Preakness 151 Previews | Bob Ehalt, BloodHorse

I'll be coming quickly. One of my favorite people to

have on the shows. Bobby, hold that.

Bobby hold on the socialsbloodhorse.com for

everything that he's working on. Preakness number, what for you?

You know, I'm really not sure I would say rough guest 20.

I never really counted as a fan and as a.

Report. Yeah, kind of a mix.

Yeah, I covered my first Preakness in 1986 and I covered

and I came to the Preakness the first time in 1984.

All right. Yeah, Old Hilltop.

There you go. Yeah, I remember the old sitting

out my first time sitting out in the old the old grandstand at

Pimlico. And I gotta admit I was a pretty

experienced race tracker, but boy, I missed called the finish.

I I thought I had the winner and the horse came in fourth.

That was like. One that's not good.

See. Yeah, that's not good.

Because I wasn't up that high, I was down.

Well, the grandstand was brutal at Pimlico.

Yeah, that was good. You know, I, I, I think I had a

horse named Playon and I thought Playon got up and I saw the

finish and he was fourth. Yeah, like.

What, how did that happen, though?

There you go, Bobby. All with us here from Blood

Horse, bloodhorse.com hanging out with us on ESPN 680-1057.

We were both trackside at Laurel Park.

Appreciate everybody hanging out with us.

Preach this weekend and and look, the consternation around

Derby winners not coming here. Bob, you've been very, I think

very transparent about your feelings about this and

medication issues and that sort of thing.

Are we just, are we at a breaking point with this race?

Are we at a breaking point with this weekend?

Well, I'm going to. I'm going to give it one more

year. I I think it's going to be

interesting. There's a couple of things in

the mix. 1 The television deal is ending with NBC and and the

Preakness Pimlico. Or at least those rights are up.

Those rights are available. Those rights are available.

NBC could sign back on or a new company could come in.

When a new company come, when they get a new company, when

they get a new TV partner, then you might let's see what happens

then. Because you know, Naira has a

partnership with, with Fox. So Naira will be, I think it's

they've said they'll be more inclined to listen to, but Fox,

if Fox wants to make a change and I think Naira is willing to

move one week, which would kind of eradicate the medication

issue, but you still have the issue up.

Is one more week going to get all these trainers and owners to

say we're going to run now? I think you really want to know

if these last two years have been an outlier because the

Belmont is a mile and a is a mile and 1/4 as opposed to a

mile and a half. These trainers don't seem to

like to go a mile and 1/2. So I'm wondering if some of

these decisions are made because oh, I could go to another mile

and a quarter race in in Saratoga. 5 weeks in Saratoga

now to come. Now, if they're going to say,

well, I'm going to pass this and then go to the mile and 1/2 at

Belmont, maybe they'll say, you know what, I'll go to the

Preakness. Because the field, I mean, look,

you're still, you're never going to get to a point like in the

old days where everybody who's 123 in the Derby will come back

and meet you in the Preakness. I don't think those, I think

those days. Have.

So, you know, but I think the key part is you want the Triple

Crown to have a chance. And I think we'll see what

happens that I do. I am, look, I'm, I'm a very big

proponent of increasing the purses.

If this was a $5,000,000 race, I wonder how many horses would

have come and if the Belmont were 5 million and if you could

get the Derby to maybe make it the richest race in America so

that the whole series is worth like 18,000,000.

Maybe you give the trainers a bonus for participation.

Let's see if that'll do it. Because I just think if you're

going to go by the whims of the of the trainers on what they

want for spacing, I don't, I don't know what's going to, I

don't know if there's a guarantee of what's going to

work and what's. Not you.

And I had this conversation on on the happy hour actually, and

I said, you know, this idea of going three and three, right?

Three weeks to Preakness, 3 weeks to Belmont.

It makes sense because part of what we like about the the

Triple Crown, Bob, is that it's difficult and it's supposed to

be difficult, right? These races are condensed

together. They're in three different

jurisdictions. Like all the things that are

difficult at different distances, frankly, they're

different tracks, all that. It's supposed to be difficult.

But I talked to Chad Brown before the Derby and he was

thrilled that Emerging Market ran his maiden race and he got

six weeks off to go to New Orleans and then he got six

weeks off to come to Louisville. Why would he not just wait to go

to the Belmont anyway? Like you're telling me you need

more time off but I don't even trust you to run after three

weeks? No, I mean, that's what I'm

saying I. The whims of the the whims of

the trainers is a great way to put it.

I appreciate you saying that. You're you're basically, I mean

again, you, you know, you're saying like you know, you hear,

I mean, look, I do understand you got to you got to do what's

right by your horse. But if you're going to say your

horse is kicking down on the stalls and I'm doing the right

thing by not running them, I'm really wondering, well, then

what's it going to take to get you to run?

So, you know, I, I, I look, hey, they offer, they offer $20

million and people are sending their horses to a war zone.

I mean, you know, you got bombs flying and stuff like that,

though, although I do notice mostly as the horses would go,

not the owners. I mean, you know, you're going

to go over there. So I do wonder if we make it

more financially rewarding that you can make your money here,

you can make your stud deals and then you can give your horse

time off. You know, I mean, that's, that's

the kind of part I think if you're going to address it, you

want the horses to run the Triple Crown, then you do want

to give them a rest, right? You want to give them a good

period of rest. And then we, you know, I, I

think that that's how you really want to set it up.

But I, I will say, I would think how fickle sports fans can be,

and I'm one myself sure to tell them we're going to have a

Triple Crown race once every month is just going to you're

going to lose that mainstream appeal, which is so vital to

this series. Look, horse racing fans, they're

going to come out no matter what.

You could run the I mean, hey, you could run the pre.

You can run the Preakness in October and they'll come out if

they can. But I think the mainstream

America is going to say I'd rather watch football.

I'd rather watch even now the WNBA.

I'd rather watch baseball. You know you have that 55 week

period of a window where fans will pay attention.

It would be like over, you know, extending the NCAA tournament by

two weeks and giving people a week off between tournament

games or something and expecting people to just come back.

Well, that's not how it works that you got the NCAA tournament

over over 4 weeks for a reason. It works, that's why.

That's that's the exact point. And let me bring out another

point. When you talk about the horses,

you know, you talk about the the horses and the series.

What would it have been like a few years ago if, say, when

Saint Peter's in the basketball tournament won its first game

and they said, all right, we're done, right?

We're done, You know, I mean. You know.

You're right, part of sports is competing and lose, winning and

losing. And you know, I don't think it

should be the stigma. Sometimes if your horse gets

beat, that can happen. And you know, as I say

otherwise, like in the tournaments, yeah, OK, we won

one game, we're done. We we, we want to go home.

We're not going to win our second game, so we're going to

go home all. Right.

Ridiculous. So does it give you hope then

that this is more of a flash in the pan than anything that that

younger guys are here? Whit Beckman is here with his

Derby runner. Riley Mott is here and he's got

the last name Mott with Incredible.

Does it give you a hope, you know, that some of those guys

are actually doing this thing and maybe maybe we get back to

more of that kind of thinking about this race?

I, I think you can, I mean, I mean, really, if the last year,

if you watched journalism, I mean, journalism certainly

didn't show any signs of wear from the Kentucky Derby.

You know, you see that when you get the great, you know, when

you get the great horses like American Pharaoh and you get

justified. You know, they didn't.

It didn't bother them. You saw a few years, just a few

years ago, D Wayne Lucas won the the Pat Day Mile at a mile and

came out here and his horse went, you know, wire to wire.

Yeah. You know, it can be done.

It's just a question of certain people.

Now I will say some people don't like to train their horses that

way, right? But say that, right, just come

out and look, this is not for me, right?

OK, and that's it. I mean, I.

Have my methods. Here are my methods, but just

tell us what the methods are. And I respect that.

And that's, you know, like just say it like, you know, right

after the dirt. No, I don't really run on two

weeks rest. I mean, you know, I'm sorry, but

say it, you know, and that's fine.

But as I say, there's no statistical evidence that I've

seen which tells me you're really endangering a horse by

running back on two weeks. Black Eyed Susan, Today in our

market we refer to this as the Kentucky Oaks of Maryland, which

is, by the way, a. Kentucky Oaks Light.

Maybe it is, but look, I mean it's that's a compliment I

think, right? Great to hear Mylan.

And 8th, we'll start right there.

We'll end right there, Bob on the track here.

Who do you like the Black Eyed Susan today?

And if you were playing the old Black Eyed Susan Preakness

double, where do you think you'd land?

Okay, I think you were on the were you not on the race there,

The 13. I'm sorry.

That's why I went to it. Well, I was going that was my

Derby. That was my Derby stuff on the

got it. Okay, let me just go to the so I

get the everything right. I did all my handicapping and

everything. The Daily Racing Forum this

today decided to make the paper a maze.

You know, you got you got the first race on one page in the

book. Then you got to go through all

the Woodbine races. And now I'm here finally at the

13th at Laurel. There you go.

Yeah, I, I was kind of looking. I I think my Miss MO would be

the horse to beat. Sure.

I'm not, You know, again, I'm not as familiar with Laurel.

I'm, I'm hoping it's not going to be that bad of a run to the

first turn because she's, she's on the outside.

But I mean, you know, when you look that she was second in the

Gulfstream Park Oaks and the Devona Dale.

I, I think that gives her the bit of the a bit of the class

edge here to, to make her a big factor.

I, I think I, I thought I liked it a price.

I think Amelia Green's horse seems to really like this, you

know, seemed to put in a real good effort to win the Weber

City Miss, which is the stepping stone prep for this race.

Yep, and you know, and. The horse is getting some

attention to 12:50 right now on the on the line.

OK. 12:50 I mean interesting to 1.

So yeah, that's still a pretty square price on her.

Great. And I I also thought not too

far, not too far out of it. If you really want a big price.

I I was going to look at the miss fault and gal from the one.

I mean, you know, this was closing a bit in the Weber City

Mist goes the, you know, picks up Johnny B has the rail, the

ground saving position and one the.

Rail the wire, which is one of their preps in the series to the

Black Eyed Susan. It was over the one mile, the

one turn mile here. But frankly, that was without

LASIK. So that answers the no Lasik's

question. I mean, I I think she's at 30 to

1. Johnny Vito, at least fill out

your try or something, right? Yeah, I think that I think that

horse is a use again, sometimes you do wonder with morning

lines, are they a little bit off?

Sure. But I would, I would really

think that's the so that could be 1 to really spice things up

for you. Got a poor job resetting.

He's Bobby Holt at Bobby Holt on the socialsbloodhorse.com for

everything he's working on Big race tomorrow.

Who you leaning on? Well, my pick was my pick is

incredible. Okay, I think the race really

sets up well for him. Again.

Look, it's kind of funny, they made the decision basically when

they saw the field, yes, Silent Tactic didn't come in and they

said, you know what, we could win a grade one against this

kind of field. Yep.

So they dropped in. So I'm sure the horse is fine.

I thought he ran a really good race in the Derby.

Look, I thought a case could be made that maybe if it wasn't the

Derby, you know, Iraq kind of came in with Renegade a bit.

You know that in some some races that might have been DQ

incredible really got shut off and and then he still showed a

little bit of life after that. He didn't just pack it in so.

If you took out his holy ball and just looked at the rest of

his lines, Bob, he would absolutely be the favorite here.

I would. No question he would absolutely

be the favorite here. He's the kind of horse

historically that wins the Preakness.

He just is. I think so he and he might be

the favorite. I really I'm, I'm not, I'm not

sure if Chad's horse is going to.

Be OK. I just wanted to ask you because

you're, you're our New York guy for Blood Horse Iron Honour.

How good is that horse? I think he's, I think he, I

thought he ran a good race in the, in the.

Especially for the outcome, yes, outside in the wood, was that

prohibitive you think? Or I think that hurt him.

I don't think it helped him. I I but you know, again, the

problem being that when you how much did he get out of the race?

Sure. So, you know, if you're talking

that now you he's getting the six weeks Chad likes, though.

Chad is like he told me at one point not too long ago, he was

fine with keeping the Triple Crown where it was.

He was a bit of a traditionalist.

But anyway, I'm not sure if the horse really wants to go as far

as the mile and 316th. I want to see that.

I think he's going to be right there.

He would be my second choice. I would pick incredible because

I see I I think the key to the race is the speed and the speed

is number 10 Napoleon Solo. Now look, he's had some issues.

He was a bit rusty for his first start of the year.

He was coming off some foot issues for the second plus in

the wood he had the other speedster talk to me, Jimmy

right on his flank. So there was no way they were

going to go out go slow. The two of them went out.

They said a really fast pace. He hang on pretty good.

He only got beat 4 lengths by our old friend Albus.

And look, he worked out 110 on the training track of Belmont

Park that that is like going one O 7.

And and what did he go one O 788 like he did in the champagne?

I mean, you know, you do that. You go 110 and a workout over

the over the training track. You know, you hear trainers say,

oh, we may rate, we may do this. No, no, he's going to go out to

the front. He's going to the front.

And the point is, I think anybody who runs with him is not

going to be there at the finish. He may not be there at the

finish either, but I think if he he could drag.

Some horses with him. Yeah, right.

What he? Did in the champagne was that he

had those horses, they were scrubbing on the turn, right,

the horses who were trying to chase him.

And one of them who was trying to chase him was that horse from

Tom Amos who had won by like 17 lengths at Saratoga and was

considered all right, here's your Derby winner already.

So I think that that's where he's a key player.

I mean, he he could win the race, sure, but I think he's

certainly going to have a huge impact on the race.

And, and, and I I picked him, I got him third as I think he'll

be the speed who hangs on the fourth horse.

If I had to go close the Super factor.

I'll give talking a try. OK.

And Danny Gargan is really, I mean, you know, look, traders

always love their horses, but Danny Gargan is really talking

this horse up that he's going to run the race of his life.

We're talking. About the next level down

compared to the Derby horses, this is a horse that ran 5th in

the Tampa Bay Derby. That was further ado the Puma

Canaletto. He's right behind those horses.

He makes sense in this, in this kind of field, he does I.

Mean, you know, I mean there's like different ways of looking

at it. He was third in the bluegrass,

but but he was a zip code away. So you know, I mean, but I I

think they're saying he's moving forward off that.

If I start, you know, there's some good horses.

See, if I'm going to say Napoleon Solo is going to, you

know, he's going to take down, shall we say, the enemy agents.

You know, you look at a chip honcho, you know, Corona del

Oro, you can kind of go down the list of horses who you really

aren't going to play. I'm not sure what to do with

Ocelli. He, he's the, he's the question

mark to me. I think he he ran a really,

really great race in the, in the, in the Derby.

My question is, does he hit what they call that knockout wall?

Was that the race of his life, right?

Can he and does he bounce? Her does he?

Bounce off it or you know, again, you just see these horses

that sometimes get they they reach that one race and and that

was such a really, really good effort.

I think he I think the the race will set up for him.

So he's got an inside post. I think he'll save Brown.

I don't really like Taj Mahal, OK, I I don't, you know, I

don't, I don't. I don't think he's fast enough

from the rail. Again, if this rail is not

anywhere near as bad as it is for the Derby, but still, you

got to get everything going. And again, if he doesn't break,

he's going to get shuffled back. He has the speed.

And if he runs, he's just not going to.

He's not going to outrun Napoleon Solo, All right?

He's Bobby. Halt at Bobby.

Halt on the socialsbloodhorse.com for

everything he's working on. Thanks, Bob.

No problem. Louis, always pleasure to be

with you.