BloodHorse Monday | Louisiana Derby & Ruby Recap

All right, welcome, Ed. Winner's circle just after the

Jeff Ruby Stakes here. Blood Horse Monday duo of Sean

Collins. My name's Louis Robot.

Thanks for hanging out with us just after the race.

Full effort gets it done. Brad Cox wins this race once

again after winning last year. Very likely.

He headed to the Derby. And by the way, we got a sub 150

mile and an eighth on a course that never gives up.

Sub 150 mile and an eighth. Sean Collins, how are you?

I'm doing well. It's always a good sign when

we're doing Blood Horse Monday, starting off on a Saturday here

right after the race. If you don't believe us, here

are the flowers, right I hear from the Jeff Ruby blanket.

Of four. But if you're aware of the show,

it's not going very well for me. But yeah, we got the flowers

from the blanket right here. Full effort winning the Jeff

Ruby Stakes. We went into this talking about

his last couple races, how he almost got in there.

He showed the extra distance was the difference maker and he also

sat a little bit closer today which I was pretty impressed.

With being closer certainly mattered today on a day where

front runners were dominant and frankly, if you tried to close

from well off, it just simply wasn't going to happen.

Stark contrast run second. I was talking with the

Connections before the race and they were very adamant we're not

going to the Derby. We're here for a Grade 3, we're

here for the big purse. I think 2nd place is totally

fine. I think I expect to see that

horse on Derby day. But on the grass, yeah, and the

American turf, and he's going to be a big, big horse in there, no

doubt about it. I think they should be, by the

way, Yeah, Top two horses ran 1/2 here.

Meanwhile, full effort. We've never seen him race on the

dirt. Connections, very confident

talking after the race. We are going to the Kentucky

Derby. So that's a good sign for him.

We're going to see what he's made of.

They're very pleased with the distance.

They don't think he's going to have any problem with the dirt

here. He seemed like one of the ones

that was most likely to go to the Derby coming into this if he

won because he has been running in this series the last couple

the last couple of times. And so I I think it was a good

sign to see him really kind of show his stuff today, look more

dominant, be there earlier. All of those are positive signs.

We'll see how he stacks up against the competition in the

Derby, but all positive signs you wanted to see compared to

his last couple recent as we're moving toward the first Saturday

in May. I read Ortiz rides full effort

today. We'll see what his decisions are

as we get closer to Derby day. Of course.

I think a big a big +4 full effort is that with his team

based here in Kentucky with a big string of Churchill Downs,

that horse is going to get to know this track just fine in the

next six weeks. Yeah, and he's probably going to

head over there very quickly. We saw Brad Cox do this with

Final Gambit last year where he he got there almost immediately

after the Derby, had several breezes over the track and he

obviously ran very well, finishing fourth in that

Kentucky Derby behind the Big 3 Sovereignty Journalism by Aza.

So he was the next one behind. I was going to say this race

keeps giving us really good runners in the Kentucky Derby.

Full effort, gave us no reason to think we won't get that exact

thing on the 1st Saturday of May.

Trader Brad Cox when he joined us just a couple of weeks ago,

Sean said get full effort, more distance and he'll figure it

out. That's exactly what we got

today. What I don't want to hear from

anyone is that he got an easy trip.

He did not. He had to work it out from the

rails, had to move out to the four path to win this race.

Eventually getting back into that two path by the time he got

to the finish line. But I think so on.

If you're just looking at races you don't.

That remind reminded me of was 2 fills.

That's a horse that finished the Top 3 Kentucky Derby.

Yes, And you know, you coming into this race, we're probably a

lot of us were questioning whether or not we were gonna

have a quality Kentucky Derby horse come out of here.

I think what we saw today is that we definitely do have a

quality Kentucky Derby contender coming out of this spot here and

that just makes it all the more exciting.

I don't think he's gonna be considered one of the top

contenders going in, but if he runs a big race, some of the

other ones don't, he could definitely be there to pick up

the pieces. He's one of the more consistent

closes. He's one of the more consistent

closes that we have. And they took the fraction times

off the screen. So I'm not sure how fast the

pace was at the beginning of the race here.

But if he his last couple races, he was able to kind of overcome

even though the horses on the lead were continuing to go, he

was still able to make the run even though he didn't get there

and he would just miss. So I feel confident that he's

going to make the run no matter what.

Yeah, no, I totally agree. And if if Brad's right in the

distance is the thing, that boy, we saw it on display today, got

the 9 furlongs with no issue at all.

I imagine the 10, Simply put, will not be an issue for him

should he like the dirt there at Churchill Downs.

Anything else, I'll say it out to you today.

No, I just, I thought as you mentioned, it seemed like the

speed was definitely playing pretty well today.

John Velaz, we had a big day, won three sticks in a row.

It's good to see outfielder back getting a strong.

I thought outfielder was the other sort of bright spot of the

day in that if that's a horse that we saw a bit of, you know,

a lot of ability it too. They tried a lot of they.

Sent him to a great one in France.

They tried the Breeders Cup, they went a mile in the Breeders

Cup, get back to six furlongs here.

Reminded me a little bit of Ben Tornado going in the Louisville

Thoroughbreds Society just for some confidence against the

field that frankly, he was a lot better than felt that way today

without Fielder. Interested to see him frankly,

probably at the Caitlin meet up. Next.

Yeah. And what do you think of the

Bourbonette Oaks? I thought she looked incredibly

impressive. And I look, it's interesting,

you know, and we almost we always had the dream for this

show. Do you know what almost

happened? Dave Portnoy, host, almost won

the bourbon and then we're begging him to be on the show on

Monday. And then we watched the numbers

and all these things. The Bourbon Ed Oaks yet to be a

great predictor for high level success in the Kentucky Oaks.

I'm very much in a wait and see mode with the Bourbon that Oaks

at this point, but I don't think you could take away.

From the person Laura Ilee wasn't, Yeah.

Sorry to Mitchell Horse. Yes, right.

So 11 horse, I thought she looked pretty good talking to

Mike Maker after the race, actually talking to one of my

friends who's seen her around the bar and sounds like there's

still some maturity things, OK, that she might have to kind of

work out. Obviously they're 3 year olds,

They're growing. We'll see whether or not whether

or not that's going to cause her any issues.

As you can hear some people cheering on a race there behind

us. You know you're a Derby there

yelling at the Louisiana Derby. Well, I wonder who's going to

win. We'll find out who won that.

You'll hear from us talk about the So this is how this is how

recent after the race that we're doing.

It is we don't even know who won the Louisiana Derby yet.

So we'll talk about that. Was that the Derby who won

Emerging Market? There you go.

OK, that horse, you found it out.

Live this. Is like this is like that horse.

You found it. You found it out live who just

won the race. That's a freaking horse though,

from the outside. Yeah, Chad Brown breaks it's

main attempt, but he's like, you know what, let's go.

Louisiana Derby. Longest of the preps in North

America for the Kentucky Derby. Goes ahead, wins that one.

Plenty to react to there, but. Yes, I know we gotta watch it

first. You'll hear from us.

In a couple minutes here, that's right.

You just you just witnessed this live.

Find out who won the Louisiana Derby.

So I think she said he nosed out the O'Neill horse photo finish

local Ovian good. I'm a summer Derby.

I'm a. Derby horse, that's a Derby

horse. I mean, that's you talk about

first Southern Derby, then you do back it up with that.

This is the joy of doing this live.

I hope you all are enjoying at home.

Leave us a comment down below. Do you like us doing these?

This is the lesson doing these lives at home.

Go to the track. That's a real lesson for.

You exactly. It's always better at the track.

Shawn Collins, I'm Literaibo. Be back with more Blood Horse

Monday. Well, darn it all, it is Monday.

So Blood Horse Monday back from the track and in the studios

with Shawn Collins. My name's Louis Ribo.

Thanks for hanging out with us. I want to give a shout out by

the way, we ran into, it's happened now at multiple Derby

preps, my friend. We went out to the San Felipe

and we ran into a Jared I remember very verbally from

Texas is now living out there in California.

I ran into a very nice man named Todd at the Ruby and it is

amazing more and more how many people are watching this thing

every week and hanging out and doing that.

And by the way, I he apologized to me for introducing himself.

You don't need to apologize. Sean and I are at the track for

a reason. We're like you.

We want to be there. We want to watch these races and

and and wager and all the things that come with being at the

track and frankly, weather like Saturday, Yes please, for the

rest of my life. That's I kept saying.

I feel like this is the only time I've ever been warm at

Turfway it. Was it and so hopefully they get

a little bit of that for closing weekend this weekend.

Appreciate everybody up there. We had a great time at Turfway

Park. But of course Louisiana Derby,

you heard it during that sound that it look, I mean this is one

of those races you get Emerging market over Pavlovian.

And the question of the weekend was this Emerging Market horse

coming out of a maiden special over the mile 40 yet at Tampa,

can he go a vial of three sixteenths against competition

in 100 point race $1,000,000, race those ahead and wins.

What would you do with Emerging Market?

I mean, you got the points, you running the Derby, That's what I

would do. It's incredible.

But yes, if you were listening just a few moments ago, we have

now since watched the race so. We promised we went back and

watched the replay just like you.

Yeah, so. I mean, you could hear our

initial, our initial reactions to him winning, our initial I

think impressive, impressed that he won.

Now we've actually gone back and watched that, watch the race,

watch him and put Pavlovian duel down the stretch.

And I thought it was, I thought it was professional.

A lot of times you see these horses that come out in their

second starts and even if they want to race like this, you

still think they look kind of green down the stretch.

But I mean, we know Pavlovian likes a fight.

He did that in the Sunland Park Derby and Pavlovian gave it to

him and he was able to fight it out.

He didn't. There wasn't any point where I I

felt like he looked like he was making just a second start.

I felt like he was pretty professional down the lane.

Yeah, Pavlovian finishes second there.

We've seen, at least in social media, Doug O'Neill saying he's

had it to Louisville for sure. We have a group text with our

friend. He was on the show on this show.

Barry Spears was out there with us for the San Felipe and we

were remarking on the entrance for the for the for the the San

Anita Derby. And you remarked, it's

interesting that Pavlovian ended up here.

That's already. Or maybe even Barry.

Yeah. And then I came back with, well,

they've got robust. Stuff OK, so this is what's

really fascinating actually, is we always do this with oh, how

is Brad Cox going to get multiple horses in the starting

game? How is Bob Baffert going to move

these horses around? What's Pletcher doing?

What's Chad Brown doing? What's Saffy Joseph doing

frankly, lately, right. And then we forget that there's,

you know, and by the way, I believe you got Mark, Cassie and

Steve Asmos and like, lots of people here, OK?

There's a lot of good. Trainers out there, but like

Doug O'Neill look, look at look at our guy.

Just maneuver it. Why not us?

Is the is the bottom of the Bard a little bit of light on us with

this run from from Pavlovian, right?

I mean, because frankly, smart move and I, and this is what I

said the group text was essentially, Hey, you're on 2nd

and 100 point race, bro. Or frankly, in his case, if he

hits the board, he's top three. Yeah, because he's already got

the 20 points. He's.

Probably 45 and directly shipping to Louisville, right?

You figure it out or maybe try the Lexington, whatever you got

to do. But this is very Doug O'Neill.

I love it. I hope Pavlovian runs a huge

Derby. I hope he does.

I really do because this look, man, I mean Sutherland Park,

Derby, Southern California racing, you know, taking the

chance of shipping to Louisiana. This is what makes horse racing

awesome this time of year is that horses are shipping around

it for these big races, for these big grade twos, these big

grade ones next week, all that kind of stuff to me, man, Give

me the matchups where I I haven't seen these horses in the

different parts of the country. It almost mirrors right now,

March Madness, where all these teams play in their conference

the whole year. They play a conference

tournament and then they get to the NCAA tournament.

We go, oh, wow, the ACC is really good this year.

Oh, the Big 12's really good this year.

Whatever it might be. I feel like we're doing that

with horse racing this year. It's interesting to watch

because I'm not sure that Santa Anita Derby's going to be packed

with quality, but that's these California horses shipped.

OK, We saw it at we saw it in the in the Jet Ruby Stakes.

Yep, right. We saw it in Louisiana

interesting to watch the believe and have success, but you know

the group that's left out there. I I wouldn't sleep on Robusta in

the state Anita Derby. No, I wouldn't sleep on them

either. No, it it is interesting because

you know it, it seems like that Louisiana was potentially not

the strongest group of horses that were based there for the

Derby this year. And we saw that with Paladin

shipping in and taking the Risen Star.

We've seen that again now where the shippers emerging market

coming in from Florida and from. By the way, is a big part.

Of that and Pavlovian coming in from California, how they they

went 1-2 in this race. And so you saw I think trainers

like Chad Brown, trainers like Doug O'Neill, taking advantage

of the fact that they felt like they had a good horse.

You don't have to put them up against the top of the line

horses that we're going to see, for example, this weekend in the

Florida Derby, in the Arkansas Derby.

You don't have to put them up against that kind of competition

and you can maybe maybe get a little bit of an easier prep

into them. Not that anything about the

Louisiana Derby looked easy with how much those two have to fight

down the lane, but you don't have to worry about that part.

You can get yourself a spot in the Derby, you can let the horse

develop. Six more weeks to be ready for

that test coming up on the 1st Saturday in May.

And so I think you saw Chad Brown and Doug O'Neill take

advantage of what was in front of them, move their horses

around, spread their horses out to try to get as many starters

as they can, and the gate worked out perfectly for both of them

this weekend. Urgent Market wins there, the

race before, of course, the Fairgrounds Oaks also won by

Flavia and Pratt. Good day at the office there for

sure. It's his second time sweeping

the Oaks and the Derby on the same card in Louisiana.

There you go. So there you go.

Pretty cool thing for him as he reminds us that when it comes to

graded stakes, Flavia and Pratt still very much part of that.

We saw John Velasquez put on a show for for a trio of races in

a row at Turfway Parks. It's fun once in a while on

these big days, guys that aren't necessarily at these tracks all

the time, race or two, they figure out what they want to do

and then boom, the tactics are in there and they get the, you

know, they have the right horse. They can really figure it out

and it's fun to. It's fun to see those kinds of

performances for sure. Congratulations, Flavia Pratt

looks like he'll have plenty of choices to get to Friday and

Saturday here in Louisville First Friday and Saturday in May

Anyone else stand out to you this weekend?

I do want to say, and I'm sure you know, you heard it in our

voices from Turfway, it's hard to watch that race and not get

excited about full effort. I mean, I, everything once in a

while and you know, I, I do this a lot on my radio show where

I'll listen to basketball coaches and I, I try to figure

out their tone, how they feel after losses, how they fear, you

know, feel after wins, what, what verbiage they use for those

different things. Brad Cox told us about full

effort. Just, he needs more distance.

He needs more distance, He gets 9 prolongs.

Boom, here we are. Yeah, and it was an impressive

win that he had. Now, now that we've had a couple

days to sit back and reflect on it, I mean, just a professional

win. The fact that he was, you know,

the two races beforehand, he was so far back even at the top of

the stretch and he came kind of flying in at the very end.

And this time he was only at one horse to beat by the time they

turned for home. So showing that kind of improved

maturity, I think. And, you know, Irad was able to

work out work out the trip with him this time and kind of get

him a little bit more engaged earlier.

And then he seemed to really love having that extra distance.

So we'll all now spend the next less than six weeks arguing

about the whether or not he's going to be able to handle the

dirt. I don't think there's going to

be that much of a problem for that.

He trained on it, all of his breezes for the spring, summer

and early fall. His two year old season we're on

the dirt at the various tracks in Kentucky.

So I think it was more just where they decided they decided

to start him on turf and then the winter came, so they decided

to just stick with it on the Tapita.

But I think he he definitely looks he looks more legit even I

would say even maybe more legit going into the Derby than final

Gambit did last year. And final Gambit obviously ran

very well in the Derby. I'd be, I would be willing to

say, you know, similar horses, deep closers trained by Brad

Cox. I'd be willing to say I feel a

little bit better about full effort coming out of the Jeff

Ruby than I did Final Gambit last.

Year I agree with that he looked more like 2 fills to me yeah

coming out of this race I think that much of him the other horse

you're reminded me of that interesting one to bring up Ron

Bauer yeah actually reminded me of Ron Bauer.

It's an interesting comparison between those kind of reminded

me of those sorts of horses where, yeah, and we're looking

at the splits right now. They ran the the 3/4 in 111 and,

and, and one up front. He was right behind that at 1:11

and 4:00. So if you think about it this

way, Sean, slower pace to begin the race and then it picked up

from there. But look how he finished.

He finishes the 9 furlongs in under a minute, 50.

You'd be hard pressed on dirt to find horses and Derby preps

finishing the mile into Nathan in $1.50.

I think on this surface, moving back to the dirt and the fact

that, and we brought it up in the early part of the show that

he's in the Brad Cox barns, going to get plenty of time on

the dirt at Churchill Downs. He's a factor, man.

He's a factor. And it really is at this point

to me, a year where, you know, I see different people, including

Caitlin Benson, who was on the desk there at Turfway Park

saying this feels as open as it's ever been.

I disagree. It feels like talented and a

bunch of dudes at this point, but if he doesn't fire in the

bluegrass that it's a wide open thing going on, yeah.

I I, I wouldn't say this is necessarily as open as it's ever

been for the Derby picture going forward, but I will say it

seemed, I think it feel like this is going to be a very top

heavy Derby. OK.

I feel like maybe like the top five or six horses going into

this are going to be kind of obvious favorites, ones that we

look at as a clearly these are the the top horse.

Does does that lead into something happening in a Mystic

dance, sneaks through, you know, on the rail wall, Forever young

or punching each other on the racetrack?

You know, obviously it could be open to anybody else, but I do

feel like going into the race, I think we're going to see some

impressive performances this weekend from some of the top

horses. You're nearly your chief wallaby

you're getting now with all the C names mixed up in my mind.

The silent tactics of the world, all that kind of stuff.

You're talking about the confession.

Confession will be in there. My mind went to commissioner, my

mind went back a decade, all these.

There's been a lot of C names recently, but yeah,

confessional. So like one of those three or

multiple of those three are going to run huge this weekend,

right? Derby, you have renegade, silent

tactic, litmus test even still down there in the in the

Arkansas Derby, at least one of them is going to run huge.

And then you've got, you know, some of these other.

You got what Potente puts it together in the San Diego Derby.

Yeah, right. Because he's a he's a horse that

distance wise I'm not worried about.

It's a bad for trainee if he speeds up, like if he dominates

the San Diego Derby, we're going to have a journalism type

conversation about it, I think. Yeah.

Yeah. And then, yeah, so I just think

that all all these horses as they like all these kind of top

horses, I'm I don't expect any surprise, like real big

surprises and really in the rest of these Derby props, maybe the

wood memorial, depending on how that feel shakes up.

But I'm feeling pretty confident that we're going to be looking

at kind of a top heavy Derby, like maybe six or seven, you

know, top top tier horses that we're all thinking of.

And then maybe a bunch of kind of the horses that you're

looking at like, oh, they're just kind of there because

they've got the points and they can fill out the exact on the

trifecta. Now, not saying one of those

isn't going to win because we've seen that happen 8 billion

times, Rich Strike. So you know, we've seen that

happen all the time. But I do feel like at least in

the lead up to the Derby, we're going to be kind of keyed in on

like this is a 5 or 6 horse race.

We'll talk with Corbin Blumberg, he is the racing manager for

Starlight Racing, owners of full effort Stark contrasted run

second there. We are yet to confirm plans

there. This is the same connections as

endlessly who did win the Ruby and then run in the Kentucky

Derby 50 points for stark contrast, who was a very game

second to Gestad in the Breeders Cup Juvenile Turf.

Excuse me, I thought looked every bit the part this weekend.

I, I don't I don't have an opinion on him running at the

Derby or not. It's a terrible place to be in

in in in podcasting or whatever you want to call this, But I

just I don't have a strong opinion about it.

I always defer to owners on this.

Yeah, you put up the money, you if you think the horse can go on

dirt, great horse of sound, put him out there or put her out

there, that's fine. But with with this horse, if it

goes in the turf, in the American turf, this is a top two

or three selection for me. And I don't even know the rest

of the field, right. I mean, that's how much I think

of Stark Contrast. I had him in my I had him in my

exacto in the Breeders Cup. I thought that much from then

ought to be Azuma Beach at that point.

He's come back and since 1:00 in January comes back here.

I thought he looked great, full effort might be a top three type

horse by the time we get to the game for the Kentucky Derby and

this horse was right behind him. I'm I'm I'm just saying I think

like there's a world in which stark contrast is man I I I'm

always looking because Medici finished third here.

I'm always looking for that next group of California turf horses

because there's so much good turf racing out there.

These two obviously bolts from that group for sure.

Yes, and I mean, I'm just like you, I was very high on stark

contrast going to the Breeders Cup Juvenile Turf last year and

I came into this year thinking he's probably going to be one of

the leading 3 year olds in that division this year.

We'll see whether or not he jumped ship to the to the dirt

course here. We'll have a couple weeks

probably to figure that out. I mean Michael McCarthy has a

barn at Churchill. I'm sure he's probably going to

go straight there instead of going back to California because

all of his. No matter which.

Option they choose, it's likely here at Heeland or at church.

Yeah, and he's. He's already here in Kentucky,

so you might as well just keep him here.

So I imagine we're going to have the opportunity to see him

breeze a couple times on the dirt in the next couple weeks

for the owners and Michael to make the decision there.

So we'll have to wait and see on him.

But I I do think unlike, you know, maybe a flying Mohawk last

year or I do think that he's going to run well, but he might,

he might not run a winning race in the Derby on the dirt, but I

think he's going to run well on the dirt.

I'm not I'm I wouldn't be too concerned about him running on

the dirt course if they chose that.

But I do think if you ran in the American turf, big threat to win

that one. Yeah, no, I and that always

shapes up to be a great race. We always get spoiled by these

races, either on the Oaks or Derby undercard, maybe to the

Alley Shiba, the Churchill Downs, the 8 Bells, all these

kinds of really great races. The Derby City does staff all

that, but the turf racing is really what stands out, Sean.

It's always 1012 horses, good horses.

That American turf in that series now at Churchill has

really turned into a nice trio of races.

They run one then and then one in the summer, one in the fall.

And I just, I, I really do hope as we move forward in the sport

and there is more emphasis on look, there's gonna be more

synthetic racing. We need to just acknowledge that

that also means then we should probably have more turf racing.

Yep, right. We probably just should.

I know you're a Derby guy and you love it, but I mean, there's

there's a place for all of these horses.

And frankly, if we're going to expand full crops and that kind

of stuff, place where we could probably do that is on the is on

the turf side. Yeah.

And it's probably a lot of expansion that we could do,

especially if we're willing to bring horses from overseas, that

kind of thing. I think there's a real

opportunity on the turf side, frankly, on the synthetic side

in our race programs here in North America.

Corbin Bloomberg will join us from Starlight Racing.

He's the manager over there. We'll talk to him about their

winner of the Jeff Ruby Stakes and we'll do it next.

All right, welcome back in Blood Horse Monday.

Excited to have Corbin Bloomberg alongside.

Usually when people join us at this juncture of the show, Sean,

good things have happened in their lives.

That is true for Corbin as well. Full effort goes ahead and with

the Jeff Ruby Stakes, we will get into Old Bay and Natty Bo

type discussions, including the Mcmullen's pub sign here, which

I've never brought up on this show, but I will bring that up

for Corbin, who is a Maryland guy.

That has nothing to do with today's conversation though.

Corbin, how are you? Well, a a very proud Mary

Marylander so. We're going to talk all of our

yes. As much as you want.

So being that proud of Marylander, are we going to hear

that you're skipping the Kentucky will be a successful

effort to the Preakness? Yeah, that will will really

change the narrative there. Oh man, Gorby Bloberg with us,

He is the racing manager there at Starlight.

You started in 2020. What was the start like when you

got to Starlight in a very, very strange year?

I remember being the only radio show at the Kentucky Derby, for

instance, and there was one other person in my section and

then four empty sections of people.

So it was a very strange year there in September at the

Kentucky Derby. I have to imagine starting a job

in 2020 was a little strange as well.

Yeah, I, you know, I have a sort of a, an interesting

relationship with that that time because I was on the good off

and flying start program and we were in Dubai when, when, when

for everything happened and we ended up going back to our home

country. You normally they finish in

Ireland. So I did my last internship with

Starlight in 2020 and and I haven't left since.

So it kind of worked out for, for my career.

The IT may have ended up there anyway, you know, after the

course, but it really did, you know, that internship I had at

the end of the course sort of propelled me into the job I have

now. And very lucky that that, you

know, it worked out and it was a crazy time to get started.

Like Authentic won the Derby that September and it was it was

a bit of a whirlwind. It all it all seemed like it was

happening really fast. I just joined.

So it was, I was just so happy for the people, you know, our

partners, but. Corbin, have you ever seen the

photo at Keeneland of Authentic on the first turn in the lead in

the Breeders Cup Classic? Have you seen that photo before?

I think I have. OK, my friend and the man who

introduced the two of us, Mike Gandolfo, took that photo.

There you go. How about that?

So because it was 2020 and there was really limited everything we

did radio at the at the Breeders Cup that you're at Keeneland and

our our mutual friend between Mike and me, Curtis Cody, who

runs Cody Photography, just said, hey, does anybody want to

grab a grab a camera? Essentially.

And that Mike took that photo and it was you know that that

you know, the the fall foliage there at Keeneland and and

authentic very clearly on the lead at that point.

There you go. There's my personal connection.

To There you go, that was that, that that was about as

picturesque a horse races. It was unbelievable the whole

day. Everybody gets started off their

new job winning the Kentucky. Derby.

Big deal, right? I was running back in the

Breeders Cup Classic. No big deal, Yeah.

Right. But now you've had a couple

years to realize it's not an every year kind of thing now at

this. Starlight.

Well, I know, Starlight, you're always gonna have somebody.

In the game. But but you know, you have a big

a big race like the one this past week in the Jiff.

Ruby sticks with full effort. I know a lot of the partners

were there. There was a big celebration in

the winner's circle. Just what are those experiences

like when you win a race on the prep series leading into the

Kentucky Derby? Yeah, I think I was thinking

about it on the way home. You know, my, I think, you know,

my job is to buy the horses for the, the horses that you see on

the East Coast, you know, Starlight and support the, the

West Coast horse as well. But you know, my job really is

to provide experiences to our Starlight partners through

having horses on those big days. So days like Saturday really are

just sort of the pinnacle. It's what we're trying to

achieve, you know, have it. We had a bunch of partners come

in. We kind of gave them the push

like, yeah, I think this is 1 you might want to be at.

So we had a lot of people come on Saturday and you know, Jack

Wolf, my boss, I saw him walking the Turfway in a, in a, in a

jacket on Saturday. So I think he knew he had a

feeling it was going to be a good day.

He's not always dressed up. So I figured it might be a good

day. And yeah, it was, it was

awesome. Is that, you know, I've been at

Turfway for some cold nights and it was a beautiful day on

Saturday. The, the atmosphere, they did

such a good job on, on Saturday that you got to give so much

credit to the team of Turfway. You know, it was a great

atmosphere. It was really fun and it it, it

all came together, you know, we got a great ride and and he ran

so well. You mentioned kind of pointing

him out to the partners that this is a horse you want to get

involved with. What was it about him early on

when you bought him as he started training?

What was it that you guys really liked about him?

Yeah. So we bought stall.

We own him 5050 with with St. Elias, Mr. Viola and we, we were

at the before the sales season that year.

We, we really wanted to buy a horse with them and we sat down

with Monique Dell, who, who does a lot of their work before the

Saratoga sale. And yeah, he was HIP 3.

So we sat down for the meeting and I, I won't forget.

I said to Monique, you know, and they raised Liam's map.

So I had a feeling before the, before we even sat down, it

might go well. But I said, hey, what about hip

three? We really like him.

And she just said yes. So, you know, instead of bidding

against each other, we, we, we decided to, to team up and it

was a really quick decision. We kind of had a number in mind.

And we, we bought him for 4/25, which is a lot for what, you

know, we do on, on, you know, our side of things.

And we, we're really excited to get him.

He went to Eddie Woods. He's the last crop of, of horses

with Eddie. And you know, Eddie really loved

him from the beginning. And, you know, we just sort of

decided on Brad Cox for him. And you know, he, he worked well

at Keeneland as a 2 year old without sort of working really

well, which is why he started on turf and just sort of always was

a horse that that wanted to go longer, I think.

And, and you can sort of see through his past performances,

you know, he slowly developed into into the horse he is now.

Marylander Corbin Bloomberg with us here from Starlight Racing.

Appreciate him jumping on the podcast today.

I got to say, Corbin, you know, we talked to Brad a couple weeks

ago on the program and his exact words to us were let's just get

more distance in this horse. And boy, it was evident on

Saturday, the move back to dirt. Obviously he's tried it there.

You mentioned the 2 year old progression being on the turf at

Keeneland before. What what is it that you, what

is the confidence level going back to the dirt there?

And, and I mean, we've talked about it, the six weeks of

Churchill, the fact that Brad's on track there, all those kinds

of things makes sense leading into the Derby here.

Yeah, I think you'll probably hear this a lot over the next

few weeks as we convince ourselves that he's a dirt

horse. The a a few weeks after we

bought him power squeeze, his half sister won the Alabama,

which was good because I don't think we would have bought him

if it was the other way around. I think it was an out of the

price range. But you know that, you know,

she, I think sort of similarly really blossomed when they

stretched her out in distance on dirt.

So, you know, I think that is the, the first thing is, is the

distance is not going to be a problem.

I think I, I would say going to the race of the way he finished

the Ruby the other day, I think a mile and a quarter is perfect.

And we're hoping that, you know, that is, you know, I think Brad

said to me when he was a 2 year old, you know, if he, if he run

him on dirt first time out, he'll get a bunch of dirt in his

face. Let's just start him on grass.

And, and then he, you know, he, he won a big pot at at Kentucky

Downs and, and then he won a really nice allowance race at

Keeneland. And, and to be fair to Brad,

right after he won the race at Keeneland, he said, let's go to

the Turfway route and he gave him sort of a month of just

galloping to let him sort of grow.

And he looked incredible on Saturday.

So I think that the time he's going to ship to Churchill

early, he's going to get plenty of time on the dirt.

I, I think everyone will kind of know by the time we get there

based on how he's working, you know, what, what the deal is.

But he's got, it's not like he's out of a turfy mare or anything.

He's got a pedigree to do it so and he should love the distance.

So we'll see. I was just going to say awesome

again on the damn side, but these Liam's maps almost remind

me a little bit once in a while looking at them, the candy

rides, like they might be able to do a little bit of

everything. Frankly, they could be on the

synthetic, the the turf of Keeneland.

Maybe with the Liam's map we might get that.

Yeah, yeah. What?

Well, what are your thoughts there on on that pedigree, the

Liam's map? How much do you see of that

horse in full effort? Yeah, I was, I remember, you

know, I remember being a huge Liam's not fan.

I, I was doing an internship, I went to UK and I was doing an

internship during the 2015 Breeders' Cup and Liam's map won

the Dirt Mile And I, this is such a cool horse.

And, you know, I think, you know, I don't know a ton if

they're, you know, Liam's up is pretty fast and quick in a sort

of a mile or I think full effort wants to sort of go the mile and

1/4. But I think he's given him that

class. I mean, I full effort in the

paddock. There's a lot going on at turf

on Saturday. And and he walked around and

handled it great, handled the occasion really well.

And and I think that does come from Liam's naps for that good

mind. And yeah, the, the fact that he

was such a good dirt horse, you know, gives us the confidence to

to go ahead and hopefully try it.

Well, you're watching all these Turfway preps leading into it,

the Leonidas and then the the John Battaglia.

And in the back of your mind you're thinking, all right, just

wait for the distance to get longer.

But seeing him just keep getting close, just barely missing, that

had to be frustrating, wasn't it?

And then just how rewarding was it to see him finally get the

job done on Saturday? Yeah, you know, it definitely

was. I I thought the Leonidas, I

wasn't surprised he he got beat. I, I thought he might need, you

know, we, we, we Brad, as I said earlier, Brad was pretty easy on

him sort of through the month of November and and pretty early in

December. So I wasn't surprised there.

You know, the, the Battaglia that the Cox team was pretty

confident. I, I saw a quote even before

the, the, the Jeff Ruby Brad was saying we loved him going to the

Battaglia and, and you know, I thought he would win that day.

And, and to be fair to great White, he ran really well.

And, and we, I think coming out of that race, we thought the

mile and 8th that sort of confirmed everything.

We, we thought the mile and 8th would really suit him.

So, you know, to see him and got to give credit to Irad, you

know, he just kept them in the race a little bit more and

slowly moved up down the back stretcher.

So before the race, I just was hoping it all went well.

You know, that's just what you're, you're hoping he gets a

good trip and gets a shot at it. By the time they turned for

home, he had a clear look and it was awesome.

We'll talk to Corbin Bloomberg about his experience with the

Office Space movie later on in the interview, But I'm going to

put you in a terrible spot here. I want you to rank these three

things about Saturday. What was the best part about

Saturday for Starlight? The graded win for full effort,

the check that came with the race or qualifying for the

Kentucky Derby. Give me the top three there.

I think that. They're all very awesome.

I will be very clear about this. Yes, I think that, you know,

the, I must admit when I pulled up the Derby leaderboard and he

was one that was pretty cool. But but when I went to when I

was out UK, we used to go up to Turfway, a group of buddies and

and you know, the old Turfway grandstand and and it was always

a really fun sort of trip up. So winning, having a horse when

the Ruby was pretty cool. Yeah, that's awesome.

We had a group of, we had a group of friends that we

actually took a bus up and so the bus ride home was pretty

fun. I saw those buses.

I was not invited on those buses.

Sean Collins will tell you what I don't know like that.

Now, now you guys. Might be, I don't know.

Yeah, you could talk about Maryland.

A little big talk on the bus. That's exactly right.

You mentioned the ride that Irad Ortiz gave him.

Obviously the next couple weeks are always what what we could

refer to as like the musical chair of jockeys.

As you know, kind of a lot of these top riders like Irad are

probably going to ride multiple different horses that qualify

from your guys's position as the ownership.

What does the next couple weeks look like in trying to lock down

a rider, whether it be Irad or someone else, just kind of take

us behind the curtain? Lobbying behind the scenes,

anything like that? Yeah.

Look, I think that really not to give the the the standard

answer, but that really comes down to Brad and his team and

and what he wants to do. I think, you know, we're pretty,

we're pretty hands off from that perspective.

I think you know that the trainer knows the horse knows

the riders. It's it's not a race where

you're not necessarily like searching for a rider if you

know, if that's where he ends up.

I think the, you know, there'll be plenty of options.

Things are gonna happen between now and then.

I think we'll end up with a, a very capable pilot one way or

the other. And I think it'll be it's part

of the lead up into it and and seeing what what happens.

Corbin, you said we like to leave that to the trainer.

Where does that, where does that sort of ethos come and start?

Like who's the sort of the, the, the, the genesis point of that

kind of feeling like, hey, we're gonna, we're gonna put the best

horses we can find in the, in the best hands that we can find.

Where does that come from? Yeah, I think it comes from, you

know, Jack Wolf and, and you know what he's sort of instilled

in in me and, and our whole team from from the day he hired me.

It's you leave the you know, he, he leaves, you know, we do the

sales together, but for the most part he, you know, leaves the

sales to me. And then what we do is, you

know, I'll show him around horses at the end and and he

weighs in and decides what he wants, you know what he likes to

buy. But you know, he's really hands

off and that and that's what we do with the trainers too.

Like if they want our advice and we're happy to to give it.

But it really is. I think, you know, the the

really good NFL coaches are the ones that aren't bothered by the

owners, right? Like it's it does and racing

isn't, you know, it's not a perfect analogy to to sports all

the time. There's things that happen.

But overall, I think, you know, it's, it is their job to, to

decide who the best rider is for the horse.

And you know, sometimes that, you know, sometimes they leave

it up to us and then then we would weigh in.

But I think for this, for for decisions like this, it it comes

down to the trainer and then who they're most comfortable with.

Find the experts and trust them. That's the Starlight.

I know. Well, it seems to be, it seems

to be a successful strategy because not not only do you have

full effort in the Derby, now you got a couple other horses

that you guys have some involvement with that you're

hoping will increase your odds on the 1st Saturday in May.

One of those is coming up this weekend and litmus test running

in the Arkansas Derby. Just what can you tell us about

how he's coming into the race? Yeah, he's doing really well.

I think he, you know, is a horse that it similar enough to full

effort should really want to go further.

I remember when I was the Breeders Cup and I like he ran

really well. I thought to finish fourth in

the juvenile and and I just like watch him come by.

He's got a massive stride on him and, and he's a horse that I

think is probably just still figuring it out.

And, and in the, in the rebel, he kind of had the gun from the

rail and, you know, maybe that just maybe got a little bit

tired. I, I think this is going to be

to be, I think his name is, is quite adept for the weekend,

because I think you'll sort of really see where he fits among

those, those, those horses. He's drawn really well.

I, I think he'll sit sort of in a, in a good spot and, and I

think we'll sort of learn how good he is.

He stayed at Oaklawn. He's had two really nice works

at Oaklawn and I think he's doing really well.

A horse like him, you know, he's he's dancing a lot of the dances

already. He's already built himself up

quite quite a number of points. You don't necessarily need to

win this weekend in order to make it into the Kentucky Derby.

Obviously you want to win a as lucrative a race as the Arkansas

Derby, get that great one on him.

But does it take a little bit of the pressure off if you're kind

of thinking about it in terms of the Kentucky Derby that, you

know, even and if we could just get him to run a nice solid

third, then we can figure it out over the next 5 weeks and get

that Derby 1. Yeah, yeah, I think to a certain

extent. But I do think he need, you

know, I would say he needs to run.

Well, you know, if you look through, you know, the horses

Bob Baffert typically runs in the Derby, it's not normally a,

you know, four or five. You know, he usually runs, ends

up running one or two by the end of it and then the one or two

that really fit. And I think that's, you know

what why he's had a lot of success in the race is that, you

know, it doesn't just sort of spam entries in the race.

It's normally a pretty select group.

And that's because they have to sort of earn their way in.

So, you know, I think if he runs really well on Saturday and hits

the board and looks like a horse that's going to love mile and

1/4, I think he'd definitely be a Derby contender.

I think they think, you know, I think the team thinks he's that

talented. So I think he, you know, he did

have a little layoff after low selfie charity, you know, he

kept working. But I think he does have a right

to improve. Second, start off the The Rebel.

I feel like Starlight always has great hats.

Elite hat game. OK, Sean is is Mr. Hat.

He will be in Arkansas on Saturday.

Corbin, I'm doing this for him. He has no idea.

I'm about to do this but. Yeah.

There's nothing up there. I'm just saying it.

Look, I'm the one who needs it, Corbin.

Let's be really clear about it. But but let's just let's talk

hats here. Corbin.

I I you see how serious he is right now?

You're laughing. You're the only one laughing.

Corbin's being serious. Go ahead.

The the key to Starlight is not Jack, it's not me.

It's, it's we have a guy named Vinny Tatum who does all of our

ticketing, Vinny at the Pooh. And you'll know about this.

You'll know about Vinny. Yeah.

And our merchandise and I think he will ensure that there is a

hat or two on the way to Arkansas on Saturday.

So deep. Louisville connections, by the

way, deep Louisville connections.

That is a Louisville Cardinal fan.

You Louisville Cardinal Vinny's, Vinny's Mr. Mr. Poon.

I'm telling you, 1. So no, that is, that's the good

stuff. Corbin knows all about that.

How many office space jokes have been made to you in your life?

And you know what office space is.

I don't know if I do. He explained this to me

beforehand. It's a very obscure reference

our age range. OK, don't feel bad, that part is

real. But.

Everything I say to you is obscure to you.

That's the point. I'm 20 years old with you.

That's how it works. All right.

The boss's last name is Lumbergh.

It doesn't have AB on it, but that's that's why it's funny and

he's not a good guy. Corbin And it's the whole thing.

I it's it's a joke. The movie, though, is a I'll put

it this way. If you're in my age group, like

I I've been married a long time. Corbin, My wife and I have

watched that movie together like Ted times because it's just got

all the like, inside jokes and that kind of stuff.

Yeah. It's just silly, yeah.

I'll instead of just watching instead of watching Jeff Ruby

replays on their dad, watch that Office Space the list.

We'll we'll watch it. You and I will watch it together

in Arkansas. Perfect, perfect.

That'll be Everybody else will be watching PUT.

Your hats on together and watch office space together and hang

out with with Corbin. All right, what's better?

Old Bay or or Natty Bow? Just pick one that's natty Bow

is the answer to it. Yeah, probably Natty Bow.

Yeah, OK. So I can do that.

And do you know what Mcmullen's Pub is?

Is it I probably should? Is it a Baltimore pub?

OK, so that was the fake bar at the top of Pimlico before.

They got this one. And that's where I used to do

radio. My my friend Ryan Clancy, who's

Mr. Baltimore, will be very disappointed.

I missed that one. Damn right.

Yes. And and but he'll be happy about

the Natty Bow answer. At least we have that together.

Yes. Hang on.

Yeah. All right.

Well, that that horse racing question I know.

That only got the Maryland out of the way.

It's never either way. I I got one more one more horse

to ask you about here, Cherokee Nation heading toward the Santa

Anita Derby. There's been a lot of talk about

him recently after his last performance.

What do you guys think about his chances heading toward that

race? Yeah, I think he was a horse

that Bob Baffert, Tom Ryan, the team always really, really

thought quite highly of by Not this time.

He's beautiful. He is a really good looking

horse. And when he ran in that maiden

race and Mr. AP got him and then Mr. AP ran so well in the

Juvenile. Yeah, I think that it yeah.

They they decided to take a shot in the Kentucky Jog Club and it

just didn't go well that day. And he's had a few tough trips

and didn't break well. He's big horse and I think he

got out of the gate so well last time out and he finally got into

that rhythm. That's just so important in

racing and especially I think in California dirt racing because

when you get behind there, it's quite difficult.

And I thought he really put it all together in a pretty big

way. You know, if he can replicate

that race next week, I think it'll be pretty tough.

He just has to show he can do it in great stakes company because

I think he showed he has the talent and I I think he's

working really, really well. And he's another horse.

We're really lucky this year that, you know, the horses we

have pointed to the Derby, you know, mile and a quarter

wouldn't be the issue, which I think a lot of times it it is.

And, you know, there might be a full efforts to dirt with this

test test to show he can, you know, do it on Saturday.

And it's Cherokee Nation the same.

But I think all of them sort of go further the better.

And I think, you know, Cherokee Nation showed that part of the

he showed he can run fast enough.

Like he ran a number, whatever number you look at, he ran a

number fast enough to win the Derby basically.

And, and if he can replicate that in the in a grade one,

he'll be I think quite live going forward.

I'm excited for this Ananita Derby because it's a bunch of

horses like Cherokee Nation who have been really close.

He just got some confidence from winning a maiden race.

So you never know after a horse gets some confidence.

Corbin what they might do next out.

Yeah, exactly. And I I think for the like all

the preps over the next few weeks, they're they're super fun

races. So I can't wait too.

So are you in Arkansas this weekend and then attempting at

least to get out to LA if TSA lets you through?

Is that how this works? I'll be in Arkansas.

I'm hoping to be in Arkansas Saturday and then I, I think

I'll probably be an opening weekend.

Keeneland, Man. I believe I'm.

Starting to skip that. Yeah, I'll be there too.

I say it's someone. I say it's someone who's

skipping it to go to the wood memorial.

But I did that last year. You know, we'll flip it back to

this year. Yeah, that's right.

All right. Well, Corbin, we appreciate it

very much. You don't have to watch Office

Space, even though you should. And it's it's Mike Judge.

So it's the guy who did Beavis and Butthead and King of the

Hill. So if you like any of that

humor. No, I think, I think it will be

watched and I will report back. I believe Corbin I Yeah, you

know, you don't. You don't.

You don't graduate from Flagstar and then lie on a podcast.

You understand? I mean, that's not how this.

Works. No way.

We're going to. We're going to have Corbin on

during Derby week and instead of talking about the horses, we're

just going to talk about. Office Space.

That's right. No, that's right.

A young Jennifer Aniston and a bunch of gritty It's funny No,

it's. Good.

And if I haven't watched it by then, you can we'll we'll have

an it. We can go down the liar route.

We'll have new issues. That's on the wire.

That's exactly right. We're going to do a live stream

podcast episode of our live reactions to the movie so I'll.

Tell you, I'll tell you. It's got, it's got 10 lines.

It's one of the movies that has 10 lines in it that you'll use

the rest of your life with what, a friend or two?

It's one of those. I I think I need probably every

distraction possible between now and and six weeks.

So we'll just. Click.

What did Tony say there? He's like breaking down Tony

Calo's call. You know, I just can't figure it

out. What is he talking about there?

I'll get out of here. Corbin, we appreciate you very

much, Starlight Racing. Best of luck and it's certainly

safe trips for everybody this weekend and weekend after.

Hopefully we have a ton of reason to talk to you after the

Derby drop. Thank you so much and it's great

to talk to you both. Corbin, appreciate it very much.

Corbin Blumber from over there at Starlight Racing, the racing

manager with them. Good stuff, man.

Yeah, good stuff. I love these kinds of interviews

because I think if you're a racing fan and you just go to

the track, you see the insurance and outs of every day, certainly

you might see on Saturday we saw Mike make Winters circle a lot,

right, For example. So you see the trainers, you see

Irad running back and forth, you see Johnny B running back and

forth. You see, I don't know, Kizushi

Kimura running back and forth over there.

But man, guys like Corbin, and I'm not, I'm not putting him in

a big group or anything, but like, those are the people

behind the scenes that I feel like if you don't get to watch a

show like this, you don't ever meet.

Yes. And his job getting these horses

to the gate is, is deciding to buy a horse like this is and

like, OK, how do we finance this?

Who's the partner that we can bring in?

That's great. That's gonna agree with us on

our philosophy of training. Like, hey, we're horse goes to

Brad Cox and he says horse needs to grow up in November.

And everyone goes, Yup, right. And like you said, general

manager of an NFL team, if you are riding your coach all the

time, they're not going to make good in game decisions.

They're going to make decisions based on keeping their job

rather than worrying about those things.

Frankly, I imagine a guy like Brad Cox or Bob Baffert will

probably tell you, hey, like Bob told me, hey, I'll trade the

horses. You stick to radio, right?

I imagine it's a bit of those kind of conversations.

But at the same time, that's why I wanted to ask, where does that

come from? Where's that philosophy come

from? It makes a ton of sense.

Hey, we're going to send you the best horse we can.

You condition the best you can. Yes, and that's probably the

exact perfect way to do things. And obviously it's working

successfully. For starting with racing.

For sure, yeah, several horses, 11's in the Derby now, several

more are going to be trying to quinch their way into the

starting gate there. But yeah, as you said, a lot of

times these are the behind the scenes people that are doing a

lot of that extra work, making sure things are going right that

we don't always get to see. So it's nice to hear from

Corbin, hear his perspective on everything with full effort and

the rest of the Starlight crew as they're heading into the

Derby. And apparently I need to go find

Vinny at Oak on this weekend and get myself that hat.

They're a Louisville fan. You just need to know Vinny for

that. And I, I should probably stop

talking about Vinny because he's got this very nice, like, known,

unknown relationship with the Louisville fan base, OK?

Like people are aware of what Vinny is, but they don't know

who he is. I'm going to be quiet about how

about that? But by the way, Cherokee Nation,

not this time on the top Indian Charlie Dam.

And once in a while we see those Indian Charlie dams especially

distance, distance, distance. No problem at all.

Be interested to see Cherokee Nation in just a couple of weeks

out there at Santa Anita Park. But this weekend, of course,

Sean, we will get the Arkansas Derby.

In the Florida Derby. You and I have talked about

routes and where the best horses have come out of at this point.

What's interesting is the best horse according to most people

on the route right now is a horse like, so it's like Paladin

and he hasn't been on a single, a single route at all.

It's been more that he's jumping around to different spots to get

his, you know, to get his points that way.

So he's in New York, that he's in New Orleans.

He's going to be up here at Keeneland.

He hasn't been especially on a route, if you will, on a single

circuit. He's going wherever he feels

like dominating horses. Is there a route right now

that's looked the best to you at this point?

Is it Florida? Yeah, it would have to be right?

Yeah. Cuz I mean you have to take

Paladin out as you mentioned because he just has been jumping

all around to the different places but.

We thought the contenders in the Florida Derby as like I thought.

Nearly was phenomenal in the Holy Bowl.

I thought the Fountain of Youth was probably one of the stronger

races of that set of racing. And I do think that even when

you stretch out to the Tampa races, Renegade ran really well

and now he's shipping up to Arkansas and there's going to be

a big choice in there. And then the Puma ran well

enough. It is now coming back in the in

the Florida Derby as well. So I do think that Florida's

probably been the strongest up to this point.

We'll see whether or not that holds, but I think I think

Arkansas has been fairly, fairly strong too.

I really like Silent Tactic and the races he's been running down

there. And so he's going to get another

test this weekend with some of these horses as as the Corbin

was mentioning, I don't think with Miss Test going up to the

lead, I don't think that necessarily was the best thing

if we're him in the Rebel. I remember hearing some comments

from Bob Baffert afterward of how they feel like he's a horse

that they'd rather have sit back.

But just because of the post and you know, the way the race ended

up happening, he ended up on the lead.

And so I think he's going to potentially have the opportunity

to run a better race this time as well.

So I think all both of these races this weekend, they're

going to be pretty telling. And I think like even, I think

even the third place finishers could be legit widget shots at

the Derby. There's enough good horses in

these races where you're going to come out of it thinking we

really have to watch anybody that was coming out of this.

Race and I know it was because of a of a of a the hats right

behind me for Forte, but yeah, I know it's because of a scratch,

but we got major's a winner 2nd place out of Florida Derby

before yeah. I mean, like, we're, you know,

we're stretching for stuff here. The Florida Derby recently,

especially Sean, a spectacular predictor for high level success

in the Kentucky Derby. OK, who do you think will be

favored by the time they get to post on Saturday?

Third time starter Chief Wallaby or Holy Bowl runaway winner?

Nearly. See, that's tough because I, I,

I would say nearly for sure, but recently, I mean, Chief Wallaby

ended up being Co favored in the Kentucky Derby future.

Ranger. And I believe is he the morning

line favorite? I think I saw something in

there. I don't think what you have

right now doesn't have the. I don't think they're out, but

do you think I thought I saw somewhere I thought I saw?

Somewhere on the day they drew it that he was supposed to be

the favorite or something. So it seems like a lot of people

are really high on him. I just, I was thinking about it

the other day whenever I saw whatever I saw talking about

that, that Can you believe that the Florida Derby is going to

have the Chief Wallaby? 2 to 1 Commandment 5 to 2.

Yeah, you're going to have the winner of the Holy Bowl, the

Fountain of Youth in the Tampa Bay Derby, in the Florida Derby.

And none of them are going to be the favorite, at least on the

morning line. So I mean, that shows you how

much people are confident in Chief Wallaby.

I'm not as confident in Chief Wallaby.

I'm actually, I feel like I'm in the minority.

I actually like Commandment coming out of the Fountain of

Youth better than I do like Chief Wallaby.

I know a lot of people are pointing out how wide Chief

Wallaby was during the race, but I did like Commandments

performance in there. And I mean, nearly the way that

he won the Holy Bowl, I just, I, I need to, I, he's my number one

in this group of horses that are in the Florida Derby.

And so I need to see one of these horses take it to him and

beat him. When a horse wins as

impressively as nearly did in the Holy Bowl, I I'm tend I tend

to lean toward that horse, especially when he's now coming

back in off of essentially, it's just a little under two months

rest versus the rest of them are coming in off the one month.

So I'm gonna I'm gonna be pointing toward nearly in this

one. Yeah, nearly comes out of that

five and three quarter leg victory in the Holy Bowl.

That was as Sean mentioned, at the very end of January.

Now three months, excuse me, two full months later here in the

Florida Derby as well. The Puma's in here.

What do we make of the Puma? You were there at the Tampa Bay

Derby. I was sorry.

I was at the other two as you were.

Holy Bowl, sorry. As you were the other ones you

dragged. Me to California, letting me go

back to Tampa. I'm so.

Sorry, I'm so sorry you had to send spend the weekend.

It's sunny Southern California on the horse racing happy hours

dime. But the the the the Puma in here

is what I didn't want to believe in after the same F Davis and

then he was great in the Tampa Bay Derby.

He just was. Yeah.

Is he as good as these other horses though?

Is the only question right. Yeah, that's by.

The way shout out to our guy Todd, who I mentioned earlier.

Really likes the Puma. There you go, he thought he told

me that it's a turfway. Well, I remember that from

Saturday that that'll be the. Question here and with the Puma

I I just feel I felt like the the Tampa Bay Derby is maybe a

step below with what the Holy Bowl and the Fountain of Youth

were for me personally. Now he did win well and he seems

like he's a horse that's on the improve at running third to

Renegade and the Sam Davis is nothing to be ashamed about

either. I do like that the confidence in

the ownership to bring him back in this tough of a Florida Derby

on short rest rather than, you know, trying to maybe wait out

for the Kentucky Derby or maybe running him back in the

Bluegrass next week. It's a sign of confidence to me,

the fact that they are putting him back in against this tough

of the field. Not to say the Bluegrass is

going to be any easier of the field.

Yeah, it's not. But you know where I would.

Have said the point, you got the.

Extra week for doing that. Do you know where I would have

said the pool? The Wood, the Santa Anita Derby,

either of those. Probably San Anita Derby,

frankly. No, but but you know, this

allows him to stay home. This allows him to to get get

another race under. He hits the board.

He's in the Derby. I would The world's.

The world's simple. I would not be shocked if we saw

a mage scenario with him where he doesn't win the Florida

Derby, but he runs extremely well in the Kentucky Derby.

That would not shock me at all. And we we reference me because

obviously it's the same connections here, Same jockey

Javier Castellano, trained by Gustavo Delgado and a lot of the

same ownership as well. So I could definitely see him

being on that path. I don't think, I don't think I

like him for this Saturday, but depending on how he runs, he's

gonna have the points to be in the race.

That's exactly. So depending on how he runs this

weekend, I would definitely be looking at him a lot going into

the Kentucky. I think his double Logano has

the same thought that you just mentioned, which was okay, we've

got these points. I don't want him to not run

before the Kentucky Derby. Yeah, why don't we go hit the

board in the Florida Derby if we can, because even a fourth place

finish gets him in. Yeah, I mean it really.

Well, I mean, he's already in at this point.

He's got, well, he's got 50 from the win in Tampa and he would

have gotten. So second points, yeah, just a

couple of yards. Is what, a 20 point race so he

would have got? 3rd place but.

He's, but he's out of, he's out of the 40, the 50 point tie,

right, right. If we have a lot of horses that

don't have points that run second the next couple of weeks,

he's out of that tie, he's above that tie.

So he should be in. So yeah, track, see what you can

do. If you can pick off the Florida

Derby and get that Grade 1 already, go for it.

But if not, you're, you know, just keep marching forward and

get ready for the Kentucky Derby.

Oaklawn Saturday is where you plan to be.

We'll see if Corbin makes it or not.

And did. Not sound promising, did it?

Well, I'm going to try to make it Arkansas.

I'm like, OK, no one tries. This is you.

Listen to Yoda. You understand me, Corbin?

Do or do not. Do or do not.

There is no try. Well, he's got to make it now.

We got to watch the movie while. We're, well, you need to watch

Office Space. The other part is if you don't

get a hat, there's a big problem.

And so it's just listen. They've got they've got 5 weeks

to make up for it after the fact.

This is April is my big month for hat character.

You heard it here first. Arkansas Derby, the grade

1,000,000. 1/2 bucks in this one, a mile and an eighth, just

like the Florida Derby. Silent tactic is in here.

I know that's a horse you really like.

Just kind of didn't get there against class president, who

will not be in this field this weekend.

Blackout time's in here. Bricklin's in here.

Renegade's the likely favorite for Todd Pletcher coming out of

that. Sam F Davis if he's the favorite

here. By the way, Napoleon Solo sounds

like it's going to go to New York instead of running in

Arkansas. Fascinating.

By the way, do do you have a strong feeling about this field?

Is is Renegade kind of just the default winner here?

I. I've never, I've not been on the

same bandwagon of, of Renegade as a lot of people seem to be

online. Every time I open Twitter, There

was one day I opened Twitter last week and I'm like, all

right, Renegade's already won the contestant last month.

So I know there's there's a lot of people that are.

High, come up with that list, by the way, Yes, that's what we

should stop is who won the Derby in March.

Who who is that horse that won the Derby in March Because by

the way, last year was sovereignty and everyone was

right. Yes, that is.

True. So is that such a quality on

that list? Is that a good one?

I think it's like he won. He won the Derby in March.

Yeah, I think. He would be on that list for

sure, especially after especially afterlife is good.

Got injured and was off the trail.

I think I think essential quality probably will early

March. I I don't know I've never I I've

I've liked his wins his wins so far in the Sam Davis.

I was not as high coming out of that race as a lot of people

are. Maybe it's just because it was

the Sam Davis at Tampa maybe that one or the Sam excuse me at

at at Tampa. I I've really like silent

tactic. I like the way that he's closed

in these races. I do think that him having to

wait a little bit for space on the far turn in the in the

rebel. First of all, I like that he sat

a little bit closer in the rebel and still came and still came

with the kick. But I do think him waiting a

little bit on traffic took away from his momentum to where if he

had been able to just launch himself at once earlier, I feel

like he could have maybe the momentum would have carried him

past class president enough to where they wouldn't have gotten

into the duel. And then he maybe comes out and

wins that race. And so I did like even though he

lost by a nose and class president battled back, I did

like that performance in the Rebel.

And I think that had a ground for him.

I mean, he's run a mile on a 16th in every single race of his

career so far. So it'll be interesting to see

what he can do now stretching out to the mile and an eighth

here in the in the Arkansas Derby.

And so I'm really looking forward to him this weekend.

I think at the last I saw Christian Torres at Virginia, he

still has the lucky mustache. He hasn't shaved it off yet.

So hopefully that will that will work out for him in silent

tactic this week and blackout time I think is the question

mark for me what we're going to get from him now, second off the

layoff. Now that he can kind of now that

he's kind of had a consistent training schedule, he hasn't had

to move around in order to get off the vets list.

What are we going to see from him now coming off the second,

second start off the layoff? It's fascinating stuff for sure.

I'm fascinated by Brooklyn now that we've seen Pavlovian run so

well in New Orleans. The 3rd place finisher here,

Express kit, of course there. Yeah, I don't know, like all.

Of a sudden, you got to look at that race a little bit more.

Express kid going out to Santa Anita Derby, Brooklyn.

Here in this spot, you got to look at it a little bit and be

like. By the way, the splits there

were 2346 and 2:00 and 1:10 in the Sunland Derby.

If you do that in Oakland, you're going to be right in the

This horse was a length off for most of the race.

Yeah, this horse is going to be in the in the field.

I, I just look, I get it, it, it's a big ask in this spot, but

I whatever the thing about Oakland that's fascinating

because the stretch is so much shorter than Churchill Horses

like silent tactic. I have a very difficult time

forecasting how they're going to like the Churchill stretch

that's much longer because my brain says, oh, he's going to

love it. Just give him a longer stretch.

But how much of that closing is he doing on the turn?

Like how much of the momentum is he getting on the turn?

It's always a question for me, which is why I watched the

Arkansas Derby like 35 times before the Kentucky Derby to try

to figure that out and then get the wrong horse anyway.

But yes the but last year 17 made it so easy.

God bless him, he just made it so easy.

Anyways, the but the the thing with a horse like silent tactic

is how will you like the added everything?

The Derby gifts have added everything is this sort of

Tacitus. He should love it.

Gun runner on the damn side, which by the way, should make us

feel very old Gun runner on the damn side.

It's just it like distance should be no issue for him.

I'm I'm a little opposite of you on renegade.

I think while he might not win here, I would be.

Stunt is probably not the word, but very surprised if he's

outside the top two or three. Yeah, I would be surprised by

that too. Yeah.

OK. But like, I don't think you, I

don't think we're seeing him draw off to win by several

lengths because he's just so much better than everybody else.

Maybe he will. We'll find out.

But. Napoleon Solo going back to

Aqueduct for the wood after he won the champagne.

Good idea, bad idea. I think it's a.

Fantastic. I think that's a good idea.

Get get him back, especially after after the Fountain of

Youth, getting back to a track where you know that he's had

success. Figure out whether or not the

distance is going to be the proper thing for him here and.

And by the way, he's. That was only his one his first

start around 1 turn there or two turns in the found of you.

So get get him back on track and him somewhere you know that he

likes and see what happens. Yeah, that'll be fun.

We'll talk about that. One next week for.

Sure. This test, as we mentioned with

Corbin, we'll break from the 9 here.

Francisco, Ari etic, it's the ride for Bob Baffert for the

first time in his career. How about that does that?

So here's my question for you on that.

Maybe we should have Corbin for this question.

Too why is Juan Hernandez not coming to Arkansas or.

Why now? I know obviously there's big

races at two different tracks so a lot of the top jockeys are

going to be switched apart, but are you surprised that Baffert

didn't land? You know anyone else?

Obviously Francisco is a top notch rider down at Oaklawn, but

are you surprised Bafford either didn't send somebody from

California or ended up landing someone else in?

This 113 times in the top three in 238 races at Oaklawn is

exactly who I want. Riding my horse in a race where

the top 2 gets me to the get to I am.

I actually think this is just get the local guy, yeah, on a

horse that's going to want to be near the front anyway, so it's

not like you have to navigate a deep close with him.

And he's on the outside. Breaking, you're on the outside,

do what you have to do before the first turn and then figure

it out. And I for that purpose,

actually, I think Francisco's kind of perfect.

Yeah, I, I think Francisco's a great rider, so it it'll be

awesome to see hopefully him have a good horse here in this

race and hopefully keep them outgoing into the Derby that.

Would be the question. Yeah, that is for sure the

question there. All right.

Well, of course, Oak preps on those cards as well to watch the

Oakland Mile came up nice and salty.

I haven't. You see this one?

I haven't even looked at that. Yet.

All right, I will walk you through this field and then we

will let everybody get to dinner.

All right, we'll take it. We'll break from the inside.

Neo Equos is 12 to one in this field.

OK gun parties in this field for Steve Asmussen was in a ratings

handicap blast out East Avenue. Makes his debut for 2026 in this

race. Full Serrano.

There we go. Now you're.

Getting me hyped. Cold Battle, Kentucky Derby alum

who has won at Oaklawn twice in this race and knew what's new.

The DeVito Barn. We've seen this one in the

Razorback, second place behind Magnitude, who is now in Dubai.

Yeah, he'll be in this race. Awesome.

Aaron's also in here. People might not know that name,

but he did win the Pimlico Special.

Yeah, just last year. That's a horse race that is AI.

Haven't had a chance to look at the undercard races yet, so you

just got me very. Excited for that race and oh man

and of. Course, that's a race that the

Oakland Mile has won the last couple years when I have gone

down there. It's been a pretty decent field

in that race. So that, that seems like one of

those races. It's graded now.

It's a grade 3. It's almost.

Like putting up a half million bucks gets a good feel.

Yeah. Oh no.

Well, so I think, I think this race is probably on the rise

going going into the future, one of these ones that we might see

kind of climb the great scale a little bit.

More. You got a British Cup winner in

here, you got horses coming out of greatest stakes wins.

You got a champion. Winner. 2 lucky Derby alumni

12:50 on a grade 3 winner. That's a great too, my friend.

That's what that race is. Yeah, and well, it'll take Grade

2 status. The race I feel like is most

headed toward Grade 1 is the Oakland Handicap coming up

almost about in about a month. The way that race has shaped up

the last couple years and the way it looks like it's shaping

up this year, Sovereignty. Now, we heard yesterday that

journalism might be looking at that too.

Let's just say if one of those two or especially if both of

those two make it into that starting gate, I will be at

Oakland. That that's for sure.

I might have an extra Oakland trip in me this year.

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