BloodHorse at Breeders’ Cup 25: Thursday

right. Welcome in Panic side for Blood

Horse at the Breeders Cup. His name, Sean Collins.

I'm Louie Robo. Our second day on site here

ahead of the Breeders Cup World Championship.

Sean's been here a day longer than I have for sure.

A lot of activity. Occupied out there in Louisville

doing a seminar or something. That is available on YouTube, by

the way, at the Blood Horse YouTube page if you want to get

my opinions, Barry Spears's opinions on the races this

weekend, both Friday and Saturday. 5 races, of course, on

the juvenile side of things on Friday, nine of them on Saturday

for the older horses as well. But Sean, of course, if it's

sad, it leads and these are the things that happens.

But we find out in the early hours of Tuesday that there has

been a fever spike for a horse named Sovereignty.

And unfortunately we all assumed at that moment too much on the

line for this horse going forward with what the Godolphin

operation, how it works and all of those things, what the

expectations are of Sovereignty's future within

their program. He scratched out of the classic

yes, go ahead. The emotion of the moment, but

you were also here when that was announced, Yes.

What was the mood like when that all started to?

Break it was. It was a pretty somber mood back

here because, you know, whether you were running against

Sovereignty, you had a horse in the classic or not, you wanted

to see the best horses out there.

And there's no denying that Sovereignty has been the best

horse this year so far. He's been the most consistent

horse. He's been running against the

top competition in our biggest races, the Kentucky Derby and

the Belmont Stakes winner, the Travers Stakes winner.

And so to not have him as part of this field, which was already

being billed as one of the greatest Breeders' Cup classics

in history, it still is without him.

It still is one of those races. But to not have the favorite, to

not have the Kentucky Derby, Belmont and Travers winner

participating in this field, it's a pretty sad thing.

So there was a lot of chatter on the backstretch.

You know, people were upset. Obviously, we all understand the

reason why he's not running. Do what's best for the horse to

make sure that he's that he's healthy and that he's safe.

I've been able to see him a couple times just in a stall

since yesterday morning, since the news came out.

He looks fine. He's eating his hay still.

So, you know, it's just one of those things where it's bad

timing. So good thing is he's going to

be OK. But man, it's such a such a loss

for this race. There was so much excitement

going into this race and to lose him specifically that it just

hurts going into it. I've been largely impressed with

people's sort of ability to bounce back.

And then I remember there's still 8th Grade One winners in

that race, right, as far as their mood and those sorts of

things. But you still do get those

eighth Grade One winners in the Classic alongside.

We're getting a trend now that I don't like.

On the other side of things, on the distaff side, we're one of

the favorites. Retires right before everybody

ships to Del Mar Obviously, Thorpedo Anna, we saw her on

Sunday as part of a parade during Juveniles Day there at

Churchill Downs. That the stars stay.

There ready to go while she was in that.

Goodness gracious, Sean. It is.

One of my favorite things about her is it takes two people to

walk her and then wherever she gets to that tunnel to go to the

track, she's like, let's just go to the track.

And you were telling me a story off air about how, well, not

only was it a thing that she was wanting to go to the track, is

that what she got in the tunnel? She was ready to run.

Yeah, she almost got loose when she got out of the tunnel and

her hoof hit the dirt track there at Churchill Downs.

I mean, well before that even happened.

I don't know if you saw it when we were in the paddock, but when

they played the call to the post, the horses start leaving,

stands up a little bit taller. All of a sudden she was even

more hard to handle for those two handlers walking her around

and then as soon as she hit the racetrack, she was ready to

break off and start start warming up.

It seemed like. I don't know if she cared that

Brian Hernandez wasn't on her back for it, but she was ready

to go ahead and start warming up if you asked her to.

So it was good to see, you know, with the performance that she

had in the spinster, it was good to see that she still has that

fight in her, maybe not on the racing side anymore, but at

least when you're looking forward for her going into her

broodmare, just that she is in, she is still in good spirit.

She is still in good health and definitely a well deserved

retirement. There's nothing that we could

have asked her to do more. She gave us one of the biggest

thrills even when she lost some Travers last year.

It's just one of the biggest thrills that we've had over

recent years and she she was just a special horse.

And one of them to watch great dominating performances right

here at Dalbar last year as part of the Breeders Cup menu as

well. But the Breeders Cup Classic

itself, Let's go back to sovereignty here.

Let's talk about the shape of that race, Sean, because one of

the things about sovereignty that made him such a favorite of

this race is that he can do lots of different things.

We've seen him come from way off of it in the Derby, in the

Belmont. We watched him do something

completely different and made a a second, a first move I should

say, on the backstretch before eventually at Saratoga, of

course, doing his best running at the end.

In your mind, does it change much of the the makeup of the

race in terms of its pace and that kind of thing, or is there

something else that you might be looking for?

No, you know, it's not going to change much of the pace because

we definitely didn't expect him to be up on it.

So that's going to stay the same.

The one key difference I think it's going to make is one that

we probably won't really notice because of the fact that he is

absent. But it's the fact that now

nobody has to watch for one specific force.

None of the other jockeys have to pay attention to his junior

moving on on sovereignty yet. Do I need to make sure I get the

jump on him? Maybe I see a horse that sits

closer, a horse like Fierceness or horse like Mind Frame where

they start running a little bit earlier.

They start making that move earlier than they would have

because they want to make sure they get the jump on

sovereignty. You see a horse like Sierra

Leone who would probably be back near sovereignty in the early

stages of the race. You know, now they're not going

to be reacting to sovereignty. If sovereignty starts moving and

then they moved early, Maybe he uses his run too early and gets

burned out. So we're looking at it.

We're not going to notice these changes just because he's not in

there. So they're not going to be

watching him. But that I think would have been

the biggest difference was it may have made some other riders

move differently and you know, kind of go earlier just because

he they wanted to make sure that they got a jump on him.

Now they don't have to worry about that.

So now even though there are a lot of big names in here, like

fierceness, like Sierra Leone, like journalism, like mind

Frame, I feel like there's not that one specific horse you have

to watch for now. Now each jockey can let their

horse run their individual race, and we'll just see which

individual races. By the way, go back to Blood

Horse Monday from this week. Meet the Johnson family that

bred Mind Frame. Just a spectacular story.

The two daughters of that operation, of course, Larry's

daughters at Larry passing away earlier in this year.

Great stories about Mind Frame. Great, great lead up to this

race as well. We just saw the defending champ

at Sierra Leone in the paddock. You know, what cracks me up

about him is in the paddock, he acts like he does at the

beginning of the races. It's almost like, OK, I guess

so. Yeah.

Right. Yeah.

OK. I guess we got to go.

All right, in the paddock. Just nothing bothers him.

Nope. Walking around, total thing.

That was with my colleague Barry Spears this morning, who you saw

on that on the the Haiti camping seminar the other night.

And one of the things I joked about was you get to the

Breeders Cup, You know, it's Thursday as we're recording

this, and they're going to run at Churchill Downs today, OK?

And you might see a horse in an allowance.

And you say in the paddock, you see them and you go, wow, that

horse looks great. And then you come to the

Breeders Cup and you say, wow, that horse looks about all of

them, about every single one of them.

And it is something that stands up.

But Sierra Leone himself, very calm here, very collected here.

He seems to not care where he is, right?

He just knows what the job is. He's going to be fine.

Does this set back up for him again, Obviously contrary

thinking in the field here last year, he needed a rabbit named

fierceness to run down right. He did all the work in that one.

Sierra Leone's going to come in adjusted line of seven to two

from morning line maker David Aragona here.

What do you make of his chances here?

Did did he move up on your your scale because of a lack of

sovereignty? Because frankly, sovereignty's a

potentially a better form of of Sierra Leone as far as a little

more adjustable from that closing position.

Yeah, he's more adjustable for sure.

But Sierra Leone, the one thing you can never knock with him is

he always gives the run. He's going to make him the

trifecta. Yeah, he's never missed the

trifecta in his career, no matter what stage he's been on.

So you can always count on him to at least make the run no

matter what the pace is. You know he's going to be there

late. Whether he's close enough to try

to get the win, whether he's, you know, a couple lengths back

finishing third. You know that that changes race

by race. But I think it should

potentially set up for him. I know there's a lot of talk

about the rabbit, about the pacemaker here in contrary

thinking. I don't really know how much of

an impact he's really going to have because the way that I see

it is he's going to probably gun it out for the lead and

everybody knows he's going to do that.

And so I don't I can't imagine fierceness is going to go with

him or, you know, try to be too close to him.

This horse contrary thinking he has not.

Before he became the rabbit, he was not running more than a mile

in his races. So I don't think he can last the

full mile and a quarter. I don't think any of the jockeys

think he can last the full mile and 1/4.

So it's almost like, all right, see you go do your thing.

And if he's running a half mile and 45 and Fierceness is in

second running a half mile and 47, that's not really doing

anything to benefit Sierra Leone.

It's just like the horse is just kind of out there.

So I don't there's not, there isn't that one horse in this

race besides him. That's a clear, I need to have

the lead horse that we've had in the past.

And so I don't really think it's going to make as big an impact

as some people think that it might.

I guess we'll see on Saturday, but that could be concerning

potentially for Sierra Leone if that does not be the case,

because then Sierra Fierceness can sit his perfect trip and

then just make his run when it comes time and maybe he's not

tired enough for Sierra Leone to come get him.

We saw a fierce this last year being super close to that pace,

that Derma Sodagake set, that lightning quick pace, and maybe

that was the difference maker between Fierceness being able to

hold him off and Sierra Leone getting the win.

But the thing that I think really benefited Sierra Leone

last year was how close he was to the lead when they got into

the stretch and if. He did a masterful job.

And if he can be in that same spot entering the stretch, sort

of stretch here, I I definitely like his chances.

For sure. You mentioned fierceness

obviously puts it all together after a good gosh, what's

happening here, start in the Pacific Classic, the Grade 1

here at Del Mar gets to come back here where as you

mentioned, still at this point, maybe the best run of his career

was in the British Cup Classic last year.

You could make the you could make the argument for sure, not

a winning effort, but maybe perhaps his very best effort.

I'm looking for him to repeat what he did in the In the

Pacific Classic. The start for the race.

The race itself hopefully, because I think if he has less

of that kind of start and they're able to get into more of

a rhythm with him, his high cruising speed, all of the

things that he brings to the track, just a physically

dominant animal. I think he's in a great spot to

run here. I'm even not terribly worried

about the post position because I think he's going to want to be

part the early pace and so he's going to break out no matter

where he's breaking from forever young.

We saw him this morning like everything with Japanese

training, he went around the paddock 387 times and then he

went into the saddling area 372 times.

So it was it was a whole thing. I think the.

Only thing he needed to do today, he breathed yesterday.

The real numbers are something like 20 times around the track

and about 6 times. 300 were the real numbers.

I thought you were sitting there keeping a tally.

Listen, I don't have radio to do at all, and so the the.

Big part? Well, your radio show is looking

right at the paddock here. You can just sit here and count.

It's a pretty good gig, I've. Got yeah, that's a pretty good

spot. This is it.

I mean, we always talk about about the bookshelves and horse

racing when we're on Blood Horse Monday.

How about this Delmar Paddock being?

Our background, not a bad backdrop for us for sure.

But first, stepping up the game here a little bit.

Forever Young does come in, he looks great, he fits the part,

all of the things. Is he the biggest beneficiary of

sovereignty scratching out? I think possible.

Cuz they run a similar style for him.

They do run a similar style and he's gonna be kind of in that

right behind the early set of horses and before the closer, so

right in that mid pack spot. And so I think he could

definitely get the trip. The thing that just concerns me

with him, and I've been a big supporter of his, he was one of

my Derby picks last year. You know, obviously I was

rooting for him in the Saudi Derby as well or Saudi Cup as

well. He's such a good horse, but for

whatever reason, he doesn't seem to be as good here in the US.

OK, now I say that knowing he was a nose away from winning the

Kentucky Derby and, you know, he had there not been some bumping

there, maybe he would have won it.

But with the his 2 outside of the Dubai World Cup, which I

feel like it's kind of an outlier.

His two other losses in his career have been here in the US.

We see him beat up on some of these dirt horses around the

world that are maybe not necessarily up to the same

standard that we have here in the US.

So I wonder if, you know, we always kind of give him a lot of

a lot of credit for and he should get a lot of credit for

all he does around the world. But I'm wondering if he's just

not at the level of Sierra Leone and at fiercenesses level when

they're at their best. Your fierceness, obviously, in

the Kentucky Derby was not at his best that day.

And then Sierra Leone was, you know, they were right together.

But we saw in the classic when those two were at their best, he

wasn't on the same level with them.

He made a nice run to get third, but he wasn't on the same level

as them when they were at their best.

So we'll see whether or not that's the case.

We had the rare chance at a double Kentucky Derby winner

racing on the same day with Sovereignty in the Classic and

of course, Mystic Dan trying the Dirt Mile this year.

Sovereignty's position within the Eclipse Awards.

You and I both Eclipse voters. Yes, I think coming into the

race is Horse of the year does not run in this race.

It's not for a reason that I think we should hold against the

horse. I'm not making that kind of

argument. But Sean, I wanted to ask you,

is there a horse in this field that can win the classic and

leapfrog him for Horse of the Year?

I think some obvious candidates include the two that we've

talked about the most in fierceness, and it's Sierra

Leone, but also a mind frame. Yes, he won the Churchill Downs

against Nicos, against Vanishing, against Book of Dano

who swept the Saratoga summer. If he came in here and won the

Classic, could a horse like Mind Frame jump over sovereignty for

Horse of the Year? I I think Mind Frame is probably

the front runner that potentially beat Sovereignty for

horse of the year if he were to win the classic just because he

his only blemish this year is losing his rider at the start of

the Jockey Club Gold Cup, so you can't hold that against him at

all. He's 1.

He would have if assuming he wins the classic, he would have

a grade one win and going a mile and a quarter against the likes

of a fierceness of Sierra Leone and the World Traveler and

Forever Young and the top three-year olds like journalism

and Baeza. So that stands out from the

classic perspective. And on top of that, he's got the

grade one win and going 7 furlongs against the like of

Nicos, Boca Dano. And so I think that those two

races in both the divisions being Grade 1 winner and then

also for good measure, just throwing in the Stephen Foster

on top of that as well against Sierra Leone, against Mystic

Dan. I think you could look at him as

being that horse that could end up he would probably get a lot

of votes and I think he probably would end up winning horse of

the year in that scenario. I'm not as confident if Sierra

Leone or fierceness, even if they win this race, I'm not as

confident that they could take down sovereignty in a horse of

the year voting just because we have seen some blemishes on

their record this year. Sierra Leone did not have the

best start to the year. And I I don't want to count his

loss in Jockey Cup, Gold Cup against him because he had to

avoid everything that happened with mine frame and got maybe

further back than he then he should have been.

But you know it when you look at him losing at the start of the

year in the New Orleans classic to touch upon A star, you know

that that could potentially when you compare that to again.

It's a bad. It's a bad you.

Compare that to what's. That race was such a clocker

too, my goodness. Even the connection that was

first race of the year, so I'm sure a lot of.

People. And it shipped to New Orleans.

Who does? Yeah.

Right. But you know, when you compare

that to Sovereignty's overall body of work, I don't know if

that matches up even with a Breeders' Cup Classic win.

It is possible that just for being a two time Breeders' Cup

Classic winner, he gets some votes for that.

I in my opinion, I don't think that should matter at all

because this is this year, correct?

This is an annual award, not a not a lifetime achievement

award. I agree.

At the fierceness, again with fierceness.

He had that random dud in the Whitney and the Met mile.

He was second in that race. I've I've made my opinions known

on what horse Monday before. I don't think he really should

have been in that race to begin with at the mile distance, but

so I don't know if you can hold that against him.

He does have the stakes record for him in the Awishiba.

He's got that really good win here in the Pacific Classic.

If he were to cap it off with the Breeders Cup Classic in a

very strong performance, I think there's a possibility he could

maybe take down sovereignty, but I would say mind frame would be

the best bet to untrown sovereignty from the horse of

the year. However, I do think that with

Sovereignty scratching, I think essentially what it does is it

clinches him 3 year old champion, which I do think that

he already probably did that. But if journalism had any hope

of getting him for the three-year old championship, I

think he had to have a win against Sovereignty straight up.

Yeah, he had to beat Sovereignty straight up.

So even beating the person that he would beat here this weekend

in the Breeders Cup Classic, the fact that he went up against

Sovereignty twice in races like the Derby and the Belmont and

came out he, you know, he lost them.

And it wasn't, it wasn't like it was a photo finish in those

races. You know, Sovereignty clearly

beat him in both of those races. I love journalism, but I don't,

I don't think he could win. I don't see any way he could win

3 year old champion at this point since he wouldn't have a

win against Sovereignty on his resume.

Nevada Beach also in that field, another 3 year old quick hitter.

Would you rather have Nevada Beach at 15 to one or journalism

at 5:00 to 1:00? Because I think that's about

where the prices are going. To be, it's probably going to be

where the prices are. You know, I, I have more

confidence in journalism going into this race, but I do see the

the appeal in. The upside of.

And anybody who's going to bet him as the long shot, I do not,

I do not disagree with that at all.

Especially when you look at what Bob Baffert did with Harrogate a

few years ago with these late developing 3 year olds and he is

the one three-year old who has been able to beat these older

horses so far. Journalism could not beat

fierceness in the Pacific Classic.

We just saw this past weekend at Keeneland where Gossgar and

Bracketbuster, they weren't able to beat the older horses in the

Fayette Stakes. Nevada Beach is the lone 3 year

old so far who has been able to win in this division against the

older horses and so if you like him in this race I wouldn't talk

to you. Off yeah, no, that's right on

the let's let's flip to the to the younger horses just for a

second here. We're going to get that branch

and Ted and off he match up. Obviously we had Ned on the show

just a couple of weeks ago, a blood horse Monday, an

interesting one on the outside. The more I talk to people, the

more they're interested about some of the other horses in here

as well. Katie Mcpeak told you I had

interview on him blood on his Monday what he thinks of

blackout time for sure. And he reminded me of that again

when I saw him at Churchill this past weekend.

Yeah, and it's a confident man, but he's also a transparent man

and I don't think he lies about those sorts of things.

I think he's really high on this colt.

Now. Maybe he does his best running

in April and May next year, which would be justified with

Kenny, and we've seen that with his trade.

He'd be happy. For he would make that.

Trade he would make that trade for sure, but leading into the

juvenile, is there a headline you're watching watching for?

Is this a a chance for maybe a Brant to break Brant to to to

bust out or or something like that?

Is there something you're looking for?

In that race, Well, for those who maybe did not TuneIn for the

Mcbeek interview a couple weeks ago, just what we were referring

to as he mentioned that comparing him to Mystic Dan, who

obviously won the Kentucky Derby last year, that at this point in

their careers, blackout time is above where Mystic Dan was.

And obviously Mystic Dan was not in the Breeders Cup and blackout

time is. So that's just proof in the

pudding right there. So we'll see what whether or not

he's good enough here. He was not good enough to beat

Ted Nafi in the Breeders Futurity, but they're going to

take another shot in this race. I just when I'm looking at this

juvenile on this weekend, maybe things change in the future as

far as these two year olds are concerned.

But for this weekend, I just see this as a 2 horse race.

I think it's Brandon, Ted Nafi. They have been standouts on both

coasts so far. Ted Nafi in the East plus

Kentucky and then Brand over here in on the West Coast and

Ted Nafi just he really impressed me with the way that

he won the Breeders security first time going around two

turns running a mile on the 16th.

It didn't look like it phased him at all.

He was still as just a strong a horse going to the wire here.

I think he's really a legitimate talent.

Now he has to deal with shipping.

But when you're looking between the two of them, Brant could be

a standout. We've seen Bob Baffert.

Before like I don't lean toward. Ted Nafi, just because he's been

around two turns, Brent hasn't. So until, and I'm not saying

Brent can't get two turns, I think the pedigree says that he

should. But until we see it, knowing

what Ted Nafi's capable of two turns, I got to go ahead and.

Listen, we talk a lot of sales on Blood Horse of course as we

should with all the the great coverage at Blood Horse and

bloodhorse.com France of course a $3,000,000 purchase this year

kind of part of the kick starting of those those sales

with the the numbers that we saw over and over and over again

Brant a chance at least to live up to that $3,000,000 purchase

price this will. Help burn some.

Of it back just a little bit yeah, that's exactly right.

But Sean Collins, Liubro, hanging out with you here at the

paddock alongside here at Del Mar, excuse me, ahead of

Breeders' Cup preview essentially on Thursday here.

Yes, there are a couple of races here on the day.

Before we get into these races over the next two days, just

what we talked about, a couple of these stars going in.

What are some of the big, big stars in the other races or the

horses that you're hoping or maybe you're going to turn into

these stars? Who are you really looking?

Forward to seeing. So I'm having this internal

dialogue with myself about the turf, which is the mini Hawk

Rebels romance matchup. What is what is more

interesting, what's better for the sport?

What's you know, what's a what's my fan perspective, because one

of the best things about the Breeders cup is that just the

you get these terrific, fantastic horses and the mini

hawk story is exceptional. Except we just kind of expected

that the Breeders cup was so spoiled by this event right.

And her her effort in the arc. The fact that the connections

want to bring a three-year old Philly over to run this race to

ship across the world essentially in this spot speaks

to me and tells me that hey, they, they know what they got,

but she's got a real chance. But darn it, in a weird way,

rebels romance because of the lack of wins in high level group

ones at places, specific tracks. He wins in Germany, he wins in

those other places, but at Lonshaw, at Ascot, those kinds

of places that he doesn't have those wins.

He's almost an American turf horse at this point, isn't he?

Because luckily. For him, the race is in America.

Yeah, that's exactly right. But he's this three turn thing,

the flat three turn race for him just seems to be what he's best

at. And after last year, I watched

that horse do something completely different than I

expected when he went to the front of that pack last year, I

thought, do they know what they're doing?

Do they know that's rebels romance?

Are they sure that that's what they want to be doing in that

moment? And it was not only the right

decision, it was a brilliant 1. He could not have been better on

that day. Was just out at Aqueduct in the

Grade 1. Comes out here in good form.

I'm excited to see that matchup. And when you talk about star

power, the the three-year old Philly almost wins the Arc and

the Got and the horse that's won this twice has a chance to

cement his legacy forever by winning this race three in a

row. There's nothing better than that

kind of match up where the potential global superstar mini

hawk that her star is on that kind of rise and then you get a

Rebels romance. If you can't get excited about

that, I got nothing. For you, I know that's going to

be definitely one of the highlights.

Of the. How about for you?

Do you have one? Well, for me, one of the horses

that I'm really looking forward or one of the races I'm really

looking forward to is actually the turf Sprint.

OK, which surprises me because I'm usually not somebody who

really pays that much attention to the turf sprinting division

as as much as some of the other races.

But you know, as I've been looking into this field, you

have Motorius, who's in this race for the third time and you

know, he's he's been such a such a consistent runner, especially

here at Del Mar. Ardaki gold or knocking older.

This is his home. This is his whole track

advantage exactly. And you know.

And the Breeders Cup's going to leave his home track after next

year, probably not come back before he would retire.

So you wanna see him be able to put up a good performance, make

up that neck defeat that he had last year.

But on top of that, you got the Phillies and the mayor going up

in this race. You have AG Bullet who she's

been so good and so fast in her races and she beat the boys

earlier this year. She was right there in that

photo last year. Could she pull it off this year?

We've seen Phillies and mayors have success in this race

before. Then you also have a young 3

year old Philly, like she's so spicy.

Who I know, I know Jose D'Angelo, the trainer is really

confident just how fast she is and any any disadvantage she may

be at from age or from size, you're going to be looking at

where she can make up for it just purely in speed.

And so it's going to be such a quick race at the beginning.

AG Bullet, she's so spicy. You think Bear River is going to

be forward, You think a couple others are going to be forward

as well. It's going to be such a fast

race and you have such good closers like Motorius, then also

Kadem who went last first in the Watford Stakes at Keeneland.

You have such good front runners and such good closers.

You wonder which one's going to give?

Are the front runners going to be able to carry that speed and

doesn't matter that they're all up there and they're going to

one of them is going to be able to carry it.

Or is this going to set up for the close?

I think it really sets up for an interesting race.

This race is known for producing long shots.

And so I believe the last three years the average payout's been

like $49.00 or something like that on $2.00 win bet.

So something crazy could happen, a horse we're not mentioned, you

could end up winning his race. So I'm really looking forward.

To the two years ago I was at San Anita, you were two and no

balls wins that race. Yeah, he's double digit odds for

sure. And you know that kind of thing.

And so don't that's the spot, especially on the grass.

Don't count out the Americans. I think the Sprint, the mile.

Johannes has a legitimate chance this year for sure.

Now don't crowd out the American side of of turf racing for those

sorts of things. You know, we talked with David

Jennings from, from Racing Post and, and he, he said, he said,

he said the quiet part out loud, which is the girls just don't

respect the, the spreading like they do the longer distance

races. And, and that is very much

reflected in those races at the Breeders Cup.

I also wanted to ask you and, and get into this as well.

One of the the big things that happened earlier in the week was

not just the post position draw, but the outcome of the post

position draw for so many big time contender.

So you mentioned fierceness on the rail in the Classic, but on

juvenile day we get the two turf horses precise in the on the on

the Philly side of things in race 8:00.

And then in race 10 we're going to get Gestad on the outside in

the 13 and 14 positions respectively.

I've heard a prevailing opinion about those which is precise is

good enough to overcome that. She's simply the best in that

race. But Gestad's going to have

trouble. Are we, are we underestimating

Gustad? Potentially.

Possibly, I mean he's been holding his own against some of

the best 2 year olds out there in Europe.

And we've seen so many times before where those horses who

are maybe just they're right below that the cut line for

getting those big wins out there in Europe.

When they do come over here to the US and these kind of races

they breakthrough and you know they the turf forces over there

typically are stronger than what we have over here.

And especially when you're looking at developing 2 year

olds at this point in the year, it always seems like that maybe

those European turf forces are just a little bit more prepared

for a big race like this. And so I would not be surprised

at all if he's able to overcome that post position now with this

race, the one mile distance here, we'll see about him

getting over before we get into the turns, how far over he can

get and save some ground. But if he overcomes that, I mean

I wouldn't be surprised. No, it should be a spectacular

day both Friday and Saturday. I'm really looking forward to

those last three races on Friday with the two turf races and then

the juvenile smacked in the middle.

We'll get into it cuz we've got, we're going to do a couple more

days of this. By the way, you'll get two more

episodes of this one Friday, one Saturday as part of Blood Horse

at the Breeders Cup. Of course, Sean Collins go check

out his socials as well, a Pharaoh 12 but at Blood Horse as

well. So many things you're working on

videos otherwise. Yeah, we got a lot of stuff

going on, really in all channels.

I know you got a lot of radio stuff going on as well right

now. Check us out ESP at Louisville

Friday morning, 7:00 to 9:00 Pacific or 11:50 Eastern.

And you can stream that online worldwide.

So you don't have to be in Louisville to listen to that on

my end. You know, if you want to see

these horses training, you can find those videos on a Pharaoh

12, my YouTube channel. The training that I filmed today

on Thursday will be up on the Blood Horse YouTube channel as

well, so make sure you check back for that.

Check out bloodhorse.com. We're going to have a lot of

articles, not just from myself but from all my Co.

Workers. There's literally a Breeders'

Cup tab at the top of the homepage.

Help that's easy, that easy for you subscribe to the daily

because you're going to have all those stories in the daily.

It's easier to just knock them all out one after another.

Just being able to have them all right there in front of you.

Everything that we pick up from this weekend, but you know, also

online, make sure you check out our latest features tab on the

bottom of the homepage because we're going to have quite a few

video videos going up. I just did a couple of blood

Horse interviews on the backstretch before I came over

here. I know Anna Kerwin's got her

Three things series, 3 things you might not know about some of

these top contenders here. So make sure that you are

checking out bloodhorse.com. Everything Breeders' Cup if you

want to know something about the Breeders Cup we got.

It on the card for sure. I was at the Turf Riders award

dinner last night and you were doing, you know, you were taping

something and I got asked about you at least a half dozen times

and I didn't like it at all. I'm not, I'm not.

I don't need that in my life. I don't need that as part of

what I have to do in horse racing.

Where were they asking when you're gonna replace me?

Is that? What is Sean?

Where is Sean? I wanna ask him about something.

I saw Sean every morning at Saratoga.

It's like we get it, we get it, we get it, we get it.

I don't need to hear about it anymore.

I feel bad every time I stand next to him.

He's slightly taller, he's a lot younger, He's better looking.

I don't like it. I don't like he's a lot more

hair. I don't like any of it.

So I don't need to hear. If you want, at the turf rider

dinner that I bother to go to about Shawn Collins, I don't

need it. So if you're out there, turf

riders, be better. I don't need it in my life

anymore. You're the one who actually

showed up to the turf riders, so yeah, they should be giving you

a little bit more praise, that's for sure.

Unbelievable. But a really spectacular night.

Rod Laver was there, one of the great tennis players of all

time. I was not ready for that part of

things. And we got to interview Perry

Utes after he broke the mounts record in North America.

He won an award last night as well, the Spirit of Racing

award. And you talk about the spirit of

racing. It's that guy.

Why do you like riding in Ohio? And he said it again last night

because I like to win. We hope you have a bunch of

winners this weekend. He's Sean.

I'm Louis. This is Blood Horse at the

Breeders Cup. Check back in tomorrow.

The Blood Horse is dedicated to the improvement of Thoroughbred

breeding and racing over 100 years.

Don't forget to like, subscribe and save Blood Horse Monday on

all your platform. For the latest news, analysis

and insights, visit us at bloodhorse.com.

Thanks for listening and we'll see you next week.