BloodHorse Monday 4/13/26 | Sovereignty vs. Journalism

Oh, man, it's Monday the 13th on BLOOD HORSE Monday.

He's Sean Collins. I'm Lou Revo.

Thanks for hanging out with us to start your horse racing week,

Sean. Good afternoon to you, Sir.

A very serious sandwich awaited you upon arrival.

Today I know that was nice. Here at the Blood Horse Studios

are pretty serious. A club sandwich, little Panini

style. Little melt, I know.

I don't know what I've been to deserve that.

It's appreciated at this time. I need, I need the fuel at this

time of year, that's for sure. Man, make sure you're following

Sean everywhere. Frankly, at this point at BH

under score, S Collins on the socials, of course, is a Pharaoh

12 page as well. Because you are out there every

single freaking day, my friend, trying to get these videos, get

the stories of different things at Churchill Downs.

We'll talk with Kate Hunter on the show today who we saw at

Churchill Downs. We will also talk with Matt

Dinerman, who I'm going to ask, is this the biggest race you've

ever called? Yeah.

Coming up this weekend on Saturday at Oaklawn Park, it

certainly looks like that Oaklawn Handicap.

I'm already smiling, just. Thinking about.

About the race that we're going to have on Saturdays, we'll,

we'll talk all about that a lot more later on.

But you've been out there in the mornings.

What's the tenor of the mornings?

What's the mood like? Felt pretty normal to me when I

was out there most. Recently, yeah.

It hasn't gotten too busy yet. Now all the temporary structures

are starting to grow, so you're starting to see that appear as

the days go by. I just saw a new tent that was

up there yesterday that or today that wasn't there yesterday.

So that all that's coming together pretty quickly.

Usually this upcoming Saturday is when it starts getting a

little bit more chaotic because that's when they start the

specific Derby and Oaks training time at 7:15.

And so that's usually when it starts getting a little busier,

a little a little crazier on the backstretch.

Right now we only have seven horses that are definitively in

the field at the moment that are at Churchill, the seventh of

which just showed up, I believe yesterday, the day before, right

to party. I saw him for the first time

this morning. Bobby Halls pick for the Derby?

Yeah. Would more, I don't know about

that, but maybe for the wood, but.

No, he look, let's be really clear about this.

He Kordaki were on my podcast. Kordaki is like Elvis, that's my

winner. Riley Mott balling out of

control. Totally right about that.

And then Bob was like, look, I think it's right to party where

it's gonna hit the board. Yeah, well.

That was the wood. We'll see what.

And no, no, but like, guess what, that exactly pays in the

wood, pays in the Derby don't matter.

I mean like no good for that, but anyways, go ahead.

But. Yeah, yeah.

So got my first sighting at him this morning.

So got him there. We got all three of Brad Cox's

horses there for the Derby Commandment for their ADO and

full effort. Elvis is there as well.

We saw him last week. Yep, Wonder Dean, who you will

see as if you're watching this on YouTube or Spotify.

I threw a couple clips of Wonder Dean in there as we were talking

to Kate Hunter. So you'll see a little bit of

him there at Churchill Downs. The one of the three

international horses that is at Churchill Downs so far stark

contrast is there probably not going to run in the Kentucky

Derby, but probably going to run in the American turf.

But he is there at Churchill Downs as.

Well, and by the way, within within all the tiebreakers he

would run in the Derby if they choose to.

So Stark Contrast is absolutely still on the top 20.

He's #16 on the list right now, and the two horses that are

there that are on the outside of the list at the moment are for

Chip Honcho, who is 22nd, and Ocelli for Whit Beckman, third

in the Wood Memorial. He's 30th on the point board.

So he's going to need a lot of a lot of defections.

But I asked Whit Beckman is he going to run if he makes it in?

And I was asked, is the Pope Catholic?

So I'd say there's a good chance he's going to run if he makes it

in. There's.

A lot of Pope jokes to make right now.

I'm not going to do them. All right, so you saw Collins on

Blue Irmo? No, Whit Beckman is.

Look, man, we lose Wayne Lucas. It's awful, but then we get Wit

Beckman, who's like, yeah, we're running in the Derby, what are

we doing here? Yeah, no.

When you ask, when you ask Wayne questions like if you ask the

coach, hey, why are you sending American Promise to the

Preakness? He looked at you like you had 17

heads, just like you described for Wit Beckman.

And he said he's my best 3 year old.

That's why he's going to Baltimore like that.

If. He's going to have the point wit

Beckman. Go into the Derby 100% Let's.

Go so so we'll see how the next couple weeks shake out in that

regard. We should have a couple more

rivals I think toward the end of this week slash beginning of

next week. I think silent tech should be

here in the next couple of days. Incredible.

It's going to work one more time in Florida on Saturday and then

come up, I believe emerging markets going to do the same

thing. So we're going, we're going to

fill up pretty quickly here on these last 13 runners that are

that are going to be coming in for the Derby.

No doubt about it. Again, Sean mentioned it.

If you're watching on Spotify or on YouTube, listen on Apple

pods, whatever. Hey, give us a like, give us a

follow or subscribe, whatever it is, give us one of those

reviews. Helps drive more people to the

show, helps us get even more eyeballs on this thing called

Blood Horse Monday. Keeneland over the weekend we

got into and look, I I think of like Jenny Wiley day for

example, on that Saturday is like a core Keeneland day.

Lexington Day. OK.

You're talking to the Kentucky Derby guy.

It's Lexington Day. It wasn't this year because no

one from that race is going to be in.

The Derby, but the runner up might be in the Preakness.

And the third place horse and so, but we get a dead heat in

the Jenny Wiley dead heat, yes or no?

Yeah, well, it was exciting. It's terrible thing for me to.

Do I I do want to I I want to. I just I actually have a take on

this well. No, I just, I just want to say

as far as the prediction of a dead heat, I was, I was standing

with a couple of people watching.

They hadn't put it up yet. And I said, well, how long this

is going to take? It's probably dead heat.

And not 3 seconds later they put up the dead heat on the board.

So, well, I looked pretty smart there to the to the couple of

people I was with so. One moment of intelligence,

Yeah, It doesn't outweigh all of the other moments you've had.

Sean Collins. There you go.

Was it a dead heat? The I mean, so if you're not, if

you've been on Twitter, you know, here's what's told.

Let's set the scene. Go ahead.

So the photo. The photo that was posted, as

far as the result, it does in my eye look like expensive Queen is

slightly ahead is slightly ahead.

They have the line there and you could see like a couple pixels

of her nose past the line. Now in I, I do want to put the

disclaimer out there. I've read a couple of things

about it does sound like there is some opportunities with those

photos kind of the way that they put together the one that goes

out to the public that they can. There can be like some kind of

visual morphing sometimes. And honestly, if you looked at

the because you see it from that side and you look at the mirror

review side, it doesn't look as clear to me on the mirror review

side that that expensive queen was in front.

So it definitely has caused a lot of debate whether or not it

was actually dead heat. I'm sure the connection to

Siesta are more than happy to say it was a dead huge.

I don't know about the expensive Queen people, but it did.

It did look from that photo. Had I been reviewing that photo

and that was the only photo I saw.

I don't know if they have other ones that they were looking at

like other frames that they were looking.

At but constantly, yeah, that's the thing about this is the

frame is what matters here. How quickly it takes the photos

is what matters here. And if that's the one where they

got the line of both horses are on it.

Yeah. And and neither of them is on

the line before that photo and they're both on it.

They have to go with that. Now, do we have to like it?

Absolutely not. And you would think that the

easiest part of being a steward would be dead.

He's you would think it's a photo.

That's what it says. But even the showed it's it's

not easy. And look, we have this as part

of American sports in general. Like how many times have you

watched a football game? You're watching the Giants or

something, and you're like, no, that wasn't 2 feet in.

All of us are watching the same video.

And I'm like, his feet are in. What are you talking?

No, it's not. He's not dragging.

He's not holding on to the ball. Horse racing is not different

from other sports this way. The difference, the biggest

difference, every race is a betting event.

Not every catch is a betting event in the NFL.

Not every basket is a betting event in the NBA.

Now can that just an overrun or whatever?

Well, it can be for like what's the next play?

It's a catch on the sideline or something.

It can be like that, Sean, I won't I won't fight you on that.

But what I'm getting at is who wins this race matters for not

just win bets, not just for place bets, not just for show

bets, not just for double S, not for pick threes, not for pick

one, because it matters for all of them.

So it's probably 17 or 18 different types of bets just on

the outcome of that race. So it's very serious and I

understand why people would get in their feelings about it, but

also you're in your feelings because you lost the bet.

Exactly. I know, yeah, you're always

going to think that the jockey messed up the ride if you lose

or everything like that, but. But I get.

But I want to be clear, I understand the consternation.

Yes. Absolutely if you had so I'm I'm

forgetting which one was in. Expensive.

Expensive Queen is the one that had the.

Yes, that supposedly had the nose in front.

If you had expensive queen, I'd be upset too, yes.

If you had Sahesta, I'd be very happy.

But but you know, I'm, I'm OK. I, I, I'm understand.

I haven't seen everything that the stewards have seen.

So I'm OK with it being called a dead heat if that's how they

really felt. But just like going back to the

2019 Kentucky Derby, I was more than OK with that.

I, I, I know you disagree. I thought it was the right call,

disqualify maximum security. But I thought the stewards

should have given a better sure explanation after the fact as to

why they did it. This is another scenario.

It's like I'm OK with it being a dead heat, but it would be nice

to see from the stewards what hear from them what exactly they

looked at. OK, so that's the second Derby I

ever covered. I know.

Yes. And I'm standing in the back of

that press conference. They're coming down.

Oh, we're all excited. Everyone's going to ask the

questions. And back then it was there were

dudes in that room and women in that room that were ruthless

horse racing. People didn't care about

feelings, weren't worried about all this post COVID stuff that

you and I have to live with. And I'm kidding, of course, but

I, I, I bet I never go to another press conference in this

sport and someone yells your salary is paid by taxpayers, how

dare you walk away. Oh, oh, what a beautiful moment.

It was fantastic. And they made the wrong

decision. Yeah, they did most obvious

disqualification in history, but that's a debate for.

Another day ever, literally ever you do that.

Ever. Well, ever outside of a jockey

getting knocked off the horse. Ever.

OK. Ever.

Yeah. OK, Ever.

Sure. Zoo Kingdom wins one.

Stripe runs second. Rhetorical runs third.

Notable Speech runs fourth. I think this is great for the

division. In the Makers Mark Miles.

I think this is great for the division.

I think so. Give me I'm hopeful that this is

what's going to happen this year as we get a bunch of brilliant

birdie right behind notable speech.

That's a 5 pack of horses that I think can all have a really good

year. Yes, Zulu Kingdom won the turf

last year, the American turf, right?

Yes. This.

Is a great one winner again. I mean, this is this is the good

stuff, man. And because it look, when we get

to Breeders' Cup time, especially like last year, I

didn't think about that race. I just put notable speech and I

moved on with my day. I'd like to have to think.

Yes, this was a good step toward it.

Looks like we got a good group of horses here in the US now.

Notable speech. Obviously had quite a bit of

traffic problems in the stretch, so did that cost him a win?

Who knows? He also didn't get out of the

gate well. No, he didn't.

He didn't, and at some point in American turf racing, you gotta

get out of the gate. If you're gonna run once sub 130

fives of these races you gotta get out of the gate man.

Yeah but this was a definitely a good sign for the American

horses as we're looking toward the Breeders Cup later on that

year because it it looks like the division is gonna be

competitive rhetorical obviously won a grade one last year 1

Stripe is a multiple Grade 1 winner in South Africa and he's

been running well his last couple starts now that he's.

He's getting better here in the US, He.

And Zulu Kingdom, I was really high on this horse last year

before he ended up missing the second-half of the season.

I really, really liked him. So the fact that he's back, he's

winning a grade one first, first start since what, August and

comes back as as strong as he did, he's only going to get

stronger from here. So I think this is a really good

division and brilliant birdie. You know, he might not leave

Kentucky this year, but the Breeders Cup's in Kentucky and

you can never count him out when the races are in Kentucky.

So this is a good group of horses here.

We know notable speech is not going to be able to just walk in

here and be 1 to 9 in November or October this year, October

31st, he's not going to be able to be 1 to 9 this year.

We're going to have some legit horses to throw at him if

everybody can make it there to Halloween.

Sean Collins, Lou Bro hanging out with you, Blood Horse

Monday. We went out over the weekend,

start of the weekend on Friday morning to see our friend Kate

Hunter, who has been on this program several Times Now.

And what I like, what I like about recurring guests who get

our shtick is that we can just dive back into things.

I got to say a line in this interview.

I mean, it's so good, Sean. I'm still proud.

I'm still, I'm still smiling. It's Monday.

I said this on Friday. It was off the cuff.

I mean, it's as good, it's as good a gospel reference as I've

ever made in my life. I'm very proud of it.

Anything people should know before they hear from Kate

Hunter? Remind people who Kate Hunter.

Yes, the Kate Hunter kind of acts as like the liaison for the

Japanese horses when they're travelling here to the USA,

couple other international spots and she works for several of the

tracks here in the US trying to get Japanese runners into their

races. Obviously, Churchill Downs with

the Kentucky Derby, the Breeders Cup are the two feature ones.

And she does a lot of work back in Japan trying to, you know,

kind of help get some rules change, some legislation change

to try to make it easier for the Japanese horses to be able to

travel, kind of get through some of the hurdles that have been

holding them back from really going international over the

last couple of years. And not only did we do we have

two Japanese horses in the Kentucky Derby this year in

Wonder Dean and Dan Bourbon, but we also have two horses that are

going to be participating in the undercard from Japan this year,

Shin Emperor and the Terp Classic and TO Elvis in the

Churchill Downs Stakes. And so it is going to be a very

interesting weekend for the Japanese horses.

I think all those races are on Saturday on Derby Day itself.

So it's going to be a very interesting day there and so is

interesting to talk with her. She told us a little bit about

both the horses, some some things about, you know, the

Japanese, the experience that they went through with Dubai and

everything going on in the Middle East and all sorts of

stuff. And we?

Also wonder Dean's personality in this conversation is really

fascinating. All these Japanese horses bro

like. They all have so much

personality and I've I've been lucky.

A couple days before this interview, I was able to spend

some time with Wonder Dean at the Barn.

If you follow me on Twitter, you may have been one of the a

couple 100,000 people that watch the video clip.

I think I'll I'll see him coming right up to It's always great

when the Japanese racing media retweets your stuff because then

the views just blow up. But they love their horse racing

over there. But wonder Dean, he's a

character. He came right up to my camera

and just like, stare it straight.

Into my camera. I think I put that clip here in

this interview, so if you're watching on YouTube, you'll see

that. But yeah, it was a great

conversation with Kate, and it's time to learn a little bit about

our Japanese contenders in the Kentucky Derby.

Here's our fried cabe Kate outside the stakes bar Churchill

Downs for Friday. All right, you know it's Derby

season when you see the woman standing next to us.

Her name is Kate Hunter Kate. But Kate as she's known in the

circles in horse racing. Kate, we have you on a couple of

times of year and you have yet to say no to this interview.

Is this an obligation thing and contractually, or is Sean

actually not terrible to talk to?

No, no, for me that the Blood Horse was the first magazine I

ever subscribed to regarding horse racing when I was like 13.

So it has a birthday present. So it's definitely got a soft

spot for. You.

It's Blood Horse's fault. That's exactly right.

Look at that plug, subscribe to the magazine.

QR code will be up at some point on this episode.

That's right. And then we will.

You can also go to the website to the magazine tab.

Kate here subscribes to the magazine, so you subscribe.

To. That's exactly.

Right. And we had you in the magazine

last year too, at that. Was that was very fun.

It was a very full circle moment for me.

I definitely got a couple copies and sent it to my mom.

Awesome. That's the good stuff for sure.

We're out here, of course, ahead of the Kentucky Derby and I

always like to remind people this time of year that not only

is it difficult to get a horse to the starting gate in any form

or fashion, but getting one from Japan or from the Middle East or

whatever, especially during wartime, not the easiest thing

ever. We are dealing with lots of

factors this year, but how has the travel been so far And, and

my goodness, I mean lots of moving pieces this year.

Yeah, absolutely. Well, Mr. Takayanagi, who's the

trainer of Wonder Dean, who is here at Churchill right now, he,

he nominated I think about 10-15 different horses this year for

the Kentucky Derby. He was very keen to come back.

He came in 2024 with Teo Password, who finished fifth.

So like coming back here has been like on the top of his

list. Dirt racing for him is his kind

of his favorite, even though he's doing really well in Japan

right now with Museum Mile on the turf.

So but. Both is okay.

Well, yeah, but for him, the international dirt, he seems to

really like it. And he's got a soft spot for

Churchill. He came here and did a week or

two kind of internship with Dale Romans back in 2017.

So he really likes kind of he like, loves it here.

So coming back here to the Kentucky Derby was really high

on his priority. And that's why, you know, he

went to Saudi. He went to the Saudi Derby to

try and get points there. And then from Saudi Derby on to

the UA Derby. They toughed it out during a war

time in the Middle East so that hopefully they could make it

here to Churchill Downs and God willing, and the Creek didn't

rise and they made it over here. Well, wonder Dean, he, as you

mentioned, he was in Saudi and then he went to Dubai.

So he was kind of in that group of horses that was already there

when everything happened in the Middle East.

What was kind of just the, we know what it was like here in

the US, We've had a couple people on talking about it on

our show from the US perspective, but what was

Japan's perspective as this was all going on?

Some of the horses like Forever Young were already there.

Some horses were debating whether or not to go.

Just what was it like for the Japanese?

Well, it was one of those things that we just you never really

know what was going on. They were concerned.

The people that were there felt felt very safe being in Dubai.

But, you know, still having missiles being, you know, shot

out of the sky is not a normal situation.

So unfortunately this year a lot of Japanese decided not to just

take that, you know, potential risk and to sit to stay home

and, or go to Hong Kong instead, which was a shame because, you

know, they love Dubai and I know they'll be back in droves next

year. But for Mr. Tacky and naggy, it

was so important to try and find a way to come to Kentucky that,

you know, come hell or high water.

He, he, he was going to buckle down and it, it, it paid off.

So the, the, the cult really, really enjoyed you by really

settled in over at made out. It was very quiet.

They're kind of far removed from the airports, far, far removed

from downtown. So there wasn't nearly as as

much, you know, potential drama out there.

So the staff was, was staying at the made on hotel.

So it was, it was from, from what I heard, it was very quiet.

I actually did not make it out there this year, unfortunately,

but hopefully I will be there next year with, you know, maybe

30 Japanese horses. And maybe, maybe wonder Dean

going back for the for the World Cup?

Absolutely The Japanese UA Derby winners, they always go back for

more. Now wonder Dean, he's been here

at Churchill Downs for probably, what, about a week?

A week and 1/2 at this point. Today we're filming this.

On Friday, he went out to the track for the very first time.

Just how was he settled in to Kentucky?

Really good. I know that he's Deacon his

time, which Americans don't typically like, but this is what

he did after Saudi. I went to Dubai for one week

after Saudi Arabia to make sure all of the Saudi horses settled

in and they did about the same, even forever young, all those

horses, they spent easily about a week and change just hand

walking, taking it easy in Dubai.

They've got a lovely little, little track right next to the

inside the quarantine that they were able to use to kind of hack

a little bit and kind of stretch their legs.

And so it was, you know, they they were able to kind of get

ready before ever going to the track.

And so it's kind of following that pattern.

We've got this lovely barn here. Which is not a We're not in the

quarantine barn this year. I was going to ask you about

that. You know, you had spoken about

the quarantine barn with us last year and how much frankly, the

connections enjoyed how quiet it was kind of isolated.

You ain't isolated this year. Y'all are kind of the middle of

this thing. What's that adjustment been

like? Well, so far it's actually been

good, because Wonder Dean, he's a bit of a little sensitive boy

he didn't like. What a personality of these

Japanese trainees we're fighting, yeah.

Like they're overflowing. And so he didn't like being

alone. And because at one point some

horses moved around barns in Dubai and he was kind of left on

one side of the barn and the other horses were on the other

side, and he got a little lonely.

And so we moved. They moved him and he

immediately was interesting. So one of the we had to move

this year because the Kentucky Import Center is very popular.

Yeah. Flying straight into Churchill

Downs has become, I guess. I guess I started a trend.

You did. It's.

Trendsetter Kate Hunter here. And so, you know, because it's

so popular, we've had to move over here.

But for him, it's been wonderful because he can look across the

way. There's a bunch of horses just

across from him. And so he's settled in

beautifully nice. He's been eating that well.

He's a little boy, but he's been eating that well.

And he went to the track for the first time today, just a little

walking, but the the groom was super thrilled with how he felt.

We always ask you this time of year and we're talking with Kate

Hunter, who is the liaison for Japanese racing here in North

America for many spots, including Churchill Downs and

you know, forever young wins the British Cup Classic.

I, I, we saw all your social media and you're still look at

you. You stood up as straight as I've

ever seen you stand up. And that was, look, I was there.

I was right in front of the connections.

It was a very cool moment. I know it sounds like Mr.

Takanagi was always coming and it was always going to try to

get back here. Boy, did that raise the stakes

for people like, oh, hey, we can go win these kinds of races in

North America. Well, absolutely.

I mean, yeah, Hogie's been setting that milestone for the

Japanese over here in the United States since 20/21 with his two

wins at the Breeders Cup with Marshall Raid and loves only you

so to but you know that the Classic.

The classic's a classic that's. Right, you know, the classic is,

you know, the next step up is the Derby.

So and and he was able to, you know, just be that far away from

it. So I think that between what

Forever Young has done, I think is truly both at the Derby and

at the Breeders Cup and just American racing, dirt racing in

general, shown that the the Japanese thoroughbred is

completely capable of competing at this level.

And so hopefully that'll make my job a lot easier.

Hey, he wins the UAE Derby does wonder Dean.

He is a son, and I want to get this right, wonders young

Crowell. Am I close to that out there?

OK, so that's a wonder. I wonder.

Acute boy. Just the judgment of my

pronunciations on this this particular episode.

Of Americans typically slaughter the.

Jeffy Yeah. Yeah.

So don't worry about it. OK.

All right. I'm deep in the slaughterhouse

here, but the hinge internally or Jeffy's OK all the buzzes.

Distance not gonna be a problem. 10 furlongs here seems to be

something that actually work for him.

I mean, he's a small little boy, but I think if you look at both

top and bottom, he's got back in there charismatic.

He got in there, Dean, Majesty, who won the Derby in Japan,

which is the Japanese Derby on turf, but it was 2400 meters, a

mile and 1/2. So you know, he's and then you

got Deep Impact in there who can run for days.

So, yeah, right. There's, there's plenty in there

to to say that 2000 meters won't be a problem.

And he clearly blossomed from the Saudi Derby, which was at a

mile to the mile. And 383 sixteenths of the 1900

meters is so much easier. My my meters, my metric system

is way better. That's OK.

From moving overseas. But it's, it's really, he really

seemed to blossom with that. So, you know, fingers and toes

crossed. The way I've always learned the

meters conversion, I actually learned this from a Wii game

champion jockey. If you divide so like if you

have 2000 meters, if you divide the 1st 2 numbers by two to 2010

furlongs and then you can. If you know your furlongs, a

furlong's an eighth of a mile, then you can convert it over.

So mile and 1/4. It's a lot of bastard.

I learned. I learned that, I know, but I

learned that by playing a. Game based on this one yeah 1900

sounds a lot of 100 but. It's like I stick to Celsius

now. Conversions.

I don't convert. I can vouch for that.

I was talking to her about the weather just like 2 days ago and

she mentioned Celsius, so I can vouch for that.

Now we have a second Japanese Derby contender.

He's not here yet. He'll be coming in the next week

or so and that's Dan in Bourbon. He has not left Japan before,

but he's 3 for three. Just what can you tell us about

him and what when we can expect to see him here and everything

like that? Well, this will actually be a

repatriation as he's a Kentucky, He's a Kentucky bred from, we

sold him. I, I also work for Keeneland and

Keeneland. They bought him at Keeneland

Katsumiya. She bought him at Keeneland and

took him back to Japan. So he'll be making his return to

the United States and but his performances have been fantastic

and they couldn't have named him better for a horse targeting the

Kentucky Derby. And you know, the the owner is

is not a huge traveller. So I was super excited when they

came to me after his his allowance win saying like, Hey,

we're really serious about considering the Kentucky Derby.

And so based on his first two wins and how impressive they

were, I kind of tipped him on, I think Steve Vick about, you

know, like, oh, you're looking at these other horses, that one

and the other others. No, no, no, no, no, look, look

at Dan Bourbon. And I was like, nailed it.

So it's always nice to be proven right.

I was going to say frankly, you know, you talk about being at

the Keeneland sale. This is this is a son of

Maxfield. Tap it.

Damn. I mean, if this were just a

normal, he won the Wood Memorial kind of horse.

I think we think of him as a series contender, Yeah.

Yeah, that was the biggest problem I think with the the

Japanese form is there's there's no black type in there, right?

And so there's no way to build that black type because dirt

racing is not their main focus. And so later on in their

careers, they're going to, he'll build a lot, I think.

But one of the things that I've I've tried to push before is

that the Japan road to the Kentucky Derby, all of those

four races that we have built in there, from those races come the

best dirt horses in in Japan forever.

Young came from those races. You know, all, all the all the

horses that we've had at the Derby have at least run in one

of those races in their in their careers.

And then all of the best dirt horses you see come out of Japan

or hear in about it in Japan usually ran in one of those

races. So they are truly the the the

founding building blocks of the best dirt horses in Japan.

So would there be any kind of movement potentially to get some

of these dirt races over in Japan higher status?

I think I saw you tweet something about the NAR could be

internationally graded coming up.

So is that something that is really being looked at,

especially with what Forever Young's done on the

international stage? I think the only one that might

have a chance will probably be the Zen Nippon Nisation in the

in December and that's a 2 year old kind of championship race.

Because it's a J PN1 now, it'll probably maintain a grade of

some level. It might not be Group 1, but I'm

hoping it will maintain the group 2 because it's a cracker

of a race and I've always enjoyed it anyway.

So but the other ones probably not so much.

It's possible that the He Has sent of the Fukudu Stakes might

be able to I think. I think, I think the he has sent

already listed and then the Fukudu's open class, which is

like this level under listed. So I could see Fukudu going up

to listed. So a little more black type

there. But there had been some

murmurings about a Group 3 status for the He has sent, but

I haven't heard this in a long time.

So I think with the, the shifting of the, you know, the,

the, the shift the NAR is doing into graded racing, probably

not. So with David Bourbon, this is

these connections. This is, like you said, not a

group that always travels. Can you describe the connections

to us, what their background is? Well, I mean, the trainer, Mr.

IK is always gone to Dubai and is the trainer himself has

travelled, but the owner he I mean, he's travelled obviously

down in decile, which which last year in particular.

So like he's, he's an owner that you know, is, is only just kind

of now burgeoning. He's got a lot of wonderful

horses, but he's kind of kept it a little more tight like Hong

Kong and it's been to I think Australia one time he sold some

horses to Australia before, but campaigning on his own, it's

been a bit more limited. So having him come all the way

over to the United States was, it was a was a huge get.

So I'm hoping that this will also entice maybe done in a

style to, you know, maybe come to the Breeders Cup and, you

know, if he has a really good time, you know, it'll, it'll

it'll you know, that that's that's been working for me.

They have such a good time at the Derby.

They're like, oh, I want to, I want to come back.

I'm like, come on. Just tell him Keeneland's just

like Del Mar in November, like say, weather.

It's great. It's just the same thing.

It's awesome. It's just.

Put a down code on it you. Never put a down code on your

side. Hopefully we'll get a warm

Breeders' Cup that came on this year.

But yesterday I saw you post online, you took some of the

connections here, Wonder Dean over to the Kentucky Derby

Museum. How much fun is it for you every

year You're bringing like a new set of people with the horses

each year. Like just kind of taking them

around, showing them some of the things here in Louisville when

you're at the Breeders Cup, maybe taking them around,

wherever that's going to be each year.

Just how much fun is that for you kind of seeing them

experience America? Oh, it's a lot of fun.

So like I get to kind of because I mean, they have their image

of, of what the United States is through movies and television

and stuff like that. So getting to see the day-to-day

stuff. And sometimes the the the

biggest barriers like showing that it's, it's not actually

that dangerous, right? Walking around feels like they

they have a very like a you know how the media can be.

So I've seen a couple of Japanese movies sometimes where

if they're in America, it can be a little exaggerated at times.

Like, or it's probably like the American imagine they go over

there and there's a bit of samurai and ninjas everywhere.

And that's that's not. The way it is either.

What Godzilla's Godzilla's not knocking over Tokyo every year.

There are a lot of. Plastic Godzilla's like poking

their heads randomly on places. OK, I like that.

OK, I like that. I do want to stay in the

Godzilla hotel out there one time that like, has his head as

if he's coming up behind the building.

I love, I grew up loving Godzilla.

I wanted to marry Godzilla when I was a little girl.

I have a picture of me and a blow up Godzilla.

I'm like hugging it, so like. Wait.

So wait, wait, wait, wait. You have talked about Sailor

Moon, the Gospel of Sailor mood on this show.

That got me into Japanese, right?

But you got to remember when I was like.

Oh I was watching this is an upset though this.

Was a this was a dub. I didn't.

I didn't realize what I was watching.

OK, All right. Favorite Godzilla movie?

Oh, any of those 70s ones, Yeah. Yeah, those are all a good

Godzilla movie fan myself so great there's.

There's really, I just, I love a good Kaiju movie.

So yeah. But you know, Godzilla was a lot

of fun. So whenever like at Haneda

airport, he's there's a huge plastic Godzilla over there.

I take a picture every time even though it's like I live there

so. You see it all the time, but you

still take the picture. I leave Japan maybe like four or

five times a year. I was like, it's.

The worst photo but I was like so I love it man.

You gotta say like, you know, 12 and.

The TO Godzilla is available for a horse name.

I'm just putting it out there in case anybody, I mean, it's just,

I'm just saying it's just out there.

Forever Godzilla Derma Godzilla Godzilla Sodagaki.

That's. A movie.

See. Perfect.

So make it happen, people. Let's get it together.

All right? We got anything else?

No. You know, as we're going forward

here, obviously one of the things that we have all kind of

really gotten to love about the Japanese horses in the last

couple of years is just how different their training style

is compared to the US. I'm sure we're going to see more

of that coming up, but just kind of what will these last couple

weeks kind of look like for them as they're preparing wonder

Dean, obviously first time out on the track today, Dan and

Bourbon get here and then you're going to have oh, we didn't even

mention two other horses coming for the undercard yet, right and

Shin Emperor and TO Elvis. So just kind of what can we

expect training wise to see from them coming up?

Well, I would expect, you know, more, more of what you've come

to expect for the Japanese with where, you know, they focus on

warming up and cooling down under tack, which in my own

naivete, I didn't realize how little Americans warmed up.

And, and I, I've, I've made quite a fool of myself many a

times. Unfortunately, it's like, Oh

geez. But the it's you know, that

that's kind of the main focus to make sure that by the time

they're, they're jogging or galloping or or working out that

they are completely warm, completely stretched out as as

much as possible. And so you'll, you'll see shoot

work. You'll see.

You might not see your Lonnie like long days that is unique,

but you you will you will see a lot of footwork over there in

that shoot. Yeah, well, I mentioned there

those two undercard horses, obviously a big deal to have.

Yeah, he's again standing up tall.

Nice. I'm very excited about that.

Nice and proud. I know that was.

Well, talk about the horse. To be fair, I mean, like Kate

should be proud of this because this is something you've talked

about with us in previous years is getting horses over, not just

for races like the Oaks, the Derby, Breeders' Cup, getting

horses on the undercard. So go ahead.

Yeah, well, we saw TO Sandini come over a couple years ago on

the Alley Sheba, a very strong second in that race.

So obviously I'm sure that maybe had some pole here as well.

But just how, how proud of a moment is it to get those horses

here, and what can we expect from them?

Well, yeah, cuz I mean, like you've got these big days, Derby

day, Breeders' Cup day, Belmont Stakes day, you know, all of

these huge days, you've got these multiple stakes races that

I think the Japanese, you know, really should be a part of.

And so being able to convince them to kind of like, you know,

tag together and, and shipping together makes it a bit easier

financial. Right.

Absolutely. So you know, that that's kind of

a new strategy I'm trying to, to employ of like, you know, make

not not like a, you can't recreate the Breeders Cup, but

that many kind of an impact. It's like, you know, cuz the

Kentucky Derby, so much fun. You can still come and enjoy it

without necessarily being in it. And there's a lot of other

really good stakes races with good money.

And so like that really helped. And Mr. Takayanagi's bringing

over Tio Elvis the same way he did Tio Sandoni with Tio

password. A lot of Tio's in there.

And funnily enough, the Tio owners also got to come by

because he he did not come when it was Tio passwords time over

here and he regretted it wanted. To come and enjoy the.

Festivities so I'm very excited to be able to host them and and

you know all of these owners, like so many like owners who

never never even missed the owner of wonder Dean.

He doesn't travel either and he's coming over.

And you know, I think that just says the impact of of what a

great day of racing the Kentucky Derby can put on.

And, and you know, a lot of these people will also come over

to the Breeders Cup and and like American America does a good day

of racing really, really well. Shin Emperor running in the Turf

Classic and then TO Elvis in the Churchill Downs Stakes on A1

Turn Sprint here at Churchill Downs.

What can we expect from them as far as like, you know, obviously

I think Shin Emperor we've seen on the international stage

before, but these are pretty well respected horses out there

in Japan, right? Yeah, TO Elvis is coming off of

a really nice Group three win in December.

And so I, I hope that, you know, with his American pedigree and

all that, they will come over here and, and run quite well.

And, you know, given the fact that, you know, Mr. Takanagi did

so well with Tio Sandini, you know, I'm, I'm pretty hopeful

for at least a good showing. And, you know, the idea

initially was just like with Tio Sandini was to bring over a

friend, but he's bringing over a very good friend.

So I was excited. So it's great to have a stakes

winner come over and then with an emperor, I think you know,

he, he was, he accepted an invite to go to Hong Kong and

the Japanese love Hong Kong. And so it was.

Do not send anymore horses to the track right now.

That's your warning. So the, you know, he's, he was

going to Hong Kong, but with, you know, the defections this

year, particularly from Dubai, the race just got a bit too hot.

And, you know, I think that based on, based on his running

style, based on the way the turf classic is set up All in all of

those factors really came into, you know, coming over here.

So it's like we, we, we can run over there and conditions that

are probably not ideal for us, or we can run in America for

conditions that are that seemed much more suitable for the

horse. And so yes, it's super exciting

that they chose to come over same connections as Forever

young. So you'll have the same same

outfits and everything like that, same hats.

So it'll be hopefully a lot of fun, so.

She mentioned hats. Sean got very excited there.

Sean, a collector of hats for sure in the horse racing side

of. We've moved on from the hats.

Now when we're talking to Kate, we're on to the plushies.

We're on the plushies. I was going to ask about the

plushies, but first we. Have a 303 hundred set of for

every young plushies on order with GRA immediately after the

Breeders Cup. I was like, hello again.

I know I asked you if they were going to make them after the

Saudi Cup, but I'm back and so you said they weren't going to

make one. But now he's won the Breeders

Cup so I would like to order 300 plushies please.

Is the right move. I agree with you.

You told us a story last year and it's still one of my

favorite horse racing stories from 2025.

And it's something that you've been doing for a long time.

And then that is writing handwritten notes in horse

racing, like sending letters to people in horse racing.

And you know, if I send Sean, if I hand him something printed, he

recoils an anger. I mean, he's, he's.

I'm like you've already emailed this.

I have a text message, Louis. I'm good.

Are you still handwriting? Are you still sending notes?

Is this still a thing? I imagine yes.

Right, I have a, there's, I have a giant bag full of a, a

newsletter that I put out every other month that says basically

the next six months worth of foreign racing in the United

States. Like what's it, what's what's

available? That's awesome.

Going out to about 300 different Japanese trainers and owners

probably in about 10 days. My my pet sitter's got to put it

in the mail so. There it is.

I I love it. It the Unfortunately, Japanese

horse racing horsemen kind of break the myth that Japanese are

really technologically advanced. They are when it comes to their.

Still an agrarian sport at the end of the day.

With their training, they'll get all high tech, but with

everything else, a lot of them don't even have a computer.

So it's like, there it is. It's like, here's a letter.

So I love it. I spend a lot on postage.

It worked. It works.

It worked. It really, really works.

Like I had a special like with the the raise in the turf

classics prize money, you know, any kind of shipping agreements

that we can do. It's like, hey, shipping,

shipping with a Derby horse, you know, any kind of promotions

like that. I just, I just put pop them in

the mail and then I also then go to the training centers in

person and then, you know, the face is also kind of a America

so advertisement as well. So what's the pet situation?

Well, I've got 2 lovely little Kitty cats back in Japan.

Oh there you go. My amazing pet sitter Yukari is

checking on them probably in about 12 hours.

It's it's night time there. So 12 hours.

So there you go. But she, she helps me out a lot.

Like I've got a huge chunk of Derby prep stuff because I'm

trying to try and get them to do paddock schooling again this

year. I got, I got a bunch of practice

saddles made so that they can go do that and they're in a trunk

in my house right now in Japan because they shipped back with

the Dubai horses. That's not where we are, Kate.

I know. OK.

My pet, my pet sitter is going to put that put this giant trunk

in the mail. This sounds like a much bigger

job than just pet sitter for your car.

Here it sounds like a lot more. She gets compensated.

All right, OK, all right, OK. Take care of your car that'll.

Be sent to Mr. Ikizoe and that'll be shipped over.

With got it all right. That way I can make sure that I

get all my. I also have a lot of extra.

I like chewing gum, so I got a lot of chewing gum in there.

Even I can buy the same chewing gum.

Here I stock, I have the stockpile.

There you go. All right, a lot of movie pieces

with Kate Hunter. You got it right here, Kate and

Kate, and there it is, right? Ready to go?

Try it in chewing. Be stress free.

Chew tried. Sponsor US Trident.

Cinnamon gum. More cinnamon gum talk next.

Oh, man, good stuff. Well, Kate, thank you so much.

We love this interview every year.

It's one that I I don't mind when the alarm clock goes off at

4:30 to come see you for sure. And continued continued success.

It is in a sport full of people that have a lot of passion for

what they do. You still stand out as someone

who really has a lot of passion for what they do.

So thank you. I appreciate that all.

Right, Kate Hunter with us here. More blood horse Monday next.

All right, thanks again to Kate Hunter for joining us there

outside the stakes bar and wonder Dean, of course, in the

Kentucky Derby field, technically the 19th qualifier,

whatever that means on those last three alongside Danny

Bourbon in 6 speed. And I know Sean, you are always

look, you're keen on every entry in the in the Kentucky Derby, as

we should be. But you know, this international

thing you heard of, we made the point she stood up real straight

a couple times during the interview with Brian and it is

cool to watch her success. And those little things like the

handwritten notes, a horse that wants to be around other horses

as opposed to the ones that like the quarantine barn before.

It's a really interesting mix. And so Congrats to Kate because

it's just a, what an unusual spot in our sport.

But it's been such a bright spot for American dirt racing.

It has, it really has. And frankly, if you're in the

UAE, you got to be thrilled that the Japanese are so interested

in your racing itself. I know she's done just a

spectacular job and it's great to catch up with her every every

year. But you know, Dan and Bourbon

coming over as the winner of the Fukudayu.

I say that now that Kate's not in the room to judge all of my

pronunciations, but 6 speed comes in.

This was the the winner of the 2000 Gettys in the UAE, but then

comes back in the grade 2 UAE Derby runs second.

I know this one you're interested in.

Well, I'm. I don't know if I'm necessarily

interested in him as far as a win contender, but I think the

Derby's really gonna depend on what he does because he seems to

be kind of the lone horse in this race that's gonna that's

like a clear definitive. He's gonna be up on the pace and

he's trained by Bupat Seymar, who, if you remember a few years

ago, he was the trainer of summer as tomorrow.

We all remember how that went in the rich strike Derby where he

just gunned it out of the gate, burned out by the far turn took

crown pride, the Japanese horse that you're with him who was

right behind him. They both burned out on the far

turn and then you get rich strike coming in out of the

clouds from 80 to 1 to win that Kentucky Derby.

So he interesting what what's going to happen with him this

year. Now he's got, you know, a good

pedigree, a good American pedigree.

We heard all I keep mentioning, you know, some of the American

pedigrees giving some of the connections, confidence with Dan

and Bourbon with TO Elvis for them coming over for these races

here in the US, six speeds of sun and not this time.

I don't know, coming out of the UAE Derby, seeing the end of

that race. I don't know how much I really

trust him to see out the mile and a quarter.

But if he can get the lead to himself and he doesn't do what

summer is tomorrow and nobody goes with him.

Now that being said, a lot of people are probably going to

look at the fact that he is kind of the only defined speed.

And then four of them are going to have in the back of their

minds. So we're going to go and be

right next to him and then all of a sudden all four of those

horses are there. Are right there.

The other part of this too is what if we get some defections

in here, which is always up there, stark contrast etcetera.

We always get an illness during we're not ready for What if like

an intrepido does sneak into this thing?

Yeah, because then that. Setting off the pace hasn't

worked for you the last couple times.

Let's try it this time. Just go for it, right?

Or just go, go right behind 6 feet, that kind of thing.

I think this actually does make this race where you know, if

you're a stalker in this thing, if you're, you know, a further

ado or even a so happy, something like that.

You want a horse like 6 feet in this field.

Exactly, Yeah, yeah. And that you can even see where

like you think back to the 2016 Derby where Dancing Candy, he

went really fast on the lead, but Nyquist and Gun Runner 2

extremely quality horses were sitting second and behind them.

And they even though Exaggerator came running in to get second

from the back, they stayed, they stayed up there and there were a

lot of closers in that race. This year's reminding me quite a

bit of that year, that year where there's a lot of it seems

like there's a lot of closers in this race.

Quite a few of them ended up getting stuck in some traffic.

And despite the really fast pace, those two top top of the

Lion horses stuck it out to the end of the race to get second

the win and 3rd place. So it'll be, I think 6 speed's

really going to hold the key to what happens in the Derby,

depending on how fast he goes, depending on if anybody else is

going to go up there with him. I think we'll get a better idea

once he gets here and we can kind of see him out on the

racetrack. I think he's supposed to get

here on the 24th, if I remember. So he should be here next week.

And I think then like once we get to talk to the connections

and stuff like that, we'll kind of a better idea of what to

expect from him. What's out of the two Japanese

horses? Do you have one that you favor

over the other? I think Dan and Bourbon's being

wildly under represented in this year's pre Derby talk and this

is sort of Maxfield. A horse that she thought early

was a dirty. Horse and Ikazoe, man, this is a

guy that he targets coming here. He cares about American racing,

right? This is, I think that the

connections here again, a Maxfield kid, it's hard to know

those races at Nakayama how that's gonna translate.

Cuz the speed's different. The other direction, frankly,

they're going, they're turning. Yeah, they're turning the other

way. I mean, it's not an easy thing

to translate, but I thought that Fukuraya was pretty good and so

I'm gonna be watching Dan Bourbon on those. 333 making his

way back to the United states after being purchased at the

Keeneland sale. So I just I I'm not feeling I

love wonder Dean. I just want to put that out

there I have fallen in love with.

Matt Churchill, The. Last couple of days but I don't.

I did not come away from the UAE Derby thinking it was going to

be that strong. The one thing about that, and I

I brought it up with Kate is Dean Majesty.

People assume that line is a distance line.

So the 10 furlongs shouldn't be an issue for him if they are

correct about that. But let's bring in Matt.

Matt do a hard right turn to Matt determine down there at at

Oaklawn Park, of course in Hot Springs, AR Matt Boy, oh boy,

once in a while, my friend, you call a bunch of grade ones.

You call these great races. You see a Claire Beret and all

that stuff. And then they draw the Oaklawn

Handicap and it's just, you know, it just gets better.

Matt It's it's it's good to be Matt Dinnerman right now.

How are you friend? You doing alright?

I'm doing well, guys. Yeah, looking out on the lake

here, the sun is shining, it's peaceful and calm.

And my mind is the same way. And that probably won't be the

case on Saturday before race #11 but we are going to have a fun

time with it. And yeah, Oakland Park, I mean,

you talk about the horses that come through here, especially

this year. I mean, some of the best dirt

horses we've seen, really. I can't imagine what the crowd's

going to be like for this race. Oh, it's going to be crazy

because, I mean, Oakland crowds always show up.

You had a record for the Derby this year, Matt.

I'm. I am excited to see what Oakland

looks outside. I mean, you're going to have to

get there pretty early, man. I, I think there will be 45 to

50,000. I think that's my guess.

That's my guess. I think I, I don't know the, the

projection from management, but I would say my projection is

4550. It's going to be a packed house

there regardless of the weather. It's looking like we could get

showers, but it's also in the 60% range.

And yesterday it said we weren't getting showers until the

evening late in the evening. Now it's saying in the middle of

the day there's another weather app that says thunderstorms, but

there's another one that says no, it's just going to be

overcast. So no clue.

Probably Wednesday or Thursday will be a real good indicator by

a couple days out of what our weather is going to look like.

But it doesn't really matter fan wise because we're going to get

all those fans out there. They they will show up.

They will show up. I'm coming all the way down from

Kentucky. I'm abandoning Churchill Downs

two weeks before the Kentucky Derby to come down to OAK.

I got it. I mean, that sounds a lot for me

personally, the fact that I would leave.

So that shows you the kind of matchup we're going to get

between Sovereignty. And.

The whole world will be racing, world will be watching it

definitely. Absolutely.

You lead me to my next question. Matt I is this the most

anticipated call of your career at this point?

Well, I guess you could logistically say it is, but I

try not to think of it that way, you know, I, I think.

Don't put as a. Fan There's nobody Say that

again, say that. Again, he said don't put

pressure on him. I said I don't have to.

I know how Matt operates. Matt is all his own pressure.

I'm good. Well, here, here's the thing.

Like we're all fans, right? No matter whether we're working

in the business, whether they're actual just fans or horse

players, everybody's a fan of the game.

Nobody's too big for the game. So everybody that likes horses

and likes horse racing is a fan of the game and I'm a fan of the

game all the time. At the same time, when you have

race calling to do and big races to call especially, but you have

a job to do, so you get you can be a fan at the same time and

also really focus on, OK, I got a job to do and I have to try to

do with the very, very best I can.

So that's really what it boils down to.

And yeah, there's a lot of pressure in a race like this for

any big race call. I mean, Arkansas Derby, you

don't know with the Arkansas Derby every year whether you're

going to get horses that are going to win the Kentucky Derby,

Triple Crown races where they're all going to be duds.

And it won't turn out to be a strong race, but there's

pressure nonetheless. But you learn to deal with that

pressure and you learn to use that sort of antsiness in a

positive way. I, I think that if you don't

feel pressure before a race like this is a race caller, then I, I

would say that you probably don't have the passion that you

need to, to be in that particular position.

And the reason I say that is because I know all of my race

calling colleagues, every single one of them would feel nervous

and pressure for a race like this.

Absolutely. It's just a normal thing.

Awesome. Well, good.

Matt Dinnerman with us. Of course down there.

Oakland Park will be calling the sovereignty and journalism match

up this weekend. There are others in that race as

well. Just so people are with you.

Well, it's amazing that white of barrio people are just like, oh

by the way. Oh yeah, that Breeders' Cup

Classic winner that's earned 7 and a half million dollars.

He's in it too, by the way. He's 72.

I don't have to say that I don't.

Know, I mean, what does what does that say about just the

what sovereignty in journalism, the attention that they captured

during the Triple Crown last year, the fact that we can look

at this race, look at what a barrio and be like, all right,

he's clearly the clearly the third stream in popularity in

this race. Yeah, just what I mean, as you

said, you're a racing fan. I'm a big racing fan, Louise, a

big racing fan. We've really kind of seen our

imaginations get captured and we call it a rivalry journalism.

You have to beat sovereignty. But I mean, just what does it

say about these two that they were able to kind of catch us

all last year? Well, I think fans like

rivalries and they like matchups and they like to see who's

better and they like to see that, and that's what we have

here. We have a good rivalry between

journalism and sovereignty and it's not often unfortunately.

I'm just flat out putting it out there.

It's not that often that you see these type of caliber horses

going in their four year old years.

We see a lot of horses retire after the Triple Crown season,

after the Breeders Cup when they run at 3.

We see that it just it is what it is and and not to say that we

don't have other horses that do this because obviously it's all

case by case basis and a lot of factors go into determining

those types of decisions. But to see these two high

quality horses that both really seem like sort of old throwback,

you know, stamina driven, very robust types of horses that

really can go through the grind of American thoroughbred dirt

training and be running hard race after hard race.

And they're still going really strong and their trainers are

good trainers. They've done a good job and that

they're not ducking each other. In this day and age, we see that

duck mentality at times. That's not the case here.

So I think it's just really the stars aligned for this to be a

great storyline just as much as it could be a great race on the

racetrack. You a couple years ago at the

Haskell. Since you also call at Monmouth

Park, Louis and I were up there in in your box talking to you a

few races before door knock. Ended up winning the Haskell,

and you're kind of telling us, you know, how exciting it was to

be calling, you know, Belmont Stakes winner, a big name like

door knock. I believe you called Rombauer

the Preakness winner before he won the Preakness, Yeah, but

then you also got the chance to call journalism winning the

Haskell last year. Now you're going to add

sovereignty onto that list, the Kentucky Derby and Belmont

winner, and you have journalism, and they're with you, as we

mentioned. What a barrio, the Breeders Cup

Classic. Just what is it like getting the

opportunity to see these big names and then being able to

look back and hearing your voice kind of accompanied with these

big names? Well, it's it's an honor, first

of all, the sort of been handed the position as to, Hey, you're

going to be the one on the mic call in this race.

I sort of was at a stoplight the other day and it's like, oh,

you're the only person in the whole world that gets to call

this race. Congratulations.

And it was like, whoa, you know, like that.

That's that's pretty cool. It's pretty cool.

I'm not going to lie. But you know, I, I feel it's an

honor to be able to call for any racetrack when you're asked to

be the guy to call the races or the gal that call the races.

It's, it's an honor because they're, they're, they're

putting you in a position that's, that's, it's a lot of

fun, but also it's an important position to do a good job for

your racetrack. And I, I would say just being

able to call journalism for a second time.

He's such a neat horse. And when he won the Haskell, it

was just such an electric moment because it wasn't just about the

large crowd and the noises. We've discussed in the past how

loud it gets for the Haskell now with so many people there, but

just the way the race was run, the climax to the race and in

the finish, just how exciting. I mean, that's is, is an

exciting of a type of stretch run as you're going to be able

to call as a race announcer and to be able to watch as a fan.

So it's, it's really just an honor.

I would say. I know I've said that a few

times, but just to reiterate it, it, it's, it's special.

And I'm I'm really excited and very honored to to be able to

call a race like this. That Haskell also produced the

greatest shoulder shrug in the history of horse racing and that

was Brendan Walsh with Gossgar after a second time of

journalism running him down into grade one.

Just going like literally the guy just he's standing at the

track. He just what else what else can

I do? That's exactly Luis I is perfect

ride so I didn't matter. That seems like also like.

An amazing amount of respect in a way, for not only his horse,

but the winner. Like, wow, this is a really nice

horse. We lost to a really nice horse,

and my horse is a really nice horse.

And he gave it all, his all. And what can I say?

Only that oh shucks, we lost, because that was about as good

as it could have been, you know? Your guy that likes going back

to the barns in the morning. I remember you actually beat me

to journalism's barn on Haskell day.

Now, in my defense, I was coming from several hours away.

Oh yeah, yeah. No, you have you have an excuse.

We'll give you don't do that bad dinner, but don't you dare do

that. I'm too nice.

I'm too nice. But journalism and white barrio

have arrived over the last few days.

I imagine sovereignty is going to be close on their heels here.

How much time are you going to be spending back there in the

next couple of mornings and how excited are you for that part of

it? Well, coincidentally, I haven't

been able to get to the back search as much this season just

because we're running four days a week and I'm doing so much

prep work. And I have a YouTube show I do

on Wednesday mornings and on Monday and Tuesday mornings is a

little more on the quieter side. So there's not a ton of

interaction there. You have to go on a Wednesday or

a Thursday, but and I, I try not to to go on a race day because

just I want to get a good night's rest and relax and and

be able to to feel fresh. But I will be able to do that

this week as based on my YouTube show out of the starting gate,

which you can go on oakland.com. Go to Oakland's YouTube page to

find it shameless plug there. We do it every week.

We have some guests, you know, we talk about the key races that

we have. We have not been guests yet.

We've had you on like 3. Times no.

I have to figure out a way to do.

Virtual guests, because it's a little difficult on our end to

do virtual guests, but if you ever happen to make it out here

on a Tuesday or a Wednesday, we'll get you on John.

Yeah, or Louie. Or Louie.

Just already know it's going to be it's more likely to be me

rather than him. Yeah, I know.

Just Louie Louie's got a lot on the plate and you like to

travel, so I'm giving you sort of the 30s.

That's absolutely all true. Yes, I love him.

He's got it. He's got to do his handicapping

so. We, we, we say it how it is over

here. For sure.

Let's get go ahead. What?

Were we talking about I already? Lost.

Going going in the barn area with these horses back.

Gotcha. Yeah.

So, you know, I'm actually recording that on Tuesday and,

and so I'll be able to Wednesday get out there at the very least

and maybe even it maybe even later this afternoon.

I don't know, walk around there. But yeah, I I'm excited to get

back to the barn area and, and see a couple of these horses

come out of the track. We've got quite a few shippers

actually that day. So we'll see quite a few

shippers training leading up to this race.

And it, I think for me, it really helps just get that buzz,

you know, of, Oh, wow, like a really big race is coming up or,

or just, hey, I'm really excited to be at this racetrack with

these people, with this community.

And it's not just this week, it's any week.

There's a buzz about it. I, I enjoy meeting the people.

I enjoy feeling a certain way. I want to feel for my job, like

I'm excited to be here and I'm excited to do this.

And that helps definitely helps to be able to take it all in

from my perspective. And I also love horses.

I, I've always loved horses. They're amazing animals.

I respect the people that work with them.

So part of it is to, you know, I just enjoy loving being around

the horses, but also showing my respect and, and going back

there and, and in a way paying homage to the fact that there

are a lot of people back there who are working very, very hard

and they should be seen and they should be recognized.

Matt Determan with us calls the races at Oakland Park.

This is BLOOD HORSE Monday. Sean Collins, Louie Rebeau

hanging out with you. Matt will be my guest on Rebeau

and Co on ESPN Radio Louisville here, ESPN louisville.com if

you'd like to join us, 10:20 AM Eastern Time on Friday.

If you are interested on his thoughts on that race.

Obviously, sovereignty journalism.

We expect to be part of the Breeders Cup Classic

conversation as we move forward. Matt, you met someone who's

going to make a splash on the distaff route.

Her name is Claret, Claret Beret.

What you make of her appear it's over the weekend.

Pretty good, huh? Yeah.

I mean she is just a Philly that has really blossomed the last

few races. She actually was here in Greg

Compton's barn in Hot Springs, AR before being privately

purchased by the Connections. I think it was a private

purchase anyway. And she has really just improved

and they've tried a different few different things with her,

but she has improved to where it looks like she's best on the

dirt, she's best routing 2 turns, not one turn.

And she really just ran the same race as she did in the Royal

Delta, watching the replay, sat outside on the far turn, made a

big move, drifted wide, turning from home.

It was literally a carbon copy. And then just kept going.

So big effort from her. And we see it sometimes,

Phillies and mares, they just start getting really good.

And maybe she's one of these Phillies that's getting really

good nitrogen. The numbers suggest that she ran

her race. I thought she was over bet

anyway. I thought that, you know, she

was one to five first click of the tow board.

I thought that was a crazy low amount to be at.

But I think that Clara Beret is just getting really good.

And I think the reason is because you look at Nitrogen's

performance and you see, you see based on the numbers at the very

least out of things that as horse players we use to

determine how fast a horse's performance is, the numbers

suggest she ran her very best that we've seen from her in any

of her races. And Clara Beret is beater.

So that was very impressive. Yeah, it looks like the Distaff

division is going to. Be.

Wide open coming up here as well, yeah.

And Matt, of course, a major Derby route is through Arkansas

here. You've got a couple of major

contenders out of that spot in Renegade and it's Silent Tactic,

which have both made pretty big splashes on that Arkansas scene.

How good was the Arkansas route to the Derby this year?

I thought Renegade made it really, really good.

He and I've used this line before.

So if you watch me on other mediums, you've heard this spiel

before. He just checks all the boxes for

me as a legit Kentucky Derby horse.

There was one other time watching a race live that I said

this horse could win the Kentucky Derby if he runs like

that, and that was Mystic Dan in the Southwest.

I thought it calling the race. I said if and I said it in the

press box to to Robert Yates our our.

Media guy, I said, I know it's my first year here, but the way

he just kicked away like that, he can win the Kentucky Derby,

even runs like that. So I felt the same way about

Renegade. I mean, he's versatile, he has a

kick, he is very push button, he has a good mind.

He he's physically very imposing, which is always a

positive and he looks like he can run all day.

He had an explosive gallop out. I think just when you watch him

pass the wire, really take a look at it because he looked

like he had a lot more left in the tank.

Just everything to me says that this horse is going to hopefully

if he gets the right trip and he runs his race, be right there at

the finish in the Kentucky Derby.

I saw nothing to not like about that race.

Irad Ortiz Junior rides 300 point winners and chooses

Renegade. Were you surprised when he did

that? No, I wasn't surprised because

when he won the Sam F Davis and I had heard that he was coming

to the Arkansas Derby, I said to myself and a couple of my

friends, he's a really good horse.

They must think he's a really good horse.

They send him here for that type of money and Todd hasn't run a

horse here in a few years in the Arkansas Derby.

So to me that sort of said, they're not going to just ship

any random horse here. They're going to ship a horse

that they think is good. I was not surprised.

I in fact, I that would have been my guess if I was his

agent. That would have been my pick.

But I knew it would have been a very difficult decision.

But I just felt that Renegade in the Sam F Davis, same sort of

thing as Arkansas Derby, just has continued to improve.

He showed a really nice kick. He did it in hand, could have

won easier, couldn't have won easier.

And the Puma, who he he pretty much trounced in that race, has

come back to do very good work against Commandment most

recently. So this wasn't a surprise to me,

but I'll be it. I understand how tough of a

decision it could have been for him because Commandment is a

really good horse. Well, there you go.

He's Matt Determan. He'll call the Sovereignty and

Journalism match race. No other horses in that one.

In the Oakland Handicap this weekend, Shawn Collins will be

on site. Is your mom going?

No, she's not going. To no, yeah.

Misses Shawn. You could.

Imagine solo trip. Solo trip.

Yeah, misses Shawn's mom. Oh, man.

Oh, darn. OK, solo trip.

Really. No, I always go to Arkansas

solo. OK.

All right. OK, he's always hanging in the

press box with us, just chilling, you know, with no moms

insight. Yeah, he's.

Mad dinner. You'll hear about my show on

Friday morning, but after that, of course, all the races there

at Oak Lawn Park, the four day weeks continue for them.

Well, Matt, thanks so much for jumping on Buddy.

We'll catch up on Downline. All right.

Sounds good guys. Have a good day.

See you Friday. Thank you, Matt.

There you go, Matt. No moms at all.

How about that? All right.

Could be good in bed. So I've got this radio producer,

and he's a kind of a mediocre producer.

He's fine, whatever, you know. But his mom makes awesome

chocolate chip cookies, like, the best.

So that's the only reason. Oh, yeah.

A minus, like puts them immediately in the A range.

Yeah, of course. Yeah.

What are we doing there? You mount at the Oklahoma press

box for some cookies. That's what you need.

They do. There's the last couple times

I've been up there, they've had the little, you know, box

lunches that have had chocolate. Chip.

OK, withdrawn. That sounds awesome.

OK, withdrawn. It's the.

Hopefully Matt's. I see Matt's still down there.

Let me know if they're gonna have those again.

This week, a little box lunch actually.

There you go. I got a thumbs up, I think.

Yeah, there I gave him a thumbs up.

But that always give it a shot. I have no idea.

I love that we think that Matt orders the lunches.

It'll call something like it's his job on top of calling the

races there. I gotta say, man, I was not

ready for how I was ready for her to win.

I wasn't ready for how good Claret Beret looked.

Yeah, like that level of okay, like we're doing this now and I,

I love the Distaff division every single year it because we

usually don't get sovereignty journalism.

Like Matt said, we usually don't get that.

And, and he used the word ducking.

I agree. He also used the word, you know,

going off to the, you know, the term breeding shed and all that.

Yes, of course, that's what we've seen in recent years.

So I've fallen in love with that Distaff division because we get

older, we get these older matchups of horses that we get

to watch as 2 year olds, as 3 year olds, as 4 year olds, as

five year olds really get to know them.

And I'm always hoping for a great Distaff.

I think winners like Cilla are just good for that division,

right? It's just, it's just good for

that division to have more and more runners in that, in that

kind of quality. And I, I just her, she looks so

good, man. I don't know what to do with it.

I just, I love it. Also, though, on the nitrogen

side, you know, we've had we've had, you know, the DJ stable

folks on a couple times. Does she go back to turf?

Where is this? Just she's she's a the top level

dirt horse. Then they're just going to kind

of trade wins. What do you think?

I mean. Cuz I think that's on the table

by the way. I would think you, you gotta

look at, I think I think there was an expectation, especially

the way she won by a Co at the start of the year.

I think there was an expectation that she was going to be kind of

head and shoulders above the rest of the Distaff division.

You know the horse that beat her in the Breeders Cup Distaff last

year was retired and then you know she'd only lost the

spinster by she was. Three in the race, right so she.

Was three in a row. Maturity over the winter of

those. Kinds of things.

And the way that she came back was she was training so good

that she had to start in the bio Co instead of waiting for the

Azeri. I think there was kind of that

expectation that she was going to, you know, be really good and

then you give her a pass to the Azeri because it was a sloppy

track and you know, maybe you give her a pass for that and

she's facing good horses in just a goops and regaled.

But seeing her run her best race and get beat here.

I mean, I I'm not I'm not saying she's not a good dirt horse.

She's obviously a very good dirt horse and she's going to be a

top contender of any dirt race that she runs in.

But I mean, we know Mark Cassie likes to go to Royal Ascot.

He was successful over there with Tep.

And I mean now that you see that she's not the the Super dominant

force on the dirt. Do you do you look at let's try

again on the grass for Royal Ascot and take a shot at one of

those races over there? I mean, why not?

Right. I'd not thought about asking.

Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah.

So you know, I think, I think getting beat on on Saturday

maybe potentially open the door for more possibilities for her

going forward. I mean you have if you don't go

to Ascot, you look at the Belmont weekend, you have the

Ogden Phipps there. But maybe you try like the New

York Stakes or the just the game or something.

We got 3 great one options for you there, one on the dirt and

two on the turf and so. Doesn't she seem like the kind

of horse to run roll Kentucky Downs too, for whatever reason?

Well, and also. Like if if they did the turf

route with her maybe. I mean I.

Don't. Well, I mean, the other thing I

would be looking at too is if she, you know, so her one grade

one win was on the dirt in the Alabama.

She was nosed out of a grade one win on the turf last year.

Now that it's not looking like she's going to run the table for

the whole year on the dirt, do you try to get her the grade one

on the turf to right? So that way, you know, in the

breeding shed you could say Grade 1 winner on both dirt and

turf, Do you try to go there that route as well?

So I do think obviously she's still one of the top older

horses whichever surface in the country.

But I do think losing Saturday actually kind of opened more

doors for her going forward because I think it does open the

possibility to maybe look at going back to the.

Turf itself, I agree. No, I agree with that.

This is the time of the episode. We always remind you about the

magazine, so make sure you check out the magazine code at the

bottom of the home page. And hey, if you wanna read right

now the Derby preview issue, go ahead and get signed up.

The digital issue is available immediately.

So you can click on that, the magazine tab at the top of the

home page or the QR code that you're seeing here.

If you're watching on Spotify or on YouTube, we'd appreciate you

going and checking that out. But if you get signed up, the

digital copy is yours immediately so you can check

out. We previewed that a little bit

Jay Hubby last week, the interview with with Johnny V as

well who is riding as well as any.

Jockey on the planet right now. Yep.

And he picked up the mount on Was it Further Ado?

He's picked up for the Kentucky Derby.

Exactly right. Yeah.

Go check. That I say further ado

personally, but that's up to you if you wanted to put that R on

the end of further. That was the R earlier in his

name that that they left off the.

Site. I thought it was furth though.

It was FUTH, it was further, further ado.

I don't remember it that way at all.

Should we look right now while we're out there?

OK, go ahead. Which one are we using?

Yeah. OK.

All right. OK.

All right. Let's look up the saddle towel

here in the bluegrass because I'm I'm fairly certain you are

very early earlier are in there. Further.

ADO saddle top. All right, let's see what it

says. Go to Images.

I'm going all right. There it is.

Yep, it. Was Father.

Father Ado. What's my punishment?

There should be a show punishment.

There should Do I have to make you lunch again?

Is that the punishment? I'm OK with that, yeah.

So I like that punishment. That's.

A shower before the show next week.

But this weekend is going to be. By the way, we we haven't talked

about this. I love that so much.

I can't describe how much I love that.

What misspelling? Yes.

If I'm the owner, I'm thrilled and I'm being serious.

I, I, I frame that the second I get it.

Yes, the second I get it. It is the most prominent thing I

own. If that happens to me, I'm not

even kidding. It's so funny to me.

It's like, it's so perfect. It's.

Like when they misprint like some kind of collectible item

and those become like the must have collectible items because

there's something incorrect. On them.

I love this so much. I'm so jealous of people who can

own horses, and I'm further a further jealous of Father Ado.

I think it's so you're. Father jealous of.

I'm father jealous of Father Ado.

That is exactly me. Get we'll get Ned back on here.

What's going on, Ned? No, but this week.

They should recreate these. They should make they should

make hoodies like this. They should make T-shirts and

hats. They just say it's name

misspelled. Like no, just the six do the

Derby sound Father Ado Yes, I'm telling you, lean into it.

Ask Churchill to do that again. You just won your prep that way

as. We said last week misspellings

are the proper are the streak of luck for Spendthrift right now

with that and Ted Noffee, but. I'd like, by the way, Ted, just

excuse me, say look immediately threw us under the bus.

Yes, at Bloodhorse. Well, you guys were.

I know I'm I'm sad that that didn't know that he's not gonna

have a shot to be a Derby winner with.

That oh man, it is good stuff though for sure.

But sovereignty versus journalism this weekend, Who's

who's the pick? Yeah, it's interesting.

I I lean journalism this weekend, but in the classic I'll

lean sovereignty at this point in the year there.

I just think, I just think that man, you've seen all the videos,

journalism just works. Like he just doesn't look like

he needs time off ever. And so maybe I'm falling into

the workout trap, but I, I do think, by the way, Sovereignty's

most recent work, if you've watched it, is much better than

what he was doing earlier in the year.

It's taking him a little bit longer, I thought than I thought

it would for him to get back to this form.

I'll take journalism this weekend for value, but I I'll be

honest, like, what if I went here?

I'm not stunned. I am.

If he just get. No, but if he just I think that

highly of sovereignty journalism.

OK, but if he just gets a leading pulls away, I'm not

stunned here if those horses just aren't ready yet.

Yeah, I can. See that that that is that is

absolutely on the table this weekend.

I don't think it will happen. I trust, you know, Bill Maude as

a conditioner. I trust, you know, the the

McCarthy folks as as conditioners.

It's not that it is just it's hard to jump off the bench and

run this distance. It just is.

And going from three to four ain't a guarantee either.

It just isn't. And so I I would look for value

this weekend, but if I top top pick, I'll go to journalism.

I think he finally turns the tables here.

Isn't isn't it funny how? And by the way, it would be

awesome if he did. Yes, it would be great for our

sport if he did. And then we saw them again at

Saratoga, we saw them again somewhere.

It would be great if he could actually flip the tables.

Isn't it funny how you know, we're we've already seen

sovereignty pretty much easily handled journalism toys.

We we still are Like, hey, think journalism can win this one?

But I think, I think Breeders' Cup classic journalism can't

beat sovereignty this weekend, I'll put it that way.

I think that was his best race. He just didn't finish in the

money because he was Bobby Hall tried to warn us before that

race. 3 year olds don't beat 4 year olds when they're straight

up like this, unless they are exceptional 3 year olds and not

great 4 year olds. But if they're both great, which

is what we had this last year, let's be clear, journalism was a

great 3 year old, right? He was a great 3 year old.

It just happened that sovereignty was an even greater

3 year old, right? But without journalism, and I

know I've said this a billion times on the show, Triple Crown

sucks last year if he's not in it, Oh yeah, journalists have

saved it, right? And then it goes to the Haskell

right away. The connections, I mean

connections made horse racing way more interesting last year

than they needed to, frankly, and I'm glad they.

Did well and they're making horse racing much more

interesting again by doing this. He doesn't have to ship all the

way out from California to run in this race especially.

That's what that to me tells me that he's going to be on.

They think. They think they're.

Ready. They're not coming, they're not

talking, especially because I I had heard, I was actually

shocked that they when they announced that they were entered

him because I had heard a couple weeks earlier from some of the

people in the McCarthy team that they were thinking the Ali

Shiba. And so the fact that they are

going in the Oakland handicap, they're going to go up against

sovereignty makes me think that they're loaded and he's got 2

two things going for him this time that I think could be the

difference maker compared to the two times he faced before.

And the first one's the distance out of my own leaf.

I think my, I think that's not wrong from what I saw last year.

I think we may, we'll figure out what happens this year.

But I think journalism might be at his best at a mile nave

rather than the mile and 1/4, at least when you're facing

sovereignty. OK.

And so it'll be interesting to see what he can do if he can run

different and beat Sovereignty this time at the shorter

distance. I also think that, you know,

Sovereignty missed the Breeders Cup because he was sick.

And when we had Michael Banhan on this show at the start of the

year, it sounded like it took him longer than they thought it

was going to for him to recover. As you just said, watching his

workouts, it looked like it took him longer than we expected to.

Journalism shipping from California for this race when

you have the Ali Sheba 2 weeks later, to me signals that he's

loaded with sovereignty coming up.

This was kind of the, this was the brace that was mentioned for

sovereignty as soon as they said that he wasn't going to make the

Dubai World Cup. I feel like for sovereignty,

this has kind of been thought of as a race to start the year.

And I think the fact that journalism is now in this race

after maybe they were leaning more Ali Sheba, you know, to

come in and directly take a shot at sovereignty to start the year

off of his layoff. I think he's loading.

I think maybe sovereignty is not going to be at the point yet

where he's going to be what we saw last year.

And so I if, if you're a journalism fan, I think this is

the, this is the first weekend to try to bet this is this is,

this is the weekend if, if sovereignty beats journalism

again this weekend, I think that's, I think sovereignty.

I don't think journalism is going to be able to beat

sovereignty at any point because if there is a day to beat him, I

think this is the weekend where journalism can beat him.

Will that happen? Sovereignty is a really good

horse. I haven't, I didn't see anything

last year that makes me think that if he comes back at even a,

you know, 90% that he can't win this race even if Journalism and

White Barrio are at 100%. So.

I'm going to say something a little gauche here, OK, OK, I, I

am very excited to see journalism with Jose Ortiz as

his regular writer for a whole year.

Yes. It's a little gauche to say, but

I think they fit one another better than his previous

connections. I I'll put it that way.

I think his Breeders' Cup classical was at least in part

because he and Jose Ortiz really did figure out the trip.

And so I'm, I'm hopeful if journalism, by the way, I'm not

rooting for anyone here. I just want to watch this race.

I want to be clear, I'm just watching this race.

I, I, whatever, whatever. But I think Jose Ortiz and and

journalism can be special together.

Yes, I think that can happen. And we already see it with

junior and with sovereignty. Like they they mesh perfectly

like that's a great combination for the two of them.

I do wonder a full season with Jose, you know, four or five

races, whatever that looks like this year.

I think it sets up pretty well for him.

After this race I think the next logical ish thing is the met

mile for for journalism. Yeah, that's that's what they

said was going to be early. Yeah.

So I I think that makes. Who knows what he does next

because the mile is not going to work short for him.

Yeah, yeah, so do. You, but I think journalism win

the mile. Oh yeah.

But if your sovereignty do you wait for and this is what this

is going back to my thing where I like you have to get him

started now kind of thing with sovereignty.

Because especially if he's going to Saratoga this well.

You might have to sit down until the Stephen Foster that's the

next green one option for you. That's not the Met Mile.

And so unless you would run in the blame ahead of time and go

blame Stephen Foster. I think the Stephen Foster part

of this too, is why people were surprising to go in the LSU.

But I, I I don't know. 1.25 million down there, it'll go on,

but. So had a great one.

I do want to say, after saying all that about journalism.

You got sovereignty. Yeah, I, I, I learned my lesson

during the during the Belmont last year.

I'm going on, I'm literally going on Breeders' Cup, classic

journalism. That's what I'm doing.

Well, I'm, I think sovereignty, I think sovereignty has the

opportunity this year to be a, no doubt about it, Hall of

Famer. Got it by the time I agree with

you. Because if he, if he comes back

the same horse he was last year. So I learned my lesson in the

Belmont last year. I'm picking sovereignty for this

weekend. I don't think he's going to get

beat this year. All.

Right, there you go, all. Right.

But if there was a weekend to beat him, it's this weekend with

journalism. Does Sean get a cookie in his

box Lunch at Oak Lawn TuneIn next week to find out.

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