BH Monday 1/5/26 | Sovereignty, Godolphin

All right, tell your mom, tell your neighbor it's time for

Blood HORSE Monday. Thanks for hanging out with us.

A New Year's edition of the program.

Why not E Shaw Collins? I'm Louis Rabo.

So glad you could hang out with us.

We'll talk Eclipse Awards, we'll talk Derby preps.

And of course, we'll talk sovereignty with Michael Banahan

from Good Dolphin. He'll be our guest today on the

program. Sean, you look so wholesome

right now. It is just how freaking

wholesome you look right now. Where are you?

And I mean, you could have set up a better background.

Look at those, those cabinets, you know, you know what's been

made in that? A Stew.

You see those cabinets and you know a Stew has been made in

that kitchen. How are you, Sean?

You doing all right? I don't know, could have to ask

a Stew question. Yes, I am doing all right.

Happy New year everybody. Happy 2026.

I am continuing my last of my three weeks of holiday

travelling. I was in Michigan 2 weeks ago.

I was in Saratoga last week. Now I'm back in my hometown of

Bethlehem, PA. My dad's birthday comes right

after the new year. It was yesterday.

So it's always nice to kind of stick out here for that.

And then I'll head back to Kentucky here tomorrow,

actually. So I'll be heading back to

Kentucky tomorrow. Four straight weeks in different

places. It's going to be what I'm

pulling off here, but that seems to be the usual for me.

It's pretty incredible the things you learn on air.

My dad's birthday was yesterday. How about that?

Was that unbelievable coincidence?

Yes, unbelievable coincidence. My dad, same name as me, turning

70 yesterday. How about that?

So who's counting? Who's counting?

Not my dad. I'll tell you my birthday in a

couple months. We'll have to do something fun

for that on the show for sure. But Sean?

We're going to celebrate that. Why are we celebrating that?

You don't crack me up. Go ahead, hold.

On before you say your crack, what cracks you up?

We did not even mention January 1st.

We have to say happy birthday to all the thoroughbreds in the

Northern hemisphere. Yes, we did have to do that.

We did in that show. Next Sean's going to tell you

he's a Pennsylvania bread. None of us need to know where

you were sired. Like none of us need to know

that like we're good. Like there's something I don't

need to think about and that's that.

All right, somebody bring your bread and sired and certified.

He's there for a week. And so there you go.

But no, I, I always laugh, Sean, because there's a contingent

that online at least, oh, the, the Eclipse awards, this, this

and this. And we were, you know, we're,

you and I are lucky guys. Like, you know, we count Steve

Kornacki amongst work friends, you know, amongst our colleagues

and he's nice enough to jump on to do those shows with us.

And just the backlash of, of voting according to your opinion

about horse of the year, those kinds of things.

And you know what I realized that, Sean, is that with these

kinds of votes, people only care if it doesn't go the way they

care. Right, Exactly right.

That's what they care about at all.

And so it is funny to it is funny to follow the people

online who are kind of just curmudgeons about the sport

anyway. They're just convergent either

in their nature. Horse racing seems to have as

many of those as any other sport on the planet.

It's a remarkable thing about what we do.

But the Eclipse Awards brings out all of it, man, just how

angry people get about like 3 year old, you know, Philly or

something, like just yeah, everybody's going to be OK Don't

worry about it. Michael Mann hand will be fine.

Don't worry about it. It was, I forget who said it,

but I saw something the other day, he was complaining about

someone putting deterministic second on their turf horse or

something. And I was like, what that was?

I was debating between him. A notable speech myself.

Wait a second. I know.

I was like, I almost put him. I almost put him in the first

spot there. Why are we complaining about him

being in second? So yeah, it's hilarious seeing

everybody kind of get worked up over their different opinion

here there. A couple of the nominations I

looked at, I was, I was a little surprised anybody that didn't

watch last week's show, you can hear Louis, myself and Steve

Kornacki's full thoughts on our Eclipse Awards and how we voted.

And a couple, a couple of the nominations I didn't really pop

up on on our radar that we were talking about too much or didn't

dive too much in depth. There are a couple that

surprised me personally, but that's why we vote, get get the

different opinions across the sport.

Who especially stood out to you as one of those?

I, I don't think I was expecting Bill Mott to get as much to, to

get nominated. It didn't really seem like,

like, I know none of the three of us really kind of said

anything. Obviously had a great year with

sovereignty, had a great year with, with winning the Breeders

Cup with Cilla as well. But I, I just didn't see him

picking up as much steam as he did until other people started

posting their votes on the on January 1st.

And I saw a lot of people actually had him in the top

spot. So I that surprised me a little

bit. There was AI know you had niceos

pretty high ranked. I was a little surprised to see.

That I was. Sitting in the nominations,

yeah, I was a little surprised by that.

He was also nominated for champion Sprinter, which really

caught me off guard personally. You know, he he won or he was

second in the Churchill Downs and then I think he what he won

the triple bend or it was one of those sprints after that and

then he never went back to sprinting afterwards.

So at versus you had a horse like Patch Adams, who I know

he's facing 3 year olds, but he won two great ones.

I was I was a little surprised to see him to see Nicos on the

Champion sprinter nominations personally.

I will say this, Sean, This is why I never vote based on

whether I have a horse in another category because my

sense is there are a bunch of people who like Nisos and think

he's one of the three best older dirt males, but they're stuck on

the classic distance. They're stuck on those kinds of

races rather than just voting for who they think the best

horse is. And that's why for me, like if

someone told me they thought she's so spicy is the best 3

year old Philly, but she's a turf sprinter.

I don't care that she's a turf sprinter if she's the best at

doing that and she just beat older males, by the way, in the

Breeders Cup to do that. Like if somebody made that case,

I'm not going to be mad about it.

And then to see her in the turf category and then to see her in

the three-year old category you don't like.

And then the sprinting category, like vote for her based on the

category, not on if you have her as a sprinter and then drop her

out as a three-year old because I think Nisos is in the

sprinting because guys didn't, you know, voters didn't know

what to do with the older dirt male category.

So they were like, I'll leave Misos out.

I'll vote for Sierra Leone, I'll vote for fierceness, I'll vote

for Forever Young, I'll vote for Mind frame.

I'll throw those guys in there. I'll make that about a 10

furlong thing as opposed to who just the best horse is.

I'd never vote that way because I don't want to get stuck like

what you just described. Yeah, exactly.

It's just kind of a weird scenario.

I think back to EZ a couple years ago when she was a

three-year old and she was nominated for female sprinter.

And I know she ran second in the Frieders Cup filly Mare Sprint,

but I mean, she was mostly, you know, routing the whole time.

So yeah, that would just surprise me, especially

considering the fact that he gets nominated for that and Mind

Frame doesn't when Mind Frame is the one that beat him in a great

1. And I know my friend, but we had

the Mind Frame also only had the one race at the Sprint.

So again, I didn't even consider him really for that just because

he spent most of the year not sprinting.

But yeah, that was, I'd say that was probably my biggest surprise

was Nice popping up on the champion sprinter list.

I thought, I know I had mentioned Patch Adams was my

third horse. I don't think Nice is going to

win that award. I think that's going to be

clearly either Bochumdano or Bentornado.

But I was I was surprised to see him put on the OR get enough

votes to be on the nominations there.

These awards always come out and they make me realize as well how

much I don't discount turf running and how much Eclipse

voters love dirt running, right? Like AG bullets, nowhere to be

found. There's nowhere to be found on

any of these lists on the thing. And so you'd really have to lead

to the dirt pedigree for that or dirt results, I should say, for

that kind of thing. Yeah.

But I learned on the flip side of that, just really how much

people kind of put into the Breeders Cup still every year

There are there are a couple, there are a couple of Breeders'

Cup winners that, you know, even though they won, I didn't

necessarily think that they they should be in there.

And I think you you may have had him on your nominations as well.

I don't think you voted him from the top spot, but I was

surprised to see Rebels Romance have enough with not winning the

Breeders Cup Turf. I know, I know he did come over

and win the turf, the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic ahead of time.

And obviously he ran a really good second.

But I wonder how much of him getting enough to be nominated

for Turf Force, I wonder how much of that was reflecting on

his entire career of coming over here and running in the Breeders

Cup, rather than just what he did in 25 for 2025.

Personally for me, that that, that was another one that kind

of surprised me a little bit. But hey, people are gonna vote.

How'd they vote? I think with Rebels romance you

do. He is an example of a lifetime

achievement award kind of horse. I agree with you, by the way,

and also because he ran twice in North America.

I think he just got more votes. I think people like that run in

aqueducts a little more than you did, Sean.

I know I, well, I, I, I guess, I guess that surprised me a little

bit, but I, it was just, I felt like he was the kind of horse

that would have had to win the Breeders Cup Turf to be on that

list. And he didn't win the Turf, but

then he still ended up on the list.

So that just that surprised me for that.

Ethical Diamond not in the top three turf horses.

Gazora makes the top three on the Philly and mare side.

Feels like an anti Louis bias in that one, does it not?

It does feel like an anti. I think everybody voted

specifically for that reason. They said we're going to leave

out Ethical Diamond just to. Make Louie mad.

But we're going to put in Ghazora just to make Louie more

mad. I think that was exactly

everybody. Everybody voted the eclipse of

words based off of making you angry.

I agree, they all watched our episode and then they made the

the appropriate adjustments to make sure that I'm angry.

You have you have no one to blame but yourself.

You didn't vote ethical diamond on top of that category, so.

I didn't vote him at all. That's my fault.

I just bet on him. That's exactly right, man.

Well, a man who's going to be busy at the Eclipse Awards as he

always is, is Michael Vanahan. He joins us from Godolphin here

on BLOOD HORSE Monday. Appreciate him jumping on.

And we are jumping on because of a horse that is a finalist in

the Eclipse Awards. His name is Sovereignty.

And Michael, good afternoon. To start off, how are you?

Afternoon. Happy New Year.

Very well. Yeah, likewise.

Thank you very. Happy New Year.

I'm. Glad you're doing well for sure.

Do you like Shawn's background there?

Isn't that just a wholesome background?

This guy going. Absolutely, Yeah, He's carrying

on the Christmas tradition and I, I, I think it's great.

Get it all the way to a? That's exactly right.

Yeah, I know. Well, this is really good to

embarrass my dad when he watches this pack because he's usually

one of the people that doesn't like the tree still being up.

But they left it up a little longer since I was coming in

after Christmas, so the fact that it's pulling all this

attention. Well, fantastic.

I think it's great. Michael, I wanted to ask about

those Eclipse Awards before we get into the sovereignty

discussion. We had you on last year after

the Eclipse Awards. You were one of the first guests

on this show. We're now up to 49 episodes of

this thing, believe it or not. And the, I guess I think it's

more no one else wants to do this, Michael.

But you know, when you see Owner, when you see Breeder and

you see yourself as a finalist, I even asked you about this in

very specific terms last year. I imagine Someone Like You,

you're thinking about the folks on the farm, you're thinking

about people within the operation that make this thing

go. Do you ever get tired of seeing

your name on that nomination list?

No, because I think it's for us and Godolphin, it's realization

of all the work that's put down over years to get to that, you

know, to get to the stage where you're nominated for an owner or

breeder. It's not one horses carrying you

there. It's a collective of the stable

that's doing that. And it's a collective of how

well the trainers are doing for you.

All the guys on the farm, all the people on the farm that say

get us there and get the horses in as good of shape as possible

from when they're falling them out to raising them as falls and

yearlings. So it's just a, it's so many,

you know, people that are involved in that.

It makes it very special. And to be able to do that with

successive years, something we're very proud of and it's a

reflection on. You can look back and you say

you've had a great year. If you see your name nominated

for one of those awards as the honor breeder rather than

individual awards are great when you get, you know, pretty

individual horses and we love to have those as well.

But the collective of how well the whole stable is gone is so

important to us as you know. And so we really, we really

enjoy being there. And to answer your question as a

long winded one, no, don't get tired of that.

Well, we'll dive into Sovereignty here in a moment.

Obviously he was the headliner for Good Dolphin this year, but

putting him aside, you guys had good cheer when the Kentucky

Oaks, she had a big first half of the season.

Who were some of the other big horses that really kind of made

Good Dolphin's year all the better?

Even with even if you took Sovereignty out, who were some

of the other stars for you guys this year?

Well, First Mission had a great start to the year and won the

Oakland Handicap and he did US proud as well and ran in against

some really top class horses and Sierra Leone and the likes of

those. And so he just, you know, maybe

didn't finish up the year as well as we would have liked.

And but then Highland Falls, he did this proud as well and ran a

great racing defeat up in the in the Whitney as well.

And unfortunately, we didn't quite get into the Breeders Cup,

but he was training super. And I know Brad was very excited

about getting them to the Breeders Cup, even though he

knew we also had sovereignty in her arm going in there at that

time. But I remember he was really

gutted when when he had to tell me that it was only, you know,

the week later that he was going to make it.

So he did US proud. We had a lovely Philly called

Ragtime that you're nearly won the test 1st and the red one and

only our third started at the time and came down to Churchill

and won the Dogwood and ran well in the Raven run.

So she's a nice filly with, you know, a nice spring with a filly

that own heart. He had called Verity, won the

ball man to Cleveland and then came back around the 8 bells and

she came out out with a little issue.

We had to give her time. But she's come back just before

Christmas and ran a really nice race and we'll bring her down to

hopefully the inside information and in Gulfstream in January and

who else we had, we had, we had plenty, plenty of them as well.

And. You know, we, we early on the

year, we, we had poster who we thought were, you know, get us

through into the Triple Crown region as well.

And, and didn't quite make we had to pull up on him, but he

came back nicely. What a nice turf race at

Churchill and then just got nosed out of us in the, in the

Harlan's holiday down in Gulfstream.

And we were proud of him. He ran a big race and were he's

got an invite to go to the Pegasus.

So I think that's where we'll head next with him.

And he's a really nice horse, wouldn't underestimate him at

all. And of course, we had the East

Avenue to run the Derby and he had, he had a good year, didn't

hit scale the heights that we expected and thought that he

would be able to do. And after the West Virginia

Derby came up with a little issue, we had to give him time

off. He's back down in Florida with

Brendan Walsh and we're hoping that he could do well.

You know, 2026, he's a lot of blue sky in front of him for

sure. He's a, he's a talented horse,

great little winner as a 2 year old.

So looking forward to getting him back and we had a great

finish up to the year when we had a horse that we've been high

on for an awful long time called Knightsbridge and what the Mr.

Prospector just after Christmas. And so it was the first time

we've got back-to-back races with him.

He's just again, the horse death, you know, every time we

get one step forward about four or five steps back.

And so it's been a long haul. We've had two years waiting for

him to get there and put two races back-to-back and and you

know, he won that very well last week and so hopefully we'll have

a good 26 with him as well and if you can keep him sound and

healthy. Well, that's all the time we

have. Fantastic.

Now. What a great, what a great.

I mean, what a great thing to be able to do that, Michael, just

list off all those horses and successes there, all the

different connections and different things as well all

over the continent, frankly, just a spectacular year for

sure. The decision to bring

sovereignty back though, of course is why we wanted to have

you on the program. And, and I want to ask it this

way. Is there any sort of pressure

within the sport at all for, for Someone Like You to, to race

this horse again when you see others from his class come back

horses like journalism or a magnitude or something like

that. Even this last year when we see

those same three from the top of the Breeders Cup Classic

comeback, finishing that top three again in the BC Classic,

Is there any, you know, hey, I looked at us here early on.

I looked at a fierceness. Now I'm looking at this.

Is there any kind of thought of that or is it purely just, hey,

this is what's best for good often?

I think probably just what's best for the horse first and

foremost and then for the dolphin as well.

And luck we might do having this conversation if the when the

Breeders Cup and, you know, everyone was touting the big

time and we knew who was going on there with a major, major

chance. And, you know, remember watching

the some of the the fun jewel programs more than workouts

beforehand. And you know, they were

practically giving them the trophy already.

And so I'm sure he would have had a big chance in the race if

he went in there and did something special.

I'm sure we wouldn't even be having this conversation now.

He would have been in the stallion, more than likely in

the stallion bar. But this has given us an

opportunity to bring them back and you know, try and rectify

not being able to run the Breeders Club Classic of 25.

Well, I wanted to ask you. So he he ends up scratching from

the classic. He got sick a couple days before

the race. You guys then took him back to

Kentucky and took him to Keeneland.

And I'm going to put for our viewers, I'm going to put some

pictures up on the screen. Our photographer and Eberhardt

went to see him train the other day.

So there he is a Keeneland. But just take us through what

the last two months have looked like for him.

I know you guys were debating on the decision for a little bit.

We didn't really see or hear much about what his last two

months have been like. So what has his last two months

looked like? Well put special word in for

Johnny Bark and his team as our barn of Rice Rd. and Keeneland

there, they did a phenomenal job with him keeping them taking

over. And, you know, it took him a

while to get over that sickness that he had in Del Mar, whether

it was the travelling or whatever it was.

And it just wasn't 100%. And so we just sort of had to

let him come back to us. But he was in good enough shape

to get some galloping into him. And, you know, keeping them,

keeping them taking over, But it just took longer than we

anticipated. And we didn't want to send down

to Florida until we were 100% happy with him and that he was

doing really well. And you know, he had a couple of

times where he had little fevers through that time frame.

And we were just being cautious and wanted to do the right thing

with him. And it was easier going to be

able to take care of him here in Kentucky.

You know, if we had to have any extra veterinary care or

anything at all, we would have had it here.

And, you know, we were very conscious that.

You know, he's never had a sick tailless life really.

And it was on that ship to Dalmar.

We don't really know why, you know, and we don't.

We didn't have an answer for us and it was just disappointing,

not only for us, but for the industry in general, for the

fans, because I never had so many people from probably

overseas that were anxious to see a horse run that came up to

me and wanting to you're so excited about seeing him.

And that was before the the he we had to withdraw from the race

as well. And so it's just he he'd sort of

he'd sort of, you know, everyone, everyone had them on

their mind that this is horse than to want to see the Breeders

Cup. So, you know, fortunately we're

in a good, good place now. Got it back down to Florida on

New Year's Day. New Year's Day left and

hopefully, you know, has a has a good month and we let Bill build

them back up again. And Johnny, you know, he had a

nice few gallops into him all along there through December

time anyway. So he's not good in there cold

so should be in good shape hopefully.

We know the importance of the Dubai World Cup to Sheikh

Mohammed and the Dolphin operation is that's something

that's still on the table. Is it too early to tell yet?

Is there any kind of definitive plans as far as what we're

thinking about race wise? No, not at the moment.

And I think we just let him get back in there, settled in.

He's he's going to be there. You know, we on Friday let Bill

get him back going again and, and see where he takes him, get

him back on the work schedule and, and every club, the game

plan and I think the race, the only race that we have in mind

is for the end of October at Keeneland.

I would like to try and get him back back to Keeneland and I

work back from there and there's a lot of nice races through the

year and hopefully we can we can get them started here whenever

the appropriate time might be. Michael Vanahan from Godolphin

with us here on Blood Horse Monday, Shawn Collins, Lou

Rebeau hanging out with you talking Sovereignty's return for

2026. You mentioned he's going to go

to Florida and obviously we're working back in your case from

the Breeders Cup Classic itself. You don't he gets sick that

weekend and it does, you know, presents a new sort of dilemma

for for your team. You talked about horse first,

you know, and, and and some of those bouts of of fever after

the initial one, but the opportunity to bring him back

this year and and to see him race in these different spots.

You mentioned doing right by good dolphin as well.

How does how does how do races as a four year old enhance maybe

his resume? Is there?

Is there a spot, you think, other than a Breeders' Cup

Classic that could really matter for him?

Well, we saw probably with Flightline that couple of races

he had as an older horse when he was kept in training and how

well he was received when he went to Lane's End, how well his

stock were received at the sales.

So I think anytime you can go in with a really good resume and a

top class record and you're going to go in as the freshman

sire with the highest stunt fee of your generation and always

leads to, you know, it's supposed to challenge as well.

You're going to be the top of the table.

But it certainly helps in that regard if you're if you're going

there received as the best of the group of that year as far as

quality of bears that come into your bulk as well.

So I think it's important and you know, there's always a

downside as well. You know, he, you know, he had

an unbelievable record this year and you know, he's in line, you

know, as one of the three-year olds on the eclipse ballast and,

and hopefully, you know, maybe more than that as well.

So to come back if, if we don't have the year that we'd like to

think that we can have, or if something happens and we don't

even get to run this year, even though that's the that's what

we're trying to do. And that could have a really

negative impact on gold studd especially.

You know, we know there's an awful lot of nice horses out

there. And if they come back and have

the Super year and, and say, you know, one of them comes along

like a horse, like like a flight line that was a late developer

type of horse, they could take the mantle away.

And we've seen that before. So it's not all given to you on

a place. And I go back to like the guys

that were on the breakfast show as at Del Mar, they were just

about giving you the trophy before you had to run, you know,

so you have to get to the into the gate, you have to be able to

run and you have to be able to show it on the racetrack as

well. So look, we, we're going in

there with our eyes open, knowing that there's a, there's

a, if it doesn't happen for us, it could have a little bit of a

negative effect on him, you know, but you're not going to be

able to take away what we saw in the, in the, in the Derby and

the Belmont and the Travers and even the Jim Dandy and how

impressive he was. And even as impressive return

rest in the fountain, the youth, they're always going to be

there. You can't take that record away

from him. And I think most people

recognized that he was the best 3 year old in the country.

And maybe, you know, at the odds line makers on the at the

Breeders Cup Classic, we're done this.

He was the best horse in the race.

So whether that would have transpired in the race itself,

we would have to let them let the latch go off in the gate and

find out when they were in there.

So no, he's a super horse. We're very proud of him.

And we like to let the horses do the talk.

And you know, we like to sit in the background and guide them in

the right spots where they're meant to be and let them do the

talking. And sometimes they that they can

do that and sometimes that they don't, you know?

There were a lot of times over the last year and a half or so

where whenever we mentioned sovereignty, we also had to

mention good cheer in the same conversation because there were

a lot of weekends where they lined up wins together.

She fittingly also returned to Payson Park joined Brad Cox.

Brad Cox's barn a couple days ago when sovereignty came down

to Florida as well. Just what has she been up to

recently and what are you guys expecting from her this year?

Well, again, you know, we were a little bit disappointed with her

after the Kentucky Oaks just didn't hit the the highlights

that we'd expected her to do. Give her a bit of time, came

back and into cotillion. She was probably showed us that,

you know, she needed a little bit of time off.

And so we brought her back to Kentucky and got her checked out

and she had some ball bruising and indicated that she needed

time in the field for a while. So we did that brought her back

and again Johnny got her gold like we always do in a rehab bar

at Keeneland and has her goal and in great shape.

And you know she did really well in the fall put on plenty

condition plenty of ways, looked in great shape heading back to

Florida. I'll be with a big woolly coat

on her, but that was fine. We had a we had an early winter

in December time, but she lived out most of the time and

enjoyed, enjoyed her time here. And so we would hope that, you

know, she'd probably maybe a little bit later, but you know,

maybe in the springtime we can get her back on track And

there's an awful lot of nice races out there.

And hopefully she can be one of the leading older Phillies in

the country. And it's we saw she was pretty

special when she went seven for seven, culminating in the Oaks

and she was impressive in the Oaks.

And hopefully she'll be able to retain that ability and come

back and be able to show it as an older horse.

And you know, Medallia de Oro's, they usually improve with age as

well. So we'd like to think that

there's plenty of improvement in her as well.

So really looking forward to and you know, it's special for us

and special for the Cox team as well to have an Oaks Philly

coming back to run as a as a four year old as well.

So we'd like to think that she could give us a lot of fun

during the during the summertime for sure.

Well, Michael Manahan from Godolphin, we appreciate the

time very much. You know, just how much joy do

you personally get when you, you know, when you're just standing

in a, in a winner's circle or in a paddock or something and

FanDuel puts a mic in front of your face and say, yeah, you

know, sovereignty is going to come down to Florida and

everyone rejoices. How much, how much do you enjoy

sort of the fan reaction online, those kinds of things?

And do you see? Well, the thing about the good

thing about me is that I don't see anything negative or not on

social media because I don't do it, but I hear about in the

background for sure. And so look, it was, it was

wonderful to be able to relay that information and we're

excited and we embraced out with the excitement of the fans to be

able to see a horse like that. And it's no different to any of

the really, really good race horses.

You know, we all would love them to stay and train and for as

long as possible to be able to see them on the racetrack

because that's what we all enjoy seeing that ultra talented

racing machine out there showing how good they are on the

racetrack. So yeah, look, it'll be it'll

be, it'll be fun. And just knock on wood, they

say, they all say healthy and well.

And we get to the racetrack and you know, hopefully that that is

just done for for the industry or for fans as well.

But for them to be able to join in and you'll get to the

racetrack to see him again and know what a special talent he

is. You know, that'll probably be

great for all the race try, you know, any racetrack that he

turns up. But and to be able to have big

days, I would have again. Well, I, I applaud you for

avoiding social media. It's a good idea in your life,

Michael, keep it up. It's a good, probably good

resolution for a number of people listening to this thing

right now. Maybe Sean Collins, I don't

know. It's a whole thing.

But no, be well happy 2026 and count Sean and me amongst those

that are very excited that Soccer 2 will be riding racing

again in 26. Great.

Thanks a lot guys. Thank you.

Michael Bad and from Gadolphin, appreciate him jumping on,

Always so generous with his time and what's going on in their

operation. I mean, Shawn, he went like 6

minutes to start of all the good things.

If you want to know why they're finalists for Odor of the Year,

there it is. There's the answer for you.

Yeah, yeah. Very simple.

Exactly. I mean, right, there's the proof

of the pudding. Why?

Why they're in the conversation for that and like and why

they've been in the conversation, been winning that

award for years and years on end now.

So it looks like they're gonna be well on their path to another

eclipse of victory in both the Owner and the Breeder Award this

year, I would think. I also appreciate Michael not

hiding from what this year is about.

If you're going to bring a horse like sovereignty back and that's

to win the Breeders Cup Classic, it's to be the best horse on the

planet as far as Dart is concerned and to go do those

things. He sounded very frankly very

similar to the forever young folks at this time last year,

right. And where they said, look, we're

working backwards from Del Mar. We want to go back there.

We want another shot at the title essentially, and and

they're going to go do that. And I, I am fascinated.

I appreciate him saying this. Look, if he doesn't have a fever

and he wins the race, we might not even be talking today.

I mean, like that's a, you know, that's a that's a realistic

approach and a realistic thing for Michael to say about that as

well, because look, when I asked about, you know, resume as a

four year old, if you win the Breeders Cup classic as a

three-year old, ain't much more to do, right?

There's not the list gets real boom, the list gets real short

after that. Oh, we didn't win the Gold Cup

or something. I mean, come on, right.

And so no at that part. I really appreciate it too.

Just transparency on, you know, resume can get better.

It can also get, you know, can get some Dings on it if if he

doesn't come back all the way, right.

I mean, that's that's real talk and I appreciate it.

Yeah, and I mean we just saw this this past year, Sierra

Leone and fiercest. I know they didn't win every

race, but you can't look at the years that they had and the

performances that they had and say they they hurt their value

at all in the breeding shed. If anything, I think it I think

it made them more valuable in the breeding shed going forward

to see both of them be really good 2 year olds and then both

of them still performing at that level and being at the top of

their vision at 4. And so sovereignty the same

thing. You know, he had a big win at

two in the street sense dominant year as a three-year old.

If he can come back, get a even if he's not, even if he doesn't

win every single race like he was doing throughout this year,

if he could get, you know, another big win over journalism,

if he can get a big win in the Breeders Cup Classic at the end

of the year against forever young, that's going to do a a

lot for the breeding value of of this horse.

So it's exciting to see him come back for this year.

We always talk about, you know, man, if we could have seen

American Pharaoh at 4:00, if we could have seen Secretariat at

4, you know, seeing how that some of those top horses would

have developed as they got older.

We're going to see that with sovereignty and we're going to

see how that dominance continues on into his four year old

season. So I'm very excited for that.

The other part is this, and once in a while you have to kind of

read between the lines of what people are saying or try to

figure it out. He went from zero to flight

line. I don't know, flight lineman as

a four year old that worked out, didn't it?

Awesome if he did? Yeah, no, it did.

You're right. Exactly.

It totally did it. So no, but just it, it is nice

when people just talk about what the realities are.

If he wins the Breeders Cup Classic, we're probably not

talking. If he doesn't have a great year,

that is a risk for us. We're shooting for flight line

though. Awesome.

Yes Go go give us the next one. We're all in.

It sounds awesome. So yeah, that part I.

Really appreciate. Good.

Yeah, well, we don't we don't talk about this part as much

either when it comes down to this.

It's just for whatever reason, this isn't something we talk

about as much in horse racing as we do in other sports.

But this is really the year if he comes back and he wins, you

know, 2-3 more grade ones. This is what seals the deal of

his Hall of Fame induction as well.

So it's it's not just, you know, from the breeding valley and all

of that. This is a year that will be

pivotal in the turning him into one of the all time to the sport

and solidify him in that Hall of Fame, so it's great to see him

come back as a four year old and see what he can do this year.

Purely fan perspective too. We get spoiled.

We get those three guys back last year for every young in

Sierra Leone in fierceness. We also get a mind frame, right,

running as an older horse who we kind of couldn't put all the

pieces together on. That feels like we kind of got a

magnitude doing that this coming year.

But frankly, what you just said is amplified by the fact that

all those horses are back. With the journalism being back

on the track, he's gonna have to beat some of those horses to win

some of these races, right? If you're gonna win at Saratoga,

you're gonna have to beat some of those horses.

If you're gonna win, say, a Met Mile, let's say that's his

comeback race. I don't know.

You're gonna have to beat a journalism in that kind of race.

And you, when you talk about Hall of Fame kind of stuff,

Sean, it's exactly what we're talking about is who did you

beat? What era were you in and which

races did you win? And frankly, if if it he's

already checked off the which races did you win box right.

As far as the Hall of Fame kind of resume, who did you beat?

When you're an older horse, that's when you start checking

off that box. Now, to be fair, this was a good

three-year old. It was, it just was.

But winning just against three-year olds is a different

question than winning against older horses.

I'm excited to see him take it on next year.

It'll be great. Yes, yeah, it's a very, very

exciting to see what's going to come from him this year.

I'm very excited for it. I can't wait to see where he

ends up racing. I know I'm going to be trying to

make it to as many of his races. As I can, he was.

He was definitely a highlight for me this year, getting up

close to him, seeing him, I think I was at not not including

his Florida races, I was at every single one of the rest of

his races this year. So definitely looking forward to

seeing some more sovereignty on the track.

How many people don't vote for sovereignty for three-year old

of the year, do you think? Gosh, if anybody did that, that

there are two award, there are two awards this year that I

think should without a doubt be unanimous and that sovereignty

isn't 3 year old cult and Ted Nafi isn't a 2 year old cult.

In my opinion, I think Horse of the Year should be anonymous

should be that as well. But we already know from our

show last week that we got there was one vote from Forever Young

out there at least. And I know he's.

Probably at least one that's right.

But yeah, I would think that three-year old cult hopefully

would be unanimous. So we'll see if we'll see if our

fellow voters agree on that one. But.

All three of us, I think all three of us unanimous on

sovereignty last weekend and then yes, numerous votes for

good, often for owner and breeder as well on the program

last week. So there you go.

Yes. Also just to mention Good Cheer

also ended up nominated for champion 3 year old Philly off

the first strong first half of the year, so give her a shout

out for that as well. I try to remember, I'm almost

positive I left her in my ballot just because the first half of

the year was so impossible to overlook.

She was so, so good. Certainly the the win in the the

Kentucky Oaks was, I mean, it was as impressive, frankly, it's

not with two. So good stuff, good stuff that

weekend for sure. But, you know, the other part is

I think I, I, I don't want people to take for granted how

involved Michael is because I, we see him everywhere, man, we

see. Him.

Oh, yeah. I mean, he's, we saw him here.

We saw him at Indianapolis. I saw Michael just this year.

Oh, man. At least at least six different

tracks at least. So I mean, yeah, no, it's it's,

yeah, These, this is there's a reason get Dolphins on that list

every year for final list. And it's it's because it's a

serious operation with serious people.

And so congratulations to them. So glad we're going to get to

see Sovereignty at least a couple more, hopefully a couple

more times. Keep him healthy and keep him on

the track. Be a lot of fun for Derby preps

over the weekend. Two of them officials and two of

them unofficials. And I've decided I'm going to

have a very specific role in horse racing here, Sean.

OK. I think of everything as a path

to something. My whole, and I think this is

from being a dad you always think of like, hey, if your kid

gets good at doing homework in 6th grade, they'll be good at

doing it in high school. You know, this kind of thing,

Whatever. Everything's a path to

something, OK. And I love the road to the

Derby. I think it's a great idea.

I think conceptually it's an awesome idea.

So I I love. It it's fantastic.

I love it. Yeah, I've extended it to the

Preakness on my my podcast, the horse Racing Happy Hour.

We do Road to the Preakness shows because they they run the

races in the middle of the month just like they will with the

Tessio and and that's a a winning in for the Preakness.

So we do Road to the Preakness. I think we need to start calling

these races that aren't officially Derby points races

still on the trail. So, for example, the race at

Turfway, the preview is on the Derby trail as far as I'm

concerned because they got 100 point prep at that place.

And this one is a month before the minor prep.

OK. And I think the Mucho Macho Man

at Gulfstream Park is absolutely on the Derby trail before you

get to the swell and the other things.

What says Shawn Collins about my thoughts?

No, I agree with that. I always, I always thought this

is just me wanting us to pay attention to more stuff that we

probably need to pay attention to.

I've always thought it would be interesting.

Some of these other 3 year old steaks like the ones you

mentioned in Maryland this past weekend, the Mucho Macho Man,

the Turfway Preview, some of these races, you know, maybe we

don't do the full points value. Maybe we get 5 points to the

winner, 3 points to second, one point to 3rd.

You know, this kind of these unofficial prep races that are

still 3 year old stakes races at some of these major tracks.

Maybe we just get give it a little incentive to maybe get

get some. Just five points to the winner,

just five points to the winner. Just just yeah, that's it.

That's all we're doing. Something like that.

You win the something that would be.

Helpful. You get 5 points.

Something that would be helpful in the tiebreaker scenario when

we get to that mass of horses that's in between 40 and 50

points. Something that could maybe help

you out is, you know, getting a stakes win at one of these kind

of minor ones leading into these roads.

That's something that you're not making putting way too much work

on Churchill dances. They got enough.

They've got a. Together, Kirsten, That's right.

Yeah, they've got enough races to concern themselves with as it

is on this prep series. But I always like to.

I mean, we've talked many times on this show about how much I

love the Triple Crown, how much I love the Derby.

And the more more I can get excited for that, the more I

could be like, oh, this race means something.

The more you know, that just it just makes me feel better.

I know there's a lot of people who would who would be

interested in that as well. So give give five points to the

winner of the Mucho Macho Man. Why not, right?

You were at Aqueduct over the weekend.

I spoke with our colleague Bob E Halt on Friday on my radio show

ahead of the trip and I asked him the question, who's the most

likely winner here and who's the most likely Derby starter out of

this group? And he landed on the same horse

and that was the winner. In my world, this is a Brad Cox

trainee. This is a route that of recent

years, Brad has started to use more and more on his way to the

Kentucky Derby. I don't want to get too excited

about one turn miles in January with four horse fields, Sean,

but all the breeding, all the connections say that this horse

can be and should be a force as we move along the, you know, the

Gotham and the and those sorts of races there.

What do you make of his win at Aqueduct?

You were there in person, Yes. Yes, yeah.

And right after the race, I told my dad I was like, we may not

have seen a large field, but the winner was the winner's a

legitimate horse. So that that was the benefit of

that. You, you look at him, he's a son

of essential quality. So you know, he's probably going

to the longer the better for him.

And it seemed he ran like that in in this race as well.

Looked like in the middle of the stretch, he maybe wasn't going

to get to Balboa. But then as you got closer and

closer to the finish, it looked like he just kind of locked in.

And that last eighth of a mile, the last 16th of a mile, he came

up and and he got the job done. So this is a horse that I think

definitely is going to be 1 to look at when you're looking at

Brad's Bradt team. I'm interested to see what they

do with him going forward. Do you keep them on the New York

Rd. I know Brad sometimes will

shuffle the horses around. Maybe he ends up in like a in in

the Sam or the Tampa Bay Derby in that series, maybe ends up in

Louisiana at some point of Florida now that Brad's got a

presence down there. So it'll be interesting to see

where he ends up. But I do think that this is a

horse that looked legitimate. I think Balboa is a nice horse.

I don't know what I make of his distance capabilities long term,

but suddenly not this time. So you can't fault him for that.

But so, yeah, so he he's he's a nice horse as well.

I thought these two horses were legitimate horses.

We'll see if they turn into Derby horses, but I think they

both got a shot to you as we're going forward.

So Quebec is the mayor here, OK on your winner.

And she's into. Mischief.

OK, Distorted humor Mayor for her.

And then you get the essential quality breeding.

Now this is a horse in Quebec. Is is the mom here for my world?

She was a multiple like black type sort of listed stakes

winner down in New Orleans. And so she's got a little bit of

that, like you said, she's a daughter of into Mischief, but

distorted humor on her damn side.

And so just an interesting pedigree of distance, distance,

distance, right. And so that's why with this one,

I think this is one of those those sires we're going to have

to start watching in essential quality as we get into this kind

of type of year, probably more next year, frankly, when his

numbers start to kick up a little bit.

These horses are going to stretch out well, I think.

I, I think they're just going to be good.

And, and my world's certainly in my mind at least.

And you saw him in prison, so you'll know better than me.

He fits that. No, for me I think the 10

prolongs won't be an issue. No, it won't be an issue.

He he looked good winning this weekend.

It wasn't like he, you know, he was he was struggling to get by

and he just saw barely got by right at the end.

He he was a he was a good, strong winner and they were

coming down to the wire here and he looked like a horse that was

going to appreciate more ground. And going into it, I thought, I

thought he looked really well in the paddock ahead of time.

I know I'm not always the best judge for that, but he did stand

out to me in the paddock and as did Balboa.

Balboa looked good in there as well.

But yeah, I do think this is a legitimate worse.

He came out, came out of a good win in the Nashua.

Now he's going forward with this win here in the Jerome.

And so I imagine we'll start looking.

I don't know if he he would come back right away in the Withers

if he does stay in New York or not.

I think that would honestly, in my opinion, be a better option

than the Gotham because that gets you a mile an eighth that

rather than returning back at the mile for the Gotham.

So we'll see where they end up with him.

Robert Lepenta medicate stables on the ownership.

You know they're they're going to be involved.

We're trying to get this horse there to the Derby.

They've been involved in very nice horses especially.

Recently, right? I mean, like God, just get just

just get a starting spot. Like I honestly last year if

Rodriguez makes it, I think he's a major contender.

Sean, I don't think it's the wood memorial thing.

I know the Fu Saiji Pegasus thing and all that, blah, blah,

blah. Just get to the darn starting

gate. It's good.

It's some wood memorial horse is going to win the Derby at some

point. I mean, just get your horse

there and you know, if your horse is comfortable with

Aqueduct, that's how you qualify.

If your course is, you know, is is comfortable at at Turfway,

you go to Turfway and qualify for the Kentucky Derby because

it's a freaking Kentucky Kentucky Derby.

Sean exactly right. So if you're.

Speaking my. Language if that's where my

world is best and leave them in New York and win those races.

I don't care if they're on a mile.

Just go win those races. That's what I would say at least

at this point in the the at least at this point in the trail

strategic risk. How about the Florida bread goes

ahead and I think turns in? I'll go ahead and say it.

I think the the performance of the weekend, not just on the

Derby trail but in general, I thought he was that good.

In Do you think this is the performance of the Derby Trail

so far? Trail, I got to say I like Norfi

in the Breeders Cup Classic still quite a bit.

And then I thought. I didn't realize he ran in the

Breeders Cup Classic. Or the general, excuse me, but

the and then is it? Is it incredible?

Am I remembering that name correctly?

Yep. Those are kind of the three for

me right now, but I thought this one was for this weekend and I

mean all of horse racing across North America.

This was as good a performance as I saw.

How about that? One yeah, I'm not going to

disagree with you. He he looked really good here,

obviously, especially when you're comparing I I know we can

expect my world is going to be able to take the distance, but

this one being around 2 turns definitely stands out a little

bit more than the Jerome did this one being the the mile mile

to 16th here. But yeah, he looked really good.

Nice to see Javier Castellano on another on another good young

horse moving towards the Derby. Mark Cassie and Jon Oxley, the

trainer and the owner here. They run 1-2 in this race.

So let's not discount the fact that they ran second here with

silent tactic and yeah, it's he he looked really good this

weekend. I'm excited to see what he does

moving forward. Fun fact, I don't know if people

know this or not, but when you take out the Kentucky breads,

Florida's the second winningest state in the Kentucky Derby.

Florida breads are. So don't don't discount him just

because he's a Florida bread. Noble bird of sort of course, a

son of of Why am I doing this Of Bird Stone and I had stone in my

head instead of Bird and I don't know why that was but but yeah,

but a fleet Alex on the other side too.

So distance ain't going to be it.

We very clearly saw a horse that could run a lot longer even at

this point in a very early developed 3 year old campaign.

But it's interesting too, because we get different horses

of different experiences. This is one that's run now in

three, in three stakes and then two Florida bred stakes as well.

So up the six races for this horse, five of them at a very

high level. And that doesn't include winning

on debut in June at Gulfstream Park.

So I can't hold a debut win against a horse either.

So I just this is one that's interesting to me, Sean,

because, you know, maybe this one just wasn't ready for say, a

Sanford or with anticipation up at Aqua or excuse me, at

Saratoga over the summer. And he's getting more into what

this horse is capable of doing, growing into himself a little

bit here. As you mentioned, Javier

Castellano wins a lot of these races, man.

He just does. And you're at Saratoga.

It's just once in a while you look down at the program, you're

like, all right, Javier, all right.

Yep. Just he sees to be one of those.

So I would not be surprised if this horse continues along well

over at Turfway Park, we had the Turfway preview and I think this

is where we saw a field where we're very unlikely to get a

good 10 furlong type 2 turn horse race.

But I did want to shout out the Maryland connections of hometown

bound Victor Carrasco came to my to town.

Excuse me to ride for this one. And this is a horse that is

trained, of course, by Jorge Duarte Junior.

I think it's brighter though, Sean.

And by the way, go get $200,000 checks if you can.

So that was a good idea. 125,006 1/2 furlongs, that ain't a bad

deal especially. I mean we've talked a lot on

this show about the synthetic and how important that could be

as he's purse, as this purse money goes up.

There's an example of it right there.

That's a that's a pretty nice purse to take home with your

sprinter there. But yeah, I, I, I agree with you

there on that. We'll see whether or not I guess

they go forward with some of those.

But son of Mottoli, obviously champion sprinter.

So you, you'd think that's going to be probably what he, he wants

to do best. And we'll see as well.

The Leonard is coming up at Turfway, I think 2 Saturdays

from now. So, so we'll, we'll get another

idea of who some of these Turfway 3 year olds to keep an

eye on will be, I think in that race.

I think that that might give us a little better idea.

Leonardos, the Battaglia and of course the Jeff Ruby Stakes all

on the Derby trail there in Florence at Turfway Park.

Final one was the Mucho Macho Man down there at Gulfstream

Park. We get a winner in commandment

and people trying, I think, not to get too excited about this

one. This is one we last saw for the

Waltham folks up here at Churchill Downs.

Brad Cox trains here, man. Couple of winners going a mile.

That sounds like it's a getting to be Brad Cox season here.

Yeah, that's seems to be the time of year where we're going

to start seeing a bunch of his horses picking off stakes,

doesn't it? But yeah, let me just say I

really hope this horse has a successful career just so when I

write about him, I can already think about different ways that

pull pull the commandment into the into the intro of some

stories when he. When he thou shalt not passes.

So, yeah, so there, there should be, there should be some good

article writing potential if this turns into a good one here.

But you know, we've seen Waffman winning so many big races across

the world. Now one place they have we

haven't really seen them too much.

I know they've had a couple horses here and there has been

on the Derby trail. So it'd be nice to see as they

as they continue to grow their global presence.

You know, we talked about Godolphin, we talked about

Juddmont and some of these big, big international places that

are originally based in the Middle East.

It'd be nice to see Waffman kind of kind of start jumping in

there as well and have a good horse on this Derby trail.

So hopefully we'll get to see him take a step forward.

I know that that Florida Rd. I think it's going to be tough.

I know Ted Nafi's going to be down there.

I believe Incredible is probably pointing for that as well.

I think that's going to be where he's going to end up wintering.

So yeah, that's going to be that's going to be a tough very.

I mean, it always is, but it's going to be extra tough this

year coming out of Florida. Whoever comes out of the Florida

races this year are going to be legit.

And you saw that last year with sovereignty.

But I think Florida's definitely at this point, I think kind of

the number one place we're going to have to watch some of these

Derby prospects. Yeah, I think there's there's

something about Sean and I always wonder, I always wonder

if there's a a part of you that does what I do, which is I, I

like to look at which places are historically significant on the

Derby Trail, Gulfstream, Santa Anita, you know, those sorts of

places for sure. Jump to mind immediately and

then you get places like Aqueduct, which are down

currently but historically are unbelievably important.

But that's back when the Wood Memorial was like the Grade 1

before the Derby, that kind. Of stuff that was back, that was

back when you would run at Gulfstream and then go to

Aqueduct and then go to Churchill.

Exactly right. And so yeah, back those kinds of

things. And so it's it's fun to see

these kinds of races and certainly this mile race stands

out to me. But yes, as you said, just it'll

be interesting to see who ends up on that Florida path.

But this is a horseman in commandment that I look, first

Derby I ever went to was Orb. And I'm not saying that this has

anything to do with me, but you know, we're getting Derby win

essential qualities in here. We're getting orbs in here.

These kinds of horses that we know can do this thing that just

aren't named into mischief that are just named Gun, right or

something like that. Get a little bit more of these.

I'm pretty excited by this stuff.

Do you like the move from the name orb to commandment?

Do you like that I? Yes, yeah.

Orb, the broodmare sire here on this one.

I do like that. Yes, OK.

Fair enough. All right, good enough.

But yes, commandment here and into Mischief and the orb

broodmare, sire, Why not? Let's get into that there.

For sure not a ton of Derby preps for a couple of weeks,

Sean, as we get into other parts of the trail.

Certainly you mentioned the salmon and the and the, the

Tampa Brout will start to kick up a very, very soon.

But after those four races, anybody especially stand out?

Are we leaning on maybe the the performance there in this mighty

Jones? Yeah, I'd say so.

I think you definitely have to conclude that horse really at

the top of your list right now. I'm I'm not one that's gonna

take incredible off the top of my list until he comes back and

I I see what he's made of here for his three-year old season.

So he's still my my top one right now.

But with how tough Florida looks right now, this is gonna be, you

know, Ted Nafi was so dominant during the 2 year old season,

winning the winning the hopeful, winning the Breeders charity,

winning the Breeders Cup Juvenile, New York, Kentucky,

California, checking all the boxes now.

I think, I think the big story moving forward here is, is he

going to come back and continue developing or is he going to

come back even if he's running the exact same and he's at the

same level, is he going to come back and these other horses are

going to catch up to him? That's the exciting part of this

time of year. I mean, we could, we could be

having all this debate on the horses and then Ted Nafi just

ends up being this otherworldly talent that just sweeps through

everything. And we'll have to, we'll have to

wait and see. But I'm excited to see exactly

what's brewing down there in Florida.

And we got, we got some nice horses elsewhere with Oaklawn

and Aqueduct, but we got a nice group of three or three newly

turned 3 year olds now so far. So we'll see how this goes.

And don't, even though there's not any official preps this

weekend, you know, don't, don't, don't stop paying attention.

Owen Almighty. Owen Almighty was in the Pasco

last year and it was a dramatic Pasco, but he was in it.

So don't don't be sleeping on this weekend.

By the way, shout out 11 1/2 length win for a dazzling Dame

there in the Busanda. Yes, I'll let you do 30 seconds

on the Busanda and say say something nice about Brittany

Russell. How about that?

There you go. Yes, well, I know it's exciting

to see Brittany Russell on the big stage with with with a horse

and also, you know, she had Balboa who we who we mentioned

second there in the Jerome. So it's nice to see her with a

couple big horses heading toward the Kentucky races here in the

spring. But yeah, I mean, she she

impressed me that that was a very professional win from her.

She just drew off down the lane. I know she's only facing couple

rivals, 4 rivals after after the one scratch, but I mean she

handled them. Some of those other Phillies

that were in there had shown to be some nice Phillies and some

stakes races before and she she just handled them.

I also want to give a shout out. Let me double check make sure I

get his name right. The horse that scratched from

the Jerome My. Lawn might lawn, Yeah.

Might land. I've got a Yeah, my lawn.

I I, I know, I know. He faced two horses at parks and

the week we got to I was there at that race so.

But he won by a billion, didn't he?

Yeah, he he won by 19 likes. I got to say I was I I was

standing there watching it and I see him just blow past the two

the two horses in front of him were having having a little a

little personal duel down the backstretch.

He just click surged right past him.

It just drew off. So I don't I don't know what led

to the decision that not run him in the Jerome and run him in

that race. Obviously I can't fault the

decision with how easily he won. I thought he won easy enough on

Tuesday. He could probably came back on

Saturday if he wanted to and run into Jerome.

But I I hope they I hope they give him a shot to leave parks

and maybe try one of these other New York prep races down the

line. I I thought he, I thought he

looked really, I mean, he's facing two horses and he was

geared down the entire stretch. But I, I enjoyed seeing him.

So I want to give him a little shout out since I was there at

parks that a little shout out to my ladder.

Tampa's drawn for the Pasco on Saturday, is not out, but

certainly we'll be awaiting that one for the weekend.

The Tampa Derby, of course, the earliest of the 50 points races.

Not the races, but of those derbies, right?

Isn't it? I'm trying to remember is there?

Is the star right before it something like that as we get

into? That now the for the 50

pointers, the Risen star, the Risen Star will be first and

then you have quite a few of the other ones.

Fountain of youth, the the, the San Felipe and all that.

The, the Tampa Bay Derby's kind of it's in that spot where it

can it can be the final prep if you want it to be.

We're what, 7 weeks out I. Think we call that the Kingi

Yermo. The Kingi Yermo route to the

Derby, That's what we call it. Well, yes.

He was he the COVID year though? Did he have the extra couple

months? Man, I can get my ears mixed up.

I think it was 2019, but anyways it's not important.

There there's been people who there's been horses that have

have done that where they especially how do you make it

the. During the show, go to the king.

Guillermo. The King Guillermo.

Hey, you brought Echo Base. Base.

Yeah, but how dare you ask me a question about them?

How dare you expect me to have knowledge about something that I

brought up? What a ridiculous thing for you

to think that was 2020. Good job by you.

There you go. Whoo, so he ran in the to be

fair to him, he ran and won the tip a Derby, then ran second in

the Arkansas Derby. So it's not like he just which.

Which was held on Derby Day, so it was the same timing.

So yeah. So there you go.

He would have hit the board in the Kentucky Derby.

So there you go. Can you name the winner of that

Arkansas Derby in 2020? That's that's a good.

One. There were two.

Look at you, look at you. Good job all.

Right. Did Charlatan end up keeping

his? I know there was the he ended up

keeping the one, right? I don't know that part I.

Don't. I think he did.

But yes, it was Nadal in Charlotte and they crossed the

wire first in those two Arkansas derbies.

I'm going to say something wildly unpopular to close the

show here. COVID was very good for my

career, and actually that Arkansas Derby was excellent for

my career. We had something in the

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the horse racing happy hour because it was the only thing

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Well Sean will be back next week obviously.

If anyone was wondering, yes they decided to re up us for

this year and not replace us with Bob and Bob, which would

have been a really good decision, but they're not.

Going to do that. We we haven't made it to a full

year of episodes. Yet.

Might be in a few years. We got three more to go.

Oh. Man, this could turn out really

poorly for us. It really could.

The Pasco is this weekend. Man, I'm excited about that.

I'm just I'm ready for the new year to kick in and these Derby

preps to really kick in and all the speculation, all the fun,

all that kind of stuff should be a lot of fun as well.

Appreciate Michael Banahan jumping on with us on the show

as well. Next week we'll be back.

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