BloodHorse Monday 3/30/26 | Renegade wins Arkansas Derby

All right, welcome in and end of March edition of Blood HORSE

Monday. His name Sean.

My name is Louis. Thanks for hanging out with us.

Yet another edition of the program.

We are post Florida Derby. We are post Arkansas Derby Bleep

is getting real strong. Collins How?

Are you man, 33 days away from the Kentucky Derby right now?

We're getting closer and closer. We have three horses on site

that I know of right now in Full effort and Stark Contrast and

Chipancho. So those are the three that I

know of are at the track right now and.

Hopefully you'll be just a couple more coming.

In nice and easy. Slide of stark contrast in that

group. Right, he's still on the point

board right now. We'll see.

We also think his next start is almost certainly in the state of

Kentucky. It's going to be either, yeah,

it's gonna be either the American turf or the Kentucky

Derby right now. The last I talked to one of the

assistants there at Churchill Downs, that was they still

haven't made the official decision yet.

So at this point, why make the official decision?

You don't have really have to come up with that choice for a

couple more weeks yet until we draw the post one week before

the Derby and at least see how he works on the dirt in the next

couple a couple a couple weeks and go from there.

So yeah, so right now he's still in the field.

We'll see whether or not that holds.

But interesting weekend this weekend, cause not only not only

was it the races, but we also got the huge news of Paladin

being out of the Kentucky Derby and we're getting an ankle

injury in his final grease with Bluegrass.

So it looked like things were pretty wide open heading into

the races and maybe are well. So here's The thing is, you

know, in in every Derby class, I think we do this every year, by

the way. I think there are four or five

top contenders. And then you just have to decide

if that's the year that one of those horses isn't going to win

for your wagers. Yeah, that's essentially how

this works. And I think we were down to like

Paladin, Renegade, maybe a Commandment or some of those,

some assortment of those Florida Derby horses in that kind of

field. And then maybe we're gonna be 1

this weekend, right? That's always a possibility that

Barry last weekend, maybe, you know, I the one that I keep

coming back to, we'll do this at the end of the show is if

Potente really puts it together in the San Anita Derby and we

get a Baffert that's really great.

Who doesn't run like a Baffert, right?

He's not on the front. Just come catch me kind of

thing. He could really add to the

intrigue of this race. But I don't think you're wrong

in that. We see Commandment win the

Florida Derby 150 points going into the Derby starting gate in

any year. That is your favorite, that is

your. We get Brad Cox very likely

gonna get Flavia Pratt aboard that one, right?

Like that's a no brainer sort of thing.

Flavia Pratt took Baeza to 3rd place in Country House to a win

through DQ. At worst you could say Country

House for a second, right? If Flavia Pratt can do that in

Kentucky Derby, I'm sure he'll be fine on Commandment.

Yes, OK, he'll. Be he'll be just OK the Sonic

into. Mischief or by the damn side.

I think he'll be fine and so. This is the.

Interesting part of this is Renegade goes ahead and wins the

Arkansas Derby. You've seen these horses in

person. I know who you prefer.

Who? Who do you think I've renegade?

Yes, I do. And I think it's not close.

For you, Frankly, no. Well, and it's interesting, if

you listen to the show last week before the race, you would have

heard me kind of critiquing the fact that people were crowning

him the Derby champion on Twitter before he even ran the

final prep race. I will fully admit I was not on

the Renegade bandwagon before Saturday and I am fully on the

Renegade. Bandwagon now after.

Saturday, but it's not just because of the performance I

want. I want to point that out and.

By the way, we will talk with the owner and breeder of

Renegade to open the show today. Of course, the LO family that

we'll get to them in just a couple minutes, frankly.

Yeah, but. It wasn't just the performance

that won me over from him. So let me let me take you

through my Saturday while I was at Oakland Park, so.

Settle in for story time. Yes, it's time for story time

with Sean. No, SO, so I, I watched the

Florida Derby on my phone a couple and I think there were

two races before the Arkansas Derby at the time that that ran.

And I saw how big of a performance the Puma ran.

And so suddenly in my mind, seeing him run as well as he did

on that short rest and obviously he was behind Renegade and the

Sam Davis back in February. And so that made me start

thinking in my mind, I was like, OK, maybe Renegade is going to

run a little bit better than I. Expected.

I like the thought process so far.

So I, I think about that and then I get into the paddock at

or at Oak Lawn and I see Renegade walking around in the

paddock. And every time he came around,

just the look in his eye, the way he was looking around at

everything, it just to me, it showed a sign of intelligence

that I haven't seen in a lot of the other prep races that I've

been to and so. From him specifically, or sort

of generally from? No, from him.

Well, for for this year. Yeah, yeah, right.

Yeah, I saw that. It looked like a level of

intelligence I hadn't been seeing.

As the horses were walking around the paddock, he was

taking everything in, he was looking at everything.

That continued when he went out onto the grass course.

Then he goes out and runs the performance, an amazing

performance in the race and I've spoken very highly of Simon

Tactic on this show many times before.

He blew right past him like it was nothing in the stretch, so

that was obviously impressive. But then after that, when he

comes back to the winner's circle again, just the look in

his eye as he's walking around, he's like no big deal.

Taking it, taking it all in, taking a look around.

I got a, you know, just a nice look of him just acting like he

was the champion. That's what won me over.

It wasn't necessarily the race. It was seeing the way he was

acting and the intelligence in his eyes before the race and

then after the race. That's what's put me on the

Renegade bandwagon now as we move forward through the next

less than six weeks or five weeks.

It is always amazing when you're in the paddock and you can just

tell one of the competitors there is just ready.

They're just ready. You know, you and I have

mentioned it many times on this program, but when they paraded

Torpedo Anna, they would get close to the to the tunnel to go

to the track at Churchill. She's only got 2 handlers just

to get out of the track. And it's those kinds of equine

athletes that we all get really excited about.

I mean, I remember being a Breeders' Cup with you and Barry

and, and just a a real like Barry's looking at she's so

spicy. Like we're done here.

Yeah, she's winning this race. And it was just one of those

where he was totally right. But once in a while, that

paddock look from a horse when they give you that look like,

oh, OK. There's.

By the way, congratulations on the on track attendance. 73,000

people at Oakland, I believe. I believe that's an Arkansas

Derby record. So the fact that he handled that

as easily as he did, it didn't faze him at all.

I mean, that's got to give you a lot of hope for how he's going

to be able to handle everything on the 1st Saturday.

Because that that's a huge part of the puzzle is how they handle

all the extra that comes with the Kentucky Derby.

And boy, did he handle it at Oaklawn.

And he, I have said I was skeptical about him last week

before the Arkansas Derby. Now that I've seen him in

person, I've seen how he's acted and I saw that performance.

I'm fully on the Renegade bandwagon now as we're moving

toward the Derby. Florida Derby, we see 4 runners

in this race Sean, that many of us had very near the top of our

rankings for three-year olds this year.

Commandment gets the win, I don't think a surprise to

anyone. He was second favorite here, but

there was a group of three horses that were all essentially

even money or less. I mean at that point, less than

two to one for sure between him nearly and Chief Wallaby.

I was on Chief Wallaby this year.

I thought he was the progressive type that might pick this race

off. Shame on me for doubting Brad

Cox in the Florida Derby, but here we are again.

Well, as he said, you stick to radio and he'll he'll train the

horses. That's what he told you after

the Fountain of Youth. Brad Cox on my radio show

tomorrow at 11:00. But yes, the he gets the way to

Florida with Commandment. He look, he's going to have 17

of the 20 horses in the starting game of Kentucky Derby.

It's an amazing thing that Brad Cox.

Is doing 17's a bad number in the Derby?

Sorry, Brad, I was going to listen to this.

Just stick to radio. But no, the the performance

there, he's a contender for sure.

For me, the Puma with five weeks off is a fascinating freaking

horse. And if you think about what mage

did a couple of years ago, the story is not different.

And guess what? The connections are almost

identical. Yeah, exactly.

I mean this actually sets up as a mage 2 point O for sure.

Just a heads up. I mean, something to watch for

sure moving forward. With the Puma, yeah, the Puma.

The Puma really impressed me this weekend.

I didn't know. I didn't really know what to

think of him going toward the Derby.

But he showed this weekend that he really can be considered one

of the top horses going into it. I mean, we talked so much about

Commandment Chief all being nearly going into this race.

He beat two of them and lost to the other one by a note was

really on the head Bob. So different stride and he maybe

wins that race. And so I I think and coming off

the short rest. So I was very impressed with him

as he said, he's going to get the full 5 weeks now.

And as I said earlier, that just flatters Renegade even more of

the fact that Renegade beat him back in the Sam Davis.

And so it does. I think I mentioned on the show

last week, it seems like we're going to have a really top heavy

Derby where the top horses are going to, you know, it feels

like one of those years where we have like as you said earlier,

maybe 5 or six horses that are going to be kind of who we're

looking at. I think the Puma's definitely

going to end up being interesting.

OK. Yeah.

No, that's interesting. Yeah.

I mean, you can't look at that. And especially with the

connections and seeing how they've done this before, you

can't look at that and say that this is not an improving horse

that can fight with the best of them going into this, Especially

now with Paladin not there. And we've now seen some several

of the top competitors face each other in the Florida Derby and

see them all finished very close to each other.

I think you got to really be looking at the Puma here for

sure. Nearly is 19th in points.

He's going to get passed this weekend.

He actually already is passed because of the.

All the jab invitations, Yeah. So he's in 20.

Second, I think right now 'cause of the three invitations, all

sounds like all three of those horses are coming, right?

Owned by Centennial Farms. All the things, nearly to all of

us. We see the talent, we know it's

there. We know he's athletic.

All of the things. Can I make a prediction?

For nearly this year, yes, you. Can I think he's very similar to

a Ghoster type, OK. And I think, I think Pletcher

knows that. I think his next start will be

in something like Oscar did with the Lexington last year, OK.

I think that kind of spot makes us a lot of sense.

Get some confidence in him. He's going to be the best horse

in that race if he goes right. Well I I I don't know about the

Lexington just because of the timing, but I could see this

being like a Peter Pan Belmont horse if they decide.

Not to do the Derby. That was the other route.

Because you're right. You know what, You're probably

more right because it's Pletcher and he's not going to shoot for

Baltimore, right? If this were a Chad Brown tradie

or a Brad Cox trainee, that might be the obvious route,

frankly, right? Or AI don't know Saffy trainee

or whatever. You know, somebody used to the

Rockies, Cassie Asmus and whatever.

I'm fascinated to watch nearly the rest of the year, though.

But I do think if you're a Pletcher, you're just thinking

I'll make him a Cerotopia horse. Yeah, right.

I'll just make up the Saratoga horse.

We'll figure it out this summer. The Peter Pan, though, I had not

put that on the top of my list, but I'm going to now.

I think it makes a lot of sense for him.

So hopefully what I'm saying is we always think we know what the

three-year old class is and then we don't.

Here we are again. I I think though by the time we

get to the summer we'll have another fun, another funnier 3

year old. Yeah, I think so.

And we had Don Little on the show after nearly won the Holy

Bowl and he said back then, you know, we're not going to force

him into the Derby, depending on how the prep last prep race

goes. And we'll see how the points

shake out whether or not he gets in.

But they're OK was sitting back and you know, Don talked to us

quite a bit about his love of Saratoga being from up in that

region. So, you know, they might they

might be thinking, let's just pack it in for the Derby.

Let's try to maybe get that Belmont at Saratoga.

Let's keep them ready for the Travers, the Jim Dandy in those

kind of races. So I think we can definitely

still see big things from him down the line.

And, and we always forget the Haskells just down the road like

they can figure that out, right? Pennsylvania Derby is available

if you need the grade one option at the end of the year, that

sort of thing. So there are for a horse like

nearly this year is far from over for sure because of a

fourth place finish in the Florida Derby.

But hey, you were at the Arkansas Derby.

I was. You bought all in on Renegade.

Do you know who else bought all in on Renegade?

I think Robert loaded. Robert Loaded.

That's exactly right. He was also part enough to breed

the horse. Robert, good day to you.

Thanks so much for joining us on BLOOD HORSE Monday.

How are you? You're very welcome.

I'm good, I'm great. I mean now could I not be?

Oh, man, it's dominating. That's right.

This is one of my favorite times of year to do this show, Sean.

We get to meet people like Robert who are just having the

best, like four or five days of their life.

That's now. You've got to do this before,

though, Robert. You've had this moment before.

What was it like on Saturday? Though oh, I tell you what, it

was incredible. We just had a smooth trip down.

We brought down free plane loads of folks.

So we had about 50 folks and and the Oakland people were very

accommodating. And as you know, that's kind of

where we grew up and racing down there.

So we love that place. People are friendly, venue is

super and I might say, you know, he's make, they're making it

better every year. Purses are great.

So everything worked out smoothly and and we had a great

time. All our folks had a great time.

Naturally, you know the winner. The race was like the icing on

the cake. Well, you mentioned how

important Oak Lawn is to you and your family.

What was it like now having the the biggest win in front of the

biggest crowd in Oak Lawn Park history?

It was, yeah, that crowd was just, it was over the top.

So, you know, I'm glad we had some nice seating arrange

because out there, when I started out in there, I said on

the steps, you know, where the steps are.

Yeah, that's where my wife and I, when we started going, we

would fight for a location down there on the steps.

And, you know, we thought that was pretty all right.

If there's room to sit down, it was pretty all right.

At least we weren't standing. But you know, that was a while

back and and fortunately we've we've been able to obtain better

seed nowadays. Robert Lowe with us in the

ownership group of Renegade. Yeah.

Well, Robert, you guys bred this horse.

Was it he one that kind of tipped himself early on that he

was going to be something special?

Yeah, we when he was here at the farm as a wing Ling and and

later on his yearling, we really, really liked it.

I'm still looking back, I'm surprised that I made the

decision to put him in the sale, but the IRS was probably in some

stage you allotted on me, you know, so at least act like

you're making a little money now and then.

So we decided, well, this would be a good, a good horse to sell

and we took him to the sale and we're just just kind of it's

when it, when you enter him, you start regretting entering him,

you know, so we went to the sale and, and Repole ran him up there

pretty good. And you know, that was a nice

number, but the instant after the hammer dropped, we were

looking for a way to buy, buy back in.

And you know, Mike was very gracious to let us back in and

even Stephen deal we bought, bought him for 50% of the

purchase price. So that was that was a square

deal. Wow.

Yeah, well, how how does your, how did your relationship with

Mike Ripoli kind of come to be? What what has been your

experience with him over the years?

And what is it like owning a top horse like this with him?

Well, it's incredible because he really, in spite of his Queen's

upbringing and background, he's really a very nice guy.

He he really is. I mean, I'm a Midwestern, right?

I'm a hillbilly. So usually we don't have an

affinity with New Yorkers. But when you get to know him a

little bit, he is very nice. Now we'll say one thing.

You can always hear him before you see him.

But we were waiting for him to get we could we beat him there

and we could hear him out in the hallway, you know, holding court

with somebody that he bumped into on the way in before he

actually got in there. But, you know, he was very nice

to our group, very kind. You know, I really can't say

enough good things about the guy.

And obviously he's he's been very successful.

He's paid, He's invested a lot of money, you know, and as you

all know very well, it's not the whole thing just to buy the most

expensive horses to sell. Yeah, right now he may buy half

of them. But, you know, he he seems to,

you know, keep his discipline as to buying horses.

And I think he's also pretty damn lucky, and that always

helps. A little bit of luck always

helps. You hear that Mic, those

scratches on Derby day? It's luck.

That's what it is, buddy. All right, Robert Lowe with us

down there, part of the ownership group of Renegade and

bred the horse as well. Look, you're looking forward now

at this point, you're you're thinking Kentucky Derby.

Of course, you've got it into mischief by a curling tail.

I mean like you got to be feeling pretty good about the

type of logs at this point. Yeah, we are.

I mean curling, you know, gets you that distance and into

mischief, you know, gets you outstanding speed.

And I've overheard you all talking about his apparent

intelligence and and I think that's remarkable about this

horsey. You know, you get to know him a

little bit and observing his racing and you know, in the

paddock prior to the race. And then the way he's come

along, you know, looking at its his prior running lines, I

think, I think his intelligence has always been there.

The time is a fool, but I think we're getting smarter.

And I don't take anything away from my rat Ortiz.

Naturally, I think rat has learned his his style now he

accommodates that style. I noticed the other day he was

pretty cool customer on the backside, you know, running in

the, you know, near the back or at the back of the pack.

But this worse and understands and communicates with the rider.

The rider communicates with the horse and they they they really

make an awesome combination. He's out of Spices.

Nice. I watched her win the 2021

Alaire DuPont Handicap. And by the way, I'm not looking

at notes. Sean could actually.

I just remember that right. He does not have her up on the

screen. You're the Raider here.

What's her temperament like? Did he get some of those mental

capacity things from her by chance?

I think so, you know, she was out of Dame Dorothy who who

raced for Bobby Fly and Todd trained.

So you know, we kind of get a line on, you know, Todd was very

high on us buying her and she, she, she ran well, but she is

just going to make an outstanding, outstanding

broodmare. So we're we're really pleased

with her and I think that, you know, the mother always provides

something a little special. Males are sperm donors but you

know the females really giving me upbring.

Totally agree. Ask my kids.

Yeah, there you go. Well.

You, you mentioned how Irad has now kind of learned him and that

has really kind of helped maybe maybe show some more of

Renegades intelligence here and just, you know, his, his

sportsmanship. How much of that is also brought

out by having a guy like Todd Pletcher in his corner training

him every morning? Well, Demi, you know, there's

there are some excellent trainers and we respect them and

think highly of them that Todd is.

For us, you know, the the best person has the best crew,

remains very disciplined to to his profession does it very

well. As you know, he's very well

spoken. You know, he represents us well

and we're really happy to have him on the team.

You know, his dad trained at Oakland way back in the day.

So I think Todd has a little affinity to Oaklawn as well.

He's done well there. You know, we wish he'd run a

string there because it's just handier than Miami Forest.

But you know, we, we understand that.

No, we we couldn't be happier with with Todd and his and his

entire crew. Well, what went into the

decision after the Sam Davis to end up at the Arkansas Derby, I

feel like that's a that's a right.

We haven't really seen that much.

I feel like going from that race into the Arkansas Derby, what

led to that choice? You know, I, I think they're all

the tracks are a lot different. But, you know, the way he

performed in the Sam Davis and showed us that late turn of foot

and those, you know, very fast fractions coming home, You know,

he's, he's going to be suited to the the mile and an eighth.

And Todd knows if, if there's a choice, you know, the lows are

going to go to, you know, their home track where they grew up

sitting out on the steps. And, you know, we, we just love

that place. It's just really gratifying for

us. And Todd didn't have to ask.

Well, this was your second Arkansas Derby win.

You won with Magnum Moon a few years ago as well.

Was it? Was it a little?

You know, a lot of people always say sometimes the first one you

don't get to enjoy it as much just because it's such a

surprise. But now that you had been

through that experience before, getting to win a second Arkansas

Derby after that to that, did it feel any more special this time

around? Yeah, I think part of it is just

been the progression of of the horse, you know, watching him

improve and watching Irad kind of figure him out, you know

something, Magnum Moon was, you know, a different kind of horse,

Undefeated going into the Derby, point leader and a lovely,

lovely, courageous horseman. We loved him.

But I think you do relax a little bit more, you know, when

the Arkansas Derby is Kentucky Derby, of course, that's a big

prize. We we love, love, love to win

it. But we really enjoyed winning

the Arkansas Derby with Magnum Moon.

And he was a very nice horse and we're just so, so proud of the

way he performed. One of the horses that I've

always really liked is Steppenwolfer, who was third in

the 2006 Kentucky Derby behind Barbaro and Bluegrass Cat.

Just what? What do you remember about that

experience, seeing him run so well in that Kentucky Derby?

Well, we're a little bit nervous, but it was relieved

somewhat. He was like 23 to one or

something like that and everybody just came.

He was a few folks. He said he's kind of a wise guy

horse because he was long winded.

Obviously finish up third to to Barbara Row, but you know, that

was very, very exciting. No pressure going in at 23 to 1

and he really outperformed his odds and and Dennis grab we we

love that horse. We love them all, you tell that,

but we we love Steppenwolf and he was our best, our first

ticket to the big dance all. Right, so I want to ask Robert a

question, and I need you to just understand that this is an old

man question from me. OK, OK, so I'm just going to ask

an old man question. So Robert, I know everyone's

shooting for the first Saturday in May and I know that the

Kentucky Derby is the thing that you want.

And but with how you talk about the Arkansas Durban, how I hear

people talk about say, you know, like big cat thing when we had

Nick on a couple weeks ago, those sorts of the big race

where you're, you know, your passion for horse racing, you

know, came to life. I always think of, I grew up in

Big 10 country. Robert, for example, I'm a

Midwesterner myself and I always thought, I never thought about

the national championship for my football team.

I just thought, get to the Rose Bowl and win the Rose Bowl and

then we'll figure out the national championship.

If the voters vote for him. It's great.

Is it kind of like that, Robert, where you've got your like, hey,

let's go win the Arkansas Derby? If we get the Kentucky Derby,

that's awesome. But hey, you know, I want to win

the Arkansas Derby. That's my Derby.

Yeah, absolutely. That's, you know, it's an

emotional thing with us. It's, you know, a lifelong go,

an aspirational kind of thing for my wife and I and you

described it very well. It's like it's our Kentucky

Derby, Kentucky Derby still out there.

We won't, we aspire to that greatly.

It'd be wonderful to win the win of the Arkansas Derby is is

really what it's all about for us.

Right. We're having a little to Robert.

Well, give us one second there. You go, Robert, can you talk for

us? Would I?

OK, how's this Hello Test 1/2? There we go.

We got it. There we go Hey Robert, sorry, I

don't know what happened on our end at all.

So there we go, Make sure all. Right, you can hear us OK right

now. I can hear you fine.

OK, Greg. OK.

We we lost your audio there for a moment, but I think that was

on our. End.

Yeah, I think it was on our end as well.

Darn it. I really wanted that answer,

too. Hopefully it went through,

Robert. All right.

I feel like that was a good question, and you probably

answered like. Yeah, I agree with you about

your rules bowl analogy. There you go.

Yeah, probably I did. All right.

Oh yeah. Hopefully that record.

Not praying about that went through usually.

Yeah, Yeah, usually. All right, Yeah.

Well, go ahead, pause here and then start it up and I'll just

cut that part out. Hey, he mentioned, he mentioned

Steppenwolfer, a favorite of mine that you had just a couple

of years ago ran all over the world, but did win the Pegasus

World Cup on the turf side. Or Colonel.

Liam is Colonel Liam. Yeah, Yeah, he won the Pegasus.

I thought you were saying Stephen Wolfer, no.

No, no. You mentioned Stephen Wolfer.

I want to talk about Colonel Liam.

What's it like? You know, it's a very different

world, those distance turf horses.

Is it not? Like, it's like you never quite

know what the outcomes going to be.

I got to, I got to admit to you, Robert, when I when I handicap

those races, I kind of just pick the ones that I pick are going

to be part of the equation at the end.

Yeah. Well, yeah, again, you know, a

very nice horse. You know, he's he was kind of an

expensive horse to begin with, but as a 2 year old, but you

know, he just wasn't. And of course, Arkansas Derby's

on the dirt, right? And his first two Dirks starts

we're we're disappointed. And so we didn't exactly know

what we we had, but we had Todd Pletcher and Todd figured it out

and he got him on the grass and rest his history.

I mean, he ran 1 three grade ones, which is outstanding.

He's he's standing in Ocala stead now in Florida and you

know, kind of a limited book of mayors.

We send a few down there to breed to him and they came out

looking good. So we're we're looking forward

to some 2 year olds this year and they he stamps them.

I mean, you know, they're big, tall, good looking, you know,

kind of reminiscent of Unbridled Song a little bit.

And you know, that we're hoping they're runners.

I think they are. 7 for 12 lifetime.

It's OK that he didn't like the dirt.

I'll say that. Robert, we appreciate you very

much. We look forward to seeing you

here in Louisville in just a couple of weeks.

So safe training and safe travels for sure.

How many people do you have to fly to the Derby now?

To Kentucky Derby. It's going to.

Be a good number. It's going to.

I mean, you know it, it's going to get in my pocketbook, but

they're all worth it and the horse is certainly worth it.

So we're very excited about it. And you know, winning a race,

it's a lot more fun when you have friends around you.

That's what it's all about really, is celebrating with

friends, so we'll enjoy that. You've done this a couple Times

Now. Is this do you usually see like

all of a sudden you start hearing from people you haven't

heard from in several years and you're like, hey,

congratulations, we played football together in high.

School, yeah. You got an extra.

Ticket with you. You know, they start texting and

the person's not in my contact list, you know, So beware.

I don't know who this is for sure, but no, it's good.

Well, Robert, we appreciate it very much.

Congratulations and hopefully we run into you here in Louisville

in just a couple weeks. I hope so.

Thank you very much. Thanks Robert.

Robert Lowe with US Breeder, owner of Renegade.

Sean's topic for the Derby. I still love incredible.

He's he's up there. It's him and incredible.

So I. Tried to get you to to.

I tried to get you to waffle a little waiver.

That's a that's a John Kerry joke from a long time ago.

You don't know that joke. I do not.

Yeah, it's all right. It's OK.

You don't know that joke. We need to start keeping track

of how many references you make that I just don't understand.

We need to start making. It's amazing too, because it's

look, I'm an older, I'm older than you, but in horse racing

I'm young, right? Like it's so it's it's very

funny to be in horse racing because many of the people look

at me like, oh, look at that young whimper snapper with a

nine year old at home, that kind of thing, right?

But but you think of me as a very old dad who makes you lunch

when you come to my studio to do this show, right?

I mean, that's what you think, right?

I would say so. OK.

Yeah, OK. And I don't mind it like a very.

Old. Maybe just really old.

Extraordinarily, All that's exactly right.

Well, let's bring in someone who would probably get my jokes.

Is anyone else? I'm just kidding.

I bet Karen Johnson from Blood Horse has a very, very cool

feature up in the magazine this month, so we wanted to have her

on a Blood Horse Monday. Welcome in, Karen.

How are you? Thank you.

And I'm sure if Sean thinks you're old, he thinks I'm just

Asian in the grave. Almost probably.

What's? Up, man. 1 foot in, one foot

out. Karen, I'll tell you what, it's

a whole thing over here. Blood Horse Monday.

It's never, it's never works out very well for me.

But you got to work on this piece with Johnny B just sort of

and go ahead. Oh, you're right.

You're right. You're right.

We'll start this. Yeah.

Start over. Well, let's just start with the

what? What are we looking forward to

in the magazine this this upcoming?

So Karen gets to set the whole thing.

Yeah. So that way you can talk about

some other stuff too and also. All right.

Put the magazine on. There you go.

OK, we're ready now. Cut and go again, all right.

So as a features editor, I work with the writers for the monthly

magazine and this coming issue, the April issue, which is

already out. So make sure that you scan your

QR code and magazine or go to online.

One of the features is written by Jay Hub D and it's about John

Velasquez. And it's about John's past

experiences in the Derby, his past wins, how he's on the cusp

of, you know, having a record in the Derby for winners.

And it's a really, really good feature that dives deep into

Johnny's psyche and his personality.

And I spoke to Jay about it, and we'll share that soon.

We can talk about that when that comes up.

Another feature that we have is about into mischief, which

obviously is timely. I see that you just got done

with your interview with Mr. Lowe and having, you know,

Renegade and an into Mischief in there in the Derby.

He's another one who is on the cusp of setting a record for

siring progeny, the most progeny to have won the Derby.

And you know, it's really interesting when you dive into

records and old stuff and you see, wow, like things that

happened a long time ago are still relevant today.

And so, you know, for a young person like Sean, I know that he

is a fan of the history of the game as well.

So that that's pretty cool. And then Speaking of the history

of the game, Jennifer Kelly wrote a really good and I should

go back and say that Eric Mitchell wrote the piece and

there's nobody better than Eric when it comes to discussing into

mischief sires broodmare's pedigrees.

I mean, he's just he's awesome. Then we have 100 year feature on

bubbling over who won the Derby way back when and Jennifer Kelly

wrote that and Jennifer is a great historian.

So she really does deep dives and comes up with these Nuggets

that are very, very interesting. And it was also fun because

Jennifer did a really good job not only on writing the story,

but working with Keeneland Library to get all these black

and white photos and that just kind of, you go down a lane and

you're like, wow. And I mean, I wasn't alive for

any of that, you know, despite what you may think.

Sean. Yeah, Sean.

I'm just going to keep, I'm just going to keep catching these

all. You know what I love is that

it's not your fault at all. It's completely be throwing this

at you and Karen's like I'll join Louie on this one that

sounds. Great.

Yeah, yeah. And then we also have a feature

that Alicia Hughes wrote on Godolphin and their excellence

as, you know, breeding these home breds, which and

cultivating the mares and their broodmare band.

And it's just, it's really fascinating.

She spoke to many members of the team at Godolphin and what came

across from so many of the people that she spoke to?

Is it a team effort? Nobody.

One person can't take credit for all of this.

It's certainly Sheikh Mohammed, you know, stands at the top

there as you know, putting this together, but a very devoted

team that are really keen about the product that they put out.

That's a good story. OK, I, I'm going to pause this

and, and compliment Karen. I want, I want everyone to hear

those four names again. That's Jay hubby.

OK, who was Jay hubby? Eric Mitchell, who is, as Karen

described, the perfect person for that article.

Jennifer Kelly, who is an unbelievable historian.

Her books about like, like St. Bart, Sir Bart and all that kind

of incredible. And then Alicia Hughes, we know

what she did at Blood Horse. I mean that that is this is the

quality you get with Blood Horse magazine.

And Karen, I mean, to curate something like this, it's got to

be, I mean, as an editor, it's going to be just the best.

It really is the best. It's fun to work with them,

coming up with the ideas for the stories because we do that

mutually. And also, you know, to read

their work. And I have been in the business

a long time. And then to read something and

say, yeah, I didn't know this. Or as a writer myself, to read

their fine work. It's real.

It's really an honor. Now a lot of the stories you

mentioned, you know the April magazine, we're approaching the

Kentucky Derby. A lot of them are Derby focused.

How much planning, how much advance planning goes into

making sure that we're covering stories that will be important

for the time of year and then especially kind of this pre

Derby issue? Yes.

So the planning a lot goes into it.

Just to give you an example, like right now I'm planning

features for the summer and even beyond a little bit until

September. You also don't want to plan a

whole magazine around something you know for and have them

locked in because you want to give, you know, breathing room

for what might happen during the classics, right?

Because we're coming up to the classic so, but you know,

because we go to the printer in advance, we do have to have, you

know, a, a, a plan in place. So it's not just, you know, no,

let's just do this, you know, a lot of planning involved, but

I'm good. I have good organizational

skills. I'll pat myself on the back for

that. That's paper, Sean.

If you didn't know what that was, that's paper.

So you go to the printer to print on this.

That's what happens. Yes, that's what that's what

Karen's describing here. But of course, if you want to

subscribe to the magazine, you could just check out the QR code

as Karen was nice enough to say at the beginning of the the the

segment here. If you're watching on Spotify or

on YouTube, certainly give us like give us follow on the

program as well. Karen, what else should we be

watching for in the April edition?

Well, I would say that we have a really cool feature in our

special section called Transportation and our writer

Charlie McCarthy focused on van agents and farms, getting horses

to become familiar with the loading process and off loading

process of the vans. And I mean, we just take it for

granted. Like they just go on the vans,

you know, there they are. But there is a whole, you know,

mechanism to getting it done because some horses are just

very, very stubborn. And as Sean knows, if you're

around the backstretch, you'll just see some horses, they're

not going to do it or they freak out.

And then you don't want them to have bad first experiences.

So the key is really to teach them while they're younger.

So that that's a feature that I enjoyed reading.

I still can't believe a horse ever gets to the starting gate.

It's unbelievable, Karen, that these kinds of things, these,

this level of detail. By the way, This is why the

magazine's awesome, is stories like this, Like, oh, you have to

train a horse, not just how to walk in a paddock or how to run

in a circle or do whatever else. You have to train them how to

get on the bus to go to the game.

Like, yeah, it's kind of stuff. It's remarkable, Karen.

I'm so glad that that kind of feature is in there.

What are some of the other things people might see in the

special features section? Well, during the year, each

month will have a different item.

And you know what, I actually the transportation feature, I

jumped ahead. That is actually in May, the

April edition, yeah, the uh oh, I gave a secret out.

The April edition is about real estate, that section and it

talks about how these Airbnb's really gain a lot of attraction

for meats like the Derby or let's say the Breeders Cup or

for Keeneland. And so it's, it's about the

rental market and Airbnb's and how they've supplanted in some

ways hotel rooms. And so Charlie, who is a special

sections guru, he, he also talked to a whole bunch of

Realtors in the area to, to get that.

So yeah, that that was really kind of interesting to me how

far they book out. I know they do for themselves,

but they really do for, you know, the Airbnb's as well and

the other things. I think the Airbnb market in

Baltimore could be a whole magazine trying to figure out

where to stay for the Preakness is always a it's always a

journey, Karen. So there you are.

Yeah. Well, you mentioned earlier you

had a chance to sit down with Jay Hobby and talk about the

feature that he wrote. About John Velasquez in this

April edition. Just what?

Can you give us a quick little a quick little heads up on what we

might hear from him in this interview?

Yeah, so, I mean, Jay talked a lot about the different emotions

that John had when he won the Derby, particularly with

Authentic, when that was during, you know, 2020 and that was

COVID. And there was a very small, you

know, group of people at the track.

And none of them included Johnny's family, which was a big

bummer for Johnny when he went back to the hotel that night.

He also talks about this year where it's really a lot of

moving pieces as who you will ride, you know, and, you know,

things change. Horses put in performances that

maybe won't get them to the Derby.

I know that Johnny the other day rode nearly and you know, who

will Johnny be on? We don't know yet, but that's

always an interesting part of this year is that time of year

is that scramble, you know, and while trainers are deciding,

jockeys are deciding, you know, keeping options opened late

defections, right? Yeah.

Yeah, and he he rode nearly as you mentioned, he was also board

class president in the Rebel who's going to be coming back

this weekend in the Bluegrass. So we'll see if he can maybe

punch his ticket there on that one.

But if not, we know people are going to be in demand for Johnny

Lee the Kentucky. Irads already rode 200 point

winners, so I think there's going to be some availability

for Kentucky giveaway runners. Awesome.

All right. Well, thank you, Karen, for

jumping in with us and previewing the magazine.

And we are looking forward to hearing your conversation here

with Jay. Thanks guys, I enjoyed it.

Thanks, Karen. And now here is that interview

with Jay Hubdie about John Velasquez.

Jaron Johnson, I am the editor of the Blood Horse Monthly

magazine, and I am joined today by Jay Hub D, the senior

columnist at Blood Horse. And Jay has written a terrific

feature for our April issue, which is actually our Derby

preview issue. And his feature was on John

Velasquez and our Hall of Fame writer, beloved by many, a first

fierce competitor. Jay and I have been interviewing

Johnny for years. And welcome in Jay.

Thank you for joining us. Well, thank you, Karen, very

much. It's a pleasure to be here.

And always, always good to talk about one of our true stars,

John Velasquez. Let's before we get to this

interview that you did with Johnny for this feature, over

the years, you must have had many occasions to interview him.

I know you were based on the West Coast, but obviously, and

he's on the East Coast, but you know, there's Breeders Cups and

he travels out to California. You've traveled to New York for

big races. What do you recall about some of

your first encounters with Johnny?

Well, the first thing I had to do is get the spelling of his

last name right because we were so used to George Velasquez with

an S, which is the Panamanian spelling.

Johnny, Johnny V was Velasquez with AZ.

So he was distinct from the moment that we really that he

broke cover for us and was became one of the top New York

writers. He started to travel, of course,

and we didn't get to see him in the West Coast nearly enough

breeders cups, of course, but there was a long period of time

we didn't have any breeders cups on the West Coast.

And then he started showing up here with regularity connections

with the Bob Pafford stable with, with other, other stables

at took advantage of him whenever he was in town.

And I mean, he just, he just clasped up the room.

He, he was, he was, you can say he's outspoken, but whenever he

was outspoken about anything, you listened.

It was not just steam and still is that way.

He he was the chairman of the the Jockeys Guild for a long

time for a reason. His leadership qualities were

were unmatched among his peers. So it's just always been a, a,

one of those refreshing moments when you see Johnny V come in

the room and you know. If.

Even if you don't have to talk to him after a six race, you're

going to want to talk to him anyway.

For sure. And another thing, when he

speaks, he's so passionate about what he's speaking about,

whatever it may be. I remember way back in the day

when I was working for the Racing Forum, I had to interview

him after there was some sort of brouhaha in the jockeys room and

there were several jockeys involved and he was amongst

them. So the first person that I

wanted to talk to was Johnny. So, you know, I went down there

and he speaks so fast. His English is great, you know,

very rapid fire talking. And he's telling me and I'm

like, oh, OK, OK. And then I said, OK, well,

thanks, now I've got to go talk to so and so.

And like he threw up his hands and he said to me, you have to

talk to somebody else. It was almost as if I'm the man

you've talked to me. And it was, it was so funny.

And I explained to him, I said, well, to be fair in my

reporting, I have to other people.

And it was just a funny moment. And we actually kind of still

laugh about that. We usually get all we need from.

God, it was true. I probably didn't need to go to

talk to anybody else. When you set up this interview

to do with Johnny, what were some of the things that you set

out to accomplish in the interview?

Well, John is still a work in progress, of course.

I mean, reflection is not something that he does just as a

matter of course. I mean, you can sit down Mike

Smith and I mean he'll take you back and take you on a great

journey of a conversations, you know, held long ago and and

encounters. And you know, you can it's just

like opening up an American racing manual.

Johnny V is always on the go doing something.

And so I, I caught up with him at at various times to talk with

him about primarily since since this is a Kentucky Derby preview

edition, he has a chance this year to tie Bill Shoemaker as

the second most with the second most Derby wins by a jockey in

history. That's a pretty big

accomplishment if he can, if you can get over the top this year,

he's he's got a few irons in the fire ready to ready to go to

choose from. So we'll see if he can equal

Shoemaker's record. So we went over his other Derby

wins, especially the, you know, the the association with Todd

Pletcher Super Saver and and of course with Animal Kingdom

picking it up at picking that one up at the last minute after

the injury to Robbie Alvarado. Each one of his Derby wins, of

course, with any writer, has a great story behind it, and so I

wanted him to tell those stories.

You know, the one thing that I was really struck by was when he

talked about the authentic Derby win in 2020.

And of course, as we all remember, that was the year of

the pandemic and the Derby was run in September and it was

behind closed doors. There weren't any fans in the

stands. And a quote that he gave you and

his family couldn't be with him for that day.

So he said that he went back to the hotel room and tell me you

remember. What did he say to you?

Well, he was, of course elated by winning the Kentucky Derby

just at all. But the fact that he couldn't

share it with his family, with Leona and his wife and his two

children, that was a left a big hole in his heart.

And and and he shed a tear just for their absence.

For, you know, no, no fault of anyone's.

Right, right. Yeah, he said.

He cried like a baby. And that was just such a very

poignant quote for me that it's like still rambling around in my

mind, you know? And again, speaks to his passion

and his emotion, you know? We talked about that COVID year

a little bit more because it was so unusual for everyone, the

fact that he won the September Derby that year, but puts an

asterisk by everything that happened.

But I asked him, you know, how was your health out here?

He says. I was very healthy.

I was on airplanes every time I got home, I quarantined myself.

And then I, I thought back at some point and it was kind of

like after the fact that I, I did mention his, his terrible

injury at the Breeders Cup of 2013 at Santa Anita when Philly,

he was riding broke down in the far turn and he had to go to the

hospital. And among the several injuries

he had, he had his spleen removed.

Well, when you have a, when you lose your spleen, that's part of

your, your, your immune system that generates the kinds of, you

know, kinds of ingredients that help you stay healthy.

So from 2013 on, Johnny has been susceptible to to illnesses that

we are not. So the fact that he stayed so

healthy and managed to achieve so much, it just adds another

layer to the kind of discipline he's got.

And and, and really speaks to his the example he sets for his

for younger writers, too, that, you know, yeah, my horses have

have won half a billion dollars. But it wasn't easy.

And this is how you do it. If you stay, if you want to, if

you want to stay in the game. Absolutely.

Moving on to who he may be aboard this year, we're pre

recording this a few days before the Monday before the Florida

Derby and he's riding nearly in the Florida Derby.

That was his Holy Bull winner. Then he has some other horses

that he might also be involved in.

Before we wrap this up, what what are your thoughts on where

it stands today? Because things get really crazy

and it's an unusual time for riders, right?

Well, it is. I think you can pretty much

guarantee that Johnny will be on a Todd Pletcher horse in the

Derby. He's that's, that's been his

main man. He's made riding the Derby for a

long time. And so, so when Fletcher's sort

of bad luck in the Derby for so many years, Johnny was kind of

hooked onto that wagon as well. But they both broke through

pretty, pretty effectively and nearly is, is is certainly a

horse that you know, that Johnny's got a lot of faith in.

We'll see what happened in the Florida Derby and go on from

there. The jockeys this time of year, I

mean, they leave it open until, you know, the, the, the last of

the preps are in the, the headline jockeys anyway.

And we, you know, anymore, we don't really get to figure out

much. So they may only have like one

race on which to base their judgement unless it's a client

that they're always going to ride for anyway.

But I mean, you've got the, the 1-2 finishers are just about

every prep are going to be qualified and the late preps

will be qualifying for the Derby.

And those jockeys are the going to be the ones that are going to

mix and match on those horses. There's very few jockeys right

now that are tied firmly to a particular saddle.

That's what it makes this time of year so interesting.

Jay, thank you so much for joining us.

And I urge everybody to read this feature.

Anything that Jay writes is must read for me.

Well, I'm the editor, but even if I didn't have to read it, I

would be reading it. Thank you so much and have a

good day. Thank you, Karen, very much and

good luck to everyone out there. Take care.

All right, thanks again to Karen and to Jay Hundy for being a

part of Blood Horse Monday. Karen ties for the second most

outfits in A History of Blood Horse Monday 2.

Yeah. We never done enough segments to

where we've been in three, three.

You did do something. OK, Yeah.

It's OK, It's all right, Bridge, that's.

Great. We'll, we'll probably honestly

coming up some of the stuff we're doing for Derby probably.

For sure we're going. To be mixed and matching pieces

for that so. This is these are the

conversations I love, by the way, because if you're a guy

like me and you've been podcast radio side of things, you don't

have a podcast that's affiliated with a place that has a magazine

that has a daily that has a website with as many viewers as

we do a blood horse and people like Karen who are excellent at

what they do and are excited about these stories.

Right. And by the way, it's Jennifer

Kelly's birthday. I almost forgot that.

Happy birthday, Jennifer, and thank you for being part of the

magazine. I but just to get to work with

those 4-5 people, frankly, if we throw in the special, you know,

the special part too, that's the good stuff.

And it's, but it's why Blood Horse is different.

It's why I wanted to do this show, because Eric Mitchell's a

blood horse and nowhere else. It's what it is.

And so those kinds of things and, and, and people like Karen

and, and it's a, it's a testament to what happens at

Blood Horse. And frankly, I hope that

interview for people that have been on the fence about the

magazine, just go get it. Yeah, it's great.

The photos are great. Stuff like the Jennifer Kelly

piece where she's going and finding old black and white

photos at the Keeneland Library that you can just have in your

house. That's cool.

That's a good stop for sure. Appreciate Karen.

Anything stayed out with Jason. Well, no, it's just that it's

always interesting to kind of hear, you know, Jay's obviously

been around the game for a long time.

He's one of the best Raiders that we have in this game.

And just to kind of hear some of his experiences of, you know,

kind of talking with Johnny throughout his career and kind

of seeing how Johnny's career has unfolded to the point where

it is now. I just think that's always kind

of cool to, you know, we, we can talk all day about how great

John Velazquez is. But to like hear the perspective

of somebody who has written about him for pretty much his

entire career and has had those conversations with him.

To see how he has grown over the years.

To see him start off, you know, kind of kind of small and then

getting to the point where he's now won as many Kentucky Derbies

as he has. I just think it's always cool to

hear that kind of perspective from people.

A remarkable career for John Velasquez and you and I.

Were just at Turfway the the other day for Ruby Day and he

won three stakes races in a row. Just did it like it's just he's

still very much at the top of the game.

It's a remarkable thing about our sport that guys like him,

Mike Smith, etcetera. That that Mike Smith friend of

the show, frankly, is is a those guys are able to figure out what

they, you know, what works for them and keeps them in shape.

Whenever we talk to Mike, he's always at the gym, right?

Yeah. So the physical part of this, we

talk about losing a spleen and having to change that kind of

thing about your lifestyle, your, your, you know, what you

can eat, what you, what you have to do to be in shape.

Because these guys, the restrictions on the lifestyle is

stunning to keep weight and all that stuff, but to also stay

strong, right? To keep muscle but not weight is

really not easy to do. Here's the last part, Sean.

I was at the 2020 Derby, and I have two thoughts on it.

The first is, I'm glad I was there.

The second is I never want to do that again.

And to hear that it was as sad for Johnny B and a little bit

worse makes me realize that I had a very similar experience to

him on No, I didn't win the Kentucky Derby.

Yeah. I I wasn't experienced different

a little bit, but. But going through a National

Guard gun post and having a dog rifle through our car while we

were getting into Churchill Downs because there was a threat

of violence and then a shooting happening outside of Churchill

Downs during the races. It was a weird day.

It was a very, very weird day. And again, glad I got to do

radio on that day, but I never want to go to a Derby like that

ever again. 2000 people to Derby is not what I ever want to do

again. That ain't the Kentucky Derby

and September ain't it either. And so I, I don't ever want to

do that again. But it is fitting in our sport

in this era that it was Johnny B who won it.

Yes, it was. It's absolutely fitting.

And so that part at least is great.

Interview sounds awesome. I can't read it.

I can't wait to to get the magazine to read it.

Yes, yeah. And so that's going to be the

April magazine should be coming out now.

I believe the digital version should probably be out now and

then. Hopefully you'll be getting

those in the mail here pretty soon.

The hard copies make make those coffee tables look nice as you

always. Exactly right.

Make it look nice, get that? I really want to see the photos

of bubbling over me being a Kentucky, absolutely.

Being a Kentucky Derby nerd, absolutely.

Yeah. As soon as she said bubbling

over, I was like, can't wait to look at those.

My brain was like, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a

minute. Oh, Derby winner right?

Your your brain to be Derby winner 19 What year?

1926 I mean, she, she said it was the 100th anniversary.

But I mean, I could have told you that.

Anyway, well, what's, I mean, can you do you OK, we're going

to try this folks. And if this happens, then we're

just going to keep doing this as a segment.

Are you ready? Who was bubbling over?

Is that the name of the horse? Yep, Sire.

Oh that I I know the winner is not the sires.

OK. Jockey.

I don't do not know the Judge Troy Nurse's names, but I see I

can I can pick is. That like a Calumet.

We just like I can default to Calumet.

I can picture, I can picture the owner's silks.

It's the white with the green, the green across the green

stretch. Going across this is the green

OK, all right the. I don't know who the owner's

name is, but he I know that he 4 Kentucky Derby winners, all the

in and every single one of his horses beginning with the letter

B. So I believe he had Behave

yourself bubbling over Burger King.

And yeah, I'll get Broker's tip was the other.

One the the inside the Derby mind of Sean needs to be

something. We do I I know.

I got to work on the. I got to work on learning all

the human connections of my the. Pre.

Me being alive ones but I know all the horses names so.

And it's not like, it's not like Isaac Murphy or something like

where, you know, the the old school jockey name, that kind of

thing, where you would, you know, be able to do that sort of

thing. You should look it up while

we're here so that the the nice people listening.

I want to make sure that we give.

Yeah, they don't have finality in here.

Yeah, so. All right, so North Star Edward

Bradley is the owner. Edward Bradley.

So the B is for Bradley? Yeah, and he would name all of

his horses with AB at the starting.

How many derbies did Herbert J Thompson win as a trainer?

We're going to find out. He's from Flint, MI.

How about that? Are you serious?

A member of the Horse Racing Hall of Fame, he won all four of

those Kentucky Derbies. Behave yourself.

Bubbling over Burger King and Burgers Tip.

Also in the Preakness in 1932. In the Belmont in 1929.

Born in Detroit, baby. How about that fellow Detroiter?

Let's go. Was it Manson?

Who is Jack? I?

I know where we will find the Jackie.

Give me two seconds. Just so much work from young

Sean Collins here. A reminder about the magazine.

Go check it out. There is a link at the home

page, at the top of the home page, bloodhorse.com.

Click on the magazine tab and if you haven't signed up for the

daily, check it out there as well.

Jockey was Nope. I clicked away from it.

Jockey was Albert Johnson and Colonel Brad or Bradley.

He owned Idle, Idle Hour. Stock Farm Stable was the name

of his ownership group. So there you go.

Yeah, there's Farm. So yeah, there you go, all.

Right. See, but it's funny like how

sometimes you you don't remember the names of the people, like

you remember the fact about them.

So I remember that every single one of the horses was bees.

I got to picture his silks very, very vividly.

But we need to get Barry Northern on this show for that

great, greatest tour guide in Kentucky Derby museum history.

Barry Northern. He has all that kind of

information locked up in his brain so.

Knows that not his wife's favorite color.

Like I know many things not called basketball that I don't

need to know. It's exactly right.

They're going to be running Derby preps this weekend, Sean.

They are. They have not drawn them as of

today in all of the spots that the Wood Memorial is drawn.

And we at least know who's going to be in that field, A massive

field of 13. Yes, and a porch here and on are

stuck all the way on the outside.

OK, so if you ever wanted to know of horse racing was rigged

or not, I think this is the evidence that it's not.

Yeah. Is that poor iron?

Iron. Yeah, iron.

Iron. Honor draws the 13 in this race.

He will run. That's not an AE spot that is

running. And so he will be in this field.

Others that you know, of course, Butane, we last saw him in the

Virginia Derby. Didn't quite work out there out

of the Baffert barn before that in the Southwest Bravaros and

here we saw him in the Fountain of Youth up the track.

Before that, though, a much better effort in the Holy Bull

Red zone. Runners coming in here to

Pennsylvania Bread once in a while on the East Coast, you get

these. He was a massive winner in parks

in the slop. They're praying it's going to

rain on Saturday. I'll get him in there.

Courting is in here. This is when we were watching.

He was in that Remsen and frankly was amongst the

favorites alongside Paladin and Renegade.

By the way, the Remsen again, my goodness, that race, if you have

a serious 3 year old, don't go to the Breeders Cup, go to the

Remsen serious 2 year old. Excuse me, or do that's or do

both as they are almighty. It's unbelievable.

Kendrick gets a ride there, Carmouche for Tom Pletcher.

I mean, this is this turned into, let's be clear about this.

The Wood Memorial people do not respect right now because it has

been a long time since a winner has come out of the Wood

Memorial. The last winner of the wood to

go back and win the Kentucky Derby food site Pegasus in 2000.

But this is a very good field. And the the sad thing that

happened was last year I think we had two good runners out of

the wood that both got hurt before the Derby.

I think Rodriguez was going to be part of the early pace.

And if you you want to go ahead and down the Baffert on the

front of the Derby, want to go ahead and do that.

OK, just checking. Well, and then Grande.

Looking at Grande. Coming back has been fantastic.

Since he returned, so I think we kind of just missed out on the

wood. Anyone stand out to you in this

group? Well, I think there's a couple

questions to be answered to your.

I'm in sure. I'm I'm a little surprised that

they're bringing back Eutene in this spot now.

If you remember last week when we had Corbin on, he was talking

about litmus test and you know, going on to the Derby, depending

on how he did in the Arkansas Derby.

He mentioned, you know, Bobby kind of one of those trainers

that if he doesn't feel like the horse is one of his top horses,

he's not just going to run them in the Derby for the sake of

running them in the Derby. And so to see that he's giving

Butane another chance to potentially end up in the Derby

does tell me that he does think pretty highly of this horse that

they're going to give him another shot to see whether or

not he can do it here. I'm interested to see how he

does in this as well. He's he's not lived up to some

of the expectations that have been placed on him at the early

half of the year. Maybe this is the time he gets

it done, but he is stuck in a pretty bad post as well.

I'm out there in post 12. I know they don't run a mile on

a nave too often at Aqueduct, but from what I remember, I

mean, that's the whole that's pretty much right, right by the.

Start line, Finish line. Yeah, right, right by the turn

there. So they're both him and I are in

honor are going to be in tough. This could be one of those races

where we could get a big long shot that maybe gets that crown

saving trip and is able to yeah, like.

Everyone memorial except for last year.

Yeah, pretty much. Napoleon Solo obviously is going

to be interesting here as well. We have not seen a lot of the

pre Breeders' Cup race winners running very well, correct.

Now obviously we didn't get to see Ted Noffy come back, but we

haven't really seen that much from them.

And even like the horses that were competitive and not like

Blackout, Time has not come back to be that same kind of horse.

So it'll be interesting to see whether or not he rebounds.

He does get back to Aqueduct where he won the champagne.

I'm sure that's going to be a big help for him as well.

Talk to me, Jimmy. I think we're going to find out

whether or not that I'm rude. Legit, I'm rude for this horse

like crazy. I want to be very clear.

There's a $31,000 purchase, a $5000 breeding job in New York.

This is what I want in the Derby.

These are the stories that I want in the Derby.

I want to see Ruben Silvera in the freaking starting gate for

the Kentucky Derby. That's what I want.

I want Rudy Rodriguez down here bouncing around, having a great

time with this son of modernist. That's what I'm rooting for.

And by the way, horses already shown it.

Already shown it the Withers. And frankly, he's geared down

and finishes him 151 and change that is it's not a winning time

in the in the wood, But if you can get that down a second just

by not being geared down, you're going to be right there.

Yep. Talk to me.

Jimmy's already got points, man. What does he need here?

2nd place, third place here. He's got 20 points from that win

in the Withers, so see a third place finish at 25 points put

some probably. Right on that bubble.

Right on the bubble. First or second to be

comfortable, 40 or third to, you know, feel, feel like yeah,

yeah. So, so yeah.

So it'll be interesting to see whether or not how, how legit

that performance was. But he's he's improved every

single race that he's ran. So I wonder how many?

How many Creekness and Belmont starters are in this wood

memorial? Probably at least one or two.

For sure, right, yeah, because let's say it doesn't work out

for Iron Honor and let's say it's it's the post.

Like he just can't overcome post position.

We've seen this horse, I know what he can do.

That's a three-year old that I want back on the track in a

major high level grade at stakes if I'm in the ownership.

And so that part I I don't think it's a crazy thing.

There's some others in here as well.

Otino's in here that's when we saw break it's made only ever

run at Aqueduct was up the track in that Withers they're going to

throw the blinkers on is Chad Brown and I think that's purely

he's going to say to Dylan we got to be way closer you just.

Say up the track. But I mean, talk to me, Jimmy,

really right off there. Everyone was up the track.

Yeah, everyone. He's only a half length away

from being second place. So grittiness.

So people do like. And so so definitely could see a

big performance from him as well coming up this this weekend.

Another one you mentioned courting earlier.

This is a full sibling declarier.

We don't know how good she is. So if he could, son.

Of a curl and Bernardini mayor there, Yeah.

So cavorting on the dam there. So we'll see how he does

Bravaro, see if he can bounce back off of the Fountain of

Youth. He was a good second in the Holy

Bowl. Him getting back to another New

York bred, him getting back to New York, putting the blinkers

on this time. Will be interesting to see what

Safi can get out of him here. It always feels like Safi's got

that one horse, the second or third, the second or third in

this last round of preps. Usually it's the Florida Derby,

but this year maybe it's the wood.

You think back like Neo echos last year and some of the other

ones that he's had. He always seems to get a horse

into the starting gate right here at the very end.

Bravaro could be that horse. He's already sitting at 20

points. So again, runs third just like

talk to me, Jimmy. That puts him right on that

bubble there. If we get a couple more horses

that, you know, stark contrast that decides to go to the turf

or you know, I, I heard Steve Asmussen had said something the

other day about how they were debating whether Chiponcho would

go to the dirtiest Preakness. So, you know, there there's a

possibility we might have a couple horses that decide not to

participate in the Kentucky Derby.

And so if you're sitting at that 45 points, that will you

hopefully get you in right now. If you factor in the three

invites to the European Mideast road and the Japan road to the

Derby right now, the point bottom is greediness at 36.

So then we got 300 point to the winter prep races this weekend.

I think something that really helped out some of these horses

on the bubble this weekend was having commandment and the Puma

run 1-2 and take take those points because they were they

were already in by points. And so to take those points, I

think that really helped out all of these horses that are going

to be on the bubble when we get there.

Yeah, if you're a potente and you throw in a a clunker this

weekend, you could probably still go to the Derby, right?

That kind of thing. Like it's, it's for them.

It was really good that those were the 50 point winners was

the Puma in this case, like you point out, I'm, you know, we're,

you know, I'll be at the Bluegrass on Saturday.

You'll be at the Woods. So that's why I'm talking about

it as much as I am. By the way, tons of previews of

all of these things up at bloodhorse.com between the Santa

Anita Derby, the Wood Memorial, of course, and the Bluegrass.

I'll be at the Bluegrass, he'll be at the Wood.

We'll report back on Monday. You'll hear from me and Joe

Perez after the race at Keeneland.

My friend Barry Spears will be alongside.

We'll be live 11:00 AM on the Horse Racing Happy hour.

By the way, my friend Bobby Hall from Blood Horse will be on with

me 1:00 on Thursday with Steve Kornacki previewing the wood on

the horse racing happy hour as well.

I I'm fascinated by this weekend, Sean, because two of

these preps we think of as not great indicators for success in

the Kentucky Derby, except that owners and trainers have just

decided they don't care about that with Keeneland.

So with the Bluegrass, people are like the Paladin was

planning to ship there. He had looked good at other

tracks. He was already there.

Well, he was planning to run there.

Excuse me, Not run there. And what I'm getting at is

people don't see the historical record of runners in the

Bluegrass as an impediment to winning the Kentucky Derby.

Just just go run and qualify and we'll figure it out at

Churchill. The Wood, I think, does have

that, though. I think people don't go up to

New York. People don't look at that with

the top horses. Yet, but because they don't, and

I wonder if we went in a cycle where for a little while people

saw the wood as that's not the way we're going to win the

Derby, We're not going to go there.

And now people see it as, oh, that means those top, top horses

aren't there. We can qualify for the Derby by

being in a second level prep. I'm not putting the wood down at

all, by the way. But if it's a second level prep

in the eyes of the owners and they're willing to go to

Keeneland, they're willing to run in Arkansas, why wouldn't

you try the wood? Yeah.

If you if you own some of these horses that we've brought up,

you know, if you want to talk to me, Jimmy, why the bleep?

Are you going to the Arkansas Derby?

There's no reason, right? There's no reason to go to the

Bluegrass, right? And so it is interesting

watching the trends of those races as well.

We haven't mentioned the Santa Anita Derby yet.

Are you ready for what I think? Happens, yes.

I think Robusta wins the Santa Anita Derby.

You think so? I like that take.

And I think Potente's right there, like Potente easily

qualifies for the Derby and then we have to make a decision.

Do we do we take a non winning Baffert on top in the Derby out

of the San Anita Derby? I I think we're all going to

have that question because I think potente at 10 furlongs is

a problem. I think he's going to love it

it. Worked for Medina Spirit for at

least at least for paying out the the the point where you got

paid for it. I I was, I was in on.

That he crossed the line 1st 14 to one is 14 to one.

That's. Exactly, I got my 28 bucks for

30 bucks so. But out West Robusta, we got

Potente and some other runners out there.

That should be a fun one out of San Anita as well.

We'll recap all those next Monday here on a Blood Horse

Monday. You're headed to New York when

you go to New York. I leave Thursday to head to my

dad's in Pennsylvania, and then I'll be up in up in New York on

Saturday. Aren't you driving?

No, I'll be flying. OK.

All right. It's the difference of he's

going with me so I don't have to worry about bringing the car.

No, but I am very much looking forward to this weekend.

I so obviously I grew up in Pennsylvania in high school, my

dad and I would go up to Aqueduct all the time for the

Derby preps, the Jerome, the Withers, the Gotham and the the

Wood Memorial. And so I haven't, obviously

haven't been to the Wood Memorial the last couple of

years because I've been out here in Kentucky and I've been

staying for bluegrass, but I had to go do the last wood memorial.

I went to the 100th last year. You'll go to the last one at

Aqueduct I. Think that's appropriate?

I'm, I'm looking for, well, not that I'm looking forward to

being the last one at Aqueduct, but I'm looking, I'm looking

forward to being there for that. Race your dad more of a

grandstand guy or the questress guy.

Grandstand. OK, I'm sure if we asked him

what a questress is, he wouldn't.

Know how about that? Really.

Yeah. We've never gone up there.

We just always stayed down, either on the ground level

watching or set up in the seat. Cool piece of aqueduct lore.

When they opened Equestras, it was the largest restaurant in

the city of New York. I I did hear that.

How about that? Yeah, that's awesome.

And I also, so I, I never really paid much attention to it

either, since we never went up there.

The only reason I knew what you were talking about when you said

it is because somebody who was just talking with me at Oakland

about Questras when I was there. This.

Past week. The only reason I know it is

because I've done radio in Equestras.

So there you are. I just.

Feel like, oh, yeah, there's, yeah, there's a dining room

there. I wouldn't have known what it

was, but but yes, I did. I they mentioned that too, that

that used to be the largest dining room in New York.

Pretty remarkable. Is Sean more of a pizza guy or a

bagel guy? We'll find out next week.

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