Aqueduct Saturday – Gotham Day | Bob Ehalt

Through best podcast with the worst music.

It's the horse racing happy hour.

Thanks for hanging out with us on a Thursday.

I'm Blue Ribo. He's Bobby Hall.

How about that up there in Connecticut ahead of a trip to

Long Island for the weekend? It is Gotham weekend, Butcher

weekend, Tom Fool weekend, Steinie weekend.

Which one do you call it there, Bob?

I think it's the Gotham that's the, you know, that's the

headliner that there's no doubt about that.

So you know, the we're looking coming up to the, of course,

last Gotham at Aqueduct and probably the last Gotham on dirt

too. So I think, you know, again,

we'll tip to the future. OK.

All right. Is that a move to the green

stuff or to the stuff that we have at Turfway Park here in?

Kentucky, it's pretty much the turfway.

I mean, because I think the winter meet and probably

depending on the timing, you know, you're talking late

February or the first week in March, that might that still

might be when they're on when they are going to be on the

synthetic at at Belmont Park. So you know, we're going to have

to see maybe they'll I would think some point in March is

when they would switch over. But looking at the 14 inches of

snow on the backyard here, I got to have a feeling that want to

say that they're not going to be rushing to get off the

synthetics. So you know, we'll see

definitely like the weathers will be on the be on the on the

all weather synthetic surface. And you know, that's the

challenge for Naira have how they card this three-year old

series next year because it's not going to be as simple with

the inner track because it's only a mile in circumference.

I know it's fascinating stuff, Bob, and frankly at this point

what's interesting is Naira could use Churchill's own

actions against it. You told us the rubies worth 100

points. Why can't we run our prep races

on synthetic too? Yeah, I mean, I, I think they'll

be, I think they would have to be forced into doing it.

I mean, you know, the Gotham being a 50 point race, you know,

it is a bit of a, you know, I mean, right now it, it, it's a,

it's a bit of an outlier because of its, it's 50 points, but it's

a mile and it's a one turn mile. So, and, and that probably won't

change. But again, the lead up, I mean,

the the problem with the Naira series is it's a mile, a mile

and an eighth, a mile, a mile and an eighth.

So now when you're going to a track that's going to be a one

turn mile and an eighth which which which will be on the dirt,

the wood will stay on the dirt. The question comes down to, you

know, what kind of series do you have?

Because you know, basically I would think with a mile

circumference you're going to have a six furlong Sprint and

then go to a mile. So, you know, do you, is that

what you're going to do a mile, mile and an eighth mile, mile

and an eighth again, or do you go mile and a 16th, which, you

know, again, those are the decisions they're going to have

to make. Yeah, it's interesting.

I had not put this into the equation.

And Bobby halt with us, you can find them at bloodhorse.com with

all of his previews and race write ups.

I I had not considered this part of the equation.

Bob, do you think for example, you mentioned at the, you know,

mile, mile, obviously you're mentioning the Rems in there in

December. Do you think that's a dirt race

still? Keep it for the Cigar Mile and

all that. I don't, yeah.

I don't think that that should be on the dirt in early

December. I don't think that they're going

to do it. It probably it'll probably be

around mid-december. I think those will stay on the

dirt. I would think depending on how

they want to do it. Do they do it right after

Christmas? Definitely.

I think they say January, February.

I'm unsure of March, how much into March, but you know, we

will see what they want to do. I mean, maybe they will.

Maybe they'll decide, all right, we're going to to to work

everything out. We'll go back to the dirt in

early March, and that's when we'll do the Gotham, you know,

it, it's still kind of up in the air depending on what they do.

But as I say, seeing this this winter is certainly not helping

them to think, Oh yeah, we could get away with mild winters.

Yeah, the mild winter thing might not be around for the next

5 or 6 years or something like that.

I wanted to ask you a couple of questions.

But you know, certainly the CAW restrictions in the betting

pools there at Naira has been a bit of a conversation piece,

certainly for people that hang out with shows like this one,

the handicapping shows around horse racing.

Bob, have you seen in effect, I've seen David Aragona for

example tweeting about this, which I appreciate him kind of

trying to run what the exactas should look like.

It should look like a hard air quote since it's a a pair of

mutual game. But you know, doing some of

those things. Have you noticed a big change in

in anything with those restrictions?

Not really. I, I think it's, it's really

early. It's, it's a, it's, it's a time

of year where a lot doesn't stand out.

I mean, it is the winter look and we've been bombarded with

snow. So there's been no continuity of

the racing, a lot of cancellations, small fields.

It's very hard, I think to say this is going to be a

sustainable pattern as to what happens or, or what people are

or what the people are going to do.

I, I mean, the fields have been very small.

We've had a very dominant performance by Linda Rice.

I'm not sure if this is very attractive to the, to the CAW

players because I mean, how much saturation of a pool can you do

with five or six horses? So I think we'll see a little

bit more as the weather gets better.

What I have seen it, it, it, it's hard to put a finger on it,

but there's been some very strange wind bets going on and,

and, and, and it doesn't seem to make sense.

Saturday there was an instance of a horse we we are looking at.

I mean, he was by far a second or third choice in the double S

and he was sitting out there three to five.

And, and, you know, the things kind of drip and the money's

going in early. It's not going in late and it

hasn't exactly been winning. So I'm not really sure what,

what the heck that's all about. I do know on Saturday it seemed

every time you looked at the first flash of the board,

somebody was one to two or three to five or 1:00 to 5:00.

So I do think people, it seems like people are putting money

into the, the wind pool, but doing it very early.

So I, I'm not sure of what to make with that.

And, and I can't say it was a oh, they were always, it was the

smart money. It was always right.

No, there were sometimes you, you just.

I'm all. About.

That's exactly right. Bobby Holt with us.

You can find him a blood horse. Naira has unveiled its stakes

calendar for Saratoga. Any surprises for you for the

summer? No, I haven't had a real chance

to look it over yet. It just came out right before we

went on, yeah. Yeah, it just came on.

So I really, I'll admit I haven't had a chance to look it

over to see what it is. So it's kind of good.

It's nice to hear about Saratoga.

Like I say when you're when? Yesterday I was out with my plow

having to try to clear a path to the mailbox for the mailman and

probably lost about 10 lbs which I could afford to do but.

Was I going to say it? I'm glad you said it, Bob.

It's good that you said it, Not me.

Yeah, no, I could afford it. I mean, I still got plenty after

that. The point being, I it is just so

much snow and I'm hearing there might be more snow coming.

I'm like, when did I move to Buffalo?

Thank you. Thank you for thank you for

throwing Buffalo under the bus. I appreciate.

It Yeah. When did I move?

Or Syracuse? My son went to Syracuse.

I remember that. It's bad up there for sure,

Bobby yelled with us. We appreciate him jumping on.

We try to get Bob ahead of these big weekends in New York.

Any updates on Bail Bond Park? Do they feel like they're on

schedule for for the Beat later in the in the year?

Yeah, I, I think so. I mean, this weather couldn't be

a help, that's for sure. But I, I think they're going to

be fine because remember they have said it's not going to be a

grand opening in September. It's going to be a, you know,

phased opening. So the, the building is, was not

going to be ready by September anyway.

It's just a question of how many people they decide they could

safely fit or want to have in the building.

I I haven't heard that there's anything to that will really

keep them from being ready to race on it.

I'm not a New Yorker. Every year when I go either to

Aqueduct or even down to Jersey to go to the Haskell, I'm sure

people look at me and they know that I'm visiting and I'm not

from there. But I am really excited for the

return of racing at Belmont Park.

I think it is an important place in our sport.

I think it's an important cog in the New York machine for sure.

I I, I never thought I'd see it, Bob, but I think there's

actually a little bit of Saratoga, a little bit of like,

OK, we're doing a little bit too much Saratoga, even a little bit

of that. And so I think people are ready

for return to racing in the city.

How do you think it's going to go with Belmont being just there

and just Saratoga? I personally, the first part,

I'm extraordinarily excited to get back to Belmont Park, but

the second part is how do you think that'll adjust?

Well, you know, it's going, it's going to be a little strange in

my feeling because if if you are a New Yorker here, you follow

the circuit year round. I always was very, very

invigorated by the opening of Belmont Park because it was like

the start of the baseball season.

It's spring. You go out to Belmont Park, you

see the flowers and the trees and the Ivy things.

You don't see it kind of very functional aqueduct and and it

was really kind of rejuvenating. Now you're gonna get into a we,

you're not gonna have that because you are gonna be going

to act to Belmont Park when there's snow on the ground, when

there's not really any, you know, floral displays or things

like that. So I think it's it's going to be

a little strange. It should be a beautiful

facility. It it should be

state-of-the-art. It should be a great place to

watch horse racing. So I think that will be very

exciting. But you know, again, when you

get into something kind of year round, it might actually enhance

Saratoga because again, people will be saying, yeah, we've been

at Belmont a long time. I can't wait to get to Saratoga

and see something different because I mean, there is that

kind of monotony when you're at Aqueduct from when are you going

from November until the end of April.

So you know, there's that monotony in the building.

Will you have that at will you have that at Belmont again,

you're going to run into the little bit of the problem 1

turf, you know, that turf, the two turf courses there on,

that's it. You know, it's not like they're

going to get a rest by going to Aqueduct or something like that.

They, you know, the turf courses are going to get the rest when

they're at Saratoga and that's it.

So, you know, there, there, there's pluses and minuses.

I, I think it's going to be really exciting when it opens

and when I think everybody's going to enjoy it.

It, it's again, just the problem of when does it become, does it

become routine? That might be a few years down

the road. They've had this a little bit in

in Southern California with so much racing now in the spring,

especially at at San Anita Park, right, Having to pick up for

Hollywood in different places. And it's it's interesting to

talk to people in Southern California.

But yeah, yeah, we're back in San Anita this weekend.

And you're right, there's almost, there's almost, I don't

know what it is, but we love the move from venue to venue and

horse racing. We just do.

We're spoiled in Kentucky. We got five of these things.

You know how that goes. And you know, I always thought

of that and I always told people, it's funny you talk

about Belmont is like, hey, it's spring, we're opening Belmont.

I always thought of what they put the tarp down at Aqueduct.

It was winter like, like we're done.

Like it's, it's cold, it's going to snow all the things and let's

do some handicapping out there at Aqueduct for Saturday.

The Butcher will be our first race discussed.

We're going to do an early pick three races 2-3 and four for a

late pick three, literally the late pick three races, 89 and 10

on the show today. We're talking with Bobby called.

He is from Blood Horse. Appreciate him jumping back on

the program with me. You can find him at

bloodhorse.com. Of course, you can find me a

blood Horse Monday, every Monday evening with my colleague Sean

Collins from over there at BH The Butcher with five runners

will be run at 75% of the points.

I texted Brad Cox ahead of time because I have his number in my

phone. Bob.

And just to make sure that at least Paradise was making the

trip up from Gulfstream Park. I know that Whit Beckman plans

to run both of his as well. So we should have the field of

five in here. Bob, I wanted to ask because

we're going to get similar prices, I imagine on the on

Brad's horse Paradise and on Interstate love song.

Tom Morley's trainee for you know that Ricardo's going to be

riding. When you look at horses like

this coming into Aqueduct as opposed to those that have

already been there, do you do you give a slight lead to horses

that have been good at Aqueduct or is this, hey, this is Brad

Cox. He knows who's going to run well

in New York. Well, I, I think, you know,

yeah, with the Brad Cox, you, you have no worry about that

kind of thing. You know, his horses, he he's

coming up here for a reason. He he's like it it, it's not as

easy these days to get from, say, Florida to New York as it

used to be. You know, one of the big

questions that that you're going to find in a race card, like

today, like Saturday is going to be OK.

These horses have been down in Florida where they've been

training every day. They've had no kind of hiccups

or anything like that in terms of the weather.

Meanwhile, in New York, you know, you've had days where the

horses can't go out. They can't even go to the

jogging barns because they're so slow.

I mean, there's so much snow. It's it's, you know, that's

going to be a bit of the question.

Are the New York horses who? Yeah, they're used to the cold

in the weather, but they're training.

How interrupted has it been? Even just the regular

maintenance type works. What have they missed that it's

hard to see. You could see the workouts, but

you don't know is he getting his daily enough daily exercise and

how's that affecting the horse? So I I think that kind of comes

into it right now more than the actual who the trainer is.

Let's just see because I mean, I think the butcher is a good

example of that. I mean you have you you have a

big favorite in Interstate loving who and speed figures

looks like she should win again. She's been here at aqueduct.

You have you know, the horses from you know from wit.

You have you have one from Chad Brown.

You have one from Brad Cox who are coming up from warm weather

locales and you know, let let's just see.

I I think that'll that that will give us an idea maybe what to

look for later in the card with the other instances where you

see that are. You going to put on top of the

butcher, you think? I'm sorry.

Who you put on top of the busher?

I would I would say Interstate loving.

I mean, that was a really good race.

I mean, the the speed figure came back fast.

She really put in a real good battle.

You do wonder, did that take a little bit out of her?

We'll see. But you know, was like 10

lengths back to the third horse. I I think on paper she certainly

looks like a horse, a horse that you single.

It's just a question of, you know, the the track is maybe

going to be a little bit different.

You know, at that time when she ran that other race in the

ruthless, it was kind of an inside speed favoring surface

for a while. So maybe this maybe it's it had

been playing a little bit fairer in, you know, last week.

We'll see what happens from here, like, you know, after

again after it gets dusted and stuff with the snow.

But yeah, you know, I, I think on paper it's hard to look past

her. I'll tell you, man, that that

inside bias, Holy cow. Yeah, that's the point.

I mean, people were even calling like you guys got to go do

something like this is getting out of control.

Yeah, I mean, she wasn't on the rail, but she was inside because

a horse came inside her and beat her.

But you know, she was a very good, determined horse.

I I think it was a it was a really, really good effort.

As I say, the, the ones I would look at, yeah, Nikon, I mean,

was second in the stakes at, at at Gulfstream.

I don't know how good the stakes really is.

We'll find out. But she's Sir.

But the speed figure really didn't, didn't, wasn't something

that makes you stand out. I think, you know, Chad Brown,

he's got a maiden who won a Tampa at the time again, wasn't

that great. But I don't think Chad would

come up here chasing like, you know, 10 points.

I I would think he wouldn't have bothered bringing her up for

this race unless he thinks, you know, she's capable of liking

the mile and maybe just something with the track there

didn't just get the speed figure that you kind of anticipated.

Yeah, she's a daughter of Nyquist.

I mean, that's a serious breeding job, a serious

purchase, $400,000. She may just be a late bloomer.

Bob, what's a while this time of year we meet the late bloomers

and she's not technically a late bloomer because she still can

qualify for the Kentucky Oaks, but you know what I mean in that

in that sort of way as we get into these races.

Race 3 on the card on Saturday, talk with Bobby Hill from Blood

Horse. My name's Luia Bo.

This is the horse racing happy hour presented by Stockton

Mortgage today. By the way, presenting all of

our Derby prep coverage. Why not up and down the middle

part of the country? You can find our friends over

there at Stockton Mortgage. Race 3 is off for state brands,

willies and mares 4 and up. They're running for $77,000 Bob,

and it's a non 2 lifers kind of race here. 6 furlongs on the

dirt. Wanted to ask, we saw red wine

and whiskey. Who's in this race?

The one horse she made the move from Figure Lakes looked really

good. Last out four to one here.

Bob, am I crazy if I said to you this is the horse I'm going to

key in on the sequence? Oh, OK.

Oh, red wine and OK, I think. I'm not sure.

Yeah. Queens Over 3 is the one horse

here and on race three, yeah. OK, that threw me up.

Red wine and whiskey. Yeah, I mean.

I don't know you've got a better touch for sometimes the long

shots that be on this. I'm not sure it it it's, you

know, she the horse. Look it it it's a Linda horse,

but it's the other Linda. You know, if that said Linda

Rice, I'd be agreeing with you as a you got to naturally play

it. I I'm not sure.

I mean, I do think she might be helped by, if the track is not

as biased or, you know, the track is a little fairer, that

might help her. But you know, I, I, I think

you're gonna, you know, I, I think, you know, you're gonna

get a good price on that horse. Yeah.

And then on the inside, Queens over threes I thought was

really, really interesting. I think if you're going to push

a horse, she's 4:00 to 1:00 in the morning line, you're gonna

push a horse that's like 4 to one in this kind of field.

I think she makes a lot of sense.

I, I would agree with you on that.

I think she's got the, you know, she, she has the speed, she's

got the inside. It does, you know, the inside is

not dead by any means or anything like that.

So she's certainly going to be a major player in the race.

I think, you know, I think I want to, you know, I, I think

she's got a good chance to control the speed and win the

race. She's certainly a horse at 4:00

to 1:00. You got to be very interested

in. Rivera on the outside, What do

you make of his early part of his career?

Just as I'm not asking for this race necessarily, Bob, but you

know, whenever there's an apprentice jock, we're always

kind of interested in their progress.

What do you make of Rivera on the outside?

He shows, he's shown some, he's shown some potential.

I, I think he could turn out to be a pretty good, a pretty good

jock. I mean, you know, again, it's

hard when at this time of year because again, you don't have a

lot of other than when Flavian Pratt comes and just wins every

race at Aqueduct. You know, you, you really don't

have the kind of jockey colony and and you know that some of

the that you'll find later in the year.

So I think he's shown some potential and certainly seems to

be a usable, usable bug rider. Yeah, six wins all of last year

at 105 mounts already. Three wins this year in 43

mounts. So a little bit better hitting

the board like crazy. So hopefully you can keep that

up. Keep getting checks.

Talk with Bobby Hall by blew your boat.

This is the horse racing happy hour.

We are previewing Gotham Day at Aqueduct on Saturday.

We'll move on to race 4 here to close out our early pick.

Three races, 2-3 and four the Grade 3 Tom Foole here.

Bob, I always ask you New York questions when we're here.

How important of a race was the Tom Foole, let's say 20 years

ago? Tom Fool certainly was, was was

a big race. I mean the the big spread race

in New York always used to be the Bosberg.

And, and if you go back even further, like say when I was a

youngster, the fall high weight handicap was always a really

good race in the fall because you know, they would, they would

put a lot of weight on the horses.

And you got a lot of Phillies who, who would run in it back

then, you know, and, and who did very well in it because they

would get a little bit of the weight break.

But those were the two big ones. But the Tom Fool certainly

always was a race where you could count on seeing the the

better sprinters in New York. Yeah, definitely this time of

year one of the better races, 6 furlongs on the dirt here, 175

on the line. And in this one we will get a

pair of a pair of outside runners and Acoustic Ave. and

Full Moon Madness. People probably know 1900, the

4:00 to 5:00 morning line. David Aragona making the lines

up there. Do you agree with the four to

five number? Which one was that?

I'm sorry. Oh, the favorite in here will be

1900 at 4:00 to 5:00. Right, Yeah, that's what I'm

sorry. I thought you were on the

outside the. Yeah.

Look, if you go off the last race, this horse wins for fun.

They're not machines. They bounce.

Certainly. You know, I've seen this a lot.

It's sometimes in the winter they run a real big race and

then they can't really duplicate it next time.

You know, I, I, I'm, I'm more tempted to kind of go against

that one because of the price where you might be able to get.

I, I, you know, again, the, the track, it might be a little bit

different and, and you know, might you might have a tougher

time on the lead and then bouncing off that big race.

Now this horse probably might be able to bounce and still win the

race, but I, I'm more leaning toward the acoustic AB.

I, I mean, I look, you know, in, in New York again, why I

mentioned the thing with the CAW, if you bet either Linda

Rice or Flavian Pratt, you're going to win like 50% of the

time. So there's not a great mystery

to this. I mean, Linda has at this meet

since January won 39 races. And if you take the the guys who

are I think 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th behind her, they only

have 35 combined. That's how dominant she's been.

And you know, a lot of those races she's had two horses.

So I mean, you know, as much as she's winning at like a 27%

clip, if you talk about a percentage of winning races,

it's even higher. I would.

Bob froze up on us there. We will get back to Bob in just

a second. He was going into talking about

how he would try to fade a 1900 here just in case there is a

bounce out of the Morley barn, of course, but trying to get

acoustic AB in that spot. There is Bob back up and

running. There we go.

It's it's the snow Bob. We'll just blame the snow, Bob.

I I think the camera said enough of looking at this guy go.

Ahead and get in the comments. Is it Bob's face or is it the

snow? All right, top full acoustic AB

on top then. Yeah, that would be my main pick

in this race, I think. Yeah, take a little bit of a

shot. I certainly, you know, I, I

certainly respect 1900. I, I mean, again, he might go

out the front and just not look back.

So, you know, those would be the two that I would keep on in the

race. Yeah, we saw 1900 last year in

the Chick Lang at Piblico over a Preakness week and Acoustic Ave.

has tried the elite power good, second behind, just beat the

odds in that one. That was back, of course, in

December there. It's a mile day, so there you

go. Stymie stakes up.

We'll start the late pick three there at Aqueduct on Saturday,

talking with Bobby Halt. My name's Louis Ribow.

This is the horse racing Capitol presented by Stockton Mortgage.

Appreciate them hanging out with us on the program.

The Stymie is a mile on the dirt there at Aqueduct. 150 on the

line here. This is for four and up, Bob.

So essentially the Tom Fool, but two more furlongs here.

Who'd you land on on this one? This one, I think there's like I

see two, it's going to I want to see what the odds trying to come

in at, but in terms. Of five on full screen and 9:00

to 5:00 on Phileas Fogg. Yeah, I want to see what the

actual betting turns out to be, but I think they're going to be

close. But you know, in terms of is

there going to be a value in one?

I mean, Phileas Fogg I think is the class of the race.

I mean, he's been running against some of the best horses

in the country last year. He he has some speed.

He could win it a mile. He probably would be better

suited by a mile and an eighth. But the mile to start off, I

mean, he's going to be a factor. I I think, you know, if

somebody's going to beat him, I think it will be full screen.

I mean, he's coming into this race or, you know, really good

form for Brad Cox. You know, I, I think, you know,

he he might be able to just sit off him and, you know, reel him

in because feeling Phileas Fogg, as much as he's fast and he's

determined and he just doesn't sometimes seem to complete the

job. I mean, there was that race, I

believe it was in the in the Woodward where he faced it like

a three horse field and they thought he wouldn't be caught,

but he was. So I might tend a little bit

more to full screen. But certainly Phileas Fogg be no

surprise at all if that horse, based on his class, wins the

race. You know, it's interesting.

I think in in past years you could have said I'll just lean

on Manny Franco here against Jaime Rodriguez, not right now,

not right now. I'm is riding really well and

that is not one that you would want to toss certainly on the

jockey preference there. Anyone stand out amongst the

longer shots in this field here? You can get, I mean, Ridgewood 1

or 12 to one counters by 15 to 1.

I think those horses are probably those kinds of numbers

there as well. What do you think of the outside

horse though, here in Comoro? Binay Bino, excuse me, Omohide,

who we've seen a lot at places like fairgrounds and and down

South. He'll be making the trip up Rob

Atris now in his barn. What are you making him?

Has he got a shot in here, Bob? I think he might.

The only problem is he does seem to have speed.

So if he goes to Phileas Fogg, I'm not sure if he's going to

hang around or he's going to win the race.

I mean, that's why I think that might be a big ask of him.

But he is certainly a curious horse, a Japanese brand.

He's run 24 times, was it 23 times?

You know, and he's a very good consistent horse.

I I just think maybe the profile of this race doesn't suit him

because again, going the going the one term mile, if you have

Phileas Fogg, it should be fresh off the layoff gunning out there

that may not that may come back to haunt him.

I like him because he runs 10 * a year every year and he's in

the trifecta eight of those 10 times he's he just gets this.

He's just a good runner. Shows up every time.

I love those kinds of horses there for sure.

So that was the stymie starts that late pick three, $1.00

minimum on the pick 3. So they got it.

Naira move on to race 9. The in between Race Between the

States is an optional Clayber $75,000 clay price in an $86,000

purse. Nile on the dirt again.

We'll do three of those in a row to close the card here.

Bob, this is for four and up, blah blah blah.

Non 2 lifers essentially. My question for this one.

Nice full field of 12. Love that in a late sequence for

sure. Donegal Surges is the favorite

and a chance to see Castle Chaos.

How about that? Should Donegal Surges be the

favorite here? Yeah, I'm not.

I, I, I'm only good. I, I'm not sure.

Maybe the betting will go that way.

He's not my top pick. I, I think certainly I'm willing

to, I'm willing to try to go go against him in this race.

You know, I, I think there's, you know, the last race didn't,

didn't really do much for me. You know, looking at looking at

the thing, you know, he's from Todd Pletcher's barn, which I

think always attracts attention, But I, I, I see him as, you

know, a contender in the race, but I certainly as a favorite.

I, I wouldn't, I wouldn't lean toward him.

I'm like, you know it. I would feel better on horses

like dreamlike and Russian realm will probably be my number one

pick. I mean, I think, you know, Danny

Gargan does really good with these type of horses.

This is horses in really good form.

Two wins Flavian Pratt thought enough to get on the horse

twice. So that kind of show he can pick

and choose whoever he wants this winter and fall at this winter

at Aqueduct. He is so I think I kind of like

him. I think he's I think he's going

to get a good track to close on and and I like him.

I definitely think dreamlike again you get you know, Linda

Rice. I, I, I mean, you know, again,

I, I think if, if you know, there's certain things in horse

racing when you're betting sequences, you know, you got to

be very determined to take a stand sometimes against people.

Like if you're at Saratoga for two year old maiden race, if

you're going to go against say, Pletcher and Chad Brown, you're

taking a chance. You know, if you want to cash

your ticket sometimes again, and these are small fields, so

you're not going to go very deep, but you don't want to you

don't want to blow it by not including someone who's just

telling you they're sending out live hot horses.

And to me, I say I like the two. I like Russian realm and

dreamlike. And then, you know, like I say,

then after that I would look at the Donegal, Donegal surges and

put him third maybe. I'm I'm fascinated by all this

because Russian realm 12:50 on the morning line.

How about that? I think he's, you know, and

let's see, I mean, I'd say this, I think, you know, as a better

when Danny Gargan's horses take money, they're pretty live.

There seems to be a pipeline to the wise guys of when his horses

go. So I'm going to be interested if

that horse is 10 to 1. I don't know, maybe I like, I'm

hoping yours will be more like 6 or 8 to 1, which shows me that

there's there's a little bit of steam coming out of the barn.

But you know, I'm, I'm interested in, as I say, that

one might be the one that could kind of light things up in the

sequence for me. All right, Bob, I'm going to

make you do a little work here. And we like to do a buy or sell,

can win or won't win a race kind of preview for the big races.

OK, so we're going to go through the Gotham field.

We're going to meet the runners and you're going to tell me if

they can win or lose. Here's what we're going to do,

though, Bob. We're going to do a New York

edition of this. It's the Gotham after all.

Should we do a Batman or Robin or if they can win?

We call them Yankees. If they lose their Mets, which

one do you want to do? Boy, you can't be in trouble.

I gotta go back to Queens on Saturday.

I'm. Trying to put you in a terrible

spot. I'm trying to.

Put you in. Come on, you do, Yankee Red Sox.

You know. What Dodgers?

You know, something like that that that that I might go for,

you know. So Batman and Robin then, Is

that what we're? Doing Batman and Robin, we'll do

Batman and Robin. I'm not looking to get I don't

know, they've been throwing snowballs in New York.

I I hope you've been seeing there.

They're going crazy, you know, it doesn't take much to.

Get the city. What do you want, dude?

It's the city. Of course they're going crazy.

Man, well, this is city because they don't put snow.

You think it's just snow? I mean, even I as a kid knew you

reached down, you got the gravel and you threw it in the in the

snowball as a little kid and then you throw it.

You didn't, you know, just throw snow.

Maybe you do that in Kentucky. This is New York.

Find a piece of glass and throw it in there.

Bob from Queens right there. You're damn right it is.

All right. There we go, A little dude of a

little Batman and Robin. And I am from Queens so I grew

up in Queens so. Yeah, right.

That's right. I'm talking of my youth heritage

here. Balboa will break from the

inside, scratched out of last week's Preakness prep.

Frankly, in Maryland, Bob was Balboa.

Taj Mahal wins the thing out of the same barn.

Balboa's staying on this on this path, Bob, I like this a lot and

I think he'll he'll do enough in these races in New York to

qualify for the Kentucky Derby. I'll go ahead and say right now,

what do you think about Boa this weekend?

Though what are we going Batman and Robin?

We are, yes. OK, I'd say he's a Batman.

He's definitely contender and I was really surprised at the odds

of that. Believe I saw somewhere 6 to 1.

He is 6 to 1. Yeah, and, and I, I was, that's

a bargain, bargain and a half. I mean, this is a, this is look,

I mean, look, look, he ran against Paladin, turned in a

pretty good race. I mean, you know, he was second.

And I thought the horse that won my world was a pretty good

winner of the Jerome. I I thought he looked good and

he held for second. Looking at some of the question

marks I have on a lot of the other horses, I I think it's if

he's 6 to 1, he's definitely going to be my exact.

Yeah, no, I thought he looked great in the Remsen.

I don't think there's ever a shame to losing to Brad Cox on

the Derby trail. And so, yeah, I'm with you, man.

Batman for me there as well, playing Batman and Robin with

Bobby Hall, Lou Rambo hanging out with you.

We're going through the Gotham field, Hammond.

We'll break from the second spot with third in the Swale.

Last out. Lower odds 5 to 1 for Safi and

the aforementioned Jaime Rodriguez.

Batman and Robin on him. He's a tough one, you know, just

because he's sappy. I mean, you know, Sappy's

horses, you always have to respect.

I, I, I might, you know, he was 23 to one in the Swale.

He ran third. You know, the time was OK.

I would throw him in and I would give him a Batman.

And because I think you might want to use him in the Super

factor. I, I'm not sure if he could win,

but I, I, I think he could definitely be a factor again

coming up from Florida because of all the, you know, the issues

here in New York. Charlatan on the sire side,

there is one you don't always see, but I do think the one turn

mile makes a lot of sense for Charlatan that way.

The Ohio bred crown. The Buckeye will break from the

three here. Ricardo Santana, junior rides

this weekend from Mike Maker. He'll run at 4:00 to 1:00

according to the morning line. He's more of a Batman than the

one and two according to David Aragona.

What says you though? I'm, I'm really, you know.

I'm fascinated. I can't say I can't say I like

him because again, I kind of think that Balboa has better

speed. So I would Robin him.

I mean, you know, I'm I just can't get that enthused about

his chances. Look, he ran a good race in the

gun runner. I'll give him credit for that.

But you know, he really didn't. He really kind of faded in the

in the Le Compte, which, you know, again, you're looking at

the same track and the same conditions and you didn't fire.

Maybe he rebounds here, but I don't know.

I just think, you know, I have a feeling Balboa can control the

race from the rail, which I think it's going to be an

important thing in this race. So I would tend to tend to Robin

him. 4th and one will break ironically from the four.

Jeremiah Gerhardt trader here. Lozcato gets the Mount Lescato

off to easily the best percentage start of this meet

there at Aqueduct. He's been unbelievable.

We saw this one in the Withers at a mile and an eighth, but

before that did break his maiden Bob going the mile at Aqueduct.

We see so many of these. He tried the Sleepy Hollow as a

maiden before that frankly was very, very competitive in that

race behind Bravaro. What do you make of his chances

here, Batman Rod? I would say Robin because, you

know, look, it's hard when the horse gets beat by 30 lengths,

all right, he's going to do better, but how much better?

That's even if he goes back to his best race, which is tough

after that kind of an effort, he's not good enough to win.

So, you know, I, I mean, as much as you probably say, yeah, throw

a line through it, I mean, it's something probably was just not

right that day because he lost by 30.

But again, I'm not sure if his best, best race could win this,

his best effort could win this race. 4th and 1 and aptly named

son of Maxfield. It's a good job, Bob.

That's a really good football reference for a horse named

Maxfield. And then fourth and one, that's

a good job. That's what that is, Bob, You

understand It's a good thing. I'm glad someone is right to

party. Will break from the five here.

Bob, I'm not going to ask you about your partying days.

This one comes out of that mile at Aqueduct, though, and don't

worry. Don't worry.

I'm not doing it. Don't worry.

We know what that mustache means.

Right to party, though, did break his maiden son of

Constitution. All the things.

Go ahead and bet against Kenny Mcpeak on the Derby trail.

Batman or Robin for you? You know, I'm, I'm, I'm going to

probably say Robin, I was there for the day he won.

It was kind of a rainy, wet day, you know, cold day, you know, I

don't know. He, he did put in a good nice

closing kick to win, but again, he didn't really light things

up. The, the, the problem these days

is there's not a lot of allowance races that you could

go to for a horse. So generally, once a horse

breaks his mate and you're kind of looking for a three-year old,

you're looking for a stakes. So I think he's in there for

that reason. He's in New York.

He's actually, you know, trained by Kenny Mcpeak, but he's got

Jimmy Jerkins, Kenny's assistant in New York, who's overseeing

things with him. He's got good connections behind

him. I, I, I just I again, he looks

like one who's really going to have to take a big step up to be

a factor here. Right to Party will break 8 to 1

on the morning line for Kenny Mcpeak.

I don't know, you get to 12:50 on that horse.

It might be worth a couple stickles you.

Know again, some of the prices that you see and again, the good

part of this race, you're gonna get a chance to see how the

track is. But you know, not, you know,

again, we, we, we did get, you know, we got pounded with snow.

So, you know, what impact does that have?

What does that do to the track? Does it turn it back to a, to a

speed highway? You know, is it a good fair

track for a closer? We'll see that.

That's what I mean. I think the good part of this

race is you're going to have, you're going to have the entire

car to kind of digest before you kind of address this or even the

pick three. You know, you've been seeing,

you know, 7 races before, so you have some idea of does his

profile of style kind of fit what's working?

Iron Honor will be your favorite, almost certainly.

Second time starter Manny Franco gets them out here for Chad

Brown. I think this is Bob.

Probably the horse you're going to have to beat in the late

sequence if you're going to get that big boy payout on Saturday

will be this one because so much of the pick fives will end with

him, so many of the pick fours, etcetera.

He's he's an obvious Batman here.

We don't have to do that, son of Nyquist.

I'm trying to remember on the damn side, blame, blame on the

damn side. So all the things add up here

for him, Bob. I mean, he got this horse.

I mean, certainly he was a dazzling, you know, it wasn't

like he ran off the off the screen and won by 13, but he got

a really, really fast speed figure.

You look at the buyer, you look at the buyer in the paper, it's

a 95. I believe he got something close

to her eight and a Ragazin, which is really a really solid

number. Not that far off what, you know,

like the Neerleys and the Paladins are getting.

You know, I talked to Chad Brown about, you know, he started him

at six furlongs. So, you know, he's stretching

out. But Chad said it was really he

was ready to run the race was there and he went.

He didn't expect them to even he wasn't sure if he was going to

win. Certainly was you know, wasn't

didn't expect, you know, that that would be such the big

effort He's always felt. This horse wants to go long, so

I think stretching out from six furlongs to A1 turn mile is not

going to be a problem for him. Chad brought him back down to

Payson Park right at, you know, after the race has been training

him there so he's had no interruptions.

I certainly, again, if you want to single him, I could see you

doing it. Maybe I would go him and Balboa

to be safe. But certainly he, he, he is a

standout. And you know, whether he goes to

the Derby, it is, is kind of the question.

I mean, it's a tough situation because if you win here and you

want to go to the Derby, you got to probably go, you got to go a

mile and an eighth. And so then if you go to like,

say the Wood Memorial and then you go to the Derby, you know,

talking like 3 races in two months, is that, you know,

something a lot of these trainers, they don't that, that

that's a, that's a heavy schedule for them.

So, you know, we'll see. But certainly I would think in

this race, I, I, I, I don't. I think he's definitely the one

to beat. I know the start was in December

but what you're saying is totally correct.

This is essentially if he, let's say he wins Saturday and they

decide what you said is correct and they need to do the 9

furlongs in the Wood Memorial. This fourth race ever will be in

the Derby. Obviously Justify did it, but

it's not normal. That's not a normal winner's way

to the Derby. Frankly, the Wooden Memorial

hasn't been that path either in recent years.

I do think Rodriguez would have run a huge race last year, but

that's neither here nor there. The I just it is I'm above 2

minds here. Bob, something you said is

correct, which is there aren't a lot of allowances for three-year

olds and so especially this time of year, so maybe this is just

the next spot or they really do want him to be third up in the

Derby. That's on the table at least,

right? Chad didn't rule it out.

You know, he wants to take it race by race.

I think he wants to see, you know, this horse ran so fast in

his maiden, you know, and and again, if you going by the

sheets numbers, does he bounce off a race that fast?

Does he pair it? I I I think a lot of it.

He wants to see exactly where this horse goes in its second

start. And then you decide now I I he

feels the timing is OK to the wood memorial that that's that's

not a problem. So then your question comes,

what do you do if he goes there? I mean, Chad has been one that

you know, who's had the horses who get into the Derby and don't

run any points for the Preakness.

This might be a horse of that kind of that might be that might

be this type of horse, depending on what he does, especially he

does have a right now he's got the favorite in Paladin.

So you know, he knows if he feels this horse isn't as good

as Paladin, does he hold them off for the Preakness?

Just in case. And then he has.

These are problems you and I will never have, Bob, What do we

do? I got this Derby favorite over

here. Let's just go straight over to

the this is never gonna happen to us.

Like never gonna like, not a chance.

Right, things, things get easy, you know, things get easy

because you know, like, OK, he could go to the wood.

I mean, Pallet is not gonna go to the wood, He's gonna go to

the bluegrass. So he could go to the wood and

there's no there's no real problem there because the

ownerships of the two horses are different.

And you know, certainly you can't hold one back.

But you know when you then get to go to the Derby and then even

if you wait for the Preakness, if Chad wins the Preakness.

I always remember talking decades ago with with Penny,

Penny Tweety, Penny Channery about the about Reba Ridge, who,

who really was really her. She always said that was her

horse. The secretariat was the people's

horse. Reba Ridge was her horse.

She always felt Reba never got the acclaim that he deserved

because of the so bright of a star secretary.

It was, but she the, the, you know, he won the Derby and then

he won the Belmont and the Preakness was going to be in a

sloppy track and he really, they felt he could not really run

well in the, in the, in the on a sloppy track.

They had another horse, same Meadow stable.

I think it's horse's name was Uppercase who won.

I think the mud who won the wood in the mud was a real big mud

horse and they were both going to the Preakness and they made

the decision to scratch Uppercase and she said I never

would have forgiven myself if Uppercase won and River Ridge

finished second. So you know, they probably might

have won. That was and that was the year I

think it was won by BBBA Farish horse who won the race.

But and you know, you saw River Ridge came back on the dry track

and how great he was, but you know that those are kind of the

interesting things. Do you want to beat yourself?

You know, you know, And for a trainer like Chad, that's a

tough question because you have to be fair to all these owners.

Yeah, and he does it to himself all the time.

Both. Horses.

He does it all the time on the turf where you know he'll have 3

runners and a great one out of nine runners.

And it's not his fault. He just has three great mayors

or something and that you know, and so he, he has this issue as

often as anyone, but he's also. And as I say it though, it gets

it. See again, and that was the era

where the Triple Crown was meant something to a lot of people

these days. Well, I'd rather win the

Travers. OK, good.

You know, so fine, you know that that's how things have kind of

changed. But you know, it's an

interesting dynamic of when you, when you see this that I look at

it and you, you wonder what is going on behind sometimes behind

the scenes and stuff. The other part, Bob, that we'll

get off of Iron Honor here, this amount of time off, I think of

it is Chad Brown's world and we're just all in it.

This is what he does, right? I mean this like 6 weeks, 7

weeks thing, like just really horses are always ready to fire.

He puts them in great spots. Every time Manny Franco gets the

mount there, tons of sample size.

They hit at over 25%. We're talking with Bobby Hall

from Blood Horse, bloodhorse.com of course, and I'm Louie Ramone.

This is the horse Racing Happy hour.

Exhibition only sets off the last three runners here.

Bob in our Batman or Robin of edition of the Gotham Stakes.

All three horses on the outside will break, or in the morning

line I should say at least as double digit odds made an

optional claiming win. Last out for exhibition only.

Is he a Batman or a Robin? He's a Robin.

I mean, you know, the he ran a real big race.

I would think he's going to in a maiden race, he's going to

bounce. You know, if you take out some

of the top horses, yeah, he's got a shot.

But you know, I just, I don't, I don't see how this horse beats,

you know, Iron Honor and or even Balboa.

So he's definitely Robin to me. Joe Sharp has Creole Chrome

entered in here he is 12 to one on the morning line.

Bob coming out of the fairgrounds a pair of a six

furlong sprints after his maiden went on debut third in the

Louisiana juvenile wins a non to lifer allowance Last out all of

those the state bread company though in Louisiana.

What makes you a Creole Chrome? Well, I, I don't think he's

going to run. I think he's going to stay in.

He's going to stay in Louisiana. Super Robin.

Super Robin. Yeah, well, he can't lose on

him. You know what fake Batman then.

All right, Dirty Rich will break from the out so he can't lose

on. Him.

He's the shortest thing on the card.

He won't lose. Don't watch.

All of a sudden tomorrow, Joe Sharp will wake up.

Yeah. I'll go run the.

I'll go run the guys. Watch this guy.

I'm going to ride him dirty Rich is in here for Peter Miller,

remote Vasquez, most recently seen in the Renaissance, running

third behind Obliteration, who was a fine horse there at

Oaklawn Park. Is he going to run?

He he's definitely a Robin. I mean, you know, he got

obliterated by obliteration. I mean, you know, it was kind

of, I, I, I, I don't, I think the mile is probably going to be

a bit too far for him again, you know, I, I guess, you know, you

take a shot. I mean, sometimes you wonder how

big the fields are, who's in the field.

So you kind of go in and you see if everybody shows up.

But yeah, I, I'm definitely a Robin to me.

I don't, I don't see, I don't see anybody getting rich on

dirty rich. Iron honor on top for you and

then Balboa and. Then Balboa, those two, those

are the two that I'm keying on. Like I say, I, I know a lot of

people look at Crown the Buckeye.

I'm just not as as big on him. Because if I, if I play the race

in my head, I, I, I don't think the speed's going to go up 1/2

the whole way. I think Balboa says I like

Balboa, he's going to win that speed duel.

But I think Iron Honor can sit off the two and just go by them

stretch. He's Bobby Hall.

You know what I call him? Batman.

That's right. He's my Batman.

He's Bobby Hall. He's from Blood Horse.

bloodhorse.com. What all should people be

looking for around the weekend from you at bloodhorse.com?

Well, there's going to be, you know, all, all kinds of

coverage. I mean, down in Florida, I mean,

you know, look, you got a really good, you know, to be frank, you

have more of a bigger Derby prep in Florida in the fountain of

youth. I mean that that I'm really

looking forward to that. I'm going to I want to see, you

know, Napoleon Solo. I've been doing some talking

with the other Chad, Chad Summers about and you know, he's

feeling the horses never is getting disrespected isn't where

he should be in the polls, things like that.

So you know, it'll be interesting.

He's going to make his three-year old debut.

We know he has he he gave probably the most electrifying

performance of a of a 2 year old last year.

Even, you know, anything Ned Coffey did really.

I I mean Napoleon Solo ran so fast.

We figured that the timer malfunctioned, you know, but it

didn't. It was legit.

And there was the horse. I I wish I could remember the

name that that Tommy Amos had who was supposed who had won

it's maiden by 17 lengths and was the fastest horse in the

world. He couldn't keep up with them.

So if he makes the transformation from 2:00 to

3:00, yeah, it could be pretty exciting.

I mean, these days, you know, everybody, Oh, we don't speed,

speed. You know what?

Look at Bob Baffert. He puts his horses on the lead

and says go catch me. And people say, all right, I'll

sit back and wait for you to tire it.

It'll be interesting. I'm not sure if he can win

because, you know, again, he might need the race after not

running since October. But I, I, I really, it'd be

great to kind of, it'd be great to kind of see the connections.

Al Gold is a really, really good guy.

It'd be great to have him have, you know, a really top Derby

prospect. We could imagine the names of

the horses that will come out after that.

Because he's notorious. He's famous.

He's famous for for coming up with amazing names of his

horses. It's Our Time was the horse you

were thinking of at Saratoga and the champagne that ran for Thing

and it was the. Son of not.

I think it's the son of not. Not, not this time.

Yeah, that's right. No, that's exactly right.

And by the way, Bob, I haven't done this on air anywhere.

I've sent it in a text message to one person, my friend Johnny

P, who works at Yonkers but is a big Maryland guy.

I think Brittany Russell's going to have both a Derby starter and

a Preakness starter, and they're not the same horse.

I think Balboa makes it to the Derby, and I think Taj Mahal

makes it to the Preakness. So there you go.

There's mine. Like Brittany Russell

connections. I think I said, I don't know if

I said this to you on a podcast before, but in talking to, you

know, I, I last summer, I was talking with Tom Ryan from the

SF kind of one of the, the, the managing partner of the group,

The Avengers, as they call it, with Baffert.

And I asked him, you know, who are your two year olds to keep

an eye on? The first dress he mentioned was

Balboa. And you know, so they had,

they've always had high, high thoughts for him.

They were kind of thinking in the back of their mind that if

he ran and won the Jerome that they would want to go to go to

Saudi. So there's high hopes for this

horse. So, you know, I, I certainly

think look there, if he gets the points, I think he'll, he's

going to go. And now I'm trying to what does

he have coming in? I think 9 coming in.

So he ran in the Remsen and finished third.

So he would have gotten yeah, like 4 for it's 1064, so four

there and then did he get 5 in the Jerome?

Is that how it works? Is.

That I think it was a 10/5. So I think he has 9, I think he

has nine points. So you know, again, if you if

even if he finishes second, what are you getting 25 to 34?

So you really could use any kind of in the money finish to get

yourself in there like in the big races because, you know, go.

To the wood, right? He's good at Aqueduct.

Just stay at go. Go to the wood right?

Oh, I would say if he's going to go on the Derby trail, he would

go to the wood. Yeah.

I don't, I don't, I don't think they're going to go looking for

for more bigger game, shall we say, because you know you.

Don't go against Paladin to the big of the bluegrass for.

No, he's not going to. He's not going to go against

Paladin. He'll he would stay in New York.

If he runs a good enough race, I'm pretty sure he'll stay in

New York. It might be a replay of the

Gotham. I mean, you know, if I iron

Honor, I I would, I would tend to think he he would go in the

wood in the wood. If he really, if Iron honor

lives up to his potential, I would think he'd go to the wood

because you want to get the two turn experience.

Then you make the decision. What Triple Crown race do you

pick? Yes, right.

No. And I think Balboa's scheduling,

I think they're assuming Derby as well.

This is first of the three races for him in the Derby series.

This would Derby. I think they're absolutely

thinking that way. So good stuff with Bobby E Hall.

Really appreciate you, Bob. You know I'm a fan.

I appreciate you very much got. To see You're the Man movie.

You're the guy, Bob. Appreciate.

You, you carry Sean. I mean, I got to say, I watched

that podcast. I know who the star is.

I don't. Think everybody knows, Bob.

It's all right. Thank you.

All right, Bobby Y'all, Let's get him out here.

He's going to get me in trouble. Thanks, Bob.

Appreciate you. I got to get you in all kinds of

trouble. I'll get in trouble.

You know me, I got, I always put my foot in my mouth and I got a

size 13. Oh, man, a bully at 12.

I'm getting crushed on my own podcast.

How does this happen? You know what, Bob?

Still here. We'll play ourselves out.

He's Bobby Hall. Our friends over at Stockton

Mortgage for hanging out with us before our Gotham preview there

up at Aqueduct on Saturday. Good luck with all of your

wagers. Back right here, 2:00 tomorrow

for our preview of everything at Santa Anita Park.

SoCal Saturdays. That'll be tomorrow with Barry

Spears. He's Bobby Hall.

I'm Luther Bow. Have a good day.