just every day he got

better and better, so I wasn't not 100% surprised.

Now he was coming out of well, he'd run in the Breeders Cup a

very strong fourth in that performance.

He was coming off the win in the Janice Sticks.

He seems like somebody or one of these horses that seems to be

kind of peeking right now getting to the best, the best

area of his career. Is that kind of what you think

as well, that he's one that's just really starting to come

along? Yeah.

I mean, he's really, I mean, you're talking about earlier in

your podcast talking about gelding horses.

It turned him around. I mean, he went from to me, you

know, probably a maybe a great three horse at best to, to who

he is now. I mean, just gelding him just

completely changes his overall look and his, his you know, his

attitude was always great. You know, he's a very he was

always a kind horse and just easy to deal with and not

studdish at all. But once, you know, we just, you

know, I mean, there's probably, you know, not the kind of

pedigree that you would say, oh, you can't geld them.

So Mr. Levon was kind enough. Let me cut him and move forward.

David Fox with US Reef rider is overseas right now.

Can you give us an idea, David, just for those of us who have

never done sent a horse to Saudi Arabia or the UAE, how big of a

team is over there with him and, and, and what does that look

like operationally to have a horse?

Like fortunately, I mean, I, I sent a groom over there and I

went with them. I was only a day behind.

That was actually a couple hours behind the horse.

And so I was there the whole time, you know, going up to the

race and then I was fortunate enough to hire a rider that, you

know, he was assistant trainer and, and has done really well.

You know, he's helped me out. So, you know, kind of worked out

a deal and he stayed with the horse and he's he's done a

remarkable job with the horse. You know, it looks fabulous as

you know, coat looks great, what he's eating.

He's doing everything right and he's thrilled him.

So the good thing is he got a chance to get on before the race

and he's actually told me the horses, if you can do it,

improve more so. So your sense is that?

Some weight on SO. Yeah.

So Reef Runner is unaffected essentially by the events going

on right now. Completely I call bomb proof.

What was, you know, when you first woke up the day that all

the fighting started, you started to see things.

What was what was that day like trying to get in touch with with

the groom that's over there trying to figure out, you know,

how close this is happening to the racetrack and everything

like that. Just take us through that

experience of trying to get information.

I mean, right away at first I was kind of like, you know, I

mean, there's a little scrimmage over there.

Things should be OK, but then it kind of it escalated.

And speaking to my assistant over there, he said, you know,

he says, you know, Dave, some mornings I'm walking out of the

barn and I see, you know, it's rockets flying over, you know,

out of the house in the morning. And so they, you know, he spoke

to, I guess the consulate there or whoever he spoke to and said

that, you know, they told him, you know, just, you know, you

know, go to work, go home. Don't be going, don't be going

in town and down to the, you know, down to the water or

anything, you know, just kind of use your head and take care of

your horse. So they're not, you know, I

mean, maybe as things have been seeming to escalate, things are

changing. But right now, it hasn't been,

you know, too scary. Good.

Or you mentioned the what they had told your staff to do,

they're out there. Just how much has that benefited

them? You know, obviously they're

probably somewhere where they don't know they're in a foreign

country that was supposed to be just for kind of this short time

leading up to the race. How much does going to work

every day still kind of having that a little bit of that

normalcy of seeing the horse working with him, How much is

that kind of helped out your team get through this?

I mean, they're pretty normal, but we get, he's got himself a

rental car because, you know, he, you know, they spend more

time with the horse and the, the transportation was a little bit,

you know, it wasn't to our liking.

So we, we got him, got him a rental car and, you know, he

calls me everyday, unfortunately he calls me about 10:30 at

night. So, and then he tried to go back

to sleep, but you know, he, we're, we're in, you know, close

contact all the time. So it's really good.

I mean, he's been, he's been great to work with.

So we are filming on March 9. Your plan is at this point that

Refront will be running at the end of the month.

Yeah, everything is still on go. You know, it's Speaking of Mr.

Lee. Mr. Lee belong on a regular

basis and he and his wife are actually planning on going also.

OK. Yeah.

Well, what does that look like for you guys now?

Have you, you know, with, I'm assuming you probably maybe

already had some flights booked or stuff like that, has that

gotten moved around like what is?

The What is the travel looking like?

12 you know, because I want to be there for a couple works, but

unfortunately they moved them back to the 18th and again,

we'll just have to see, you know, I mean, if they're flying,

we're going OK, you know, but then I feel like the, you know,

we, they should have enough of a handle on things to to know if

it's safe to fly or not. Have you, have you heard

anything from, you know, maybe the team at Maidan or anything

like that as far as if, if there's any plans on after the

races, you know, making sure that the horses can get out

afterwards? Have you heard anything?

Yeah, there's. A gentleman there named David

O'farrell. Not the same.

One that's in Ocala and he's, he's been really good with us,

you know, back and forth. So, you know, now I'm just, I'm

just waiting to hear from some riders to see who you know,

because obviously I mean irad's not going.

OK, Yeah. So is that I mean, these kind of

logistics is I mean, is there a chance we're just going to have

a kind of an all local jocks kind of Dubai World Cup this

year and you're just going to have to go?

I mean, I'm. Glad that I know my rider's not

going early on so I can, you know, make these kind of plans

early. You know, you don't want to be

waiting till the last minute looking, you know, chasing the

jock. Well, you mentioned that how how

they did talk to you for a little bit.

So you feel like the the Dubai Racing Clubs being really good

as far as keeping you informed on everything that's going on.

Yeah, they've done. Everything you know, it's been

great. I mean, I have no issues at all

with them. Awesome.

Cool, yeah. Well, obviously you were in a

different position than a lot of other trainers as far as the

horse was already there when all this started.

For a lot of these trainers, they have to make the choice by

Saturday whether or not they're going to actually send the

horse. Have you heard anything from

them or do you have any kind? Of I mean, I talked to, I talked

to Jose Diangelo. You know.

Pretty much daily and and he they're planning on going

they're all going home so and I don't know who I talked to Ken

Sweezy and he thinks that possibly the Derby might come up

on the light. So he wants to go.

So he asked me a bunch of questions the other day like,

you know, what's going on over there.

So I just, everything seems pretty quiet.

You know, they're, they're kind of like, honestly, they're kind

of like business as usual. Interesting.

That's felt like it. You know, obviously there was

all that kind of concern at the beginning, but as the I guess

we're what now two weeks into this or a week, a little over a

week into this, have you felt, has your team felt like things

have kind of calmed down a little bit?

I spoke to him yesterday and he actually said it was really

quiet, you know, So we just hope they start running out of

ammunition so we can safely get out, get over there and get back

safely. Well, speaking a little bit

about Reef Runner again, you know he's a home bred for the

Lee Blongs. Just what's what's it like

working with them? What's it like for them to have

a horse that's able to participate on the international

stage like this? I mean, Alex has had some, you

know, nice horses over the years, obviously had the Big

Beast and several other Grade 1 winners.

And we're in partnership on a horse named Duke and Mischief.

And that's been, well, I think I've been with Alex now getting

close to 30 years, you know, so they've been great.

I mean, they're all excited. Unfortunately, originally they

were planning taking the whole family with them.

So, you know, that's kind of been put on the sidelines,

unfortunately for them. You know, it would have been

really cool for everybody to be over there because I mean, they

were just, they were beside themselves in the winner's

circle. It was.

It was a lot of. Fun reef runner, of course, not

just a homebred but a son of the big beast.

So that's a pretty cool story on that end.

He. Also owns a broodmare.

Right. Yeah, No, that's a blame there

as well. So I mean, there's a nicely bred

horse here. Yeah, it's really interesting.

Well, with everything going on, I, you know, obviously you

you're not going to ship over there and not want to win the

race. Obviously, obviously you want to

win the race. But would it be a little a

little extra special with everything that he's had to go

through over the last week or so if you were able to pull out the

victory and return them home two time winner over there in the

Middle East this year? Oh, absolutely.

It'd be great. I mean, he's like I said, he's

done everything right. You know, he's a kind of a neat

horse. I mean, he's won from 5/8 to a

mile, I mean, to 6 3/4, you know, he won the Eddie D, he

won. He's won five eights.

I mean, his best distance I think is 3/4 and over.

I mean, do I don't actually see him, you know, stretching out to

two turns or anything, but you know, he's, he's been a very,

you know, useful horse where you can, you know, you don't have

to, you know, have just one distance.

Well, David, we appreciate it very much.

Safe travels coming up here. Appreciate your perspective on

everything coming out on short notice as well.

We are fascinated by everything. And I was saying before we, we

had you on David, just how, how flat the world is now that we

you just consider this part of the season and we're just going

to go to UAE. We're just going to go to Saudi

with our sport. And you know, the Derby points

all counting and all those things as well.

It's, it's, it's, you know, when I was a kid in the first Gulf

War happened, it feel, it felt so far away and horse racing

this time has made it seem very close.

Oh yeah, that's definitely feels like it's in your backyard.

It really does. Yeah, You know, and like I said,

everything's been, you know, the horse has been very safe.

They've done a great job of keeping all that safe.

I mean, you know, they've, I guess the Prince was over there

for the races, for the, for the big, for the, you know, first,

what do you call the preview day?

Yeah, so. The carnival, yeah.

It's been they're, they've done a great job.

Well, David, I'm glad Reef Runner's doing well and your

team's doing well over there as well.

Have a great trip with the with the ownership and we'll, you

know, let's hope we have a reason to talk again.

How about that? Absolutely.

Thank you. Thank you.

Awesome. Thank you, David.

Trainer David Fox joining us. Likewise.

Thank you so much. Trainer David Fox joining us

ahead of Reef Runners run there in UAE end of the month here.

So that was different than I expected.

Yeah, and I'm glad it was different than I expected.

How about that? Yes, I'll say that.

Yes. Well, exciting.

I mean, look, if if owners, you know, if the owners there are

still planning to go, I mean, they're they're everyone's

getting their information. I'm sure three weeks from now is

a different animal than what it is right now.

All those sorts of things. But boy, good to hear all those

things. Very nice to hear that things

are going well enough at the track that that there's this

kind of confidence about safety in these courts sorts of things.

Fantastic. Yeah, and you know, we're we're

all, you know, on the outside looking and obviously there's

there's a lot of comments on online of people talking about

this. And but you know, the trainers

like David, trainers like Jose who he mentioned and the other

trainers that are considering going over there, there.

It sounds like they're in constant contact with the team

out there in Dubai, getting these constant updates on

exactly what's going on out there.

And I mean, it sounds like they, you know, the from what he said

for his team out there that they, they feel like it's kind

of calmed down a little bit. A lot of that kind of early

commotion has maybe kind of settled aside.

They're getting more into the routine again.

And if they feel like it's from the information they're getting

from their team, from the team at Madon itself, they're feeling

like it's safe to travel. I mean, if the the horse was

already over there. So, you know, it's one thing if

he's going to stay there and run, but the fact that, you

know, David and the owners are are confident enough to fly out

there themselves to go be. There thinking about trying to

qualify for the Derby that way and that's an interesting

comment as well. So no, all this is very

fascinating to me and frankly you talk about a reef runner,

man, homebred, you know, there for the lead ones, 1.2 million

in that last race chance to go over 2,000,000 if it, if she,

excuse me, if he hits the board here in UAE, man.

That's of course the lifetime stuff, man.

For sure. And as he mentioned, you know,

it's a son of a son of the big beast out of one of their own

mayors. And so just the the importance

of this horse to the whole team, they're involved to get another

big win on the international scene like that, come back over

here, be one of the top turf sprinters going into going into

the summer and the fall after those victories out there would

be pretty big. Yeah, of course.

The big beast Maryland bred. How about that?

We're talking about Explorer over the weekend.

Or Splendor. Excuse me, Over the weekend, one

of the King's Bishop Stakes, the Grade 1 back in 2014 at

Sarasota. So there you go.

Yeah. Well done.

Of course, Sean and I were out West.

You saw that to open the the episode today, we saw the San

Felipe Watch Potente get it done there.

The Puma gets it done under Javier Castellano for Gustavo

Delgado in Tampa. Of course, finishing in that

photo. Or excuse me, I guess it was a

bit of a photo, but probably not totally With FURTHER Ado in

Catalento. They took pictures of it, I saw.

I've seen plenty of pictures of the of the Finnish.

I think it was a photo for a second.

And so, yes, but the Puma does win here.

Gustavo Delgado, this was 1, frankly, that coming into the

prep for the Tampa Bay Derby, the Sam, we heard a lot about

the Puma, a lot of buzz around him, then kind of dissipated a

little bit. And once in a while we do this,

Sean. We forget that these are

three-year olds, that they are still developing, that they're

still filling and figuring out what they're doing.

And frankly, this is one of those that got to do something

for the second time, goes routing, goes two turns for the

second time, gets it done in the Tampa Bay Derby.

I think a different horse was better in this race and I think

we'll be better moving forward. But what did you?

Think, I think we're both on the same, but yeah, I mean you can't

fault the Puma for this at all. He was came from the back of the

pack, came wide around both turns and came down the stretch

pretty strongly there to end up getting the win.

I know he's kind of drifting in a little bit.

So, you know, he looked pretty green down the stretch, which

he'll continue to learn, He'll continue to fix that.

So the thing to think he could actually improve upon this would

be a big deal as well. You can't fault that one at all,

though. The connections of Mage back in

the Kentucky Derby picture. Son of declaration of war.

Yep. And so I liked this one.

I thought, I thought it looked pretty good.

I don't know if it necessarily puts him in the upper echelon of

the Derby horses right now, but he looks like they're kind of

improving horse. And we all said the same thing

about Mage where he didn't really, we didn't really think

he was in the upper echelon of Derby horses going into the and

then that was the day he put it all together and was able to win

in a mile and 1/4 so. I did like this like a.

Second, in the Haskell, so you know.

Good point, yeah. So yeah, I I did like this.

I did like this win. But as you mentioned, I think we

both kind of emerged from the race thinking the same thing

when it comes to Canaletto. Canaletto's probably the one out

of this that I look to to be the best moving forward.

I'll be interested to see what Chad Brown does here, because

he's got Iron Honor in New York already.

He's got Canaletto in here, and I wonder if he's going to try to

get one or both to the Derby or if one of them is his Chad

Brown's special Preakness shooter.

You know, that kind of thing that we see so often and all of

us have to take a bit, you know, have to take notice of is what

Chad Brown sends a horse straight to the Preakness.

We always have to pay attention. I wonder if that is an Iron

Honor, frankly, as his Preakness horse.

I think he thinks of Kenaletto a little higher than that.

Problem for him, of course, is he's going to have Paladin in

the bluegrass and so probably not shooting there, probably

not. Probably going to have to go

somewhere. Else, Florida Derby's a little

quick out of a comeback, I would think.

So on the same day, and this is where I was going with this, you

and I were at the San Felipe Candaletto can win the San Anita

Derby. Yes, he could.

Yeah, if they were willing to ship.

It is a half million dollar race.

It is a great one. The competition out there is

either at Candaletto's level or below.

He can ship out and win that race.

I'll put it on record right now if I own this horse, I'm looking

at the San Anita Derby in a serious way because it gives me

a month. There's be 100 point chance.

Frankly, if I finish second in the Kentucky Derby, it's a half

million dollar race. The money's there if we hit the

board, etcetera, etcetera. If I'm the Canaletto

connections, I'm looking at Sanity Derby.

Yes, I think that would definitely be a good spot for

him because it keeps him away from Paladin, so you don't have

to worry about that. From Chad's perspective.

Several of the same owners here as well, so and.

Then if you want to run iron honor and in the in the brown

barn in the wood, you can. And then you got this one out

West. I'm just saying, man, I think a

half million dollar race and and without a super superstar

Baffert, yeah, really does offer you an opportunity to get in the

Kentucky Derby. Started Chad Brown having a

cross country pick three in Kentucky Derby races

potentially. Why not?

Yeah, why not? He's he's got three of those

kinds of contenders. And frankly, because of the

timing of the Tampa Bay Derby, it sets up that this horse could

go West. Yes, I think that's really.

Fascinating how many he got. Let's see.

So third here. He would have got 15 points.

You always have the Lexington as an option, but I don't think 23.

Weeks before the Derby. And I don't think 35 points is

really a safe spot if you win that unless, you know, they if

we get in the Derby, we get in the Derby.

If we don't, we go on to the Preakness unless you're of that

mindset. But yeah, I do think the best

option would probably be don't come back super quick in the

Florida Derby. Don't put yourself at the risk

of the quick comeback from the Lexington into the Derby, I

think. And if you.

Really think this horse and Paladin are are sort of at the

same level. My sense is that people do not

feel that way in the brown barn, but if they are, then run them

both in the bluegrass. Try to go 1/2.

I get it. I think the Santa Anita Derby's

wide over. Or, you know, the bluegrass

could definitely come up. It's looking like it's going to

come up tough anyway. You could run him and Iron Honor

in the wood memorial too and then suddenly split up from the

owners that are similar between. Iron Hunter's got 50 points.

That's really part of it is that he's got 50 points.

If he finishes second, he's still in the Derby, right?

He finishes 30 still in the Derby.

But why run two wins in the the second when you could get three

wins, you know, and I think the way I would be thinking.

I think he can win all three, yes.

Iron Honor could win the wood. We know the Paladin could win

the Blue Cross. Yeah.

And I do think Canelo, if you ship to my W, would be the best

horse in the race. I think so.

So that's me. That's yeah.

I like that line of thinking. Obviously, we haven't seen a

whole lot of East Coast horses shipping to Santa Anita to

qualify for the Kentucky Derby. We.

Just have to avoid Baffert. Yeah, but he does not have that

superstar. Does not feel like it, at least.

Yeah. Doesn't feel like it at this

point that he's got that superstar, so if you're going to

do it, now is the chance so. Speaking of which, further ADO,

First off the bench here from his last race in November at

Churchill Downs is another candidate to me because Brad Cox

does ship to Santa Anita. Yeah.

So he might actually be a case that where we get this, my sense

is we'll see him again. Yeah, we usually see him do it

with the older horse like we saw just a touch this past weekend

and I know he had another one out there bust the broken was

out there for the the holder miles.

So we haven't really seen it much with him in the three.

Years. But I mean, this is the kind of

year where you might you might be considering that you already

have, you know, a horse like Commandment who's down there in

Florida. And so why not maybe look at

potentially shipping him out there.

I wouldn't. I would also not be shocked if,

given his 20 length win in his maiden race, a keen wind, if he

ended up in the Bluegrass sticks that that wasn't.

Shocked. No, I agree.

That's what I'm saying is like that's an option at least to go

West, but I think we'll see him in Lexington.

Yeah, I really do think that for sure.

All right it's time for our our weekly look ahead to the races

that will happen this coming weekend, of course in Virginia

Derby on the trail to the first Saturday May here in Louisville,

Milan and 8th going the one turn edge.

Look at the entries for this one almost feels like the last

chance sort of get together here.

Not the OK corral because no one you know nothing like that.

There's no, there's no. Do you think you could be a guy

like in a dual? Do you think you would have been

good at in the Old West? Because I would have been.

Terrible I was. Horrible.

Look at this shirt that I'm wearing right now.

I've been a terrible person. Like I never would have made it

but a last chance for many of these horses in here.

Or at least, hey, can you do it again kind of spot right for

some of these in here. Certainly an incredible falls

into that latter category as this confessional.

We've seen both of those horses perform at a very high level,

frankly, in different spots. Butane comes in for Bob Baffert,

almost certainly the presumed favor, just the connections

there between Pratt and Baffert being in town for that one.

I mean, do you have a lean in this race?

Certainly you can tell there's a a sense of OK early in the

development, let's go somewhere, you know, like with a butane,

let's go to a single turn here rather than A2 turn seems to

seems to be kind of an in between race for a lot of these

horses. Yeah, it seems like that kind of

race where we're trying to figure out whether or not they

can be Kentucky Derby horses. Kind of your last opportunity to

figure that out for sure. And a horse like Butane, you

know, try to test out the distance while also putting him

back around 1 turn. I felt like he was pretty high

hyped going to the San Vicente. So Happy handled him there.

And then you had him go out to the Southwest Stakes at Oakland,

got around the two turns. He didn't run out bad, but you

know, he wasn't really threatening for the win there at

the end of the race. And so I think that's kind of

taking a lot of the on the shine off of him at this point.

So it'll be interesting to see if he can get back.

He doesn't have Flavy and aboard he is breaking from the inside

rail. So you would expect him to be

forwardly placed in here, but he's kind of one of those horses

where we mentioned earlier. It doesn't seem like Baffert

really as the star of this year. And he was one that was getting

getting some talk earlier in the winter before that San Vicente.

So it'll be interesting to see, you know, whether or not he's

just a step below these horses or if he's going to show that

he's on the level. Incredible is the one I'm giving

the most of a second chance to. Anybody who's watched the show

for a couple weeks knows that or a couple months knows that.

I have been pretty high on him going into the Holy Bowl.

He was one of my top Derby contenders and he still is

depending on how he runs on Saturday.

So talking to Jaime Torres after the race, it's just sounded like

he really did not like the Goldstream track.

And so they're going to give him the opportunity to get away from

that. He's going to come out here to

Virginia. We'll see how he does.

I'm not sure if I actually like the one turn for him or not

since he looked so good winning the Street Sense over two turns

back in October. But I am excited to see what he

could do here. And you'd have to think he must

be doing pretty well for the connections Riley, Mont Pin Oak

to bring him back here because if there was something else

wrong other than the racetrack, you know, excuse from the Holy

Ball. He wouldn't be in this one.

Yeah, he wouldn't. Be and we would have heard why

exactly he'd be off trailers a widow and be waiting.

He'd be coming back later on in the year.

So they feel like they still have a shot at this kind of

caliber race with this horse. And so they're going to give him

one more try, try to get into the Derby.

And so I'm going to go ahead and give him the second chance.

But if he doesn't run well here, then I don't know what to think

about him moving forward. Not just thinking about the

Derby because obviously he wouldn't qualify, I don't think,

but long term, looking at, you know, the stakes options in the

summer and the fall, if he doesn't run well here, I'll have

a big question mark on how he is.

I agree with you. Incredible.

Of course, winning the street since last year's winner was a

horse named Sovereignty. The winner of the Southwest you

mentioned with Butane in it where he ran third ahead of

Rancho Santa Fe, who was written by Flabby and Brad will now ride

him. What was behind silent Tactic

who did all the running at the end and a horse named Soldier

and Diplomat, who unfortunately, if you were just comparing, hey,

how'd they do the next out finished fifth in the Rebel and

so very very. Wide trip though.

For sure and and look there if you want to come up with the

reasons I'm here for reasons, but just you know, as far as who

was in that field that he may have beaten last out.

I'm with you though. I think incredible is the I

think if he doesn't fire here there are a stunning number of

questions. Frankly for a horse that looked

great in the street signs right and that and that's all I'm

rooting against that. I would like him to run really

well here for Riley live those connections timing Taurus of

course, but there are some others in here that I think are

pretty interesting confessionals.

Another one of these that an essential quality.

So we we assume with the E hues that they're going to like the

distance, but this one trying the two turns in the Sam F Davis

maybe not ready for that yet, gets back to one turn here.

Yeah, he gets back to one turn and he gets the distance while

going back. So you got it like that.

Probably going forward with him. That was his first try against

stakes company. We'll see whether or not he can

take the step forward this time. Now, having that experience

under his belt, the Sam Davis looks like it's pretty good for

him. At least we've seen the Puma

come back and win yesterday and we'll see what Renegade does.

But there's very, very high hopes for him going forward.

And so I wouldn't I wouldn't be upset about that race.

Irad's coming in to ride him here, and so I think he'll be

ready to fire this weekend. We don't.

Brad's going to have him ready. Yeah, no doubt about it.

It should be a fun one there. We'll be back next week.

And I always have to ask you at this time, there's a there's a

Derby prepper. You going?

And I'm kidding because it's driveable, so I know you're

going. Yes, yeah, this one is

driveable. So I will be there for the

Virginia Derby. Surprise, surprise.

Surprise, surprise. Sean Collins will report back on

Monday. Of course, this time of the

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