Horseshoe Indianapolis Tuesday | Happy Hour Indiana

Turn it up, you know. Oh, hi, yes, welcome in Only

podcast brave enough to talk central IN.

It's a horse racing happy hour, happy hour, Indiana.

Welcome in. He's Josh Rodriguez.

He's Barry Spears. And I am Louie Rabo.

Thanks for hanging out with us here on the program we'll be

here 12 times this year inclusive of a pair of episodes.

Indiana Derby week. If you want to meet Josh

Rodriguez, boy, do I have great news for you.

We'll. Have.

Two opportunities, the Monday of Derby weekie and I'll be there

for the draw. And of course that Saturday at

the Indiana Derby. Make sure you come say hi to us

on the 1st floor there, Barry where you got to set up last

year? Barry, We talked about this

series for a long time and then we met Josh, which I mean, take

it or leave it there, but here we are, a little happy hour in

here. Good.

Welcome in. Barry, How are you, man?

Yeah, doing good. You know, still recovering from

this weekend. But but, you know, being at home

kind of cures a little of the terrible weather there is always

in Kentucky. So there you go.

Where's that it? Was cold when you were leaving

Josh Rodriguez from the On the Wrongly podcast to know, hey,

he's a, he's a member of the Horse Racing Happy Hour for sure

hanging out with us on this series and you'll hear his name

a lot more as we move forward. Josh, welcome in man.

How are you? Good.

I, you know, I'm wearing probably the my favorite Indiana

sports team Chicago Bears here. So so we'll, you know, we'll,

we'll we'll be looking forward to seeing them playing in in

Northwest Indiana, probably here.

But yeah, glad, glad to be here. Horseshoe Indianapolis, always a

fun midweek track to bet. And you know, you got to do

something on Tuesday and Wednesday and Horseshoe is the

place to be. No doubt about it.

As Josh points out, much of the racing done at Horseshoe

Indianapolis is during the week, especially on the thoroughbred

side. So if you're looking for a spot

to bet during the week, we have great news.

We'll do a dozen of these editions of the program will get

you ready, especially ahead of their Wednesday stakes schedule.

Happens to be tomorrow because they're opening on a Tuesday.

We'll do the Elmore overnight and the Roberts overnight as

part of this show. But as we go further along into

the season, you're going to see a nice mix of both state red

races and open company races. Boy, by the way, Barry, you can

kind of speak to this as well. That Derby day card, 8 stakes,

you see horses coming up from Kentucky, you see them shipping

in, frankly, from New York. Tip Top Thomas wins the Indiana

Derby. Just last year we saw Clee Kuo,

who's turned into one of the better Phillies with the Indiana

Oaks as well. It's really become a destination

spot for a lot of people. Yeah, last year was was a great

card. I mean every race, pretty much

all the stakes races were really had some great horses and we saw

Encino, we saw like you said, Tip Top Thomas, so there.

There was some really good ivar. Ivar.

There a couple years ago in Indiana Derby day yeah people

make the trip up there man and and it's a it's a circuit too if

you're not familiar with the the overlap essentially of

horseshoe. They run all year man so they'll

run their first stakes in April. They'll run run their last ones

in November. So you'll see us on this program

throughout 2026, keeping you up to date on all the happenings up

there at Horseshoe Indianapolis. But look the the track layout

itself if you are interested. It's a mile on the dirt.

So many of the races. So Indiana Derby, Indiana Oaks,

we're going to start a little bit further back from the the

finish line there, but seven furlongs on the turf.

So those mile turf races when we get to those, none of those

tomorrow. But when we get there, the two

turn turf races, you do have a little bit of time to get there

before the first turn for sure. Our stakes schedule at Horseshoe

Indianapolis tends to be in the middle of the week.

I say hour like I own Horseshoe Indianapolis or something.

I. Apologize.

You don't. I don't.

Then why am I here? I.

It's a fair question. It's a very, very fair question

during the middle of the week, usually Wednesday.

In fact, the first Indiana Derby I ever covered was on a

Wednesday. And so they still do that

largely for a bunch of their races.

Indiana Derby day, of course the Saturday after July 4th.

So this year on the 11th of July, take out rates are very

fair in Indiana. We will do a late double today.

15% take out on that $5 minimum. But boy, if you are a pick five

player do I have spectacular news for you.

Just 12% take out on the pick fives and right at 15% on the

pick fours. For reference, it's 22% at

Churchill Downs to play a pick four and it's a dollar minimum

in Indiana, which UPS those payouts as well.

Nice aggressive betting menu there, so make sure you go check

it out up and down the card there.

And by the way, you know what? They don't have jackpot bets.

You know what they don't have a pick six.

They just straight up good bets, good take out rates, all of the

good things. And frankly, if you're an exacta

pick three kind of player, whatever it might be, a double S

player take out right's really acceptable too.

And frankly, Josh, I know one of the reasons you love horseshoe

field size, man, that overcomes a lot of frankly, if you get

what horseshoe offers, you get field size and then you also get

those good take out rates. Boy, the payouts can really be

something. Yeah.

And then you get a, you get a get out Quarter horse race at

the end too, just in case that's.

Exactly right. So there you go.

All right. Josh Rodriguez, Gary Spears.

I'm Louis Rabeau. Thanks for hanging out with us

on the inaugural edition of Horseshoe and let's go ahead.

We'll get into the the handicapping here.

You'll hear from both of those guys throughout the card.

We're following the format. If you happen to hang out with

Barry and me odd SoCal Saturdays, we're going to do

much of that here as well. You'll get Barry's thoughts,

you'll get Josh's thoughts on the card.

When we get to the stakes races. I'll throw mine in there as

well. So we got our first comment of

the evening shout out. Shout.

Out. Oh, I missed.

Wasn't I supposed to meet this human being at Keeneland?

And you dropped the ball on that, Barry.

What a stunner. What an He dropped the ball, he

dropped the ball. I also blame Brian for no

reason. All right, so welcome in.

We'll get going here. Andre Swan up there tomorrow at

Horseshoe Indianapolis and boys, we're getting it together.

It's time homies. It's time for a state bred

optional claimer. And you know what?

You're going to hear a lot on this show.

It's time for a state bread optional claim for $12,000.

Price it here down to a $5000 allowance. 5 1/2 on the dirt.

We're on the dirt tomorrow there at Horseshoe Indianapolis.

A little too early in the season to jump on the grass just yet,

but we're going again, 5 1/2. Lots of sprints today, guys,

$18,000 in the purse for this one.

Nice field to kick off of eight to get us going here.

And Barry, you're going to go first on the program.

Who you got in Race 1? Yeah, I, I thought this race had

pretty good naming convention. Everybody had has a good name in

this field for some reason. Doesn't happen often, but the,

the, the field has it has some great names.

But I ended up on #1 Neon Leon, who actually might be the best

name in this race. This horse ran at Turfway back

in December in an open $12,000 race and won that.

That to me stacks up better than any other race that anybody's

run in this field. That level is probably around

the 15, 2020, $5000 level at Indiana and there aren't really

any horses that are that good in this race.

So I think Neon Leon with his ability to get to the front or

sit off the pace a little bit goes a long way.

He's got a force to be in it because of the rail.

He's probably going to be a lot more for the place.

If he's on the lead, that's fine.

If he's not, that's fine too. And he's got a target to run it

at in Lucky's Joy. So I I think this horse is going

to run well. 7 to 2 is a fair price, so we'll take second

choice. Josh, one of the things that

happens on opening day, opening week, opening couple of weeks at

Horseshoe Indianapolis is we get a mix of runners.

Yes, they have training all year round up there at Horseshoe, but

no races, of course, from essentially the middle of

December until now. But a bunch of those horses make

their way to other circuits, whether it be to Oakland.

We'll see some Oakland runners for sure today or the Turfway, a

nice mix of coming off the layoff either from Turfway or

from Horseshoe Indianapolis. Who'd you land on the Race 1?

Yeah, I think you bring up a really good point with that

actually, and you'll probably hear me talk about this a lot

throughout the card. I really do lean on these horses

that have been running or at least have a run or two in them

before this year. So we're going to see a lot of

these turfway shippers that have run recently in this race.

The number 5 Lucky's Joy, nine to five favorite horse we

haven't seen in over 200 days. And while on on his best day,

you know, can win this race, I'm just going to have to look

elsewhere. I actually landed on the #4 me

and Chili in this race. And yeah, you know, this is just

a horse that's been over here, over there in Mahoning Valley

has had a couple of nice races. And, and honestly, if you kind

of look at the horses form just does not like the wet.

It's got 2 races on the wet in the last couple of months that

just don't pair up with the rest of the horse.

The race of this horse's run and I just think that if this horse

can catch a dry track here on Tuesday, I think this horse is

going to be really tough to beat.

And you know, it's coming in off of some really nice form, you

know, changing barns. But you know, I, I, I do think

the connections here hit at 23% over the last year.

So I, I really do like the four me and chill and then, you know,

you had I had to go with the 8 Jazzle, which I I've definitely

been called numerous times. I.

Was going to say, is that what we need to call you on this

thing? I mean, it just seems jazzy,

Josh, that that's what we got to be doing.

I don't know. I don't know.

Keep going. I'm talking.

But I thought this, I thought this was an interesting horse.

You look, you look at the the layoff lines.

This didn't really seem like a horse that that liked firing off

the layoff. But you know, has got the two

runs here has got coming from Turfway and we see this all the

time. These turfway, these turfway

races are always just saltier than they look.

You know, you see this horse was in the $8000 claimer.

You you probably stepped that up a level here in in Indiana And

you know that horse ran second in that race. 67 buyer.

And I do think coming back to the dirt, which is probably this

horse's preferred surface is going to be a positive.

So I just got the four and the eight in this race.

Board 8 for Josh, 185 for you, Barry.

The five horse in here is Lucky's joy.

Just if, if this horse runs its race, it wins here, Yeah.

No, I don't think so. I I I I think this horse is just

a horse at this level and ends up winning when the fields

assembled the the right way. Other than that, this horse

doesn't tend to finish races off, which is why I put this

horse in the third spot honestly.

All right, that's race one there at Horseshoe Indianapolis.

Race one always starts the early pick 5 again, 12% take out on

the early pick five. Josh, just two horses for you.

How many would you include the early pick 5 to Barry?

Yeah, I'm just going to use those two in that.

First leg, just two for you. Yep.

Barry, would you include all three in the first leg or would

you try to beat the five here? I I'd try to beat the five.

OK, Yep, fair enough. I think that's reasonable take

from Barry there. Moving on to race 2 and the

first of the pick fours here. Again, a dollar base for the

pick fours there. Very solid 15% take out as well

at Horseshoe State right here on the Philly side of things. 5 1/2

furlongs here for non 2 lifers at the $15,000 claiming level

18. Five is the purse.

Here we go to Josh first in our even numbered races today,

Focaccia, the three horse is 7 to 5.

Josh, are we going to try to beat that one?

No, I think I'm going to single this horse here and try and move

on. Looks to be the speed in this

race in the race that it doesn't seem like there's a lot of

horses that want to be on the lead.

This is a horse that has one wire to wire here Indiana going

back to May of last year. The question once again is what

what's this horse going to do off the layoff?

But you know, you kind of look at the horses that have some

some runs here. I think the only the one is got

one this year and you know was one to definitely forget.

And if you look even going back to last year, this horse

definitely took a couple of starts to really get going.

So I'm going to go with the three hoping that Focaccia can

go wire to wire here firing fresh, you know, Scott Mullins

one for five off these long layoffs.

So we'll we'll see if he's able to get another winner here with

Katra. All right, Barry, he's got the

three on top. Are you likewise enjoying the

talk in Race 2 tomorrow? At Horseshoe, yeah, this is this

is situation where you have to pull out the let it ride quote,

go fast and win. If if those aren't the

instructions, I don't know what they're doing because Josh

nailed it right on the head. This horse seems to be the speed

of the race and and they should just put the pedal to the metal

and go. If that doesn't happen, that

horse won't win. I can tell you that, but I think

that's exactly what's going to happen.

This horse that has is could be considered an Omni fig horse

where the last two races the buyers are bigger than everybody

else's. And that's totally true here.

Even off the layoff that that still does kind of work.

All the signs point to Fascia to be the winner.

Yeah, a little focaccia action there.

Yeah, what you said. I'm terrible with his names.

Man, both both of you are are bread men.

I trust that you don't hate. I don't.

I don't. I don't like bread.

Actually, funny enough, yeah. Yeah, he doesn't like anything.

Except he hates. Bread and sleep.

Yeah, it's really. Here it is, Yes, See, he gets

me. Like that a single for Josh here

in Race 2 with Kocha Harry, you mentioned the one in the four

afterward. More likely to play a cold 31

exactly here or three. And then, you know, 5 bucks on

each one and four kind of thing if we're putting 10 bucks on a

race, something like that. Yeah, the cold exact, it looks

like the way to go. Glitter Queen is is probably the

second fastest horse in this race.

They kind of went over their heads at Mahoney Valley there in

that $25,000 allowance downward as a 2.

They had no shot and ran like it.

This is this is a way more suitable spot for Glitter Queen

and I think they're going to run a lot better.

There's not much in here. These these horses are very

inconsistent. So even if Glitter Queen kind of

stubs their toe here, it wouldn't surprise me either.

They're just way inconsistent. But I think, you know, second

off the layoff is probably better than First off the layoff

for that horse anyway, like Josh alluded to.

So we're going to use that one cold second.

Arcelino Pedrosa junior gets the mount there.

Fernando De la Cruz on. She's so elite from the 2 hole

focaccia. We'll have Jose Ramos Gutierrez

riding. He's been a turfway most

recently. Names that we all need to get

used to here doing the show called Happy Hour Indiana.

My name's Lou Urbone. This is the horse racing happy

hour far and for me is Josh Rodriguez and of course in the

middle is Barry Spears. Needs no introduction on this

platform. Race three, we move to now at

Horseshoe Indianapolis tomorrow. Tomorrow we get going.

This is a 312 Eastern Time post. We get into our first state

bread allowance here, $41,000 on the dirt, 5 1/2 furlongs and

we're running for 41 a $1000 here.

This is essentially non 2 lifers.

Barry, where'd you land in race three?

We got a six to five favorite and junior shadow point.

I think a little bit of the same mantra from last race comes over

to this race to go fast and win. I I think the five somebody a

king fits that bill. Their last race was a maiden

$25,000 state bread race at Horseshoe Indianapolis on

November 6th, 2025. They went wire to wire that day.

Getting Lasix for this event. As a three-year old, I really

don't see too much speed in here.

The the horses that have run like Jair Shadowboy clearly

looks like they need a target. Same thing with Mr. Sledgehammer

probably doesn't want the lead. Other than that, I I don't see

where the pace is going to come from.

So I think it's going to come from somebody a king 10 to 1

fair price getting one of the top riders there Lasix training

well into this. Everything lines up for this

horse to run good. So that's where I'm going.

Five horse again we see Jose Ramos Gutierrez here aboard

somebaye King somebaye, a son of into mischief here and look when

you get the when you get bug boy there, save a little bit of

weight. Do you agree on the five here,

Josh? Yep, I think Barry and I see

this race pretty much the same. I I like the five somebody a

king in here. Obviously most recently had a

win here at Indiana and you know, coming off the layoff

here, you know, Gennaro Garcia is 11% off that long layoff.

You know, hasn't exactly had the the best start to the year here.

But you know, once we get to Indian Indianapolis, I mean, I

think that's where his barn starts to start to get going.

So, you know, this is these are connections here, jockey and

trainer that won 21% last year here in Indianapolis.

So I expect to see see a lot of wins out with from these two

this coming season Gets the bug aboard.

Not not a lot to not like I think on the five somebody a

king, even the price. I mean 12:50 on the morning

line. I I wouldn't be surprised if if

we get less than that just kind of looking, looking at the

looking at the speed figures here.

You know, people love betting betting fast figures and you

know they're going to see that 54 buyer last time out.

This is probably going to be your your pretty clear third

choice in my opinion, probably going to get half of that that

12:50 morning line. But love that somebody, a king.

Yeah, Gennaro, Gennaro Garcia trains here and is a absolute

mainstay there at Horseshoe Indianapolis.

Garcia and Gutierrez a solid combination as well hitting at

21% the last couple of years there in a decent sample size of

Horseshoe Indianapolis there as well.

Race 3 in the books. Race 4 up next for us here on

Happy Hour Indiana. This is the horse racing happy

hour. I'm Lou Rebeau, Josh Rodriguez

and Barry Spears alongside Maiden 12/5 awaits us in race

423. Eight in the purse.

Maidens and Phillies that are three and up.

And guys, we are, this is an interesting era in our sport

because, you know, we're watching, especially on the Oaks

and Derby trails. So many horses go straight from

the maiden ranks straight into into stakes ranks.

These are so few allowances, right?

And so we're seeing these cards carted more and more often these

races for three and up. We get one right away.

Opening day there at Horseshoe Indianapolis even race means

you're going here first, Josh, and you're going to do something

kind of kitschy on the first show and you're going to go with

the same numbers in two races in a row and I don't know how I

feel. I actually had to double check.

I had to double check my notes because I'm like, wait a second,

Did I just did I copy? Yeah, What am I thinking?

But then I I went and I looked and again and no, I really like

pickle shoes here. The five horse.

You know this race is tough, right?

You you look at this race, you're looking at horses coming

in from all over. You got Turfway Park in the

form. You got fairgrounds in here.

You got a first time starter. You got Ellis and you know,

these horses just come from all over.

Honestly, this was a really, really tough race for me.

I, I kind of like the five year pickle shoes, you know, cutting

back from that mile. You know, I'm just thinking of

it. This is as a development type

thing, right? You got a horse that was

starting at 6 1/2, went to six at Turfway Park.

I always feel like, you know, synthetics a little bit more

tiring for a horse kind of similar to the Turf, right, and

you know, they went to a mile here and now they're cutting

back. So this just feels like maybe a

horse that's that's just going to be stronger than the rest of

these horses. Is also the a four year old in

here. You know, we have a couple of

four year olds, but you know, I'll I'll take the four year old

with a little bit of experience cutting back here in the Sprint

race. I I also did like the three

velveteen. Not much value there at at at

2:00 to 1:00, but. You know, this this looks like

the horse that is coming in here with some form just missed last

time at fairgrounds, now shipping here to Indianapolis.

And then for the first time starters, I actually like the

five. I think it's Vedra Ray Hernandez

trains this one and it's sired by Yoshida, which I I haven't

seen too, too much of, you know, first time starter stats not

great, you know, for both trainer and sire here.

So I I wouldn't I wouldn't take a short price on this horse.

But you look at that work pattern.

This looks like a horse that's been working pretty well, you

know, lasts out with a bullet work on 36 and two and and you

just kind of look at some of these other horses and you're

like, I don't you don't know how much is in this race.

So maybe you take a shot with a first time starter here in in

Vedra. So I'll be, yeah, I'll be 534

here. Our guy Nick pop it in here.

State bread, Indiana might be the toughest state bread circuit

Arkansas close second. I largely agree.

And actually it makes these cards if you can hit man, they

it makes them really fun. And frankly, as far as puzzles

go, Barry, this circuit up here at Horseshoe Indianapolis I

consider just to be one of the more fun to try to figure out as

the year goes along. The track just changes

throughout the year and who's who's hot and who's not.

It really does with the long season from April to November.

Where'd you land a race for bro? Yeah, this this race was tough

like Josh was saying, but I ended up going with the three

velveteen. I thought those races at the

fairgrounds are much, much better than everybody else is

here. It was tougher competition and

this horse is running pretty good, culminating in that second

place finish. They probably should have won

that day but didn't. This is a much easier spot and I

think they they pretty much wired wired this field.

I thought pickle shoes was very interesting as well.

This horse I'm I'm not really sure what their deal is, but I

know this horse has trouble getting out of the gate.

You could see the the times that this horse broke poorly was most

of these times, although they were a bit wide the last two.

And I think the post relief here in a softer spot will get them,

you know, in a better position and and probably finish well.

And then I, I like the seven actual Eddie Keneally shipping

this one over from Churchill. They might have been in some

better races. So getting into this softer spot

might be a prep for something else, but we'll see.

I I wouldn't take a short price on a horse like this who might

end up attracting a little bit of attention because they're

coming from Churchill. Yeah.

No, that's a very fairpoint. 3 five and seven for you here,

Barry. You mentioned actual as the end

here, Eddie Kennealy and Mitch Merle.

Frankly, Mitch Merle's one of those you got to really watch up

at Horseshoe as well. A guy who's a really fine rider

and especially once they get back on the turf in in

Shelbyville is 1 to watch. He's like the.

Drive by shooter in Boys in the hood, it just shows up at the

most inopportune time and wins races.

You're way too proud of that. Look, I'm just saying way.

Too proud of that, I don't you. Don't want to go in the mind of

sphere. See, I you told me I should

express myself. I'm doing that.

I'm sorry. I apologize to everyone who's

never been inside the mind of Sphere because it's a terrifying

place and I and I do not recommend it to anyone, but here

we are once again, inside the mind you.

Encourage this. Remember that.

I I'm not a great person. I my problem, Josh.

I I encourage art and and art with Barry is a terrifying

thing. By the way, if you want to know

how how like weird people's sets are for their for their podcast,

this kid here Barry is now taller than me.

That's Charlie. He's like 6/1.

You know, like 6-5, he's my side.

He's your right now. It's ridiculous.

Oh, I'm a short balled man. My name's Louis Rabob.

Sat next to Barry Spears and Josh Rodriguez.

This is happy hour Indiana. Thanks for hanging out with us.

I apologize for going inside the mind of Spears.

Race 5 starts the late pick four and it's the Itoba pick four,

$1.00 minimum, 15% take out one of the more bettable and good

luck by the way, On this date hitting this BIG4.

But I think it'll pay just fine, $38,500 in the purse for the

maiden special weight waiting us in Race 5.

It is a state bread. It's on the Philly side of

things and this is for three-year olds, a nice field in

here of 11. And so you talk about the

difficulty guys of the of the state bread program there in

Indiana, just Philly gates. That's all we ask and we're

Philly gates here. So we will take it certainly on

the Open on the opening day. Barry, Race 5 is yours first,

Sir. Where'd you land?

Yeah, I'm going to throw 1 downfield here and I'm going to

go to the outside and take #11 Sampatra for Tim Eggleston, who

does good work out there. He's a very good trainer always

has his horse condition well always hit his always hits at a

pretty good percentage out there at Horseshoe Indianapolis and

this horse was unveiled last October in a in a state bred

maiden special weight spot similar to this.

They kind of didn't get an you know so so trip but I think the

layoff whatever happened they didn't like it that day took

some time coming back now some steady works coming into this

gets there one of their better barn riders in Uola.

I don't even know how to say that, sorry.

And I think there's a lot to be desired with the rest of this

field. A lot of these sources don't get

out of the gate. They don't have much form to go

off of. I think some Patra might have a

little bit of speed. The outside post position is

definitely A+ and we're going to go there.

If if we can get anywhere near that 15 to 1 I might push the

chips in. A daughter of a Smolinski, an

Into Mischief baby there. So a granddaughter of Into

Mischief, of course. Bred in Indiana by Roxanne

Haydn, It's a name that you'll hear over and over on this

program. Man, a tough one here.

But Josh, where'd you land a Race 5?

Yeah, I mean, this was, this was just man, this was something I

landed on. I land on three horses in here.

I I actually like the six appeasing quite a bit in here

for Aaron West. You know, you, you look at that

last race. This is the horse that that led

and then just kind of faded. I I like betting these horses

second time out, you know, thinking, especially as they get

a little bit older thinking, Hey, maybe they just be a little

bit more fitness, be able to, you know, maybe actually hang on

the next time. And you know, once again I'm

looking at this race. I mean, that's the horse I see

that that has the most early speed here.

And you know, sometimes early in the season, it's just like, all

right, whoever gets out there on the front end and and goes, you

know, might be able to win it, especially when you have all

these horses coming off of really big layoffs.

But like Barry, I like a couple of prices in here as well.

The number 7 consequences in here.

Second time out for Randy Klopp and this is a good move for

Randy. This is a 14% move.

Second time out for a maiden, right?

And you know, he always does well here, 24% when Fernando De

la Cruz rides for him. And oh, by the way, I mean, you

look at that work pattern. This is a horse that they've

been kind of slowly stretching out, getting ready to go.

They have two, five back-to-back 5 furlong works, including a

bullet work going 5 furlongs in, in the slop, right.

So which, which is just a tough, you know, tiring track when,

when it's, it's wet out there. So I, I think that this is a

horse that's going to be coming in here ready to go.

And, and I like this horse at 15 to 1 And, and I actually also

like your 11 there. Barry Sampatra.

And really, you know, we're just looking at these at, at trainers

who can get a horse ready off a layoff and Tim Eggleston in 61

to 180 days, 25 starters, 32% on the long layoff.

So, you know, he's one that that he's had very, very good success

getting these horses prepped off the long layoff.

So, so maybe some Patra can come in here and, and, and surprise,

I think this is the only progeny of Smolensky that's that's

gotten to the races. So yeah, it'll it'll be

interesting to see, you know what, what kind of happens here

with the 11. But I like the six as my top

pick. But the seven and 11 are

definitely be on some tickets. You know, the Eagleston angle

that you bring up there coming off of these kinds of layoffs

and I it's a weird tradition I have, Josh, I put 20 bucks to

win on the Eagleston horse on the longest layout on Kentucky

Derby day running in horseshoe. I always do it.

And we hit last, gosh, last year, two years ago, no,

Gadolpho was still a lot. So like 2 years ago or three

years ago even. And yeah, the horse went off in

like 6 to 1, 20 bucks in in my pocket.

Yeah, it was fantastic. Nick Severs agrees with you, by

the way, our guy race 5 is actually impossible.

Steve Nagles hanging out with us tonight wants to know from you

too, guys, and from me, of course.

Yeah. Shout out freeze warning.

Does it affect early versus late speed?

What I would say for me is it's going to be cold.

I think Josh is a talk of of those horses that have been at

Turfway are going to be used to the weather for sure.

Those that might have been further South, maybe less

running in that. What I would also say is that

any horse that's been training at horse, it's going to be just

fine for this thing as well. How about for you, Barry?

Yeah, I, I, I think the ones that have been there, which most

of them have been because they, they have quite a few horses

back there, should, should fare OK.

You know, you might want to think twice about those

Churchill shippers, but I don't. I don't really think you get too

many days at Horseshoe where speed isn't doing well.

It's almost like similar to Gulfstream in a sense where you

got to have to be a little bit close up unless there's an all

out crazy speed duel. But it plays fair mostly, even

when when a little chilly. Move on to Race 6 starts the

late Thoroughbred pick three at least.

Of course. Another maiden special on the

Philly side of things. Six furlongs here on the dirt.

Longest race on the card, $43,000 in open company here for

the Phillies and we see a fair number that have been in other

places. We see some giving it a first go

as well. Where are we?

Race 6. That means Josh gets to go

first. Even numbered race.

Josh. Good luck, buddy.

Where'd you land? And you know what?

I'm I'm late. This late pick 4 is is ball.

Game is fantastic. It's great, yes, especially for

a buck. Yeah, I I was talking to the

guys before and I'm just like, this is just a tough sequence.

I mean, I I think that the best opinion I have might be that 3IN

race 2. And I mean that might be, that

might be a six to five horse and that could be the only race I

get right all day. I mean, I don't know, but you

know, I like the 8 RBG in the spot for Bill Mori.

Joe Ramos is riding here and right this this horse debuted

maiden special weight at at Churchill on the turf.

Second time out here. And I mean, I don't know, you

look at it, it's a constitution and you know, this is just like

a win early pedigree. You know, they're coming here to

to the a maiden special weight here for three-year olds and,

you know, they're coming on the cutback, which once again is

just something I'm just trying to look for a horse that might

be a little bit more developed, might be, you know, training a

little bit better. And I mean, this is the horse

that was at Turfway for a while firing some really, really nice,

you know, nice work. So I I don't really know why

they they waited so long to kind of debut this horse, but or, or

at least for this year and didn't run that turfway.

But you know, this looks like a this looks like a horse that

that that's ready to fire here and you're getting 15 to 1.

So, you know, I'll I'll take a shot on, you know, on these

connections that have have definitely shown that they can

win second time out, you know, get Joe Ramos, awesome rider

here at Indiana. So, so like those those

connections there the first time started the 11.

So like silk, you know, I mean, this is nearly $1,000,000

purchase for William Walden. This horse is probably going to

get bets to Kingdom come. But you know, I I mean this, you

know, you look at you look at this field and you know, you you

maybe don't see too too much here that that you're worried

about, especially when you see the breeding on this horse, you

know, out of a hard spun mare with tap it on top and you

William Walton. I was going to say, can I pause

you real quick and and Barry can speak to this.

It's the Oxo folks and they this is a $925,000 purchase debuting

at Horseshoe Indianapolis. People do not look at this as a

place that's going to hold you back if you win your debut at

Horseshoe Indianapolis anymore. That is this is the reality,

Josh. And this race is a real, it is a

real indicator of that if $1,000,000 horse essentially is

running in this one. Yeah, And you know, we we get

really focused on the Derby, on the Indiana Derby, on on the OR

not the Indiana Derby, but the Kentucky Derby and the Kentucky

Oaks, right. But these other like quote UN

quote, lesser derbies, we'll call it just for the sake of the

sake of. Regional derbies as well.

Regional. Derbies.

But there's tons of grade two, grade 3 type races where you can

win a lot of money, right? I remember we used to.

There was a horse, I believe it was Mr. Money, that you look to

be just a monster horse, but you just kept on seeing him running

these grade threes, grade threes, but he just kept on

winning them. And and he was Mr. Money, he

just kept on collecting these checks.

And, you know, it's like love to own that horse.

But yeah, I, I, I don't think, you know, we see.

It's like complaining that Skippy picks off the ghost

zapper every year. He's supposed to pick off the

ghost zapper. That's what he is, that's how he

runs. Like give him $150,000 check.

I totally agree with you. By the way, you mentioned Joe

Ramos Shout out. I've got a Joe Ramos autograph

in my studio here. So there you go from a stakes

win at Turfway Park. Nobody listens on my birthday in

2023, so there you go. Nice.

Yeah, last real quick, the four bourbon and spice showed speed

at Turfway. Faded.

Like I said, I like betting these horses back.

Second time out that showed speed and faded.

So Yep, I'll be I'll be 811 and 4 here.

Bourbon and spice would easily be my top pick in this race.

Barry, where'd you link? Yeah, I landed on the 3

Presumptuous out of the Brendan Walsh barn for Godolphin, who

shows up here periodically with horses that need a little

confidence. And I think that's exactly what

Presumptuous needs. Ran into a tough horse first

time out in Solomon Vow at Keeneland and then they kind of

lost their way a little bit. Went 7 furlongs at Churchill in

a tough event and couldn't make any headway.

Then they go to Turfway and run a pretty good race there.

But the thing that really intrigued me is that this horse

is getting bet every time and I think this horse is talented

enough but needs some confidence.

I think that's why shipping over here makes a lot of sense.

Now, on the flip side of that, I think the 11 shipping over here

makes zero sense, especially at that big humongous buying price.

Why would you run here when you know you have 110 a $112,000

maiden races at Keeneland and Churchill.

It it it, it definitely seems like not the the optimal thing

to do. Not saying that so like so

couldn't win this race, but it it definitely raised a lot of

question marks for me. So I left that one out.

I did like RBG as well. I I thought that race was a

little better than what it looks on paper.

That first race at Churchill on the turf, Clearly they didn't

want the turf. I think they just ran that horse

on there just to get a run of them and and didn't like what

they seen and didn't find a good spot until now.

So I don't begrudge them and shipping over here 15 to one

seems like a stretch, especially getting the top rider at the

track. I, I think you're going to get

more than half that, less than half that, sorry.

I, I'd say probably about 5 or 6 to 1, maybe even lower than

that, but we'll see. I, I think this race might get

better a little strangely because presumptuous and the 11

will definitely take most of the action, but I, I, I kind of

thought the 8th would be third choice, but we'll see.

That wraps up race a six. We now get into the late double.

We'll all give a late double ticket here for the late

thoroughbred double. I have not yet talked the nice

folks at Horseshoe into a Thoroughbred Quarter Horse

double yet. Yet.

Yet. Give your boys some time.

It's a thing all right, but we'll move on to Race 7 here on

the card at Horseshoe Indianapolis tomorrow.

This is on Tuesday. I should say that in case you're

listening to a recorded version of this, this is Happy Hour

Indian. I'm Louie Boberry Spears and

Josh Rodriguez alongside as well.

Appreciate you hanging out with us.

We'll be on for about 12 episodes this year, taking you

through 2026 there at Horseshoe Indianapolis.

Race 7 is the first handicap of the year.

It is the Merrill C Roberts Overnight Handicap $55,000 on

the line here for State Breads, Phillies and Mares 3 and up

running 4, $55,000. Barry on this side.

I love a horse in here that you do not love.

Who do you land on? I landed on the six Ekati

Flatter. This horse was running really

good at Horseshoe Indianapolis back in 2024 and and something

went wrong where the horse only ran twice in 2025, one of which

was a win, which is kind of funny, but yes, in this sort of

race. But then then they came back a

little later in in in the summer and didn't run a step and now

was laid off since then until now.

But I like the the couple of works that this horse does have

March 10th, March 20th, March 28th.

Those are all three good works at this track getting one of the

top riders here in Fernando de la Cruz.

They do well for this barn. There's enough speed.

I think that this this pace is going to be pretty fair and this

horse is going to get a good trip.

So I'm going to go with Akadi flatter 5 to 1 probably get most

of that. I I'd say maybe about 4:00 to

1:00, but I think that's a, that's a good play here.

You get $10 on a horse and then start off the double with that.

I'm also going to use the seven tempo painter.

This horse is just another Randy Klopp trainee that that is very

consistent like most of his horses.

I, I think this is a really good spot for that one too.

Training well into this may have been training with Akati Flatter

if you match up those works. But I think those two should be

running well in this race. And I'm also going to use the 9

Hot Middles who last year June 11th, kind of want to race

similar to this one, probably actually double that that purse

price. And then they lost their way.

They went a mile on the turf, then went a mile and 70 yards,

which this horse clearly does not want to do.

When they went back to sprinting, I think the horse was

off form and then they ended up laying this horse off.

But I think this horse will do well off the layoff.

Some slow works coming into this.

So I I think they're prepared. So we'll see.

This horse is a closer. That's why I didn't put him on

top, but I think they might get in the picture if things get

wild upfront. All right, our first stakes

handicapping of the year, 6-7 and nine for Barry here.

Go to Josh. You're going to try the same

horse that I landed on when I did my handicapping earlier.

That's the outside horse here. And boy, I'm largely going on

the Eggleston layoff angle here. I won't lie to you at all, Josh,

but I also think the works make a lot of sense for the 12 horse

here. Why do you like the 12?

Yeah, I mean, this is a horse that's been running in a mix of

state bred and open company, obviously had a second place in

an open allowance race, you know, 3 back at the end of

October. So I just think that this is

probably just a a, a better horse than than some of these

others in here. And obviously we talked about

Tim Eggleston off the layoff. This is a a trainer that can get

these horses ready off the layoff and, you know, bet Mitch

get rich. You know, Mitch Merle, he's

always yeah, that's what they, when he used to ride up here in

Arlington, that's what they used to say.

And you know, he yeah, I, I like when he gets aggressive with

these horses, gets them on the front end.

And this looks like a horse that he can get aggressive with.

And, you know, the last couple races he hasn't necessarily

caught a really, really crazy fast pace and was able to kind

of still pass a couple of horses, especially that race 2

back going 5 1/2. So yeah, I, I, I really like the

12 in this spot. And then, you know, I, I like

two other horses a little bit. And, and the three, the kid

Pataki, this is a horse that, you know, was running along with

Akati Flatter in this opener last year, ran kind of evenly in

that race. But you know, I guess I'm a

little bit more scared of the lack of races last year for this

horse than than Barry is for the six.

So you know, if I'm going to take a horse from that that

common race on the on the 15th of last year, I'll take the the

kid Pataki in that spot and then the one don't miss out.

I thought was a was an interesting horse coming in here

as well. You know, could maybe just be

inside drawn speed. But you know, we'll see.

We'll see what the 12 does. He's got some very sneaky good

races with a couple of just kind of duds mixed in, but at 5 1/2

furlongs, he's got two wins in three seconds and five tries.

So yeah, he's definitely 1. You should use an exacto here.

By the way, part of the motivation I have to imagine

early this in this part of the year for an overnight handicap

is you could still run on Lasix in these spots.

And so I think that's at least early in the season part of the

part of the equation here. 6-7 and nine for Barry in the first

handicap of the. Year it's funny, you guys you

guys went to the the horses that I thought might end up getting

in the speed duel. I thought the one has a lot of

speed, the three has a lot of speed and the the outside horse.

I was hoping that you know one of my horses sliding right

behind those and and get the victory.

But we'll see how this shakes out.

It should be an interesting race.

Probably start watching those races early on, see if there's

much passing. Barry might change his opinion,

by the way. Yeah, the time we get to Race 7,

or maybe Josh and I will be required to do so.

Move on to race 8. The final thoroughbred race on

the card and the end of the late double $5 minimum, 15% take out.

We will give out our double tickets after this race.

Our 5 1/2 again on another overnight here, and this one is

named after Brian Elmore. It's an overnight handicap on

the male side of things here, $55,000 purse. 5 1/2 furlongs on

the dirt here, guys. Indiana breads 3 and older.

Josh, where'd you land on the nightcap?

Yeah, I have two horses in here and they're both a bit of a

price. The 8 Scotty's on edge 15 to 1

here on this horse coming in from Turfway.

You know, we talked a little bit earlier about just wanting these

horses that have some runs in them that they have a little bit

of an advantage in my opinion. Now that that race, that last

race, I think you kind of got to put a a line through.

It was claimed out of that race and and definitely regressed.

But that raised 2 back that 81 buyer for that 6 furlong effort

where Irving Moncana took this one wire to wire.

If we get anything similar to that effort, I think the 8th is

going to be actually tough to beat in this spot.

And you know you're getting you're getting a humongous price

at 15 and one on this horse. We'll see what what we actually

get because if you go back to late October 24, you see a 93

buyer in there. So this horse has definitely got

some back races. I mean is a 7 year old gelding

at this point. So you got to go back.

I said go in the way back machine that to get to that

number. But, you know, you got a couple

of recent figs, I think that make this horse competitive

here. And then the outside horse, the

10 Mondavilla here, Mitch Merle once again with Randy Klopp.

And you know, I, I, I look at this horse, I look at this

horse's efforts at 6 furlong or 5 1/2 furlongs.

And this is a horse that is 3 for three when going 5 1/2

furlongs. So, you know, I, I just think,

hey, maybe this is the trip for this horse.

Horse is getting right back to this.

The horse won First off the layoff last year.

So this is a horse that does does fire fresh.

So I, I think taking 8 to one on on those types of trends is, is

the way to go. I, I wrote the 6th down as my

third pick a lot ago. Who's going to be I think your

favorite in this race? Not really and not going to be

in my double, but this would be my third choice in this spot.

You know, obviously this horse has all the has the back races,

but you know last year didn't really fire off that that race.

So we'll we'll see if if he comes here off the layoff well.

Many of his best runs too are in the slop, frankly.

Frankly, both of his best runs are in the slop as well, so it

should be an interesting 1. And Latigo Barry also has him in

the third spot with a different way on top though with the three

horse Barry in Sleepy. Why did you pick a horse that

has nothing? Can we do with you?

By the way? Can I can I can we go behind the

scenes? Oh, it's very frozen.

Oh, no, frozen. Oh, OK.

Just your picture. Right.

That's good. All right.

Hey, Barry, can I take a behind the scenes of you like having to

visit my house for a Keeneland trip?

Can we do that? Yeah.

Absolutely awesome OK so I have an adorable 9 year old daughter.

She is the sweetest little thing.

She has this tiny little voice. She's got this little blonde

hair that I hope she doesn't have my hairline and but she

she's just the sweetest thing. Well, I've started doing this

thing, Josh. It's one of the the last things

I've gotten around to as a parent.

I've had so much fun being a dad, but one of the things I've

never done is watched a show that I really care about from my

childhood with my kids. And one of the shows that raised

me was The Simpsons. So I'm watching The Simpsons

with my kids and my daughter is in love with The Simpsons.

It's it's awesome. Like watching, watching your

kids watch a show is actually one of the great joys of my

life. Well, she, she found out that

Barry's a Simpsons fan like I am, and she asked Barry to watch

The Simpsons. And my man, he got the first

fight. He was tired, all the things.

And he was, he fell asleep during The Simpsons just to be

nice to my, to my daughter, like on the couch, like, just like,

yeah, can you stay? Here, I couldn't tell it No.

Amazing. What kind of jerk would I have

been? You cover.

No way. You have to watch Simpsons on

the 9 year old, so there you go. Yeah, it was fun while I was

while my eyes were still open. It was good.

You know, I see why everybody likes them.

But sleepy, sleepy 4. Four wins in a row coming into

this all. Right.

Hang on one second, Barry. Hang on one second.

One second we'll see if this possibly works all.

Right, there we go. You're.

Can you hear me all right? Can you hear me now?

I remember. Those yes, Sleepy's 44 races in

a row. Randy Klopp should have a decent

day tomorrow, but I thought that this horse is really potentially

could be, probably is lone speed here.

I see that Scotty's on edge. The 8 went wire to wire back at

Turfway. But two things about that win.

It was January 8th and I believe it was frosty beverage out

there. And when that icy cold weather

gets on that Turfway track, it's just a highway.

You get to the front, nobody passes.

Well, and that's what Stu was asking about too, right?

And so I mean in. Well, that's a turfway.

So to you not going to carry over here at Indiana is.

What you're saying, I'm saying usually not as much, you know,

the synthetic, you know, expands and contracts with the weather,

But I don't think they really wanted to lead because you saw

the next race they ran where they got claimed out of.

They didn't. I I don't think they were fast

enough to get to lead there honestly.

That being said, the outside horse probably doesn't want the

lead. You can see that horse slice to

sit and needs a target. So we're going back to what I

was talking about. In the first race.

You got to go fast and win. I hope those are the

instructions and it looks like they probably will be.

The only problem is JD Ramos isn't riding, but I don't think

that's a huge impediment. Fernando De La Cruz is just as

good if not better and we should go pedal to the metal with

Sleepy to the top. Then I am going to use the 9

horse Molly's Town. Second off the layoff of a run

in a $50,000 claimer at Oaklawn. Didn't get a good start and

weren't even in it. This is a much softer spot.

They should get a a way better trip.

Consistency wise, this horse has been there.

There's a lot of 8080 point buyers in here that a lot of

others don't have in tougher races.

So I think this is a good spot getting Alex a Shard.

We're going to use those two in the double.

All right, so let's get to those double tickets.

Barry. We'll go to yours first just

'cause we were hearing your rationale there.

You'll use those two horses, the three and the nine and the last

Molly's Town, the nine and of course the three is sleepy, but

6-7 to 9 for you there in Race 8 or Race 7.

Excuse me, Akati Flatter you'll use in that race.

As you mentioned, the Seven Horse Temple Painter and Hot

Middles $30 ticket here. You hit, you hit, you hit at

least one of those prices, bro, you're gonna be sitting pretty.

Good, Yeah, yeah, yeah. I, I like to to bet on the

return. I like to concede prices that

are going to pay out low unless I'm gonna just absolutely just

throw a cold $50 double or something like that.

But I I think this could pay if we we come out and we gotta zag

where they zig. A different feeling for Josh

here, 1/3 and 12 in the first leg that second race we just

talked about Josh is going to lean on the 8 and the 10th.

Scotty's on edge as he mentioned, he thinks he can get

back to form there at Horseshoe tomorrow.

And Mandavi Mondavila, excuse me, coming out of a most

recently a win in an allowance for non 2 lifers there at

Horseshoe as well in the final leg.

But previous to that, Josh, you will be using the 13 and 12

again, the two speeds in here essentially can't miss out.

But also the kid Pataki in your double about the the kind of

Tiggy you would play here at 3:00 and 2:00, that sort of

thing. Going in field ties, that kind

of thing. Yeah, so, and, and just for full

transparency, the way I usually play these like especially like

these late pick threes or that they're like 3 bucks or these

bit late double s, I'll usually put like 50 bucks into it.

So this is a $30 ticket. I'll probably end up pressing

the 12 into the 8 and the 10 for another, you know, 10 bucks or

something to get it to an even 50.

And you know, if the twelve wins all of a sudden, you know, we

got a $15 ticket Live Today, 8:00 and 10:00.

So we'll, we'll hopefully, you know, hopefully we'll be sitting

pretty here. I'm gonna go aggressive in the

first leg. I'm gonna try just the 12.

He's 8 to 1 on the morning line. I'm hoping that for whatever

reason, being on the outside, being 8 to 1, whatever it might

be, that people don't notice that it's Mitch Merle and Tim

Eggleston together on a 32% angle of this time off and 18%

overall of their wins there at Horseshoe.

And then I'll lean in the last race on a combination of your

two tickets, frankly, Barry and I agreeing on the three horse

here in a Sleepy. And then I'll go also to the

outside on Mondevila with Josh. But I'll include a third horse

in here as well in the sixth horse, which is Latigo.

He is the favorite here and I won't lie to the people.

This is a Joe Ramos Randy clap play.

I won't lie to you. That's exactly what this is.

If I left them out of my ticket and they scored, I would feel

like an idiot. And because I'm singling an 8 to

one in the first like I feel good about.

My double we would we would give you a lot of hard time in the

chat. For sure, I believe you.

For sure. Well, he's Barry Spears and he's

Josh Rodriguez. We got through the first one,

boys. I don't know that anyone ever

wants us to do these things, but I know we're going to have some

fun because our guy, Roger Browning, who is Mr. Horseshoe

Indianapolis, is watching. The man.

Oh man, they've got what? How many horses do you tell us

over 20 right now? They got right now out there.

Yeah, I think he said something like that.

Awesome. Let's go.

He has a lot and they they run. And our buddy, our buddy Jason

was at Keeneland on Saturday. He's one of the owners of

Maximum Security Standing Indy, Indiana as well.

So appreciate everybody saying hi to us on Saturday.

They saw our press release there at Blood Horse.

We appreciate them running that as well.

We'll be back for a bunch more episodes on this program.

So please keep your eyes out for what we are working on as part

of this series. But we're going to rock'n'roll

our way out of here on a Monday night.

Good luck from the wagers tomorrow they're at at Horseshoe

Indianapolis. Liam is joining us on a the

wrong Lead podcast stream. We appreciate him hanging out

with us. Hopefully you enjoyed the show

and hopefully you will choose to join us once again for Josh, for

Barry. My name is Louis Rebeau and this

has been the horse racing happy hour, happy hour Indiana.

Thanks so much for hanging out with us.

We'll be back in a couple of weeks.

We'll see you then rock it from.